《Forest Survival: From Logging to Login》 Chapter 1 Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation In a dilapidated hut with a moss-coated floor, a young man lay still on the ground. Ed opened his eyes abruptly as the unfamiliar environment filled his sight. ¡°Where is this?¡± This was the first thought that had formed in Ed¡¯s mind. He looked around in confusion. Everything around him was made of wood, and each part of it exuded a rotting stench. He stood up groggily before walking to the door. As he pushed it open, the scene he found convinced him he was dreaming. There were trees all around, completely surrounding the wooden house that Ed had found himself in. Moreover, these trees seemed unusual, different from the ones he was used to. They were way too thick. They were in extremely monstrous positions, resembling malicious spirits harboring killing intent. Ed was suddenly struck by the feeling that these trees could be animated, but as soon as the thought emerged, he dismissed it. How could plants be malicious? As he looked around, a stone axe attracted his attention. The tool had been placed on a root disc. It looked like it had been there for a long time. Ed walked over, picking it up. It had a handle made of wood, and a blade that seemed to have been carved of raw stone. The base of the handle was fixed with a piece of cloth. From the looks of it, Ed surmised that it was quite old. The weight of the stone axe felt just right in his grip, seemingly tailored to his strength. He wondered if it had been custom-made. [ Worn-out stone axe: This is the only logging tool you have at the moment. ] As Ed came into contact with the stone axe, information about it had suddenly appeared in his mind. Cautiously putting it down, he walked over to a cart. The cart was two meters long, its two handles clearly showing the deteriorating effects of time. It looked worn-out. [ Worn-out cart: The main tool for transporting wood. ] Attempting to push the cart, Ed was immediately struck with the impression that it was incredibly heavy. One would have to have a certain amount of strength in order to push this. As Ed was still in his daze, an ancient-sounding voice that seemed to split the sky boomed. ¡°Magic has awakened, and doomsday has descended. Under the moonlight, the trees grow wildly. ¡°The trees around you are not as beautiful as they seem. They will be your nightmare. ¡°What you must do to survive in this world is to keep cutting wood. ¡°Whether you are high-ranking officials, arms dealers who control life and death, pure and beautiful celebrities, or even ordinary people with boring routines, you will all stand on the same starting line. There will be no exceptions. ¡°Survivors, welcome to the apocalyptic world.¡± As the last sentence fell, the earlier calm returned. It was a while before Ed came back to his senses. He now had an understanding of where he had found himself. This was a world where trees grew madly. As night falls, their growth would be deliriously expedited under the light of the moon. If they did not start to cut them down, the trees would be relentless as they absorbed all nutrients. In the end, humans may also find themselves becoming their nutrients. The small wooden house that he had just left was a place where resources could be traded. These resources could be used in synthesizing various items, the importance of which boils down to nothing more than providing increased efficiency in logging. A key detail was that every month, a random resource point would be generated, containing a large cache of supplies. Survivors present would receive notification regarding this. Moreover, humans were not the only inhabitants of this world. Beasts and monsters also stalk the land. Yet what was more terrifying than beasts and monsters, were people! That¡¯s right, there were others who had arrived in this world with Ed. In this world, there were no laws or restrictions. The only rule here was logging! The precedent was to survive. To survive, humans would use all means. To survive, it was commonplace to kill and steal. The methods do not matter as long as one survived. Of course, it was also a must to chop wood. Failing this, one would simply become nourishment for the trees. A light struck Ed abruptly between his eyebrows. Ed did not resist. From the introduction of the ancient voice just now, he knew that this would be something like a guidebook. A blue panel appeared in Ed¡¯s mind. He just needed to control it telepathically. On the left was a chat interface, a section designed for communication with the world. On the right was an interface for trade. Using his mind, Ed opened the chat interface. To no surprise, it was already in an uproar. ¡°Where is this place? I want to go home!¡± ¡°What is an apocalyptic world? Why are there so many trees here?¡± ¡°¡­¡± The chat interface was in a panic-induced frenzy. Ed retracted his gaze, closing the interface. He opened the second option, the trading interface. It was also divided into two parts. Ed first selected the forging interface. A translucent panel appeared in front of him. [ Bonfire: Wood 0/10, Wood Chips 0/4 ] [ Small Water Storage: Wood 0/2, Cloth 0/4, Leaf 0/4 ] [ Inferior Hoe: Wood 0/8, Metal Fragments 0/8, Iron Nails 0/4 ] [ Inferior Stone Axe: Wood 0/12, Stone 0/4, Cloth 0/8 ] [ Inferior Water Collector: Leaf 0/10, Cloth 0/4 ] It seemed that the only things that Ed could make were low-quality items. Ed turned his gaze to the stone axe in his hand. It seemed to be of low quality. He didn¡¯t need to ponder about the blank space below. It was definitely for new blueprints he would have to unlock. As long as he placed the appropriate materials in the compartments, he would obtain the corresponding items. It was a great convenience for the survivors. There was no need to assemble them step by step. As long as they had what was required, they could get what they wanted. Closing the forging interface, Ed opened up another interface. This interface was mostly blank save for one line of large red text, which seemed to be especially eye-catching. [ Supply Cache Countdown: 29 days, 23 hours, 54 minutes, and 13 seconds. ] After he had seen it, Ed closed this interface. It was just something to remind him of time. He didn¡¯t have to spend too long looking at it. Recovering his thoughts, Ed looked toward the trees before him and felt a headache setting in. Relying only on his small axe, with so many trees, how long would he need to chop them all? ¡°Whew!¡± Ed imitated the way he had seen people on TV chop wood. Raising the stone axe, he swung into a tree. Five minutes passed. Exhausted, Ed threw the stone axe onto the ground. He was speechless. After chopping for so long, he had barely made a small incision in the wood. He didn¡¯t know how much longer it would take him to make his way through the whole tree. Just as he was feeling depressed, a cold mechanical voice sounded in his mind. [ Ding! The doomsday system has been successfully activated! ] Chapter 2 Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation The mechanical voice sounded and excitement filled Ed¡¯s heart. The system might be late, but at least he had something. ¡°System, what functions do you have?¡± Ed asked the system. He had thought the system¡¯s name was cool, but if the functions were useless, it would be futile. [ This is the check-in system. ] [ There are daily check-ins, weekly check-ins, monthly check-ins, and yearly check-ins. Corresponding rewards for different check-in periods may vary. ] [ Rewards are divided by quality. Quality ranks from lowest to highest as such: Inferior, Darksteel, Bronze, Silver, Gold, Diamond, Brilliant, Legendary, and Mythical. ] [ Each quality pertains to differing color divisions. Color divisions rank from lowest to highest as such: White, Black, Cyan, Silver, Yellow, Red, Blue, Gold, and Iridescent. ] [ The higher the quality of an item, the greater its attributes. ] When the system was done speaking, Ed slightly understood the nature of the system he had awakened. To put it simply, as long as he signed in, he would be able to obtain items, but they would be obtained at random. Everything would be dependent on his own luck. ¡°Sign in.¡± Ed was anxious to see what the quality of his first sign-in reward would be. His luck had always been good, it wouldn¡¯t be wrong to claim that he was a generally lucky person. [ Ding! Daily check-in successful. ] A transparent panel appeared in Ed¡¯s mind. On it was a turntable divided into nine parts, corresponding to the nine different qualities. The space occupied by each of the nine sections was exactly the same. It seemed to be fair. Before long, the needle at the center of the turntable began to rotate. As it did, Ed felt his breathing become rapid. After a few seconds, the needle finally stopped, landing in the Diamond-quality column! [ Ding! Congratulations to the host for obtaining a Diamond-quality axe! ] Ed was so excited that he struggled to calm down for a long time. Diamond-quality! He had initially figured that he¡¯d be pretty fortunate to receive a gold-quality item. He had not expected at all to get a Diamond-quality item. Furthermore, it was a logging axe! Ed could not wait to see the appearance and attributes of this axe. He suddenly felt something. A red dot had emerged in his palm, immediately turning into a blinding red light. The beam was so piercing that Ed could not open his eyes. When he opened his eyes again, the red light had disappeared. In its place was an axe with fine lines carved into it. As he lifted it in his hands, the first thing he noticed was that it felt cold to the touch. He waved it around, swinging a few times. It didn¡¯t feel too heavy, its weight just right for Ed¡¯s use. Information about the axe appeared in his mind. [ Diamond Axe ] [ Attack power: 1.5 million ] [ Range: 15 meters ] [ Forging level: 0] [ Additional attributes: Luck 10, Flames of Hell (Freely activatable by the host)] [ Description: An extremely sharp axe. Trees below Diamond-quality will be cut down with just one swing. ] [ Luck: wood will not be the only obtainable resource from cutting down trees. ] [ Flames of Hell: The power of the Flames of Hell. Trees cut down by this axe will never grow back. ] Ed shivered as he read this terrifying attribute. He looked back at the stone axe on the ground. Its attack power was only 1.5. It was a million times weaker. What devastating power! Of course, what pleased Ed even more was the Flames of Hell attribute. The trees he cut down would never grow back. Even the roots of the trees would be destroyed! This meant that he would not have to worry about the strange moonlight revitalizing the trees that he cut down in the future. The corners of Ed¡¯s mouth lifted up slightly as he dwelled on the thought. A glint of sunlight caught on his body. Now that he had this Diamond-quality axe, the stone axe on the ground evidently no longer deserved his attention. Picking it up, he threw it into a quiet corner. It was simply an eyesore. Ed looked around, observing the surroundings of the small wooden house. Previously, he had been busy cutting down trees and had not paid attention to it. Now that he had such a divine artifact, the concern of cutting down the trees was resolved. The forest was eerily quiet. Leaves hung quietly still on the trees. There was no wind here, not even the slightest breeze. There was no sound, save for Ed¡¯s raspy breathing. The wooden house was not big. Ed guessed that at most, it could accommodate two people. There was nothing else worth noting. The only thing unique was this endless forest. Each tree grew to about six meters tall, their branches as thick as an adult¡¯s arm, intersecting with each other up in the canopy. The environment gave an inexplicable sense of oppression, making Ed very uncomfortable. Using his mind, he opened the chat interface. ¡°What the hell is this place? The branches are almost as thick as my arm.¡± ¡°This stone axe is a joke. After chopping for so long, I¡¯ve only managed to cut a little bit into a tree.¡± ¡°How are you all doing? I¡¯ve been chopping for so long, and my hands are cramping. I still haven¡¯t cut down a single tree.¡± ¡°I¡¯m so hungry from all the chopping.¡± Ed closed the chat interface. It seemed that it was really as the ancient voice had said. Everyone had the same starting point. Their initial tools were a worn-out cart, that worn-out stone axe, and a small wooden house. He was the only one who had somehow awakened a system, obtaining a Diamond-quality, heaven-defying axe. In other words, Ed was already far ahead of these people. The sun slowly waned, leaving Ed with little time left. Who knew what changes would occur in this endless forest as the sky turned dark, letting the strange moonlight through? With this thought in mind, Ed raised his axe as he walked toward the nearby trees. To be honest, he had also wanted to see how powerful this Diamond-quality weapon really was. Just the thought of it had made him excited. Ed stood before the trees, taking a deep breath. He raised the axe above his head. Swoosh! A red light, no less than ten meters long, was released. As Ed stood stunned, he could clearly feel a sharp aura. The ray of light had completely enveloped the ten trees in front of him. Their initially imposing, thick trunks had crumpled like paper. They could not withstand even a single blow and had all been cut in half! Ten trunks crashed directly onto the ground before crumbling into specks of light and disappearing. Ed had not expected that with just a light swing, ten trees would be gone, just like that. At the same time, a voice sounded in his head. [ Notice ] : Wood 1 [ Notice ] : Wood shavings 2 Chapter 3 Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation Ed sucked in a breath of cold air, stunned by the devastation before him. So this was the power of a Diamond-quality item. Notifications of the resources he had obtained continued ringing in his mind. When the voice in his head fell quiet, Ed began to count the harvest. He was surprised at the total. He had roughly counted: 85 wood, 20 wood shavings, 25 leaves, 15 cloth strips, and 1 glass. It seemed to be excessive. Ed had not expected to obtain so many drops with a casual wave of his hand. Could just ten trees drop so many resources? If he swung a few more times, his resources would definitely exceed the limit! Of course, this was just the initial excitement ringing in Ed¡¯s mind. Other factors aside, just swinging this Diamond-quality axe had taken a lot of strength. Ed was currently on the verge of collapse. However, the resources that he had received in exchange were abundant. This had been worth it. Had he been using that shabby stone axe from before, ten trees would have been out of the question. Chopping down even one would probably have taken him until the end of time. Ed was already more than satisfied with his results. He finally understood the difference between the two. It was like heaven and earth, there was no comparison at all. However, as his euphoria subsided, a new problem struck Ed. How would he get the scattered pieces of wood before him into the small wooden house to be traded? There was only one tool that could help him, and that was the dilapidated cart. Ed gave up on this idea after only taking one look at the cart. Putting everything else aside, it had already been difficult enough for Ed to push it when it was empty. If he were to put the wood in it, he didn¡¯t know how much longer it would take him to push it. Moreover, it was almost dark now, and unknown things would occur at night. He would have to be prepared to deal with the worst. If he tried to move the logs into the small house piece by piece, it would definitely take ages. Ed would not do such a pointless task. ¡°If only the system could put things away,¡± he muttered to himself. He was unsure if the system had such a function. If it did, he had seen no mention of it. As soon as he finished speaking, the scattered wood disappeared before him. At the same time, a new function of the system was developed: storage space. This surprised Ed. He had just been casually rambling and hadn¡¯t actually expected it to work. He watched as the wood reappeared in the storage space in his mind. It was the same in quantity as the wood that had been on the ground. With this, he could focus his mind and body on logging. He wouldn¡¯t have to worry about manpower. This would truly save him a lot of time. He wouldn¡¯t have to concern himself over the storage of resources, regardless of how many logs he cut down. Just as he was carefully checking out this new system function, he heard the sound of crackling flames in front of him. Ed snapped back to his senses. He watched as a red flame enveloped each of the ten stumps that had been left behind after he had cut down the ten trees. The flames roared wildly, devouring whatever remained of the trees. In a short while, the stumps had all but disappeared. Their previously entangled roots were also gone, leaving behind only a patch of empty space. This land would no longer be able to grow any trees. Ed realized that this was the ability of that axe, the Flames of Hell. This ability was too strong. Others might chop down a tree today only to find a new trunk tomorrow, repeating the cycle over and over again. Yet with the Flames of Hell, Ed had no need to worry about that. An idea formed in Ed¡¯s mind. Through his continuous logging, he could form a large area of empty land. Ed could synthesize tools to cultivate these fields, allowing him to plant crops all year round, and even construct towering buildings. As long as he kept logging, there was no limit to the amount of empty land he could acquire, and the resources would be endless. As the others continuously ran into the obstacle of the endless forest, Ed would already have begun to build a house and plant a farm. Such an idea would have been completely impossible in prior circumstances. However, things were different now. Equipped with the system and the godly axe in his hand, it would only be a matter of time before he achieved such a goal. With a set objective in mind, Ed prepared himself for the ensuing tasks. Logging operation! Officially activated! Gripping the axe in his hand, he rushed straight into the trees. He began to swing wildly, chopping down whichever tree he was unhappy with. The towering trunks crashed down one after another as the stumps they left behind ignited on the spot, burning in the Flames of Hell. If only the trees could talk. He knew they¡¯d be crying out, ¡°Sir, you¡¯re destroying us!¡± ¡­ Half an hour passed. The pings in his mind notifying him about the resources he had obtained slowly came to a halt. In this half an hour, besides wood, Ed had also obtained various other things. He guessed that this would be the work of the other attribute on his axe, ¡®Luck + 10¡¯. His arms slowed as he finally pressed the axe against the ground, propping up his body. He hadn¡¯t felt anything when he was chopping. Yet as soon as he slowed, a feeling of exhaustion had welled up through his entire being. Half an hour or so was the limit of what he could bear now. He knew that if he continued to chop, he would likely collapse. Ed panted. Sweat ran across his face before dripping down onto the ground. He needed a good rest as he was too tired. As he took a break, Ed mulled over another issue. The need for open space had been solved. His next concern now was food and water. Without these, he would surely die. Especially following intense exercise, he would be prone to dehydration. Ed looked up. In this dense jungle, where could he find food and water? Just as he felt like he was at a loss, a drop of water suddenly hit his head. Straining his neck, he looked up. The leaves of the trees were covered in tiny drops of water. The environment in the forest was relatively humid. Otherwise, it would not have been suitable for the growth of plants. As he gazed up at the drops of water resting on the leaves, something flashed through Ed¡¯s mind. [ Inferior Water Collector: Leaves 120/10, cloth strips 40/4 ] [ Total Resources: wood x405, wood chips x85, metal sheets x20, leaves x120, cloth strips x40, glass x3, iron nails x10. ] With his current resources, it would be no big deal to build a few Inferior-quality water collectors. Ed didn¡¯t care at all about the quality. It would be good enough to have water, and he wasn¡¯t picky. Chapter 4 Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation ¡°In that case, let¡¯s get ten water collectors.¡± Adjusting the quantity of water collectors on the back of the forging interface to 10, he clicked OK. Opening the door to the cabin, Ed found that the 10 items, moderately sized and neatly arranged, had appeared. They were in rough shape, with a large dent in the middle. He figured that this was where the water would be collected. Strips of cloth hung above the depression, perhaps to be used for filtering. The structure of the object was admittedly simple, but it was also what Ed needed most at the moment. He might be able to survive without food, but without water, he could only wait for death. After all, it was essential for the human body. Ed stored the water collectors into the system¡¯s storage space. Now, as long as he placed these collectors on the leaves, he could slowly collect the small water droplets that appeared on their surface. He exited the small wooden house. Locating a few large trees with dense leaves, he withdrew the collectors from the storage space and attached them on. Now, he just had to wait patiently. The water problem was just about solved. After doing this, Ed decided that he had rested enough. Raising the axe once more, he set off to start a new round of logging. The water problem was solved for the time being. Now there was another problem, food! It would be essential to replenish energy in the body. Ed placed all his hopes on his axe and the trees, praying that they would drop some food. Like a professional lumberjack, he persisted as he swung the axe in his hand relentlessly. With every swing, numerous trees would fall. Yet all he managed to obtain was some wood and a variety of other things. Just as he was about to give up, he noticed that something unique had dropped. ¡°Inferior-quality bait?¡± Ed seemed to have found something new in his notifications. [ Inferior-quality bait: bait made from inferior-quality rice. It has the fragrance of rice that attracts small animals. It can attract little creatures hidden in the forest. ] What a find! Ed understood the purpose of this object after hearing its description. Despite not being food, it was almost just as good. This was bait! With this in hand, there was no more need to worry about not having food. After all, which animal enjoyed grain the most other than obviously, the chicken? Moreover, Ed had received a total of three sets of bait. In other words, he could potentially catch three chickens, which would be more than enough to feed him for tonight. The other issue would have been on how to catch the chickens after they were drawn out, but this was all too simple for Ed. He had done this before, bored in his free time. All he needed was a wooden basket. Simply by sprinkling some grain or seeds inside, he could easily set up a simple capture system. Furthermore, he had used to capture sparrows, which were much more nimble birds. Chickens would be a piece of cake. Ed was more than confident in his abilities. After all, he had done this many times before, and was very familiar with what he had to do. He would first have to prepare the wooden basket. Ed knew just how to get about this. It had been available at the forging interface, requiring only four pieces of wood and eight pieces of cloth. He had obtained an abundance of these as he was logging, allowing him to immediately craft the basket. Once he was done, all he needed was a simple wooden stick. It¡¯s use was also elementary, only needing to support the basket. Using his axe, he carved out a thin strip of wood to use as such. It was now time to set up the trap. After procuring a few pieces of cloth from the storage space, he tied them together, pulling them tightly with his hands to ensure they were stable. He then made a small hole at the end of it, just enough for the stick to pass through, before tying it down securely. He put down the wooden basket on the ground with the wooden stick propping it up. Then, Ed revealed the bait. It had to be said that it was quite weighty. He had thought at first that it would be just a small object. He wasn¡¯t expecting three whole bags containing a handful of rice each. ¡°It¡¯s still quite fragrant,¡± Ed muttered. If they hadn¡¯t been named ¡®bait¡¯, he would have probably eaten this directly. He really was hungry. Taking most of the bait,he scattered it evenly under the wooden basket, just enough so that most of the surface was covered. He then poured what remained in the small bag into his hand. Slowly dispersing them onto the ground, he created a trail that led to the basket. Ed simply estimated the distances using an incremental method. The closer the trail got to the basket, the thicker the line of bait. This small bag should be enough to attract a chicken. Simulating the capture in his mind, he proceeded to hide in a bush, holding on to the other end of the cloth. Now, all he had to do was wait for something to take the bait. The strong fragrance of the rice dispersed outward, extending into the depths of the forest. No chicken should be able to resist such a temptation. Fifteen minutes gradually passed. ¡°Forest chickens are really something. They can resist such a level of temptation,¡± Ed thought to himself. Perhaps they were too smart. Perhaps they were staring at the bait in a corner, their little beaks drooling. It was fine. Ed was not in a hurry. Catching sparrows in the past had taught him to be even-tempered. It was only a matter of time, all he had to do was wait. If there was one thing that Ed did not lack, it was patience. As long as he got to eat a chicken in the end, this would all be worth it. Another fifteen minutes passed. The sound of a chicken crowing emerged abruptly from the bushes. Ed felt his spirits perk up at the sound as he watched eagerly from the bushes, and he could not help himself from tightening his grip on the cloth in his hand. Cluck! Cluck! A chicken, about 35 centimeters in width, appeared in Ed¡¯s line of sight. It seemed to be quite vigilant, holding itself back from immediately rushing to the bait on the ground. Instead, it looked around before pecking cautiously around it. Yet, it didn¡¯t matter once it had taken its first taste. It could no longer stop at all. It took one last look around at its surroundings, making sure that it was safe before continuing to eat. Another ten minutes passed. The chicken had arrived near the wooden basket. It was now clearly extremely excited. The taste of the bait had simply been too delicious. The chicken rushed directly into the wooden basket. Ed, who was laying still in the bushes, spotted this and immediately pulled on the cloth strip. The wooden basket fell straight to the ground, trapping the chicken. Chapter 5 Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation Ed ran out of the bushes, giddy with excitement. He headed over to the wooden basket. Lifting it, he immediately pressed the chicken¡¯s head down against the ground with one hand, preventing it from fleeing. The chicken had felt that something was wrong amidst the joy of feasting on the delicious bait. ¡®Wasn¡¯t I just eating a second ago? Why am I suddenly pinned down?¡¯ The chicken flapped its wings frantically, trying desperately to break free from Ed¡¯s restraint. ¡°You still want to run?¡± Ed still had quite a bit of strength. He wouldn¡¯t let this chicken fight against him for long. After a while, the little chicken gave up resisting, eventually quieting down. It was no longer as noisy as before. Taking out a piece of cloth, Ed tied the chicken to a post of the small cabin. He walked away, heading back to the wooden basket again. The bait had not been completely used up. Ed thought to himself that the bait could be reused next time. Anyway, the chicken he had just caught would be enough for a few meals. Just as he was about to put away the remaining bait¡­ Cluck! Cluck! The cries of another chicken crowing came from the depths of the forest behind him. At the sound, Ed quickly propped the wooden basket back up again before returning to the bushes. His luck today was too good! One small bag of bait had attracted two chickens. This bird looked similar to the one from before. Yet it seemed to be more vigilant than the last. It was a long time before the chicken finally gave in, unable to resist the smell of the rice, and began to eat. Splat! The wooden basket fell again, trapping the bird inside. Two chickens! The bait was all eaten up. Ed noted to himself that a bag of bait was just sufficient to catch two chickens. Furthermore, there seemed to be quite a number of chickens hiding around the forest. As long as he had bait, he would have chickens to eat. Of course, this was only a guess. He could only be sure when he tried this again in the future. The sky gradually darkened. Ed decided to check on the water collectors first. It had been a while, so they should have collected some water. He would need it later. Using some wood, he crafted a simple bucket for storing water. Everything was ready. He went over to see how the collectors were doing. Picking up the bucket, he began to collect. As evening came, the bucket was finally full. Ed wiped the sweat from his forehead. Running back and forth had tired him out. Yet, looking proudly at the bucket full of water, Ed felt that it had all been worth it. The busy day had paid off. His mouth had begun to crack, a clear indicator of dehydration. He looked longingly at the bucket, but in the end, reason prevailed over temptation. He wasn¡¯t willing to gamble. What if the water was contaminated with parasites or something else? Falling sick in such an environment would be tantamount to death. There were countless beasts and monsters in this forest. If one fell sick, all that awaited was death. Here, there would be no medical equipment or medicine to treat illnesses. As such, it was of the utmost importance to be careful! Ed put down the bucket. He would have to build a fire first. Finding that he possessed the materials required to start a simple fire, he crafted one. The fire gave a relieving bit of light amidst the gloomy night. It also gave him a sense of security. Of course, the fire still had to be fuelled. He threw in a few blocks of wood, preventing it from going out. The prep work was ready. Using some metal pieces, he crafted a simple iron pot. Placing it on top of the fire, he found that it did not disappoint, and was able to withstand the heat. He then poured most of the water into the pot. However, he did not use all of it, leaving a fair portion behind. After all, this was water that would be used to save his life. He must not waste it. The air above the iron pot started to heat up. Ed did not rush. The water in the iron pot was still bubbling, it had not yet been completely boiled. He turned, moving his gaze to the two chickens tied to the small wooden house. Cluck! Cluck! They felt immediately uneasy as they noticed Ed staring at them, beginning to cry out. As their feet had been tied up with strips of cloth, they could only jump on the spot. It was a small measure he had taken to prevent them from escaping. ¡°I¡¯ll take you.¡± Ed¡¯s gaze locked onto one of the chickens. This one was a little stronger, so he had decided to use this one first. It would take the first cut. He dragged the chicken out of the cabin. He raised his axe up high before forcefully bringing it down. The chicken stopped moving immediately as its life came to an end, its blood streaming in a simple wooden cup. Ed had done this for two reasons. Chicken blood was very nutritious, and can be cooked. Furthermore, if he had let the smell of blood spread into the forest, it may have attracted fierce beasts. He had seen this on TV. Beasts judged the direction of the prey based on the smell of blood. Bloop. Bloop. The water in the iron pot was completely boiled. Using a cup, Ed scooped up some of the water, pouring it directly on the chicken. He was going to depilate it. If he had tried to pluck the feathers as it was dry, it would have taken ages, not to mention unhygienic. It was a different case after it had been soaked in hot water. It was simple to defeather it afterward. The outer feathers were soon cleaned out, revealing the pale skin. Ed cut open the chicken¡¯s stomach. He buried the internal organs and other inedibles in the ground, intent on using them as fertilizer for crops. This would improve the soil, allowing for easier cultivation. Ed washed down the chicken once again with hot water, taking care to remove the bloodstains on the surface of the skin. He was going to make Beggar¡¯s Chicken. It was quite a simple recipe. He had learned it from watching TV, fortunately memorizing it. Using some wet leaves, he covered the chicken in a thick layer. Following that, he coated the leaves with the wet soil before patting it down. Throwing the simplified version of the Beggar¡¯s Chicken directly into a pit underneath the fire, his preparations were complete. Chapter 6 Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation Everything was ready. All he had to do now was wait patiently for two hours, and he¡¯d be enjoying the delicious Beggar¡¯s Chicken. Ed didn¡¯t mind the wait. After he¡¯d spent so long preparing, what¡¯s another two hours? The only pity was that he lacked seasoning. If only he could get his hands on some seasoning, he knew for a fact that he would have been able to make the meal taste better. However, he wasn¡¯t picky. In this world, it was already a blessing to be able to have a full meal. He didn¡¯t dare to ask for anything else. Ed wasn¡¯t idle as he waited. He opened up the chat interface, curious as to how the others were faring. Lines of text arranged in bullet-points flashed through the screen in his mind. ¡°I can¡¯t take it anymore. I¡¯ve been chopping with this broken axe for four hours. The tree still hasn¡¯t fallen, and my hands are worn out.¡± ¡°That¡¯s not even that bad. I¡¯ve been chopping for half a day¡­ I just want a drink of water!¡± ¡°Is there anyone who wants to hire labor? I¡¯m strong, I just need some water to drink!¡± ¡°Selling wood, only accepting water and food.¡± ¡°A word of advice, the trees can¡¯t be eaten. The bark is hard to chew, my lips are bleeding!¡± ¡°I¡¯m sick of talking, I¡¯m so hungry I can¡¯t stand it anymore. I¡¯m going into the forest to look for food.