Qiyu looked out the window.
Just moments ago, he had unconsciously tried to peer into the darkness to see what lay within it. And he had indeed caught a glimpse of something.
Thick fog.
The dense fog made the night even more unpredictable—and even more dangerous.
Unfortunately, he had only managed a brief glimpse. He raised a hand to his forehead, recalling the “warning” that had jolted him awake. It had felt as though someone had spotted a small animal cautiously poking its head out and instinctively given it a smack.
Qiyu touched his forehead again. A faint, cool sensation seemed to linger there. He had no idea what exactly was lurking within the mist.
Qiyu was no longer sleepy.
Moreover, because his meditation had been so abruptly interrupted, he found it difficult to enter that state again.
Still, he wasn't bored. With three hours remaining until dawn, he had plenty of time to practice the magic he had just learned.
“Fireball!”
A moment later, a palm-sized ball of fire illuminated the darkness, hovering silently in midair. Qiyu discovered that as long as he had enough mana, he could keep the fireball suspended indefinitely.
He began directing the fireball wherever he pleased.
Inside the pitch-black wooden cabin, a ball of fire floated ahead while Qiyu followed behind it, solemnly inspecting every corner of the room.
How fun.
After playing with fire for a while, Qiyu turned his attention to water.
When he cast the Waterball spell, an ice-blue sphere of water appeared, emitting a faint glow in the darkness. It looked rather harmless. Qiyu hadn't dared test the offensive power of Fireball inside the wooden cabin.
Waterball, however, should be fine.
He placed a piece of wood on the floor and directed the waterball toward it. The ice-blue sphere shot forward like a miniature cannonball.
The unfortunate piece of wood was instantly smashed to splinters.
Its attack power was a little higher than he had expected.
After that, Qiyu eagerly began experimenting with other applications of the Waterball spell.
For instance, could he divide one large waterball into several smaller ones? Or could he transform the waterball directly into a cloud of mist?
Just as Aegnor's notes had explained regarding the application of mental power, he could shape the water into whatever form he desired.
Three hours slipped by as he enthusiastically immersed himself in his experiments.
The darkness abruptly gave way to daylight.
Qiyu narrowed his eyes slightly as they adjusted to the sudden brightness. Dawn had already arrived.
He immediately opened the door, eager to check on his sunflowers.
The moment the door swung open, his gaze met that of a creature crouching outside the fence.
A… sheep?
It stood over a meter tall, its body covered in thick, fluffy gray wool that cascaded all the way to the ground like a waterfall. Three sharp, angular horns protruded from its head, and its blood-red eyes were fixed on Qiyu.
The Survival Panel identified it as a Level 1 Mutant Creature called a gray-horned sheep.
Wow!
What a pleasant surprise!
Qiyu was about to rush forward out of habit when he suddenly stopped, remembering that he was a mage now.
It was time to test the spells he had just learned.
“Fireball.”
A fireball hurtled toward the gray-horned sheep. The sheep immediately broke into a gallop, swerving to avoid the attack before charging straight at Qiyu with its sharp horns.
Qiyu's eyes lit up, and he laughed.
“Don't worry, there's more where that came from.”
The fireball missed its target and struck the ground, bursting apart like fireworks.
But the scattered sparks didn't disappear. Instead, they continued spreading.
Qiyu heard the sheep let out two miserable bleats as damage numbers such as “-10,” “-8,” and “-5” appeared above its head. 1
Qiyu launched another Fireball spell at it.
This time, the gray-horned sheep failed to dodge.
A bright red “-120” appeared above its head, and the creature vanished in a flash of white light.
【Congratulations! You have obtained 30 kg of gray-horned sheep meat, 10 kg of wool, and 3 sheep horns.】
Unfortunately, there was no treasure chest.
Even so, Qiyu was quite satisfied with having obtained so much loot first thing in the morning. He collected everything and turned his attention to the farmland.
The sunflowers, which had been nothing more than tiny sprouts yesterday afternoon, had already grown slightly taller than the fence. Each plant now bore a flower bud.
Faint, shimmering golden specks adorned the buds, making them exceptionally beautiful.
The mutated gray-horned sheep had clearly been attracted by the sunflowers, just like the two animals yesterday.
However, when Qiyu checked the fence's durability, it was still at 100/100.
It seemed that the fenced territory, much like the wooden cabin, was protected by the survival game during the newbie period.
But today was the final day of that protection.
No one knew what awaited them once the newbie period ended.
Qiyu considered the situation. Whatever lay ahead, there was no harm in stockpiling supplies, strengthening himself, and upgrading his shelter.
He returned to the wooden cabin, quickly washed up, ate a steamed bun for breakfast, and headed out.
His luck today was even better than it had been over the previous two days. Within the safe zone, he discovered four treasure chests in total—two fine iron chests and two wooden chests.
In addition, while searching for the chests, Qiyu encountered two gale rabbits.
These little creatures were somewhat faster than ordinary animals, but their attack power was nothing remarkable. At his current level of strength, they posed almost no threat.
He obtained 10 kg of rabbit meat, 2 kg of rabbit fur, 4 pieces of leather, and a green short sword that provided +2 Attack.
After making sure he hadn't overlooked anything, Qiyu returned to the wooden cabin.
He opened all four treasure chests.
The two wooden chests yielded 1,000 g of fresh vegetable packs, 500 ml of milk x2, plastic x10, rubber x10, a high-quality wooden axe x1, and a backpack expansion card x1.
The two fine iron chests yielded 1 common iron sword, 1 men's windbreaker set, 1 fireplace, 1 basic building upgrade blueprint, and 1 kerosene lamp.
Compared to what he had obtained from treasure chests over the past two days, today's haul was exceptionally generous.
Qiyu frowned.
Although he was grateful to the survival game, he didn't believe it would suddenly become so generous without a reason.
He opened the regional chat channel. Sure enough, he wasn't the only one who had enjoyed unusually good luck.
【Coffee Must Be Bitter: Has anyone else noticed that the treasure chests contain way more loot than usual today? I got a high-quality wooden axe, and my tree-chopping efficiency has improved so much! I finally managed to gather enough wood to upgrade my wooden cabin.】
【The More You Involution The More Bitter Life Is: I got a high-quality wooden axe too, along with a weapon.】
【Ultimate ID: Why are you guys all awake so early? I didn't get to sleep until really late last night. I only just managed to drag myself out of bed.】
Just then, the 【01 Survival Squad】 group chat lit up.
【Civil Engineering Brother: The loot from treasure chests is much better today, and most players seem to be getting wooden axes and weapons. I suspect we'll face some kind of crisis soon after the newbie period ends. Everyone should try to upgrade their starting wooden cabins and stockpile supplies and weapons.】
【Dare Not Open My Eyes: Got it, Civil Engineering Bro.】
【Tranquility Yields Transcendence: I'd like to add something. When I opened my treasure chests today, I got a down comforter and a pair of wool socks. I'm wondering if the weather might change once the newbie period ends?】
Qiyu froze.
It suddenly occurred to him that ever since he had entered the survival game, every day had been sunny, with the temperature remaining perfectly comfortable. Even sleeping directly on the floor at night wouldn't have felt cold.
The survival game itself was already so extraordinary that everyone had simply accepted these conditions as normal from the moment they arrived.
But what if the consistently pleasant climate and weather were actually another form of protection provided to new players?
【I Love Survival Game: I'd like to add that I got a fireplace and a windbreaker today. The weather might not be nearly as forgiving from now on.】
【Civil Engineering Brother: All the cotton, wool, and other warm materials on the trading interface have already been snapped up.】