Message sent successfully, Bai Yi felt a bit cheesy. He quickly shook his head, pushing away other thoughts, and the determination to survive once again filled his mind.
Bai Yi closed the journal, feeling a bit sentimental. In just two days, the top players had already created such a large gap from the ordinary players, not to mention he was a day behind the others.
He estimated that he was now at the back of the pack and could only do his best to catch up.
Bai Yi steadied himself and stood up, ready to try out the exercise routine.
First was breathing. Bai Yi adjusted his breathing according to the method described in the post, which supposedly maximized muscle exhaustion and the effectiveness of the workout.
Before long, he grasped the essentials and then began warming up and exercising. The movements were simple, just the most common bodyweight exercises, but Bai Yi practiced with great enthusiasm.
Bai Yi continued exercising deep into the night. He only stopped when his muscles screamed with a tearing pain, exhausted as he crawled onto the wooden bed and fell asleep.
...
[Weather: Clear
Location: Mistland
Time: Morning
Temperature: 18-20°C]
As dawn broke, Bai Yi woke up.
He felt incredibly refreshed from the sleep, stretching with a series of crackling sounds from his body.
Bai Yi moved his body and remarked, "The post was right, even after being so exhausted, a good night's sleep restores everything."
With that thought, he pulled up the panel.
[Bai Yi: Healthy]
[Age: 30]
[Strength: 3.1]
[Spirit: 9]
[Constitution: 3.1]
[Sanity: 100/100]
An increase of 0.1? Bai Yi was delighted, deciding to add exercise to his daily must-do list. Who doesn't love the feeling of getting stronger?
After a simple warm-up, Bai Yi approached the Wishing Well. Next to it were five wild fruits, five pieces of wood, five stones, a bundle of straw, and a contaminated rabbit carcass—his entire fortune.
Bai Yi rubbed his hands excitedly; it was time to draw.
A faint gray mist hovered over the well's mouth, obscuring the view inside, with moss growing along the inner walls.
He looked around and picked up a wild fruit. As he tossed the first fruit in, there was a splash from the bottom of the well.
[Wild Fruit Exchange Attempts: 4/5]
[Moldy Bread]
A piece of blackened bread shot out, landing at Bai Yi's feet.
The second fruit arced through the air:
[Wild Fruit Exchange Attempts: 3/5]
[500ml Pure Water]
The third and fourth fruits followed.
[Withered Straw 1]
[Wood 1]
[Wild Fruit Exchange Attempts: 1/5]
"Heh?" Bai Yi raised an eyebrow. Why was his luck so bad? After a moment's thought, he set down the last fruit and switched to wood.
One unit of wood fell into the well.
[Crumpled Paper Ball]
A paper ball flew out of the well, and Bai Yi caught it effortlessly.
"Is there writing on it?"
Bai Yi unfolded the paper ball, then took out the journal.
[Exquisite Stone Pickaxe Blueprint]
[Quality: Fine Quality]
[Durability: 20/20]
[Description: Wood 1, Stone 3, clang clang clang, isn't it simple?]
[Wood Exchange Attempts: 4/5]
A big win, and a valuable one at that, Bai Yi was thrilled, feeling his luck had turned.
He tossed in four more pieces of wood.
"What a scam!" Bai Yi angrily threw the four pieces of grass in his hand to the ground.
[Wood Exchange Attempts: 0/5]
Alright, no more wishing with wood in the future.
Bai Yi turned and picked up the stones, dropping them in one by one.
[Withered Straw 1]
[Wood 1]
A quick look at will leave you more fulfilled.
[Stone 2]
[Wild Fruit 1]
Bai Yi closed his eyes, pretending not to see the junk.
The next second, a gun appeared. In an instant, Bai Yi's quick reflexes allowed him to grab it; he couldn't bear to let this treasure hit the ground.
[Shepherd's Mercy (Damaged)]
[Quality: Fine]
[Durability: 5/5]
[Description: Once the proud work of a master, this gun is now heavily damaged, with only a faint glimmer of its former glory.
Each shot reduces durability by one point. When durability reaches zero, the weapon is scrapped. The weapon automatically restores one point of durability every hour. Each bullet has a 5% chance to trigger "Wail of Pain" (causing the target to be stunned for 1 second).]
It was a bloodstained silver revolver, with a ten-round cylinder, five of which were blocked by unknown objects, rendering them unusable.
[Stone Exchange Attempts: 0/5]
Bai Yi's breathing became heavy; this was precisely the weapon he lacked most at the moment. Although he was strong after activating his talent, it didn't change the fact that he was a weakling with attributes of 3 in his normal state.
Without hesitation, Bai Yi threw the contaminated rabbit carcass into the well.
This time, the well water boiled and surged, the spray lifting his bangs. The clanging exchange item made Bai Yi's pupils contract—a half-beating heart.
[You discovered a beating heart, Sanity -15]
Without a word, Bai Yi grabbed the revolver, aimed, and fired in one swift motion.
