Speaking of which, Li Wenxi’s ability is called a Prospector, another skill that sounds like a profession.
However, even though this furnace can refine purple-level materials, it isn’t almighty.
In comparison, the treehouse core is a bit more versatile.
The furnace can only smelt specific materials, while the treehouse core can also upgrade basic materials like stone and wood. So, this special furnace can’t replace the function of the treehouse core.
Of course, if Li Wenxi doesn’t want the treehouse core, it’s no big deal. In a collaboration, she can focus on producing purple-level metal blocks or other materials that need smelting, like glass, and that’s enough. Everything else can be left to others to handle.
Li Wenxi tossed the steel block in her hand triumphantly, almost missing it, quickly hugged it with both hands, and breathed a sigh of relief. Then she looked up at Xu Xin with a proud expression, puffed out her chest, and said, "So, what do you think, am I amazing?"
"Amazing, amazing!" Xu Xin nodded, it indeed was impressive.
Then he asked, "What’s the probability of upgrading advanced materials with your furnace? Have you calculated it?"
"Uh, this..." Li Wenxi’s proud expression froze on her face.
She then said a bit awkwardly, "Actually, I don’t know what the probability is, but it’s definitely not high. I just made this furnace last night. The first smelt yielded a block of purple-level steel."
She lifted the steel block in her hand, her face excited, "I was super excited at the time, almost sent you a video right away! But I thought you would come today, so I wanted to surprise you and didn’t say anything. I also wanted to smelt more purple-level steel blocks to shock you when you got here!"
"And after that not a single more purple-level block?" Xu Xin had already guessed the outcome from what she previously said.
"Yeah! That backpack I gave you earlier in the workshop, the steel blocks inside were all smelted with this furnace. I smelted dozens of blue-level steel blocks, and not a single purple-level came out!" Li Wenxi looked a bit frustrated, "I used up all my blue-level ore materials! Only upgraded once to purple-level, and I thought the probability was high!"
"Was there any upgrading from green-level to blue-level?"
"Ah, there was, yesterday I smelted over two hundred green-level iron blocks, and a total of seven blue-level iron blocks came out, green to blue probability is quite high!"
This probability isn’t low!
It seems that when this furnace smelts ores of different levels, the probability of producing higher-level materials varies. Lower-level materials have a higher chance of upgrading.
"That’s quite good, what we mainly need are blue-level resources," Xu Xin turned to look at the big furnace, "Each coordinate needs ten blue-level steel blocks and ten blue-level iron blocks, with this furnace, we can produce coordinates faster!"
"Coordinates? Oh right, last time I gave you materials to make a set of coordinates, how’s it going, did you make them?" Li Wenxi, also interested in coordinates, eagerly asked as soon as Xu Xin mentioned them.
"Hmm... not yet, because alchemy has a success rate, I need to boost it with decor enhancement first. It won’t take long, I should be able to complete it when I return today, and once the coordinates are made, it’s like we’re neighbors and can meet anytime."
So when getting back this time, first boost the alchemy success rate above 80%, and start making the coordinates. With this furnace, we won’t lack blue-level iron and steel blocks.
Although Ji Chaoyang, him, and Li Wenxi seem to be quite close, they are separated by at least over twenty kilometers between each pair of treehouses. The long distance is equivalent to the distance between two city centers, so coordinates are naturally needed for connection.
"I see..." Li Wenxi pondered and then sneakily glanced at him a couple of times.
"What’s wrong?" Seeing Li Wenxi starting to appear a bit hesitant and wanting to say something, Xu Xin immediately inquired.
"Hmm... Xu Xin, actually, I wanted to say last night, that... um... if I brought my treehouse over to your side, would you want me?" Li Wenxi looked up at Xu Xin.
"Huh?" Xu Xin widened his eyes, thought for a bit, then understood Li Wenxi’s intent, "You mean, you want to attach your treehouse to my protection zone?"
"Yeah, that’s what I mean."
"Definitely not, no." Xu Xin refused decisively.
"You..." Li Wenxi trembled, her expression immediately turning aggrieved, then shifted to frustrated embarrassment, "Why did you refuse so quickly! I’ll be your subordinate, isn’t that good!"
"I think you just want to slack off, don’t want to manage controlling people in your protection zone!" Xu Xin could understand her meaning.
