Meaning a single Axeheart Realm can only cut down one tree per night at most.
This still assumes ensuring safety.
And the Red Frost Tree is already the easiest to cut in the outer area.
Before heading out tonight, Bruce hadn't ruled out the idea of gathering the 200 units of wood needed to upgrade the small fire pit in one go, leaving the additional 50 units of Iron for later.
But only after cutting the trees did he realize how hard those 200 units of wood would be.
The moment the giant tree was cut down, the camp system's resource bar changed.
[Resource: Wood 5 Coal 0 Iron 0 Silver 0 Gold 0]
After an entire night's effort, almost worn out, he managed just five units of wood.
"The only way to increase efficiency is by raising the number of people; once Charlie and Tony break through, the pace should pick up. Slowly, no rush."
Bruce comforted himself with a few words, rested for a while before getting up, tying the bag of Crystal Fruit to the tree, then hoisting the tree back to the camp.
After encountering the Snow Mane, and now seeing Bruce bringing back a tree along with over a thousand Kilograms of Crystal Fruit, the camp members didn't react much.
Of course, now that the depleted wood and food supplies were replenished, everyone's hearts felt more at ease.
Bruce understood that without improving their strength, there wouldn't be significant changes at the camp.
So in the days to come, aside from utilizing the remaining Cold Beast Flesh to train, he made nightly excursions.
Of course, not every outing was fruitful.
The Ice Tree he knew the location of was emptied after picking from it three times.
The next time it matures remains uncertain, so Bruce begins expanding his search area.
Fortunately, over the next period, he discovered two more trees laden with Crystal Fruit.
In total, he made six trips to pick all the Crystal Fruit from the two trees, bringing the camp's Crystal Fruit stockpile to over seven thousand Kilograms.
With more food, not only did everyone's stomachs get full, but smiles gradually appeared on their faces, no longer as gloomy as before.
Besides Crystal Fruit, Bruce cut down a tree each night and brought it back.
After twenty days, the wood resource climbed from 5 all the way to 87.
Although possibilities for Gold, Silver, Coal, and Iron remained at zero, the ability to obtain wood posed no difficulty anymore; Bruce remained quite pleased.
Thus, following a steady routine until the twenty-fourth day, dragging a tree back to the camp, Bruce heard good news just as he walked into the cave.
"Leader, I've made a breakthrough."
"Brother, I've also reached the Axeheart Realm."
Charlie and Tony both broke through at the same time!
Seeing them each lift a 5,000-Kilogram wooden stake in turn, Bruce let out a heavy sigh of relief.
Axeheart Realm, three of them!
Though compared to other camps, the strength is still weak, it's finally a start.
Moreover, during this period, the improvement of Clark and Jordan's group of five was also notable.
As long as they follow the plans and gradually recover to their former state, it's only a matter of time.
The next evening just after nightfall, Charlie and Tony, looking excited, strapped their stone axes to their waists and followed Bruce.
"I'll say it again, Redwood Ridge is dangerous. You must listen to me outside and not act without permission. Tonight, the main purpose is to familiarize you with our territory, and each of you must single-handedly chop down a tree."
"Understood, Leader!"
Detecting the seriousness in Bruce's tone, Charlie didn't call him brother but, following Tony, addressed him as Leader for the first time.
Bruce nodded, gave some instructions to the five behind him, and led the way out of the cave while Tony and Charlie closely followed.
Now that Charlie was also out, the camp was naturally under the care of Clark's group of five.
The camp was well hidden, and as long as no special situations occurred, safety should be assured.
Though it was night, under the light reflected by the snow, Bruce could clearly see Charlie and Tony's excited expressions.
In fact, they weren't the only ones.
Bruce was also excited the first time he went out.
Because they were always in the cave, sealing the entrance during the day.
When Thomas was around, they could open the entrance for some fresh air at night.
Since Thomas was gone, for the past month or so, besides him, everyone in the camp had barely seen daylight.
"People in this world must be cursed…"
When Bruce first crossed over and learned about this world, he had this feeling.
Always in the cold, unable to see the light, forced to hide in the shadows, with a vast difference in strength against Cold Beasts, and also the mysterious Deceitful Monster claiming lives.
The plight of humanity in this world is simply unimaginable.
This was beyond a Hell Level situation.
The real eighteen layers of hell might not be worse than this.
He didn't know if there were any humans living well, but at least what he saw now was this hellish scene.
The Rogel Camp might be doing okay, right?
Lost in his thoughts, Bruce had already reached the outskirts of Redwood Ridge.