¡± After skimming through the general content, Ed switched off the chat interface. From what he could tell, it seemed that there weren¡¯t many who had successfully cut down a tree using that old stone axe. That axe had indeed been quite useless. Just as he had guessed, the things that most were lacking were food and water. The people who had successfully cut down a tree obtained some wood and leaves, which they were attempting to use for trade. Unlike Ed, most weren¡¯t able to clear numerous trees in a single swing. It could almost be said that he had obtained too advantageous a position. There were also some who had grown so hungry that they were on the verge of breakdown. They were intent on wandering into the forest to seek a better chance of survival. Of course, this would be extremely risky. No one knew yet what kind of danger was hiding in the forest. All they knew from that ancient voice¡¯s warning was that the forest would become even more terrifying at night. Simply wandering around the forest at this point was courting death. The dangers were still unknown. If it had been him, Ed would have opted to wait for dawn to break before entering the forest, even if he was on an empty stomach. That would¡¯ve obviously been the safer option. He recalled the ancient voice ringing in his ears. Ed felt a little strange, as if something was off. There had been at least a few billion people living in his world previously. Yet here, he had only noticed a few people talking in the chat interface, which seemed unusual. Regardless of how many people had actually been brought here, it couldn¡¯t have been such a pitiful number. Wasn¡¯t anyone worried that something strange was happening? He came to the conclusion that this chat interface was only allocated for a small portion of the people who were here. To put it simply, the survivors had been divided into groups and not everyone was connected. Maybe the intention was to connect them all when the time was right, or it could also be that they were not meant to be connected at all. Rumble¡­ Ed patted his stomach. He had not eaten anything for almost a whole day, and it looked like it would be a while longer before the Beggar¡¯s Chicken was done cooking. He suddenly remembered that he had gotten an apple from a tree he had cut down today. With only thought, a red apple materialized in his palm. Judging from its appearance, Ed had a feeling that it would be delicious. He decided to eat this first to subdue his hunger a little. Just as he was about to start eating, a message flashed in his mind. [ Apple: Very sweet. It can quench thirst and replenish nutrition. It can also resist some diseases. It is essential when exploring the wilderness. ] This description somewhat surprised Ed. Who knew an apple could have such bonuses? The effect of resisting diseases would be a valuable one. In this environment, contracting a disease would be analogous to a death sentence. ¡°It¡¯s quite delicious.¡± Ed thought to himself as he took a bite of the apple, chewing slowly. It was sweet and full of moisture. Not only did it taste great, it was also fragrant and had a crisp texture. In no more than a minute, it was all but gone, leaving behind only an apple core. He buried it in the soil. After finishing the apple, Ed unconsciously turned his gaze to the chicken tied up by the side. Cluck! Cluck! Noticing his hungry eyes fixated on it, the chicken flapped its wings in panic. [ Forest Chicken: It can fill your stomach. After eating its meat, you will feel a strength increase. ] Oh! It really did have an attribute bonus. Ed¡¯s gaze toward the chicken grew more and more sinister. Cluck! Cluck! Cluck! The chicken became even more terrified, with a few feathers even falling off its body. It had just witnessed its own kind being killed by this person, who had buried its guts in the ground. Ed was deep in thought as he pondered how he would prepare this chicken. After all, the first one was already enough for a meal. Ed opened the trading interface with a thought, finding that the initially empty interface had now been filled up. There was a slider on the side of the page, similar to what he was used to. Ed began to move it casually. Most of the listings were attempting to exchange necessities such as water and food. ¡°Eh!¡± An interesting deal had unexpectedly caught his attention. [ Barbeque Forging Diagram: Exchange 70kg of food, 10 liters of water, knife. ] Ed had realized a while ago that the gray squares in the forging interface hid equipment that could not be made without first unlocking the appropriate blueprints. He had not expected that there would be someone lucky enough to obtain such a blueprint in less than a day. ¡°It¡¯s a Gold-quality blueprint¡­¡± Ed mumbled to himself, noticing a faint yellow glow emanating from around the blueprint. That was what had really attracted him. It was a Gold-quality item! A grill was something that Ed needed at the moment. After all, everything can be grilled! It would be convenient as well, unlike a bonfire that cannot be moved. If he had the grill, he¡¯d be able to eat whatever he desired at any time and place. It was almost as if this thing had appeared before him just when he needed it. However, Ed did not contact this person immediately. After all, the sky was not yet completely dark. The seller would most likely grow more desperate as they got hungrier at night. After all, since they had set such a high price, Ed was not worried about it being snatched away. He would contact this person later, and the price would definitely be much cheaper than before. Chapter 7 Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation Ed closed the trading interface. He had to prioritize what he was doing now first, most of which turned out to be staring at the fire in a daze. Sitting cross-legged on the ground, he stared motionlessly at the fire before him. He would throw in wood from time to time, ensuring that the fire continued to burn. If it weren¡¯t for his occasional blinking, he¡¯d be mistaken for a statue. Two hours passed in a flash, and Ed couldn¡¯t wait any longer. If it wasn¡¯t for the fact that the soil had become extremely hot due to fire burning above it, he might have dug it up directly with his hands. Using his axe as a shovel, he dug up the soil, removing the Beggar¡¯s Chicken. The strong aroma of cooked meat assailed through his nostrils. He forcefully swallowed down a mouthful of saliva. After gently brushing off the soil that coated the outer layer, he peeled off the last few layers of leaves. A tenderly cooked chicken beheld itself before Ed¡¯s eyes. This was the first time in his life that he had cooked a Beggar¡¯s Chicken. He hadn¡¯t expected for it to turn out quite so successfully, looking delectably appetizing. He held up the chicken whole as he ate it. There was no one to contend against anyway, it was all his. Delicious! So fragrant! The taste was just right! In a short while, half of the chicken, save for the bones, had been swallowed right into his stomach. He couldn¡¯t eat anymore after that. Ed burped contentedly. Leaned back lazily against a piece of wood, he drank some of the boiled water. He was more than comfortable. Ed was probably the only one currently who was living so comfortably in such a treacherous environment. He had even left behind a small part of his meal. It wasn¡¯t that he held back, but rather it was that he really couldn¡¯t stuff himself anymore. He was too full. Moreover, he had other uses in mind for this small portion of chicken. Using the axe, he chopped down a few more pieces of wood to make a simple outdoor shelter. As he continued to sip contentedly on his water, then leaned back and waited. ¡­ Soon, a bright moon hung high in the sky. However, this moon was different from what Ed was used to. The moon he was familiar with emanated a pale, whitish-yellow light. The moon that hung in the sky now seemed to be emitting a somewhat demonic light. Ed thought to himself that night had arrived. This was precisely the strange moonlight that had been described by the ancient voice. He stared up at the luminescent moon for a long time. The light it was emitting filled him with a sense of dread and made him a little uncomfortable. ¡°Guess now¡¯s the time,¡± Ed muttered. Shifting his gaze away from the moon, he looked toward the trees in the distance that he had cut down. He had not activated the Flames of Hell on these trees. He was treating them as a sort of experiment, waiting to see what changes would occur as night fell. Under the moonlight, the stumps began to twitch and grow rapidly. Ed kept track of the time. About fifteen minutes passed. The stumps that had initially been only pathetic, short discs had now grown to a height of almost twenty centimeters. If it had been any other day, Ed would have scoffed at such a tale. Yet now, he could not deny the scene that was happening before his eyes. The trees did not stop growing. They continued to shoot up at a speed clearly visible to the naked eye. It seemed that it was just as the voice had said. As long as the tree¡¯s roots remained, they would grow back under the moonlight as if they had never been cut down. At the same time, the frequency of the texts in the chat interface had accelerated. ¡°Help me! The plants in the forest are alive! I¡¯m bound by a vine!¡± ¡°Can someone tell me what¡¯s going on? I was dragged away by an unknown plant as soon as I entered the forest. Now I can only see moving branches around me. What¡¯s going on?¡± ¡°I¡¯m bound by the branches! They¡¯re tightening around me¡­¡± As he watched the wall of text, Ed¡¯s expression didn¡¯t falter much. He had seen this coming a while ago. Going into the forest alone at night was a classic case of courting death. By now, the people who had been crying out for help had probably already been killed. It seemed that only the vicinity of the small wooden cabin was safe. The difference in the behavior of these towering trees during the day and night was clear. At night, the trees became aggressive. Stepping into the forest without preparation would lead only to death. Ed guessed that the trees attacked whatever they could, including possibly the beasts hiding in the dark. Then again, maybe the beasts had mutated, and had a special method of avoiding death. The fire was slowly dying down, so Ed continued to throw in firewood. Another two hours passed. Ed thought to himself that his chance had come. In the two hours, he had been observing the changes in the surrounding environment, and of course, he had been watching the chat interface. Most of the people were hungry, begging for food, or water, or anything at all. Of course, there were also those who were trapped in the forest. Seizing the opportunity, Ed procured the remaining Beggar¡¯s Chicken. Delicately wielding his axe, he divided the remaining meat into four portions. His thoughts flew as he made the preparations. Soon, an advertisement was sent out into the chat interface. ¡°I have three pieces of Beggar¡¯s Chicken meat in my hands. There¡¯s not much left. If you want it, offer something in exchange for it. I¡¯m not interested in wood. First come, first served.¡± The advertisement was short but succinct. Ed had expressed everything that had to be said. The chat interface exploded immediately as the message went out. ¡°What? Why do you have meat?!¡± ¡°Big Brother, I¡¯m begging you. I¡¯m starving. Please be kind and give me a piece of meat!¡± ¡°I¡¯m still eating wild grass. I didn¡¯t expect that someone would be eating delicious chicken!¡± Ed was also privately messaged by many people. With so many messages, he naturally avoided replying to them one by one. Instead, he sifted quickly through them. ¡°Brother, I have a forging blueprint of a barbecue grill with me. Can I exchange it with you?¡± A message had caught Ed¡¯s attention. As expected! The blueprint that Ed had been longing for had appeared. Without the slightest hesitation, he agreed. The Gold-grade Barbecue Grill was in his hands! The price now could have been said to be too low. After all, this Beggar¡¯s Chicken was only Ed¡¯s leftovers. Feeling conscientious, he gave the seller an extra portion in the transaction. The unknown person thanked him profusely. Just as he completed the trade, another request came in immediately. ¡°This is all I have left from my fortune.¡± The message was attached to an offering of a pool of resources. Ed did not mind this and accepted. Although the trade had been mediocre, he would take what he could. Besides, there was still one last portion of Beggar¡¯s Chicken! Chapter 8 Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation He watched for five minutes as the trade requests poured in. The items on offer now did not meet Ed¡¯s standards. Just as he was about to lower his expectations, A message popped up which caught his attention. ¡°Forging blueprint for a salt mine, exchangeable?¡± Seeing this message, he mulled it over. Salt was also an essential in life! It was fine if he didn¡¯t have salt for one or two meals, but after a while, he would find it problematic. If he obtained this forging blueprint, it would mean that he wouldn¡¯t have to worry about getting salt in the future. Salt was something that would help him maintain his health. Similarly, if he gathered enough of it, he could use it as a trade item. Furthermore, the price for it now was only the leftover Beggar¡¯s Chicken. Ed chose to trade without hesitation. He was afraid that he might miss this item if he waited any longer. Anyway, he had been yearning for salt as well. The last portion of the Beggar¡¯s Chicken meat had been successfully traded! The quality of this blueprint turned out to be not low, either. Ed was shocked to find that it was in fact Silver! This trade could have been said to be a huge win. The thought that this may have been somewhat immoral flashed across Ed¡¯s mind. However, in this perilous world, such was the approach of the timid. Here, Ed had no other choice. The two parties entered their respective cabins to collect their goods. Soon, all three trades were concluded. Ed smiled as he looked at the gold-quality grill blueprint, the silver-quality salt mine blueprint, and the various items scattered around. His trades had been completely worth it! [ Gold-quality Barbeque Grill Blueprint: Forged from a variety of materials. Allows specific control over the roasting of any food, allowing easy preparation of delicious food. ] [ Materials required for forging: wood x1000, metal sheet x80, iron nail x40, cloth strip x80] As he read the materials required, Ed instinctively sucked in a breath of air through his teeth. Wasn¡¯t this too expensive? The resources required for this was several times more than the total consumption of everything he had made so far. The wood alone was already ridiculously expensive, breaking into the four digits. Moreover, there were rare materials among them, of which Ed did not currently have much of. One word¡­ Poor! Ed realized that what he had now was significantly insufficient. Comparing what was required to what he possessed, he was truly a poor bastard. Even if he were to throw everything he had into forging the grill, it would not be sufficient. Unfortunately, there was no way that he would be able to make this now. Ed finally understood. The seller must have also known the importance of this barbecue grill. They just didn¡¯t have any of the materials to forge it. That was probably why they had been so willing to trade it away after seeing Ed¡¯s advertisement. Ed steadied himself, regaining his confidence. He just couldn¡¯t forge it now, but that didn¡¯t mean that he wouldn¡¯t be able to forge it in the future. It was just a matter of time. After all, he had a godly axe in hand! With just one swing he can clear a large area. Getting the resources wouldn¡¯t be a problem. He stored the grill blueprint into his storage space before looking at the salt mine blueprint. [ Silver-quality Salt Mine Forging Blueprint: A necessity for survival. With it, the need to worry about salt will be eliminated! ] [ Materials required for forging: Wood x200, metal x20, iron nails x20, stone x150] Ed felt a slight relief as he saw this. The items required for this were not as ridiculous as what was needed for the barbecue grill. However, it needed a resource that the grill didn¡¯t, stone. Coincidentally, Ed had 150 stones in his storage space. He had previously been wondering what these stones could be used for. He had not expected them to come in handy so soon. Anyway, it would be a waste to leave them in the storage space. Now was as good a time as any to use them, so he did. After reasoning with himself, Ed decided to build the salt mine first. This way, he might be able to gather enough salt in time to better enjoy his next meal. Withdrawing all the resources needed to forge the salt mine, he left them in the cabin before going out to choose a good location. Soon after, a crack started forming beneath his feet. A small well head was protruding out. Stones surrounded the head of the well, guaranteeing its stability, and it seemed to be well made. Ed had been prepared to have to fix it down with wood himself. Moreover, there was also a thin and light metal covering over the well that could be opened easily. It seemed to have been prepared for the intention of preventing rain from entering the well on rainy days, which would cause damage. Ed walked up to it before opening the well lid. A large mound of white salt came into view, as well as a wooden spoon stuck in it, allowing collection of plenty of salt with just a scoop. He scooped up a handful before taking a pinch from it. Bringing his fingers to his mouth, he tasted it. He realized that it was incredibly salty! This was pure, refined salt! ¡°This is a little surprising¡­¡± Ed brought another pinch to his mouth, enjoying the taste. He was sure about it. This was indeed refined salt! He had initially expected to have to filter and process the salt produced himself, thinking that the mine created the kind of crude salt that would be unusable in its state. He had not foreseen that it would actually produce usable salt directly, and with such purity. This would save him a lot of time. As expected of a Silver item¡­ It was awesome! Ed put the spoon back down before carefully replacing the lid. This was a treasure, and he couldn¡¯t afford to lose any of it. With the amount of salt the mine produced, it would not be a stretch to say that it could supply 50 people with salt every day! He was suddenly struck with a realization. The next time he prepared a Beggar¡¯s Chicken, he¡¯d be able to add salt to it. That would make it taste so much better! He gulped, salivating at the thought. Ed piled up a large stack of wood into the fire. He wanted the fire to burn until the next morning, worried about the dangers he may encounter if it went out. The strange light emitted by the unusual moon in the sky only fuelled his discomfort. On this first night, there were bound to be many people who would not be able to sleep. To be more precise, some will literally be unable to sleep. Most were starving at the moment, or had walked into the forest, losing their lives in the process. Some had grown desperate enough to eat tree bark and turf. Surviving would be an extremely difficult task in this cruel world. Ed checked his surroundings, making sure it was safe. He fell asleep soundly by the fire, awaiting the next morning. Chapter 9 Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation Time passed quickly as he slept. Ed rubbed his eyes groggily as he opened them. The bonfire had gone out. It was morning, and the forest was still once again. The leaves and branches of the trees surrounding him were covered in dew. A new day had arrived. Ed looked around at the now familiar surroundings. The woods in the forest around him seemed to have grown much denser. The first thing he had to do when he woke up was, of course, check in with the system. ¡°Sign in,¡± Ed instructed. [ Ding! Daily check-in successful! ] The familiar turntable once again appeared in Ed¡¯s mind, and the needle began to turn. He rubbed his hands together anxiously, looking forward to seeing which quality his second item drop would be. The needle slowed, eventually coming to a stop above the diamond-quality section once again. [ Ding! Congratulations to the host for obtaining a Diamond-quality treasure-hunting squirrel! ] He was stunned at the system¡¯s words. He had not expected for his second sign-in reward to once again be a diamond-quality item. He thanked his lucky stars for allowing him to win two items of such high quality twice in a row. His luck was something that others would definitely envy. This time, he had received an animal. He cautiously summoned the squirrel. A squirrel roughly the size of a forest chicken appeared in between Ed¡¯s palms. It was well-behaved, quietly staying still without any trace of agitation. Its body was covered in silky brown fur, and it looked very pretty. Ed slowly moved his hand to gently stroke the little squirrel¡¯s fur. It seemed comfortable as it flipped around, exposing its belly to him. Information about the squirrel abruptly materialized in Ed¡¯s mind. [ Diamond-quality Treasure-Hunting Squirrel ] [ Female ] [ Current quality: (Diamond), can be upgraded ] [ Ability: able to quickly traverse through the complex forest, finding hidden food and treasures. ] Squeak! The little squirrel squeaked as it burrowed into Ed¡¯s clothes. It soon popped out its head to reveal a pair of big eyes that darted around in every direction as it curiously examined the world around it. Watching the curious creature, Ed decided that he liked it. It would be safe to say that he had found a partner in this eerie forest, and it was a diamond-quality treasure hunting squirrel. ¡°I¡¯ll call you Little Treasure from now on.¡± Ed stroked its head as he said softly. Squeak! The little squirrel in his arms called out in response, in a very human-like manner. Ed surmised that the little squirrel liked this name. He had felt as if he had a very close connection with this creature even in the moment it had appeared, and he felt as if he could understand what the little critter wanted to express. Squeak squeak squeak! Little Treasure hopped abruptly out of Ed¡¯s arms before landing steadily on the ground. Raising its front paw, it pointed in the direction of the forest. The meaning of this was more than obvious. It wanted Ed to follow it. Ed wondered to himself if it could be that Little Treasure had already discovered some treasure? Without hesitation, he picked up the axe by his side and followed after it. Seeing that its master had caught up, Little Treasure dashed away before jumping onto a tree. It was incredibly agile as it climbed its way up, eventually scuttling around the canopy. Ed was a little surprised. Little Treasure was quite different from the other squirrels he had seen before. As expected of a diamond-class creature, it wasn¡¯t just a regular squirrel. It would stop occasionally on the branches after it had scuttled a certain distance, looking back to check if its master was catching up with it. Ed was running wildly after it. He did not possess Little Treasure¡¯s jumping ability, and it was all he could do to sprint after it with his weighty axe in hand. His curiosity was burning. After bringing him so far, had Little Treasure really found something that amazing? Suddenly, Little Treasure, who had been jumping forward incessantly, finally slowed down. Jumping off from the branch it was on, it sniffed and sniffed with its little nose, before finally stopping at a peculiar-looking tree. Was it special? The tree seemed to be much thicker than the ones surrounding it, almost as if there was a boss hiding inside it. Little treasure patted against the trunk with its tiny palms. Ed immediately understood what it meant. This time, he didn¡¯t have to activate the Flames of Hell, as he had gone a long distance from his cabin. He raised his axe high before forcefully swinging it down. Whoosh! A red light enveloped the surrounding ten trees. Boom! Every tree that the light had enveloped crashed to the ground with a loud bang. He had discovered a special area. A notification rang out in Ed¡¯s mind that told him the amount of resources he had harvested was more than what he had gotten yesterday. In other words, as the strength of the trees had increased. In cutting them down, his reward had also increased. However, as his axe was of diamond quality, he had not even noticed that these trees were strengthened. To him, it was all the same, falling in one swing. [ Notice ] : Treasure Tree Hole + 1 A special notification sounded. Ed¡¯s face lit up in excitement. He noticed that the round stump of the big tree that had been before him was emitting a faint light. Once again raising the axe above the head, he brought it down with force. [ Notice ] : Wood + 250 [ Notice ] : Metal piece + 55 [ Notice ] : Plastic + 15 [ Notice ] : Cloth strip + 50 [ Notice ] : Glass + 15 [ Notice ] : Silver apple tree seed A series of notifications rang endlessly in Ed¡¯s mind. He wasn¡¯t bothered by the noise. To him, these sounds were like the sounds of nature. The items that had just burst out from the stump were the most abundant that Ed had ever obtained so far. He couldn¡¯t help himself from laughing out loud. Little Treasure, who had been watching on the ground, once again crawled up into Ed¡¯s arms, squeaking all the way. It was as if it was boasting about its achievements. ¡°You¡¯re awesome.¡± Ed smiled as he rubbed Little Treasure¡¯s little head. Suddenly, he noticed that a small seed that had appeared before him was emitting a faint beam of silver light. Information about it appeared in his mind. [Silver Apple Tree Seed: Possesses special energy which causes it to be unaffected by moonlight at night. It is extremely easy to grow. It only requires three days to grow and seven to bear fruit!] Ed beamed again. This was great! Ed carefully picked up the apple seed in front of him, caressing it gently. He simply refused to put it down. This sapling was not affected by the strange moonlight. In other words, it would not become vicious like the other trees. This was simply an amazing ability! This way, Ed would not have to worry about an apple tree he planted himself going crazy at night and attacking him. His harvest this time was enormous, thanks to the incredible amount of resources that had burst out from the stump. Chapter 10 Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation Aside from this magical silver apple tree, he had also obtained many precious resources: plastic, metal, and so on. All thanks to Little Treasure, Ed now found that he had enough resources to forge the grill! After tallying up his items, he carried Little Treasure back to the cabin. There were now two important tasks on his itinerary for today. Make a grill! Plant the apple tree! Ed stood some distance away from the cabin, staring blankly at the empty space he had now. ¡°It¡¯s still a little small.¡± It had been enough to accommodate his previous conditions., but now that he had obtained this apple seed, the small plot of land seemed insufficient for it to grow. He figured he should take the opportunity to expand the area and clear more open space anyway, he¡¯d be able to live a little more comfortably and move more conveniently if he had more space. Wielding the axe, Ed rushed into the trees and began to swing. With every swing, dozens of trees fell. After recuperating his strength the previous night, cutting these trees was now like cutting vegetables for him. With each swing of the axe, areas of empty land emerged. He could almost hear the trees cry, ¡°Big Brother, show mercy with the axe!¡± ¡­ After two hours of hard labor, Ed stopped swinging. He was quite tired now. Standing in place, he panted heavily. His entire body was soaked in sweat. He took a look at the results of his labor today. It was not bad, if he should say so himself. The originally insignificant area was now much larger. He estimated that it was now vaguely the size of a basketball court. This would suffice. Honestly, the main issue was that he was exhausted. Anyway, he was not in a hurry when it came to logging. He could allow himself to take it slow. The problem of space was solved. After drinking a mouthful of water, Ed walked straight into his cabin, assembling the materials required for the grill. A bright yellow light emerged and disappeared, leaving behind a grill in front of him. A gold-quality grill! How luxurious! The grill was no less than two meters long, its height reaching just around Ed¡¯s waist. Its body was constructed of solid steel, with a top that was covered in a layer of metal mesh. On the right was a pike that could rotate, allowing both sides of whatever was being grilled to be evenly heated. That would ensure that the food was both well cooked and delicious, killing two birds with one stone. [ Notice ] : Please add wood! [ The limit of adding wood is 50! ] Wood? Ed did not lack wood. He immediately allocated 50 stacks of wood into the barbecue grill. That should allow it to burn for a few days. After all that, Ed turned his attention to the forest chicken. Cluck! Cluck! The chicken¡¯s feathers stood on end as it noticed that it was being stared at, as if it was saying, ¡°What are you trying to do?¡± Ed approached the chicken slowly, step by step. After chopping wood for so long, he was indeed quite hungry. The chicken retreated into the corner, keeping pace with Ed¡¯s steps. Then, with its back against the wall and nowhere else to retreat to, it simply closed its eyes. The scene changed. Ed had moved the grill outside, and there was a golden brown chicken on the grill. ¡°It smells too good¡­¡± Ed was almost salivating. Seeing that it was just about time, he picked up a small handful of salt before delicately sprinkling it evenly on the chicken. The pike rotated slowly, ensuring that the entire surface of the meat was subjected to heat. Ed picked up a metal clamp that had been under the grill. There were a few tools that had come along with the grill, saving him some materials. The fragrance of the meat slowly dispersed out into the air. Squeak! Little Treasure stood up on its hind legs beside Ed like a human, its little paws pulling excitedly on the legs of his pants. It couldn¡¯t be helped, the smell was too fragrant. With a small handful of refined salt added into the mix, the aroma had grown even stronger. Little Treasure was so hungry that its mouth was almost dry from salivating. It was an omnivore, and could eat either plants or meat. It wasn¡¯t picky. That was why the survival rate of squirrels was usually higher than that of most herbivores or carnivores. ¡°It¡¯s almost done,¡± Ed said, trying to calm the excited Little Treasure. To be honest, he was starving. However, the chicken hadn¡¯t been fully cooked yet. Eating raw food wouldn¡¯t be good for the body. An hour passed. Ed stopped rotating the meat before pressing against it with the metal clamp. The texture felt just right. It was time to eat! He procured a small wooden plate that he had prepared earlier before removing a drumstick with the clamp. He placed it on the wooden plate, then put it on the ground. This was for Little Treasure. The little squirrel could not wait any longer. Seeing that food had arrived, it didn¡¯t hold back, rushing straight to the drumstick. It didn¡¯t seem to care that it was hot before immediately starting to eat. From time to time, it would exhale some hot air from its mouth. Ed laughed as he watched the scene. He now felt even more strongly that this little squirrel was definitely a spirit. Its every move was similar to a human¡¯s. Even the way it ate bore some resemblance. Ed followed suit, picking up a piece of chicken before blowing on it. He put it to his mouth and started chewing. Crispy on the outside, tender on the inside! Delicious! Half an hour passed. All thirty-five centimeters of the forest chicken had been divided up, and only the bones remained on the grill. Ed sat on the ground as he picked his teeth with a small toothpick. Little Treasure had eaten so much that its belly was bulging. It leaned on Ed, looking very comfortable. Rest was over after Ed buried the chicken bones into the soil. Next was planting the apple tree. Ed ran over to the wooden cabin and used his resources to forge a small hoe. This was a necessary tool, so he couldn¡¯t cheap out on this. ¡°Whew!¡± He felt like an old farmer. The hoe stuck into the ground, digging up chunks of soil. It seemed to be quite sharp, the perfect tool to cultivate a field. ¡°Perfect.¡± Ed evaluated the size of the hole he had dug. He had made it circular, and about 40 centimeters deep. It should be just enough for the apple tree to firmly take root. After burying the seeds, he stomped on the ground, flattening the uneven soil. Following that, he took half a bucket of water and poured it directly on the patch of soil where he had buried it. The second task of the day was completed. Now, all he had to do was to wait for the apple tree to blossom and bear fruit. If what the description said was true, in a few days, he would be enjoying crisp and juicy apples. Time passed, and soon it was time to look for the most important necessity once again. Food! Ed had already consumed the two forest chickens, and as such, had no more food left. He decided it was time to capture more chickens. He would use the same tools as before, the wooden basket and the small wooden stick. He decided that he¡¯d try to capture a few more this time. It wasn¡¯t enough just to fill his stomach, he wanted to trade the rest. Quickly checking the chat interface, it was just as he thought. Most of the other survivors were still lacking food and water. As such, it could be said that these would be priceless items if traded. The hunting operation had officially begun! Chapter 11 Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation Ed no longer planned on trying to capture these chickens directly in front of his small wooden cabin. This time, he would go straight into the forest to look for them. The reason he had come to this decision was simple. Although the bait was effective at attracting the nearby chickens, the fragrance of the rice would not spread far from here. Entering the forest would improve its efficiency. Catching a larger number of chickens would undoubtedly be beneficial. They could either be eaten or traded with other survivors. If he waited until everyone else had adapted to this new world and found their own food sources, it would be much more difficult to reap the rewards. The method would remain the same It took Ed only a few minutes to set up the trap for the chickens. Following this, he found a bush where he could hide himself and shuffled into it. With the piece of cloth in his hand, he was prepared to react immediately at any movement. The trap was set up. Now, it was time to wait for the fragrance of the bait to disperse into the forest. As he waited, Ed did not idle. Instead, he opened up the chat interface. He had made it a habit to check this daily. From it, he was able to get a general sense of the situations of the other survivors. He found that after the first night, most survivors had already accepted the treacherous reality of the hazardous vegetation. They were no longer as afraid as they were at the beginning. Of course, most still wisely held on to a timid mentality. That was because as night fell, vigilance was of the utmost importance. A lack of caution may result in one ending up as nutrients for the towering trees, or possibly even facing death directly by the claws of some wild beast in the forest. Ed skimmed through the chat and trading interfaces. Wood still seemed to be the resource of least value. After all, there was anything but a lack of monumental trees everywhere. Unless the strength of these trees became terrifying overnight, wood would always be the most common resource. Most items listed for trade tended to lean towards foodstuffs, with the number of people trading for water decreasing. This seemed logical. It would be sound reasoning to think that after so long, most survivors would have gotten their hands on some form of water collection equipment. Regardless of how slow their progress, they should have gotten that far by now. Otherwise, they would have died of thirst a while ago. ¡°As expected, trapping in the forest has increased efficiency.