The two of them faced each other.
Yukino Yukinoshita smiled gracefully, though her voice trembled slightly:
“I~ know~ cough, I’m very pretty, but please refrain from staring at me like that, Mr.
Slacker-at-Work.”
“Heh, Yukinoshita-san, the tips of your ears are completely red.”
Yukino resisted the urge to touch her reddened cheeks, stubbornly insisting:
“It is entirely normal for one’s ears to turn red after physical exercise.
Please don’t be so dramatic, Mr.
Insensitive.”
Natsuyu looked away, feeling a bit of regretful amusement as he shook his head slightly.
‘Such a beautiful girl…
what a shame she has such a sharp, sassy tongue.’
‘If Yukinoshita were mute, her charm score would definitely jump an entire tier.’
“Natsuyu-kun, are you thinking something extremely rude?”
Yukino sensed the offense, her eyes narrowing into slits.
“No, I’m thinking of ways to level everyone up.”
(Natsuyu: I’m totally not lying.jpg)
Yukino’s gaze was filled with suspicion, but she couldn’t prove anything.
If she kept pushing, she would look unreasonable.
Natsuyu put all his gathered resources into his backpack.
The harvest was as follows:
1 Wooden Pickaxe, 2 Wooden Axes, 1 Crafting Table, 12 Cut Grass, 20 Logs, 20 Logs, 5 Logs—occupying 7 out of 8 inventory slots.
He tested and confirmed that the stack limit for logs in a single slot was 20, just like in [Don’t Starve].
However, axes and pickaxes could also be stacked, which differed from the original game.
He wasn’t sure if Crafting Tables could be stacked, so he would try that later when he had time.
Natsuyu lifted the backpack—it felt light as a feather, as if empty inside.
In reality, the weight of the logs inside was enough to crush a person into paste.
As expected of a rule-based game backpack!
When Natsuyu touched the backpack, the system interface displayed the 8 unlocked slots and equipped items.
With a single thought, a meter-long Wooden Axe appeared in his hand.
It felt heavy and solid, its blade surprisingly sharp.
‘Accessing this backpack is super smooth and intuitive.’
Thinking for a moment, Natsuyu put the axe back, a slight smirk on his lips as he turned to Yukino:
“Let’s continue exploring.”
“Alright.”
Yukino averted her curious gaze, stood up, patting the dust off her JK uniform skirt, and walked up to Natsuyu’s side.
As her post-exercise sweat evaporated, a pleasant fragrance wafted over.
Natsuyu could easily smell the faint scent of damp body wash on Yukino.
Yukino gave a serious report of her scouting findings:
“The surrounding area is heavily wooded.
I spotted birds and some strange animal tracks crawling around.
There might be unknown wild creatures nearby, so we should stay cautious.”
“Got it.” Get faster updates on g.com.
Natsuyu inhaled the faint fragrance lingering from Yukino, his eyes briefly falling on her leather shoes and black knee-high socks, feeling a slight concern.
‘I need to find a clean water source quickly.
Otherwise, with this much physical activity in the wild, everyone will start smelling in a few days, which will ruin their mood.’
‘Pretty girls are infinitely more charming when they smell nice.
If a pretty girl started smelling bad, I’d be super turned off.’
‘Besides, in the wilderness, they don’t have a change of clothes.
If they have to wash their clothes later…
as the only guy, I’ll definitely end up seeing some fanservice…
cough, I mean, that would be pretty inconvenient for them.’
‘There’s also the issue of drinking water.
We should avoid drinking raw unboiled water to prevent parasites.’
‘The Cut Grass I harvested will come in handy for starting a fire to boil water.’
‘With my 1.1 Physique, I should be able to start a fire by rubbing sticks together, and if all else fails, we still have Kiana!’
‘As long as Lady Kiana steps up, fire won’t be an issue at all!’
Thinking of this, Natsuyu said softly:
“Yukinoshita-san, we need to locate a water source first.”
