Kagashi took it and looked it over.
[Iron Axe]
[Quality: Common]
[Effect: Woodcutting efficiency increased by 20%.]
“Not bad.” Kagashi nodded.
“With this, harvesting wood will be much faster.”
“So are we going back to look for lumber now?” Furina asked.
“Didn’t you say upgrading the train requires 100 units of wood?
We only have 30 right now, so we’re still 70 short.”
Kagashi didn’t answer immediately.
He opened the system inventory and glanced at the logistics supplies from the global first-kill reward that he hadn’t distributed yet.
Then, he stepped over to a flat patch of ground and began taking them out one by one.
“This is!” Furina’s eyes widened more and more as she watched the pile of gear appear out of thin air.
First were the clothes.
Five sets of neatly folded Thermal Suits, designed like deep gray tactical windbreakers with heavy fleece lining; they looked incredibly warm and durable.
There were also matching trousers, equally thick and weather-resistant.
“Real clothes!” Yoshino exclaimed softly, her eyes sparkling as she looked at the heavy winter gear.
Kagashi continued taking things out: ten boxes of Compressed Biscuits, each containing twenty packs, stacked neatly together; ten cases of Mineral Water, each with twenty-four bottles, tightly sealed in protective plastic film.
“So much!” Misaka Mikoto crouched down and poked a box of the rations with her finger, as if checking to ensure it wasn’t an illusion.
“There’s more,” Kagashi added, pulling out five camouflage-colored Thermal Sleeping Bags and ten pocket-sized Military First-Aid Kits, stuffed full of various medical essentials and dressings.
The four girls looked at the organized mountain of survival supplies on the ground and fell silent collectively.
“Is this…” Furina opened her mouth, her voice trembling slightly, “the actual reward for the global first kill?”
“Yes.” Kagashi nodded.
“These items…” Misaka Mikoto picked up one of the heavy gray jackets, inspecting the stitching.
“They’ll ensure our baseline survival for a long time.”
“Especially the sleeping bags and winter suits,” Roxy said softly, her analytical gaze scanning the fabric.
“The Extreme Cold Apocalypse starts in a month; these insulated layers are technically more vital than immediate food rations.”
Yoshino hugged one of the compact first-aid kits, a look of immense relief on her small face.
“We…
we have medical supplies now.
We don’t have to be as afraid of injuries.”
Kagashi looked at them, the corners of his mouth curling up slightly.
“Alright, let’s secure the inventory first.
We’ll distribute the rations and gear formally when we get back to the carriage.
For now, everyone take your designated Thermal Suit and change into it.
It’s getting colder.”
Naturally, since they were changing out of their tight system bodysuits into the bulky, comfortable thermal layers, there was a fair amount of hurried turning around and mutual awkwardness during the process.
Once everyone was fully bundled up in the insulated gray windbreakers, looking far more prepared for the wasteland, the group stored the remaining bulk supplies back into their system inventories.
“Let’s go, time to secure that lumber requirement,” Kagashi turned and walked back toward the giant tree.
The four girls, now looking much more secure in their heavy outerwear, followed closely behind him.
Back under the monumental canopy, Kagashi stood still and surveyed the immediate terrain.
Then, his brow furrowed.
“What’s wrong?” Furina leaned in, her high collar brushing her chin.
“Look.” Kagashi pointed at the perimeter surrounding the giant tree.
Within a hundred-meter radius of the massive growth, there wasn’t a single smaller tree or sapling.
Though somewhat yellowed by the atmosphere, it looked almost intentionally cleared.
Forget standard trees, there wasn’t even a decent-sized shrub.
“This…” Misaka Mikoto also noticed the anomaly.
“How come there isn’t any secondary growth?”
“It’s too controlled,” Roxy crouched down, her gloved hand touching the soil beneath her boots.
“Even in an abandoned urban zone, wild vegetation is random.
The absolute absence of any stray saplings is unnatural.”
“Could this main tree have absorbed all the localized nutrients?” Furina guessed.
“It’s possible,” Kagashi said, “but what’s more likely is…
this is an intentional resource node provided by the system.”
“A resource node?” Yoshino tilted her head, her oversized hood shifting slightly.
“Think about it,” Kagashi explained.
“The system specified a three-day newbie protection period.
It gave us a relatively controlled environment to let us adapt.
Look at this—one massive tree, no surrounding clutter, meaning there’s no need to spend hours searching the entire sector for individual wood drops.
The Iron Axe was placed right along our path.
This isn’t a coincidence; it’s a structural objective.”
“An objective…” Misaka Mikoto said thoughtfully.
“So this entire tree is meant to be harvested for our upgrade blueprint?”
“Yes,” Kagashi nodded.
“But harvesting it normally wouldn’t be simple.” He handed the Iron Axe to Furina.
“Give it a try.”