Bang!
Bai Yi's hand went numb, the massive recoil nearly causing him to lose his grip on the gun.
The beating heart exploded into fragments.
"Phew—"
Bai Yi exhaled deeply, then suddenly held his breath. He used a stick to poke the fragments, ensuring they were completely still before cautiously taking a small breath.
Once he was sure it was safe, he began breathing deeply.
Bai Yi calmed himself and continued the draw. Next was the straw.
[Stone 1]
[Stone 1]
[Stone 1]
[Stone 2]
[Stone 1]
[Straw Exchange Attempts: 0/5]
He took out the previous wild fruit and tossed it in. Looking at the last wild fruit, Bai Yi had a feeling something good was about to happen.
[Withered Straw 1]
[Wild Fruit Exchange Attempts: 0/5]
Bai Yi nonchalantly caught the piece of straw and tore it into shreds.
Having used up his prepared items, Bai Yi took out the moldy bread. He had read on the forum that items exchanged from the Wishing Well could also be used for exchange.
Of course, the journal was an exception; it seemed to be unique and would teleport back to the shelter.
Bai Yi tossed the bread down.
[Windproof Lighter]
[Quality: Common Quality]
[Durability: 100/100]
"Good stuff, at least I won't have to eat raw meat anymore."
Bai Yi was quite satisfied with this draw and decided to stop. Although he still had items he could use for the draw, like that piece of flesh or the gun in his hand.
The former was too significant, and Bai Yi feared a surprise, while the latter, considering the forum's complaints from gamblers, he decided to quit while he was ahead.
Next, Bai Yi didn't plan to chop trees. With his three-point attributes, he wouldn't be able to chop much wood in a day. Plus, with the stone pickaxe blueprint he just got, Bai Yi decided to make a few more stone pickaxes to sell at the plaza.
It was the third day, and many players already needed to dig stones to upgrade their shelters, but they only had a common quality broken stone axe at the start, not even a pickaxe.
This had caused the price of common pickaxes to be quite high these days, let alone good quality ones.
With this in mind, Bai Yi was even less worried. He held a stone axe in his left hand, the journal in his right, and the revolver with a full cylinder of bullets at his waist. Fully armed, he prepared to explore the surroundings in search of prey.
Through the forum, Bai Yi learned that the journal wouldn't be lost; even if damaged or left outside, it would teleport back to the shelter.
Not afraid of damage, not lost, and able to check item information, it was indeed an essential tool for exploring and collecting in Mistland!
Bai Yi stepped on the decaying leaves, slowly advancing into the forest, the silver barrel of the revolver at his waist glinting coldly.
He spent half a day searching the entire kilometer around him, finding no prey, only a pile of fruit and a few freshwater spots.
So, a few minutes ago, he had stepped out of the one-kilometer safety range, and now he was even more cautious.
Suddenly, Bai Yi felt something trip him underfoot, a thorn buried beneath the leaves. As he stumbled forward, a shadow leaped from the mist behind him.
The moment he heard the low whimper, Bai Yi sensed danger, the hairs on the back of his neck standing on end.
Bai Yi fell forward, his right hand releasing the journal to reach in front of him. As he touched the ground, he bent slightly, then used his strength to roll to the left.
The shadow swiped past Bai Yi's upper right, and he felt a numbness in his right arm, followed by a warm flow trickling down it.
Bai Yi had no time to worry about it. Using the momentum, he rolled and stood up, the revolver already in his right hand.
Missing its target, the shadow quickly turned to pounce again. Bai Yi aimed but didn't rush to shoot.
For Bai Yi, who had no shooting experience, firing a gun with such recoil from a distance had a slim chance of hitting the target.
As the saying goes, beyond seven steps, the gun is fast; within seven steps, the gun is both fast and accurate.
Now was the moment. Bai Yi's eyes focused, and he fired.
The shadow's head exploded like a watermelon, its body collapsing powerlessly at Bai Yi's feet, its four legs twitching.
Lying dead before Bai Yi was a Gray Wolf.
Bai Yi stood still, the adrenaline coursing through him numbing any pain, his gun hand trembling slightly. This was Bai Yi's first battle, and he had been ambushed, but he had won.
Bai Yi glanced at his right arm, where a 10-centimeter-long wound oozed blood. It wasn't too deep but kept bleeding. He took out a prepared cloth strip, wrapping it around his upper arm, using his left hand and mouth to tie a knot.
"Awoo~ Awoo~"
One, two, three...
A total of ten wolves emerged from the mist, their fangs dripping saliva onto the decaying leaves as they slowly surrounded Bai Yi.
Bai Yi remained silent, making no other moves, continuing to tie the knot. With a pull of his left hand and mouth, the bleeding on his right arm stopped.
Then, he swapped the gun and axe, holding the gun in his left hand and the axe in his right.
Bai Yi opened his mouth, his deep voice sounding hoarse, carrying a hint of desperate ferocity:
"Unlucky."