The First Order

On the same afternoon, the blizzard had become so heavy that even the officers of the Divine Arms Battalion were finding it unbearable. The private soldiers with the responsibility of forging a path in the snow had to lift their legs high each time they took a step forward.

In this accursed weather, even though everyone was taking turns to create a path in the snow, it was still extremely taxing, even though the terrain was flat.

However, no one else dared to faint for the rest of the afternoon as they were all afraid they would get dragged to their deaths in the snow by Ren Xiaosu.

“Let’s set up camp here.” One of the officers of the Divine Arms Battalion said, “We’ll continue on our march after the snow has stopped.”

It was not the time to think about saving face. If they continued marching, all of them might just end up dying in the snow.

If that happened, they would similarly not be able to accomplish their mission since they wouldn’t even be able to get to Mt. Shuanglong.

That officer of the Divine Arms Battalion felt he could still keep marching, but the private soldiers were simply not fit enough to go on.

When they learned they could finally set up camp and get some rest, all of the private soldiers seemed like they had been injected with a new lease on life. They were trembling in the cold weather and even wanted to sit down in the snow, but Ren Xiaosu roared at them, “Get up and set up your tents. How can y’all think of resting when you don’t have a tent to take shelter in? Do you want to die out here in the snow?”

Actually, they could also rest in the snow without setting up a tent. All they had to do was dig a snow pit and bury themselves in it. This wasn’t some derisive suggestion but a genuine solution if tents were not available while trekking through deep snow. Most people would think it would be colder in a snow pit, but being in one actually helps keep a person warm, because the surroundings outside of a snow pit are even colder than the inside.

Ren Xiaosu had heard from Zhang Jinglin that some human settlements in the far north would build igloos to keep themselves warm in the winter.

Everyone struggled to get up and were using their last bit of strength to set up their tents when faced with the threat of death. However, some of the platoons were in terrible shape. In order to conserve their energy along the way, they had even thrown away their tents at some point. If they could manage to squeeze into other people’s tents, it wouldn’t be so bad. But if the others did not share their tents, they would have to dig snow pits and gamble on whether they would be able to endure the cold in there.

Ren Xiaosu ordered Li Qingzheng and the others, “I’ll set up the tent while y’all go and gather some firewood from the ground. If you can’t find any, tree branches will do too. We have to get a campfire going so that we can keep ourselves warm. Have a bowl of hot porridge, each of you. Otherwise, we won’t be able to bear it for much longer.”

“Alright.” Li Qingzheng’s face was flushed from the cold. “Leave it to me. Follow me, brothers. Let’s go and collect some firewood.”

Branches that were collected from trees would produce a lot of choking smoke when burned. But this was nothing compared to having a campfire to warm themselves with.

At this moment, the voice from the palace in Ren Xiaosu’s mind said, “Quest complete. Awarded Basic Skill Duplication Scroll.”

It wasn’t until this moment that his quest was finally completed. This was probably the hardest standard quest he had ever done.

At present, Ren Xiaosu had two Basic Skill Duplication Scrolls on him. But he didn’t intend to use them since there was no target nearby for him to learn from. But if he met Hu Shuo again, he could probably give it a try. Although the Basic Skill Duplication Scroll couldn’t copy superpowers, Hu Shuo must have some skills that would prove useful for Ren Xiaosu. Even if he was just trying his luck, he could probably still get something good from him.

But the palace was not finished as it continued, “Side quest complete. A new product, Seeds, has been unlocked for purchase in the vending machine!”

Ren Xiaosu’s eyes lit up. His patience for this side quest had finally paid off. It felt like it had taken such a long time for it to be completed. But upon recounting the days carefully, he realized it was only the second day of the new year today.

He had a look inside the palace and saw the vending machine standing quietly within it. A new transparent window had appeared next to the Explosive Poker slot.

There were some seeds scattered within the window. But to Ren Xiaosu’s surprise, they all looked somewhat different from each other. Could it be that different plants would grow from different seeds?

The newly unlocked window slot was just like a candy box in a grocery store. The colorful packaging represented different flavors while different colors of seeds represented different

uses.

He placed a gratitude token into the slot and watched a crimson seed about the size of a thumb get dispensed into the pick-up compartment at the bottom. As Ren Xiaosu held it in his hand, the palace did not explain what this item was for.

“Do I have to plant it before I know what it does?” Ren Xiaosu wondered. ‘But more importantly, shouldn’t the palace at least tell me what kind of environment it grows in?’

It had to have magical properties since it was a product of the palace. However, he would have to test it for himself.

For example, Ren Xiaosu also had to discover how to activate Explosive Poker by himself. If he had not managed to do so, they would have remained bog-standard playing cards.

What should he do now? Should he try planting it in the ground? What if this seed could germinate and sprout immediately? In this winter weather, how great would it be if the plant that grew from the seed bore fruit or something immediately?

Ren Xiaosu had always had great expectations of the side quest rewards awarded by the palace. They were items that basically ignored the laws of nature!

Ren Xiaosu said to Chen Wudi, “Keep watch here at the tent. When they get back, tell them that I spotted a small wild boar and that I’m planning to catch it for our dinner tonight. If I come back late, just improvise and make up an excuse.”

“OK.” Chen Wudi nodded.

Ren Xiaosu headed out into the snow alone. As he walked further and further, he felt that he might have been too hasty to tell Chen Wudi to improvise a reason for his disappearance.

He headed further north to look for a suitable location to experiment with the seed and find out just how magical it was.

He kept heading north until he found a spot that was slightly downwind. Then he started digging up the snow and soil before planting the crimson seed.

SOOV

As Ren Xiaosu patiently waited, he saw the seed he had just planted suddenly sprout. Bramble grew outwards as the thorny vines spread out dozens of meters across the snow before gradually stopping.

If Ren Xiaosu cleared away the snow on the ground, he would see the red bramble spread out on the ground like a spiderweb where it laid in wait for its prey.

At this moment, the plant connected with Ren Xiaosu’s consciousness like it did for Explosive Poker. Ren Xiaosu was shocked when he realized that this plant was extremely aggressive. If it were not controlled by him, it would attack any creature that came near to it!

What was this? Ren Xiaosu had thought this plant could bear fruit that could be eaten, but it turned out to be an attack plant.

No, rather than an attack plant, it was more appropriate to call it a defensive type.

If Ren Xiaosu and the others went and lived in the forested mountains in the future, they would not have to be afraid of any wild animals as long as he planted this thing in their surroundings.

As Ren Xiaosu looked at the other colored seeds in the palace, he wondered what kind of abilities they had. Surely one of them had to be edible, right?

After some thought, he placed an additional five gratitude tokens into the vending machine to trade for five seeds all at once. Then he planted them in the soil at long distance from each other.

As Chen Wudi sat in the tent and waited, Li Qingzheng asked, “Wudi, where did your master go?”

Chen Wudi thought for a moment and said, “My master went out to catch a wild boar for our dinner.”

Li Qingzheng asked, “Then why isn’t he back

yet?”

Chen Wudi gave it some thought. “The boar probably doesn’t agree to it.”