Chapter 2: First Day of Beginner Period (2) Exploring the New Environment…
Adhering to the idea that "there are no roads in the world, but when more people walk on it, it becomes a road", Yu Luowei swung the axe vigorously and cleared a narrow path from the dense bushes.
While cleaning, her mind was busy as she kept thinking about today's plan: first, she had to collect all the materials for upgrading the shelter and base, then explore the surroundings, try to find treasure chests, and try to collect more resources and information.
Food and water are all brought with him. In order to improve efficiency, Yu Luowei plans to spend the whole day outside and return to the shelter at 5:30 in the afternoon.
After about twenty minutes, Yu Luowei finally cleared a path into the forest, but the cost was that the durability of her stone axe dropped to 98/100. The chopped wood and weeds were automatically stored in her space bracelet, which now contained [Wood x 1, Weeds x 51].
Upon entering the forest, Yu Luowei discovered its biodiversity far exceeded her imagination. Perhaps because the Trial Game lacked defined seasons, plants matured at all times, creating a vibrant greenery. The trees grew in a patchwork of random patterns, and a few rays of sunlight filtered through the leaves, creating a world away from the eerie nighttime atmosphere.
The zombie world had long been a ruin, and Blue Star's ecosystem had been nearly destroyed. Otherwise, she wouldn't have appeared in this game. Only the super-rich could enjoy vast expanses of greenery in their estates. Therefore, this was the first time Yu Luowei had seen such a beautiful scene in nearly thirty years, and she couldn't help but be intoxicated for a few seconds.
But survival is the most important thing now. Yu Luowei quickly and carefully selected a pine tree of moderate thickness at the edge of the forest and officially started his "work".
He tried chopping the tree twice, but the axe only left a shallow mark on the bark, not to mention breaking it. Seeing that this was not working, Yu Luowei changed his posture, holding the stone axe with both hands, and chopped with all his strength. After more than ten strokes, the tree collapsed with a loud bang, leaving only a stump.
At the same time, Yu Luowei also received a prompt: "Obtain wood × 3", and the durability of the stone axe also became [95/100].
The prompt only indicated wood, not the type. Yu Luowei selected a birch tree to verify whether all trees she chopped down yielded wood. Just as she was about to start, a thought struck her. She tried using magic to condense a thin layer of ice onto the edge of her stone axe, sharpening it. Then, she resumed her chopping.
As expected, chopping down trees became much easier. After only seven or eight strokes, the tree was reduced to "wood x 2", and the stone axe's durability only decreased by 1. Unfortunately, the ice on the axe head also disappeared. It must have re-condensed every time a tree was felled. However, considering Yu Luowei's current physical condition, it was not a big deal.
Yu Luowei used this method to chop down trees along the edge of the forest and collect weeds as well. In the end, in addition to water, the bracelet contained [wood × 70, weeds × 106, vines × 15, birch saplings × 2, pine cones × 5, ginkgo nuts × 3, supply treasure chest (white) × 1]. The treasure chest was dropped when he chopped down the last tree.
It was now 11 o'clock in the morning. Yu Luowei had not eaten since 7 o'clock in the evening of the previous day. He was already starving. He put away the stone axe with 62 durability left, sat on a freshly chopped wooden stake and ate compressed biscuits.
While eating, he pondered: Based on recent experience, a tree will drop one to three logs, depending on its thickness, and there's a chance it'll drop a specific type of specialty. Without magic, even with Yu Luowei's current physique, which far surpasses that of an average Blue Star resident, it would still take twice as long to complete. Therefore, Yu Luowei changed his strategy and cut down more trees, intending to try to trade them when he returned that night. After all, most people wouldn't want to sleep in an open field.
The compressed biscuits produced by the system were indeed top-notch. Yu Luowei only ate half of them before she felt full. After resting for a while, she stood up and, as planned, followed the path she had cleared through the bushes, exploring deeper into the forest.
To avoid getting lost, Yu Luowei used summoned flames to burn deep black marks on the trees along the way. After walking for a while, apart from the denser vegetation, there were no other significant changes. However, he found five new supply chests (white). As usual, Yu Luowei stored the chests in his bracelet, intending to open them together when he returned.