Li Wenxi just doesn’t want to bother managing her protection zone. If she relocates her treehouse to his side, with his deterrence, other parasitic survivors wouldn’t dare to act up, and she could leisurely go around mining with people.
All in all, if she comes over here, she can truly be a relaxed mining boss without other concerns.
"Uh... I just have a little of this idea..." Li Wenxi shifted her gaze guiltily, then said, "Isn’t it good though? You can intimidate them, and I can manage them a bit better. I really can’t manage those survivors, especially the ones forced to come from other areas, and all that coercing and enticing... it’s too much trouble!"
"Of course not," Xu Xin said helplessly, "If you parasitize over here, you’re one of the parasite tree houses just like them, why would they listen to you?"
"Because of you! You could tell them, ’Anyone who doesn’t listen to Li Wenxi, I’ll kill them!’" Li Wenxi put her hands on her hips and pointed at the furnace in front, mimicking Xu Xin’s tone in a rough voice.
Xu Xin was amused, "You don’t know how limited the parasite tree house is, do you?"
"Huh? Isn’t it just that my functions would be limited? You wouldn’t limit my functions, right?" Li Wenxi said nonchalantly.
This little rich girl really wants it for free...
To be honest, when Li Wenxi said she wanted to migrate over, he did feel a bit tempted.
If she really moved over, she’d be completely restricted by him. That mysterious voice also said that survivors without a tree house couldn’t survive in this world. Although it’s unclear what would happen, both a normal tree house and a parasite tree house are necessary.
If Li Wenxi were to parasitize her tree house here, it would mean her life and death would be in his grasp, unable to escape his palm, basically becoming his person.
Faced with this cute girl he had always liked, it would be a lie to say he wasn’t moved.
But... going from a normal tree house to a parasite tree house is not just about being limited.
"If you really came, I would have all your permissions, could control the roots to enter your tree house anytime, view your tree house screen, check your call logs, and could easily break into your bedroom and get on your bed!"
"Huh? Enter the tree house? Check logs? Break into the bedroom? Get on..." Li Wenxi was momentarily dumbfounded, "Ji Chaoyang never said these things in the regional channel!"
"Of course he didn’t, if he did, then the number of people who want to come, especially you women, would be very few! Who would want someone who could enter their room at any time?"
"Uh... it wouldn’t be that much less, right? In this world, there are still many women who’d trade their bodies for safety." Li Wenxi pondered, tapping her lips with her finger.
He really didn’t expect this sentence to come out of Li Wenxi’s mouth, and his gaze towards her turned strange.
"Oh, this was something Sister Xuefei said while chatting with me!" Li Wenxi blushed when she saw Xu Xin’s eyes, "I didn’t mean that!"
...What has Qi Xuefei been chatting about with Li Wenxi!
"It’s possible for ordinary women." Xu Xin explained helplessly, "But for those who have survived so many brutal events, they’re not the kind of people who rely entirely on others to survive. Now, the survivors in our area want to come because we’ve helped them on multiple occasions, even saved their lives. They trust us and want to cooperate and survive together."
"But, as long as the main tree house doesn’t die, even if the parasite tree house is destroyed, it will resurrect. That’s a super strong survival guarantee! It feels like, as long as the master of the main tree house is strong enough, being his parasite tree house isn’t bad at all." Li Wenxi seemed somewhat fascinated by the idea of a parasite tree house.
A tree house that can regenerate at will really sounds impressive, and that’s how Xu Xin and the others attract survivors from the same area, but...
"What if the main tree house dies?"
"Then... we’d die together! If the strongest one dies, who else could live?"
"No, I won’t die, because my tree house can still dig out seeds, and I can be reborn. But the other parasite tree houses would die completely with the main tree house because they can no longer be transplanted." Xu Xin patiently explained to her.
That’s a lifeline, a way out.
Even if defeated, people with a normal tree house can surrender to the other side with the seeds, but those with a parasite tree house are doomed.
Although this way out sounds disgraceful, Xu Xin still doesn’t want to cut off Li Wenxi’s retreat.
"...Oh, I see..." Li Wenxi understood Xu Xin’s point, quietly letting out a sigh of relief.
It turns out he rejected her for her own good! She thought she’d be despised even if she offered herself for free...
In this light, having a normal tree house seems better...
"Of course, if one day your tree house gets destroyed, forcing you to transplant, I would still welcome you with open arms," Xu Xin said with a smile.