0004 – Big Dream<hr>
She sat slumped on the ground, tossing the axe aside. Then, with a frustrated kick, she nudged the body of the long-tailed bear.
Opening the system panel, amidst a series of system prompts, there was also a prominent purple font.
<table style="height:96px;width:100%;border-copse:copse;color:ccff">
<tbody>
<tr style="height:24px">
<td style="width:50%;text-align:right;height:24px">Impending cold wavesting three days</td>
<td style="width:50%;padding-left:40px;height:24px">Current survival rate: 40%</td>
</tr>
<tr style="height:24px">
<td style="width:50%;text-align:right;height:24px">Please upgrade shelter as soon as possible</td>
<td style="width:50%;padding-left:40px;height:24px">Survival rate increases by 15%</td>
</tr>
<tr style="height:24px">
<td style="width:50%;text-align:right;height:24px">Please stockpile enough food</td>
<td style="width:50%;padding-left:40px;height:24px">Survival rate increases by 10%</td>
</tr>
<tr style="height:24px">
<td style="width:50%;text-align:right;height:24px">Please build a firece and have enough firewood</td>
<td style="width:50%;padding-left:40px;height:24px">Survival rate increases by 20%</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
"Ah, this is madness, a cold waveing?" Athena Ravencroftpropped her hands behind her on thewn to prevent herself from falling backward.
Who knows how many people will die after this cold wave passes. Forget worrying about others, she might not even survive herself.
"Unlock the system backpack function."
<table style="border-copse:copse;width:100%">
<tbody>
<tr>
<td style="width:100%;text-align:center">Sessfully unlocked, do you want to dismantle the long-tailed bear?</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
"Hehe, this function is great, it can even help with dismantling automatically? Dismantle!"
<table style="border-copse:copse;width:100%;height:72px">
<tbody>
<tr style="height:24px">
<td style="width:47.2727%;text-align:right;height:24px">Obtained tattered long-tailed bear hide</td>
<td style="width:52.7273%;height:24px;padding-left:40px">x1</td>
</tr>
<tr style="height:24px">
<td style="width:47.2727%;text-align:right;height:24px">Obtained long-tailed bear meat chunks</td>
<td style="width:52.7273%;height:24px;padding-left:40px">x25</td>
</tr>
<tr style="height:24px">
<td style="width:47.2727%;text-align:right;height:24px">Obtained long-tailed bear paws</td>
<td style="width:52.7273%;height:24px;padding-left:40px">x2</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
The huge body of the long-tailed bear that was originally on the ground disappeared, and her backpack was filled with many items.
Next were the free attribute points. She thought they were fixed, but unexpectedly, the system would allocate them.
Where should she allocate them? Strengthen her own expertise or fill in her shorings?
Fifty pieces of wood, does that mean she has to chop down fifty trees? With just two days, with her petite frame, she might not be able to finish chopping even if she worked to exhaustion.
"All three free attribute points shall allocated to strength!"
<table style="border-copse:copse;width:100%">
<tbody>
<tr>
<td style="width:100%;text-align:center" colspan="2">Attribute Panel</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="width:45.1515%;text-align:right">Name</td>
<td style="width:54.8485%;padding-left:40px">Athena Ravencroft</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="width:45.1515%;text-align:right">Title</td>
<td style="width:54.8485%;padding-left:40px">[ Hunter ]</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="width:45.1515%;text-align:right">Race</td>
<td style="width:54.8485%;padding-left:40px">Human</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="width:45.1515%;text-align:right">Gender</td>
<td style="width:54.8485%;padding-left:40px">Female</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="width:45.1515%;text-align:right">Strength</td>
<td style="width:54.8485%;padding-left:40px">4+0.4</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="width:45.1515%;text-align:right">Speed</td>
<td style="width:54.8485%;padding-left:40px">1.6</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="width:45.1515%;text-align:right">Agility</td>
<td style="width:54.8485%;padding-left:40px">1.8</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="width:45.1515%;text-align:right">Mental</td>
<td style="width:54.8485%;padding-left:40px">2</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<table style="width:100%;border-copse:copse;color:ccff">
<tbody>
<tr>
<td style="width:100%;text-align:center">Your strength is equivalent to two adult males! You''re a strong girl!</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
Athena happily whistled, but unfortunately, reality didn''t match her imagination.
"Pfft... " It turns out she still hadn''t learned how to whistle.
"Tsk, I''ve seen others whistle like this!"
Ignoring such trivial matters, she rolled up her clothes and found that her body hadn''t turned into a Barbie doll. But what made her happier was the feeling of increased strength. When she put her hand on her belly, she felt a defined abdominal muscle.
