Chapter 129: Spray and Pray

Tera eyed the system screen. ’I can’t fucking use this.’

[This system would like to inform Host that system shop items can be upgraded and enhanced using Tips]

[The hoes can be upgraded to superior construction materials]

’Well, then what are you waiting for? Let me have it! Hold on, what are tips, and why am I just hearing of this?’

Tera had a foreboding feeling.

[༎ຶ‿༎ຶ]

[Sorry]

[Skipped my mind]

’Not again! WE TALKED ABOUT THIS!!!!!’

[This skill, along with Tips, will be attainable once Tier 3 is unlocked!]

[(ᵕ—ᴗ—)]

[Stronger, more durable tools will be available!]

’And you are telling me this NOW?! When I cannot even freaking use it?!’

[ᕙ(⇀‸↼‶)ᕗ]

[This system is sharing information proactively!]

[As per our agreement!]

’YOU SILLY GOOSE!’

Tera wanted to launch the system into the sinkhole.

She purchased more hoes from the system space and distributed them. This time, she told the wolves to gently scrape and shove the blade into the limestone where the chalky and sandy substance and debris were holding the rocks together.

The wolves repositioned and started targeting the gaps between the rocks and scraping away.

But even that was painfully difficult. The crevices were narrow, and the wolves had to angle their strikes carefully to avoid hitting the main rock surface. The limestone, despite being partially eroded, was still hard enough to resist the hoes, and every misaimed strike sent another ear-splitting clang echoing through the forest.

Progress slowed to a crawl.

Tera stood back, staring at the blockage with an expression so intense that several wolves quietly edged away from her.

She was glaring at the wall of rock and debris as if it had personally insulted her family, stolen her livestock, and spat in her face.

"Is she alright?" one wolf whispered to another.

"I do not know. She looks like she wants to kill the rocks."

"Can you kill rocks?"

"I do not think so, but I would not tell her that right now."

Even Calis was stunned by how domineering she looked. He thought he had seen her angry earlier when she was facing off against Elder Greymaw, but here she really looked furious.

It was strangely attractive.

Calis shifted his thoughts before they could go anywhere else.

Meanwhile, Tera’s mind was churning through every option in the system shop when a memory surfaced.

The soil softener!

She had seen it in Tier 1 shortly after she had migrated to this plain with the others. Tera had dismissed it at the time because it cost more nipples than she had been willing to spend, and she hadn’t needed it for the Dow clan’s construction.

She suddenly felt so silly as she had another realisation.

The channel project back then could have been completed faster if she had used this darn thing!

The earth would have also been softer for the beast males to dig. Instead, she had taken the harder route, and the system hadn’t even advised her.

’Urgh!’

She had been too preoccupied with the channel lining to notice that.

Then again, spraying the soil softener on that wide an area would be inefficient and also be a waste of nipples.

Tera stared at the rocky mound in front of them. Soil was made of minerals. Limestone was a mineral. And the debris holding the blockage together was a mixture of soil, plants, and calcium deposits that had hardened over the years.

It could work here.

’System. The soil softener from Tier 1. It should work on limestone and calcium deposits, right?’

[...]

[(꒪⌓꒪)]

[That... might actually work]

’MIGHT?!’

[This system did not anticipate Host using a soil softener on mineral-ite deposits!]

[But the chemical composition suggests it would break down the calcium bonds holding the debris together!]

[This is an unconventional application!]

[(⊙_⊙)]

’I don’t care if it is unconventional! Does it work or not?!’

[Probability of effectiveness: High!]

’Good enough!’

Tera most certainly needed to know before spending a whopping seventy nipples on the item.

The small spray can materialised in her hand, and Tera fought the urge to laugh out loud and curse the system.

It was so expensive and was only as large as a medium-sized bug spray.

Just like that, seventy nipples were gone in an instant.

The cost physically pained her, and she could no longer hold back.

"Seventy nipples for a CAN?!" Tera spat, staring at the small container in disbelief. "This better freaking work!"

Every wolf within earshot froze.

Tera didn’t realise what she had said until the silence hit her.

The wolves were deeply confused.

Not a single one of them had registered the small spray can in her hand. They were far too busy processing the sentence that had just come out of the shiftless female’s mouth.

"Did she say... nipples?"

"She spent seventy of them?"

"Seventy nipples? On what? How does one spend a nipple?"

"Where does one acquire seventy nipples in the first place?"

"I have two. Is that not enough?"

"Enough for WHAT?"

"Wait. Is no one seeing what she is holding? Where did it come from?"

Calis’s face was a masterwork of controlled bewilderment. His brow was furrowed so deeply, and his mouth was pressed into a line so tight it had nearly gone pale.

He looked like a male who had decided, for the sake of his own sanity, that he was simply not going to ask any questions.

[Host has scandalised an entire wolf pack with her currency]

[ꉂꉂ◟(˃᷄ꇴ˂᷅๑)༡]

[This system is CRYING]

’I DIDN’T MEAN TO SAY IT OUT LOUD!’

[Too late!]

[The wolves will never forget this moment!]

[(≖⩊≖)]

’Hold up a minute. You were the one who gave me this currency!’

[( ͡ ͡º - ͡ ͡º )☕]

[This system has no idea what Host is talking about]

Tera’s face was burning, but she had neither the time nor the emotional capacity to explain nipple-based economics to thirty confused wolves. And she didn’t want to stress herself over this silly system.

She marched to the blockage, crouched down, and started spraying.

She hit every crevice she could reach, then sprayed liberally across the exposed rock surfaces too. The liquid seeped into the cracks and coated the limestone in a thin, shimmering film that disappeared almost immediately as it soaked into the mineral.

"How long?" she asked the system.

[One minute]

’One MINUTE? That is it?’

[That is it]

Tera stood up, turned around, and found every wolf still staring at her.

They were still thinking about the nipples.