Ethan swung his axe again, and the dead tree fell with a crash.
[Wood +1]
But to Ethan's surprise, the dead tree didn't immediately turn into wood. Probably because of the squirrel hole up above.
Ethan searched around the trunk.
Finally he found a small opening in the middle of the trunk.
Some berries rolled out.
"Collect!"
[Berries +25]
[Nuts +36]
[Water Purifier Blueprint +1]
Berries and nuts are small. So even though there were 61 items total, they only used 2 weight. Apparently these small foods stack fifty to a group, or maybe more.
But Ethan couldn't verify, because that was all the squirrel had, there was no more.
The remaining 1 weight slot was taken by the blueprint.
The existence of the [Water Purifier Blueprint] instantly made Ethan's eyes light up.
He'd been worried about not having water to drink.
'A good thing dropped into my lap, very nice!'
"But seriously, what does the squirrel collect?"
(Squirrel: I didn't collect it, the system shoved it into my stash!)
After looting the squirrel's stash, Ethan gave up further exploration and hurried back toward the hut.
He noticed the fog had already started to thicken, almost to the point of being pitch-black. If he delayed any longer, he probably wouldn't even see the path back.
Luckily he had prompts.
So finding the hut's direction was easier for him than for others.
After about ten minutes, Ethan was back in the safe shelter.
He opened the magic book and immediately received a prompt.
[System Prompt: Materials for Wooden House have been gathered. Upgrade?]
"Upgrade!"
[Wood -100]
He chose to upgrade without hesitation.
Then a strange scene began to unfold around him.
The shabby thatched hut flashed with golden light and instantly transformed into a small wooden house of about twenty square meters.
But the small wooden house had not only a roof, it also had four walls.
The windows were wooden too, but they could be opened or closed, very convenient.
And there was a lock on the door.
[Ordinary Door Lock: once closed, only the owner can enter; others absolutely cannot open it. Absolutely fireproof, theft-proof, and bestie-proof.]
"..."
"A lock like this is called ordinary?"
Ethan wanted to see what a not-ordinary lock in this world looked like, 'Give me a dozen!'
'Wait a minute…'
'Isn't this just Vick's little cabin?' [T/N: From "Boonie Bears".]
(°ー°'')
"And I only chopped 80 wood total, where did the 100 wood for the upgrade come from?"
'Could it be that the flint has already been sold?'
He opened the [Trade Channel].
A flood of messages popped up.
[Trade Success: Flint -1, Wood +10]
[Trade Success: Flint -1, Wood +10]
[Tra…]
Besides the trade success messages, there were a lot of comments.
["Brother Ethan, do you have any extra flint? My bonfire went out and I keep feeling like something in the mist is watching me, so scary!"]
["Big brother, can you give me a flint? I'm small and can't chop wood, but I can let you ride me with twin ponytails on a horse, what do you say?"]
["Still need wood, short by 4 pieces, can I trade 4 stones with you for wood?"]
["Why sell flint so expensive, why don't you just rob it! Damn it!"]
["A single piece of flint and daring to sell at that price, I saw someone selling lighters for only 5 wood. If you've got the guts, sell yours for 5 wood too."]
["I have a [Fine Beast Trap Blueprint], wanna trade?"]
'Fine beast trap blueprint?'
Ethan's eyes lit up.
He replied: [Deal!]
Then he listed another flint for sale.
But this time he changed the trade to [Flint: Exchange for Fine Beast Trap Blueprint] so no one could snatch it with wood.
Not long after listing, his flint was taken.
[Flint -1, Fine Beast Trap Blueprint +1]
He hurriedly opened the blueprint details: [Fine Beast Trap Blueprint: Vines 12/3, Wood 50/1, Bait 64/3]
'Bait 64? Where did that come from?'
Ethan didn't remember getting so much bait.
He clicked to check.
Only then did he realize… The system counted all edible items in the storage as bait.
Whether meat, fruit, or nuts, all counted as bait.
Since materials were sufficient, he crafted it.
[System Notice: Vines -3, Wood -1, Berries -3, Fine Beast Trap crafted.]
A flash of gold appeared.
A woven square beast trap popped up before Ethan.
The craftsmanship was fine; it looked like a large mousetrap, and a few berries hung in the middle as bait.
'Would wild animals really fall for this?'
[Fine Beast Trap: because it's exquisitely made, it naturally blends with the environment. Please hide it in the grass. Small animals will only see the bait inside and will walk in unknowingly.]
[Only drawback: bait must be replenished in time, or new prey cannot be captured.]
"I see."
"This trap even has a camouflage effect."
"Small animals thinking there's food would enter by themselves."
"Pretty good!"
The small wooden house was next to the grassland, perfect to try tomorrow.
Ethan remembered the prairie prompt earlier: [The prairie has many small animals, but because there are no traps, they're hard to catch.]
"Looks like…"
"Tomorrow's lunch meat is secured."
Grr~ Grr~
Thinking about food made Ethan's stomach start to rumble.
'Let's get some food first.'
Ethan used flint to light the bonfire, then added dry branches.
[Dry Branch -1, Bonfire will burn for 1 hour]
[Remember to add fuel to prevent the bonfire from going out. Nighttime temperatures fall below zero degrees, beware of the cold.]
'One dry branch for one hour?'
'What about wood then?'
Ethan tossed a piece of wood into the fire.
[Wood -1, Bonfire will burn for 4 hours]
"Sure enough, wood burns longer, but wood is hard to get; chopping takes forever, too much hassle."
Since dry branches are just picked up, despite some danger, branches were more cost-effective. To keep the bonfire burning all night, Ethan threw in a dozen dry branches, enough to burn until morning.
Then Ethan skewered the snake meat and squirrel meat and put them on the fire to roast.
Only then did he open the [Regional Chat Channel] to see what people were saying.
["After the sun set, the mist nearly spread into my house, I keep feeling like something in the mist is watching me. So scary!"]
["Has anyone noticed our region's online players went from 1000 to 988, where did those 12 people go?"]
["Probably dead, right? Damn, it dropped by 2 again!"]
["My bonfire went out. Somebody be kind and give me a fire starter! Otherwise the mist will drift in, so scary!"]
["I remember someone big in the Trade Channel was selling flint today, I missed out on a fortune! Anyone sell me a flint? I'll give twelve wood in exchange!"]
["Wood is so hard to chop, my hands are blistered, only chopped five trees, help! Anyone willing to trade food? I'm starving!"]