Chapter 4: The Purpose of the Stone

Chapter 4: Chapter 4: The Purpose of the Stone

The more Shi Zhile scrolled, the more bitter she felt. Other people’s islands were full of water, wood, or even fire, while her poor island had nothing but stones, and more stones.

The branches she’d painstakingly gathered could only be used as firewood.

If she couldn’t find anything to trade soon, she was afraid she’d have to resort to chewing on rocks.

She followed the trend and posted a message.

[Player 138138: I have stones. Looking to trade for supplies. Water and food are my priority. Limited quantity, first come, first served.]

She piled all the stones and branches from her backpack into a corner and headed due south toward the sea.

The game started you off with a raft, and she wanted to see just how dilapidated the Level One raft was. At the very least, she needed to know how much wood it would take to fix it.

The sun beat down on the sea, causing the wild grass in the rock crevices to wilt.

As she reached the beach, she could see the raft up close.

The raft was parked on the beach, pieced together from a few thin logs.

It was battered and old, looking like it was on its last legs and about to fall apart.

She stepped onto it and jumped a couple of times. With a CRACK, the middle log snapped.

[Raft: Level One Dilapidated Raft (Too bad you broke me~ To fix me, you’ll need three logs and a piece of rope. You can only set sail once I’m repaired~~)]

Shi Zhile laughed in exasperation. "...These days, even rafts are trying to pull scams. Times must be really tough."

’Besides, I clearly only broke one log. Why does it need three to be fixed?’

’This raft is so shameless!’

She hadn’t found a water source, and now she needed wood. This just made her already poor "household" even worse off.

Shi Zhile resignedly opened the [Trading Hall].

[100g of salmon for 600ml of purified water]

[300ml of purified water for 20 logs.]

[300ml of spring water for 5 packs of compressed biscuits. You must provide your own bottle.]

There were three listings in total. The items were all expensive, but every single one was something Shi Zhile needed.

Messages were flooding the [Chat] screen one after another. Shi Zhile glanced at it just as she was about to exit.

[N: Need stones. DM me if you have any....]

’Talk about a timely rescue.’ Shi Zhile found a clean rock to sit on and opened her private messages.

[Player 138138: Buddy, I’ve got stones. What are you trading?]

The other party replied quickly.

[N: Wood or water, is that okay? I need a lot.]

[Player 138138: I don’t have many at the moment. One stone for one log, or one stone for a bottle of water.]

[N: I’ll trade you five logs for five stones. Also, one bottle of water for two stones.]

[Player 138138: Deal!]

As if afraid she’d back out, the other person immediately sent a contract. Shi Zhile read it carefully, and after confirming there were no issues, she signed it.

Looking at the stones scattered everywhere, she wasn’t sure which ones to send him, so she just asked if he wanted large or small ones.

[Player 138138: Buddy, my stones come in different sizes. Which kind do you want?]

She picked up two stones that weren’t too large, placed them on the sand, and took a picture for him, sending it along with the item descriptions.

[Stone: Large Stone, approx. 220 lbs (An important material for shelters. I’m no pebble; I’ve got brawn and brains!)]

[Stone: Small Stone, 22 lbs (I’m not like those clumsy big rocks. Don’t underestimate me! If we go head-to-head, you’ll be the one to crack, not me.)]

[N: ...The big, squarish ones.]

The person on the other end sent the wood and water over directly, and Shi Zhile selected the stones and sent them as well.

Once both sides confirmed there were no issues, the contract was finalized, and the items appeared before her.

[Received Wood ×5, Water ×1.]

Just as the contract concluded, Zhile received another private message.

[Frozen: Hey man, how many stones do you have? I’ll trade you ice blocks for them. Please, you have to trade with me! I need to smash some mutant penguins.]

Shi Zhile replied: [I have both small and large stones. What’s your offer?]

[Frozen: My ice blocks are 22 lbs each and can’t be split. I want small stones. One block of ice for 500 stones.]

Shi Zhile: "..."

[Player 138138: You might as well just go rob someone.]

’A 22-pound block of ice would yield 10,000 ml of water at most. If you divide that into 300ml bottles of purified water, that’s not even 34 bottles.’

’Water is rare, sure, but as long as you have a filter or a distiller, you could have an endless supply of drinking water from the ocean.’

’But the stones on this Stone Island are finite. Every one she used was one she couldn’t get back.’

’Trading 500 stones for what amounts to 33 bottles of purified water? Even if she wasn’t short on stones, she would never make that trade.’

’Besides, she wasn’t the one in a life-or-death situation.’

[Frozen: 450 stones. That’s my lowest offer. My ice is edible.]

[Player 138138: My stones are an important material for building shelters and can also be used as weapons. For a 22-pound block of ice, the most I can give you is 100 stones.]

[Frozen: ? Are you serious? You can drink water. Can you eat your stones when you’re hungry? 300 stones is the minimum. If you won’t trade, forget it. I’ll go find someone else.]

Shi Zhile simply didn’t reply.

She had all the wood she needed now, but to fix the raft, she still needed rope.

Looking at the broken raft, Shi Zhile started taking it apart.

She first carefully removed the rope, making sure it remained intact, then replaced the logs and reassembled the raft.

After fiddling with it for over an hour, dismantling and reassembling it, she finally managed to rebuild the raft, consuming twenty stamina points in the process.

The good news was that she didn’t need a new piece of rope. The bad news was that it had taken all five logs.

Another piece of good news was that the raft was now very sturdy; it didn’t break even when she jumped on it with all her might.

[Raft: Sturdy Level 1 Raft (I’m sturdy! As long as you don’t overload me, I won’t take you to feed the sharks~)]

[Congratulations, Player 138138! After repairing the raft with two extra logs through a process of repeated disassembly and reassembly, you have earned the unique server-wide title "Handicraft Old Six" and unlocked a Passive Skill.]

[Passive Skill: Any item you repair has a 0.01% chance of being upgraded to a level between 1 and 8.]

Shi Zhile was stunned for a moment. At first, she was happy about the chance for a massive upgrade, but then she remembered the probability.

0.01%???

While it was still early and there were no large waves, Shi Zhile checked the weather. Seeing that the sea was calm, she took the raft out to fish.

There were no fish in the shallows. As the raft automatically headed for the deep-sea area, Shi Zhile decided to open the [Chat].

[Grandma Wolf’s Kotaro: Everyone, whatever you do, don’t go into the deep-sea area to wash up. If you’re fishing, it’s best not to leave your raft. There are man-eating sharks in the water, and they drain your Life Value like crazy.]

[Player: Holy shit, I caught a fish! A huge one! Does anyone know what this is? [Image] [Image]]

[Jiang Yuxing: Everyone, stockpile supplies as quickly as possible. If you can, when you build your shelter, dig down and lay a stone foundation. That’s all I’m going to say. Believe it or not, it’s up to you.]

[Let the Wind Blow: ??? What does that mean? Are there going to be typhoons in the future?]

[Player 13444: Stones? Where am I supposed to get stones on a Desert Island? Then again, a huge storm in the desert would be a sandstorm, wouldn’t it!]

[Player: What do I do if I don’t have stones? Is anyone on a Stone Island? Speak up!]

[Jiang Yuxing: If you don’t have stones, do everything in your power to make your shelter sturdy. This is a matter of life and death for players. One more reminder: the novice protection period is the best time for players to stockpile supplies and build shelters. During this period, go out to sea as much as possible.]