"Tonight's task is twofold. One, to familiarize you with the environment here, including where the Cold Beasts are, how to identify them, the local wood types, and the extent of our Harper Camp's territory. The other, you two have to cut down a tree each tonight and bring it back."
The excitement on their faces hadn't faded, and Bruce didn't dampen their enthusiasm.
He led them around the perimeter, explaining as they went.
After over twenty nights, Bruce had become thoroughly familiar with the 500-meter perimeter.
The location of three Ice Trees, and seven Golden Frost Trees confirmed to have Cold Beasts lurking.
The area with the densest distribution of Red Frost Trees, and the spot with the most small Red Frost Trees.
After explaining each spot, Charlie and Tony stayed silent, listening and remembering everything carefully.
Until they reached the location of the third Ice Tree, and an unexpected situation arose.
There was someone near the third Ice Tree.
Unlike Charlie and Tony, Bruce was always on alert for surrounding activity as they walked.
So, a hundred meters from the third Ice Tree, he noticed movement over there.
"There's someone ahead, tread lightly and don't make a sound, let's take a look first."
Bruce crouched down first, with Charlie and Tony following him, moving silently through the snow to the back of a tree, gradually nearing the third Ice Tree.
Though visibility was decent in the snow, it was still night, and they got about thirty meters from the Ice Tree before Bruce saw clearly over there.
Upon seeing, his brows furrowed and his expression turned a bit grim.
From that distance, he couldn't make out their faces, but he saw there were four people, and one of them was carrying a large knife.
They were from the Taylor Camp.
It was the fifth time Bruce had seen people from Taylor Camp intruding on his territory.
Indeed, after the Snow Mane incident, in just over twenty days, Bruce had encountered Taylor Camp people three more times in his territory.
In this timeframe, he found three Ice Trees in total.
The first was on the west side, closest to Taylor Camp.
The second was over a hundred meters north of his usual entry point into Redwood Ridge.
The third was this one, further east on his territory.
The entire Harper territory was only 500 meters wide, and Bruce usually entered from the middle.
The previous four times he found Taylor Camp people on the west side, but this time they were on the east side.
This meant that not only did Taylor Camp people come in boldly, but their level of incursion was also getting excessive.
"The four of you from Taylor Camp, you've crossed the line!"
This time, Bruce chose not to ignore it.
He stood up and walked towards the Ice Tree, loudly reprimanding them.
Upon hearing Bruce, Tony and Charlie realized those four were from Taylor Camp, and immediately stood up in anger, following behind Bruce.
Thieves always feel guilty.
The four from Taylor Camp, originally picking Crystal Fruits from the tree, jumped down nervously when they heard the reprimand, turning back to stare tensely at Bruce.
Bruce, approaching them, also continuously scanned the surroundings.
Taylor Camp has two archers, he didn't know if they were around.
"May I ask who you three are?"
One of the four stepped forward to inquire about Bruce and his group's identity.
From the voice, it sounded like a middle-aged person.
Bruce moved in closer to clearly see the four people, all appearing middle-aged.
The person who stepped out held the only knife among them.
The previous owner of that knife had already been beheaded by the Snow Mane.
"Harper Camp, Bruce."
"You're the son of old Thomas."
Just as Bruce recognized them, they recognized Bruce.
The man with the knife recognized Bruce's features immediately.
"So young?"
"Coming out at night, at the Axeheart Realm already."
"Old Thomas has a good son indeed."
The remaining three seemed to know Thomas as well.
Whether they were intentionally flattering or genuinely surprised by Bruce's youth, they all spoke up.
"Don't dodge the main issue, you crossed the line picking fruit, didn't you?"
"Hey, you…"
The last person to jump down from the tree was clearly irritated when Bruce wouldn't drop the boundary issue.l
He even took two steps toward Bruce.
However, before the person could say more, the man with the knife stopped him with a hand.
"Nephew, I'm Henry. I knew your father Thomas. If you're willing, you can call me Uncle Henry. Recently, our camp has encountered some problems, the gap in Crystal Fruits is too big.
As a last resort, I brought them here tonight to borrow some food from you at Harper. We'll repay as soon as possible, what do you say?"
Upon hearing Wang Henry's words, Bruce's expression turned gloomy.
They were toying with him!
Bruce merely stared at Henry, silent for a long while.
But it was Charlie behind him who couldn't contain his anger anymore.
"Stealing is stealing, don't say it's borrowing. Brother, don't waste words with them. When the areas were divided by Rogel Camp, it was said that trespassing on others' territory was equivalent to murder. I'll go back and notify Father to come with reinforcements right now."
Hearing Charlie's words, the faces of Henry and his group instantly darkened.