Xia Qiu didn’t dwell on who this "I" was. She claimed her reward first.
[Acquired: Basic Workbench Blueprint (Gray)]
A blueprint!
Xia Qiu was so excited she almost jumped for joy.
She took the blueprint from her inventory and held it close to the firelight. It was a gray schematic depicting a long, rectangular table. With the right materials and tools, Xia Qiu could have made a table like this on her own. Without the blueprint, however, it would have just been an ordinary table.
Holding the blueprint prompted two options to appear below it:
[Learn "Basic Workbench Blueprint"?]
[Yes] [No]
Xia Qiu naturally chose "Yes."
In the next instant, the gray blueprint dissolved into specks of starlight, and a system notification confirmed she had successfully learned it.
Opening her panel, she saw a new "Tech Tree" category had been added at the top. When she opened it, a small sprout with two leaves appeared at the very bottom of the screen. A point of light hung from each leaf. Tapping on the points of light revealed the "technologies" Xia Qiu had just learned. One was the "Basic Workbench," and the other was the "Campfire" she had stumbled upon by accident earlier. She could view their details, which explained the function and effects of each technology. With enough materials, she could also choose to craft them with a single click.
It seemed there were two ways to light up the tech tree: obtaining a blueprint or inventing things yourself. The blueprint system was quite friendly to players with clumsy hands.
***
The short logs she had taken from her inventory and placed in the campfire were already bone-dry, crackling occasionally as the flames danced. That was one of the nice things about the game—wood didn’t need to be dried before it would catch fire. Even the chirping of insects had vanished, as if all living things feared the night.
Xia Qiu had just been feeling thankful that she’d built the campfire before sunset when a warning suddenly popped up before her.
[Warning: Your Hunger Value is below 30. When a player’s Hunger Value drops below 20, Health will decrease by 1 point per minute.]
The comfort of the firelight vanished in an instant. Xia Qiu quickly checked her inventory. The only things that could be considered food were 10 Red Mushrooms and 207 Pine Nuts. She didn’t dare eat the former, and she had no way to cook the latter—not that they’d be very filling anyway.
Xia Qiu opened the world chat and scrolled through it quickly, looking to see if anyone was selling food. After scrolling through dozens of messages, she saw that there were indeed sellers—quite a few, in fact.
[One Strawberry: *Sob* Does anyone have a torch? It’s so dark around me, and the system keeps warning me that something is watching. My Spirit Value keeps dropping...]
[Cursing Every Boss With Early Shifts: Selling windproof torches. DM with offer.]
[Song Ci’an: Selling roasted rabbit meat. DM with offer.]
[Pioneer: Trading roasted fish for wood. Only long logs. The more, the better!]
[Wanderer: Quick tip for everyone: burning a log by itself only lasts 20 minutes. If you wrap some dry grass, leaves, or vines around the top, you can make a simple torch that burns for an extra hour.]
Xia Qiu didn’t need a torch at the moment, so she didn’t waste any wood. Instead, she stared at the message about the roasted rabbit meat for three seconds before quietly opening a private chat with Song Ci’an.
[Xia Qiu: Hello, how much for the rabbit meat? What kind of materials are you looking for?]
Although the person had asked for offers, most players on the world chat were negotiating prices privately. Having spent the entire afternoon gathering without finding anything edible, Xia Qiu had no idea what to propose.
The other party didn’t reply immediately, but Xia Qiu didn’t mind. She sent a message to the other person selling roasted fish as well.
[Xia Qiu: Hi there, I only have short logs. Would you be willing to trade for some roasted fish?] Get faster updates on g.com.
Pioneer, on the other hand, replied almost instantly. His price, however, was a world away from what Xia Qiu had expected.
[Pioneer: Short logs are fine. 10 short logs for 1 roasted fish.]
[Xia Qiu: Sorry... I don’t have that many. Maybe we can trade some other time.]
She had only managed to gather six short logs from the dense forest all afternoon, and she’d just used two of them for the campfire.
Trades could be initiated directly through private chat, and she saw the roasted fish in the trade window. 200g of roasted fish for 10 short logs—for Xia Qiu, that was no different from an astronomical price.
[Pioneer: Low hunger will make you lose health, you know. If you really don’t have enough, I’ll take 8 short logs plus something else. My fish has a special effect. You can take a look before deciding.]
Xia Qiu looked at the fish in the trade window again.
[Delicious Grilled River Fish: A delicious fish made from grilled common Tench. Consumption immediately restores 50 Hunger Value. For 2 hours after consumption, restores 0.5 Hunger Value and 0.5 Spirit Value per minute.]
It had two special effects!
Xia Qiu’s mouth watered at the sight. She couldn’t help but reply.
[Xia Qiu: I really don’t have that many short logs. I have pine nuts, flint, and mushrooms. Would you consider trading for any of those?]
The server had been online for less than a day. Anyone who could cook food with special effects must have either obtained some kind of cooking equipment or had a lucky encounter. Xia Qiu was still keen on making a deal. If there was a first time, there could be a second. In the future, she might be able to get more special food from Pioneer.
But Xia Qiu wasn’t going to get bogged down haggling with just these two. After all, her Hunger Value was dropping steadily. If she didn’t find something to eat soon, she’d have to risk poisoning herself by roasting the mushrooms.
However, before Xia Qiu could go back to the world chat to look for other food sellers, several new private messages suddenly arrived.