Returning to camp, Xia Qiu made a special trip to the edge of the slope to check on the herd of cattle, but they still hadn’t appeared.
The resources on her workbench, however, were all still there. This proved that acquired resources didn’t get reset, or perhaps it was because they were placed within her private territory.
She casually stowed the two long logs from the corner into her pack, then stood just outside her camp and drank the last of the water from her waterskin. Finished, she opened the world channel and searched for "pot."
There were no relevant chat logs, and no one was selling one. She figured only players with the Chef class had cookware, and they certainly wouldn’t be selling it.
With no food and no water, Xia Qiu didn’t dare venture out to explore. She opened her friends list and tapped on the chat window for Pioneer, hoping to cozy up to the master chef.
[Xia Qiu: Master, oh master, do you have any food or water? I’d like to trade!]
A reply from Pioneer came back quickly.
[Pioneer: I do! Just made a new batch. What are you looking for?]
[Xia Qiu: Just regular food to restore hunger and some drinking water. Also, can you make extra cookware? Like pots, pans, spatulas, that sort of thing?]
Even in a survival game, you couldn’t live on grilled food forever. A pot would be the best option.
[Pioneer: I can’t make them yet. I need to level up my class first. Even then, I could only make you basic cookware. Advanced pots and pans can only be used by Chefs. I see you’ve hidden your class. What is it?]
They were already friends, so Xia Qiu saw no reason to hide it.
[Xia Qiu: Unemployed Wanderer.]
[Pioneer: ??]
[Pioneer: Didn’t realize you had such a sense of humor...]
Xia Qiu wanted to explain but stopped herself. It would take far too long, so she decided to just let it go.
She traded one piece of flint for two portions of roasted meat from Pioneer and two large leaves for 1.5 liters of drinking water. It seemed flint was still a scarce commodity. Unless she found a permanent fire source, her own supply would soon run out.
The roasted meat from Pioneer was different from Song Ci’an’s. He was a proper chef, after all, so even the amount of hunger it restored was higher.
[Delicious Roasted Rabbit Meat: Roasted gray rabbit meat prepared by a professional chef. Juicy, fragrant, and visually appealing. Restores 80 Hunger upon consumption.]
But why was it a gray rabbit again? The rabbits she had chased in the grasslands earlier were also gray. Were there no other colors of rabbits in this world?
She didn’t dwell on the rabbit question for too long and started walking down the slope. She planned to explore the other side of the river before the novice period ended. It looked empty and desolate from a distance, but she wouldn’t know if she was overlooking any resources until she went there herself.
The river wasn’t particularly wide, but crossing it directly would still be difficult.
Xia Qiu observed it carefully for a moment, even swirling her hand in the water for a while. After confirming that only the occasional small fish hid among the rocks, she took off her shoes and socks to wade across.
These were the only shoes she had. Wearing them through the water would not only get them completely soaked but also cause them to wear out faster. She had no desire to be walking around barefoot in a few days; that would be unbearable. The source of this chapter is NovelPing.
Crossing the river was easier than she’d expected, though the water was a bit chilly. As soon as she reached the opposite bank, she dried her feet and immediately put her socks and shoes back on. Even so, the cold from the water made her shiver.
The sun overhead was quite warm, yet the river water felt as if it belonged to a different world. Furthermore, the moment she had stepped into the river, a system notification had popped up.
[Friendly Reminder: Your Dampness Value is rising. Once your Dampness Value reaches a critical point, your Spirit Value will decrease. Please try to stay dry.]
Xia Qiu had immediately opened her personal information to check. A separate Dampness Value had appeared after her three basic stats. When she saw it, her Dampness Value was already at 1, with a flashing blue upward arrow next to the number.
However, once she left the river, the arrow turned downward. By the time her feet were dry, the Dampness Value had disappeared from her panel entirely. She hadn’t received any similar alerts when she’d used river water to wash her face earlier, so she still wasn’t sure how the system determined this value.
With no specific destination in mind, Xia Qiu walked in the direction opposite her private territory. The grassland on this side of the river wasn’t entirely flat; a short walk brought her to an upward-sloping grassy hill.
Ignoring the gray rabbits that occasionally darted past her feet, she climbed one grassy slope after another. When she looked back, her territory was no longer in sight.
The yellow grass underfoot began to thin. Xia Qiu quickened her pace and discovered that at a certain point, the yellow grassland vanished completely. The ground beneath her feet turned into a cracked, grayish-brown earth.
At the same time, a series of system notifications appeared before her.
[Friendly Reminder: You have entered Dry City.]
[You are in an ancient, deserted city. You will hear the whispers of a bygone era. O, brave hero from an Otherworld, can you hear the sighs the ancient city left behind on the Desolate Continent?]
[Congratulations! You have triggered the side quest: "Echo of the Ancient City."]