¡± Ed looked down at the three forest chickens in his hands. It had taken him less than half an hour to capture all three of them. It seemed that the population of chickens in this area was dense. Just as he was preparing to set up another trap, Little Treasure suddenly appeared, running over from a bush. Squeak squeak! Little Treasure tugged on Ed¡¯s pants as it pointed in a direction. ¡°You mean you found another treasure tree hole?¡± Ed vaguely understood what the little critter meant. Little Treasure nodded before dashing forward. Delighted, he followed behind the squirrel¡¯s tiny footsteps. Ten minutes passed. Ed and Little Treasure had passed through many big trees. The squirrel¡¯s footsteps stopped. Just like before, its small nose twitched as it sniffed around. The only difference was that this time, the sniffing process was clearly taking much longer. Squeak squeak squeak! Little Treasure came to a halt in front of three big trees. Raising its paw, it made its way around as it patted each of the three big trees before it. Ed¡¯s breathing unconsciously quickened. Three treasure tree holes! He did not doubt Little Treasure¡¯s treasure-hunting ability, but the thought had shaken Ed¡¯s heart. One treasure tree hole already contained so many things. Three would definitely contain more than a small fortune. Ed raised his axe high. The piercing red light once again enveloped the surrounding ten trees. As it dissipated, they crashed down. ¡°As expected.¡± He stared, dumbfounded at the three round stumps before him. There was indeed a faint glow on each of them. This was undoubtedly the same type of treasure tree hole that he had found previously. Without hesitation, he brought his axe down once again. [ Notice ] : Wood +120 [ Notice ] : Metal piece +20 [ Notice ] : Gold-quality soil +5 [ Notice ] : Bronze-quality corn seed +10 [ Notice ] : Inferior wood processing plant forging blueprint +1 Three different glowing items flew towards the center of Ed¡¯s forehead and disappeared, entering the system¡¯s storage space. He had ignored the wood and other various resources, his attention fully on the last three items. Gold-quality soil! Corn seeds! Wood processing plant forging blueprint! Before long, detailed information regarding each of the three items appeared in Ed¡¯s mind, one after another. [ Gold-quality Soil: Very fertile soil. Unlike ordinary soil, anything planted on this will grow rapidly. ] Tss! Ed couldn¡¯t stop himself from drawing a sharp breath before covering his mouth. This gold-quality soil was indeed extraordinary. Its attributes were amazing. It was simply a treasure trove of soil with its own fertilizer effect! After the introduction, he discovered that each patch of soil covered an area of one square meter. Since he had obtained five portions, he had five square meters at his disposal. This was more than enough to meet Ed¡¯s immediate needs. [ Bronze-quality Corn Seed: corn seed. seven days to grow, seven days to bear fruit. ] It was just an ordinary corn seed, which made sense as it was bronze-quality. Ed was grateful regardless. As long as he planted this, he could make all sorts of delectable dishes out of corn. Most importantly, he could replant the corn directly, creating a cycle. At this moment, a thought flashed through Ed¡¯s mind. If this corn seed was placed in the gold-quality soil, would it grow into a giant stalk of corn? He imagined a stalk of corn that could provide an entire day¡¯s worth of food. He could make such delicious corn dishes¡­ Corn noodles, popcorn, roasted corn, and corn porridge¡­ Before he had even planted it, Ed was already considering how he¡¯d eat it in his mind. He snapped himself back to reality as he focused his attention back on the inferior wood processing plant blueprint. Information regarding the item appeared in his mind. [ Inferior Wood Processing Plant Forging Blueprint: It can cut logs into various shapes. Necessary item for building houses. (Optional) ] Its description was simple, but Ed understood it perfectly. This could be used to process wood and cut them into whatever he wished, such as the wooden strips for building a house, or fixed corner shelves, or even some decorations. The brief description had also brought to light another notable point. He could obtain blueprints to build more houses, which wouldn¡¯t be of any bother to him when not in use, which would be very convenient. Ed couldn¡¯t wait to see what the material requirements of the so-called processing plant would be. After all, inferior-quality items couldn¡¯t be too expensive, right? However, when he clicked on it, the requirements shocked him greatly. Chapter 12 Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation The materials required to build the wood processing plant stunned Ed, who could not help himself from taking in a sharp breath. [ Materials required: wood x2050, leaves x1200, stones x1025, nails x500, cloth strips x250, metal sheets x350, plastic x150, glass x50 ] [ Notice: Construction hammers, construction shovels, and construction rulers are required for this build. Please acquire them before proceeding. ] That¡¯s too expensive! Even building multiple salt wells would not be this expensive, the requirements for them were not as insane. Moreover, the quality of the salt well was higher than this wood processing plant. This was a little ridiculous. Not only that, but it required the consumption of multiple rarer resources in numerous quantities. Ed found the most ridiculous aspect to this was that not only did it require a large number of items, but it also required him to forge other tools needed for the construction. This was a complete daylight robbery! That¡¯s right, this was nothing more than a robbery! He noticed that above the description of the wood processing plant, a small green word flashed: upgradeable. In other words, after this processing plant was built, it could be upgraded. That would then be continuous robbery. Given that the starting price was already so high, the cost of upgrading would undoubtedly be astronomical. Yet, he had no choice but to build this thing. He would need this for any form of construction in the future, which would not be avoidable. It would have to be built regardless of its price. Focusing back to the present, however, Ed had just harvested three forest chickens and three treasure tree holes. The things that had emerged from the latter had also been extremely rare. Satisfied, he once again praised his luck. If it hadn¡¯t been for the potential dangers lurking around, he would have wanted to move and stay here immediately. Maybe he could have brought Little Treasure to wander around in the forest. Taking out a few strips of cloth from the storage space, he tied the three chickens together. He then tucked Little Treasure away in his arms before heading back to the cabin. He was more than prepared to reward the little squirrel with a good meal. Without it, he wouldn¡¯t have gained so much today. Ed soon returned to his empty plot of land. Untying the three chickens, he bound a strong strip of cloth onto one of their feet to prevent them from escaping. Huh? As he had been looking at the three chickens, a strange idea had formed in Ed¡¯s mind. He had corn seeds on him now. When they were harvested, he should be able to use them to feed the chickens. He had seen this on TV before, and knew that chickens mostly ate rice and grain. If this worked, his chickens may be able to lay eggs. Egg corn soup¡­ cake¡­ Egg-related delicacies floated around in Ed¡¯s mind. Of course, these were all in the future. All of his plans now required him to wait for the corn to mature before he would know if he could achieve any of them. Practice makes perfect. That was the truth that Ed had always believed most strongly in. Anyway, at the moment, the most important thing was to fill his stomach first. Let¡¯s eat! With a swift swing of his axe, one of the three chickens was suddenly headless. The other two that were still alive cried out in terror. After all, their own kind had been beheaded in front of them. Ed carried the chicken¡¯s corpse and washed it as usual, burying everything that was inedible in the soil. He then added wood to the grill before roasting the meat over a fire. Thirty minutes passed, and a delicious roasted chicken appeared just like that. Ed and Little Treasure shared the whole carcass. The little squirrel leaned back in Ed¡¯s arms as it patted its plump belly. ¡°A little snack after dinner.¡± Ed took out an apple, breaking it in half with his bare hands. Crack. Now that it was in two, he handed the smaller piece to Little Treasure, who was huddled in his arms. It took the small apple piece before eating it slowly. Every time it took a bite, it seemed to show an intoxicated expression, fuelling Ed¡¯s suspicion that Little Treasure really was a spirit. Squeak squeak! Finishing its piece, the squirrel seemed to have fallen in love with the taste. Helplessly, Ed gave it the other piece. Anyway, it had been the main contributor today. After the brief rest, he looked at the axe in his hand. This axe only had its extraordinary power when it was used to cut wood. Generally, when it was used for other purposes, it was no different from an ordinary axe. Picking up the hoe, he chose an open space before beginning to dig. After he had dug up a space of about ten square meters, Ed paused briefly before making some further improvements to the fields. In a short while, he had prepared a field that was suitable for growing corn. Corn fields were different from other crops. The land was not flat, but rather shaped like a bulge. This was what Ed had seen from watching TV. He could use this knowledge today. Sometimes he felt fortunate that he coincidently used to enjoy watching these types of survival shows. Terrain of this manner would allow the corn to grow to its fullest, and could also better retain water. As corn did not have the long, developed roots of big trees, it would not be able to go too deep into the ground to absorb water. Next, Ed started to dig a few small pits to sow the corn seeds. As it watched, Little Treasure ran over, using its small hands to dig into the ground. However, for some reason, it soon ran away after a while. Ed figured that it was probably too tired. After all, Little Treasure¡¯s claws weren¡¯t that sharp. Using the hoe, he dug one pit after another. Soon, the initial preparations were ready. Now it was time to sow. This part was familiar to Ed. In the past, his hometown had been an agricultural land, so he was very familiar with growing crops. He procured the corn seeds that he obtained earlier from the storage space before sowing them. After this was done, the next step was to water them. Corn was a crop that required a lot of water. Ed poured a bit of water into each pit. He still had to be frugal. If there was too much water, the corn seeds that sprout may not emerge from the ground. If that really happened, it would be quite a loss. The other reason was that he did not have much water anyway, and wanted to save as much as he could. Every drop was precious nowadays. The final step was the same as any crop. He had to cover the seeds with soil, so that they could slowly germinate. This time, Ed did not reuse the soil that he had dug up, but instead covered it with gold-quality soil. Perhaps he may really be able to grow giant corn. As he hadn¡¯t obtained much gold-quality soil, he used them sparingly. Two portions had been enough to fill up all the holes. As the last of the pits were covered, a sound similar to cracking shells could be heard from within the soil. Ed watched on at the scene unfolding before him, flabbergasted. Chapter 13 Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation One by one, tender green seedlings burst out of the ground, appearing before Ed¡¯s eyes. The rate at which they were growing did not falter at all, and they only continued to grow He knew that the gold-quality soil had the special effect of speeding up the growth of plants like a fertilizer. However, he had not expected it to be quite so fast. The growing period of the corn seeds had been quoted as seven days. Yet, in only a little while, less than two minutes to be precise, they had already sprouted. The seedlings continued growing. It was not long before they had reached a height of half a foot. This speed was almost on par with the big trees at night. Ed estimated the remaining time. Without the gold-quality soil, the corn would have taken seven days to grow. Now, it would likely take only two days before the seedlings matured into stalks, and about five for the corn itself to grow. This was incredibly fast. At that moment, Ed dawned upon a realization. If the gold-quality soil was effective on the corn seeds, it should also work on the apple tree. Realizing this, he jumped into action. Procuring a portion of the gold-quality soil, he poured it evenly around the apple tree. Just as he had expected, it was only a short moment before the apple tree, which had previously only grown up to Ed¡¯s waist, was suddenly a few meters tall. Only a few seconds ago, the plant had been below his reach. Now, Ed could only look up at it. Moreover, it seemed like it was already producing a number of small green apples. He believed that it wouldn¡¯t be long before he could get his hands on some delicious red apples. This gold-quality soil was truly terrifying! As he watched the apple tree that was slowly growing before his eyes, he decided that it was still early. As such, he planned to enter the forest again to try and capture a few more forest chickens. They could be used as delicacies, or they could be raised. Anyway, now that he had the gold-quality soil, the corn would grow quickly, pretty much settling the issue of where he would find chicken feed. He took action as soon as he had decided on this. This time, Ed did not bring Little Treasure with him. Instead, he instructed it to stay at the cabin to look after the apple tree and corn. He could not allow any accidents to impact these two things. They were his way of making a fortune in the future. Little Treasure seemed to understand the seriousness of the matter. It did not make a fuss about not going into the forest with Ed. For a while, Ed set up traps, continuously capturing chickens. Of course, while he waited, he looked periodically at the information swirling around the chat interface. He could just barely afford to scrape together enough wood from what he had now for the processing plant. The only thing that he lacked now were the rarer resources. In that regard, he lacked quite a few. This was a bit of a headache. Moreover, the processing plant blueprint that Ed had gotten would definitely be obtained by other survivors in the future. Blueprints were not unique, he had realized this a while ago. The purpose of the processing plant was for something important: construction. When the time came, the amount of wood that everyone would need would also skyrocket. Therefore, it could be predicted that wood may become a somewhat valuable resource that people would fight over in the future. Of course, Ed¡¯s current efficiency in obtaining it was excellent. After all, he had a godly axe. ¡­ Night fell silently. Starving, Ed concluded his operation of capturing forest chickens. Carrying seven chickens tied together with strips of cloth in his hands, he walked towards the direction of the small wooden house. He was not a fool. He would not seek death in the forest at night. Having reaped a great harvest in the afternoon, he returned to the open space before the wooden cabin. Ed crafted a few wooden baskets and prepared to put in the captured chickens. Adding together the two that remained after he had eaten one with the seven he had now, Ed now had a total of nine chickens, which could be considered as a huge fortune at the moment. He compiled them one by one, placing them into a wooden basket. ¡°Looks like I¡¯ll have to go deeper to capture them in the future.¡± Ed looked in the direction of the depths of the forest. After spending an afternoon capturing chickens, he had realized that their numbers decreased as time went on. That meant that the time he spent waiting grew longer and longer. The next time he set off to hunt, he would have to go deeper. At least for now, Ed was not looking forward to that. After all, the apple tree and corn had not yet matured, so leaving for too long would be unwise. The sky was dark after dinner. The bright moon hung in the sky exactly as the night before, emitting its strange light. Little Treasure had also begun to make some timid-sounding noises. Squeak squeak squeak! As if something was terrifying about the forest, it burrowed itself into Ed¡¯s arms. He could clearly feel its trembling body. As he caressed it gently, Little Treasure gradually fell asleep in his arms Perhaps from a nightmare, its body would twitch abruptly from time to time. Ed wasn¡¯t planning on falling asleep too quickly. After all, he had just eaten, and he wanted to let himself digest for a while. He opened the chat interface. He had also grown accustomed to doing this after dinner every day. The other survivors seemed to communicate more frequently at around this time than during the day. It was a reasonable observation. Naturally, during the day, most would be busy cutting trees, obtaining wood, and trading it. Needless to say, they wouldn¡¯t have much time to chat. Things were different at night. No one was foolish enough to wander off anymore. Those who dared to do so had to be prepared to be attacked on the spot by the strange trees. If they were not careful, they would most certainly die. ¡°Are there any kind-hearted people here? I feel like my entire body is turning into a tree. I¡¯ve eaten nothing but tree bark for an entire day.¡± ¡°Everyone, don¡¯t eat the white mushrooms. They¡¯re poisonous. I¡¯ve been pooping for a long time today.¡± ¡°Why didn¡¯t you tell me earlier? I¡¯ve already eaten a plate. Let¡¯s not talk about it anymore. I feel a pain in my stomach.¡± ¡°I saw a forest chicken today. It ran too fast. I couldn¡¯t catch it at all.¡± ¡°Where¡¯s the big boss who sold the Beggar¡¯s Chicken? I have wood to trade for it.¡± ¡°He hasn¡¯t been seen for an entire day. I wonder what he¡¯s doing.¡± ¡°I think I heard a tiger¡¯s cry¡­¡± The rest of that final text had been cut off. It seemed that the person had either escaped or been eaten by the tiger. This made Ed wary. He had originally imagined that the wild beasts in the forest were similar to the trees, in that they would only be triggered when someone invaded their land. Yet now, he found out that the beasts could freely attack any survivors they found. He closed the chat interface. Looking around at his current environment, he realized that he had no protection at all. If any beasts came for him, they would easily find their target. Chapter 14 Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation Perhaps the next survivor to be discovered by a beast would be Ed. It seemed that in the forest, potential dangers could emerge at any time. A place to live, and any form of protection against the wilderness. These were things that Ed lacked at the moment. He wanted to build these immediately, but without their forging blueprints, it would be difficult. However, Ed was not in a hurry. With the bonfire and the grill, as long as he supplied them with wood, he would have a constant fire source. That would provide him with some sense of security. After all, wild beasts were naturally afraid of things like fire that emitted heat and light. This was a law that had been unchanged ever since ancient times. Of course, he couldn¡¯t be sure that all beasts here would be subject to that. From this moment on, every night, he would light a torch and patrol his surroundings before daring to fall asleep. He would also maintain a firm grip on his axe every time he slept. That way, if he encountered any danger, he could react immediately. After all, aside from cutting wood, this axe also had an insane amount of attack power. It would be a good tool for self-defense. After his preparations, Ed fell asleep. ¡­ Daybreak arrived. Opening his eyes, Ed found that the strange moon hanging in the sky had disappeared, replaced by a blazing ball of light. Seeing that he had gotten up, Little Treasure immediately ran to his shoulder, rubbing its head against his neck. Just as he was about to pat the little squirrel, he noticed that it had stopped moving. He slowly turned his neck to find that Little Treasure had fallen back asleep, lying on his shoulder. He carefully placed it on the ground before going to check on the growth of the apple tree and corn. The apple tree had not stopped growing throughout the night. The green apples hanging from its branches were now much bigger than they were yesterday. Even though he had understood the power of the gold-quality soil, he could not help but feel surprised. He understood it was meant to be fast, but he had never seen something grow at such a rapid rate. It was simply amazing. After gawking at the apple tree, he went toward the cornfield. They had also grown to about 1.5 meters tall. Their green leaves fluttered in the air, causing the comforting smell of spring to blow in his face. Ed could clearly see that similar-looking buds had appeared one after another, the initial stages of corn. His estimations about the time it would take for them to mature had not been far off, but it was very fast regardless. He then checked on the situation of the forest chickens, making sure that everything was okay. He would not leave this place for the next few days. As he now had enough necessities, there was currently no real need to go into the forest. Moreover, if he wanted to capture chickens now, he would have to wander deeper into the forest. Ed did not have such plans at the moment. After reading about the tiger that had probably attacked a survivor last night, he was hesitant to explore. It was not that he was timid, rather, he was reasonable. He only had one life. He couldn¡¯t afford to lose it. Therefore, he did not make any plans to go deeper into the forest. Ed was not bold enough to stake his life. In the next two days, Ed waited for the apple tree and corn to mature. As he did, he watched the happenings in the chat interface, reading as other people posted about their experiences. When he was bored, he would play around with Little Treasure. When they grew hungry, they would eat chickens, or apples, and drink water. The two days were very comfortable. Of course, it was impossible that he would forget about signing in. In any case, the system reminded him daily anyway, so he continued to sign in. However, the things that he had obtained from signing in over the two days had not been as good as before. He had only gotten some precious resources, and not much else. The leisurely time passed quickly. In the blink of an eye, three days had passed. Ed stood before the apple tree, gazing at the red apples hanging among the leaves. He smiled. The apple tree had borne fruit! The corn he had planted was just about to bear fruit too, which was all great news. After harvesting this batch of fruits, he could begin trading with others. This was a big deal! A serious glint flickered faintly in his eyes as he pictured this. It was time to get to work. Thirty minutes passed as Ed finished picking all the corn and apples. Placing them all in a big wooden basket, he counted them carefully. There were eighty-five apples and sixty-five ears of corn. What a fortune! These apples seemed different than usual, and looked much bigger. He ate one, only to find that it tasted better than any other apple he had tried before. He had been watching the chat for days. Some of the other survivors had gotten apples, but only one or two. Besides, he was willing to bet that the ones he had tasted much better than the ones in their hands. It would be easy to trade them. He also had corn that no one else seemed to have, which would be a very powerful bargaining chip. Moreover, he had also gathered that most people were currently venturing into the forest during the day to look for food. Some had eaten poisonous mushrooms, only to immediately develop stomachaches and a series of other symptoms. Without food, they would not have the strength to cut wood. Without cutting wood, they would have no resources. The final result of all this led to death. As such, all survivors would fight for food, not to mention fruits that could both fill their stomachs and replenish their thirst. So far, wood was still being used as the most common bargaining tool. In this dense forest, there would be no shortage of wood, and so it was obvious that most would not accept it. Given their current situation, it was the simplest resource to obtain. Consequently, it was obvious that no one would be willing to give up food in exchange for it. After finishing the apple, Ed turned his attention to the corn on the grill. He was looking forward to seeing if there would be any difference between this corn grown in gold-quality soil compared to the corn he had eaten before. Little Treasure also rubbed its paws together in anticipation. After staying so long with Ed, it could almost be considered to be half-human now. In essence, it had copied Ed¡¯s characteristics. For example, in regards to food, Little Treasure would now refuse to eat anything that was uncooked. Ed thought to himself that this peculiar little squirrel seemed to have a very high IQ. Chapter 15 Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation In addition to barbecuing it, Ed had also prepared a pot of boiled corn. This method of cooking the corn was very simple. He simply had to peel off the outer husk before placing the corn into boiling water. Because it was already sweet on its own, he did not need to add any other seasonings. Ed carefully controlled the intensity of the fire on the grill. It could not be either too big or too small. Otherwise, the texture of the roasted corn would be unsatisfactory. Uneven heating would also cause it to burn black. These were all factors that would affect the texture of the food. This time, Ed did not only prepare portions for himself and Little Treasure. Instead, he made a little more. The extra food, of course, was to be sold on the trading interface later. There was a reason why he was spending so much extra time and effort to prepare them. Cooked corn would be able to sell for more than if it was raw, which was reasonable. After all, it would be able to be eaten immediately after a buyer had gotten their hands on it, as opposed to raw corn, which would have to be cooked. In a sense, the buyer would also be saving a considerable amount of time and cost. Ed had thought about all of this before he had even started cooking. Everything was for profit. After all, what was the point of wasting time? ¡°It smells so good!¡± The roasted corn was ready. Each ear had received approximately the same amount of heat, and none of them had burnt black. Bringing a stalk to his mouth, Ed blew on it, cooling it down to prevent it from burning his mouth when he ate it. He pinched a few kernels before handing it to Little Treasure. The squirrel was almost drooling in hunger. Squeak! It didn¡¯t care if it was hot or not. Filling its mouth, it began to chew. It seemed to be showing a very human expression: enjoyment! Yes, Ed was almost certain it was an expression of pure enjoyment. He had grown to realize that the more expressive Little Treasure was, the more delicious the food. After all, the taste buds of animals could better distinguish taste than humans. He threw Little Treasure a few more kernels of corn before he himself began to eat. The texture was just right, not too hard or soft. It didn¡¯t stick to his teeth, either. It was very delicious! Ed evaluated the roasted corn. The man and the squirrel ate well. Soon, the rest of the corn was divided up. With the rich aroma still reverberating in his taste buds, a message appeared in Ed¡¯s mind. [ Cooked Corn: Contains rich nutrients. The aroma is rich and the taste is excellent. Eating it can increase one¡¯s strength. ] Ed hadn¡¯t expected that a simple ear of corn could increase one¡¯s strength. Cooked corn seemed to include both the types that Ed had made, roasted and boiled. However, it was worth noting that it wouldn¡¯t increase one¡¯s strength to only eat a small portion of corn. The effect would only appear after eating the whole cob. Just like when he had eaten the forest chicken, Ed could clearly feel that his body¡¯s strength had increased a lot compared to before. He knew that it would definitely come in useful one day in the future. He was referring to the moment when the survivors would meet each other. Over the allocation of resources, there would definitely be endless disputes. Ed enjoyed the boiled and barbecued corn, as well as the juicy apples, before burping contentedly. Little Treasure could not eat anymore either. It sprawled on the ground, mimicking Ed as it rubbed his small belly. After having eaten and drank his fill, it was time to get down to business. Ed opened the chat interface, sending out a short message. ¡°Selling roasted and boiled corn.¡± It was a short message, but it caused a huge uproar. ¡°D*mn, this must be that chicken dude!¡± ¡°What chicken dude¡­ it¡¯s the Beggar Chicken Dude!¡± ¡°Oh my god, he¡¯s starting to sell corn, but I¡¯m still gnawing on tree bark!¡± ¡°What kind of monster is this? He has chicken meat in the front and fruit in the back!¡± ¡°Boss, do you need a footrest? I can do it!¡± One message after another flooded the screen. ¡°There¡¯s also boiled corn. How much water does it take to boil a pot of corn?!¡± ¡°I¡¯m so thirsty every day. Boss, you¡¯re already living so extravagantly that you can boil corn in water!¡± ¡°I think the water used to boil corn can be used to take a bath.¡± ¡°Boss, what¡¯s the price?¡± ¡°Regardless of the price, I want to get it. I really don¡¯t want to eat tree bark anymore!¡± Watching the chaos, Ed did not immediately send out a reply. Hunger marketing. If he waited a little longer, his profits would double. If he were to send out a message immediately, in their eyes, they would definitely think that Ed was not lacking in supply, so their willingness to pay would be lower. His business mind was on full display at the moment. Two minutes passed. Ed opened the chat interface again, sending out his price demand. ¡°One-half of the corn can be exchanged for: wood x100, leaf x100, metal x5, plastic x5, glass x5, stone x50, cloth x100. ¡°As long as you have at least two of the items mentioned above, you may contact me privately to trade. Of course, just like before, you may also use special items to trade.¡± Ed had thought for a moment before deciding to add the second line. Otherwise, such a huge demand would have scared off too many people. Similarly, the price of one-half of an apple was the same. Even so, many of them were still scared off. Although only two of any listed item was needed, to most of the current survivors, it was still a considerable amount of resources. Moreover, it was only for half a portion. How could that be enough to eat? ¡°Boss, let¡¯s go cheaper. How can we have so many resources on us?¡± ¡°The price is ridiculously expensive, and it¡¯s only half!¡± ¡°Bro, lower the price a little. Maybe we¡¯ll meet again. Let¡¯s do each other a good deed.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t buy it, let¡¯s see what he¡¯ll do!¡± Despite the outcry, Ed did not lower his asking price. After all, who could resist the temptation of delicious food, especially at night, when people were most prone to hunger? Five minutes passed. Just as he thought, he had received more than a dozen requests for trade. As long as they met his requirements, he agreed to the trades. Even if they were a bit lower, but not too far off from what he had asked for, he would accept the other party¡¯s trade request. In a short while, all of the apples and corn that had been on his trading list were sold out. Of course, he had only put a small amount of them on the shelves. He hadn¡¯t stocked all his goods at once. For hunger marketing, it was necessary to keep people interested over time. Ed understood this principle. He began to count the resources obtained from the trades. 