On Blue Star, unauthorized logging was a crime. Xia Qiu had never chopped down a single tree in her entire life.
Corporate slaves accustomed to sitting in offices weren’t cut out for such high-intensity physical labor, but she had no choice but to bite the bullet and get to work.
Swinging her hand axe at the trunk, she barely felt any recoil before the tree in front of her automatically fell and turned into a log.
"Game worlds are definitely built different," she thought.
However, with the appearance of the log, her hand axe’s durability dropped by fifty, and her hunger value decreased by 10 points. Since a single tree only dropped one log, the fullness she had stuffed herself with before setting out that morning would yield nine logs at most.
Looking at it this way, Yan Chi’s promise yesterday to give her two extra logs had actually been incredibly generous. Factoring in the extra recovery stats from the delicious roasted river fish, she could chop six more logs. Added to her original two, that was only seventeen logs in total—clearly not enough to build a house. It might not even be enough to build two walls. Besides, her territory was currently just a small 2x2 meter square; she would need more fences to expand it.
Xia Qiu chopped out nine logs in one breath, her hunger plummeting rapidly. By the time her hunger value reached 30, she was genuinely experiencing the dizziness and blurred vision of starvation, accompanied by a system warning.
[Warning: The player’s hunger has reached a critical point. A further decrease will result in negative status effects on the body.]
A negative status effect likely meant a loss of health points. She had no desire to test if there would be any other consequences right now.
She gathered the dropped logs into her backpack one by one and leaned against a nearby tree to rest. While catching her breath, she opened her friends list and sent Yan Chi a private message.
[Xia Qiu: Hello. Is it a good time to ask you a question?]
He didn’t reply immediately, which she felt was perfectly normal. After all, this was the final half-day of the novice period. Everyone was probably making their last-minute preparations to deal with whatever dangers might emerge later.
Once the recovery effects from the roasted river fish slowly brought her hunger value back up to 40, Xia Qiu pulled out her dry rations and munched on them while continuing to chop trees. Each portion of dry rations restored 100 hunger points, which translated to ten logs. Although this exchange rate didn’t seem particularly cost-effective, she didn’t have any better alternatives.
Two hours later, maintaining her hunger precisely at 30 points, Xia Qiu felt dizzy yet immensely accomplished as she stared at the twenty-five logs in her backpack.
After brief consideration, she stuffed a few more bites of dry rations into her mouth and washed them down with water. After resolving the dizziness caused by low hunger, she pushed through and chopped five more logs to hit an even thirty. Just as she picked up the dropped logs into her backpack, a system notification popped up again.
[Refined Stone Axe: An upgraded chopping tool with some additional uses. (Durability: 4,000. Each use consumes 25 durability; consumption doubles when chopping excessively hard items.)]
"Logging Mastery?" she wondered.
Xia Qiu opened her interface to find a new skill tab added at the top. When she clicked on it, there was only one solitary skill.
[Logging Mastery: Level 1 (A clumsy lumberjack who always puts in the most effort but gets the least return.)]
Xia Qiu felt her temples THROB.
"Level 1 is Level 1, but what is that description supposed to mean?!" she thought. This garbage game was constantly provoking her!
At that moment, Yan Chi finally replied.
[Yan Chi: Ask.]
Just one word. Not even a punctuation mark.
"Wow, how aloof," she noted mentally. But Xia Qiu honestly typed her question into the chat box.
[Xia Qiu: Sorry to bother you. I saw that you’re an Architect, so I was wondering how many logs or planks it takes to build a single wall?]
She replied quickly, but her message seemed to disappear into the void once again.
Having just been provoked by the game, Xia Qiu couldn’t be bothered to figure out why Yan Chi wasn’t responding. He had no obligation to share this information with her anyway. This was a survival game. Everyone had to rely on their own skills to stay alive. Even if he didn’t tell her, she would figure it out slowly on her own.
Her crude stone axe only had 500 durability left, so the reward for leveling up her logging skill perfectly filled the gap. Xia Qiu scarfed down more dry rations and went on another chopping spree, finally nodding in satisfaction at the fifty logs in her backpack.
To her regret, her "Dancing with Trees" talent hadn’t yielded any extra logs. Chopping trees was likely considered a one-time acquisition, and felled trees couldn’t regenerate, meaning it didn’t count as "gathering resources."
As she left the dense forest, Xia Qiu shoved the last half-portion of dry rations into her mouth and washed it down with water.
Her crude stone axe had completely broken; it was the first time she had seen a scrapped tool. Once the durability hit zero, the stone axe turned translucent and vanished. She had also used up 250 durability on the refined stone axe in her bag. The dry rations restored 50 hunger points. Sitting at 80 hunger, Xia Qiu prepared to return to her territory for a short rest. Read this novel at novelping(.)com for the best experience.
Passing by the campfire she had built earlier, she hesitated for a moment but chose not to use the refined stone hammer in her bag to dismantle it. The campfire might be useful later. Although dismantling it only cost 1 point of the stone hammer’s durability, it would also drain her hunger. She currently only had 80 hunger points. Until she found new food, she couldn’t afford to waste a single point on meaningless actions.
Returning to her territory, Xia Qiu received another reply from Yan Chi.
[Yan Chi: You can’t use me as a reference. I need 6 planks to build a 3x6 meter wall. You might need 8 or more.]
Compared to his previous aloof one-liner, this was practically a patient explanation.
This unequal consumption was exactly what Xia Qiu had anticipated. The other party was an Architect, so he definitely had some bonuses when it came to construction. Xia Qiu wasn’t ungrateful. She immediately thanked him and sent a direct token of appreciation.
[Xia Qiu: Thank you for clearing that up, boss. Here are some supplies, please don’t mind the small amount.]
The friends system had a gift-giving function, and items could be sent unilaterally. Xia Qiu rummaged through her backpack and sent over two vines.
Last night, he had specifically sought her out to trade for vines, even using a relatively scarce tool in exchange. He clearly needed this material. While she was chopping trees earlier, she had picked up another twenty vines. Giving Yan Chi two still left her with nineteen, so she didn’t feel particularly heartbroken over it.
While waiting for his reply earlier, she had also thought things through calmly. She couldn’t apply the norms of a peaceful society to their current situation. In the past, if you didn’t understand something, you could casually ask online, and a kind stranger would answer. Things were different now. Everyone was struggling to survive. No one owed anyone anything. If you wanted information, the best method was actually a trade.
Yan Chi hadn’t asked her for anything, but she couldn’t just take his answer for granted and assume she didn’t have to pay.
A few minutes later, the interface showed that the gift had been claimed, followed by two more messages.
[Yan Chi: Next time, just ask whatever you want to ask directly.]
[Yan Chi: But I do really need the vines. Thanks for the gift.]
Xia Qiu let out a soft chuckle, suddenly finding this guy rather endearing.