[Pioneer: Then you’re pretty lucky. I was fishing at the time, and when I woke up, I only had a fishing rod in my hand—not even any bait.]
Xia Qiu clicked on Pioneer’s profile, and it was exactly as she had expected.
[Player: Pioneer]
[Gender: Male]
[Location: Unknown]
[Title: None]
[Class: Chef]
It seemed she wasn’t the only one who hadn’t finished exploring the current map; Ci An was just too overpowered.
Closing the dialog box, Xia Qiu took two massive gulps of water and headed in the opposite direction of the dense forest. Fortunately, the water-filled thermos could still be returned to the storage box. She didn’t receive the system prompt that had popped up when she tried to store the hay.
She didn’t know exactly how large the dense forest was, but the deeper she went, the more dangerous it would definitely be. The meadow still had nothing but rabbits and grass; she couldn’t even find a single rock to pick up.
After walking for over ten minutes, the meadow, which had initially looked like a gentle slope, suddenly turned into a steep decline. Her field of vision abruptly opened up. Under the sunlight, a sparkling river flowed. In the distance, cows grazed in groups of two or three, and low bushes lined the riverbank.
It was a river! She had found a water source!!!
Xia Qiu dashed down the slope, but after taking only a few steps, she slammed on the brakes, almost tumbling over. This scenery was so similar to a grassland she had visited while traveling in the past that she had nearly forgotten this wasn’t Blue Star, but a game world.
Hearing the commotion from afar, a cow flicked its tail. Xia Qiu took another tentative step, but the cow remained standing in place, motionless.
Moving like this—stopping after every step—Xia Qiu eventually closed the distance to about thirty or forty meters away from the cows. The herd was still gathered in groups of two or three, seemingly having no intention of paying attention to her. After repeatedly confirming that the cows were indeed Neutral Creatures, Xia Qiu finally bolstered her courage and walked toward the river.
The river wasn’t wide, but it was crystal clear, and occasionally, small fish could be seen swimming in the crevices between the rocks at the bottom. Scooping up a handful of water, she vigorously washed her face, and a comfortable sigh escaped her lips. She had never known that washing one’s face could be such a blissful experience.
Although the river water was clear, Xia Qiu didn’t dare scoop it up and drink it directly. Even on Blue Star, drinking unboiled water could cause diarrhea, let alone here. If she were to fall ill, there wouldn’t even be a place to buy medicine.
After wandering around the vicinity for a while, Xia Qiu decided to set up her camp on the slope. The view here was wide open. It was less than twenty minutes away from the dense forest, and it was separated from the water source by a large slope. The fact that the herd of cows was grazing leisurely over here proved there were no natural predators nearby. As long as there were no large beasts, even if there were smaller predators, they would probably attack the herd of cows first before going after a Two-legged Beast like her. You are reading on novelping.com, the official source.
Having finalized the location of her camp, Xia Qiu planned to use fences to enclose the area. A fence required 4 Short Logs and 4 Ropes. Xia Qiu didn’t have a blueprint for Rope. She had tried twisting vines together herself but ended up failing, so she had no choice but to trade for them in the world chat.
[Xia Qiu: Trading various dense forest resources for Ropes. DM with your price.]
As soon as the message was sent out, seven or eight direct messages flooded in within just a few seconds. Some people beat around the bush, trying to pry into exactly what resources were in the dense forest, while others came straight out begging for food, promising to pay it back once they found other resources later.
After briefly witnessing the "diversity of species," Xia Qiu saw a normal private message.
[Yan Chi: 1 Rope for any 2 resources.]
Currently, Xia Qiu knew of two ways to unlock the technology tree. One was by directly learning from a blueprint, and the other was like how she had made the campfire earlier—stumbling upon it and crafting it by hand. Products that could be unlocked on the technology tree required more than a single resource, so Xia Qiu felt the other party’s asking price was very reasonable.
[Xia Qiu: I have vines, leaves, stones, two types of ores, and a few other things. See what you need?]
Xia Qiu picked and chose a portion of her resources and sent a screenshot to the other party. Ultimately, she traded 8 Pinecones, 2 Pyrite, 2 Hematite, 10 Vines, and 2 Large Leaves for a total of 12 Ropes. The other party was remarkably taciturn and didn’t have any bizarre demands, so the transaction was completed quickly.
The good thing about the game was that as long as the materials were sufficient, items could be crafted automatically.
Looking at the brand-new fence on the grass, Xia Qiu shamefacedly dug out her temporary private message dialog box with Yan Chi.
[Xia Qiu: Hello, I’m the person who just traded Ropes with you. Could I ask if you have Long Logs and Wooden Boards?]
Just a moment ago, she had tried to install the fence on the flat piece of land on the slope, but the system prompted her that installing a fence required the essential tool, "Refined Stone Hammer." She wondered if there was really a need to make it this realistic when she wasn’t even the one hammering it into the ground herself.
The system didn’t care about her complaints; to install it, she had to meet the conditions. She had all the crafting materials for the stone hammer, but first, she needed a Basic Workbench.
It took two minutes for the other party to reply.
[Yan Chi: You’re guarding a dense forest, and you don’t have Long Logs?]
[Xia Qiu: I’m ashamed to say, I don’t have a hand axe.]
[Yan Chi: ...]
[Xia Qiu: 2 Wooden Boards and 2 Long Logs.]
[Yan Chi: You’re making a Small Workbench?]
Xia Qiu was startled, but she quickly relaxed and didn’t hide it. The Basic Workbench blueprint was likely a guaranteed drop for novices, so it was normal that the other party could guess it.
[Yan Chi: There’s nothing I need in your supplies. What blueprints have you unlocked now? If there’s something I need, the Long Logs and Wooden Boards will count as the crafting fee.]
[Xia Qiu: I can make Wooden Fences, Refined Stone Hammers, and Small Furnaces.]
As Xia Qiu spoke, she sent screenshots of the descriptions for the three items.
The Small Furnace sounded quite intimidating, but a single Small Furnace required Any Metal Ore x50 and Stone x20. At present, when the novice period wasn’t even over yet, this quantity already belonged to the category of high-end luxury goods. Ordinary people simply wouldn’t need it.
Of the remaining items, only the Wooden Fence looked relatively useful. After all, it could enclose a territory and defend against small and medium-sized animals. It was practically a god-tier artifact for building a camp!
[Yan Chi: How long is one unit of fence?]
[Xia Qiu: I haven’t measured it, but 2 units of fence can enclose a 4-square-meter area. You can estimate it as 4 meters long per unit, but the specific length and width of the enclosed area are adjustable.]
[Yan Chi: I need 8 units of fence. The crafting fee will be the 2 Wooden Boards and 2 Long Logs you need.]
[Yan Chi: Processing and crafting items consumes Hunger points, but Wooden Boards are also processed items. 1 Wooden Board requires 2 Long Logs, and obtaining Long Logs also consumes axe durability and Hunger points.]
His argument was logical and well-founded, but anyone who didn’t haggle wasn’t a Blue Star native!
[Xia Qiu: Food is also hard to get in the early stages. You’ll know just by looking at the world chat. It takes me 10 minutes and 10 Hunger points to craft one unit of fence. Right now, a portion of food that restores 50 Hunger points is being sold for 2 units of resources in the world chat.]
[Yan Chi: ...I’ll give you 2 extra Long Logs.]
[Xia Qiu: Deal!]