3800 wood, 3800 leaves, 1800 cloth strips, 1000 stones, 150 metal sheets, and 150 plastic. Chapter 16 Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation Without a doubt, this was an incredible profit. Although he had been mentally prepared, Ed could still not help but be surprised. To be fair, anyone would be shocked at this amount. He had obtained a large variety of basic resources in quite incredible quantities. It could be said that he had obtained almost every resource he knew of so far. Furthermore, this was after Ed had already deliberately limited the amount of goods that he had put up on sale. Otherwise, he might have even made double of the resources he had now. That would have been truly terrifying. The reason he had done so was simple. He did not want to allow any item to be bought repeatedly by one person. If he allowed too much supply to go out, less people would need to buy it later on. In other words, it would depreciate in value. Ed did not want this to happen. His items were almost sold out, and he had also earned enough. This could have been considered to be a one-time use bomb. If he wanted to create such a large impact again in the future, he would have to offer some new items. Otherwise, it would be difficult to attract this much attention. Of course, people would still buy them. After all, food was still invaluable to the other survivors. At this moment, Ed thought of something. Salt well! He still had a salt well. It had only been a few days, and as such, survivors who had not ingested any salt at all since the beginning would currently only be feeling slightly weaker. In a few more days, the symptoms would become more obvious. Some may even faint, or worse. It was fine if humans did not ingest salt for a short period of time, but it could lead to serious consequences in the future. As for whether the other survivors would have salt wells as well, Ed wasn¡¯t worried. So what if they did? He was confident that his would be the most refined and authentic batch. He wasn¡¯t afraid of crude salt that couldn¡¯t be consumed directly. As such, he made up his mind to release salt as his big reveal next time. It would definitely create another wave of sensation, which would last for a while. As salt was something that would have to be ingested almost every day, whoever controlled its supply would come out on top in this apocalyptic world. More refined salt well forging blueprints may emerge in the future, but at the moment, it was likely that only Ed himself had one, so he wasn¡¯t worried. As long as he put it up for sale, it would definitely be snatched up, allowing him to get his hands on another large pool of resources. Ed stopped dreaming about his plans. He had more pressing matters to attend to right now, such as building the processing plant. After this wave of transactions, the materials to build it had all been gathered. It wasn¡¯t easy, but not he could finally do it. A notification sounded abruptly in Ed¡¯s mind. At this, his face grew dark. [ Notice ] : Lack of construction tools such as hammers, shovels, and rulers. Unable to build. Ed now felt helpless. The notification was just as it had warned him before. However, while he had been busy collecting all kinds of resources for the construction of the processing plant itself, he had overlooked this detail, only remembering now that he had been reminded about it. It was just some construction tools, he shouldn¡¯t have a problem getting them, right? Opening the forging interface, he started to look for their blueprints. He found them eventually, but they were blacked out. In other words, the tools would each require their appropriate forging blueprints, which was quite troublesome. He had imagined that the resources would be the hardest to acquire, but now that he had finally gathered them, he found that he would need other blueprints for the construction tools. ¡°Looks like I can only hope for them from the check-in.¡± Ed would have to wait another day. Anyway, the following day would mark one week since he had found himself here, and would allow him to perform his first weekly check-in. If the forging blueprints he wanted did not appear, then he would have no choice but to use his food and try to trade for them with other survivors. However, he held on to hope that he wouldn¡¯t be disappointed by the weekly check-in. He didn¡¯t want to resort completely to trade, especially for this type of item, which could be said to be valuable. Those that had it would definitely ask a lot for it, and in the end, Ed would be the one on the losing end. Therefore, as long as there was any alternative, he wouldn¡¯t go for these loss-making trades. This would only be his fallback option. Only if there was no other way out would he resort to this. Night soon fell. The big trees in the forest once completely transformed, harboring malicious intent. They were like ghosts that wanted to kill, harvesting the souls of any survivors that dared invade. Most of the colossal woods that had been cut down earlier by survivors during the day had also grown back up, Their strength revitalized by the strange moonlight. Hungry survivors who had lost their minds rushed into the depths of the forest. Yet, there would only be two outcomes in the night. Either they die by the hands of the strange trees, or die in the mouths of wild beasts. Both led to death. The forest was not at all forgiving at night. Just like before, Ed held a torch as he patrolled his open ground. He had to make sure that there was no potential danger lurking close that would threaten his safety. As he expanded his land, the risk of threats also increased. Beasts would move faster on flat open ground. Therefore, the lack of defensive measures had become Ed¡¯s greatest weakness. From his constant surveying of the chat interface, he knew that there were already many survivors who had been attacked by beasts. Only a small number of people had successfully survived, relying on their nimble movements to escape the jaws of the beasts as they darted through uneven terrain. Even so, most had also suffered serious injuries. If they were to have another such encounter anytime soon, they would definitely die. Most who were attacked did not speak again, the most probable reason being that they had met a miserable death by the jaws of some beast. Ed slept late tonight, after igniting all possible fire sources he had to protect his own safety. .. Time flew by quickly. When Ed opened his eyes, the strange moon no longer hung in the sky, the bright sun having taken its place. A new day had arrived. The first thing he did after waking up was play around a bit with Little Treasure. This was also something he had incorporated into his routine over time. After eating a simple breakfast, Ed started off the logging operation of the day, which was to enlarge this area of clearing, expanding his territory. Ed stopped in front of a tree before chopping it down directly with his axe. The giant hit the ground with a thunderous boom. He ignored notifications sounding in his mind. Instead, his brows were knitted tightly in concern. When he had chopped down the tree with his axe just now, he hadn¡¯t felt as relaxed as before. Instead, there had been a moment¡¯s pause before the axe sliced through. In other words, the trees had become stronger after their exposure to the moonlight over the past few days. This would not be good. Chapter 17 Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation In just a few days, the strength of the trees had grown so much. Ed did not dare to think about what the situation would be like in a few more days. Right now, the trees only resisted against those who invaded their land. If they grew strong enough, would they attack the survivors directly like wild beasts? If it really did come to this, the greatest threat would be the beasts, but rather the trees that seemed to surround everything there was. Ed had been confident in thinking that he was well ahead of the curve, but it now seemed that his vanity had been unfounded. In this apocalyptic world, there was no so-called lead. Survival was all that prevailed. Regardless of how much of a lead or advantage one had, there was no guarantee that they¡¯d live to see the sun tomorrow. Ed was thankful that he¡¯d managed to come to this realization early. Otherwise, he would probably have been too comfortable in the fact that he had a diamond-quality axe. Perhaps diamond-quality trees would emerge in the future. In that case, what advantage would the axe currently in his hands retain? As long as the strange moon in the sky remained, the trees would only grow stronger. It was reasonable to assume that the other survivors had not obtained anything similar to the diamond-quality axe he possessed. Even if they had managed to get their hands on something better, the quality would likely not be as high. When the time came, if a tree of diamond-quality or higher strength emerged, he would be the only one capable of dealing with it. After all, he had the system. Mulling over his current situation, he grew even more vigilant. He continued swinging his axe with renewed fervor, clearing a path through the forest before him. The notifications informing him of newly obtained resources did not slow down in his mind. Fortunately, he found that he could mute them temporarily. Otherwise, he might have gone insane. ¡°Almost done¡­¡± Ed looked at the empty space in front of him that had just been cleared, almost exhausted. The trees had indeed been harder to cut down than before. They now required him to use more strength in order to chop through them in one fell swoop. Relatively speaking, however, it was still easy to chop them down. Comparing himself to the survivors, Ed was already more than grateful to be able to be this relaxed. Just like that, a morning of logging was concluded. He had cleared out two basketball court sized open spaces before stopping from fatigue and thirst In the open space around the cabin, Ed and Little Treasure sat relaxed, sharing some delicious corn and sipping on warm boiled water. All things considered, these were essentially luxuries. Among other things, Ed¡¯s living conditions were extremely fortunate. The food, especially, was lavish. With his cornfield, he would find no lack of food. Of course, if he really had to eat corn three times a day, he would definitely not be able to stand it. After all, energy for the human body was still most efficiently provided by meat. After eating and drinking his fill, Ed looked up toward the sky. The sun did not seem to be receding yet, which was enough to tell him that it was still early. There was only one last bag of bait left in his storage space. He decided to use it to capture a few more forest chickens. Of course, this time, Ed brought Little Treasure along with him to go deeper into the forest. Its mission was the same as before, to find any treasure tree holes. His, on the other hand, was to capture chickens. Everything went according to plan. Time flew by as the sky gradually darkened, and Ed, along with Little Treasure, returned home. Today¡¯s harvest had once again been rich. He had used the last small bag of bait to capture three chickens. All together, he now had a total of ten. Making three more wooden baskets, he placed them each into individual baskets. After a brief pause, he took out some kernels of corn before sprinkling some into each basket. Seeing that there was something to eat, the chickens did not care about what it was as they went into a feeding frenzy, even showing traces of enjoyment as they ate. This did not surprise Ed. It would have been a miracle if they hadn¡¯t found the bronze corn delicious. After most of the chickens were finished eating, they continued to cry out. It was obvious that they hadn¡¯t had enough. Ed was not stingy. He sprinkled some more into the wooden baskets before the crying stopped, confirming his idea that the forest chickens could be fed with corn kernels. Preoccupied with eating, they were oblivious to the danger that had quietly arrived. Crack! Ed picked up a chicken before breaking its neck. The bird died on the spot without even making a sound. He couldn¡¯t be careless about preparing chicken meat. Boiling water, washing the carcass, plucking its feathers, and bleeding it out were all done in one go. He was able to do this quickly, mainly because he had been doing it for a while and as such, had gotten familiar with the process. After only having eaten corn and apples since the morning, he couldn¡¯t wait to enjoy a big meal. It was a combination of meat and vegetables. Only by eating like this would he maintain his health. In such a world, it was likely only Ed who was able to enjoy such a meal. In a short while, a steaming hot roasted chicken rested on the grill. If he were to put this up on the trade list, who knew how many people would fight over it? Even one drumstick would be a rare delicacy. Ed imagined that most of the other survivors wouldn¡¯t have gotten their hands on chicken just yet. They had tried but failed to catch them, as they were simply too fast. Only he was fortunate enough to constantly have an entire chicken for a meal. ¡°If only I had some sugar.¡± After dinner, Ed began to chew on an apple. There was no lack of salt, but he did miss sugar. If there was, he¡¯d be able to prepare even better chicken dishes. Or maybe he could make sweet apple sauce, and use it as a dip. A regretful expression crossed his face. If anyone could see his current expression, he would surely be pummeled into the ground. Other survivors would yell, ¡°We¡¯re still chewing on tree bark, and you¡¯re already planning to make sweet sauce?¡± He wouldn¡¯t rush it. It would arrive if it was meant to arrive. The night gradually darkened as the strange moon arose once again. Lost in thought, Ed stared blankly into the bonfire before him, awaiting the passage of time. There was something extremely important to do today. The weekly sign-in! This would be a crucial factor in whether or not a wood processing plant could be built. If what he would receive by checking-in was not what he wanted, he would have to resort to trading for the blueprints of the tools he required with food. Ed prayed in his heart. He had always been lucky, but would it come through this time, when he needed it most? [ Ding! Do you wish to sign in? ] The metallic voice of the system sounded in his mind. Without any hesitation, he agreed. Chapter 18 Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation [ Ding! Check-in successful. ] [ Ding! Congratulations to the host for obtaining a diamond-quality work hammer! ] The system¡¯s voice was like an angel¡¯s as it rang in Ed¡¯s mind. The system knows me well! Ed could not help himself from letting loose a sigh in his heart. He was beginning to feel that his luck was simply too good. He could get whatever he wanted. He was having it way too easy. Not only had he gotten a hammer, it was also a diamond-quality one. This solved one of the bigger problems he had. As such, he was in an extremely good mood. Leaning against a circular plate, Ed crossed his legs, drumming his fingers rhythmically on the ground. He was even humming a little tune. He hummed and hummed before breaking out into a song. He couldn¡¯t help himself from being so willful. While others were worrying about food, Ed had already eaten his fill and was singing. His life was simply too comfortable. Beside him, Little Treasure stood up on its hind legs. The apple it had been holding in its paws had fallen to the ground at some point, as it stared blankly at Ed. Its inquisitive gaze seemed to ask, ¡°Is today¡¯s food hallucinogenic?¡± Ed used his mind to open the storage space. A hammer with a quiet red glow lay in a separate box. The description of the hammer appeared in Ed¡¯s mind. [ Diamond-quality Work Hammer: It can be used for construction with high efficiency. Can transform into any kind of tool according to the owner¡¯s needs. Examples: construction shovel, construction hammer, construction knife, etc. No tool that can be thought up is invalid. ] [ Notice ] : Can only be used as a tool. Unusable as a weapon. Staring in disbelief at the description of the hammer, Ed¡¯s breathing became rapid. How was this even a hammer? It was basically a multi-purpose tool. In other words, this hammer could become any tool that he needed. Of course, it could only transform into tools. Ed would not be able to turn into a weapon. If he could, he would have been so happy that he would have flown. Regardless, the feeling of dissonance when thinking of this hammer morphing into a weapon was too extreme. He was already more than satisfied. With this hammer, he could build the processing plant. In the future, he may not even have to synthesize any other tools. He could just simply command the hammer to take any form. This one tool was worth ten thousand others. It was simply too efficient. Ed couldn¡¯t wait to take this omnipotent hammer out from his storage space. Soon, a speck of red light appeared in his hand, before revealing a very lightweight hammer. Its entire body was coated in a silvery-white color, with a pattern carved on it similar to the one on the axe. Although he didn¡¯t know what it meant, it indeed made the tool look beautiful. It was likely that all diamond-quality items had such a pattern engraved onto them. Ed couldn¡¯t put down the hammer in his hand. No matter how he looked at it, he was bursting with ecstasy. This tool was simply impeccable. Of course, the most important thing now would be to test out the function of the hammer. He was already deciding on which tool he wanted it to morph into first. ¡°Let¡¯s go with a construction shovel,¡± Ed muttered. As soon as he was done speaking, the small hammer in his hand began to change. The front and back ends began to elongate. The initially blunt head also sharpened. Not long after, a small, silvery-white shovel had appeared in Ed¡¯s hand. Little Treasure, who had been beside Ed, looked like it had seen a monster. It quickly scuttled up and climbed onto his arm. Squeak! Squeak! Ed understood what the squirrel was trying to say. Wasn¡¯t that just a hammer? How had it turned into a shovel? He had also been sincerely impressed. Although he had already known what to expect from its description, he couldn¡¯t help himself from being shocked as it happened before his eyes. Ed continued to picture all kinds of tools in his mind. As long as he could think of it, he was able to obtain it. His curiosity was soon satiated. He spent five minutes simply having the hammer change into various kinds of tools. He tried turning it into hoes, pliers, wrenches, and a series of other miscellaneous items. ¡°Good stuff,¡± he whispered in awe. With this hammer, I have all the tools I need! He was certain that he would never be lacking tools again in the future. As long as he thought of something, the hammer would be able to transform itself into it for him. Now, all that was left was the exciting part, and that was to build a wood processing plant! He had not forgotten this. His heart and mind had been fixated on this plant for quite a while. Now that the problem of lacking the required tools was resolved, it was naturally time to start construction. [ Notice ] : Start construction. Please select an open space. [ Notice ] : Please select a space of a minimum of 5 square meters. As instructed, Ed went over to a relatively wide-open area. He had already designated this location for it earlier. He was full of anticipation as he selected the option to begin the build, itching to see for himself what this processing plant looked like, and how it functioned. One notification after another rang in his mind, requesting for him to transform the omnipotent hammer into various kinds of tools and smash them on the ground. He did so, before finally slamming the ground with the hammer itself. A loud sound emerged from the ground. Boom! One by one, items relating to the construction of the wood processing plant crawled their way out from the ground. The speed at which this occurred also shocked Ed. As expected of a diamond-quality construction tool, its efficiency was indeed outstanding. If Ed were to put together every brick and tile by himself, it would have taken him approximately half a month to complete such a tedious amount of work. Instead, he gnawed happily on an apple as he watched the hammer working away on the construction itself, before revealing a smile. This hammer did not require any control at all. It had started working all on its own, which saved him more than a little time and energy. It smashed away at the nails that had not been fully embedded. Time flew by quickly. In just three days, a wood processing plant had appeared before Ed. No one other than him would have ever seen such rapid construction speed. As other survivors were still worrying about food, this man had already begun his construction industry, which worked at a ridiculously fast pace. Everything was going well except for one thing that dissatisfied him. The processing plant was too ugly! Every part of it looked like it had been hastily put together and required repairs. The dissonance immediately caused Ed to feel like he had been cheated. He wasn¡¯t very happy about having used so many materials to build such a dilapidated structure. His first thought had been that he was looking at something that had been plucked out from an ancient era. Regardless, Ed was still satisfied. Chapter 19 Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation This wood processing plant was not automatic. It required Ed to use his own strength in order to operate the machine. However, it was worth mentioning that the plant that was built had been thoughtfully included with two pedals for his use. It did not require constant force on them. As long as he stepped on the pedals once in a while, the machine would continue to operate. Ed would die of exhaustion otherwise. As the machine whirred to life and started to operate, Ed tried to have it cut some wood into the shapes he wanted. Overall, it wasn¡¯t too bad. After he obtained more resources in the future, he could still upgrade it. At this moment, a notification sounded again. [ Notice ] : A wood processing plant has been built! [ Unlocked new function: Upgrading items and buildings ] He was not surprised by this. After all, he had known what to expect a while ago. This could be said to be a very important function, which would allow him to upgrade buildings and the like. In other words, under normal circumstances, he would be able to improve anything he had, including the dilapidated and ancient items he had first received in this world. Wandering to the old cart, a message appeared in his mind. Just as he expected, it could be upgraded. The content of the message was the materials required to upgrade it. The tools and other items he had seen when he had first awoken here could also be upgraded, provided that he had a certain amount of resources. After looking at the tools, Ed set his sights on the cabin itself. As expected, it too could be upgraded. [ Inferior-quality Cabin upgrade materials: wood x1200, leaves x550, metal sheet x50 ] [ Trading Space will double following an upgrade. ] It was not too expensive, but Ed did not have any intention to upgrade it yet. He proceeded to look at the diamond-quality axe. [ Diamond-quality Axe ] [ Materials required to level up: metal sheet x1.2 million, energy crystal x1 million¡­ ] Ed didn¡¯t want to continue reading after this. It was simply a ridiculously exorbitant price. He had never even heard of an energy crystal, and it demanded a million of them. It was almost a robbery. For the time being, Ed forgot about upgrading the axe. He did not dare to consider it at all. The amount of materials required was simply impossible to obtain. He had never even heard of most of them. It would already be a miracle if he could find any of them in the first place, they were likely not going to be up for trade either. Yet, just because the axe could not be upgraded, it did not mean that he could not improve other items. For example, for most daily necessities, the amount of materials required for upgrade was not as ridiculous. Some only required a single piece of wood. Moreover, a certain amount of materials could be consumed to level up all items. The thing that this unique was that the items would be enlarged Ed seemed to have most of everything in order. As such, he could leave this place at ease to venture deeper into the forest to obtain more resources. Relying on daily logging operations alone would not be sustainable. To obtain a larger amount of resources, one had to explore, which would inevitably create encounters with all kinds of dangers. Despite the risk and challenges, Ed was determined not to give up. Riches came from risks! Most importantly, Ed himself also had also met the conditions to explore safely. After eating so many forest chickens and the crops he had planted, his own strength had increased by leaps and bounds. Not only that, through his constant capturing of chickens, he had also honed his attentiveness by quite a bit. He had been preparing since the very beginning, and now, the time was right. He reasoned that if he continued to stay here, not only would his troubles be the aforementioned lack of resources, but if he were to encounter a crisis, he would be reduced to nothing more than a lamb waiting to be slaughtered. Ed had never been someone with a passive stance. Taking the initiative to attack first had always been his way of doing things. Even if he left this place, he was not too worried that his territory would be taken over by others. After all, the other survivors were still preoccupied with finding food, and would not have the time to run around. Those that did were likely to already have met their end in the mouths of some wild beasts. Ed guessed that the distance between each survivor was not too large. This was only a premonition in his heart, of course. There was no way anyone could be sure about this for now. Anyway, it wasn¡¯t like he wasn¡¯t coming back. He was simply going off to search for resources. Night fell shortly. Ed and Little Treasure sat around the bonfire. The squirrel had skillfully climbed onto Ed¡¯s shoulder, and now lay lazily on it. ¡°Little Treasure, how about we go out for a walk tomorrow?¡± Ed poked Little Treasure¡¯s small belly. He wanted it along for a simple reason. This was a squirrel that could find treasures. If he didn¡¯t bring it along, he would miss out on quite a bit of riches. Hearing Ed¡¯s words, Little Treasure launched itself off his shoulder before landing on the ground. Squeak squeak! Squeak squeak squeak! It had already wanted to go off into the forest and play around for the longest time. However, as Ed had not done so, the little squirrel obviously couldn¡¯t venture off on its own. Now that Ed had suggested it, it was naturally very happy. Finally, they could go out to play! Animals seemed to have an inexplicable sense of belonging to the forest, and Ed was clear about this. His thoughts and Little Treasure¡¯s worked in sync. He understood the squirrel¡¯s eagerness, and since he had to go out to search for resources anyway, he¡¯d take the opportunity to bring Little Treasure out to play. Their trip was decided just like that, and Ed had it planned for the next morning. Soon, it grew late, and Ed went to sleep after a round of patrols. Little Treasure had also fallen asleep early today, which was rare. It was a quiet night. The sky the next day was hazy and bright. In the early morning, drops of dew hung lazily on the leaves of the towering trees. Ed had woken up early today, following a strange dream. He rubbed his eyes as he breathed in the morning air. If there was a time when the air was clearest, it would definitely be in the early mornings. As there were trees all around, the quality of the air would undoubtedly be clean. ¡°Check in.¡± Ed let himself come to his senses for a while before checking in. It was impossible for him to forget such an important thing. [ Ding! Check-in successful. ] [ Ding! Congratulations to the host for obtaining a fusion card. ] [ Notice ] : This fusion card can only be fused with interfaces. As he checked the description of the fusion card, he thought to himself that this check-in system was simply too timely. [ Fusion Card: Fuse all interfaces in the mind into one with the check-in system. After fusion, transactions can be carried out directly without needing to return to the cabin. ] This was exactly what he needed! Chapter 20 Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation This fusion card had been the thing that Ed needed most. Moreover, its function was simple. It would bind another system into his mind, similar to the check-in system. After doing so, he would no longer be limited to trading only in the cabin. He would be able to directly open the trading list through the system at any time and perform trades immediately. Of course, this did not mean that the cabin could be dismantled. If it was, there would be no medium for the items to travel to. Without any hesitation, Ed used the fusion card. In less than a moment, the system was successfully bound. From now on, wherever he went, he would still be able to trade with other survivors through this system, which was a great convenience. In other words, Ed could now completely rely on his mind to complete a series of operations. The sun slowly rose. Today¡¯s breakfast was corn yet again, but because the quality of the corn was so good, no matter how much he ate, he had not yet grown to be tired of it. Little Treasure¡¯s appetite was also growing day by day, and Ed was happy to provide. After all, only when it was full would it have the energy to search for treasure. He would have to rely on the little squirrel to search for any treasures hidden in the forest during their upcoming trip, which would grant him a great harvest with a single swing of the axe. Soon, the two of them finished a full meal. ¡°Sigh, I don¡¯t know when I¡¯ll be able to change into new clothes.¡± Ed looked down helplessly at his body. The initially white shirt now had a few tears, and there were numerous stains on it that could probably not be washed off, traces left behind by logging. There was not much water to begin with. While he was comfortable, he could not be so extravagant as to use precious water to wash his clothes every day. The soles of the shoes he was wearing had been worn flat. Even a small part of the heel had cracked. ¡°Let¡¯s go!¡± Ed shouted. Little Treasure jumped onto his shoulder. The man and the squirrel left behind the small wooden cabin as they walked into the forest. Ed held the axe firmly in his right hand. Of course, it would be needed to cut wood. After all, the trees in the forest had grown into clusters, making it difficult to traverse the land. Yet with the axe in hand, he had the world. Using the axe, Ed simply knocked down all his obstacles. Like a bulldozer, he continued to march forward. This time, he did not activate the special function of his axe, the Flames of Hell. The reason was simple. He was no longer at his cabin. If he used the skill, he may be leaving traces to be discovered by other survivors. If that happened, the situation could become extremely dangerous. He wasn¡¯t too worried about his safety, but the things planted around his land were too valuable. If he were to be invaded, he would not be able to protect much. Therefore, it was better to be safe. Pausing briefly amidst the dense foliage, Ed allowed Little Treasure to roam free. In a short while, the squirrel had disappeared. He didn¡¯t have to worry about it getting lost. Little Treasure could sense his location, and he could also sense its location. This was a benefit of having gotten it from the system. Such problems were conveniently solved. The more pressing issue was the sky. As it turned dark, the strange moonlight would undoubtedly emerge once again. Although his overall physical fitness had improved a lot, and he wielded a demonic axe, he couldn¡¯t rely fully on them. Besides, other than the terrifying trees, there were also bound to be beasts hidden in the bushes, or various other monsters. Ed didn¡¯t let his guard down. He had decided to remain 120% alert every day, preparing himself to deal with the unknown dangers. It was always good to be careful. ¡­ An hour soon passed. Squeak squeak! Hearing Little Treasure¡¯s voice, Ed immediately ran over with his axe. What it had meant was simple: it had found a treasure tree hole. Ed cut it down in a slash. The resources that dropped were not new. Even so, it was better to have them than not. Sure enough, the deeper one ventured into the forest, the more resources they could find. In just an hour, they had stumbled upon a treasure tree hole. After less than thirty minutes, Little Treasure found another treasure tree hole, which more than pleased Ed. He let it wander around here for a while longer, but it didn¡¯t find any more. That made sense. Regardless, treasure tree holes were a precious resource. If they could be found so easily, they would be worthless. Swish! Ed cut down one tree after another. With his axe, it was as if he was in a no man¡¯s land. Wherever he went, destruction followed, the trees crashing from the power of his axe. Although it was indeed much more difficult to chop them down now compared to before, it was still quite easy to do so as they continued to crumble before the diamond-quality axe. The sky gradually darkened. Noticing this, Ed prepared to go back. He wasn¡¯t confident enough in his current condition to deal with the potential dangers lurking in the forest. Squeak squeak squeak! Just as he had been about to call Little Treasure back, it seemed to have found something, running toward him as it squeaked. ¡°You mean you found something?¡± Judging from its tone, Ed grew quite excited, as it seemed that it had encountered something interesting. This aroused his curiosity. What could have made this animal get so excited? ¡°Let¡¯s go.¡± Just like that, Ed trailed behind Little Treasure, running in the direction that it had pointed out. What surprised him was that the squirrel, even though it had been fed so well by him, had not become slower in traversing through the forest. Contrary to that, it had actually grown faster, jumping from tree trunk to tree trunk as nimbly as a martial artist. Ed had lost it a few times. Had it not been for the squirrel occasionally stopping to wait for him, he would have lost his way. He had somewhat adapted to the rhythm of running in the forest. Now, he did not need Little Treasure to wait for him as much, and could just barely keep up with its pace. It was just that he was not as fast as the scurrying squirrel, but he was not too bad. Ed and Little Treasure grew tired as they ran. They paused briefly to drink some water he had brought along and eat a few apples, replenishing their strength. Then, they continued to run in that direction. After a period of time, Little Treasure stopped running. Squeak squeak. It¡¯s voice had fallen softer. Ed walked forward cautiously as he pushed aside the clump of grass in front of him. ¡°What¡¯s this?¡± Chapter 21 Ed peeled away the dense foliage. ¡°This is!¡± His breathing grew rapid. A lake about 100 meters wide had appeared before Ed¡¯s eyes. How could he not be excited? This was a lake! Such a large lake represented a water source! Food and water was what he had been worried about lacking most on his expedition. At this moment, the system¡¯s voice sounded. [ Notice ] : Lake resource discovered. Ed didn¡¯t react much toward the system¡¯s voice. After all, he had used a fusion card, and so he was used to it. He had felt that Little Treasure had been acting strange just now, but he hadn¡¯t expected that it had found such a huge lake. This would provide him with not only water, but also food. That¡¯s right, there were fish in the lake that Ed could catch and eat. Cluck Cluck! Hearing the distinctive noise, he darted immediately into the bushes nearby. A few forest chickens soon appeared in Ed¡¯s line of sight. They did not seem to have spotted him as they slowly approached the small lake. Looking around first to make sure it was safe, the chickens soon began to drink water. If the chickens could drink from it, that meant that the water in the lake was safe. After all, animals had strict requirements for water as well. At the very least, it told him that the water was drinkable. Just as Ed was attentively watching as the chickens drank from the lake, Little Treasure jumped onto his shoulder and began to cry out. ¡°Alright, don¡¯t rush, wait a little longer.