Not only that, the fatigue she felt just now vanished, and she felt full of energy. And indeed, when she stood up and swung the axe again, the axe, which was originally heavy for her, now felt so light, wielded by her with ease.
"I''m really a strong girl!"
Suddenly, she felt like she was starting to like this game a bit. This sense of achievement was not something you could get through ordinary means.
Walking to the tree broken by the long-tailed bear, she once again attempted to dismantle it.
<table style="border-copse:copse;width:100%">
<tbody>
<tr>
<td style="width:50%;text-align:center" colspan="2">Congrattions, obtained wood block x1</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
Still 49 trees to go, and 9 bundles of grass. Although with her current strength, she could finish within two days, but then she probably wouldn''t have any time to rest.
Once again, she opened the system''s trading panel.
<table style="border-copse:copse;width:100%">
<tbody>
<tr>
<td style="width:100%;text-align:center" colspan="2">Two kilograms of bear meat</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="width:19.495%;text-align:right">Price</td>
<td style="width:80.505%;padding-left:40px">9 units of special grass (three bundles), 2 units of wood blocks and one bottle of water</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="width:19.495%;text-align:right">Description</td>
<td style="width:80.505%;padding-left:40px">Expensive? But it''s meat! Limited stock!</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
Alright, she didn''t need to worry about food for the time being. With so much surplus food, she could exchange it for the items shecked.
With a thought, two green packages appeared immediately in her hand.
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<tr>
<td style="width:100%;text-align:center">Shining green package, containing a blueprint for a defensive turret (basic)</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="width:100%;text-align:center">Green package, containing one bright candle</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
Without hesitation, she simultaneously opened both green packages, revealing a rare and practical bright candle. And then there was this blueprint, on the ancient parchment was a drawing of a turret.
<table style="border-copse:copse;width:100%;height:96px">
<tbody>
<tr style="height:24px">
<td style="width:100%;text-align:center;height:24px" colspan="2">Defensive Turret (Basic)</td>
</tr>
<tr style="height:24px">
<td style="width:32.7273%;text-align:right;height:24px">Defense</td>
<td style="width:67.2727%;padding-left:40px;height:24px">2</td>
</tr>
<tr style="height:24px">
<td style="width:32.7273%;text-align:right;height:24px">Attack</td>
<td style="width:67.2727%;padding-left:40px;height:24px">8</td>
</tr>
<tr style="height:24px">
<td style="width:32.7273%;text-align:right;height:24px">Skills</td>
<td style="width:67.2727%;height:24px;padding-left:40px">Double damage probability 5%, fires a shot every 3 seconds</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="width:100%;text-align:center" colspan="2">Construction</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="width:32.7273%;text-align:right">Defensive Turret (Basic) Blueprint</td>
<td style="width:67.2727%;padding-left:40px">1</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="width:32.7273%;text-align:right">Wood Blocks</td>
<td style="width:67.2727%;padding-left:40px">50</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="width:32.7273%;text-align:right">Stones</td>
<td style="width:67.2727%;padding-left:40px">20</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<table style="width:100%;border-copse:copse;color:ccff">
<tbody>
<tr>
<td style="width:100%;text-align:center">With it, you can to some extent free up your hands. This is the normal tower defense game, youmand from the rear, not charging into battle!</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
Very powerful! That was Athena''s first thought. However, this made her already scarce building materials even scarcer.
But once built sessfully, the benefits would be obvious. Her chances of survival against the monsters attacking five dayster would greatly increase. If the monsters were weaker, she might even win effortlessly!
There had been too many surprises for her. So how about the reward title [Hunter] for the first kill?
Clicking on the title, the details of [Hunter] popped up.
<table style="border-copse:copse;width:100%;height:168px">
<tbody>
<tr style="height:24px">
<td style="width:100%;text-align:center;height:24px" colspan="2">[ Hunter (Equipped) ]</td>
</tr>
<tr style="height:24px">
<td style="width:32.5253%;height:24px;text-align:right">Durability</td>
<td style="width:67.4747%;height:24px;padding-left:40px">50/50</td>
</tr>
<tr style="height:24px">
<td style="width:32.5253%;height:24px;text-align:right">Level</td>
<td style="width:67.4747%;height:24px;padding-left:40px">Rare</td>
</tr>
<tr style="height:24px">
<td style="width:32.5253%;height:24px;text-align:right">Acquisition</td>
<td style="width:67.4747%;height:24px;padding-left:40px">Dropped by the first kill of the long-tailed bear</td>
</tr>
<tr style="height:48px">
<td style="width:32.5253%;height:48px;text-align:right">Title Attributes</td>
<td style="width:67.4747%;height:48px;padding-left:40px">When fighting prey, strength increases by 10%, defense increases by 5%</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<table style="width:100%;border-copse:copse;color:ccff">
<tbody>
<tr>
<td style="width:100%;text-align:center">Adjust your mindset, it''s just some struggling prey!</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
Athena couldn''t believe her eyes. The [Hunter] title might not have a very obvious effect at the moment, but as her attributes increasedter on, its enhancement would be a formidable figure.
