With only four empty slots left in her backpack, Xia Qiu immediately chose to identify the blueprint.
[Blueprint Identified: Soil of Hope Blueprint (Blue)]
[Soil of Hope: Fertile soil bearing the hopes of the ancient city’s people, suitable for growing crops (Requires 1x any fertilizer when planting)]
Just as she’d suspected, the ultimate goal of a survival game was farming! Xia Qiu felt it in her bones. Gleefully, she learned the blueprint. The tech tree shot up a little, the new blueprint materializing as a tender leaf at the very top, looking magnificent.
After learning the new skill, Xia Qiu examined the other three rewards.
[Ring of Sighs: A magical creation with a world of its own, crafted by a Magician from the Desolate Continent to help the ancient city’s people survive their hardest times. (A food storage ring imbued with time magic; food stored within will be preserved forever.)]
Xia Qiu slipped the ring onto the middle finger of her left hand, and it immediately shrank to fit her perfectly. A light touch opened the ring’s interface, revealing four storage slots, each marked with its current capacity. Each slot could hold up to 1,000 units of food, meaning a total of 4,000!
She felt as though the God of Luck himself had showered her with kisses. Even if each slot could only store one type of food, this was permanent preservation! As long as she stored enough food before winter arrived, she wouldn’t have to starve in the snow and wind, even if all other resources disappeared.
Rubbing her face in excitement, Xia Qiu turned to the last two rewards.
[Miraculous Seed Pouch: A magical creation that preserves the hope of life, crafted by a Magician from the Desolate Continent to help the ancient city’s people survive their hardest times. (A cloth pouch imbued with time magic; can store 1,000 seeds, preventing them from rotting or spoiling.)]
The description of the seed pouch was remarkably similar to the Ring of Sighs; they were likely made by the same Magician.
[Two-Handled Earthenware Pot: A well-made ceramic container that can store food or water. (An everyday tool used by the people of the ancient city; has no durability.)]
Xia Qiu turned the earthenware pot over and over in her hands, growing fonder of it the more she looked. It could hold ten liters of water, at least. Another excellent water storage tool!
Xia Qiu was practically walking on air as she left. She even sent a silent thank-you to the former resident of the ancient city who had fallen out of the cabinet and into her arms. She had been the one to disturb their eternal rest, yet they had borne no ill will and even left her gifts. What a kind soul! Read the latest chapters at novelping.com.
Stepping back into the mist, Xia Qiu headed back the way she came and noticed that the fog, once so thick she couldn’t see her hand in front of her face, seemed to have thinned. The fog was still the same, but for her, it was as if its opacity had been turned down. She could see the swirling mists and feel their thick, cloying nature—her Dampness Value was even rising again—but the difference was that she could now see her surroundings clearly and no longer needed to rely on the map to navigate.
After a mad dash, Xia Qiu finally made it back to her territory just before the novice period ended. The moment she placed the new two-handled earthenware pot in a corner of her plot, a system notification chimed in her ear.
[Friendly Reminder: The novice protection period has ended. All players must now face the challenge and strive to survive.]
[Challenge Activated. Phase One: The Long Rainy Season]
[The Desolate Continent is its name, but it is more than a name. It carries the ideals and suffering of countless people.]
[Heroes from another world, the Desolate Continent needs you. Please protect this land and allow it to be reborn.]
The instant the system’s voice faded, the world grew dark. Xia Qiu felt a chill on her scalp as something cold struck her head. The once-clear sky was now blanketed with dark clouds, and fat drops of rain began to pelt the earth.
For someone as meticulous as Xia Qiu—who would dry her feet before putting on socks even after just crossing a river—being soaked in mere minutes was agonizing. Water was already dripping from the ends of her hair. The downpour lashed everything in sight, and she hurriedly stuffed the charcoal, ropes, and stones from her workbench into her backpack.
She pulled up her status panel. Sure enough, her Dampness Value had started to rise. Compared to the small blue arrow she’d seen in the fog, this one was a thick, wavering symbol, and it was ticking upward much faster. A high Dampness Value would lower her Spirit Value!
Anxiety gnawed at her. Her territory was only enclosed by a simple fence, offering no real shelter, and she didn’t seem to have anything in her backpack to ward off the wind and rain...
No, wait, she did!
Xia Qiu pulled a rope and a large leaf from her bag, using the rope to tie the leaf to her head like a hat. Getting soaked elsewhere would only raise her Dampness Value, but if her head was constantly wet, she could get a fever, and she had no medicine.
After putting on the leaf, her Dampness Value continued its steady climb, but the thick arrow behind it had thinned out considerably. Still, the system hadn’t said how long this rain would last, and a leaf offered minimal protection. It wasn’t a long-term solution.
The leaf on her head was pliable and hard to tear. Touching it brought up a description.
After a moment’s thought, Xia Qiu opened her friends list and sent a message to Yan Chi. He happened to be online, and she successfully traded two pieces of Hematite and two bundles of Hay for ten Ropes.
She placed five Ropes and fifteen Large Leaves onto the workbench. Then, she took out her utility knife, which still had some durability left, hoping to use the workbench to craft a temporary raincoat from the leaves. But the moment she placed the utility knife in the input slot, it was ejected and clattered to the ground.
For the first time in two days, Xia Qiu received the system’s disdainful prompt again.
[Friendly Reminder: You cannot do that. Please be more polite.]
"Fine, fine," she thought with a sigh. "So a utility knife from my world isn’t even worthy of being a crafting material here?"
Without a knife, she couldn’t cut anything, and buying one now was out of the question.
Xia Qiu stared worriedly into her backpack when suddenly, her eyes lit up. She took out a piece of flint and a stone, then struck the flint against the stone. A sharp CRACK echoed as the flint broke into several smaller pieces with sharp, shell-like edges. The fractures were razor-sharp; they looked like they could substitute for a blade.
She placed the chipped flint fragments into the input slot. This time, they weren’t rejected.
The workbench began to vibrate gently. When she touched it, both the "Input" and "Retrieve" buttons were grayed out, with a text prompt indicating it was crafting. A few minutes later, the vibrations stopped. Xia Qiu checked again, and the "Retrieve" button was lit.
[Obtained: Raincoat (Gray) x1, Large Leaf x5]
[Successfully Crafted: Raincoat (Gray) (Upgradable)]
[Raincoat: A crude raincoat that keeps your body and clothes dry (Durability 800; loses 20 durability per hour when worn).]
A raincoat! She had actually made it