¡± Ed comforted the little squirrel. Unexpectedly, however, Little Treasure only cried out even more excitedly. Ed sensed that something was wrong as he looked to where its tiny paws were pointing. What he saw truly frightened him.. Behind the group of chickens, there was a beast covered in pale orange fur and black stripes. Stalking low on the ground, it was slowly approaching the birds. Tiger! Ed was stunned. If it hadn¡¯t been for Little Treasure, he would have already rushed out. If he had been discovered by this tiger, it would definitely have changed its target to him. After all, he was pretty sure he contained more meat than the chickens. Little Treasure, you really are a lifesaver! A wave of relief rushed through him as he felt as if he had just escaped from the jaws of death. In an instant, a terrifying thought crossed his mind. Although tigers were not very social animals, they did not keep too far a distance between each other. Especially in such an environment, even tigers would not dare to be careless. As such, it was quite likely that there may be more than just this one tiger nearby. Ed hesitated as he pondered his own intuition. If that was really the case, then his current situation would be very dangerous. Remaining hidden in the grass, he watched the tiger that had drawn close to the forest chickens. Roar! It was as if a whistle had sounded. Before any of the birds could even react, the tiger had already pounced on one of them. The remaining four chickens ran for their lives in different directions. Just as they thought they had escaped, another four tigers emerged from the bushes, landed steadily before each of four birds. Ed, who was hiding in the bushes, could not stop himself from taking a sharp breath. This was not good. There were five tigers. It would have already been difficult to deal with one, but now there were four others. Each of the wild cats caught a chicken respectively with ease before looking at their kin around them vigilantly. They soon separated off into five different directions, after which they began to enjoy the delicious prey they hunted. Watching the scene, Ed felt that these tigers naturally wouldn¡¯t be living in a group, but had somehow achieved some kind of cooperation here. The more pressing matter was that there were now five tigers guarding the lake. What should he do? He had suddenly been thrown into a dilemma. He wasn¡¯t too willing to leave this area. The prized lake was right in front of him, but he could not reach it. Ed did not dare to move at all. Even the slightest movement could attract the pursuit of any of the five tigers. Squeak squeak squeak! Little Treasure whispered in Ed¡¯s ear. ¡°You have a way?¡± Little Treasure jumped to the ground before hitting its chest, as if it was saying, ¡°There¡¯s definitely no problem.¡± Ed warned the squirrel to take care of its own safety. Quickly climbing up a tree, Little Treasure was now perched on a branch. It quickly scuttled back and forth among the trees, and it was not long before its small frame was completely lost to Ed¡¯s eyes. Ed did not idle around. Although Little Treasure could distract them, this would only buy him a little time, and there was none to waste. As the water source here was so rich, the beasts would definitely return. His mind began to spin rapidly. There was obviously no realistic way to move the entire lake. Therefore, he would have to take advantage of its resources right here. Fish! That¡¯s right, fish! If he couldn¡¯t take away the entire lake, he would take the fish in it. He was determined not to leave empty handed. With this decided, it was now time to fish. However, there was an issue with this that once again troubled Ed. If he were to take the time to make a fishing rod, the tigers would definitely return before any fish could be caught. He may not even have finished constructing it before he was forced to run away. He abandoned the idea of using a fishing rod in his mind. It would be both time-consuming and energy-consuming, and there was a high risk that he may not even be able to catch any fish. Another idea followed. He could go directly into the water to fish. Ed was a good swimmer, but this thought did not last long before he dropped it. God knows if there were any dangers hidden in the lake itself. The risks of going into the water just to fish was also high. Little Treasure had already been gone for a minute, and Ed knew that he really did not have much time left. Suddenly! Ed slapped against his forehead. ¡°Why don¡¯t I just set up a fishing net?¡± A fishing net was the most common fishing tool. Ed didn¡¯t even need to do anything to acquire it. After all, he had a transforming hammer in his arsenal. He could directly morph it into a fishing net. It was simple and time-saving. He immediately started working. First, he upgraded the wooden buckets he had kept in his storage space to the largest size possible. Of course, he didn¡¯t only have one of them. This water source was also extremely precious, and he couldn¡¯t waste it. The problem of the tool was completely resolved. Next, it was time for Little Treasure to lure the tigers away. Ed sensed its location, which was on a tree branch directly above the tigers¡¯ heads. He clearly saw two small stones in Little Treasure¡¯s tiny grip, and many others stones piled up at its feet. Raising one of the stones in its paws, the squirrel threw it directly at one of the tigers. Chapter 22 Shoo! Little Treasure itself had no idea where it had gotten the strength to throw the stones at the five tigers. Ed watched it unfold as he remained hiding in the bushes. In his heart, he gave Little Treasure a thumbs up. He hadn¡¯t known of the squirrel¡¯s plan, but this was simply too daring. Five small rocks landed on the heads of each of the tigers. Little Treasure didn¡¯t run away immediately. Instead, it stood on the tree trunk and squeaked, as if it was laughing at the beasts. One of the tigers was feeling the most miserable. The rock had hit its eyes, causing it to jump up in pain, almost stumbling into the lake behind it. Roar! The five tigers looked up to see Little Treasure holding its stomach as it continued laughing at them. How could they endure such mockery? They roared at Little Treasure. This little squirrel would dare to provoke us? Little Treasure, on the other hand, seemed to think it hadn¡¯t had enough fun. Taking up another two small stones, it continued to chuck them at the tiger in the front. Perfect hit! Two more red marks emerged on the tiger¡¯s forehead. Roar! An even louder roar was heard. They really were angry now. ¡°If you dare come down, I, Lord Tiger, promise not to kill you!¡± Little Treasure planted itself firmly on its branch. Tigers couldn¡¯t climb trees. At this moment, whichever way you put it, the beasts, which had been enjoying a good meal, were actually getting bullied by a tiny animal. Little Treasure knew that it was about time. It turned around before patting its buttocks with its small paws, mocking them again. Fed up, the tigers below had had enough, and chased after the squirrel. Tigers moved very fast in the forest. They had the ability to navigate skillfully around any obstacles in their way. Of course, Little Treasure was faster. The only reason they could even catch up was because Little Treasure would deliberately slow down at times, allowing them to almost reach it. Just as they were about to, however, it would increase its speed, making the tigers¡¯ jaws itch in anger. They could not let this little squirrel in front of them go, or they would definitely be humiliated by their own kind in the future. Ed, who was still in the bushes, watched all of this quietly. Little Treasure was really too bold. There was the hero Wu Song, who had fought tigers, and now there was Little Treasure, playing around with five of them. Soon, Little Treasure, along with the five tigers, had completely disappeared from Ed¡¯s sight. He knew that his chance had come. Without hesitation, he rushed out of the bushes and ran toward the lake. Coming to its edge, he took out his omnipotent hammer from the storage space. With simply a thought, he conjured a silvery-white fishing net. He had used a fishing net before in his village prior to arriving here, so naturally, he knew what a fishing net looked like. Grabbing one end of it, he threw the net forward forcefully. The weight at its center dragged the bottom of the net into the lake. He would need a little time to catch the fish, and could only hope that Little Treasure could buy a bit more time. Of course, the priority would be its safety. After spending so much time with it, Ed had grown to regard Little Treasure as the most important partner he¡¯s had in his life, and not just an animal. If he had to choose between a lake and the squirrel, he would choose the latter without hesitation. Roar! A loud roar was heard. ¡°There¡¯s no time.¡± He had thought he had a bit more time than this. The beasts¡¯ hearing was too good. He guessed that the sound of the fishing net hitting the water had been too loud, and had alerted the tigers. Quickening his movements, Ed summoned all of his strength to pull up the fishing net that had sunk into the water. With the net now above the water, he did not have any time to count his spoils. He hurriedly placed the entire fishing net in the storage space of the system. Following this, he procured two huge wooden buckets from the storage space before placing them directly into the lake. In one swift movement, the buckets were filled with water and had entered Ed¡¯s storage space. He was not foolish. The water itself was also an extremely important resource. It would be a waste if he did not take some of it. Roar! The tiger¡¯s roars grew louder and louder. Without any hesitation, Ed ran straight back. Yet as soon as he had turned around, a tiger emerged from the foliage. Finding Ed, it had immediately set its target. The tiger was extremely territorial, and would not forgive any outsiders that wandered into its territory. It had now classified the man before it as an intruder. Ed gave up running in a straight line. Instead, he began to dart around the dense trees. Running in a straight line away from a predator like this was no different from courting death. ¡°Do you still dare to chase after me?¡± Ed sensed the tiger¡¯s killer instinct behind him. A strong stench radiated off its body, tinged with the smell of blood. He knew it did not belong to Little Treasure, but to those forest chickens before. Ed was not someone to be trifled with. Changing his direction again, he stored all the things that the tigers had not had time to enjoy into his storage space with a wave of his hand. Are you angry? I told you to chase me! As the tiger watched, it exploded in anger. Not only did you come to steal water, you also came to steal chickens! Ed felt that the speed of the tiger behind him had obviously increased. Under this kind of pressure, he strangely did not feel any fear. Instead, he appeared unusually calm. His brain fired off rapidly. If this persisted, with the enraged tiger¡¯s current speed, it would only be a matter of time before it caught up to him. This tiger was motivated to give chase not only because it had listed Ed as an intruder, but it also wanted to eat the human in front of it. To it, what he had done was really despicable. It had not been easy to form a group and catch some chickens, but you¡¯ve stolen them away! Growing more and more enraged, the tiger¡¯s physique went into overdrive, as its running speed increased once again. Ed¡¯s needed to think faster. If he couldn¡¯t think of a way out, the tiger would catch up to him in a matter of seconds. He wasn¡¯t slow either, by any means. In a moment, he had entered the forest. Suddenly! Ed slowed down. Seeing this, the tiger pursuing him charged fiercely. Delicious human, I¡¯m coming! The tiger let out a deafening roar. The distance between them grew shorter and shorter, until it was only ten meters. Suddenly! Chapter 23 The distance between the tiger and Ed grew closer and closer. Just as the tiger was about to pounce on Ed¡­ Suddenly! An axe materialized out of thin air in Ed¡¯s hand. It was the trusty diamond-grade axe that he had relied on each time he cut wood. Planting his feet, he turned around as he swung it in a large arc. His target was not the tiger, but rather the trees in front of it. A red light emerged from the axe¡¯s trail. The moment it saw the red light, the tiger screeched to a crawl with fear in its eyes. It had felt the aura of death radiating from the red light. It enveloped the trees surrounding the tiger before disappearing. The trees crashed to the ground, blocking the tiger from Ed. The fallen trees formed a cross shaped barrier between them. Ed did pause for long before continuing to run forward. He knew that if he had aimed the light at the tiger, it would definitely have dodged it. Therefore, it was better to cut down the trees. Roar! The tiger looked on at Ed, who was getting further and further away, before letting out a disheartened roar. The food that had almost been in its mouth disappeared without a trace, leaving it in a terrible mood. However, the tiger did not give chase anymore. The aura from the axe had terrified it. If it had found its mark on it, it would already be dead or at least crippled. It had some sense of intelligence to understand this. Seeing that the tiger was no longer chasing after him, Ed concluded that his method had worked. Even if it were to catch up, there was nothing to be afraid of. He had the axe. If he could not cut down the tiger, he could cut down the trees around it. He gradually slowed down as he sensed that Little Treasure was nearby. Sure enough, a little squirrel jumped down from a tree branch, landing steadily on Ed¡¯s shoulder. It was the same one who had been teasing the five tigers. ¡°I¡¯m glad that you¡¯re okay.¡± Ed patted Little Treasure¡¯s small head. Although it had appeared very relaxed and sure of itself as it dashed around, it could have just as easily fallen from the trees if it had not been careful. The result would have been miserable, and it would have become food for the tigers. Now that Little Treasure had returned, Ed¡¯s worried heart was relieved. It was undeniable that the pair had survived a dangerous encounter. Finding a place surrounded by dense foliage, Ed shared some food and water with Little Treasure. The two of them rested for a bit before continuing. Ed was not in too much of a hurry to count the resources he had obtained from the lake, and furthermore, who knew if there would be any other hidden dangers in the forest? ¡­ After a while, Ed and Little Treasure returned back to their land. Along the way on their trek home, Ed would look behind him periodically to check if the tiger was still following him. At the same time, he would use the scattered leaves on the ground to erase any tracks he left behind. He was picking up on a new skill, the ability to avoid detection. After returning to the small wooden cabin, Ed patrolled a bit. Only when he was satisfied that he found no trace of a tiger did he relax. ¡°I¡¯ll come and get even with you next time!¡± Ed muttered. If it hadn¡¯t been for those tigers, that large lake would¡¯ve belonged to him, but he was definitely unwilling to give up on it just like that. When his strength grew enough in the future, the first thing he would do was to go back and look for those tigers. He considered this a small goal that he would set for himself in the future. He believed that this would be achievable very soon, and the day that it would come to be was too far away. After all, he was a confident person, and there was nothing he could do about that. ¡°It stinks!¡± Ed caught a scent of his own body. The stench of mud and sweat mixed together had almost choked him to death. It had been a long time since he had taken a good bath. The main reason had been the lack of water, but now, things were different. He extracted the large bucket of water that he had collected from the lake from the system. Judging from the amount he had, Ed could finally afford to take a bath. Of course, the first thing he had wanted to do when he returned to the cabin was to count how many fish he had caught in his net. Thinking of this, Ed couldn¡¯t wait any longer. He procured the fishing net from the system before turning it back into its original shape of a small hammer. Plop! Plop! Small fish fell into the wooden buckets one after another. They didn¡¯t feel that they had moved from their environment at all. After all, the water in the buckers had been from the lake. Watching the small fish swimming freely in the water, Ed smiled. The harvest this time was pretty good. At this time, the notifications in his mind also sounded. [ Notice ] : Carp +1 [ Notice ] : Grass Carp +1 [ Notice ] : Cod +1 ¡­ [ Notice ] : Gold-quality Anchovy +15 Ed slowly sifted through the list before discovering the last one. As he did, he drew in a sharp breath. What was going on? Gold-quality fish! There were a total of 15 of them! Ed had never expected to catch 15 high-grade fish with just a casual sweep of the net. His breathing quickened. The impact of this news was large. In other words, there may be other, higher quality fish in the lake, or even other more precious resources. Realizing this, Ed thought to himself bitterly that if not for the tigers, he would definitely have thought of a way to bring back more of the things in the lake, including the water source. The skin of the anchovies seemed to glint perfectly white as they swam around in the water. Ed¡¯s gaze fell on the fish. [ Gold-quality Anchovy : Its meat is delicious, with a rich taste. Physical fitness will be improved upon consumption of it. ] After seeing the system¡¯s description of it, Ed wanted nothing more than to immediately grab one of these gold-quality fish and eat it. Improve my physical fitness! This could be said to be the thing that Ed was lacking the most at the moment. If I could build my strength to a certain level, why would I be afraid of those tigers? Ed quietly rejoiced. He felt fortunate that he had brought back two large buckets of lake water. Otherwise, these fish would probably not have survived the day. He knew that anchovies would die if left outside their original living conditions for too long. The main impact of this was that the overall taste of them would become much worse. Apart from them, Ed had also harvested a number of other small fish. Although they didn¡¯t have any specific quality, they were still pretty good. The only drawback was that these fish weren¡¯t too big and could only be prepared as barbecued fish. Ed was still satisfied regardless. After all, he was probably the only one among all the survivors who had already obtained fish, especially this number of them. He was going to eat fish tonight! It would be a change of taste, and anyway, the nutritional value of the fish was more abundant. After all, with his current conditions, occasionally eating something else would be a good thing. Ed thought to himself that if the other survivors had known what he was up to at the moment, he would definitely be beaten up. ¡°We¡¯re starving, man. You¡¯re thinking that the fish are too small?¡± Chapter 24 Splash. Ed¡¯s hands entered the water before emerging with three small fish in their grip. Leaving their familiar environment and finding themselves suddenly out of water, they began to twitch and writhe. What else could they do? Ed immediately morphed the hammer into a small knife. The blade danced around delicately as he used the tool to prepare the fish. He first used it to remove all the scales on the surface of the fish, before rinsing them in clean water. Next, he cut open the fish. After emptied the fish¡¯s guts and chopping off the head, he buried the waste parts in the soil. Ed didn¡¯t like to eat fish heads. He had initially wanted to trade them away, but after mulling it over, he¡¯d decided not to. There was barely any meat on them anyway, so it felt a little unkind. After the prep work was done, the next step would be to start a fire to roast the fish. Taking out a wooden stick that he had prepared beforehand, he skewered the three small fish, and placed them on the grill to begin the roasting process. This would take a while. The sky gradually darkened as Ed raised the intensity of the fire and continuously spun the pike in the grill. An extremely rich fragrance was exuding from it. Little Treasure, who had been at the side, could barely hold itself together. If it wasn¡¯t for Ed¡¯s constant warnings, it would have jumped onto the grill long ago. Little Treasure had never eaten fish before. As it stood waiting at the side, it drooled non-stop. This scent was even more delectable than anything it had experienced before! ¡°Don¡¯t fret, it¡¯s not ready yet.¡± Ed was also hungry himself, but the grilled fish was not fully cooked yet. He would definitely get sick if he ate it now. The three small fish did not have much meat on them, and would definitely not fill his stomach. As such, Ed had decided to be a little lavish and prepared to use some of the anchovies for a delicious fish soup. What followed was a scene of fish slaughter. The anchovies were by far the smallest sized fish he had caught. If they were to be grilled, they would barely be enough to fill the gaps between his teeth. As such, it would be best to use them to prepare fish soup. This time, Ed washed the anchovies several times before using them, a method that was nothing short of extravagant. However, he still kept a watchful eye on the amount of water he used. After all, he did not have access to such a large water source anymore. The preparations were soon complete. This method of cooking the fish would definitely be much faster than roasting it. He added clear water into the pot before placing it on the fire beside the barbecue grill. Once it boiled, he would be able to put the prepared anchovies into the pot. Then, he would only need to wait quietly and he would soon be drinking the delicious fish soup. Five minutes passed, and the water in the iron pot came to a boil. Knowing that it was time, he poured in all of the prepared anchovies. In a short while, a fragrance stronger than that of the grilled fish wafted out from the pot. Ed, who had already been hungry, could barely the saliva from flowing out of his mouth. Little Treasure was the same. It did not even know how much saliva it had left. The little critter stared straight at the iron pot looming before it. Had it not been for the fire, it would have jumped onto it. They did not need to wait too long for the fish soup. In less than three minutes, it was done. Ed hastily took out two wooden bowls that he had prepared, one big and one small. Obviously, they had been meant for himself and Little Treasure respectively. Taking out a wooden spoon, Ed stirred the contents of the iron pot. The fragrance was overwhelming as it overflowed from it. He first filled a bowl of soup for Little Treasure who was looking like it could not wait any longer, before pouring the rest into his own wooden bowl. Little Treasure did not have a large appetite, so Ed only portioned just enough for it to be full. He also had three grilled fish that would be ready soon, so he was not too afraid that he wouldn¡¯t have enough. On the contrary, he was getting worried that he would not be able to finish everything. Little Treasure slowly tasted the fish soup before revealing an expression of enjoyment. What on Earth was this thing?! How could it be so delicious?! Little Treasure had never had something so delicious in its life. It immediately sped up eating, filling its mouth full of anchovy with every bite. It was more than comfortable. Ed blew at the steam rising from his bowl before taking a small sip. It was delicious! It was such a delicacy in this world! As expected of gold-quality fish, there was no fishy smell at all. Added with a little salt, it was simply delectable. Ed also began to eat the anchovies one mouthful at a time. The meat was fresh and tender, and simply impeccable. The powerful aroma of the fish lingered in on his taste buds for a long time. Eh? After finishing his soup, Ed felt as if his body was undergoing a huge change. Waves of warm currents flowed through every inch of his body. The sensation was one of indescribable comfort. Feeling the strength in his body slowly increasing, he thought to himself that these anchovies had surely been a blessing! There were still a few more remaining in his bowl. After discovering this effect, Ed hurriedly gulped them down. He could feel himself growing more in strength as he ate. In a short while, his bowl had been completely licked clean. As expected, his strength continued to grow. He felt that his physique was improving very rapidly. This was completely different from the sensation of eating the chicken. If the chicken had given him a surge of strength like a small river, the anchovies now were like a vast ocean. There was no comparison at all. Ed clenched his fist. It felt hot, as if he had endless strength at his disposal. Ten minutes later, the heat in his body had dispersed. He guessed, from what he felt, that his strength had at least doubled. In addition to the increase in strength, his physique and other aspects had also received a small increase. The increase in physique, especially, brought along with it many benefits. Some common diseases would now no longer affect Ed¡¯s body at all. Just like a low-level antibody, it brought him some security. Now, he wouldn¡¯t have to worry about low-level diseases like catching a cold, which was beneficial. Little Treasure had also quickly wiped out everything in its bowl. It lifted its limbs to the sky, stretching as it burped. Then, as usual, it rubbed his belly with its paws. However, its expression abruptly shifted into one of extreme anxiety before it flew straight into Ed¡¯s arms. Its body was trembling, as if it had seen something terrible. Ed was puzzled at Little Treasure¡¯s unusual behavior. At the same time, an ominous premonition had struck his heart, and he felt a formidable sense of danger. He felt that something bad was going to happen, and Ed was someone who always trusted his gut. Looking around, his eyes widened in horror as he caught a glimpse of an unbelievable figure. A tinge of regret hit Ed as he thought that maybe he shouldn¡¯t have ventured out so far. His luck had finally failed him. A tiger stalked out of the forest. Chapter 25 Ed stared at the emerging tiger not far away. He felt that going out today had been a mistake. Even his base had now been discovered. The heavens had turned their backs to him at a really unfortunate time. However, he also noticed that the tiger¡¯s body was covered with scars of all sizes. It seemed that getting here had not been a pleasant stroll for it either. At the same time, he was also very puzzled. He had clearly taken measures to hide his tracks, so how had the tiger followed him? Could it be that he had overlooked something? That was impossible. He had always been meticulous, it wasn¡¯t likely that he¡¯d made such a mistake. Ed really did not understand how the tiger had found him. Roar! At that moment, the tiger noticed Ed. Its eyes glinted with bitter hatred. It clearly recognized the human standing before it. This was the one who had stolen its chickens today. After its group had returned, seeing that the chickens were all gone, they thought that it had swallowed them all itself. They attacked it brutally, leaving most of the scars on the tiger¡¯s body. The tiger had caught a whiff of an extremely rich fragrance. As it was hungry, it had followed the scent all the way here. It had not expected to be led to its enemy. Seeing him, its eyes had turned bloodshot in rage! The tiger roared thunderously a few times before dragging its body and speeding towards Ed. In a matter of seconds, it was at his face. The tiger raised its sharp front claws, slashing directly at him. Fortunately, Ed managed to react in time, dodging over to the side. If he hadn¡¯t done so, he would have met his end miserably right there. The tiger had clearly not expected that the puny human facing it would dodge that attack. It was stunned, hesitating for a few seconds. Taking advantage of this, Ed had already dashed away, and was already a few dozens of meters away from the tiger. He took out his axe from the storage space. Looking at the weapon in Ed¡¯s hands, the tiger couldn¡¯t help itself from trembling a little. It had seen firsthand the power of this axe. With just one slash, more than a dozen trees had fallen down. Hesitating, it did not immediately pounce on Ed, but instead started to circle him, considering its options. In the end, its hunger made it lose the last shreds of rationality it had left. It let loose a growl before charging towards Ed, its speed much faster than before. The distance between the two continued to shrink. Twenty meters! Ten meters! Five! The tiger roared once again as it flayed its claws at Ed¡¯s body. Ed, who was standing still on the spot, gripping his axe, also made his move. Slash! Just as the tiger¡¯s attack was about to reach him, he swung the axe in his grip with all the strength he could muster. The sharpness of the Diamond-quality Axe was unwavering. The blade slashed fiercely across the tiger¡¯s stomach, creating a deep gash. Just as its claws had been about to find their mark on Ed, it hung in the air, unable to move forward. Finally, the tiger crashed onto the ground with a face full of resentment. Meeting its death, it was unable to comprehend why the human had been able to move so fast. The tiger collapsed completely. Ed did not let his guard down, not relaxing even a little until he confirmed that the tiger was indeed dead. He took a deep breath. His entire body had long been soaked in cold sweat. It would have been a lie to say that he had not been afraid. Had he been just a little slower, he would have died by the tiger¡¯s claws. At this moment, Ed felt as if he had just walked out from the gates of Hell. His axe fell to the ground. He had drained all his strength. Fortunately, he had killed the tiger. The strength he had just only gained from the fish soup had been put right to use. It was as if the heavens were teasing him, giving him a portion of strength before immediately arranging a trial for him. ¡°I have to be more careful in the future.¡± Ed sat on the ground, paralyzed. The tiger he had killed had already been injured prior, and that had taken up almost all of the strength in his body. What if there were one or two more of them? Based on a rough estimation of his current strength, he decided that if he went all out, he could manage a fight with one tiger. If there were two or more, he would have to run away. After a long time, Ed¡¯s strength recovered slightly, just enough that he could barely stand up and move. ¡°It was worth it.¡± Winded, and with his chest still heaving, Ed was still grateful for the harvest.. Among all the survivors, he was sure that he was the only one who had killed a wild beast. Ed looked down at the tiger¡¯s corpse lying in front of him. The body of the wild beast was undoubtedly full of treasures. He would have to make good use of it. Moreover, the fur on the beast¡¯s body was warm and rough. Perhaps it could be used to make clothes for himself. At least that way, he wouldn¡¯t have to wear this tattered short-sleeved shirt anymore. As for the tiger meat, Ed didn¡¯t intend to eat it. Although he had never tried tiger meat, it didn¡¯t look very appealing. He was better off just eating chicken. However, Ed didn¡¯t intend to waste an entire tiger¡¯s corpse. In addition to the fur that could be made into clothes, he could trade the meat to other survivors. After all, there were undoubtedly still many who would not have enough to eat every day. They may be full one day and hungry the next. In such a situation, as long as there was any meat, there would be buyers. Despite how tough and unappealing tiger meat was, a starving person would be more than happy to get their hands on it. This was the weakness of human nature. No matter what, Ed could not waste anything. Using it for trade would also maximize his own interests. He had to do it. Picking up the axe in his hand, he weakly stumbled over to the tiger¡¯s corpse. He tried to control his strength. If he was too forceful, this fur would really be wasted. Ed didn¡¯t want to be careless in handling what would be his future clothes. As he worked, his ambition grew. This fur was probably only enough to make one piece of clothing. Actually, it might not even be enough for that. He decided that when the time came, he would cut up the remaining tigers and use their fur to make clothes as well. Then, he would use their meat for trade. Very soon, a complete sheet of tiger skin had been sliced off from the tiger¡¯s corpse and put aside. The last step was to start chopping. That¡¯s right, even if it was a tiger¡¯s corpse, Ed would still have to chop it into small pieces. Only this way would his benefits be increased, maximizing the resources he could obtain from transactions. Otherwise, if he was forced to sell more than half of it right away, he could amass a considerable amount of resources, but it would be short-lived. Splitting it into smaller pieces would allow him to obtain more. Of course, Ed did not find it too troublesome to do such a thing. To increase his profits, it would be worth it. Chapter 26 Soon, Ed had cut the tiger into small pieces. He did not bother separating the meat and bones, rather just hacking off pieces. It would have been a waste of time to do so. Anyway, as this wasn¡¯t for himself, there was no need to be so particular. Squeak squeak! Little Treasure stretched out its arms as it looked toward the fur that had been sliced off. Such a big tiger had been put down by its master. He was simply too strong. The squirrel stretched out its two paws before smacking them together rapidly. Clapping! It had also picked this behaviour up from Ed. Ed soon approached the barbecue grill. He was just in time. The grilled fish had only just finished cooking, and a rich fragrance emitted from the top of the grill. Ed took a deep breath. Fragrant! He proceeded to bite off a piece of fish meat, which was at just the right temperature. The outside was charred, the inside was tender, and the heat was just right. Maybe if things settled down, he could get a job specializing in barbecuing. It was simply too delicious, in a completely different way from the fish soup just now. That soup had felt like it melted in his mouth. The main reason for its delectable taste had been because Ed had used gold-quality anchovies. Had he used any other type of fish, the taste would likely not have been anything special. However, the sensation of eating the grilled fish was completely different. The meat was tender, and had to be chewed slowly. The more he chewed, the more fragrant it became. Because the fish he had chosen to put on the grill had not been of high quality, he had deliberately added more salt to cover up its fishy stench. Now that he tried it, he found the taste just right, and its rich aroma reverberated in his mouth. If not for the fact that the number of fish he had gotten were too little, this grilled fish alone could probably have been traded for an astonishing amount of resources. Right now, however, the small fish he had were barely enough for himself. He wouldn¡¯t be able to think about using them for trade just yet. After eating and drinking his fill, Ed went about his daily post meal routine. Opening the chat interface, he looked to find any interesting happenings that had taken place today. ¡°Today¡¯s luck is pretty good. I caught two forest chickens. The taste is great.