In reality, an axe should be considered a weapon, but unfortunately, the System didn’t see it that way.
After all, what Duan Lili held in her hand wasn’t a real axe—it was something shaped like a wooden toy, so it couldn’t be judged by real-world standards.
As a tool rather than a weapon, the Small Wooden Axe’s attack power was weaker than the Small Wooden Knife’s. As soon as Duan Lili picked up the Small Wooden Knife, her Combat value directly increased by +10. Holding the Small Wooden Axe, her combat power only increased by +6, bringing her current Combat value to just 11.
To “survive” in this unknown place, and with the System appearing less than reliable, Duan Lili didn’t dare slack off. Even though her arms were already sore to the point of exhaustion, she still mustered all her strength, wielding the toy-like axe to relentlessly hack at the giant serpent.
The Small Wooden Axe also had a Durability of 100. The moment its Durability dropped to zero, the Small Wooden Axe, just like the Small Wooden Knife, shattered with a “crack” into splinters of wood.
Duan Lili used her left hand to massage her right arm and shoulder, then glanced at the giant serpent’s Health Bar. After being hacked with the Small Wooden Axe, the serpent still had 116 Health left.
Doing the math, the Small Wooden Axe, after exhausting its 100 Durability, had taken 78 points of Health from the serpent.
Indeed, “tools” were far inferior to “weapons,” and she had given it her all, not daring to slack off in the slightest.
Duan Lili sat on the sofa, catching her breath for a while longer, then stood up again. In her Personal Inventory, three tools remained: the Small Wooden Pickaxe, the Small Wooden Hammer, and the Small Wooden Hoe.
Duan Lili chose the Small Wooden Pickaxe.
Because in almost every game, a pickaxe is a mining tool. Given her current goal of “survival,” mining would have to take a backseat. Food and safety came first.
The Small Wooden Hoe was likely for farming, which was related to food, but she’d set that aside for now.
The Small Wooden Hammer was definitely for Crafting, though she didn’t yet know what kind of crafting mode it involved. But this System provided two types of game Interfaces simultaneously: a regular one and a sandbox block-style one.
In the regular games Duan Lili had played, such as martial arts or fantasy games, items like the Small Wooden Knife and Small Wooden Axe could be bought from shops or merchants.
But earlier, the System had stated, “No Intelligent Lifeforms within a 100-kilometer radius,” meaning there were no people, no human society, so the “buy from a shop” route was blocked. That made Duan Lili lean toward crafting things herself.
In several sandbox games on her phone, she could craft various tools herself, and most of them started with wooden items, then progressed to stone, iron, and so on.
As Duan Lili thought this, it suddenly struck her: this nearly broken game System (?) felt incredibly familiar.
It… strongly resembled the games on her phone.
The giant serpent coiled around the invisible barrier of the confined space, as if wrapping around thin air, forming loops suspended in midair.
The immediate danger hadn’t been resolved, and the thought about the System resembling the games on her phone flashed by only briefly. For now, Duan Lili had no spare mental capacity to dwell on it.
She refrained from using the Small Wooden Hammer because both the Small Wooden Knife and Small Wooden Axe had been consumed. In her warehouse, she still had the 10 pieces of raw wood that came with the basic equipment. She guessed she could use the raw wood to craft tools. If the Small Wooden Hammer was essential for crafting tools, then she couldn’t afford to use it as a weapon and deplete it.
But as soon as she picked it up, she realized the unfortunate truth: with the Small Wooden Pickaxe in hand, her combat power only increased by +5, one Combat value less than the Small Wooden Axe.
Thinking about it, the logic makes sense. Even if it's made of wood, the form of an "axe" inherently possesses sharpness, whereas pickaxes, hoes, and hammers do not.
But missing that one point meant Duan Lili would have to work even harder.
Under the brilliant sunlight of the unknown continent, Duan Lili used the Small Wooden Pickaxe to chip away 59 Health points from the giant serpent. The Small Wooden Pickaxe’s Durability dropped to zero and shattered into wooden fragments.
Duan Lili chose to continue with the Small Wooden Hoe. When the serpent’s Health dropped to 34, it finally couldn’t hold on, unable to coil anymore, and slowly fell to the ground, winding around the sofa several times.
At the same time, an icon appeared above the serpent’s head.
The graphic inside this icon depicted a humanoid figure. This "person" was kneeling on the ground, supporting themselves with their hands. It somewhat resembled "OTZ."
Panting heavily, Duan Lili thought for a moment and guessed that this likely represented "weakness."
At this point, the serpent’s Combat had also dropped to 0, meaning it was too weak to cause any harm.
Duan Lili continued to attack it with the Small Wooden Hoe.
Her arms were so sore she could barely lift them, so she simply sat on the sofa and attacked, moving at an incredibly slow pace.
With a "crack," the Small Wooden Hoe also shattered. The serpent’s Health Bar still had 21 points left.
The only tool left from the basic set was the Small Wooden Hammer.
Exhausted, Duan Lili leaned back against the sofa and kicked the serpent. The serpent had completely lost its Combat and mobility, lying motionless, but it was indeed still alive.
The sofa was Duan Lili’s base point, her respawn point, her Safe Zone. So, at least for now, this riverbank was Duan Lili’s territory.
There couldn’t be two masters in the same territory, so the serpent had to be killed.
Duan Lili took out the last remaining Small Wooden Hammer.
But as she looked at the motionless, seemingly dead serpent, she had a new idea.
