Chapter 420: Chapter 200: Xu An, Ten Thousand Urgent, Presenting Treasure

First Year of Great Xia, December 29

North slope of Five Ape Mountain, in the vast snowy night.

Compared to Redwood Ridge, the trees here at Five Ape Mountain are much sparser, but the variety is clearly richer than over there.

The trees in the Ice Abyss World not only have a layer of ice crystals on their bark, but their branches are also perpetually covered with snow, giving them a frosty white appearance. Therefore, determining the type of tree generally requires cutting them open.

But Five Ape Mountain is different. Just from the shape and form here, one can distinguish them from those at Redwood Ridge.

The overall vegetation at Redwood Ridge mainly consists of Red Frost Trees, followed by Golden Frost Trees, and then a very few precious species like Ice Crystal and Blue Jade.

Red Frost and Golden Frost Trees share a characteristic: their trunks are straight and massive, and their growth cycles are similar, making them highly suitable for constructing houses and woodworking, serving as very useful timber.

However, the trees on this side of Five Ape Mountain are not only smaller in scale than those at Redwood Ridge;

In addition, there are very few with straight trunks, with most being twisted into various shapes;

Their growth environments are chaotic, with some emerging horizontally from stone crevices, some leaning and planted crookedly in the snow, and several clustering together, with varying thickness, creating a jumbled impression.

But precisely because of this, one can immediately identify their species upon sight, which is certainly richer than those at Redwood Ridge.

Beside a crooked-neck big tree, after listening to Captain Xu An’s explanation, all the members of the Golden Sword Team showed a look of realization.

“I was wondering why so many people from the Harvesting Department have been following our Hunting Team to Five Ape Mountain. It turns out they’re all looking for more rare tree species.”

“It’s not surprising, most of the Harvesting Department is in the Logging Realm, and they can’t go deep into Redwood Ridge. They can only collect timber from the periphery, and the Contribution Value they gain can at most cover some Beast Meat, so it’s better to come to Five Ape Mountain. If they discover a useful rare species, they can make a lot instantly.”

“Yes, yes, yes, I heard that last month someone discovered a whole Vermilion Wood Tree, and the Camp Supply Department awarded them 200 Contribution Value instantly.”

“Hiss… 200 points? That’s enough for us to hunt dozens of Cold Beasts.”

“Vermilion Wood is the material Minister uses for making puppets, so it’s naturally expensive.”

“Do people in the Harvesting Department earn that much?”

“No, no, no, it depends on luck for such things. More people rely on diligent collection, so it’s just that those willing to take a risk have a chance.”

“That’s true, it’s still more stable than our hunting.”

…

Hearing the discussion among the team members, Xu An shook his head, took out a scroll from his arms, displayed it in front of everyone and said: “When you’re free, you should flip through this Great Xia Map more.

Not just Five Ape Mountain, but also Arrow Bamboo Forest, Pingxi Plain, Mirror Valley, Twin Dragon Mountain, including Redwood Ridge—these different regions, their environmental characteristics, what Cold Beasts are there, and even the types of vegetation. This book contains detailed descriptions.”

“Hehe, Captain, where do we find the time to read that?”

“Just looking at that thing gives me a headache.”

“Hunting every day is tiring enough, can’t really focus on a book.”

…

Seeing that everyone didn’t take it seriously, Xu An’s face suddenly darkened, and he said: “Don’t treat this lightly. I’m hunting every day just like you, but I still make time to look at this, have you all forgotten Minister’s words?

If you’re part of Great Xia and don’t even know which regions belong to your own territory, or where they are, do you even count as a Great Xia person?”

Hearing this, everyone immediately turned serious, not daring to joke around.

“Now that you are all members of the Hunting Team, reading the map, understanding the distribution of Cold Beasts in various regions, the types of vegetation, and environmental characteristics not only improves the success rate of hunting, but also allows for precautions. In case of any unexpected incident, you won’t be blind, waiting to die on the spot or panicking and getting lost in the wilderness…”

While lecturing the fourteen team members, Xu An couldn’t help but sigh inwardly.

“My hunting team started too late…”

As one of the earliest in the Logging Realm of Great Xia, Xu An naturally had high expectations of himself.

In April this year, after Xu Ning met the Basic Strength standard, he created the Black Arrow Team. Although Xu An joined, he always wanted to form a Hunting Team of his own.

Early last month, after finally meeting the Basic Strength standard, and since the Earth-digging Realm population at the camp was overflowing, without a second thought, he left his brother Xu Ning’s Black Arrow Team and applied to the Hunting Department to establish this Golden Sword Team.

Although the team started with only ten members, under his leadership, they eventually successfully passed the assessment task, and the Golden Sword Team smoothly became the 83rd Hunting Team under the Hunting Department.

But after successfully forming the team, he realized this was just the beginning.

Previously, while in the Black Arrow Team, he only had to follow the team into the wilderness, focus on hunting Cold Beasts, and then wait to share the Contribution Points, without having to manage anything else.

But now as a captain, he realized how many things he had to manage.

Reasonably distributing Contribution Values; controlling the frequency of outings; choosing hunting areas; finding and selecting suitable prey; how to reasonably set traps; how team members should cooperate; which essential supplies to exchange in the Camp Supply Department; what to do when encountering unexpected situations in the wilderness; controlling mining time; how to handle conflicts between team members…