¡± ¡°I envy you guys who are starting to eat meat. I¡¯ve only harvested some wild vegetables today. Overall, it¡¯s pretty good. At least I don¡¯t have to eat tree bark.¡± ¡°Someone caught a forest chicken? I remember that big shot again.¡± ¡°It¡¯s nothing special. I eat three forest chickens a day. I¡¯m tired of it.¡± Ed browsed through the texts that flashed across his mind. It was exactly as he had assumed. The other survivors were now sustainably finding their own food, but most of them were wild vegetables or something similar. It was all they could do to satiate their hunger. If they wanted to replenish their energy, however, they would definitely have to eat meat. There was also a very small number of them who had begun to obtain meat, but they were few and far in between Therefore, meat was still extremely precious. Not everyone had the luxury of such delicious food at every meal like Ed, who did not need to worry about going hungry at all. It seemed like even if he had wanted to fast, the heavens would not allow it. Furthermore, there was still a large lake with plenty of fish. Whenever there was a chance in the future, Ed would return, perhaps to take a closer look at the other resources there and the seafood. Ed was silent for a moment. He opened the chat interface and typed in a paragraph of text before sending it out. ¡°Tiger meat / internal organs. Price: Wood x500, leaves x500, metal sheet x20. Those who have any two items may message me to trade. Just as previously, those who have special items may also offer them for trade. Quantity is limited, first come, first served!¡± He was going to start selling the tiger meat in addition to its other internal organs, as they were also rich in nutrients. The chat interface was silent for a few seconds before it exploded. ¡°Chicken man has appeared!¡± ¡°Master Chicken Man! He¡¯s starting to slaughter tigers!¡± ¡°There was Wu Song fighting the tiger, and now there¡¯s Chicken Man slaughtering them! I¡¯m worshipping the Boss!¡± ¡°I suddenly feel like the apple in my hand doesn¡¯t smell good anymore. The Big Boss is starting to eat tiger meat!¡± Looking at the endless texts that flooded the screen, Ed¡¯s face grew unusually cold. What Chicken Man? Can you guys be a little more courteous?! However, Ed was also a little surprised. Now that he had somewhat of a strong reputation, as long as a transaction was in demand, people would immediately discover him. Regardless of anything, successful trades were more important. Ed shook his head, trying not to think too much about it. He put all the tiger meat and a series of other things up for sale, excluding the fur. After the prices had been clearly marked, he confirmed the shelf. In less than a minute, all kinds of trade requests had popped up. Looking at this, Ed couldn¡¯t help but laugh out loud. Exactly as he had predicted, there were still a number of people who were lacking meat Of course, this time, Ed still restricted the purchase. Otherwise, there would definitely be people who would purposefully buy them all, known as middlemen, who hoarded goods and prevented others from buying them. Twenty minutes passed. During this time, Ed had been sifting through all kinds of transaction requests. He prioritized looking to see if there were any special items. However, the results disappointed him, as he did not find any mention of special items in the items on offer for trade. He guessed that this was fair. After all, everyone had been living here for some time already. Although they could not see the quality of the special items like Ed could, some would still be able to distinguish that certain items were unusual, and naturally wouldn¡¯t simply use them for trade like before. They would only do that if they were truly desperate. He guessed that those who did have rare items in their hands would be holding on to them to use as a last resort measure. He proceeded to pick out thirty lucky buyers and traded away thirty portions of tiger meat. Of course, they had to have met at least two of his trading requirements. He couldn¡¯t make a loss. There were also some people who begged to have them for free, but he ignored them. The people who had managed to obtain the tiger meat were excited as they immediately proceeded to show off in the chat interface. ¡°Chicken man¡¯s tiger meat, authentic taste!¡± ¡°I¡¯ve also traded for it. Now I¡¯m looking forward to the taste of this tiger meat.¡± ¡°I really envy you guys. I didn¡¯t have enough metal pieces, otherwise, I would definitely have tried to get a piece!¡± The chat interface grew rowdy as some complained about their bad luck while others began to flaunt. The strangest thing was that someone had actually explained the step by step method of preparing tiger meat on the spot. Ed¡¯s trading interface had also fallen silent. Just as he was about to close the interface, a message popped up. Unconsciously clicking in, the message he found caused his pupils to shrink. Chapter 27 ¡°Tiger skin, tiger teeth, and the head. I want all of them.¡± It was a short sentence, but Ed could smell something fishy from it. For someone to demand so many things at once, what they intended to trade for it would undoubtedly be precious, or at least very rare. He was beginning to look forward to this. What exactly did this buyer have to offer? The person on the other side was silent for a few seconds before sending over a thumbnail of an item, which looked like a small icon. This icon was not fixed, but slowly rotated. Above it, a row of prominent words flashed: Gold-quality wooden house forging blueprint! Hiss! When Ed saw this, his breathing quickened. This wasn¡¯t just a precious resource, it was a rare item! Not to mention, it was a gold-quality forging blueprint! Ed hadn¡¯t expected that this survivor who was chatting with him could actually possess such an important item. ¡°Do you want to trade or not?¡± That person sent out a follow up text. The sound of the message coming in pulled Ed back to reality. Of course I want to trade! Ed was roaring in his heart. How could he give up such a precious opportunity? If he missed this, he would be regretting it for the rest of his life. However, he kept his calm, and chose not to reply to this person right away. Instead, he began to think. If Ed agreed to the deal right now, the benefits wouldn¡¯t amount to much. He made a surprising decision as he typed in a text before sending it out. ¡°No deal.¡± With those two simple words, he closed the chat box. Ed wanted to gamble. If he won this bet, he would be able to further maximize his benefits. If he lost, he would miss this opportunity. Everything was up to fate. As he waited, Ed was far from calm. The longer it took, the higher the chance of failure would be. The survivor on the other end did not reply with any messages, and did not even send a counteroffer. The two sides seemed to be in a stalemate. Five minutes passed. ¡°Sigh, looks like it¡¯s gone¡­¡± Ed muttered, and prepared to shut off the interface. Right as he was about to do so, a message popped up again. It was from none other than the survivor who had offered the blueprint. ¡°Tiger skin and tiger teeth. Any less and we really won¡¯t be able to deal.¡± Seeing this, Ed¡¯s worried heart slightly relaxed. The fish had taken the bait. It was now time for him to operate. ¡°Half the tiger¡¯s skin and half its set of teeth. I only have so much.¡± He sent out such a sentence. Ed was not too afraid that the survivor would refuse. It was almost time to conclude the deal, so there was no reason for the other party to give it up. At the same time, he deduced that the person on the other end really needed the two items that he had. The tiger skin would probably be used to make clothes. The only use of the teeth would be for making a weapon for self-defense. After all, it would be fitting, the toughness and sharpness of the material would make a good weapon. It was needless to say that a tiger¡¯s teeth would be extremely sharp after a lifetime of hunting. Just as he had expected, not long after this, the other party agreed to the transaction. Picking up the tiger¡¯s skin, Ed cut it directly in half. He also collected the tiger¡¯s teeth, sorting out the sharper ones to keep and allocating only the blunt ones for the trade. He put the prepared items on the shelf, and the other party agreed to the transaction. At that moment, in front of another small wooden cabin, a strong man about 1.9 meters tall was rubbing his hands as he paced back and forth before his door. At the same time, he was mumbling something, as if he was praying. From the smile on the muscular man¡¯s face, it could clearly be seen that he was in a very jovial mood, as if something worth being happy over had just happened. Judging from the rippling muscles all over his body, it was obvious that he was a person who had trained for a long time. Moreover, to have been able to obtain so much wood in such a short period of time, he must have been someone who had done field work before. ¡°I can use the tiger¡¯s teeth to make a weapon soon¡­¡± The muscular man mumbled excitedly. He was the survivor who had made the deal with Ed. Honestly, he was still very distressed. After all, that had been the only blueprint he had. It would have been a lie to say that he hadn¡¯t been reluctant to trade it. However, when he thought about the fact that he would soon be able to eat delicious meat, he could not stop himself from licking his lips. He had found an injured deer yesterday, and it had not gone far. As long as he could make a weapon, he would be able to kill it, and finally get his hands on delicious meat. A ray of light gleamed from the small wooden house. The moment he saw the light, the brawny man knew that the transaction had been successful. He could not hold back his excitement as he pushed the door open. However, his joyous yell of celebration that had been about to burst out was choked in his throat as he looked at the items that had arrived. His initially cheery face immediately transformed into one of fury. ¡°Damn f*ggot! How dare you fool me?!¡± ¡°Don¡¯t let me get my hands on you!¡± The man was enraged as he yelled fiercely. He now hated Ed to the bone. Autumn! Ed sneezed loudly. ¡°I finally got it.¡± He excitedly opened his storage space to look at the item lying in the box. It was the gold-quality wooden house forging blueprint that he had just traded for. After going through all kinds of hardships, he had finally gotten it. He was so excited! At the same time, its description appeared in his mind. [ Gold-quality Wooden House Forging Blueprint: Vastly improves chances of survival in this dangerous forest. The materials used are solid and the workmanship is meticulous. All in all a blueprint for an excellent wooden house. ] [ Materials required: brick x2050, metal ingot x100, wood x10000, stone x12000, metal sheet x1200, glass x200¡­ ] [ Notice ] : A wood processing plant is required for construction. Reading the information that had appeared in his mind, especially the required materials, Ed was stunned. This required way too many things, many of which he had none of at the moment. There were also a number of resources that he had simply never heard of as well. Moreover, even the materials that he currently had were still little insufficient. He had initially thought that he had already gathered a lot of resources, but now that he compared them to these requirements, it seemed that he still needed to work a lot harder! Even so, it would probably take a while to gather everything that was required. As it was already late at night, Ed prepared to rest. He had thought about trading again, but decided to wait until early the next morning. Chapter 28 Yet before he could rest, Ed still had one very important thing to do, something that he¡¯d force himself to do every night without fail. Patrol! Every night before he went to sleep, he would make sure to check for any wild beasts or other dangers around him. After the tiger attack, he¡¯d only grow even more vigilant. Lighting a torch, Ed scanned the surroundings of his open space, as well as looking through the surrounding bushes. He¡¯d never know when there might be a potential danger lurking in the bushes one day. After confirming his safety, he returned to the side of the fire once again. Little Treasure looked to be comfortably asleep. Its belly was covered with a small piece of tiger skin that Ed had cut off. From time to time, it would shift its sleeping posture. It really was a restless little thing. Ed lay on the ground as he looked up at the strange moon in the sky. He remained deep in thought for quite a while. As he closed his eyes, questions began to surface one after another. What was that ancient voice? Why had they been sent here? How were they supposed to get out? After a long time, Ed fell asleep. Under the moonlight, the trees continued to grow stronger as usual, and those that had been cut down stood once again. ¡­ Daybroke. Ed woke up. Achoo! As he sneezed, he vaguely recalled that the temperature seemed to have fallen a lot over the past few days. He didn¡¯t care too much about it. Perhaps this world also had four seasons. Little Treasure¡¯s entire body was curled up snugly under the small piece of tiger skin. It seemed that it had also noticed the temperature drop. After all, it made sense that animals were much more sensitive to this than humans. Ed¡¯s hands slowly approached Little Treasure and lifted the tiny blanket, beginning the mandatory daily wake-up call. Not long after, Little Treasure woke up. A trail of dried drool remained stuck below its mouth. Ed wondered what delicious foods the little squirrel had dreamt about last night. It had grown used to Ed¡¯s wake-up calls as it slept near him. Little Treasure groggily awoke for a moment, but it was soon defeated by its sleepiness. Snatching back its piece of tiger skin, it scuttled around a bit before finding a spot to return to sleep peacefully. Ed had grown used to this, so he did not disturb the little rodent anymore. Next, it was time to sign in. This was something that he could only do once a day. ¡°Check in,¡± Ed ordered the system. [ Ding! Check in successful! ] [ Ding! Congratulations on obtaining a gold-quality multi-purpose furnace forging blueprint! ] As soon as the system was finished speaking, Ed opened up his storage space. Information detailing the blueprint aptly appeared in his mind. [ Gold-quality Multi-Purpose Furnace Forging Blueprint: A perfect furnace. The temperatures within it are high enough to melt metals. Can be used for burning, casting, hammering, and a series of other uses. ] Wow! An all-purpose furnace! This was also something that Ed needed at the moment. After all, the materials required to build the wooden house had included bricks, and a variety of metals. Acquiring this multi-purpose furnace would make it simple to obtain them. Ed was beginning to wonder if the system somehow favoured him. Every time he lacked something, it seemed like it would send over exactly what he needed. If the system could speak now, it would definitely regard him as a narcissist. After understanding the full use of this multi-purpose furnace, Ed went to check what materials he would need to craft this thing. This was what he had been most worried about. If the required materials for this were also ridiculously expensive, then he would really be at a loss. [ Materials required: metal sheet x520, glass x20, plastic x30, iron nail x30¡­ ] Seeing this, Ed was relieved. He already had most of the required materials. Only a few of the more precious ones were still missing, but they would not be too difficult to obtain. Based on his current situation, he was already halfway on his progress to building the wooden house. He was starting to look forward to seeing the appearance of the house that he would build in the future. The path there would not be easy, however, with this multi-purpose furnace, he could at least make bricks and metal ingots. The process of making the latter would be much simpler. Making bricks would definitely be a little cumbersome, and the time needed for it would take long. Ed shook his head. Take your time¡­ This kind of thing should not be rushed. He put aside the idea for the time being. When the time came, he would make it. He arrived in front of the apple tree. The last ripe fruit had already been picked earlier. The ones on the tree now were not yet completely ripe. They were green, so he knew that he definitely could not eat it. He would have to wait for red apples. Eating them when they were still green was a surefire way to get diarrhea. Ed then wandered to the corn field. Blessed by the gold-quality soil, the speed of the corn¡¯s growth was rapid. The second wave of corn was already ready. These were not only his rations, but also feed for the chickens that he was raising in captivity. The chickens had never eaten such delicious corn grains before. Every time he sprinkled a handful, it was almost not enough for them. Fortunately, the corn matured quickly. Otherwise, Ed may not have been able to sustain them. Of course, he would have to kill them eventually. When he got hungry, he would naturally have to eat them. He wouldn¡¯t be raising so many chickens for nothing. Gurgle¡­ Gurgle¡­ Ed¡¯s stomach growled in hunger as he laid a hand on it. He was craving another meal of grilled fish, retrospectively recalling the sumptuousness of yesterday¡¯s meal. ¡°I¡¯ll carry on eating grilled fish these few days!¡± After making up his mind, he was ready to begin. He chose the lucky fish to be used as the main ingredient of today¡¯s meal. Then, he rinsed it in clean water before peeling off the scales and digging out its guts. Finally, he washed it again. The fish was clean and ready to be cooked just like that. Adding wood to a burning fire, he started roasting. After having done this once before already, this time, Ed¡¯s movements were much faster. He flipped and spun it as he sprinkled on some salt. Everything was done in one go, his movements swift and efficient, without deviation. Soon, a fragrance had spread out, intoxicating and enticing. Squeak squeak! Little Treasure, who had caught a whiff of this, had left its warm quilt at some point, snapping right awake. If there was anything more important than sleeping, it would be delicious food. Ed broke off a piece of fish and handed it to the squirrel. Today, he needed Little Treasure to find more treasure tree holes. It would need the food to have the strength to work. One piece of fish would definitely not be enough for the little rodent, so he went to roast another one. Little Treasure began to eat. Chapter 29 After the meal, they had a small fruit to follow up with the meat and vegetables, and washed it all down with a cup of boiled water, concluding their breakfast. Ed had also planned to go out in search of resources today. He had yet to gather some of the materials for the multi-purpose furnace, and the materials needed for the wooden house were still greatly lacking. Once the house was built, the problem of safety would mostly be solved. At least, he wouldn¡¯t have to worry about direct beast attacks. He could also build some wooden fences to surround the house, further improving his safety. He would bring Little Treasure out today. Who knows, maybe it might find him some resources. A few more treasure tree holes would be great. Ed had already prepared beforehand, purposefully avoiding the use of the axe¡¯s special skill, the Flames of Hell, on the trees that he had cut down earlier deeper in the forest, allowing them to grow back under the glow of the strange moonlight. He had realized something before. As the strength of the trees increased, cutting them down would yield more resources than before, meaning that they were proportional. As such, he had made the choice to allow them to regenerate. ¡°Let¡¯s go, Little Treasure.¡± Ed brought along some water and corn before heading out with Little Treasure. The squirrel stood perched on Ed¡¯s shoulder like a pendant. These trees, strengthened as they may be, were still unable to stand against Ed¡¯s axe. Raising the axe in his hand, he swung it in front of him. As usual, ten big trees fell as they dropped a series of resources at the same time. Despite being common items, they were all resources that Ed needed at the moment. After having eaten the gold-quality anchovies, Ed¡¯s overall physique had improved significantly. He was now even more adept at wielding the axe. Moreover, he had discovered that in addition to the increase in his strength, the sharpness of the blade of the axe had also increased. In other words, he had not been able to utilise the true power of this axe with his limited strength in the past. He had been a three-year-old child, flinging around a knife carelessly to threaten an adult. As his strength grew more and more, he would be better able to display the full power of this godlike axe. However, he was already finding his current status very satisfactory. With one swing, more than a dozen trees would fall. No one other than him could achieve such a feat. He did not stop after one swing. Instead, he continued to mow down the forest. This time, Ed activated the Flames of Hell. As the trees fell crashing down, the area of the open space he had continued to expand. Other than simply just eating, he had also been busy cutting down trees consistently, continuously expanding his territory. The overall area of his open space was growing at a pace clearly visible to the naked eye. He was once again cutting down a large area of the forest. He suddenly noticed that the circular stump before him was emitting light, and hurried over. Treasure tree hole! He clearly remembered that he, along with Little Treasure, had searched through this area before, but hadn¡¯t found any treasure tree holes. Yet, it had appeared this time, which likely meant that they were randomly generated and not in fixed locations. Of course, this was just a guess. After all, this was all based on one treasure tree hole, and he couldn¡¯t arrive at a confident conclusion. He could only wait for the future to prove it. Kacha! Ed swung down the axe in his hand, splitting it. Notifications in his mind followed, alerting him to the collected resources. [ Notice ] : metal piece +30 [ Notice ] : gold-quality peach +5 [ Notice ] : gold-quality peach seed +1 Ignoring the 30 metal pieces, Ed¡¯s attention landed immediately on the peach. He had not expected his luck to be so good as to obtain a new fruit so soon. A peach was much sweeter than an apple, and would be much more juicy. It was also soft compared to an apple¡¯s crispness. What excited Ed the most was the quality of the peach, gold! A gold-quality peach. He imagined that if he took a bite of it, he would take off right away in joy. With a thought, a pink fruit materialized in Ed¡¯s palm. Along with it was its description in his mind. [ Gold-quality Peach: The peach is a rich source of water. Eating this will satiate a full day¡¯s requirement of water. It can also temporarily increase speed! ] Woah! Ed did a double take at the description of the peach. This was definitely amazing! Especially with the temporary increase in the speed it could give, Ed likened it to a buff in a game. The appearance of the peach was irresistible as well, and just looking at it would make anyone want to take a bite. Ed naturally could not resist the temptation. Tch! As he took a bite, a spray of juices flew out. A deep tooth mark was left on the fruit. Soft! Sweet! Juicy! And it melted in his mouth! The fragrance and sweetness danced gracefully on the tip of his tongue. As he started to feel changes in his body. Ed, who had been felling wood for an entire day, had initially felt exhausted. After eating only a mouthful of the peach, however, the fatigue had instantly dissipated. Replacing it instead was a very comfortable feeling that he was unable to describe in detail. In any case, it was extremely delicious. As expected of a gold-tier item, the effect was sublime! With this peach in hand, he had a buff! Moreover, as long as his physical fitness continued to improve, the speed buff of the peaches would continue to increase, exponentially improving the ability of the user. Squeak squeak? Little Treasure had unknowingly appeared on Ed¡¯s shoulder again. Ed was already used to this. As long as it smelled something delicious, Little Treasure would unfailingly appear nearby, trying to get a bite. Kacha. Ed split the peach in his hand into two. One of them was given to the gluttonous Little Treasure. The squirrel took its half of the peach as it opened its mouth wide, revealing its two front teeth before biting fiercely into it. Squeak squeak! What kind of fruit is this?! How can it be so delicious? By what virtue do I, Little Treasure, have the honor of eating such a delicious thing?! It wolfed down the fruit in its paws one mouthful after another. It was simply too delicious. It was everything one could want out of a fruit, fragrant, sweet, and juicy. Watching this, Ed did not show any surprise. Little Treasure was unrestrained like this. It could not help itself. Perhaps this was a common characteristic among animals. However, the peach really was delicious. Soon, Ed had finished off his half of the peach in his hand, and so had the little rodent. There were still four left in his storage space, but he didn¡¯t intend to eat them right away. At the same time, an unthinkable idea that he had shoved away before reappeared in his mind. Chapter 30 Ed¡¯s mind once again wandered to the tigers that had occupied the lake. The timing of the appearance of these peaches could be said to be just right. The reason he was still afraid of the tigers was simple. He lacked speed. However, now that he had the buff from these peaches, he would be able to make up for this shortcoming. ¡°Time to get home and cook.¡± Humming a tune, Ed and Little Treasure headed back to the wooden cabin. Another thing worth celebrating was that after a full day of logging, they had gained a lot of resources. The requirements for the multi-purpose furnace were all but gathered. Ed kept this in the back of his mind for the time being. Today¡¯s luck was too good. He thought to himself that he really should find the time to go out more when he was free. Five minutes later, they were back. Ed put Little Treasure down on the ground before beginning to prepare the ingredients needed for today¡¯s dinner. The few fish remaining in the wooden buckets would be his main ingredients. He was mostly all prepared to rob the lake. When that time came, all of the fish in the lake would be his. No one could rob them anyway, so he decided to no longer be thrifty. After scooping out the small fish from the bucket, he knocked them out with a small tool. Once again, he followed that with cleaning and preparing them to cook. His actions were graceful and efficient, without a hitch at all. Soon, a delicious grilled fish was out of the oven. Ed and Little Treasure quickly devoured it., and the squirrel lay on the ground as it digested. Ed, on the other hand, did not idle. He would have to gather the materials needed for the multipurpose furnace tonight and forge it. He was close to achieving a small goal. Hard work paid off. After more than an hour, he had gathered all the materials needed. Finally, he could start building this thing. Opening the forging interface, Ed selected the multipurpose furnace. Following this, he submitted all the materials required before clicking to start its construction immediately. All that was left to do now was wait. As before, he did not need to build it himself. His omnipotent small hammer flew into life, working away on its own. It performed a series of movements, just as it had when it built the processing plant before. Ed estimated that the time needed to build this multipurpose furnace would not exceed the time that it took to build the processing plant. It might even be faster. Over the long wait, he enjoyed some fruits and played around with Little Treasure. Two and a half hours passed in a flash, and a metal-coated building had risen from the ground. The appearance of this building was much better than that of the processing plant. At the very least, it did not look so simple and crude, and did not look like it had been taken from some primitive world. There seemed to be many different areas within the building, each of which was dedicated for different functions. In other words, the furnace would be able to carry out multiple procedures at the same time, which would be highly efficient. [ Notice ] : The multipurpose furnace has been completed. [ Notice ] : Please add wood. The upper limit is 500. [ Notice ] : Materials required to create different items may vary. They will need to be added. 500 wood? This much consumption could have easily been considered a lot. However, would Ed ever be short of wood? Even if he was to be short on something, it wouldn¡¯t be wood. For him, this was just a matter of an extra couple of axe swings. He threw 500 wood without even a tinge of heartache. The moment they were added, the crackling sounds of burning wood could be heard coming from within. The temperature was now also much higher than when there was only the bonfire around. At the same time, due to the completion of this structure, a number of black grids in Ed¡¯s forging interface lit up. Sifting through the list in his mind, he found what he wanted to forge. Metal ingots! [ Materials required for metal ingot: Metal sheet x10] He thought to himself that the resources required for metal ingot were also very expensive. Although the amount specified was not much, metal sheets were classified as a precious resource, and somewhat rare. Ed believed that no one else would waste that amount of metal sheets on forging metal ingots, as there was no real need for it. The only reason he himself had wanted to make ingots was to create what he needed for the wooden house. Otherwise, he wouldn¡¯t have been so bored as to do this pointlessly. After some evaluation, he pulled out the remaining metal sheets on him, turning them all into metal ingots. Once the materials were added in, the temperature inside the furnace spiked again. The most convenient thing about this structure was that as long as he had the appropriate materials, he could make a variety of metal items without much effort. He just had to wait. If it had boiled down to Ed doing everything himself, he would definitely have been unable to do it. The steps involved in forging were very cumbersome, and the time and manual labor required exceeded his abilities. However, as it was automatic, all he needed to do now was wait. Yet he was not one to idle. He added wood in some wood before turning away. Cleaning the grill, he began to prepare dinner for the day. Today¡¯s dinner would still be grilled fish, but he added some boiled corn as well. After all, meat and vegetables went well together. Tomorrow, he would carry out the plan in his mind. If he succeeded, he would definitely have cause for celebration. He locked his gaze on one of the forest chickens in the wooden basket. That¡¯s right, if the plan succeeded, he would kill a chicken to celebrate! ¡°I beg you, Big Brother!¡± Noticing that it was being stared at by Ed, the chicken had instantly felt the scent of death creeping near it, and had immediately began to growl uneasily. The fragrance of the corn and grilled fish mingled together, colliding and producing a strange mix. Dinner was quickly finished. As he had nothing left to do, Ed decided to take a quick look at the chat interface, and opened it up. ¡°Can anyone help me? I¡¯m so uncomfortable! I feel very dizzy right now, and I don¡¯t have any strength left in my body. I can¡¯t even lift an axe.¡± ¡°Eh? I¡¯ve been having the same feeling recently.¡± ¡°Same here. I¡¯ve been feeling like that too these days, dizzy and weak all over.¡± ¡°Could it be because you haven¡¯t eaten enough? I don¡¯t have such a feeling.¡± Seeing this, Ed had immediately understood the reason for their concerns. It was a lack of salt. Just as he had guessed, a number of people soon answered their questions. ¡°You haven¡¯t taken salt for a long time, so you will definitely have these symptoms.¡± ¡°That¡¯s right, I was a medical student before. Your symptoms are due to a lack of salt.¡± Ed smiled to himself. God was on his side! He could already smell the coming cache of resources, and there would be quite a number of them. Chapter 31 As soon as this self-proclaimed ¡®ex-medical student¡¯ survivor spoke, those who were feeling the same symptoms on their bodies quickly reached out. ¡°Doctor, then what should we do about our symptoms?¡± ¡°Yeah, hurry up and tell us. I feel more and more that my strength is constantly dissipating.¡± ¡°Where can we find salt in this forest?!¡± After a few seconds, the survivor spoke again. ¡°According to the symptoms you¡¯ve all expressed, you¡¯re all currently only slightly lacking in salt. However, if you continue to be unable to take in any salt for a while after this, it¡¯s very likely that your kidneys may fail.¡± At those words, many of the other survivors began to panic. Where could they find salt in this big forest? It was already a godsend if they were able to eat a full meal. Yet now they found out that if they did get their hands on salt, their kidneys would fail and they would die. The chat interface was now roiling with activity, with many survivors paying attention to what was being discussed at the moment. Many were also trying to trade their resources in exchange for salt. ¡°I have ten grams of crude salt here. Each gram of salt can be traded for 150 liters of water or five forest chickens. You can also exchange it for special items.¡± As soon as the words appeared, the chat interface immediately exploded. ¡°Are you out of your mind? 150 liters of water? Are you going to open a swimming pool?¡± ¡°Your five forest chickens are a little too much. I¡¯d be lucky to catch one or two in a week. How can I get you that many?