She tentatively stepped on the serpent. When it showed no reaction, she boldly stepped off the sofa, leaving the Safe Zone.
She glanced around and spotted a sharp stone. She put away the Small Wooden Hammer, walked over, picked up the sharp stone, and weighed it in her hand. It was much heavier than the Small Wooden Knife or Small Wooden Hammer.
Reluctant to use up the Small Wooden Hammer, Duan Lili walked back holding the sharp stone, pressed down on the serpent’s head, raised the sharp stone…
In sandbox view mode, everything was cartoonified, and the blocky-headed serpent didn’t look frightening at all. Duan Lili had no psychological barriers and smashed down hard on its neck.
This was when the difference between real weapons and System weapons became apparent.
When using tools like the Small Wooden Knife or Small Wooden Axe provided by the System to attack the serpent, although its Health Bar kept dropping, no wounds or injuries appeared on the serpent’s body.
But when Duan Lili smashed it with the sharp stone, she shattered the scales, leaving visible wounds.
Finally, when she killed the serpent, she managed to break its skin, causing it to bleed.
Fortunately, it was in sandbox view mode, cartoonified, so it wasn’t too disgusting. But Duan Lili didn’t dare switch back to normal view mode now, afraid of grossing herself out.
With this final blow, the serpent’s Health Bar emptied, and its Combat Bar emptied as well.
As for Duan Lili… she felt a sudden jolt.
Damn it! The System was leaking electricity again!!
At that moment, a Light Screen unfolded before her eyes, displaying: 【Meat 5, Skin 2, Gallbladder 1, Sinew 1, Eggs 5】
Only 5 pieces of meat from such a huge snake? The System is way too stingy.
Duan Lili reluctantly chose to pick up the items. The snake's corpse vanished instantly, and all these things were stored into her Personal Inventory.
She brushed the wood shavings off the sofa onto the floor, climbed onto the sofa, and lay down. This time, it wasn't just "slumping"—it was "exhausted slumping."
Only now did she dare to switch her view mode. She didn't switch back to the normal view but instead switched to the ordinary Game View, which wasn't sandbox mode. Apart from animals having Health Bars above their heads, the ordinary Game View was no different from the normal view.
Having two different view modes was quite handy. If she encountered something as terrifying or disgusting as the giant python again, she could switch to the sandbox cartoon mode.
In this ordinary view mode, she glanced at the sky.
The sun was already low, its light having shifted from the bright midday glow to a golden hue, with clouds tinged with sunset colors.
Duan Lili felt around on the sofa, found the phone she had earlier stuffed into a crevice, pulled it out, and checked the time.
Before crossing over, the time on Earth was around 9 a.m. It had been overcast and rainy in her city. On summer break, she had woken up early, slumped on the sofa scrolling through her phone, and skipped breakfast, unhealthily substituting chips for a meal.
The phone displayed 11:58, meaning she had spent nearly three hours dealing with the giant python.
No wonder she was so exhausted.
When switching from the Small Wooden Pickaxe to the Small Wooden Hoe, Duan Lili had paused to eat another steamed bun because she was too tired and hungry.
Now, she was hungry again. She took out her third steamed bun.
The steaming hot steamed bun smelled absolutely delicious! But after taking a bite, Duan Lili found it hard to swallow, only then realizing her throat felt as if it were on fire.
In three hours, she had only drunk half a bottle of cola. Her throat was parched.
Perhaps because the landing point was near a river, or maybe because water was easier to obtain compared to food, the System had provided her with basic equipment that included food but no water.
Duan Lili stored the bitten steamed bun back into her Personal Inventory, stood up, took a few steps toward the small river, then stopped, turned back to the sofa, and picked up the empty cola bottle.
As a civilized person, drinking directly from the river without any tools felt psychologically uncomfortable.
The river water actually looked quite clean, at least the shallow areas near the bank were clear.
Duan Lili filled the bottle with water, held it up against the sunset light to check, and after confirming there were no visible insects, tilted her head back and gulped it down.
She was desperately thirsty.
After drinking her fill and refilling the cola bottle, Duan Lili quickly retreated from the riverbank.
That snake had been a female. Who knew if there was a male snake lurking in the depths of the river? Even though she could respawn, Duan Lili had no desire to experience suffocating inside a snake's belly a second time.
Quickly retreating to the sofa, she felt secure under the protection of this "Safe Zone."
She looked at the sun, which was even lower now, its light more intense in color.
Duan Lili picked up a stone by her feet and drew a cross on the ground, marking it with an Arrow. Using the sun's current direction as "west," she determined the cardinal directions of east, south, west, and north.
After finishing this, she lay down again.
Pulling up the control panel, the first thing she saw was a prompt message: 【Upgrade? / Remind Me Later】
Duan Lili glanced at her original stats, memorized the values, and chose to upgrade.
As expected, a power surge occurred…
After a brief tingling sensation, all feelings of exhaustion, soreness, hunger, and thirst vanished. Duan Lili felt as if her body had just woken up from a full night's sleep, brimming with energy.
On the Light Screen, the left half displayed the Attribute Interface, while the right half showed the warehouse grid. The Attribute Interface had undergone changes.
The previously outlined "human figure" pattern had transformed into a full-body image of Duan Lili. Next to the Health Bar and Experience Bar, the name "Duan Lili" appeared, along with a "1."
So it turned out she had just leveled up from a blank slate to Level 1.