Endless Winter: My Camp Upgrades Infinitely Chapter 1 - 1 1 The World in the Grip of Winter Please Add to Favorites!
The cold wind howled fiercely, blanketing the sky with swirling snow.
In the veil of darkness, colossal trees draped in pristine snow rose like unyielding white bastions amid the gale, imposing and steadfast.
East of Redwood Ridge, near a plain-looking cavern entrance.
Xia Hong positioned himself in a classic Long Fist pose.
Once he regulated his breath, his eyes sharpened abruptly, and he launched a rapid strike.
Towering at 190 centimeters, he lacked bulging muscles yet possessed a sturdy, imposing build.
As he executed his sequence of punches, snowflakes danced wildly around him.
All at once, a boy with a fresh, boyish look emerged from the cave.
Spotting Xia Hong, admiration lit up the boy's features clearly.
“Brother, you're close to advancing to the Lumberjack Level, aren't you?”
“Nearly there, just another month or so.”
“Wow, that's impressive.
Father mentioned that only three geniuses around the nine nearby camps have reached Lumberjack Level before turning eighteen.
You'll make it the fourth.”
Xia Hong lifted his chin, showing a refined face that contrasted his strong frame.
Gazing at his little brother Xia Chuan's face full of awe, Xia Hong felt a surge of satisfaction, though he shook his head faintly after regaining composure.
“Reaching Lumberjack Level isn't a big deal.
Over at Rogel Camp, they've got the Excavation Level; those are the true powerhouses.”
The mention of “Excavation Level” sparked yearning on Xia Chuan's face right away.
“Rogel Camp boasts five Excavation Level warriors.
They say those folks can dig up thousands of pounds of coal daily for the settlement.
That means no need to burn timber for heat, plus they craft keen blades from the coal, turning hunts for Low-level Cold Beasts into a breeze.”
Xia Hong gave a subtle nod and replied, “It's a mid-sized outpost with more than five hundred souls, after all.
Without real power, the Cold Beasts lurking in Redwood Ridge wouldn't allow such cozy living.”
“Too bad Father's wounded; he'd have hit Excavation Level ages ago otherwise.
If Great Xia had access to coal, we'd probably be a mid-sized camp by now.”
A mid-sized camp's criteria include surpassing five hundred residents, harboring Excavation Level fighters, and fending off Low-level Cold Beast surges.
Right now, Great Xia Camp counts just 239 members and thirteen Lumberjack Level fighters.
With that kind of force, forget beast tides—even a single tougher Intermediate Cold Beast could doom the whole place to being hunted.
“Rogel Camp's way too greedy.
If they'd just trade some coal our way, it'd change everything.”
“Coal keeps folks warm, smelts metal, and holds value equal to bartering for top-tier goods from massive camps.
Rogel doesn't have surplus themselves, so they'd never part with it for us.
Plus, our little settlement lacks anything worthwhile to offer in trade.”
Even more vital, should other Redwood Ridge camps get coal too, Rogel would lose its edge in security and arms.
The protection draws in new people, while superior weapons dominate battles.
These perks make Rogel Camp the unchallenged ruler of the Redwood Ridge region.
Handing out coal to rivals would mean surrendering their dominance.
As someone from another world, Xia Hong peered deeper than Xia Chuan could.
A month back, he arrived in this place.
From first shock to steady resolve, Xia Hong weathered considerable turmoil.
This realm teems with dangers.
Dangers stem not just from the odd creatures called Cold Beasts.
Harsh weather and mysterious events add to the threats.
Winter reigns eternal here, with no change of seasons.
Moreover, the chills of this winter dwarf those of Blue Star by far.
By Xia Hong's rough guess, nighttime lows hit at least minus seventy degrees, lethal to ordinary folks.
Stranger still, daytime proves even icier than night.
Regular people from Blue Star couldn't endure, nor could this world's average survivors without proper gear against the freeze.
Luckily, daylight spans a mere four hours, so humanity sticks to nighttime routines—which explains Xia Hong's nocturnal training.
Plus, daytime's deeper cold stirs Cold Beasts to greater frenzy, heightening their ferocity and power several folds over night.
Thus, for foraging or hunts, people prefer the night's relative mercy.
Thrust into this peril-filled, endless winter realm, many would shatter early on.
Yet Xia Hong not only adjusted swiftly but sensed an inner excitement.
For in his prior life, ALS had gripped him.
Born to a martial lineage, Xia Hong lost his parents young.
He trained in combat and conditioning from childhood, far more disciplined than most.
But destiny's cruel twist handed him a fatal illness.
In his last phase, he quit martial pursuits.
While his hands still worked, he dove into phone games till paralysis set in.
Facing total helplessness, he picked a clear day to bow out.
Instead, he awoke here as the present Xia Hong.
This world brims with hazards, yet it's a fresh chance at life, for which he's deeply thankful.
Besides, providence granted him this vigorous, young form.
At 191 centimeters and over 90 kilograms, with a narrow waist and long, powerful arms, he's barely past sixteen.
From old online chats, this build screamed ideal for martial arts.
Freshly arrived, though fit and young, the body mustered around two thousand jin initially.
Still, Blue Star's fabled boxer Tyson peaked at eight hundred kilos, or sixteen hundred jin.
At first, Xia Hong deemed himself mighty.
That changed when he saw a camp woman casually hoist a five-to-six-hundred-kilo log, revealing:
In this world, baseline human power rivals Tyson's.
It fits; adaptation shapes survival.
Amid such brutal frosts, without evolution, extinction would follow.
Aware of his limits, Xia Hong refused to grow lazy.
His old-world martial wisdom served well here.
For effectiveness, he picked Grand Ancestor Long Fist.
In one month, fueled by Cold Beast meat, his power surged to four thousand jin.
His father Xia Ding noted he neared the five-thousand-jin mark for Lumberjack Level.
“Hitting Lumberjack Level lets me join the logging crew and glimpse beyond the camp walls.”
Back home, five thousand jin would mark superhuman might.
Here, it just qualifies for tree-felling.
Precisely—Lumberjack Level, true to its name.
At that stage, you're set to fell timber!
“Brother, Father's back!”
Abruptly, Xia Chuan gestured toward Redwood Ridge's woods and yelled.
Xia Hong glanced over to spot a dozen-strong group bursting from the dense forest.
They formed six pairs, each duo hauling a massive twenty-meter trunk, front and back.
As the six pairs and their loads cleared the treeline fully, the sight of the sturdy form trailing them drew grins from Xia Hong and Xia Chuan.
Their father Xia Ding always said each outing's a risk.
Returning whole, sans casualties, warrants cheer.
Still, as the thirteen-man logging squad drew near, Xia Hong and Xia Chuan saw no elation on their faces—only grim tension and worry.
The brothers rushed forward, Xia Hong questioning straightaway.
“Father, what's the matter?”
“How much time till dawn?”
Xia Ding's tone held a forced steadiness, masking deep-seated fear.
But Xia Hong peered skyward, gauged the moon's spot, and responded promptly.
“About fifteen minutes.”
“Hurry inside the camp and douse those fires.
No flames whatsoever.”
This hit Xia Hong like a shock, his eyes widening in confusion.
“Father, killing the bonfires by day will leave everyone in the camp freezing solid.”
Daytime bites colder than night.
Even sheltered in caves sans fire spells doom.
Xia Ding leads the camp, knowing this best of all.
So why issue such an order now?
“The Deceitful Monster from Redwood Ridge has appeared!”