Chapter 9: Shelter Upgrade

Chapter 9: Chapter 9: Shelter Upgrade

Shi Zhile changed her account name to "Contentment Brings Happiness" and hid her information.

Her Life Value hadn’t increased; it had actually dropped. Compared to her morning value of 98, she felt no physical changes aside from the pain in her wound.

The shelter’s level hadn’t changed, but its prefix went from "Extremely Precarious" to "Relatively Safe."

This change was likely due to installing the wooden door.

Once everything was done, she went to check the chat messages.

Many people were claiming to have seen monsters.

The most surprising thing was the total number of people in the [Chat], which had dropped from 150,000 in the morning to 139,671.

The missing numbers represented dead players.

This meant that in a single day, natural disasters and undersea monsters alone had killed over ten thousand people—and this was still during the novice protection period.

If this trend continued, with one natural disaster per day, all the players would be dead by the time the protection period ended.

’Besides, is there really only one monster in the sea?’

’Is this monster the only threat to players’ lives?’

’If a natural disaster and monsters arrived together, preventing players from going out for supplies, the monsters could come ashore and lay siege. Even if a shelter were perfectly safe, people would still die of starvation.’

A cold sweat broke out on Shi Zhile’s skin at the thought.

’I’m not going to warn the other players,’ she decided. ’I have to use this absolute information advantage to upgrade my shelter to Level 3 or Level Four during the novice protection period and trade for as much food and resources as I can.’

She still had a lot of stone. After picking through her private messages, she traded with other players for more supplies, including seventeen empty treasure chests and 500 grams of tung oil.

First, she dismantled the empty treasure chests.

[Acquired Wood x68, Iron Nails x85.]

With enough iron nails, she successfully unlocked the roof in the task hall.

[Materials Required for Roof: Wood x100, Iron Nails x60, Tung Oil x200g. Do you wish to build?]

"Yes!"

The roof became wreathed in white mist. Shi Zhile was in no mood to time it, instead finding the spring water she had traded for and drinking half the bottle.

[Spring Water (It’s such a waste to just quench your thirst with me. You rascal~ Come on, look at my other effects~):

Relieves fatigue, reduces swelling, and sterilizes. Increases Physical Strength (+10 Physical Strength / 100ml) and restores Life Value (+1 Life Value / 1000ml).]

Shi Zhile quickly checked her Physical Strength: 72/100.

She had just chugged half a bottle, which was about 150 ml.

’Might as well finish what I started,’ she thought. While keeping an eye on her Physical Strength, she took small sips, stopping the moment it hit 82/100.

’I can start shaping the boulder now.’

[Do you wish to use the Chisel and Iron Hammer to shape the boulder? This process will consume 80 Physical Strength and take five hours.]

"Do it!"

White mist rose, enveloping the boulder.

The instant the white mist appeared, Shi Zhile felt as if her very essence had been drained, leaving her without a shred of strength.

She forced herself up, moved closer to the fire, and fully exposed the wound on her hand.

She carefully poured the remaining half-bottle of spring water onto her wound. The moment the water made contact, the piercing pain vanished.

The moon and stars hung high in the sky. She lay down in her clothes and immediately fell asleep.

She slept dreamlessly through the night. In the east, the first glimmer of dawn illuminated the land.

Shi Zhile was woken by the sound of the sea. The first thing she did upon waking was to try and move her legs. Only when she felt them respond did she slowly open her eyes.

’After being bedridden for so long, to suddenly recover... it feels like a dream.’

’Good, it’s not a dream!’

The fire on the ground was still burning, casting eerie, flickering shadows all around. The first thing she did was check the wound on her hand.

Perhaps because she had cleaned it with the spring water, the wound wasn’t red or swollen. A thick scab had already formed over it.

The panel showed the time as 5:50, ten minutes to six. Summer days started early, but it was unusually gloomy here.

She looked up at the sky, only then remembering she had built a roof last night.

Thinking of the boulder she had started shaping yesterday, she eagerly looked at her panel.

[Roof construction complete. Boulder shaping complete. Shelter Level: Level 2 - A Properly Enclosed Shelter.]

[Shelter upgrade successful! Reward: Treasure Chest x1.]

[Current Technology Level: Level Two Builder (0/5, perform five more constructions to upgrade)]

[Technology Level Up Reward Issued: Coconut Tree x1, Coconuts x3 (Refreshes Daily)]

A coconut tree appeared on the virtual screen, bearing three large, round coconuts.

Shi Zhile tossed a few branches onto the fire before opening the treasure chest.

[Acquired Fortune’s Blessing.]

"Fortune’s Blessing? Does this mean my luck will be very good today?"

The system was playing dead again, something Shi Zhile had grown used to.

She stoked the fire, brightening the area, and walked toward the modified boulder.

She walked through the doorway carved into the boulder, and the space inside was noticeably larger.

The light from her torch wasn’t bright enough, allowing her to only faintly make out the pitch-black space.

’Now she somewhat regretted roofing the courtyard. It was safer, yes, but it made the inside of the stone cave too dark.’

As she was turning in a circle with her torch, a notification on her panel informed her that the stone basin was finished.

She had started building the stone basin first yesterday, but the system had automatically diverted the chisel and hammer to the shelter for the boulder modification, delaying the basin’s completion.

She took out the stone basin.

[Stone Basin: Provides constant temperature and heat insulation. Can be used to hold flames, lava, etc. (Don’t worry about how hot the flames in my belly are; as long as you wish it, you can control the temperature to whatever you desire.)]

After reading the description, Shi Zhile finally understood why Brother Volcano wanted stone.

Another notification popped up.

[Hello, Player 138138. Your backpack is full. Please handle the incoming lava from your friend ’Volcanic Eruption’ as soon as possible. The system’s temporary storage period is 12 hours, with two hours remaining. The item will be automatically destroyed upon expiration.]

The message had arrived a little after five, probably right when the stone basin was completed. By her calculations, she had about half an hour of storage time left. ℴ

She first cleared the backpack slots holding her bread, then claimed the lava.

She had to admit, ’Volcanic Eruption’ was truly generous. The lava he sent her took up a full ninety-nine stacks in her backpack.

She took out one portion and placed it in the stone basin. After adding some branches and lighting them, two sources of flame—the torch and the basin—instantly illuminated the dark space. Shi Zhile could finally see the entire cave.

The space wasn’t large; it could only fit a two-meter-wide bed.

Other than that, the cave was empty.

It was less a shelter and more just a simple cave.

Before long, the temperature inside began to rise.

Shi Zhile didn’t like the heat and was also worried about using up oxygen too quickly, so she lowered the stone basin’s temperature to its minimum setting.

Touching the stone wall, she took out her chisel. Using it like a pen, she sketched a square about a meter wide on the surface.

’This is an exterior wall. If I carve a window here, it’ll solve the lighting and oxygen problems. It faces due east, so I won’t see the sea, but it will let me know exactly when the sun rises.’