At least it looked really good, didn’t it?
Yan Yiqiu went to the open space she usually used for crafting and sat down right on the ground, first checking the materials in her Life backpack.
The Life backpack had no slot or quantity limits. It was packed tightly with various ingredients, herbs, fabrics, and animal hides. She hadn’t cleaned it out in a while, so it looked overwhelmingly chaotic.
She spent some time categorizing and sorting materials by type and quality.
At first glance, it didn’t seem like much, but looking closer, she realized she had far too many white-quality materials, a good number of green-quality ones, fewer blue-quality, and purple-quality was extremely rare.
Those pitiful few dozen purple materials had come from the previous dungeon boss drops. Early dungeon monsters were low-level, so the chance of dropping purple materials was minuscule.
After organizing everything by quality and type, it looked much more satisfying.
Yan Yiqiu then pulled out her iron pot and spatula to continue grinding her Life level.
She was currently a Level 8 Chef. To reach Level 9, she needed 20,000 experience points, and she was still short by more than 15,000.
Making white-quality food took very little time—five minutes per batch. Each batch produced roughly 3–5 portions of food, each granting at least 30 experience points. In one hour, she could gain about 300–400 experience points.
This called for a quick overview of experience gained by different qualities:
Although higher-quality materials gave more XP, they took longer to craft and had a higher failure rate. So making white-quality food was the most efficient method for grinding experience.
While cooking, she also checked the Trade Market for any useful bargains.
The market was mostly filled with white-quality junk equipment and materials priced outrageously high:
Some people really dared to post these prices.
Yan Yiqiu scrolled past the overpriced items and noticed a pile of gray-colored materials.
“?”
She paused, narrowing her eyes to take a closer look.
[Gray Fragment]: Appears plain, but perhaps someone with a unique aesthetic might like it.
Someone had already dropped these? She was surprised. Seeing the price was only 1 silver made her even more astonished. She immediately bought all of them in one sweep.
There weren’t many, just around ten pieces.
Though the description made them seem useless, once the territory reached Level 10, these fragments would skyrocket in price—roughly 10–100 gold per set.
Reaching Level 10 would unlock a new building: [Library].
The [Library] contained many skill books, which would gradually unlock as the library upgraded. The material needed to upgrade the [Library]? [Gray Fragments]!
She hadn’t expected to find these fragments already in Dungeon 4—she remembered in her previous life they only appeared in Dungeon 6 or 7.
She scrolled further but found no more gray fragments, so she closed the Trade Market and checked her backpack. The feeling was incredibly satisfying.
Snagging a bargain felt amazing.
Humming a little tune, she crafted a few more sets of white-quality food and listed everything on the Trade Market.
She wanted other players to feel the joy of snagging a bargain too.
Her listing method allowed bartering—players could exchange wood, ore, herbs, or ingredients at double the normal value.
It was still far cheaper than the exorbitantly priced food on the market.
No more than three seconds after listing, the system’s chime rang, and the chat exploded:
Of course, a few complained that she was “disrupting the market,” but most players were too busy rushing to buy food to care.
Yan Yiqiu’s few listings were far from disruptive. The player base was massive, so her contributions were negligible, especially with the purchase restrictions she set.
Limits prevented combat players and life players from buying too much, stopping anyone from flipping her food at a higher price.
The players stayed in the territory for ten days before receiving the dungeon opening notification.
Before entering, Yan Yiqiu had successfully reached Level 9 as a Chef.
[Dungeon about to open, please prepare, players.]
The familiar synthetic female voice sounded.
Yan Yiqiu and her two companions vanished from the villa sofa.
Dizziness passed, replaced by a cold, biting atmosphere.
Yan Yiqiu scanned her surroundings. She was standing on a thick glacier in a world of icy blue, with small hills and rocks made entirely of ice nearby.
“Brrr… so cold.”
Yun Yan and the others were wearing very thin clothes. Though they offered defense, they had no cold resistance. Standing barefoot on the frozen ground, they would have frozen solid if their bodies hadn’t been enhanced by becoming players.
Feeling the chill, Yan Yiqiu quickly grabbed meat soup from her backpack and drank it.
“This meat soup gives cold resistance. You guys handle the rest and start a fire.”
