He slept straight through till morning.
In a place where outdoor exploration time doesn't exceed four hours, Ethan didn't dare sleep in.
"Haah~", Stretching lazily, Ethan reached for the magic book by his bedside and glanced at it.
[Time 6:31. Time until sunrise: 01:29]
[Temperature: Moderate. Weather: Average. Rain possible at any time, please repair the grass hut roof.]
Then, Ethan flipped open the chat channel to check.
[Regional Chat Channel]
[Online Players: 780]
From yesterday to today, 220 fewer people.
Even Ethan was a little shocked.
And the chat below had been nonstop since last night.
If not for the daily message limit per person, the chat would have easily been 999+ by now.
["I was scared to death last night. If I hadn't managed to light a fire using the wood-drilling method in time, I'd be dead! Seriously, I heard growling behind me, I swear if the fire had been lit just a little later, I'd have been taken!"]
["I had a fire, but around midnight, my wood ran low. I almost froze to death!"]
["It was worse for me, I've got a small stream outside! In the middle of the night, the water actually froze solid, and in the morning, I could hear the ice cracking, Ka! Ka! Ka!"]
["I'm so hungry! Can some boss spare a bite? I was starving all night and couldn't sleep!"]
["This damned place, I really can't stay here another day! I want to die…"]
But—
Just as Ethan finished reading that message, he saw it start to vanish, like an eraser wiping across the screen, each word disappearing one by one in reverse order.
Ethan looked again at the online number…
[Online Players: 779]
'Dead for real?'
And once someone dies, the system automatically erases all their traces.
"Too cruel!"
At that moment, Ethan truly felt the brutality of this game.
"Looks like I have to work even harder."
He decided, he'd eat breakfast early, prepare thoroughly, and once the mist dispersed, he'd rush out to scavenge for food.
While searching for anything useful, he'd also work on improving the cabin's defenses and other facilities.
Only then could he hope to live safely in this damned world.
[Pacific Saury: Tender and fatty fish meat, must be eaten quickly before it spoils. Freshness 79%. Satiety +45%.]
Originally, Ethan planned to grill just one fish, then eat some berries and nuts to fill up.
But when he saw the fish's freshness, he instantly understood, fresh food will spoil even in storage. So he had to eat it all quickly.
He threw everything on the fire.
Sizzle~
Pacific saury had quite a bit of oil.
No sooner had he started roasting it than drops of oil began to drip! drip! drip! down.
When the fat hit the glowing coals, it made sizzling sounds and released a thin stream of white smoke.
The air filled with a smoky, grilled-fish aroma.
Just the smell made Ethan's stomach growl loudly.
'So hungry!'
But waiting around wasn't helping.
Ethan decided to check on something else. He walked to the purifier to see if the water had finished filtering overnight.
After a full night of filtering—
[Drinkable Pure Water: 730ml. Slightly sweet taste, rich in minerals.]
[Water Purifier Durability: 9/10]
"Looks good."
Filtering one liter of water, counting the 170ml he drank last night, used up about 100ml in total.
From the charcoal's durability, it looked like, three pieces of charcoal could filter around 10 liters of water. Pretty cost-effective.
But he wondered how much water the purifier could process per day?
"Let's buy 5 liters and test it."
[Trading Channel]
Ethan found the same water seller from yesterday.
Opening the seller's page, he saw that the man was still selling water, now with multiple volume options listed.
[1L Fresh Water: Trade for 1 Wood]
[5L Fresh Water: Trade for 1 Meat]
[5L Fresh Water: Trade for 250g Food]
"Looks like this guy is starving."
All his water was for trading wood or food.
But that was actually his advantage, drawing water wasn't hard, and he could use it to trade for tons of other resources.
Especially early on, when players hadn't fully explored their surroundings, water was incredibly valuable.
Still, under the man's trading post were plenty of angry comments.
["You bastard, this is dirty water, not purified! I bought a liter from you last night, been on the toilet ever since!"]
["Upstairs, the guy clearly wrote fresh water, not purified! One liter for one wood, what more do you want?"]
["Purified water is at least 1 wood per 100ml, and even then it's sold out everywhere!"]
["Damn it! Sewer water or what? I've been vomiting and shitting since I drank yours, it's his fault!"]
["The seller's being honest, okay? He knows his water's not great, that's why it's the lowest price on the network! What more do you want?"]
Some cursed him out, some defended him.
But from their arguments, Ethan saw something else, a market existed.
[100ml Purified Water = 1 Wood]
And it's hard to even buy.
Meanwhile, with 1 liter of water, he could make 900ml of purified water.
His cost: 1 Wood (for buying water) + 0.3 charcoal (for filtering) = 900ml purified water.
That meant, each liter of water earned him about 7.7 wood profit.
Totally worth it.
Ethan searched "Purified Water" on the trading channel and quickly found listings.
[Purified Water 100ml = 2 Wood]
[Mountain Spring Water, guaranteed clean! Money back if you get diarrhea! 100ml = 2 Wood or 100g Food]
[Purified Water 1L = 15 Wood (Negotiable, PM me!)]
He glanced over the listings, sure enough, prices were high.
Usually, 1 wood couldn't even buy 100ml. Probably because purified water was harder to obtain, maybe it needed boiling or other processes, and the system's purity checks were strict, making it scarce.
Ethan used 4 wood and 2 vines to craft two more wooden barrels.
Then he messaged the seller.
[Ethan: "I'm out of meat for now, but I'll trade 1 Pacific Saury + 250g berries for 10 liters of water. Deal?"]
[Water Source Boss: "Deal deal deal! How much do you want, boss? If you need more, I can go fetch extra later!"]
[Ethan: "10 liters for now is fine. I might want another 10 tonight."]
[Water Source Boss: "No problem! Boss, I've got plenty of stock!Already updated the listing! (ˉ﹃ˉ)…"]
[Ethan: "OK."]
[Water Source Boss: "I'm so touched! Boss even gave grilled saury! Boss, I love you! Mwah! Mwah!"]
[Ethan: "Don't. That's disgusting."]
The water source guy's profile picture was clearly a bearded man. Je even looked like a real-life Jason Momoa.
Just imagining that burly man hugging him, saying "I love you~ Mwah! Mwah!"
Ethan nearly vomited.
He instantly closed the private chat window. If he didn't need to keep trading, he'd have blocked the guy right there.