【Saber-Toothed Tiger Cub】
Potential: Excellent
Current: ordinary
Introduction: The cream of the feline crop, outstanding in power, endurance, and speed. Aside from being unable to fly, it can be considered Perfect. It is currently in its juvenile stage; theoretically, it can reach an Excellent rating in adulthood. Feeding it high-quality meat can accelerate its growth speed.
Note: Although an adult saber-toothed tiger is formidable, it is also very cute during its juvenile stage.
“……”
Li Qinglang was speechless at this moment—utterly speechless.
“I was so thrilled, thinking the special item would give me a surprise, but it turned out to be a burden...”
“What use is this thing? Should I roast it and eat it?”
It was hardly surprising that Li Qinglang would think this way. After all, before obtaining the Happy Sweet Potato, he had not even secured enough food for himself.
Now that he could finally farm Sweet Potatoes, he had hoped the Special Reward would give him a Powerful item. Then, once he had food freedom and water-source freedom, he could directly enter retirement mode. Wouldn't that be wonderful?
Besides, this thing ate meat, and high-quality meat at that. Even Li Qinglang himself had not eaten a single bite of meat so far.
Looking at the saber-toothed tiger cub still sleeping soundly in front of him, Li Qinglang unhappily poked it awake:
“Hey, stop sleeping. Get up and transform into the king of beasts for me to see.”
The saber-toothed tiger cub opened its eyes groggily, slowly climbed to its feet, then shook its little head from side to side. Its fluffy fur spread slightly, as if it had slept very comfortably. It even stretched its little claws forward and yawned.
“Oh, come on! With alertness like that, how are you supposed to be the king of beasts?”
Li Qinglang pointed at the still-wobbling saber-toothed tiger cub and condemned it sternly!
“Awo?”
Only then did the cub finally notice Li Qinglang. It instantly ran over and circled him, occasionally rubbing against his pant leg as it went.
He pushed the saber-toothed tiger aside with his foot. “Shoo, shoo, go away. I don't have anything to feed you.”
Whether it understood Li Qinglang's meaning or not, the saber-toothed tiger cub stopped circling and obediently lay down in front of him. Then... it rolled onto its back and exposed its belly.
“What are you doing? Acting cute? I'm telling you, acting cute won't work. I can't afford to raise you. Go on, leave by yourself!”
Three minutes later...
“Hahaha, stop licking my chin. Your tongue has barbs.”
The saber-toothed tiger cub that had originally been lying on the ground was now held in Li Qinglang's arms. It wasn't his fault—who could have imagined that the king of beasts could act cute? Who could withstand that?
“Follow me obediently from now on. I definitely won't mistreat you!”
“Awo~”
“Tonight, I'll look for Killer Bro and see if I can trade for some meat.”
“Awo~”
“I need to give you a name. Hmm... You look a lot like an orange cat. How about calling you Tangerine?”
“...”
“Huh? Why aren't you calling out anymore? You don't like such a good name?”
“I know! You think it isn't imposing enough. After all, you're the king of beasts—you need an imposing name!”
“Awo~”
After racking his brains for five minutes:
“I've got it! If Tangerine isn't imposing enough, then I'll call you Da Ju. Let me tell you, in the world before mine, adding ‘Great’ before a name made it very imposing. For example, Great king, Great General, and Grand Commander.”
“...”
“Still not satisfied?”
Li Qinglang slapped the tiger on the head. “Are you questioning my naming skills? I'm telling you, protesting is useless. Your name is Da Ju!”
“Awo...”
Under the pressure of his authority, Da Ju agreed, though his cry clearly carried reluctance. Li Qinglang directly ignored this minor problem:
“That's more like it. All right, stay in the house. I still need to hurry out and collect supplies.”
After placing Da Ju back on the ground, he finally had time to carefully observe the Shelter.
He had been in too much of a hurry earlier, and had only had time to glance at the living room after building it. Now he discovered that the original 14-square-meter wooden house had clearly expanded, reaching 22 square meters.
The Shelter's main door was now centered at the front. There was a sliding window on the left wall, while an approximately two-square-meter fireplace had appeared on the previously empty right side. Its chimney extended upward, then made a right-angle turn near the ceiling and protruded through the wall.
Da Ju was currently climbing up along the chimney. He would often fall after taking only two steps, then start climbing again, never tiring of it.
The furniture had not changed much: one square table, two stools, and one lounge chair.
Aside from that, there were only two empty treasure chests and two large coconuts, piled together with the homeland spring eye in the corner.
There was not a single piece of wood or stone, making the place seem somewhat empty.
“There are still more than five hours of daytime left. I should use this time to collect some materials.”
Since the area in front of the Shelter faced the sea, there was little value in exploring it, even though his field of vision had expanded after the upgrade.
The direction on the right was where the creature with the human-shaped palm print had appeared, and it was very close to the log cabin. Barbie Doll had already been used, and Li Qinglang had no equipment for self-defense at all, so he planned to set this direction aside for a few days.
That left the back and the left side. After the Shelter's field of vision expanded, the area behind it remained temporarily unknown. A preliminary exploration of the left side had revealed no danger, and there was also a small bamboo forest.
“I'll finish exploring the remaining area on the left today. If I have spare time, I can chop down some trees as well.”
After deciding on his destination, Li Qinglang quickly left through the door. His mood was much more relaxed this time, and he brought only the pickaxe and saw.
