Chapter 17: The Purple Epic!

The moment Dashan’s stats panel appeared, Zhou Xu seemed to hear a voice proclaiming, “Purple Epic!”

With dual four-star maximum limits in both courage and endurance, Dashan was destined to grow into an incredibly formidable warrior!

His intelligence and spirit, capped at three stars, already surpassed the level of ordinary people, reaching what Zhou Xu would classify as an outstanding talent.

The weakest attribute was his two-star leadership.

But two stars merely meant average—no worse than the common man. In fact, over ninety percent of people in this world have two stars in leadership, so there was nothing unusual about that.

However, this did confirm that Dashan had no remarkable talent for commanding troops.

Even when fully developed in the future, he would serve primarily as a fierce fighter, perhaps commanding only small units at best.

Under this premise, his “Weapon Master” talent perfectly matched his role as a warrior, complementing his strengths well.

Looking at the others, most were typical two-star soldiers.

It turned out that even for ordinary people, having just one attribute reach three stars was no easy feat.

But on the flip side, as long as one attribute could reach three stars, it was enough to make you stand out from the crowd! That single star difference often represented an insurmountable gap for most people.

With that in mind, those with three stars were truly talents worth cultivating.

“It seems we can’t blindly chase after four- or five-star ratings; otherwise, we risk ending up with no one usable at all.”

“Leader, could you take a look? Is this how it should be arranged?” Butterfly’s voice came from the side as Zhou Xu pondered these thoughts.

He glanced at the bark pouch in Butterfly’s hands.

“Yes, that’s right,” he confirmed.

After his confirmation, Butterfly nodded and her movements grew noticeably more confident.

Watching her dive back into her work, Zhou Xu suddenly wondered, “Wait, have I checked Butterfly’s stats panel?”

Since arriving here, he’d spent less than two days with the tribe’s thirty-one members.

To be honest, including Dashan and Feique, Zhou Xu had only clearly remembered five individuals at most.

It wasn’t that he was slow to remember faces, but all the tribe members looked disheveled and dirty, which made remembering them even harder.

Given that, setting aside Dashan and the others, the twenty-plus tribe members weren’t all gathered around the same fire last night, nor were they standing still waiting for him to check each one carefully.

It wasn’t surprising if he had overlooked someone.

“Anyway, it doesn’t take much effort to take another look.”

With that thought, Zhou Xu activated his “Insight Eye” again to confirm Butterfly’s stats panel.

Name: Butterfly
Gender: Female
Age: 16
Race: Human
Status: Exhausted
Mantra: None
Talent: Dexterous Hands — These hands can sometimes work wonders!
Courage: ★★
Intelligence: ★★☆☆
Spirit: ★★☆
Endurance: ★★☆
Leadership: ★☆

Having seen the previous two-star soldiers, Butterfly’s stats pleasantly surprised him.

In fact, even before checking, Zhou Xu had prepared himself mentally, expecting Butterfly to be at least a three-star.

After all, outstanding individuals tend to show their qualities even in daily life.

Take Butterfly, for example: it was clear she learned faster and crafted better than the other four members of the craft squad.

With that in mind, her stats exceeding expectations—with two attributes reaching three stars and one reaching four stars—made it impossible for Zhou Xu not to feel pleased.

Her talent, “Dexterous Hands,” laid a solid foundation; with proper training, she would undoubtedly become an indispensable logistics member.

Leaving aside himself, although he hadn’t obtained the “Golden Legend,” now holding three “Purple Epics” in his hand, he felt the future wasn’t so bleak after all.

After nightfall, those assigned to tend the fire, boil water, and keep watch remained awake, while everyone else rested early.

In that era, there was no such thing as entertainment.

They had already labored all day for survival, and everyone, including Zhou Xu, just wanted to sleep — the next day demanded an early start.

The night passed with Zhou Xu sleeping soundly; he woke up slightly later than the previous day, which indirectly proved he had rested better.

Unlike before, when he stepped out of the tent that morning, not as many people were waiting for his orders.

That was because he had made arrangements the day before.

Within the tribe, the craft squad, patrol squad, gathering squad, and hunting squad each had their own leaders, and they all knew exactly what to do upon waking.

This freed up more of Zhou Xu’s time.

After all, if he had to arrange and lead each squad daily from the moment he woke up, he would waste a great deal of time.

Approaching the freshwater extraction device, Zhou Xu saw other tribe members had already drunk their fill and started their day’s work, so he no longer needed to worry about their portion.

Grabbing the half-filled water bowl made from a nutshell, he gulped it all down.

Over the past two days, he had to ration every sip carefully; now, drinking half a bowl in one go gave him a refreshing sensation akin to downing an icy soda on a scorching forty-degree summer day.

Yet the hunger remained stubbornly unrelieved—ultimately because of insufficient food.

From his own experience these past days, eating only one meal a day left him nutritionally lacking. At least two meals daily were necessary.

To obtain more food, they needed to expand their hunting range.

And to do that, they had to increase their exploration speed.

Finishing the exploration of the Black Forest quickly had become an urgent task.

Currently, the gathering squad led by Dashan was collecting supplies while exploring the Black Forest’s outskirts.

Zhou Xu was satisfied with their exploration efficiency.

Progressing step by step, moving inward ring by ring from the perimeter, was the safest and most reliable approach.

For the tribe’s future development, Zhou Xu had his own tasks to attend to on this new day.

“Alright, that’s all!”

From the large pile of stones Dashan and the others had gathered, Zhou Xu carefully compared and selected the first batch.

Needless to say, he intended to use these stones to craft the tribe’s very first stone axes!

Thus, officially ushering the Salt Lake Tribe into the Stone Age!