The home was gone.
Everything had to start from scratch again.
This time, Zhong Yi didn't rush to rebuild the mansion. He simply erected the essential infrastructure, divided the work areas, and then followed Zhou Yue to head out and catch Pals.
"We need to get to level 19 to unlock the stone building set before we can build a base... definitely not using wood!"
"We're already 19, why not push to 20 and unlock the [Superior Pal Sphere] first?"
"Level 21 lets us craft guns—that's a huge upgrade! Hang on a bit longer..."
"Level 22 unlocks the Pal Expedition—what's that about? Sounds promising!"
"Whoa! One more level and we can wear metal gear... come on, hurry! Fight one more big monster!"
...
Zhong Yi had planned to return at level 19 and rebuild the base, but before he knew it, wandering outside had brought him all the way to level 23 before he remembered they still had a base to build.
This was exactly what made "Palworld" so brilliant—
The constant drip of satisfaction and anticipation.
Especially in the early game, that feeling of "just a little bit further and I get the next reward" was incredibly addictive.
Every level-up brought a noticeable improvement.
"We're at 23 now—should we head back? My little sister says she found an absolutely perfect spot for the base."
Zhou Yue stretched lazily; chasing Pals outside for so long was starting to wear on him.
"Hold on a bit—level 24 unlocks the metal mining site, and that's an absolute necessity..."
"Damn it!!"
...
...
Level 24 rolled around, and only then was Zhong Yi satisfied enough to go check out the perfect build spot Zhou Qiaoling had talked about.
By then, Mu Yawen had already hauled all the materials from the old outpost over to the new base location and was laying down stone foundations.
"Whoa, this spot's really nice!"
Zhong Yi scanned the surroundings and clicked his tongue in approval.
It was a hilltop on the other side of the volcano, with a wide-open view and lush green willows lining the edges—scenic as could be.
"Plenty of natural metal ore here too... though we've already unlocked the metal mining site, so these nodes are pretty much useless now."
Zhong Yi sighed as he looked at the layout.
Terrain-wise, the open space was just about the same size as the base range—there was only a single small pond that was unbuildable, so the usable area was extremely efficient, and the ground was flat.
In addition, only one narrow path led up, making it easy to defend and hard to attack. Even if an invasion event occurred, it would be easy to handle.
This location was famous in Lu Ze's previous life from the early versions of the game—it was a classic perfect starting base spot.
Because back then, metal mining sites didn't exist, and players had to mine natural ore. Naturally, this flat terrain with natural ore veins was a favorite among countless new players.
"Hehe, pretty awesome, right? I stumbled on it while flying over the volcano~"
Zhou Qiaoling giggled, looking proud of herself.
The new home site was chosen, the old materials had been moved over by Mu Yawen, and the four of them began building the new base together.
Having spent so much time exploring and fighting outside, base-building was a refreshing change of pace.
This time, all four of them stayed and worked together on the base.
Though ironically, the efficiency plummeted.
"Lao Zhou, you laid that foundation crooked... What the hell!! Why did you dismantle the one I just laid!!!"
"Junior Sister Qiaoling? Qi—what the... why are you soaking in the Pal hot spring?! No wonder the Cat-Bat Monster looked so pitiful..."
"Lao Zhou, don't place the Pal Expedition here—it's clipping the edge and wasting space..."
"Junior Sister Qiaoling, stop stealing Pal food from the feeding box!!!"
"...How about you two go catch some Pals outside or something?"
...
After a chaotic mess of work, they finally managed to set up their own base on the hilltop.
It had the same manor feel as before, but the materials were now stone—the texture and color looked a bit odd at first glance.
Before, they slept on a bed crammed over wooden floorboards; now, thanks to Zhong Yi and Mu Yawen's craftsmanship, four exquisitely carved bedrooms stood complete. Zhou Yue and Zhou Qiaoling couldn't help but marvel.
