Zhong Yi might have zero talent in combat, but in every other field, he was second to none.
Riding his Fire Qilin, he surveyed the area from above and quickly sketched out the full layout of a massive base in his mind.
When Lu Ze had created Palworld, he had enriched its building system.
It still wasn't as convenient as Minecraft, but it wasn't far off, and the freedom it offered was excellent.
Zhong Yi quickly laid the foundation, planned out the zones, and then called over Mu Yawen, who had been waiting off to the side.
"These corners are for the Pal rest areas, this side is for the farmland, this side is for the mines, and here, here..."
Zhong Yi gestured at the various zones.
"Got it, Senior Brother! I understand!"
Mu Yawen nodded enthusiastically, patted his chest, and got to work following Zhong Yi's instructions.
Exploring and catching Pals was the fun of Palworld, but base building was just as enjoyable.
Especially the first time you formally construct your own base, arranging building after building in neat order, and carving out private rooms for yourself and your Pals—the sense of accomplishment was no less than catching a legendary beast for the first time.
In the early game, the types of base facilities were still limited, and the number of Pals a stronghold could support was restricted.
What Zhong Yi had planned was a manor-style design.
In the center sat a two-story pavilion, with farmland and Pal rest cabins spread around the outside.
Ever since the Immortal Abyss Operation, the modern architectural style Lu Ze had introduced had started to gradually influence the cultivators.
The interior of the pavilion Zhong Yi built was already beginning to have that vibe of a large-scale factory from his past life.
Zhong Yi and Mu Yawen were hard at work building the base, when suddenly, a rumbling sound echoed from nearby.
"Outer Realm Magic Stone? Another one dropped?"
Zhong Yi immediately stopped what he was doing.
Aside from the starting area, every so often, an Outer Realm Magic Stone would fall near a player somewhere on the map.
The first time Zhong Yi had discovered one of these, he had been exploring a volcano with Zhou Qiaoling.
They had excitedly rushed over, only to find three level 35 Outer Realm Pals guarding it with vicious expressions, forcing them to retreat in defeat.
"This time it landed at... Eh?? Right next to Lao Zhou!"
Zhong Yi's eyes lit up on the spot, and a grin crept across his face.
"Lao Zhou, looks like your luck really has turned this time... an Outer Realm Magic Stone is about to smack you right in the face!"
On the map, the marker for the Outer Realm Magic Stone was right near Zhou Yue.
Zhong Yi speculated that the level of the pals guarding the magic stone was tied to the map region.
Zhou Yue's current location was next to the starting island, where the surrounding Pals were generally around level 20.
By now, everyone's levels had also reached close to 20, so facing a non-major-monster Pal at level 20 wasn't completely hopeless.
"Huh? What magic stone? I don't see anything?"
Zhou Yue looked utterly confused. It was his first time hearing about the Outer Realm Magic Stone, and at that moment, he was riding his Swift Spin Weasel at full tilt.
"It's a weird Pal that falls from the sky... Keep your eyes open. This Pal should be pretty strong! If you can't catch it, call Junior Sister Qiaoling over to help you!"
Zhong Yi hastily reminded him.
"Pfft! Who are you cursing? A mere Pal is nothing I ca—"
Before Zhou Yue could even finish his sentence, the rumbling near him grew increasingly loud, and then his vision suddenly went pitch black.
An announcement appeared in the top left corner:
[Outer Realm Magic Stone has slain Bubupoli!]
"What the hell?? A magic stone can kill people???"
Zhong Yi was absolutely stunned.
The next moment, Zhou Yue respawned bare-chested from the Pal Terminal, his face a picture of utter misery.
"I fucking..."
Zhou Yue's mouth twitched, his fists clenched tight.
"...got crushed to death by an Outer Realm Magic Stone!!!!"
"Hahahahaha!"
"Hahaha, that's so like you, Lao Zhou!!"
"Senior Brother Zhong actually called it right for once... this really is a magic stone smacking you in the face!"
The team voice channel instantly erupted in a burst of cheerful laughter.