While picking up a treasure chest nestled in a thicket of bushes, Yu Luowei was surprised to discover the bush's tag read "Cherry (Growing)." So, she pulled a weed from her bracelet and tied a knot in a nearby tree to mark it. Despite its name, the system-treated weed was a withered yellow, about 80cm long, easily detachable, and conspicuous against the surrounding greenery. Without a map, Yu Luowei could only use this method to mark the "resource points" she encountered along the way.
Continuing to mark the path as they went deeper into the jungle, Yu Luowei saw more and more bizarre plants, forcing him to once again use his ice-enchanted stone axe to clear the way. Fortunately, not long into the journey, Yu Luowei discovered a winding stream with crystal clear water.
At this time, the bottle of mineral water she brought with her was almost empty, so she drank it all in one gulp, and then filled a bottle with stream water from a plastic bottle.
[500ml of clean stream water: Although it is clean, drinking it directly may still cause diarrhea, so it is recommended to boil it.]
Seeing this prompt, Yu Luowei suddenly realized that the biggest reason why he chose ice and fire abilities was for water. However, he didn't know whether the water melted by the ice ability could be drunk directly in the trial game.
Thinking of this, Yu Luowei quickly concentrated again and condensed a standard ice brick. The first time he condensed the ice brick, there was no prompt, and this time there was no prompt either. Yu Luowei tried putting the ice brick into the bracelet and then taking it out, and sure enough, a new prompt appeared:
[Pure Ice Brick 500g: After melting, you will get 250ml of pure water (the game official will help you melt it). Of course, if you have a fire source, you can get 500ml of pure water! It can be drunk directly.]
This commission! Yu Luowei had felt something was wrong when she'd just chopped down the tree, and now it was even more clear that the Trial Game officials were profiteers. But when you're under someone's roof, you have to bow your head, especially since Yu Luowei happened to have a stable fire source herself, so she just grumbled inwardly.
Putting the ice bricks back into his backpack, Yu Luowei looked toward the stream, calculating: Making ice bricks is laborious, and he could only produce five per day at most. While it looked like he'd have plenty of drinking water for a while, domestic water was still a significant shortfall. He still needed to collect some water from the stream. Yu Luowei immediately decided to walk along the river to see if there were any plants like bamboo that would be suitable for serving as containers.
After taking a few steps, the radar that Yu Luowei had developed during the zombie apocalypse suddenly buzzed. Her intuition made her quickly turn to the side, and then she saw a stream of slime passing by.
The culprit was a giant frog monster as big as Teddy standing in front of them, its lightbulb-like eyes staring at Yu Luowei with a fierce look.
Because he was not sure of the monster's level, Yu Luowei did not dare to fight head-on. He moved in an S shape to avoid being hit by the slime, while quickly picking up dead branches and leaves from the ground, crumpled them into a ball, attached a small flame to it, and threw it at the monster.
The improvised fire bombs, though crude, were effective. After just two hits, the monster's body was already burning. With a scream, it tried to flee into the stream. Yu Luowei couldn't let it escape so easily. He quickly took out his stone axe, attached an ice blade, and chased the monster at top speed. He struck the frog monster twice before it could escape, ending the fight.
[Congratulations to the survivor for defeating the Level 0 Frog Monster! You received 2 Frog Legs (edible after cooking), 1 Point, and 1 White Supply Chest. This has been placed on your bracelet!]
This sudden battle consumed Yu Luowei's remaining physical strength. Yu Luowei was panting and decided to rest for a while before heading back home along the marks.
It was already 5:30 PM when he reentered the base. Yu Luowei's first task was to build a Level 1 shelter. He first transferred the wood and weeds from his bracelet into the warehouse in the manual, then clicked "Build" on the manual.
A few seconds later, a dilapidated thatched hut appeared in the center of the base. It was about 2m×2m in size, with no windows and only a dilapidated door.