Yukino nodded, analyzing rationally:
“Water sources are indeed crucial.
We must secure drinking water today.
With such lush vegetation and animal activity in this forest, water shouldn’t be scarce.
There should be at least one river or stream nearby.”
“I think so too.
But wait a moment.”
Natsuyu stared at a large rock outcropping in front of them.
With a thought, a heavy Wooden Pickaxe appeared in his hand.
“If we venture deeper into the forest, we might run into wild monsters.
I need to upgrade my gear to Stone Tools first.”
“That makes sense.”
Yukino felt that Natsuyu’s thorough caution provided a strong sense of security.
Natsuyu walked up to the boulder and took a deep breath.
[Congratulations on unlocking the achievement “Stone Age!”!
Recite the incantation “Successfully connected to the intelligent Malphite brain network!” aloud to claim your rewards: Stone Crafting Blueprint, Furnace Blueprint, Exp +10.]
[Basic Achievement Tree unlocked new node:]
[…Stone Age!
➔ Getting an Upgrade (Craft a Stone Pickaxe) ➔ ?]
If Yukino hadn’t found animal tracks nearby, Natsuyu originally planned to wait until she explored further to recite the spell alone.
But knowing that danger might lurk in the shadows, hiding it and skipping preparation would be risking both their lives.
Turning his back to Yukino, Natsuyu forced a calm face and shouted out loud:
“Successfully connected to the intelligent Malphite brain network!” Get faster updates on g.com.
‘Heh…
I actually said it out loud.’
‘It feels like taking off a mask.’
‘Like running naked through the streets, completely unbothered by the world’s judgment, getting uploaded online and becoming the dream of teenage girls tonight…’
‘Wait, why is there actually a weird surge of thrill?!’
‘Oh no, I hope I didn’t awaken some bizarre fetish!’
[Reward claimed: Stone Crafting Blueprint, Furnace Blueprint, Exp +10!]
Natsuyu gained the blueprints for a [Stone Axe], a [Stone Pickaxe], and a [Furnace].
Interestingly, crafting stone tools required a [Stone Crafting Table], since a wooden workbench couldn’t process stone.
That made complete logical sense.
For the [Stone Axe] and [Stone Pickaxe] recipes, he just needed to replace logs with stone.
He could choose to use wooden twigs or stone for handles, giving him plenty of flexibility.
A [Furnace] only required 8 Stone Blocks.
[Natsuyu Rurikawa — Level 2 (Exp: 15/20)]
Once he crafted a Stone Pickaxe, he would be able to level up again!
Gripping the Wooden Pickaxe with both hands, Natsuyu leaned forward and began mining the rock.
(Men have an innate instinct for chipping away at big rocks bit by bit.
You see a big, round rock—it’s perfect for mining!)
Bang!
Bang!
Bang!
Bang!
Bang!
After five strikes, a neat square Stone Block with 10-centimeter sides automatically dropped from the rock!
“You…”
Yukino walked over, picked up the stone block, and helped Natsuyu stack the resources.
Looking up at him with her cute face, her expression was a bit bewildered:
“Was that chant you just shouted out loud…
the incantation to activate your ability?”
Natsuyu let out a soft sigh.
He still couldn’t escape Yukino’s sharp-tongued questioning.
“Yeah.
Every time I unlock a new ability tier, I have to recite an incantation out loud.
It’s a pretty twisted sense of humor.”
(Although after the initial cringe wore off, he felt a secret little thrill from “taking off his mask”.
But Natsuyu isn’t a flasher who enjoys public nudity; deep down he still felt embarrassed).
Natsuyu took a deep breath:
No matter how much Yukino teased him, he would just play it cool and pretend he didn’t care.
Yukino crouched down, gently pushing her JK skirt down over her knees, looking up at Natsuyu—who was trying hard to act nonchalant:
“This is the first time I’ve ever heard of such a thing.”
“Thank you.”