¡± ¡°You may be a medical student, but don¡¯t use coarse salt to fool people. Everyone knows that coarse salt can¡¯t be eaten directly, there are harmful substances in it. We need refined salt.¡± Ed didn¡¯t speak just yet, but carried on watching the situation unfold quietly. If crude salt could be sold at such a price, then what he could get out of his refined salt would have to be undoubtedly doubled. Just as he had guessed, none of these survivors had their own salt well. Otherwise, there wouldn¡¯t have been only these ten grams of crude salt on offer for such a long time. Ed closed the chat interface before slowly walking over to the mouth of his well, opening the metal lid on it. The snow-white hill came into view. A huge amount of refined salt! If this news were to leak out, who knew how many people would be fighting over it? A few survivors had already been starting to trade crude salt, which was a good sign for Ed. If crude salt could be sold at such a ridiculous price, refined salt would be uncomparable. However, Ed did not immediately expose the fact that he had refined salt. He planned to wait until the transaction of the coarse salt had been completed before making his move. Time passed quickly, and all ten grams of coarse salt were snatched away after about an hour. Those who did not manage to obtain it naturally began calling for help. Ed knew that now, the time was right, so he typed in a paragraph before sending it out. ¡°I have 1,000 grams of refined salt. Trading Price: wood x100, leaf x100, metal sheet x100, ¡­-¡± He was still a man with a conscience. He had set a price that would be affordable to ordinary people who had to cut down trees legitimately. Compared to the outrageous price of the coarse salt before, his offer was undoubtedly many times better. ¡°Chicken man!¡± ¡°It must be chicken man again. Who else would have such an ability?!¡± ¡°I regret¡­ If I had known earlier, I wouldn¡¯t have traded with that darn guy. My five forest chickens!¡± ¡°Chicken man took out refined salt this time! The kind that can be eaten directly!¡± ¡°Yeah, and most people can afford the price of this trade. As expected of chicken man!¡± ¡°Are you still chatting? Let¡¯s start snatching them!¡± Looking at the rapidly decreasing stock of the goods he had put on sale, Ed couldn¡¯t help but laugh. He was getting a huge amount of resources! He then looked towards the remaining salt in the salt well, and found that there was still a lot left over! Ed quickly decided to sell as much as possible. This transaction was only a one-time deal. If he applied his usual principle of limiting supply to create scarcity, he would definitely suffer a great loss. After all, he knew that the survivors were not stupid. After this shortage crisis, when they now knew the importance of salt, they would definitely venture into the forest to find resources that could replace it. At that time, salt would definitely fall in value. It was better to take advantage of the high demand now and make a huge profit in one go. Ed put all of the salt in his well up for trade. In twenty minutes, everything was sold out! Ed closed the trading interface before checking his resources. [ wood x270,000, leaves x200,000, metal pieces x20,000, stones x150,000, glass x9,000, plastics x40,000¡­ ] Hiss! Ed took a sharp breath. An astronomical amount of resources! This trade had borne a huge profit! Fortunately, he had the foresight to trade away all of the refined salt. If he had tried to do this in the future, it was unlikely that he would have found this much success. Even if there was a buyer, no fool would have traded at the price he had set. In any case, Ed felt that he was becoming quite business-savvy. The resources he had earned this time would last him quite a while. Actually, they would last more than a while. Even if he could no longer sell refined salt, he still had other resources that he could use to trade with other survivors. Fruits, crops, and seafood, these were all things that he could also sell at the moment. As for seafood, he would have to go to the lake. There would definitely be a lot of fish there. This time, he would definitely catch all of them in one go! ¡°In the future, I won¡¯t be able to cut things into small pieces and sell them anymore.¡± Ed shook his head, feeling somewhat regretful. This was all equivalent to a trend. As time went on, the resources in the hands of each surviving person would only increase. If he continued trying to sell goods in small pieces, they would no longer accept it. Anyway, the problem of resources was temporarily solved. Now, the most important thing was to grow the peaches! Ed couldn¡¯t wait any longer. He picked an empty space not far from the apple tree, which would be convenient for him to take care of. Transforming the hammer into a hoe, he quickly dug a hole. From his storage space, Ed swiftly procured the peach seeds before putting them down. Following this, he took out some gold-grade soil to close off the hole, then sprinkled it with some water. Success! Now, he just needed to wait for the seeds to take root and germinate. A minute passed, and a young seedling rose from the ground. The rate of its growth did not falter as it crawled upwards steadily. This gold-grade soil really lived up to its reputation! Ed rubbed his hands together as he watched the scene. Little Treasure wasn¡¯t shocked either, it had already gotten used to such things happening. After all, it was not the first time it had seen it. Ten minutes passed, and the growth of the peach slowed down. The height of the seedling also stopped at about half a meter. However, Ed did not feel any disappointment. He knew that a peach could not be compared to the other crops he had grown. After all, the normal time it took this fruit to grow was about two years. Chapter 32 Not only did peaches take longer to grow, they also matured much later than normal plants. Of course, Ed had an exception. He had been blessed with the gold-quality soil, which was something that others could not even fathom existed. He believed that it would not be long before he was harvesting a batch of sweet peaches. Ed filled up some water before continuing to pour some on the corn fields and the apple tree as well. They were all his treasures, after all, so he could not treat them unfairly. From a distance, his place now resembled a small manor. All he was missing was the wooden house. Most of the other necessities were already there. ¡°It¡¯s time to get a bed.¡± Ed could clearly feel that the temperature had dropped a lot recently. He didn¡¯t want to sleep on the ground like he had always done before, which could easily cause him to catch a cold in these conditions. Although his current physique should be able to allow him to completely resist these common diseases, it was always good to be careful. After collecting some corn stalks he had gathered from the field before, he went over to the open space, picking up a number of dry leaves. After he had everything he needed, he started preparing. Ed first covered the ground with a layer of leaves. After he had stacked them to a certain thickness, he placed some of the corn stalks over the top of the leaves. Then, he covered the top of the corn stalk with a second layer of thick leaves. This would allow him a bit more comfort as he slept. After all, the corn stalks were hard. The final step was to cover it up with the tiger skin that he had obtained previously. The fur of the wild beast was still quite warm. A simple bed was completed just like that. Obviously, it was not quite as comfortable as regular beds. However, it was already a luxury in this apocalyptic world. A small fire was lit beside the bed. This would provide him with a trace of warmth in the cold nights. Little Treasure ran out of nowhere before hopping up on the bed, jumping up and down. It was clearly very satisfied with the bed. Ed decided to go to bed earlier today. After his routine patrol, he held Little Treasure in his arms and proceeded to wrap it in the warm tiger skin before falling asleep himself. He had to conserve his energy. There was a battle to fight tomorrow, and he couldn¡¯t make any mistakes. Squeak squeak! In his sleep, Ed vaguely felt something licking his cheek. Opening his eyes, he found Little Treasure seemingly trying to wash his face. He snapped awake. He had slept for the longest time, the bed had been too comfortable. He got up and made breakfast. He had eaten fish all day yesterday, so naturally, he didn¡¯t feel like preparing grilled fish again. Taking out some corn and apples, he shared a meal with Little Treasure. He preferred to eat these foods that contained rich nutrients in the morning. He had initially wanted to eat some chicken, but after thinking about it, he decided to forgo it and wait until he came back in the evening to have a proper celebration. If he ate too much now, he would be sluggish later in the day. Moreover, under the blessings of the gold-quality soil, the fruits from his crops were much bigger than usual, filling him after only eating one or two of them. ¡°Let¡¯s go, Little Treasure.¡± Ed put the little squirrel on his shoulder. He needed it to lead the way. He would be doing something big today. That¡¯s right, he was going to settle the score with those tigers! Squeak squeak! Little Treasure squeaked twice before jumping on the ground and sniffing around with its tiny nose. It was already looking for the route to the lake. Since it had a very sensitive sense of smell, it was wise to allow it to lead the way. Ed did not cut down any trees on the way, worried about making too much noise. If the tigers heard the commotion, the situation could become dangerous. An hour soon passed. Little Treasure, who was walking in front, stopped before pointing ahead. Ed understood what it meant. They had arrived at their destination. He carefully peeled open the dense grass. As expected, the tigers were still there. Some were lounging under the shade of some trees, resting, while others drank water at the edge of the lake or attempted to catch fish in the water with their claws. There was one tiger missing, however. The one that was killed by Ed. The rest of the tigers here seemed to have a clear division of labor. Patter. A tiger standing on the edge of the lake slapped a fish under its feet. The fish fluttered about a few times before giving out. Ed, who was hiding in the bushes, could not stop his mouth from gaping as he watched on. A tiger fishing? What kind of situation was this? He swore that he had never seen a tiger fishing before, this was the first time. It seemed that in this forest, not only human survivors, but also individual animals had to adapt to survive. Even tigers had been forced to fish. ¡°No.¡± Ed was prepared to stop this. If he were to lay claim to this lake and everything in it, how could he share them with this group of tigers? He would not stand for it. He still didn¡¯t know how many fish there were in the lake. If they had all been eaten by this group of tigers, it would definitely be a huge loss of wealth. ¡°Little Treasure, you can begin,¡± Ed said to the squirrel that was perched on his shoulder. Little Treasure didn¡¯t make any sound, only nodding in agreement. With a thought, a peach materialized in Ed¡¯s hand. He carefully broke it into two halves, attentively making sure not to make any noise. Little Treasure took half of the peach and gulped it down. It then quickly disappeared from Ed¡¯s sight. One of the tigers had gone back under the shade of a tree with a fish in its mouth, and started eating. The taste was really good! Xiu! Pa! A small stone whizzed through the air before accurately hitting its face, and the fish in its mouth fell to the ground. Roar! The tiger roared and jerked up, looking in the direction the stone had come from. It¡¯s you again! It saw a familiar figure. A small squirrel stood on the tree trunk, mischievously holding a stone in its hand. It was Little Treasure. The memories of the last time it had appeared swelled up in the tiger¡¯s mind. At this moment, Little Treasure had also caught the attention of the rest of the group. It was this squirrel again! The tigers had obviously become smarter. They gathered round, discussing for a while. In the end, they decided to leave one tiger to guard the lake while the rest hunted down this reckless little squirrel. Tigers were also naturally smart animals. After suffering a loss the last time, they wouldn¡¯t fall for the same trick again. Roar! A few of the tigers let out a ferocious roar at the same time. One stayed behind, standing guard as the rest went to chase after Little Treasure. ¡°They¡¯re quite smart,¡± Ed muttered. Chapter 33 Ed had not expected to see a tiger staying back here to guard the lake. It seemed that it had learned its lesson from their last encounter and became smarter. Nevertheless, this was good news for Ed. If anything, it would be of great help to his plans. Ed deduced that the tiger who stayed behind to guard this lake must have been the strongest among his pack. Otherwise, it would not have been left behind here, all by itself. After all, this lake was not only important as a source of water, but also for the rich amount of seafood that it contained. In one fell swoop, Ed disappeared into the bushes and headed deeper into the jungle. Roar! At that moment, the other tigers were still chasing after Little Treasure. Little Treasure skillfully maneuvered its way across the tree trunks. From time to time, it would stop to check if the tigers behind it had caught up. Little Treasure didn¡¯t forget the mission that Ed had entrusted it with. The tigers chasing after Little Treasure were absolutely furious. How could this squirrel move so quickly? As it was able to use the natural surroundings to its advantage, Little Treasure could easily shake off these tigers if it wanted to. However, Little Treasure had a mission to complete, and so had to toy around with its pursuers. Needless to say, it was quite fun. The tigers behind did not seem to share the same sentiment. For them, Little Treasure had become their number one target throughout the entire forest! As there were too many big trees that could serve as a hiding spot, the tigers dispersed. If they didn¡¯t spread out to hunt down Little Treasure, it would take too long to scour the forest. Cluck cluck! One of the tigers stopped in its tracks. It seemed to have heard the sound of a rooster. Cluck cluck! The tiger was right! It was indeed the sound of a rooster. The tiger listened attentively, and realised the source of the noise was getting closer and closer. When the tiger pushed aside a patch of grass in front of it, it really did see a little rooster! The tiger stuck out its tongue and licked its mouth, which was already salivating. It had already forgotten all about the squirrel by this point. It would be foolish to chase after a tiny squirrel when there was a rooster right in front of it to eat. There were no leaders among the group of tigers. They only cooperated with each other for mutual benefits. As such, they were not obligated to listen to any orders from their pack mates. The tiger moved quietly. It made its way through the grass and slowly approached the would-be prey. Finally. The tiger saw an opening and seized the opportunity. It leaped towards the rooster and pounced at it. Roar! It let out a low roar. The tiger opened its mouth wide, revealing its fangs as it reached for the chicken. Just as it had been about to grab the chicken, the tiger felt that something was amiss. It tried to leap back, but it was too late. The danger was already here. Rip! The sound of something cutting across skin reverberated throughout the forest. The tiger¡¯s vision started to go black as it fell into a huge wooden barrel. The barrel had been prepared in advance by Ed to prevent any blood from being scattered on the ground, causing its smell to disperse outwards. If the other wild beasts caught a whiff of the blood, it might not end well for Ed. The tiger did not make a sound before dying silently at Ed¡¯s hands. It was afraid that it would die helplessly, unable to react. The tiger had just been trying to eat a chicken, how could that have led to its death? After some thought, Ed placed the wooden barrel into the storage space. When that was taken care of, he concealed all the footprints that were left behind on the ground. This was paramount to ensure his safety, and the success of his future plans. ¡°Next.¡± Ed picked up the chicken and continued to scuttle through the thick grass until he arrived at the next location. Heeding the orders given, Little Treasure tried to trick the other tigers into going towards that direction. Five minutes passed. By then, the second tiger had already been enticed into Ed¡¯s trap. Much like the previous tiger, before it could even touch the chicken, it had been finished off by Ed and stored away with its groupmate. Though the plan was efficient, who in their right mind would have dared to do this? If they were not careful and made even the slightest movement, the tigers, or even other wild beasts would surely have hunted them down. Ed¡¯s bravery was commendable. If any other survivor were in the same position, they definitely wouldn¡¯t have come up with such a plan. He was like the Grim Reaper, harvesting the souls of the remaining tigers. Though one of the tigers had actually managed to find Ed, it was taken out before it even had the chance to react. Of course, part of Ed¡¯s success was owed to the tacit understanding that he had with Little Treasure. Without Little Treasure¡¯s help, Ed would not have been able to do all of that. ¡°Success.¡± Ed took out a piece of cloth and wiped off the blood on the axe. The other tigers had all been dealt with. All that was left was the tiger by the lake. Meanwhile, the tiger that stayed behind sensed that something was wrong. Why hadn¡¯t any of its partners returned yet? There was no way that they hadn¡¯t caught the squirrel by now. Just as the tiger was beginning to feel suspicious, a small sound came from the bushes in front of him. Upon hearing it, the tiger got up from its position and crouched, looking at the bushes in front of it attentively. A young man emerged brazenly from the bushes. He held an axe in his hand with a little squirrel on his shoulder. Roar! The tiger was completely enraged as it witnessed the scene before him. Wasn¡¯t this the little squirrel and the human it had seen before? The two of them were working together! Roar! Roar! Roar! The tiger let out a few more roars angrily, attempting to summon its partners. Logically, if this detestable squirrel had returned here, the other tigers should also be nearby. However, even after calling out for some time, no response came. As he watched the tiger do that, Ed did not stop it. Your partners have already been killed by me. No one will come to your aid now, even if you yelled until your throat dried up. The tiger stopped roaring. It started to realize what had happened to its partners. Right now, the biggest threat was the human before it. Meanwhile, Ed took out half of the peach and took a big bite. The sweet taste spread across his mouth. It gave him the skill of agility. Right as he swallowed the peach, Ed felt his body becoming lighter. Yet, he would not run away this time. He would fight with the tiger to the death. He would fight for control over the lake. With the peach in his hand, Ed did not falter at all. It was just a tiger. He had already killed a few, who were all now lying quietly in wooden barrels. However, the tiger in front of Ed started to retreat slowly, with a cautious look in its eyes. It had sensed danger exuding from Ed¡¯s body, and especially from the axe that he held in his hand. It knew that if that axe was to fall on it, it would surely die. Roar! The tiger moved at a steady pace, hoping that it could scare Ed away. ¡°Are you ready?¡± Ed clenched the axe in his hands and started to stalk toward the tiger in front of him. Chapter 34 At that moment, the system¡¯s voice sounded in Ed¡¯s head. [ Notice ] : The host has activated the 360-degree recording function. Recording can be activated with the host¡¯s mind. [ Notice ]: All survivors have this function, but the host¡¯s function is more comprehensive. It can be controlled with the mind. Nice! This was good for Ed. Especially now, in this situation. If that feature was activated, he could record himself killing the tiger. It would make for an exhilarating video. He would definitely become famous overnight. While the others were still cutting down wood, Ed had already started hunting down tigers. The mere thought of it was riveting. Upon hearing the system, the other survivors also activated this function as well. However, the difference was that Ed only needed to use his mind to control it. He did not need to take out a specific item to start recording. In other words, he could start recording immediately, whenever he wanted. He would not be constrained by prerequisites like other survivors, which would save him a lot of time. Alas, this was a benefit of the Doomsday System! ¡°Start recording.¡± With just a thought, Ed started the recording function and switched the view to first person. If he had used any other viewing mode, his location would definitely have been exposed. If that happened, he could face the risk of being targeted by hostiles, which would be extremely troublesome. That could be avoided if he used the first person perspective. In this mode, the viewers of this video could only see what was in Ed¡¯s line of sight. In other words, he could control what they saw, which was a way to ensure his privacy. In addition, being able to watch the recording from a first person perspective would make viewers become much more immersed, as if they were the ones in the video. [ Notice ] : Recording function has been activated by the host. Roar! Right as the system finished reading out the message, the tiger standing in front of Ed let out an angry roar. It was a wild beast, so how could it be afraid of this puny human? Moreover, the gaze of this human in front of it had made the tiger uneasy. He had looked as if he was staring at a little sheep. When has a tiger ever suffered such humiliation? With an angry roar, it propelled itself into the air and launched a fierce attack at Ed. The tiger raised its front claw and swung it at Ed¡¯s face. However, with the buff provided by the peach, Ed¡¯s speed was now remarkably quick. Coupled with the permanent bonuses he had gotten from other foods, his movements were now incredibly agile. The tiger might have been considered quick by normal standards, but to Ed, it may as well have been moving in slow motion. Ed immediately took a few steps back, dodging the tiger¡¯s attack. He didn¡¯t want to kill the tiger right away because he had just started recording. As such, Ed tried his best to not hurt it fatally for now. After all, this was an opportunity for him to record some interesting videos for himself. The tiger, clueless, thought that the human in front of it was just lucky to have dodged that attack. There would not be a next time! Roar! With a low roar, the tiger resumed its offensive. The tiger swung its claws again. This time, the power behind the attack was much stronger than the last one. In an instant, its limbs had reached Ed and the tiger tried to strike down with its claws. However, Ed only calmly dodged to the side. The tiger¡¯s claws missed, and forcefully struck the big tree where Ed had just been instead. Just from looking at the claw mark it left behind, Ed could tell how powerful the tiger was. As expected, it was the strongest and most agile out of the group of tigers just now. ¡°Again.¡± Ed made a provocative gesture to the tiger, taunting it to try again. The tiger charged straight at him. This time, Ed chose not to run away. Just as the tiger was about to reach him, Ed slid past it, skirting the tiger¡¯s attack. As the tiger launched itself with too much speed, it could not stop in time. Slash! Ed used the sharp axe to leave a wound on the tiger¡¯s stomach. It was injured in an instant. The tiger looked at the blood on the ground and then at the wound on its stomach. The human had actually managed to injure it! Such humiliation! The tiger¡¯s eyes seemed to turn red as it tried to rush toward Ed again, shutting off any other thoughts. One of them would die right here! Ed stored the axe. He did not need a weapon to finish off a wounded tiger. It was also a good opportunity to test the extent of his current strength. Swoosh! The tiger¡¯s claws almost struck Ed, but he simply used his arm to block it. Even the fallen leaves on the ground were blown away by the impact. This left the tiger in a daze. How could a mere human be so strong? He wasn¡¯t just quick, but had abnormal strength as well. Ed did not give the tiger any time to react. He raised his fist and punched straight ahead. Bang! His punch landed on the tiger¡¯s nose, fracturing it. In an instant, the tiger¡¯s face was stained with blood. ¡°It¡¯s time to send you on your way.¡± Ed¡¯s tone sounded like that of a god from the underworld. He retrieved the sharp axe from his storage space and began to dash towards the tiger at an extreme speed. Tap! Ed used so much strength in his legs that his feet had started to leave deep impressions on the ground. He then swung the axe with one hand and slashed down at the tiger in front of him. Slash! Before the tiger could even recover from the last attack, it had collapsed into a pool of blood. The blood flowed as it seeped into the ground, becoming nutrients for the trees. This time, Ed did not care about concealing the smell of blood. It was the last tiger here, so he didn¡¯t see the need for caution. He turned off the recording function, and the system saved the video for him, so that he could access and watch it whenever he wanted. Squeak squeak squeak! Little Treasure, who was hiding in a tree trunk, jumped onto Ed¡¯s shoulder. Its two little paws came together, clapping to applaud his victory. With a wave of his hand, Ed put the corpse of the vicious tiger that lay on the ground into his storage space. With that, all the tigers that had once occupied the lake had all been taken care of. The place now belonged to him! ¡°Let¡¯s go back and celebrate tonight.¡± Ed patted Little Treasure¡¯s head. It was thanks to Little Treasure¡¯s help today that he had managed to take down the tigers. When he returned home tonight, Ed would definitely celebrate properly. As he looked at the large lake in front of him, Ed started to breathe rapidly from excitement. After so many days, the lake, which had always been frustratingly out of his reach, finally belonged to him now. He now had such an abundant source of water and seafood! From now on, if Ed wanted to eat grilled fish, that¡¯s what he would have. In fact, he would choose the largest one in the lake to satisfy his craving. Little Treasure also happily used its paws to splash the water around in the lake, creating ripples. ¡°Sign in.¡± Ed realised that he had not checked in today. Chapter 35 [ Ding! Check-in successful. ] [ Ding! Congratulations to the host for obtaining a reward: Diver¡¯s Breath ] Looking at the reward, Ed¡¯s breathing started to quicken. This was something that had definitely been prepared specially for him! He had just gained control of a large lake, and now he obtained the Diver¡¯s Breath skill. Furthermore, he had never obtained a talent skill like before. Ed opened the storage interface to find a small blue card. As he looked closer, he noticed a detailed introduction inscribed on the card. [ Diver¡¯s Breath: when using this ability, the host can freely breathe in water like a fish. ] The introduction was short but concise. With just a few words, it revealed all the information he needed about the skill. It seemed to imply that as long as Ed had this card, regardless of whether it was a lake, river, or even the ocean, he would be able to swim naturally like a fish. In some ways, this skill was too powerful. As he thought about what this meant for him, Ed retrieved the blue card from the interface. Right as it came into contact with him, the card transformed into a blue dot before passing through Ed¡¯s forehead and vanishing. In the meantime, his body had started to undergo some changes. He suddenly felt a comforting warm current flow through him. More importantly, he could feel that his breathing was becoming several times lighter than before. This skill was indeed very helpful. Ed locked his eyes onto the lake in front of him. For some reason, he now felt connected to it. He had always enjoyed playing in water, and now, upon obtaining such a skill, Ed couldn¡¯t stand to spend another moment on dry land. Plop! Ed sprinted towards the lake before diving into the water, leaving Little Treasure behind. As he crashed through the surface of the water, his entire body started to sink. Ed opened his eyes instinctively. He did not feel the discomfort brought about by the current. Instead, he felt right at home. Enveloped by a strange sense of familiarity, he felt as if he had lived here in the lake for his whole life. Ed tried to breathe, but did not feel the usual sting of water going into his nose. When he exhaled, he could see small bubbles being formed. This proved that he could now live on both land and sea. One could even call it a heaven-defying skill. As he continued to swim underwater, Ed made some interesting discoveries. All kinds of fish swimmed past him, and some of them would stop for a few seconds to stare at Ed. They seemed to be asking themselves, ¡°How did this human come here?¡± The more time he spent underwater, the more fishes he started to see. As he explored further, Ed came across a bed of aquatic plants, where many silver coloured fish swam around. He wanted to take a closer look and so swam with both arms towards the plants. Upon inspection, he realized that they were anchovies. There were quite a number of them, probably more than a hundred in total, all resting amidst the aquatic plants. Ed suddenly noticed that the bodies of these fish were emitting a faint yellow light. Gold-quality anchovies! There were so many of them there. They would definitely be worth a huge fortune. Ed felt the urge to catch all of them immediately, but managed to restrain himself. He decided to leave them here in this lake for the time being. As for the other fishes¡­ He planned to bring them all back. Since he was the one who found them first, it only felt right for him to take them home. Then, with a thought, Ed turned the omnipotent small hammer into a huge fishing net. Disregarding the water resistance, he tried to catch the small fish that swam around, fishing net in hand. Thinking about it, Ed must have been the first person in the history of mankind to catch fish underwater. The notification alert from catching a fish rang repeatedly in his head. Luckily, he remembered that he could turn it off, or else he probably would have gone deaf from all the noise. ¡°It¡¯s almost done.¡± Ed stored the fishing net and retrieved an enormous wooden bucket that he had prepared beforehand. He filled it with lake water, and even plucked some aquatic plants to place inside. By doing this, Ed hoped to recreate the lake¡¯s environment in the bucket. Finally, he put all the fish that he caught in it. Although the aquatic plants looked beautiful, they weren¡¯t just for decoration. Their most important feature was to produce oxygen. Yes, they could produce oxygen! Even though there was oxygen in the lakewater itself, its content was relatively low. However, with the aquatic plants he found, Ed could raise these small fishes without having to worry about the oxygen in the water running out. This seemed to be a common problem for people who reared fish, as the oxygen in their water would often deplete if they didn¡¯t replace it in time, causing their fish to die. After doing this, Ed returned to the lake. He started to catch even more fish. He wanted to take everything in the lake back, not leaving even a single blade of grass. If he didn¡¯t get everything now, he might have to run back and forth a few times, during which he could encounter some other dangerous beasts. As he went ashore once again, he had already collected everything he wanted from the lake. Ed opened up the system to calculate his haul this time. [ carp x52, grass carp x100, gold-quality anchovies x175, aquatic plants x1000] This harvest was abundant. However, Ed still planned on going back down once more. It would be a pity if he missed something important there. Plop. He dived into the water again and allowed himself to sink. Little Treasure was used to it by now. He had jumped into the lake so many times that it seemed natural. This time, Ed looked around carefully. He didn¡¯t need to return to the surface for air and so took advantage of that to stay for as long as he wanted. He started to scour every corner of the lake rigorously. ¡°What is this?¡± During his search, Ed suddenly came across a strange area. Beneath a few scattered rows of seaweed, he noticed that the color of the soil here did not seem to match the rest of the lakebed. He swam towards it, exerting strength with both arms, while his legs moved gracefully in the water like a fish. Pushing the seaweed away, Ed reached out and managed to grab a sample of the soil from that strange looking place. At that moment, a notification alert rang in his mind. [ Notice ] : Clay +1 Huh? It was clay! Ed did not expect his luck to be this good. Fortunately, he had managed to find the clay just in time before leaving. Otherwise, he would have had to harvest it by other means when he required it in the future, which would have been much more troublesome. Without a moment to spare, Ed started digging in the mud. As he listened to the recurring notification alerts from collecting more clay, Ed¡¯s grin turned wider. Two hours passed. Eventually, all the clay under the lake was harvested. Before he left the lake for good, Ed took care to check around the lake a few more times in order to make sure that no stone was left unturned. [ Notice ] : Clay + 330 The notification sounded once again. 330 portions of clay! This was the main material needed to make bricks. With so much clay on him now, Ed could make thousands of them. With this, he could build the house! ¡°Little Treasure, let¡¯s go home!¡± Ed hummed a cheerful tune as he began to walk back towards his territory. Chapter 36 After taking a bite of the peach, Ed exerted some strength into his feet before rushing toward the direction of the wooden cabin with Little Treasure. With the speed buff, his current speed was no different from that of a fierce tiger. In fact, it may even be slightly faster. Which survivor other than him could have ever had such speed? The journey back that should have taken at least half an hour was shortened to ten minutes. In those ten minutes, he felt like an assassin in the forest. As he moved nimbly like a gust of wind, his footsteps whisked up the fallen leaves on the ground, kicking up waves of sand. ¡°Just in time.