Congratulations on successfully building a Level 1 thatched hut shelter! Ranked 964th among all survivors. Rewards will be distributed after the novice period ends!
There were actually ranking rewards, which was beyond Yu Luowei's imagination. She had thought that the ranking would be unified after the novice period. Yu Luowei was slightly shocked that so many people had built the shelter faster than she did. However, with so many people on Blue Star, not to mention those with excellent physical fitness, even ordinary people could come back and build the shelter after gathering materials. Now that she couldn't get the reward, and her physical fitness was better than most people, Yu Luowei paused for a moment, thought it through, and continued to work.
Looking around the shelter, although it was small and shabby, it was still adequate for sheltering from the wind and rain. Straw beds were neatly stacked against the wall, likely the shelter's built-in "beds." Yu Luowei didn't mind and sat down, not caring about her hunger. She first looked at the construction page in the manual:
[Current base level: Level 1, upgrade to Level 2 requires: Wood (42/20)
Current Shelter Level: Level 1. Required to build a Level 2 Shelter: Level 2 Base, Weeds (55/100), Wood (42/80), Stone (0/10).
It just required more materials, but no new materials had appeared. Yu Luowei pondered for a moment. Most people hadn't upgraded their shelters yet, which meant they probably didn't have enough wood. As the saying goes, if given the means, no one wanted to sleep under the sky and blanket under the ground at night, especially in such an unfamiliar environment.
They'd definitely find a way to buy wood from the market, and the best time for wood to fetch a high price would likely be in the next couple of days. So, she planned to check the market for wood later and exchange it for some stone for the next upgrade to the shelter. Then, she'd upgrade the base. For now, it was time to happily unbox!
Yu Luowei placed the six treasure chests in the bracelet in a row on the floor in front of him, rubbed his hands excitedly, and opened all of them at once:
[Receive: Mineral Water × 2, Butter Toast (20 slices) × 1]
[Receive: Kitchenware Set × 1, Chopsticks × 1]
[Gain: Blanket × 1, Pillow × 1, Novice Cloak (White) × 1]
[Receive: Braised Beef Instant Noodles 5-pack x 2, Tissue Paper x 1]
[Obtain: Novice Long Sword (White) Blueprint × 1, Stone × 5]
[Obtain: Ordinary Stone Axe × 1, Ordinary Stone Hoe × 1]
In addition, he also gained 6 points. Each empty box can be decomposed into a piece of wood. Yu Luowei has no shortage of wood for the time being, so he put the empty boxes into his bracelet, planning to use it to collect stream water tomorrow.
The supplies you get are almost all what you need right now, so overall you're pretty lucky. The kitchen set includes a frying pan, a ceramic soup pot, a spatula, a large soup ladle, and a kitchen knife, none of which can harm monsters.
Night had fallen, and the thatched hut was plunged into darkness. Yu Luowei was now starving. Using the dim light from the manual, he put everything else into the manual's storage, leaving only the soup pot, chopsticks, and a pack of instant noodles. He dug a shallow hole in the ground and took out a piece of wood (1.5 meters long, about the thickness of Yu Luowei's thigh). He quickly chopped it into several pieces with a stone axe and threw them into the hole. Then he took out a piece of weed, lit a flame, and threw it into the hole. Soon the wood was ablaze, dispelling the darkness and cold.
Congratulations on unlocking Bonfire Crafting! The crafting system has been unlocked, and the obtained blueprints have been entered! Please visit the Survivor's Handbook for details!
The system prompt sound broke the silence in the thatched hut, but Yu Luowei had no time to care about the production system at this time. She was busy cooking, pouring in stream water, and putting in instant noodles. Soon the fragrance filled the entire thatched hut.
As soon as the soup softened, Yu Luowei couldn't resist digging into it, not caring if it was hot, and she drank up the soup too. Having consumed so much today, Yu Luowei only satisfied herself with a slice of toast. Unwilling to wash the pot with mineral water, Yu Luowei wiped the dirty pot with paper and set it aside, planning to wash it tomorrow when she got some stream water. Then she took out a clean iron pot, put in the ice bricks, and waited for them to melt.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
