007: Master, I have already stored the excess materials in the warehouse for you. After saying this, 007 looked at Qin Zhiyu with its two dark, metallic eyes.
Qin Zhiyu felt as though it was looking up at her eagerly, asking for a reward.
She patted 007’s smooth head. Can 007 be upgraded? What reward do you want?
007: Master, I’m not picky. I can actually absorb two Crystals daily—one for consumption and one for upgrading.
Qin Zhiyu agreed, giving 007 two Crystals each day. If it could upgrade, that would be even better. If not, she could still afford two Crystals per day.
Pressure breeds motivation. Qin Zhiyu instructed 007 to monitor the transaction information for her Sanctuary. If materials were received, it was to store them in the warehouse. If anyone approached the Sanctuary, it was to alert her.
After giving these instructions, she planned to rest for two hours and spend the afternoon chopping wood.
“Good afternoon, 007!”
007: Good afternoon to you too, Master.
After her nap, Qin Zhiyu greeted 007 and went to the kitchen to simply fry two Oil Cakes for lunch.
007: Master, the quality of your Oil Cakes is substandard.
Qin Zhiyu had thought her cooking skills were passable, even if not exceptional. Hearing this, she felt a mix of embarrassment and discomfort.
“So, does that mean 007 can cook high-quality food?” Qin Zhiyu teased.
007: Yes, Master. Currently, I lack recipes. If you can provide me with Blueprints for ingredients, 007 can prepare high-quality meals.
“Why didn’t you say so earlier, 007?”
007: Master, you never asked.
The electronic voice, neither too high nor too low, delivered these words with an unruffled rhythm. Qin Zhiyu felt both helpless and at a loss for words.
“Alright then, I’ll acquire some recipes for you. From now on, can I leave the cooking to you, 007?”
007: Of course, it would be my honor, Master.
Recipe Blueprints weren’t particularly expensive, as they dropped fairly frequently. The only difference recipes made was in the taste of the prepared food. Apart from enthusiasts and those with comfortable living conditions, there wasn’t much demand in the market, so Crimson Iron and lower-quality recipes weren’t priced too high.
While acquiring recipes for 007, Qin Zhiyu didn’t forget about the heat-resistant three-piece set she wanted.
Ferry Shelter: I checked the market, and no one is selling this item. Mine is relatively rare, so I’d like to request one additional Blueprint. All three heat-resistant materials are Crimson Iron, so their value isn’t low.
While she was resting, Ferry Shelter had already replied to her message.
Qin Zhiyu had no objections to the request for a higher price—haggling was normal in transactions.
However, since they specifically asked for one additional Blueprint, it seemed they weren’t lacking in daily Resources.
Dawn Shelter: At most, I can offer one Kitchen Blueprint. If that works for you, let’s trade.
Qin Zhiyu’s limit for this purchase was these two Blueprints. Asking for more wouldn’t be appropriate at the moment, especially since these were soft heat-resistant materials, not direct cooling supplies.
Ferry Shelter: Deal!
This time, the reply was instant. Seeing the other party accept, she acted promptly and completed the transaction through the system trading platform.
There’s no rush to use these things now; it’ll be timely enough to start preparing after surviving this Heavenly Disaster.
As for the other items listed for trade, they have all been completely sold. She put on the Crimson Iron Quality protective suit and made several Bronze protective suits as backups.
Qin Zhiyu browsed through the trades and private messages again. After setting a threshold, the number of private messages she received decreased significantly.
However, she still couldn’t find the special quality soil she needed, so she had to dig up some ordinary soil for planting while going out to chop trees.
Qin Zhiyu examined the tool room, which she hadn’t looked at carefully before. Inside, there was a simple crafting bench.
With a Blueprint, the items that could be crafted would be unlocked. The raw materials were still the ordinary ones, but higher-grade weapons required special materials.
For example, with the newly produced scimitar Blueprint, her Iron Sword had limited durability and would require a Blueprint for repairs once damaged. Now that she had the Blueprint for another weapon, her worries were resolved.
Qin Zhiyu made a mental note to familiarize herself with the new weapon. The scimitar wasn’t as easy to handle as the Iron Sword, so perhaps she could try acquiring scimitar techniques.
While she was resting, 007 had already used the Blueprint. Crafting the scimitar didn’t require any special materials; she just needed to click to craft.
She crafted two Crimson Iron Quality scimitars. The blades gleamed silver, and the handles, made of an unknown material, felt very comfortable to hold. The combined length of the scimitar and its blade was equal to the length of her arm, and the weight was just right.
The speed boots felt excellent to wear—they truly made her walk as if with the wind. However, she sometimes struggled to control the force, which could lead to embarrassing moments.
Qin Zhiyu gave 007 another instruction: to exchange excess materials daily for enough Crystals to last a week.
By the time she finished all this, it was already past 2 p.m. Qin Zhiyu planned to finish chopping the trees during these three days of darkness, as leaving them until the next Heavenly Disaster would be wasteful if they withered.
As for the mineral veins in the Sanctuary, she didn’t intend to mine them for now. It was fine to leave them here as her fixed assets.
If she could survive several more Heavenly Disasters, these mineral veins might mutate or upgrade under such complex natural conditions.
This time, the storage loot was a ring with only 1 cubic meter of space. She put on the ring, thinking that even a small gain was better than nothing, and more space was always beneficial.
This time, while chopping trees, Qin Zhiyu didn’t need to run back and forth repeatedly. She could store them in her Pocket Dimension and return only when it was full.
She walked along the uneven steps—these former concrete steps had slowly decayed and turned into soil, making the path quite difficult to traverse.
Descending cautiously while staying alert to her surroundings, she arrived safely at the forest.
Rolling up her sleeves, she motivated herself to work hard, treating it as a way to build strength.
After all, with such a large forest, completing the task within three days was quite challenging. Without motivation and patience, the sheer number of trees—coupled with the lack of urgent demand for wood materials—would make the sight of them exhausting.
Qin Zhiyu chopped trees in a very systematic manner, skipping one tree after each one she felled, working from south to north. Several axes broke in the process.
During the process of transporting materials and crafting axes, Qin Zhiyu found the uphill and downhill paths particularly difficult to navigate, stepping into the uneven ground with varying depths.
So, in the tool room, she cut several wooden boards, each one meter long, half a meter wide, and three centimeters thick, and embedded them one by one into the soil along the steps.
As for why not use better materials? Because the next Heavenly Disaster will completely alter the terrain, making it truly unnecessary.
After busily cutting down a circle of trees, Qin Zhiyu circled back to the northern edge near the back mountain.
The mountain slope was relatively steep, and to conceal her tracks, she decided it was best not to clear all the trees on the back mountain.
Of course, it wasn’t due to laziness or difficulty—Qin Zhiyu thought this quite naturally, without feeling the slightest bit off.