¡± Arriving back to his land, Ed raised his head to look at the sky. The dazzling sun would soon set. In a little while, the strange moon would appear once again. He did not rest after returning back. Ed needed to prepare tonight¡¯s feast, and he was determined to make it a sumptuous one. Today¡¯s harvest was simply too rich not to celebrate. Squeak squeak. Little Treasure was like a prophet. It seemed to be able to tell already that a delicious feast was coming. It squeaked noisily, climbing onto Ed¡¯s shoulder from time to time to urge him on. This little squirrel had no resistance when it came to delicious food. Heading to the corn field, Ed first had to pick some corn, then kill a forest chicken and a few fish. There were a lot of preparations that would have to be done today. Of course, the star of the show would be the gold-quality anchovy soup. Such an irresistible dish would undoubtedly be the most indispensable part of the feast. Soon, a mixture of all kinds of smells was spread in the air. The collision of the scents of the different dishes created a heavy and alluring, heavenly aroma. If any other survivors were to stumble upon this place now, they would definitely have thought they were in a dream. If any of the delicacies here were to have been sent out, there was no doubt that they would all have been snatched away in the blink of an eye. ¡°Little Treasure, come and eat.¡± Ed waved at the squirrel. Little Treasure didn¡¯t hold back, and immediately went into a feeding frenzy. It seemed that it had also used up a lot of energy today. Getting pursued by the many tigers had obviously been strenuous physical labor, not to mention the fact that it also had to cooperate with Ed. Ed didn¡¯t forget the most important thing to do before eating. For such an extravagant feast, of course he had to record it with the recording function! Using his mind. he instructed the system, which came to life. The recording function was activated instantaneously. Ed picked up a grilled fish before biting directly into it. The fish had not been big to begin with. Three bites, and the meal was gone just like that. Of course, only eating grilled fish continuously would eventually dull the taste. That was why the delectable anchovy soup was there to cleanse the palate. Ed picked up a wooden bowl, the contents of which was still emitting steam. The silvery-white clear soup looked incredibly appetizing. Slurp. Cool! The same sensation as before flooded through Ed¡¯s body as he drank it, a warm current that seemed to flow through his entire being. The feeling was distinct. However, with more and more consumption, the strengthening effect on the body would diminish. This was something that Ed did not recommend. It was not a divine medicine, naturally, he exercised caution. So what if the growth now was slow? He currently had a massive anchovy population anyway. If eating one or two of them no longer created a noticeable effect, surely eating 20 to 30 would still have an impact. Keeping in mind that he was recording his meal, Ed was a little more refined today, and avoided wolfing down his food like usual. Little Treasure, on the other hand, was different. The squirrel stretched out its small claws repeatedly, eating whatever it caught. The food it stuffed into his mouth made its cheeks bulge, making Little Treasure look very cute. After a while, there was not much food left before them. This feast had come to an end. Ed leaned against a stump as he opened the chat interface. Just as the system had mentioned, all of the survivors had also obtained the ability to record videos. His was just more advanced, allowing him to more conveniently lrecord anytime and anywhere. Some of the other survivors had already started sending all kinds of videos into the chat interface. There were many comments on each of them, discussing the contents of the videos. ¡°I just made a barbecue grill today. I wonder what I¡¯ll eat later.¡± Ed¡¯s first impression of the person in the video was that he was definitely an expert in posturing, the kind of person who liked to indirectly show off. As soon as the video had been released, many of the others had begun to interact with each other under it. ¡°Boss! He actually created a barbecue grill!¡± ¡°Tsk tsk tsk, I can already smell the delicious scent of barbecue. Boss, do you need a footrest?¡± ¡°What¡¯s so good about a barbecue grill? I harvested five apples today, but I don¡¯t know which one to eat. I¡¯m so conflicted!¡± ¡°Am I the only one who¡¯s still gnawing on tree bark?¡± Most of his other videos also showed off his daily harvests, with a healthy serving of the man¡¯s self-righteous copywriting as their captions. ¡°I¡¯m tired of eating meat. It¡¯s also pretty good to occasionally have some corn soup.¡± A video that lasted only a few seconds was among them. ¡°Big Brother!¡± ¡°What a lunatic. Tired of eating meat? Give me the meat!¡± ¡°Quick, take a look. Are those forest chickens in the background?¡± ¡°Damn, it really is. Is this the life of a big shot?¡± Ed smiled to himself as he watched. The discussion was tumultuous, with some people even pausing the videos to analyze the individual frames. They even listed all the items that had appeared in the video. This somewhat surprised Ed. Didn¡¯t these people have anything better to do? Anyway, it didn¡¯t matter. As the person had not revealed his face in any of them, the videos were of little interest to him. Ed closed the chat interface before switching to his own recording interface. A black interface appeared in his mind. The recording interface could have been said to be very intuitive. It allowed a level of editing, and could cut videos that were originally more than ten minutes long into clips only a few seconds long. There was a draft box for storing videos that weren¡¯t intended to be sent out, or simply incomplete ones. The various videos that Ed had recorded appeared in the interface at the moment. He clicked on the latest one, which was the video documenting his feast. He wanted to see if this function was really that useful. Clicking again on the video, a new display appeared, full of various editing tools. The only pity was this would all have to be done manually. He couldn¡¯t just will the video into a perfectly edited state with his mind like he could other things, which meant that he would have to slowly adjust the length of the video the old fashioned way. It took Ed a full five minutes to understand all the functions of the tools in the interface. However, before he was completely done editing the video of his meal, he hovered curiously on the pink ¡®finish¡¯ button in the upper right corner. Hmm? Chapter 37 F*ck! Ed cursed in his heart. His hands trembled as he sent the video out. With a thought, he quickly switched back to the chat interface. ¡°Look at that corn field!¡± ¡°A god is a god. Even getting corn is a piece of cake.¡± ¡°This is a life that we can¡¯t even begin to envy.¡± Many survivors had still been discussing Ed¡¯s last video. The chat interface seemed to fall silent for a moment as a brand new video suddenly popped up in the chat interface. The people who had been spamming texts across the screen had all seemed to have disappeared, giving the interface a rare pause of silence. Yet, Ed knew that it was going to erupt again soon. He had accidentally sent out the video of his feast. As he expected, one message after another started to sweep across the entire chat interface, more outraged than before. Many who had just been secretly lurking had also started to speak up. The entire interface was now in heated discussion.. ¡°Holy shit! Fish soup?¡± ¡°And grilled fish! The sound of his chewing makes me hungry!¡± ¡°Releasing poison in the middle of the night, damn it! Damn it!¡± ¡°And a whole Beggar¡¯s Chicken!¡± ¡°Could it be that chicken dude?¡± ¡°It must be. Damn¡­ This meal is too rich! Is he here to survive or is he on vacation?¡± ¡°I suddenly feel that the apple in my hand is not sweet anymore.¡± One after another, the others in the chat interface started worshiping the owner of the video, Ed. There were even people who sent him seductive videos to curry favor. However, he wouldn¡¯t fall for that. In this world, he couldn¡¯t be too careful, and he wouldn¡¯t trust anyone. It would be too late to regret it after getting stabbed in the back. More and more people offering their services started contacting Ed. Just as he was about to close the chat interface, he noticed that a new video had been sent out. Out of curiosity, he clicked on it to take a look. The video revealed a hunting scene, the target of the hunt being a wolf. However, judging from its condition, it had already been suffering pre-existing serious injuries. A long spear abruptly pierced through the wolf¡¯s brain. ¡°Hunting a wolf, another big shot!¡± ¡°It accurately pierced through the wolf¡¯s brain just like that!¡± ¡°There¡¯s chicken man eating a big meal, and then there¡¯s a warrior killing a wild wolf!¡± The voices of the fans began to pour over to the other side. The owner of the video was the brawny man who had traded for Ed¡¯s tiger teeth. As he hated Ed with a fiery passion, he naturally despised that Ed was starting to become popular. As such, he had posted the video of himself hunting a wolf, to much praise. Although it had clearly been an injured wolf, the video itself was still very amusing. The brawny man sent out a text. ¡°Kid, don¡¯t let me find you, or I¡¯ll let you experience the power of my spear too.¡± No explanation was needed to know who this sentence was referring to. In the eyes of the brawny man, Ed only knew how to catch fish and chickens. It wasn¡¯t something befitting of a man at all. A real man should be going out bravely, seeking experience and exploration. That was what made life interesting. The burly man thought to himself that Ed had probably never even seen a wild beast before. As soon as he had sent out the text, he had immediately amassed a large group of survivors who began to agree with him. People¡¯s hearts were like this, fickle and always wanting to point out the faults of others. ¡°Wolf guy is right. Isn¡¯t all that made him special having some forest chickens? Who wouldn¡¯t know how to catch those?¡± ¡°I think this so-called chicken man has never even seen a wild beast before. He can only farm every day to maintain his life.¡± ¡°I think he was just lucky to have spawned in a place with many resources.¡± These followers didn¡¯t have any brains. In any case, they just hadn¡¯t been able to stand seeing Ed being able to eat such good food, creating jealousy in their hearts. Jealousy was a terrifying mentality. There were even people who had begun to use words attacking Ed¡¯s character. As he looked at the texts flying across the chat interface, Ed¡¯s expression grew colder and colder. If the man had just wanted to act cool, he wouldn¡¯t have objected at all. However, he should never have drawn fire on Ed. After all, Ed was still in his prime. How could he simply let others insult him like this? Any normal person would have felt their blood boil. You want to act cool? Fine! Ed swiftly launched the recording interface and selected a video. It was the one of him hunting the tiger earlier that day. He nonchalantly edited it before quickly clicking finish. After a few seconds, the video appeared on the chat interface, and the survivors who had been busy in heated discussions clicked on it. The chat interface fell quiet again. No one spoke after Ed¡¯s video had appeared. Two minutes soon passed, but there was still no sound. The survivors who had seen the video had all been stunned speechless, watching with widened eyes, mouths agape, and their breathing rapid. Who knew that in such a world, there would actually be such a bold person. The new video had clearly been different from that of the brawny man¡¯s. Everyone saw the scars on the wolf that the previous man had hunted, that had clearly not been caused by a spear. However, the tiger in this video did not have any wounds on its body, yet it had still been killed just like that. Moreover, the video was in first-person, giving viewers an exhilarating sense of courage and adrenaline as if they could have been the person in the video. ¡°I¡¯m usually passive, but I like to kill tigers like this.¡± Ed had included a short caption. He didn¡¯t care what others would think of it, as long as he was comfortable. That man had only killed a wolf that had already been on the verge of death, yet he still dared to show off and call Ed out without even considering if he had the right to do so. Ed¡¯s sentence was also clearly in response to the brawny man¡¯s and those who had attacked him earlier. As the survivors saw the caption, they seemed to collectively draw a sharp breath of cold air. He had been doing this for so long that he thought of killing tigers as a normal part-time activity! What kind of person was this?! The other survivors could barely flee from the beasts, and this person had already started killing tigers. Moreover, some of the other survivors had also previously shared that although tigers weren¡¯t typically social animals, they had noticed that under such circumstances, they had begun to reach a consensus to cooperate. In other words, the owner of the video may have even killed more than one tiger! There was still no comment from anyone in the chat interface. Most of the anger in Ed¡¯s heart had dissipated. There was no need to continue being angry over a bunch of trash. The corners of his mouth curled up as he typed in another paragraph and sent it out. ¡°Tiger meat, trading price: wood x200¡­ anyone with any two of the listed items can trade with me. Special items can also be traded.¡± Ed was no fool. After creating such an effect, it would not make sense if he did not try to earn some resources. He really was business minded, looking to trade all the time! Chapter 38 As soon as he had released the words, the chatroom resumed its lively atmosphere. ¡°Boss, I want it!¡± ¡°This treasure must be stored away. I have to worship the boss every day in front of tiger meat!¡± ¡°I¡¯ll buy some for my collection!¡± ¡°I want to worship the boss at all times!¡± ¡°This is the role model for us men. Where did all the people who mocked the boss just now go? The real bosses are all low-key!¡± As the discussions went on, the items on Ed¡¯s shelves were quickly snatched up. His wave of newfound popularity had brought some benefits for him, namely that he had also managed to receive a special item. It was also something that Ed needed at the moment. All that he had given up for it during the transaction was a piece of tiger skin. ¡°Not bad.¡± Ed held a forging blueprint that emitted a faint glow in his hand. [ Silver-quality Barrier Forging Blueprint: A solid shield for all survivors, increasing protection! ] This was something that was very important right now. Safety issues had always been commonplace here. Up until now, many survivors have left the world as victims of wild beast attacks. There were currently only a few simple barriers around Ed. If he were to encounter some powerful wild beasts here, these defences would be no different from decorations. The arrival of this forging blueprint, however, would completely change the situation. His defenses would soon increase exponentially. By then, these individual beasts would no longer pose a threat to Ed. Midnight. Ed procured the clay that he had obtained from the lake today from his storage space, placing them all on the ground piled up into a small hill. At this moment, the convenience of the omnipotent hammer was on full display. Ed was able to directly transform it into a mould for making bricks. Then, coupled with the multipurpose furnace, Ed barely needed to expend any effort at all. He only had to wait quietly until it was time to obtain the bricks. However, the waiting time would be long. He would have to oversee one process after another to make a single batch of bricks. Estimating based on the current pace, he guessed that he would only be able to gather all the bricks he needed to build the wooden house in a few days. However, he couldn¡¯t complain. This speed was already incredibly fast. If he had to use manual labor to obtain the bricks, it would have taken a few months at the very least. Anyway, Ed already had a plan to use the time as he waited. He intended to use this newly acquired barrier blueprint to upgrade his defenses. Ed was exhausted as he mulled it over. He climbed into his bed and quickly fell asleep. Night turned into day, and the sun eventually rose. Ed stretched as he sat up from the bed His mental state was steadily improving. Last night was the most steady sleep he had ever gotten. The first thing he did when he woke up was to drink a glass of cold water. He still held great importance as to the matter of his physical health. The body was of the utmost importance.. He had to take good care of it, and could not afford to be careless. Following this, he began today¡¯s inspection. He checked for any problems with the crops he had planted, as he watered them. Apple trees, corn fields, and peach trees. The crops were all growing normally, without any accidents. ¡°Check in.¡± Ed made a hatchet as he said to the system. [ Ding! Check in successful. ] [ Ding! Congratulations to the host for obtaining: future fragment x1] Hmm? What was that? A future fragment? Today¡¯s sign in reward had yielded something that Ed had never even heard of. Conveniently, he had a system to introduce it to him. As he procured the item from his storage space, the future fragment¡¯s description appeared in his mind. [ Future Fragment: May or may not be of help or influence to the host¡¯s future path. ] He had never heard of anything like this before. Before he could react, the white fragment in his hand immediately turned into a ray of light before striking in between Ed¡¯s eyebrows. Then, it disappeared. Ed¡¯s eyes became blurry as he felt that his vision was turning dreamy. After a while, he finally stabilized. His vision returned, and the dizziness from before slowly dissipated. As he opened his eyes, Ed saw the endless forest. Even so, he was strangely sure that this was not the same world that he had been in earlier. Plop. A drop of water landed on Ed¡¯s hand. He looked up to see thick and heavy dark clouds beginning to gather. In an instant, the entire sky had become dark and gloomy, giving a strong oppressive feel. Huff! Powerful gusts of strong wind blew, threatening to rip off Ed¡¯s hair and clothes. Finally, as the dark clouds in the sky seemed to reach a breaking point, it began to rain cats and dogs. The rain covered the entire land. However, the rainstorm only lasted for a few seconds before stopping as abruptly as it had appeared. Ed found it all a little strange. Why had it come and gone so soon? He still couldn¡¯t fathom what the future fragment actually did. It had seemed to be of little use. The strong winds also gradually stopped. Waves of white fog soon began to spread out with the wind. The white gas passed through a towering tree. In its wake, it left a layer of condensed frost on the surface of the trunk. As his attention caught on to it and saw this, Ed was given a big fright. Just as he was about to make a sound, his vision became distorted again. Whoosh! Ed stood on the spot, panting heavily. What he had just experienced was a terrifying attack of frost! Its intensity was something that nothing else he had ever experienced could compare to. The environment around him had also been drastically different. A countless number of the large trees had all been frozen into ice sculptures. The future fragment had unveiled these images to him. These may actually be visions of something that would happen one day in the future. When that time came, it would really be a scene from hell. No wonder Ed had been feeling that the weather had become much colder recently. The reality shown in the future fragment was already approaching. In other words, it would not be long before this horrifically intense winter came. Ed had never been concerned about time, but now that he had witnessed this vision, he knew that he didn¡¯t have enough time at all. His current living conditions were not bad at all under normal circumstances. However, it would be a completely different matter if winter truly came. If what he had seen came to pass, he would likely fall seriously ill, which would be a real crisis. In this case, he now had two priorities. First, make warm clothes from tiger skin. Second, make the gold-quality wooden house as soon as possible. These were both paramount to ensure his survival. Ed didn¡¯t dare to hesitate for any longer. He made breakfast quickly before wolfing it down. Then, he immediately sprang into action, beginning to prepare the things he would need for today. He was only a few bricks away from making the wooden house. Chapter 39 Ed began the race against time. If he didn¡¯t work fast, when the intense winter arrives, he would be finished. Moreover, the temperature recently had already begun falling lower and lower, especially at night. If he hadn¡¯t been using the tiger skin as a quilt, he would probably have already fallen ill. Little Treasure had also realized the seriousness of the matter. Over the next few days, Ed and Little Treasure worked hard, digging out rows of connected pits to prepare for securing the guardrails. They barely rested. Their meals were now simply prepared, and they ate quickly before immediately returning to dig more pits. Time passed little by little, and soon, it was three days later. Ed and Little Treasure stopped what they were doing. All the holes they needed had been dug, and now it was time to make guardrails. This final step would complete their defenses. After gulping down a large cup of water, Ed went back to work. Another day passed. The fences were all fixed down, and Ed looked on at the newly installed barrier. He had even specially built a door between them to facilitate his future entries and exits. The multipurpose furnace was also progressing in an orderly manner. Tsss! The sound of steam emerging from cold water being poured onto a hot vessel could be heard, which meant that the bricks were all ready. It could be said that it was right on time. The bricks were done just after the guardrails had been constructed. Yet regardless of how busy he was, Ed stuck to his daily routines, especially in paying attention to what was going on in the chat interface. Now that the recording function had been enabled, many survivors would send in all kinds of videos every day. Most of them were just mundane tasks being done during the day. There were also some female survivors who put on pitiful postures and begged others for help. In Ed¡¯s eyes, such behavior was an eyesore. Anyone who was capable would not have resorted to such a strategy. In this world, to rely on others was to leave their brains stuck in the door. At least, that was his opinion. Relying on one¡¯s own ability and facing reality was better than relying on anyone else. Moreover, ever since he had seen the visions of the future, his mind had been in a tense state. These few days, he had gotten up before dawn, worried as to when the intense cold winds would arrive. It was all he could do to try his best in completing his set tasks. Fortunately, after these few days of hard work, he was almost done. Ed came to an empty space that he had designated for this long ago. This would be the place where he would build the gold-quality wooden house. [ Notice ] : Construction of this building requires an area of at least 15 x 11. Please ensure that there is enough space. There was definitely enough space in this empty plot of land. He did not hesitate at all before immediately pressing the button to initiate the construction. The moment he pressed it, Ed¡¯s entire territory sprang into life, bustling with activity. At this moment, everything related to building the house began to operate on their own, and there was no need for Ed to do anything himself. However, the process seemed to be slow. Ed frowned as he began to estimate the time needed. In the end, he came to a conclusion. Based on the current speeds, the time needed to complete the construction would be at least a week, or maybe even longer. He didn¡¯t know if he could make it in time. After all, the frigid winds could attack at any time. Every additional day was one more day of danger. Most importantly, if the events that the future fragment had foretold arrived before the house was completed, then everything would be reduced to dust. The house that was still under construction would undoubtedly be washed away by the storm in an instant. Then, everything would have been for naught. After all, the house would only be stable after it was fully constructed. The supports needed in the construction process could easily be destroyed by harsh external conditions. The system had mentioned this to Ed before, which was something he had constantly kept in mind. The system seemed to have sensed Ed¡¯s worries as it spoke again. [ Ding! Host can participate in the construction process, which can increase the speed of the construction. ] Hearing the system¡¯s words, Ed¡¯s furrowed brows relaxed slightly. He understood what the system was implying. As long as he participated in any part of the construction, he could increase the speed of that part, which would quicken the overall construction process. After realizing all this, Ed did not hesitate at all. He picked up a hammer and immediately began to participate in the construction of the house, doing anything he could. Little Treasure had also been entrusted with a heavy responsibility, which was to pick and replant the corn on its own. Both the man and mouse worked tirelessly in a state of urgency, without daring to relax even a little bit. Ed collected every resource that could be collected. He wasn¡¯t sure if he could keep the crops alive when the foretold winter arrived. He could only gather as much as he could now to try to reduce his losses. Another two days passed. ¡°So¡­ cold¡­¡± Ed was awakened by a chill. His eye bags were heavy. It was obvious that he hadn¡¯t had a good rest over the past few days. Ed immediately put on his clothes. This chill further struck him with the realization that the cold winds were surely about to descend. There was not enough time. Regardless of how tired he was, he could not rest. Carrying over his tools, he once again went to work in the construction. By now, the foundation of the wooden house had been completed, and the overall frame of the building had also been erected. They worked late into the night. Eventually, the walls of the house were finally completed. It was now time for the roof, doors, and windows. The roof was a manual job, and as such Ed could help out a little. The doors and windows, however, were not just manual jobs, but required a certain level of expertise. Carving was an intricate skill that Ed did not possess, so he could only watch as they were slowly made on their own. ¡°Check-in.¡± [ Ding! Check-in successful! ] [ Ding! Congratulations to the host for obtaining: Carpentry Skill. ] Wow! He really could get whatever he wanted. The fatigue on Ed¡¯s face quickly evaporated. After extracting the skill and fusing it with himself, he felt that an innate talent had appeared in his mind. It was as if he had been in the construction industry for a long time. Ed was soon busy again. He had not forgotten to record videos of the past few days. He thought to himself that perhaps he could edit them in the future, as somewhat of a small hobby. Finally! Ed stood in front of the wooden house. The overall construction was almost complete. Now, he was only one step away from completing the final process on the roof. Chapter 40 With the innate skills of a god-level carpenter, it had simply been too easy to carve the doors and windows. Ed was now like an old master who had been immersed in the carving industry for decades. Every cut represented a different feeling. The heavy logs were like living things in his hands. Three hours soon passed. Phew! Ed let out a long breath as he wiped away the sweat from his forehead. The doors and windows were now completed, and with them ,the construction of the wooden house was finally coming to an end. The last step would also be an important one, which was to coat the roof with metal. This was also to ensure the overall sturdiness of the wooden house. If he had used soil or something similar, although it would save a bit of time, the sturdiness would not be very reliable. When it came into contact with rain, it would become soft. If that happened, it would only be a matter of time before the entire house collapsed. Of course, Ed would not cut corners on such an important matter and live in a house with such a glaring safety hazard. A house had to be warm and comfortable, and especially safe to live in. He took out the hammer from his storage space and began to climb to the roof. He then hammered down the iron nails that had already been placed prior one after another, so that the wooden beams could be stable and fixed down. These iron nails were not of the ordinary variety. They were equivalent to stainless steel in that they would not rust in the face of rain, and were very durable. Ed hammered them in, going at a moderate pace. The temperature had been steadily falling for the past few days, but there were no signs of the intense, freezing winds yet. This was definitely good news for him. It had provided him with enough time to finish building the house. Just as his thoughts cleared¡­ Tap. A drop of water fell abruptly, hitting his back without warning. Feeling the cold dampness seeping onto his back, Ed stopped what he was doing before looking up at the sky. Drops of cold rain continued to fall on his body. Immediately, Ed¡¯s expression fell drastically as he put down the hammer in his hand. This situation was exactly as he had foreseen in the future fragment. At first, it was just a light rain, which turned into a rainstorm before heralding the attack of the frigid winds. Ed quickly jumped down from the roof and ran straight to the farmland. With a flick of his wrist, he stored all the resources that he could collect into his storage space, not daring to hesitate for even a second. He had not expected that immediately as he wondered when it would arrive, the rain would start to fall. Did his luck have to be so good? It was too bad that this time, it was counterintuitive. The raindrops gradually started falling faster and faster, as the size of of the water droplets started to grow as well. Ed quickly took out a peach and took a bite, giving himself a speed buff. His body was vigorous as he climbed up to the roof, picking up the hammer and continuing his work. The frequency of the hammering steadily increased. At this time, a voice rang incessantly in his mind. Faster, faster. Steady rain had started abruptly, without any warning. Ding! Ed raised the hammer in his hand for the final time before dropping it heavily with force and producing a crisp sound. The roof reinforcements were completely finished. He had rushed himself, ahead of the coming storm, and had finally managed to complete the construction of the entire gold-quality wooden house. Only he himself knew how much effort and days of hard work he had put in. However, at this moment, he thought to himself that everything had been worth it. At the very least, he had managed to beat the coming onslaught of freezing air. His hard work had not been wasted. [ Notice ] :Construction of the gold-quality wooden house is complete! The metallic voice of the system sounded in Ed¡¯s mind. The wooden house construction project was officially completed! The dark clouds in the sky slowly began to gather like a black hole, as if wanting to devour everything in this world. Gusts of strong wind started sweeping through the endless forest. The normally strong trees had no choice but to bend under the strong wind. Behold, this was the power of nature. Regardless of strength, everything had to bow before it. The leaves that had been scattered on the ground danced in the wind, as if they were celebrating the arrival of the heavy rain. Ed jumped off the roof before rushing into the interior of the wooden house. Boom! A loud bang of thunder sounded. Ed took off his wet shirt before wiping his face. Hearing the thunder, he patted his chest, his body trembling with lingering fear. If it had been even a little later, everything he had done before would have been for naught. If he had not yet completed even just one step, the strong winds would have been enough to send the wooden house flying. Fortunately, he had completed it first. The house was now very sturdy, and could hold itself against the elements. Ed wiped the rain off his body and began to walk around the wooden house. The interior was plenty spacious. There was a living room, two bedrooms, and a kitchen. There was even a fireplace on the wall of the kitchen. This was a very cozy looking house. Looking at the arrangements, Ed felt that the materials used had been worth it. At the very least, it provided him with a place to live, which was not bad. Now, as long as he added some furniture, it would be a warm and cozy home. Little Treasure shook off the rain on its body before opening its eyes, taking in the new environment around it. Its little eyes flashed with curiosity from time to time. Ed took everything out of the storage space. The usual cooking tools were, of course, put in the kitchen. Other resources and miscellaneous items were stored in one of the bedrooms. As there were two bedrooms in total, he would use one of them as a storage room. After unpacking everything, Ed, who had been busy all day, suddenly felt the pangs of hunger, and so did Little Treasure. They hadn¡¯t had a proper meal for at least a few days. Little Treasure still seemed fine, its workload hadn¡¯t been too heavy. Ed wasn¡¯t currently in a very good state of mind, and the bags under his eyes were heavy. It was obvious that he hadn¡¯t had a good rest in a while. Now that all the pressing matters had been settled, it was natural to have a good meal to make up for all the nutrients that they had lacked for a few days. Ed added wood to the fireplace before lighting it up. With the addition of the barbecue grill, the entire room became warm. Compared to the freezing cold environment outside, this place was a treasure trove. Ed roasted some fish while boiling fish soup. He was living a good life. Of course, he was also paying attention to everything that occurred outside. He was very impressed with the sturdiness of this wooden house. There was no doubt about the intensity of the strong winds outside, yet the wooden house was like a giant. No matter how strong the winds, it would not falter. The aroma of cooking fish spread throughout the entire house.