[Echo of the Ancient City: The Desolate Continent once boasted a prosperous city that welcomed travelers from all corners and comforted strangers lost on their journeys. Then one day, the city began to fall "ill." Animals died one after another, and its people were bedridden. The once-thriving city gradually declined, eventually becoming a fading echo in the history of the Desolate Continent.]
Xia Qiu opened her panel and saw a new tab labeled "Side Quests" at the top. This panel had so much room for growth. Did this mean there would be a main quest later on?
After a moment of reflection, she clicked on the side quest tab to view the details.
[Echo of the Ancient City: The Desolate Continent once boasted a prosperous city...]
[Quest Difficulty: ?]
[Time Limit: ?]
[Quest Objective: ?]
"..."
Was this a classic case of "I know nothing"? No difficulty, no time limit, and no objective?
Xia Qiu raised a hand and rubbed her face, her lips curling upward... in frustration. So people really do laugh when they’re at a complete loss for words.
She took the refined stone axe from her pack and shut the panel with a grimace. The system-crafted axe wasn’t too heavy in her hand, nor did it consume extra stamina and lower her hunger. Since it was a sharp object, and the system had mentioned it had "other uses," that basically meant it could be used as a weapon.
After taking a few steps forward, Xia Qiu looked back. The grassland wasn’t far, but her view of it was strangely blurry, almost like a texture bug in an open-world game that hadn’t loaded properly. To ensure she could get back safely, she retreated to the grassland, and her view of the path home became clear again. New chapters come out on g.com first.
She opened the map on her panel. The path she had just walked was a different color on the map. Zooming in, the grassland was a pale yellow, while Dry City was grayish-brown. The good news was that a small square had appeared on the map. When she zoomed in further, a line of text appeared next to it: [Your Territory]. With this, even if her surroundings suddenly changed, she could find her way back to her territory using the map.
Stepping back into Dry City, the system notification was just like the second time she had entered the Dark Forest—only an entry prompt and nothing more.
After walking a few more steps, the air around her suddenly grew thick and viscous. A fog rolled in, obscuring the path ahead. Xia Qiu cautiously moved forward, but the fog only grew denser, nearly reaching the point where she couldn’t see her hand in front of her face.
Immersed in the fog, the notification for her rising Dampness Value appeared again. She could clearly feel the moisture in the air grow heavier with each breath.
Advance or retreat? That was the question. Retreating would take her back to the familiar grassland. Advancing meant facing the unknown.
Xia Qiu didn’t hesitate for long. Gripping her axe tightly, she forged ahead. In a survival game, staying in one place forever was not a viable strategy. She had to find a way to explore more of the map and acquire more resources.
She couldn’t see anything in the mist. If it weren’t for the system map, she would have certainly lost her way. After walking through the fog for more than ten minutes, her surroundings suddenly brightened. The mist dissipated, and the air became dry and warm once more.
When Xia Qiu saw what lay before her, her breath caught in her throat.
Dilapidated buildings still hinted at their former grandeur. The road, weathered by sand and wind for an unknowable amount of time, was now broken and pockmarked. Leaning against a roadside wall was a yellowed skeleton, its frame crumbling and incomplete.
The city before her was like an ancient ruin discovered by an archeological team in a movie—a scene of utter desolation that nevertheless made her heart pound with a strange excitement.
Xia Qiu approached one of the buildings and gently touched its surface. A system description popped up.
[Ruins of the Old City: A decaying and lifeless building from an old city lost to the river of time.]
Fighting back a shudder, Xia Qiu touched the crumbling skeleton.
[Remains of an Old City Resident: Once a resident of the old city, now nothing but a pile of decaying bones.]
She walked slowly into the city. Buildings of varying heights were scattered around, but almost none were intact. Crumbling skeletons, however, could be seen near many of the structures, as if the entire city had died overnight.
Aside from her own footsteps, the only sound was the wind blowing fine sand across the ground. The silence was unnerving. Even the sunlight here seemed to be veiled by a shadow, offering little warmth on her skin. Thankfully, the Dampness Value from the fog was slowly decreasing; otherwise, she might have thought she’d entered another dimension.
Xia Qiu stopped in front of a building that faced the street. This one looked more complete than the others. Perhaps there was something useful inside.
The building’s window frames had long since rotted away, leaving only empty rectangular holes. There was nothing but rubble on the ground, offering no clue as to what material the windows had been made of.
As Xia Qiu stepped into the building, a chilling sensation washed over her. A house that had been uninhabited for so long would naturally feel cold. Even though it was exposed to the sun, the interior felt cold and gloomy.
This place must have been a restaurant or a bar. Not far from the entrance stood a long row of cabinets and a wide counter. Unfortunately, the wooden bar crumbled into dust at the slightest touch, too brittle to be of any use.
Xia Qiu walked around the bar toward the tall cabinets in the back. She reached out and pulled open a cabinet door to see what was inside. Before she could get a clear look, a pile of unknown objects came crashing down on her head.
"Gah—!"