"Does this mean the knife will disappear after a hundred uses?" Xia Qiu wondered.
A few minutes later, she realized she had been far too naive. This game was downright malicious.
After using the knife to cut down a clump of tall grass, the damp handful she held automatically turned into hay the moment it entered her inventory.
But...
[Small Knife: From... (Durability: 90/100)]
What kind of game has tools that lose durability this fast?!
Harvesting a full-sized clump of tall grass yielded two portions of hay, while a slightly shorter clump only gave one. Yet, cutting either one consumed the same amount of durability. When Xia Qiu saw the knife’s durability drop by another ten points after cutting a small clump, her heart bled.
With only 100 durability to start, she didn’t dare use it all up, afraid she would be left high and dry if she needed a sharp tool later. In the end, Xia Qiu’s inventory contained nine bundles of hay and a knife with only 50 durability remaining.
She had originally planned to save space by putting the hay into her storage box, but the system displayed a prompt.
[Friendly Reminder: You cannot do that. Please be polite.]
The corner of Xia Qiu’s mouth twitched.
Fine, fine! The noble hay from the Otherworld couldn’t possibly be stored in her common storage box from Blue Star. It was presumptuous of her to even try.
Opening her interface, Xia Qiu was about to trade the hay for something else when she noticed a red dot glowing over the Compendium tab. The moment she clicked it, a notification sound chimed in her ear.
[Congratulations, Player Xia Qiu, on unlocking your first achievement: "Light It Up!"]
Within the Compendium, the first slot was now illuminated, displaying an image of hay. Tapping it brought up a detailed description.
[Hay: A common material on the Desolate Continent. Essential for home and travel.]
At the top of the interface, the original four tabs had become five, with a new "Achievements" tab added. It seemed the interface had hidden sections that only unlocked when specific conditions were met. Based on her gaming experience, achievements usually came with rewards. She could only hope this stingy game offered them.
She opened the Achievements page and eagerly tapped on the glowing icon.
[Light It Up: O, hero from another world, the Desolate Continent holds many things you have never seen. The Creator shall bring them before you, one by one. (Click to claim achievement reward)]
A line of small text was visible below: *Keep exploring and collecting. You may find a unique surprise.*
There really was a reward!
Xia Qiu rubbed her hands together in excitement and tapped the little red dot on the achievement.
[Received: Hero’s Box x1]
[Hero’s Box: A gift for the hero from another world. You are a survivor, and you are a champion of the Desolate Continent. We await your performance.]
This must be the most basic starter pack in the game, she thought. Anyone who collected any kind of material probably unlocked it.
Xia Qiu scrolled through the world chat and, sure enough, others had already gotten it.
[Loyal Follower]: I just picked up a random little rock off the ground and got an achievement. Did everyone else get this? (Image attached)
The world chat had a function to post pictures. The image in the message was a Hero’s Box, identical to the one in Xia Qiu’s inventory.
[One Star]: Got it a while ago. Seems like it’s the first achievement you get for gathering resources. Probably just a starter pack.
[One Strawberry]: Me too, me too! My box gave me a medium backpack with 20 slots! It’s as big as the one the system gave us!
[Tranquil Pursuit]: Buying wood for stone. Long-term offer. PM for rates.
[Pioneer]: Also looking for wood, price is negotiable.
[One Star]: Whoa, we’re both "One"s, how come your box gave you something so good? The backpack I got was a fanny pack with only two slots! Do starter packs have different tiers now? How am I supposed to survive?
[Bo Gaoxing]: If you have bad luck, I suggest not opening the box right away. It doesn’t contain any essential supplies for the current situation.
[Zong Yicheng]: Says you. Who are you trying to fool?
***
The others who received a box also reported getting backpacks of varying sizes, the smallest having only a single slot.
Reading the world chat messages, Xia Qiu’s heart sank.
Did this mean that the same Hero’s Box could yield different items for different people?
It was over for her. In gacha games, she had always relied on paying to win and hitting the pity system for guaranteed drops. This game didn’t even have a top-up window; she couldn’t brute-force her way out of bad luck even if she wanted to.
The Hero’s Box sat quietly in her inventory, emitting a faint silver glow.
Maybe she should wait before opening it. Her system-provided backpack was still empty. What if she found something to boost her luck first?
Xia Qiu pulled her hand back and started walking toward the forest. She had just seen several people in the world chat trying to buy wood, which meant not everyone had been placed in an area with trees. This grassy field was right next to a forest; if she put her mind to it, she should be able to get some wood.
As she walked, she scanned her surroundings. This was a survival game, after all. Who knew when a monster might suddenly jump out?
After more than ten minutes of walking, she hadn’t seen any monsters, but she did spot a few hopping wild rabbits.
Besides the flower tea, Xia Qiu had nothing edible in her storage box, and even the tea required hot water. On her personal status panel, her hunger had already dropped to 90.
To her, those bouncing rabbits looked like fragrant, roasted rabbit meat. Whether she could start a fire was a problem for later. First, she had to catch one!
Twenty minutes later, Xia Qiu stood panting in the field, one hand on her lower back. Her hunger had dropped to 70, and a new, deeply mocking status effect had appeared.
[Status: The Gray Rabbit’s Scorn (You failed in a battle of wits and courage against the gray rabbit. Current rabbit-catching success rate is decreased by 30%. Duration: 3h 58m 22s)]
After a moment of being simultaneously amused and infuriated by the status effect, Xia Qiu checked the description for her Strength Points and fell into a contemplative silence.
[Strength: 3 (Gets winded just from chasing a rabbit)]
Hah. It turned out she was the clown all along.