Furina took the axe, gripped the handle firmly with both hands, aimed at the thick trunk, and swung hard.
Clang!
The blade bit into the dense bark, penetrating barely a centimeter deep.
She pulled it out and swung again at the same spot.
Another centimeter.
A shallow mark was left on the massive trunk, but compared to the sheer diameter of the giant tree, it was practically negligible.
“This…” Furina shook her numbed wrists, exhaling a puff of condensation.
“Isn’t this material density way too high?”
Misaka Mikoto took the tool and gave it a solid swing.
The result was nearly identical; each strike only penetrated a little over a centimeter.
Roxy tried as well, but with her lower physical strength baseline, she managed less than a centimeter per strike.
Yoshino could barely balance the weight of the heavy axe and shook her head timidly after a brief attempt.
“If we have to chip away at it like this, how many hours will it take to fell a single node?” Furina frowned.
Kagashi remained silent, running a quick calculation in his mind.
With the physical baseline of an ordinary human, one swing yielded about one centimeter of depth.
The diameter of this giant tree’s trunk was at least two meters by visual estimation.
One centimeter per swing, assuming continuous, peak-efficiency strikes without fatigue.
An average survivor’s arms would lose power after a dozen full-force swings, not accounting for the time required to dislodge the blade and adjust angles.
Kagashi calculated the structural limitations: for an average team of survivors with one basic axe and no physical modifiers, it would take nearly eleven hours of continuous labor to clear this node.
And the maximum stop duration was exactly twelve hours.
Meaning, if a lone survivor without modifiers or a full team attempted this, they would exhaust their entire time limit just harvesting wood, leaving zero margin to secure water, stone, or iron ore before the train departed.
“This was structurally balanced for a coordinated group,” Kagashi opened his eyes and said softly.
“What?” Furina didn’t catch his murmur.
“I said,” Kagashi’s lips curled up slightly, “this was balanced for a group.
Kagashi took the axe back from Furina and gripped the handle tightly.
The massive physical modification of the Ox Talisman flooded into his arms, stabilizing his stance.
“Because I happen to have a multiplier.”
He stepped up to the giant tree, took a deep, steady breath, aimed precisely at the trunk, and swung with full force.
BOOM!!
The moment the axe blade struck the trunk, a dull, resonant impact echoed through the clearing, like a heavy structural beam being struck.
The entire tree shuddered; the massive canopy shook violently, sending a cascade of leaves drifting downward.
Furina and the others were forced back a few steps by the sheer kinetic shockwave.
Kagashi checked the depth of the cut.
Ten centimeters.
One swing, ten centimeters—exactly ten times the efficiency of a baseline human.
The corners of his mouth lifted.
Without pausing, he followed up with a second precise strike.
BOOM!
Another ten centimeters.
The third swing.
The fourth swing.
Every strike landed precisely along the same structural line, driven by immense, controlled force.
The gash on the trunk grew rapidly deeper, sap beginning to well from the clean split.
After dozens of rhythmic, powerful swings, he had cut over half a meter into the core of the tree.
The heavy trunk began to emit a series of sharp, structural snapping sounds.
“It’s shifting!” Misaka Mikoto called out, alerting the group.
Kagashi stepped back a few paces, watching as the giant tree slowly tilted past its center of gravity.
The massive canopy sliced through the air, creating a sharp, rushing whistle.
RUMBLE—!!!
The giant tree crashed heavily to the ground, the impact shaking the soil and kicking up a cloud of dust and displaced grass.
Furina and the others braced themselves against the vibration, holding onto each other to maintain their footing.
As the dust settled, the massive trunk lay completely felled across the clearing, the fresh wood exposed at the break.
[Ding!]
[Felled Giant Oak Tree ×1]
[Obtained: Wood ×100]
“Exactly 100 units,” Kagashi noted.
Combined with the 30 units they had gathered earlier, their total was now 130.
They had officially cleared the wood requirement for the upgrade.
“It…
it actually went down in minutes?” Furina stared at the fallen mass, her jaw slightly slack.
“Is this the absolute physical output of the Ox Talisman?” Roxy said softly, her eyes reflecting genuine awe at the raw efficiency.
Yoshino didn’t speak, but her expression held a newfound sense of security as she looked at Kagashi.
“Alright, let’s keep moving,” Kagashi said, storing the Iron Axe back into his system inventory slot.
“We have the wood secured.
Now we just need to locate the 95 units of stone and the 100 units of iron ore.”
He walked over to the edge of the massive pit left behind where the giant tree’s root system had been displaced.
He had guessed correctly—the removal of the node revealed the next structural layer.
The pit dug deep into the earth, dark and narrow, but along the exposed subterranean walls, he could faintly see the distinct, glinting reflections of gray mineral strata and dark red metallic veins.
“Down there,” Kagashi pointed into the opening.
“The stone strata and the iron ore deposits are right inside.”