Endless Winter: My Camp Upgrades Infinitely

......

Xiang Ping felt dizzy as he stepped off the stage.

Since arriving in Great Xia at the beginning of the year and joining the Hunting Team, he hadn't had a clear grasp of the overall situation at camp. He only knew that Great Xia was very powerful, but the extent of its power was truly unexpected to him.

According to what Zhou Yingkai just said, breaking through to the Cold Resistance Level is not uncommon. With many exceeding thirty thousand pounds of basic strength, his own strength, not even reaching twenty thousand, wouldn't even count as mid-level among those in the Earth-digging Realm at camp?

"How many Earth-digging Realm people are there in Great Xia, exactly?"

Xiang Ping's muttering happened to be overheard by Xiang Liang, who was approaching.

He had also heard the conversation on stage and understood his father's confusion. After a moment of thought, he spoke: "Before the competition, there were about 4,600, but I reckon, once this competition is over, it might double, or even more!"

Double that, and it would be over nine thousand, even ten thousand.

How is that possible!

Xiang Ping was shocked, turning to see his three children standing nearby.

Recalling that his eldest son Xiang Liang helped in the Camp Supply Department and was well aware of the camp's population, he continued to ask, "How can there be so many?"

Xiang Liang shook his head helplessly and said, "Our camp's Logging Realm population was already close to twenty thousand. Adding another twelve thousand from Longyou, the total exceeds thirty thousand. Ever since the announcement of the competition last month, everyone held back their cultivation from breaking through. Once the competition began tonight, there were continuous breakthroughs. On the Earth-digging Realm side, it's not as exaggerated, but the breakthroughs in the Logging Realm group are just..."

Insane!

At the moment, Xiang Liang could only describe it with these four words. Being in a later group himself, he watched the entire selection process of the Logging Realm group.

From the fourth round when Zhao Yuankong's group advanced, there was a group in the fifth round where all three members broke through to the Earth-digging Realm in the iron cage simultaneously.

The breakthrough wasn't the surprise; the key was that Qiu Peng didn't stop the assessment but let the group successfully hunt a Cold Beast and pass. This way, everyone realized that breaking through to the Earth-digging Realm during the assessment wasn't against the rules.

Once this was understood, the remaining teams went crazy.

Entering the iron cage without other matters, anyone who could break through began breaking through during the battle. After all, the difficulty of hunting a Cold Beast decreased after breaking through, significantly increasing their chances of advancing.

Moreover, the pre-competition group allocation was such that each team had a dozen or so at the Peak of Wood Cutting Realm, resulting in breakthroughs to the Earth-digging Realm springing up like mushrooms after a rain.

"Across eighteen selection rounds, starting from the fifth, almost every team had 5 to 7 people breaking through to the Earth-digging Realm after entering the iron cage. In total, just based on what I saw, there were at least seven or eight hundred breakthroughs. Crucially, this is only in Xia City; including Mirror Valley, Wuyuan, and Longyou, the number of breakthroughs easily exceeded a thousand.

Moreover, this was only the first day of the competition. Since breaking through to the Earth-digging Realm didn't affect subsequent rounds, the number of breakthroughs in the upcoming days is bound to increase…"

After hearing his son's words, the surprise on Xiang Ping's face gradually faded, leaving only numbness, and finally, a trace of sadness flashed in his eyes.

Before merging with Great Xia, He Feng was a medium-sized camp, and as the leader, Xiang Ping naturally had some pride.

After being incorporated into Great Xia at the beginning of the year, he didn't sink into complacency. Instead, he quickly chose to join a Hunting Team, earning Contribution Value through hunting, exchanging it for resources, training diligently, and planning to gradually improve his status as he became stronger.

If possible, he wanted to establish his own Hunting Team and gradually rise to the upper echelons of Great Xia.

But now, it seemed this idea was a bit naïve!

The Hunting Department currently stipulates that an individual's basic strength must at least exceed twenty-five thousand to qualify for forming a team. He hadn't even reached this standard, not to mention this was only one of the standards.

Noticing the sadness in his father's eyes, Xiang Liang comforted him, "Father, don't be discouraged. We've only been at the camp for six months, so it's normal to be behind others. As long as we keep striving forward, success is just a matter of time!"

Xiang Ping nodded, gradually feeling a surge of fighting spirit.

Though he was already thirty-eight, given Ice Abyss's average lifespan of over forty, he was indeed approaching old age. But breaking through to the Cold Resistance Level would add sixty more years to his lifespan, providing plenty of time and opportunities.

Thinking about how his son had also participated in the Logging Realm selection, Xiang Ping immediately inquired afterward, "Ping'er, did you advance?"

"Big Brother advanced, he's the best!"

Before Xiang Liang could speak, his sister Xiang Rong, in his arms, answered for him.

Upon hearing that his son advanced, Xiang Ping was filled with surprise. His son's basic strength was only just six thousand pounds, certainly not outstanding among the Logging Realm in the camp, and advancing was completely beyond his expectations.

Evidently, his father was unaware of the selection mechanism for the Logging Realm group.

After explaining the selection process for the Logging Realm group, Xiang Liang shook his head and said,

"I was in group 168, quite fortunate, with a leader named Zhu Wu, who led our entire team to advance. The second round starts tomorrow night, and like the Earth-digging Realm group, everyone gets 10 battle chances, from which the top 128 will be selected for the finals. I'm sure I won't have the chance this round!"

Xiang Ping now understood that his son's advancement was due to luck. Hearing the dejected tone in his son's voice, he smiled and said, "Weren't you just encouraging me? Now you're feeling down. This is only the first year; what's the rush? Our team captain says there will be one of these competitions every year. If you work hard, you might make it into the top hundred next year."