She hadn’t expected Dungeon 5 to be extreme cold. She reminded Yun Yan and Wei Jiaze to drink the soup while she pulled out fabric, cotton, and needles to make padded jackets.
Yun Yan shivered as she drank the soup. Feeling slightly warmer, she added wood to a brazier to start a fire.
The orange flames leapt across the icy plain, very visible.
Yun Yan and Wei Jiaze huddled close: “Last dungeon was burning hot, this one is freezing cold.”
“There’s a debuff,” Wei Jiaze said.
He hugged himself tightly, exhaling white mist, his voice trembling.
Having experienced the last dungeon, he immediately checked his status panel for buffs. He saw a small blue icon:
[Cold Debuff]: Being under this debuff reduces physical functions, possibly affecting combat power and movement speed. Players, be careful.
[Cold Debuff x1]: Movement speed and attack reduced by 5%, fullness decreases by 5 points per hour.
Yun Yan shivered: “So cold…”
[Obtained Padded Jacket · Green x1, Tailoring XP +100]
[Obtained Padded Jacket · Green x2, Tailoring XP +200]
Padded Jacket · Green: Increases cold resistance by 45%.
“Put on the jackets first.”
Yan Yiqiu distributed the jackets to Yun Yan and Wei Jiaze, putting one on herself.
The black jackets warmed them up. Though a little chilly remained, it was tolerable.
Yan Yiqiu didn’t stop her crafting.
[Obtained Cotton Shoes · White x4, Tailoring XP +40]
[Obtained Cotton Gloves · White x5, Tailoring XP +50]
[Obtained Cotton Gloves · Green x3, Tailoring XP +300]
[Obtained Cotton Shoes · Green x2, Tailoring XP +200]
[…]
Putting on the cotton shoes, cotton pants, cotton gloves, and a cotton hat, the cold was reduced to just a faint chill.
“Yiqiu-jie, you’re my eternal goddess!” Yun Yan, fully healed, immediately shook off her earlier lethargy and bounced around energetically, her twin tails swinging back and forth. “It was freezing just now! Heat I could barely handle, but cold is unbearable.”
Wei Jiaze nodded in agreement.
In the previous dungeon, he could withstand a nine-stack heat debuff and still hang on. Now, with just a single stack of the cold debuff, he was already freezing.
“Just relying on the padded jackets isn’t enough,” Yan Yiqiu said without pausing her actions. “I’ll make some small anti-cold pills—take them whenever you feel cold.”
Calmly, she took out the blue-quality alchemy furnace Yun Yan had obtained in the last dungeon and started crafting.
All the cotton clothing—the jackets, pants, shoes, gloves, and hat—was pure black, without a single pattern.
Her red wavy hair under the hat shone brilliantly, making her fair complexion even more striking. Wrapped in the slightly loose padded jacket, she looked delicate and petite, her nose slightly reddened from the cold.
[Obtained Warm Sun Pill · White x10, Alchemy XP +100]
[Obtained Warm Sun Pill · White x15, Alchemy XP +150]
[Obtained Warm Sun Pill · Green x5, Alchemy XP +500]
[Obtained Warm Sun Pill · Green x6, Alchemy XP +600]
[…]
Seeing the number of pills produced, Yan Yiqiu couldn’t help but praise the blue-quality alchemy furnace—truly effective.
The Warm Sun Pills dispel cold and provide heat to the body. White-quality pills act slowly but last eight hours; green-quality ones work faster and last longer. She distributed the green pills to Yun Yan and Wei Jiaze.
Opening the friend and chat channels, she followed her usual practice of selling the white-quality Warm Sun Pills:
Friend requests flooded in, and previous friends also sent messages rapidly to buy the Warm Sun Pills.
After handling the rush for a while, Yan Yiqiu stopped selling and closed friend requests.
“Jie, what should we do now?” Yun Yan asked.
After taking the green Warm Sun Pill, the last hint of cold vanished, and Yun Yan couldn’t stay still.
Yan Yiqiu stood: “Let’s explore a bit and see what kinds of small monsters are in this dungeon.”
Yun Yan and Wei Jiaze followed.
They were on a vast, endless icy plain. Everywhere they looked, it was ice blocks, icy rocks, frozen trees, and peaks. The deep blue and pale white scenery was visually straining over time.