"Damn it! Old Zhong, lend me some Pal Spheres and gear. I'll grab my dropped bag and pay you back."
Zhou Yue grumbled as he reached out a hand. Zhong Yi generously handed the items over.
"Whoa, you two have some serious skill... this base is magnificent!"
Zhou Yue looked around at his surroundings and couldn't help but be deeply impressed.
The base was already starting to take shape. From the outside, the surrounding farmland looked serene, the central pavilion was elegant, and it was nothing like the crooked, messy garbage heap he had built himself.
"Of course! Mu Junior Brother and I are veteran architects by now!"
Zhong Yi said with smug pride, rubbing his nose.
At that moment, he was standing at the top of the pavilion, painting the roof of the outer building.
"Bro, stop hanging around the base all the time... stay too long and nothing good ever happens! Last time you lured a Moss Mammoth that wrecked our place..."
Zhou Qiaoling teased with a giggle over the team voice channel.
"Pfft, is that my fault!?"
Zhou Yue's face instantly turned sour.
"No worries, no worries. There's nothing too huge around here. Our base is as steady as Mount Tai!"
Zhong Yi smiled, brimming with confidence.
"Senior Brother Zhong, please don't say stuff like that!"
From inside the pavilion, where he was building his own living quarters, Mu Yawen's heart suddenly skipped a beat.
No sooner had the two of them finished speaking than the attack alarm suddenly blared.
Stronghold invasion.
In Lu Ze's previous life, most players would have turned this feature off—it was too annoying, with enemies constantly interrupting your work at the base.
But here, there was no option to disable it.
"Old Zhong, that mouth of yours... it's truly blessed!"
Zhou Yue clicked his tongue in amazement.
"Bro, whether this invasion is aimed at you or at Zhong's lucky mouth is anyone's guess..."
Zhou Qiaoling remarked with deadpan sarcasm.
"Who cares!"
Zhong Yi shot Zhou Yue a dismissive glare and cast a contemptuous look at the poachers approaching to attack.
"We're not the weak little Pal trainers we used to be... Look at their levels—max 19. The three of us are here. How could we possibly fail to hold this stronghold?"
The moment Zhong Yi said that, Zhou Yue's dark face turned a shade paler.
"Th... That's hard to say..."
Zhou Yue hastily summoned his Flame Demon Sheep to face the enemy.
The first poacher minion charging ahead was instantly slain by a single swipe of the Flame Demon Sheep's claw.
"See? We're a whole different breed now! There's no way they can—"
Before Zhong Yi could finish his sentence,
one poacher after another hurled their Pal Spheres.
A flock of green-feathered, sharp-beaked birds that Zhong Yi had never seen before suddenly materialized at the base.
"What are these? Bomb Birds... Huh?"
Zhong Yi squinted at the unfamiliar Pals.
Then, crimson light began to flicker across the Bomb Birds' bodies, accompanied by a rapid "beep beep beep" sound.
"Damn!! Lao Zhou, shoot them down—don't let them get close!!!"
Zhong Yi realized something was wrong, but it was already too late.
The Bomb Birds, now in self-destruct mode, charged at him like mad.
Behind Zhong Yi stood the newly constructed wooden pavilion.
"BOOM—!"
"BOOM—!!"
Explosions rang out endlessly around Zhong Yi.
The damage wasn't severe, but the psychological blow was devastating.
Flames from the blasts blew gaping holes into the pavilion, and fire crept steadily along the wooden walls.
"No... No, don't!!"
Zhong Yi let out a heart-wrenching scream.
At the same time, a second wave of Bomb Birds flickered red and hurtled toward the pavilion.
Then came a third wave, a fourth wave...
......
......
