Inside the skyscraper.
Alice sat listlessly, chin in hand, silently cursing the memory of the previous night, "Damn bastard, must he have taken something beforehand?"
Of all the men Alice had been with, none had lasted more than ten minutes under her "Death Coil". Except for Irving. There were even times when she barely endured his relentless assault, begging for mercy on her knees.
"If it weren't for my pregnancy, that useless man wouldn't stand a chance touching me!" Alice rolled her eyes, "In a couple of days, I'll tell him the child is his. He definitely won't find out."
"Even if it means raising someone else's child and being cuckolded, he should consider himself lucky to marry me!"
Just as Alice was deep in thought, a group of people entered.
Leading them was a man in a suit and shoes, followed by a beautiful young girl with a ponytail.
As the front desk of the Green Vine Group, Alice quickly put on a warm smile when she saw James, "Welcome back, Manager. Would you like something to drink?"
She held up a freshly poured cup of coffee, her eyes full of anticipation.
"Step aside!" Lily snapped impatiently, feeling irritated.
Alice's warm face was met with a cold shoulder as the two left her behind and entered the elevator.
In the upstairs office, James relived the events at the park with a long sigh, "We were really lucky to have Irving there. If he hadn't stepped in at the critical moment, we would have been done for."
"I didn't expect him to be a wizard. No wonder he has such good equipment." Lily had initially thought Irving was just lucky until she saw the fireball spell he cast, which left her deeply shocked.
"James, aren't you planning to establish a guild in the game? If we could recruit people like him, I believe our guild's strength would significantly increase!" Lily suggested
James nodded.
He knew that the Other world generated by Blue Star's will was not just a simple game anymore. Forces in real life would start reshuffling because of this.
He had to pave the way in advance, recruiting the strong players in the game at any cost to establish a foothold in the upcoming apocalypse struggle.
"Even if we can't recruit him into the guild, we can't make him our enemy. His potential is too great..." James murmured.
...
[Item Information: Severely Damaged Wand]
[Materials Needed for Repair: 10*Obsidian Stones!]
[Obsidian Description: Hard texture, glimmers faintly, rare, generally found in mines only.]
At home, Irving looked at the prompt in the virtual interface, his eyebrows furrowed as he gently touched the wand.
In the eyes of others, it was nothing more than a piece of firewood.
But every time Irving held it in his hand, he could feel a faint heat emanating from within the wand, a warmth that, albeit weak, always invigorated him.
Even though it was severely damaged, the wand still managed to maintain a standard quality, especially with the attached skill [Basic Fireball]. Irving was filled with anticipation, longing to see what it would look like after the wand was repaired.
"However... it's really hard to get this obsidian stone." Irving sighed.
In the trading section of the forum, not even a hint of [Black Obsidian] could be spotted. As for other equipment and materials, they were typically sold out within moments of being listed.
The first wave of disaster would arrive in just 15 hours!
In the communication section, numerous players had already begun complaining.
Influenced by the looming disaster, the pigmen outside the shelter had started to actively seek out and attack players. Some people were even ambushed by groups of pigmen, ruthlessly slaughtered without even having the chance to cry out.
"I don't even dare step out of the shelter right now, but hiding like this isn't a solution either."
"Wait till tomorrow, the alien beasts will start attacking the shelter. Once the shelter is destroyed..."
"God, can I quit the game? I don't want to die!"
"I'm willing to give ten million dollars to anyone who can help me survive the first wave of disaster!"
Reading the discussions among players in the forum, Irving felt an inexplicable sense of urgency.
If it were only pigmen outside the shelter, Irving would handle them with ease. However, he couldn't guarantee that there wouldn't be more powerful beasts emerging.
Everyone had one chance. If the shelter were to be destroyed, their physical bodies in reality would suffer severe repercussions. Even if they survived, the outcome wouldn't be good.
Irving first purchased a substantial amount of wood and stones at a high price in the trading section.
[Stones: 1837]
[Wood: 1624]
These basic materials were rudimentary items, used for expanding the area of the shelter. The larger the expanded area, the more materials are needed.
In addition, the shelter could undergo special upgrades, such as enhancing the sturdiness of the outer walls. However, these upgrades required more advanced materials.
Irving could only feel a headache brewing.
He had already exhausted the materials available in the trading section. He suddenly thought of James, whom he met in the park.
"He should have quite a network. It would be much more convenient for me to gather these materials through him." With this thought, Irving took out the business card and made a call.
James, currently in his office, was taken aback upon receiving the call.
Upon hearing that Irving needed a large amount of basic materials, he immediately agreed: "I haven't had the chance to properly thank you for what happened in the park. You can rest assured about the stones and wood! I'll send over the first batch of collected materials to you tomorrow morning."
"Good." Irving nodded satisfactorily, "Also, see if you can collect some more advanced materials for me. I'll take as much as you can get, and I'll exchange equivalent equipment with you later."
What James lacked the least was money, and he was thrilled when he heard about the exchange for equipment.
Soon, both of them reached a collaboration over the phone.
...
As he hung up, Irving once again entered the Other world.
Arriving at the shelter, he saw the Hell hound pup nestled in the corner, sleeping soundly.
"Howl!" The pup opened its eyes and began wagging its tail excitedly at the sight of Irving, rubbing against him affectionately.
"You're quite friendly. I should give you a name." Irving patted its small head, "I've got it, I'll call you Little Black."
"Howl!" The Hell hound pup seemed to understand and howled while sitting upright, as if responding.
Irving went out and killed a pigman nearby. When he returned, he fed the fresh pig meat he was carrying to Little Black. After that, he started upgrading the shelter.
The shelter was currently at LV1, with an area of 20 square meters. It was still too small!
He must expand the area as soon as possible.
[Would you like to use wood* 500 and stones* 500 to upgrade the shelter?]
[The next level will increase the area to 100 square meters.]
"Yes." Irving replied.
In the next moment, the area of the shelter expanded fivefold. Little Black, who was eating the pig meat, witnessed this amazing change and started running excitedly around the shelter, as if inspecting its own territory.
"This should do for now." Irving was still somewhat unsatisfied. Although he still had a lot of stones and wood left, he didn't plan on continuing the upgrade. Instead, he went outside the shelter with Little Black and took out a scroll.
It was the[Watchtower blueprint]he had exchanged with Lily for the[Pigskin Armor].
[Would you like to use 1000 * stones and 1000 * wood to build a Lv1 Watchtower?]
"Yes."
Soon, a tower about four meters high appeared outside the shelter. Irving climbed up it and began observing the surroundings with a telescope...
He immediately spotted the altar from before, and the slope where the Hellhound and the Mountain Leopard had fought the day before.
The viewing range from the shelter was a radius of five kilometers.
"Wait... what's that?" Irving's face gradually turned grave. A group of alien beasts was gathering under the distant slope. But when his gaze went further, he suddenly became excited.
"Over there... there's actually a mine!"