Verifying this assumption wasn't difficult—as long as Lucas could survive this invasion wave.
He quietly observed the house durability on the system screen, waiting for more than ten minutes until the invasion countdown dropped to exactly 5 hours remaining while the house durability still stayed at 10/10. Only then did Lucas feel somewhat relieved.
"When I woke up, the house durability was 9/10, and the countdown until the invasion ended was 5 hours and 17 minutes."
"So I can assume that the initial invasion duration is 6 hours. Every 40 minutes, those… monsters or whatever outside will reduce the house's durability by 1 point."
"That means even if I do nothing, it will only consume 9 durability. They won't be able to break in and harm me."
Having reached this conclusion, Lucas couldn't help but let out a sigh of relief. His whole body slumped, as if all his strength had been drained—or rather, as if the weight on his shoulders had finally been lifted.
The pounding outside continued relentlessly, but Lucas grew more and more tired, drowsiness taking over. Thinking that he would be safe for the night, he simply leaned against the wall and fell asleep.
The next morning.
Lucas slowly opened his eyes. The darkness and the monsters outside were gone. Only grass and sunlight filtered through the glass, falling onto him.
"Morning already…"
Lucas murmured, lifting his stiff and sore body from sleeping in an awkward position and stretching a bit. Then he looked at the system panel on his phone screen.
[Master: Lucas Benedict]
[Level 0 House]
[Materials: 1 wood, 0 stone, 1 soil, 0 Demonic Stone]
[Upgrade: Demonic Stone 0/10]
[Note: Upgrade your house to Level 1 to unlock all system functions]
[Note: 64 hours 42 minutes remain until the next invasion]
[House Durability: 2/10 (requires 1 wood, 1 stone, 1 soil, or 1 Demonic Stone to restore 1 durability)]
[Reward: 1 attribute point]
Everything was within Lucas's expectations, and the 64 hours of preparation time made him breathe a sigh of relief.
But the reward section made him freeze. After hesitating for a moment, Lucas tapped on [Reward].
[Attribute Point: 1 attribute point is equivalent in value to 1 Demonic Stone. It can be used to restore house durability or upgrade the house level.]
[Do you want to use the attribute point?]
Lucas stroked his chin thoughtfully, considering how to make the most of this attribute point.
There were still 64 hours before the next invasion, and Lucas naturally needed to gather enough materials to restore the house durability back to 10/10 before that moment arrived. If he used this attribute point for repairs, his workload would be reduced somewhat.
However, the key point was that the attribute point could replace a Demonic Stone.
Even though Lucas didn't yet know what a Demonic Stone was, it was clear that only it and attribute points could be used to upgrade the house. Meanwhile, repairs could be done entirely with wood, stone, and soil.
Using the attribute point for repairs would be a bit wasteful.
"Forget it, I'll think about it later."
Lucas temporarily set the matter aside.
He took a knife from the kitchen, cautiously opened the door, and stepped outside.
There were no monsters.
If it weren't for the dense footprints trampling the grass around the house, Lucas might have thought that what happened last night was just an illusion.
Right now, his house stood alone on a flat patch of land in the middle of some forest, and Lucas couldn't see any other living creatures.
After walking around outside for a while and confirming that there was no danger, Lucas returned inside.
He had a more serious problem to deal with.
"I knew it…"
Looking at the refrigerator—half-filled but completely without power—Lucas sighed heavily, then quickly composed himself.
More accurately, it was fortunate that he had prepared a refrigerator and food right after moving in, planning to cook himself a nice meal to celebrate this major milestone in his life.
Who would have thought that this food would become essential survival supplies?
That's right—having temporarily resolved the safety issue, Lucas now had to face another serious problem: water and food for survival.
The food in the refrigerator would only last him about three days. Moreover, without electricity to preserve it, he would be forced to eat it even faster before it spoiled and became inedible.
"Forget it, I'll think about it later."
Once again muttering that to himself, Lucas began gathering materials to repair the house's durability.
Wood, stone, and soil.
In this forest, everything was easy to find.
For collecting wood, lacking proper tools like an axe or saw to cut down trees, Lucas could only choose a sturdy kitchen knife. He began chopping off smaller branches from different trees, bundling them together like firewood and carrying them back home.
After all, as long as it was wood, it didn't matter whether it was small branches or large trunks—the system would recognize it as material.
"Huff… huff…"
Lucas breathed heavily as he exerted himself to cut a fairly large branch from its trunk.
Having eaten nothing since the previous night, he was losing strength faster than expected.
After only about two hours of chopping wood, the arm holding the knife was already numb and aching. The frequency of his breaks increased, forcing Lucas to retreat back to the house.
5 wood.
After two hours of work, he had only gathered 4 wood, and had expended a great deal of energy. Lucas couldn't help but sigh in frustration.
[Note: 62 hours 25 minutes remain until the next invasion]
He didn't just want to gather enough materials—he also wanted to stockpile them so he could spend more time solving the food and water problem. But with the current situation, that might not be very feasible.