Years later, when Zhong Yi became a grand master of Palworld strategy guides, the very first lesson he taught fellow cultivators was this:
"Never build your base out of wood. Seriously, never build your base out of wood."
ut it can buy an entire year of absolutely perfect training results! Su Yu stared at his empty wallet and decisively opened up various online loan platforms. “Borrow a thousand bucks! Recharge my vitality!” Boom! His vitality broke a hundred points, shattering the limits of the human body! “Borrow ten thousand bucks! Recharge my combat skills!” Boom! A basic punching technique so common it was everywhere instantly maxed out, revealing the ultimate assassination technique of Five Elements Unity—Inner Force! When a rich kid hired assassins for a midnight ambush, aiming to break both of his legs, they instead ran headfirst into a monster—a human-shaped tyrannosaur, brimming with dragon-like vitality. With just two fingers, Su Yu snapped a steel staff reinforced with alloy. Staring at the killer’s stash of stolen cash—a staggering quarter-million dollars—he showed a corporate-sincere smile: “Thanks for the pre-exam gift pack, Mr. Zhao! I’m gonna go re-invest this!” Three days later, at the National Martial Arts College Entrance Exam, while everyone else struggled just to reach the passing line, Su Yu threw a single punch—and more than a thousand vitality points literally detonated the entire arena!
ap a wealthy young lady? Or else I'll be eliminated by the system? Ye Feng, who awakened the Kidnapper System, originally wanted to live a peaceful life but never imagined he would become a kidnapper of young women. However, after some time, he discovered that all the girls the system ordered him to kidnap were far from ordinary. "Big brother Ye Feng~ You've kidnapped my heart, and now you're not allowed to leave me ever again~" "Ye Feng~ You kidnapped me back then, now it's my turn to capture you♡" "Little Feng, you're mine! You can only be mine!" "Ye Feng, none of them deserve you. Only I love you the most♡" ... This is madness, they've all gone mad! Wait, what? Why are all the girls I kidnapped yanderes?!
ing gift was a patch of barren land, and disciples were all picked up along the way. He spent fifty years diligently building three "ramshackle little sects," thinking he could finally live a carefree life relying on his disciples. But right at the fifty-year mark, he was suddenly swept away by a spatial rift and exiled to the Chaos Desolation, the Disorderly Ruins. There was no spiritual energy there, only slaughter. Relying on the cultivation feedback from his disciples, Gu Changyuan hacked his way through a sea of blood for eleven hundred years. When the system finally fished him back out, he discovered the ramshackle little sects he'd built back then had developed a rather... unusual style. Hold on... I vanished for a thousand years, so how did my ramshackle little sects become holy lands?!
e bizarre and supernatural had descended. The previous emperor was a thoroughgoing tyrant; no longer satisfied with human women, he had set his sights on a stunningly beautiful supernatural entity. He met his end in his bedchamber, drained of all his vital essence. As the legitimate eldest son and crown prince, Wang Hao was thus hastily enthroned, becoming the young emperor of the Great Zhou Dynasty. No sooner had he awakened the "Imperial Sign-In Intelligence System" than he was assassinated by a Son of Destiny—a classic villain's opening. The Great Zhou, ravaged by the former emperor's excesses, was in national decline. The great families within its borders harbored their own treacherous schemes, martial sects began to defy the imperial court's decrees, and border armies, their pay and provisions in arrears, grumbled incessantly against the central government. Fortunately, the central capital was still held secure by the half-million Imperial Guards and fifty thousand Imperial Forest Army who obeyed the court's orders, along with the royal family's hidden reserves of power, barely managing to suppress the realm. As the Great Zhou's finances worsened and supernatural activities grew ever more frequent, the court sat atop a volcano. Ambitious plotters everywhere dreamed of overthrowing the dynasty, and even some reclusive ancient powers emerged, attempting to sway the tides of the world. At the first grand court assembly, the civil and military officials nearly came to blows, fighting tooth and nail over the allocation of fifty million taels of silver from the summer tax revenues. The spectacle opened Wang Hao's eyes—the Great Zhou's bureaucracy was not only corrupt but also martially proficient, a cabinet of all-rounders. Some officials even had the audacity to suggest the emperor release funds from the imperial privy purse to address the emergency. Wang Hao suddenly felt weary. Let it all burn.
