[Ethan: "Do you have stones?"]
[Hana: "Big brother, you finally came! Do you still have any flint? Hurry, save me!"]
[Ethan: "I do! If you don't have much wood, you can trade all stones for wood with me."]
[Hana: "Great! Thank you big brother, thank you big brother! You're such a good person, my campfire went out, I keep feeling eyes staring at me from all around, it's really terrifying!"]
[Ethan: "It's set, just click trade."]
[Flint -1, Stone +10]
As soon as Ethan listed it, the trade was immediately completed.
And at that moment.
Ethan's private chat page almost simultaneously filled with dozens of messages.
And it kept increasing every second.
———
[Private Chat Channel]
["Boss, do you still have flint over there, please save us! The mist has come into my grass hut, I feel chills all over, save me!"]
["Big brother, I have stone and dried grass, can I trade for flint?"]
["I have wood, boss, any flint? I can give 12 wood for it, or if you want vines I have plenty."]
["There really are ghosts in the mist, please boss lend me a flint, I promise I'll return it after I use it!"]
Countless messages nearly burst Ethan's private chat page.
"Heh! This morning, when I listed flint in the market, you all ignored me one by one; now you can't reach me?"
Before, the seller chose Ethan; now it's reversed.
He became the one choosing buyers.
From the pile of private messages, he picked out the top eight offers with the richest trade terms.
Ethan sent these people private messages individually.
Then, Ethan listed the trades on the trading channel according to their offered conditions, one by one.
[Flint -1, Stone +10, Wood +5]
[Flint -1, Vines +12]
[Flint -1, Pacific Saury +3]
[Flint -1, Fine Bracer Blueprint +1]
[...]
Soon, aside from keeping a pair of flints for himself, the other nineteen pairs of flints (including the ones he'd listed earlier) were all sold.
These last eight pairs of flint, in particular, were exchanged for a big pile of good stuff.
[Stone 10, Vines 12, Pacific Saury 3, Bamboo 20, Wood 12, Dried Grass 20, Fine Bracer Blueprint 1]
'What a haul!'
"Even tomorrow's breakfast is settled, excellent!"
But that was normal.
While Ethan was trading, the number of people in the regional chat kept dropping; now only 912 remained, nearly a hundred had died.
Those people were probably unable to relight their fires after the mist descended, and quickly perished.
The more that happened, the more panic spread among those who hadn't managed to relight campfires.
So they were willing to put everything up to trade with Ethan for flint.
Although it was just a pair of flint, it actually saved their lives.
Of course, let's hope they have enough fuel to last until morning.
As for the rest, Ethan wasn't so great; he alone couldn't save everyone.
Besides, this was a survival-of-the-fittest world, who could blame anyone?
And one more thing.
The game didn't completely leave them without a way to survive; it depended on whether people knew how to seize the chance.
At the start, everyone's grass hut contained two items.
They looked unimpressive, but they were actually very useful.
The most obvious was:
[Dry Wood(2): Can be used to make fire.]
This meant the game had left a way out at the start.
Even without flint, people could use methods like rubbing wood to make fire, or bow-drill techniques, to light a campfire.
But they either didn't notice, or couldn't do it.
Then you can't blame others.
[Water Purifier Blueprint: Stone 20/3, Wood 52/3, Charcoal 3/3, Bamboo 20/1]
"Craft!"
[Stone -3, Wood -3, Charcoal -3, Bamboo -1]
A flash of golden light and a primitive three-barrel filter appeared before Ethan.
Three half-meter tall wooden barrels were connected together, joined by a thin bamboo pipe; each barrel was filled with stones and charcoal.
[Water Purifier: Water filtered this way is the safest and most reliable drinking water, with a faint spring taste, an excellent purifier.]
[Durability 10/10. Charcoal is a consumable; when durability is used up, please replace the charcoal.]
"Huh! Quite scientific."
The system-made item even knew charcoal was consumable.
"Looks trustworthy, let's see how much fresh water a durability-10 purifier can filter."
Ethan didn't hesitate to pour the whole liter of dirty water into the purifier, then placed the barrel at the filtration outlet at the far end; before long, water started dripping out.
The originally murky water, after filtration, became crystal clear fresh water.
[Bamboo Cups(10): Bamboo (19/1)]
[Bamboo -1]
[Bamboo Cups +10]
Ethan made ten bamboo cups and drank a cup of water.
No choice, them selling individually wasn't allowed, so he had to make ten at once; extras could be sold or used as bowls and utensils.
The taste was indeed good.
The filtered water had a faint spring sweetness.
Kind of like the early bottled spring water brands, slightly sweet.
But those brands are ruined now; if it doesn't taste odd, consider yourself lucky.
Full and satisfied, Ethan was about to go to bed.
But this bed, as soon as Ethan sat on the straw bed, a bunch of dead branches stuck into him and nearly tore his backside.
"Damn! How is this bed supposed to be slept on?"
And according to the weather forecast, the temperature would hit zero tonight; with this lousy bed, if the branches don't kill you, the cold will.
'Can the bed be upgraded?'
The thought had barely formed.
A red exclamation mark popped up in front of him.
Actually these upgrades were visible in the magic book's upgrade tree, but since Ethan had the hint ability, it was more convenient.
[Crude Straw Pile: This "bed" is just a pile of straw and dead branches, barely a place to sleep, and definitely uncomfortable.]
[Level 1 Bedroom: Leave the crude straw pile behind. A soft wooden straw bed, you deserve it. Good sleep speeds up stamina recovery. Build requirements: Wood 49/4, Dried Grass 20/20, Vines 20/5]
[Wood -4, Dried Grass -20, Vines -5]
[Upgrade Successful!]
Even without materials, you have to find a way to get them.
And since he already had the necessary materials, Ethan didn't bother and quickly upgraded the crude straw pile into a soft straw bed.
A flash of golden light and a bed made of bundled dried grass appeared before Ethan.
It looked quite thick, about a dozen centimeters, and felt very soft to the touch, comparable to a normal mattress.
Ethan lay down and dozed off.
———
Waking from a short nap, he glanced at the magic book's time, it was already past midnight; time really flew.
Outside the wooden cabin, the temperature had already dropped to 0 degrees.
If you only had a campfire and no walls to block the night wind, it would be unbearably cold.
But Ethan sank into the thick straw bed and felt the temperature was just right.
Although he was less sleepy, he didn't want to leave the warm bed at all, he wanted to keep sleeping.
Stretching, Ethan thought that if he had a soft pillow, it would be even better.