"So this is the new home we built together... it's beautiful!"
"Nope—you two did absolutely nothing!!!"
With the new home complete and work Pals assigned to the base, the four of them once again set off on their exploration journey.
This period of "Palworld" was, without a doubt, the most fun.
The core gameplay was fully understood, and now the players were hungrier than ever for power.
Sanctuaries, oil fields, boss battles...
Countless new elements kept piling up—every single minute, players could clearly feel themselves getting stronger.
Meanwhile, the demand for materials grew exponentially.
At the hilltop base.
"Damn! I ran out of Pal Spheres during the big monster fight! Feather-Arrow Archer, quick, craft me some—wait... what???"
The moment Zhong Yi got back to base, he was dumbfounded to see the other three standing by the Pal Sphere assembly line, staring pitifully as Feather-Arrow Archer worked.
"You all ran out of spheres too?"
"Obviously..."
"I called dibs! Feather-Arrow Archer, craft mine first!"
...
All four of them had exhausted their Pal Spheres, crowding around the assembly line, anxiously waiting for Feather-Arrow Archer to hand them fresh spheres one by one.
Their levels had climbed to 28 by then, and the base facilities had gone through another round of upgrades—"assembly lines" were now a thing.
They didn't quite understand the concept of an assembly line, but when high-tech-looking facilities allowed multiple Pals to work simultaneously, it felt incredibly satisfying.
However, the biggest problem now wasn't that spheres were being produced too slowly—it was that the materials needed to craft them couldn't keep up.
At first, the green high-grade spheres they used only required a single ingot of metal. Then the yellow top-grade spheres cost two ingots. And now, the newly unlocked red supreme-grade spheres required THREE ingots each.
That was three times the material cost compared to their earliest production!
Zhong Yi furrowed his brow and walked over to the mining area.
There, he happened to spot a little creature called "Staring Demon," its face held a thoroughly world-weary expression, sluggishly swinging a stone pickaxe, listlessly digging at a rock ore.
Staring Demon looked up at Zhong Yi, its dead-eyed stare seeming to say: "What're you looking at?"
"What the hell... who snuck this overpaid slacker in here?!"
] [Lone Wolf, No Male Gaze] [Protagonist is pursued early on; extreme protagonist-stans, stay away!] The "Carnival Paradise" descends and slowly devours the real world in the form of a game. By chance, Zhu Yan awakens the talent [Roleplay], becoming one of the first beta players. He thought he could develop safely, but after clearing the first instance, he is branded by humanity as the chief culprit behind the game's spread—a traitorous villain. A villain? Who would ever... become one! He'll be the villain! From then on, Zhu Yan is not only a player but also a lackey for the Carnival Paradise. Between the straight path and the crooked path, he chooses the con. With his left hand, he dons the villain's mantle, staging scenes within instances, infuriating players who decry him as a despicable traitor, all while the game happily promotes him. With his right hand, he joins the non-human organization "Fangcun Mountain," which opposes the Carnival Paradise, transforming into a mysterious player who slaughters game bosses, earning cheers of "Long live the expert!" from fellow players. Gradually, Zhu Yan rises to become an S-rank human player in Fangcun Mountain's archives, while also being the Carnival Paradise's certified top game Boss. But when the final war erupts and both major factions place their hopes in him— Players tag his various aliases: "Experts, this offensive depends on you." The Carnival Paradise's supreme Boss throws an arm around his neck: "Bro, you're the iron, I'm the steel; you can't let me down again!"
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!
saw a female celebrity tied up and stuffed in the trunk! Little did he know, countless cameras were aimed at him at this moment - this was a new type of reality show. The first randomly selected passerby was caught in less than an hour. But when Xu Moru was selected, things started to take an unexpected turn. "Damn, this isn't how the script goes. This Xu Moru is too bold, he's not following the rules at all." "Crap, is this guy taking it seriously?" "The female celebrity has been scared to tears!"
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?!