He advanced all the way to the bamboo forest area, then used it as the starting point to explore outward in a fan-shaped pattern.
The bamboo forest was approximately 1,100 meters from the Shelter, which was truly not close. He did not dare venture too deeply and only planned to search within a 500-meter radius for useful resources.
Unlike the barren Fogless Area, all kinds of flowers and trees grew wildly along the way. Even ordinary weeds reached Li Qinglang's knees.
The occasional chirping of insects and birds from the surrounding forest seemed to symbolize its Vitality.
“What a pity. It would be great if this were next to the Shelter.”
Leaving aside everything else, this bamboo forest alone could provide both wood and containers. There might even be bamboo shoots to dig up!
Moreover, the trees here were all extremely thick. Felling each one could conservatively yield fifty pieces of wood.
But because they were too far from the Shelter, even if he worked hard to saw them down, he would not have the strength to carry them back.
“What a pity there isn't a small cart. Tsk, that lucky bastard who got the Spatial Bracelet really lucked out—it saved him half the manual labor.”
As Li Qinglang looked at the dense trees around him, he sighed:
“The plants on either side are so different despite being more than a thousand meters apart. The Mist Continent really can't be judged by common sense.”
“Hiss... That's not right.”
As he thought of this, what seemed like an important piece of information flashed through his mind. Trying to grasp the idea, Li Qinglang stopped advancing and stood still, thinking quietly.
“Even though the climate of the Mist Continent is highly variable, plant growth ultimately has to meet certain conditions. For example, fertilizer, sunlight, water sources, and so on.”
“Could it be...”
Li Qinglang removed the pickaxe from his waist and rapidly dug into the ground. After digging a small pit, he moved to a spot about ten meters away and dug again.
He continued digging for half an hour. More than a dozen pits appeared around him.
“Hahaha, just as I thought! I was wondering why the plants in this area grew so crazily. It turns out they have fine-grade soil providing nutrients.”
【Leaf mold（Fine）】
Introduction: soil formed when fallen leaves, dead branches, and other organic matter undergo slight microbial fermentation, followed by a qualitative transformation over many years. It is rich in organic nutrients and can slightly increase plant growth speed.
That's right! The entire area within a 300-meter radius consisted of Fine-grade leaf mold.
Although this soil could not produce an immediate effect, its help with long-term development could even rival an excellent-grade item!
With leaf mold, if Li Qinglang obtained vegetable seeds or fruit seeds in the future, he could greatly increase their survival rate and harvest speed.
Fine-grade soil could completely make up for his lack of skill in planting.
Besides, he had just obtained the Happy Sweet Potato today and had been worrying about where to plant it. This was truly like receiving a pillow just when he was sleepy.
Although the Happy Sweet Potato was Excellent Grade and the leaf mold was merely fine-grade soil, Sweet Potatoes had very low environmental requirements. Ordinary soil would probably be barely sufficient for planting, but fine-grade soil should meet the sweet potato's growth needs.
There were still four and a half hours until nightfall!
Li Qinglang had to hurry back to the Shelter to get Boxes for carrying soil. On the way, he also sawed down two bamboo stalks.
Because of the mist, he had to stop occasionally while traveling to check his markers, so the round trip took half an hour.
The treasure chests were relatively small, each about the size of an ordinary nightstand. Li Qinglang carried two Boxes per trip.
When carrying the Giant Coconut in the morning, he had already realized that his strength had increased. He could not say how much his physique had improved, but he at least had the strength of a healthy adult male.
He guessed this was definitely thanks to the purified spring water. Its effects of strengthening his physique and regulating the body had freed him from the poor-health condition caused by years of office work and a lack of exercise.
Even so, after making three trips, Li Qinglang was already panting heavily in front of the Shelter like an exhausted dog.
The leaf mold he had transported over was now piled outside the Shelter, along the side near the window.
“By all rights, this much soil should definitely be enough to plant ordinary Sweet Potatoes, but damn it, the Mist Continent doesn't follow reason.”
Thinking of the Happy Sweet Potato as huge as a computer screen, Li Qinglang helplessly pushed himself upright:
“Keep carrying!”
And so Li Qinglang continued transporting soil trip after trip. After making another three trips, he finally ran out of stamina and sprawled on the ground to rest.
Da Ju heard the sound from inside and ran out. Upon seeing Li Qinglang, he padded over on silent feline feet and climbed onto his chest to lie down.
There was only one hour left until nightfall. Before he knew it, the daytime was almost over.
Today Li Qinglang had once again only found time to eat a little coconut meat. After going two consecutive days without staple food or meat, he deeply missed the beef noodles, egg fried rice, stew, dumplings, and other foods he had been able to eat every day before.
After resting for more than twenty minutes, Li Qinglang struggled to lift Da Ju and stand.
“Good boy, stay in the Shelter and play by yourself. It's almost nightfall, so don't run around. Wait for me to come back.”
“Awo~”
Watching Da Ju run into the house, Li Qinglang had to use the last thirty or forty minutes of daytime to bring back some seawater.
Yesterday's half-box of seawater had already been used up. Although today's harvest was abundant, none of it was suitable for trade, so he needed to collect some seawater, purify it, and use it as tonight's currency for trade.
Forcing himself to endure his fatigue, Li Qinglang carried two empty Boxes toward the sea.