After about ten minutes, Yun Yan spotted some round, white objects out of the corner of her eye.
She turned her head, her eyes lighting up: “Look over there! Snowmen! Not sure who made them, but they’re cute.”
Following the direction she pointed, they saw three child-sized, round, adorable snowmen stacked near an ice-rock pile. Their black eyes were shiny, mouths curved into big smiles, and they looked delicate and cute.
Just as Yun Yan stepped closer, the snowmen came to life, moving nimbly toward the three of them.
Yun Yan: “!!!”
No way—they’re alive!
Yun Yan and Wei Jiaze quickly summoned their battle pets and drew weapons. They expected the snowmen to have high health, but they melted upon simple contact.
[Player dealt 6721 damage to Snowman, effective damage 200. Snowman melted.]
[Obtained Wood x31, Level 1 Ore x6, Copper Coins x210, Personal XP +20, Combat XP +10.]
[Player dealt 1518 damage to Snowman, effective damage 200. Snowman melted.]
[Obtained Wood x29, Level 1 Ore x7, Copper Coins x199, Personal XP +20, Combat XP +10.]
Seeing the damage and drops, Yun Yan and Wei Jiaze froze.
Yun Yan hesitated for two seconds: “Did I see that right? Wei Jiaze, what did you get?”
“29 wood, 7 Level 1 ore, and 200 copper coins,” Wei Jiaze replied, eyebrows furrowed in confusion.
How could a small dungeon monster be even weaker than those in the first dungeon? And the drops are pathetic!
Both turned to Yan Yiqiu with pleading expressions.
Yan Yiqiu: “……”
What, am I an encyclopedia?
She waved them back, squinted at where the snowmen melted, and calmly said one word: “Wait.”
Wait? Wait for what?
Yun Yan and Wei Jiaze were puzzled, but they obediently waited.
The melted snow left a patch of white snow. After a minute, it turned into translucent water-like creatures the size of children, without facial features.
If they remained still, it would truly look like just a puddle of water.
“Oh, so they have a second form,” Yun Yan blinked. “Learned something new.”
She stepped forward with her group, weapons ready, stabbing one of the water creatures. Her weapon easily pierced the creature, encountering a strange resistance and suction.
Drops of water splashed onto Yun Yan, instantly dropping several hundred HP!
She yelped twice, stepped back, swapped her melee weapon for a ranged weapon, and warned Wei Jiaze: “Be careful not to get splashed! These water drops deal high damage—hundreds of HP at once!”
Wei Jiaze paused, cautiously switched to a ranged weapon, and quietly cast buffs to enhance himself and teammates while kiting the monster and slowly wearing down its HP with arrows.
Three water monsters remained; the last one was left to Yan Yiqiu.
She nocked her bow and shot easily.
[Player dealt 932,871,432 damage to Water Monster, effective damage 310,982.]
[Obtained Snow Lotus x2, Wood x5090, Level 1 Ore x4588, Level 3 Ore x3902, Level 4 Ore x2320, Level 5 Ore x1332, Energy Crystal · Green x300, Herbs · Green x15… Gold Coins x25, XP +5000.]
[Snow Lotus]: A rare flower that only grows on icy plains. You might explore its use slowly—at least it looks beautiful, doesn’t it?
Yan Yiqiu glanced at the Snow Lotus, thinking it was a great item for boosting the duration of burst-use potions, e.g., extending from 5s to 8–10s.
The drop conditions were strict—only from small monsters in icy plains or snowy mountains, never from other dungeons.
The second form of the snow monster—the water monster—is an elite small monster in this dungeon, with thick HP and high damage, very unfriendly to melee. Its splashed water damage is high and hard to avoid.
It’s easier to handle with ranged classes or fire mages.
She advised against lightning mages nearby, as water conducts electricity.
Yun Yan and Wei Jiaze couldn’t kill the water monsters quickly. Yan Yiqiu sat on an ice block to watch.
She hadn’t warned Yun Yan earlier deliberately.
She didn’t want them too dependent on her; what if they got separated during a special dungeon event?
Yun Yan was reckless, always charging in without observing. Experiencing some loss in battle would help her break that habit.