Great, she''s got strength for work now!
She walked out of the grasnd and came to an area with many trees. Lifting the axe, she started chopping trees, each swing embedding deeply into the trunk.
Bang—bang—, bang—bang—, thud—thud—, thud—thud—
"Crack, crack."
A tree fell. Athena dismantled it and moved to another tree.
She kept chopping until three in the afternoon, when she had to reluctantly stretch her sore shoulders and waist, stopping the tree chopping. It wasn''t that she wanted to stop, but she just couldn''t bear the hunger anymore.
She put the axe back into her system backpack, opened the system panel, and refreshed the purple font.
It was quite disappointing to find that there was no prompt today about where packages had respawned.
"Sigh, I guess I can''t always rely on shortcuts, huh? Looks like I''ll have to prepare food myself honestly."
She began to look for somerger stones nearby, shuttling between her thatched house and the outside. Carrying onerge stone after another inside.
Looking at the fiverge stones she had brought over, she let out a satisfied sigh. She ced them at the end of the bed, piecing them together in a half-circle.
At this moment, she was grateful that her house leaked. The puddles formed byst night''s rain inside the room hadn''t dried uppletely yet.
Rolling up her sleeves a bit more, she began to knead the yellow soil into round balls, filling the gaps between the stones.
Under the urging of hunger, it didn''t take long before she sessfully built a very rudimentary stove. The yellow soil on top hadn''tpletely dried, so it might take until tomorrow to be fully functional.
Starving, she could only take out a piece of bear meat from her backpack. Using the axe to cut off the charred meat, she began to taste it.
With the first bite, she almost vomited. Not only was there a strong fishy smell, but it was also tough and dry, even more unptable because it hadn''t been bled properly.
She sprinkled the remaining bit of salt on it and forced herself to wolf it down.
"How could something be so disgustingly awful,pletely different from what I imagined!" Athena thought with some indignation. Originally, she thought she could enjoy a delicious meal, but it turned out to be such an ending.
When will I ever be able to live a wealthy life?
The road ahead is long.
Originally, she nned to keep the bear paws for herself, but she decided against it because she knew she didn''t have the ability to turn these two bear paws into a delicacy.
She chose to sell both bear paws to the system and sessfully obtained 20 copper coins, which were worth more than her sickle.
She could keep the copper coins and slowly check the shop at night to see if there were any heating devices she needed. After all, the nights were so boring; she had to find something to pass the time.
After sitting down for a simple rest, she began to move the stones again.
Compared to the first time building the stove, she was much more proficient the second time.
She built another one at the head of the bed, making a total of two stoves.
Now, as long as she ensured that she had enough burning materials and upgraded the shelter, she should be able to withstand the cold wave.
<table style="border-copse:copse;width:100%">
<tbody>
<tr>
<td style="width:100%;text-align:center">At 7 p.m., darkness approaches! All yers, please return to the shelter as soon as possible</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<table style="border-copse:copse;width:100%;height:24px">
<tbody>
<tr style="height:24px">
<td style="width:100%;height:24px;text-align:center">The darkness is encroaching upon the world, 10, 9, 8... 0.</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
The bright candle burned, illuminating the room brightly despite its small size.
Athenay on the bed full of hay, idly browsing through the shop.
<table style="border-copse:copse;width:100%">
<tbody>
<tr>
<td style="width:100%;text-align:center" colspan="2">[ Five kilograms of cotton quilt ]</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="width:27.0707%;text-align:right">Price</td>
<td style="width:72.9293%;padding-left:40px">3 gold coins</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<table style="width:100%;border-copse:copse;color:ccff">
<tbody>
<tr>
<td style="width:100%;text-align:center">Most cold-proof equipment, stop selling three days before the cold wave arrives! Please do not rely on the system. The system only provides guidance!</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
Athena clenched her fists in anger.
"What''s this all about? You warn about the cold waveing three days in advance, but you stop selling the items three days earlier?"
"Not only are the prices exorbitant, but you also don''t allow purchases? Does that mean I can only rely on my luck to buy things randomly?"
With such a long advance notice, nobody knew if the items bought in the system shop would be useful. This undoubtedly raised the difficulty of survival for the yers to another level.
If the system stopped selling items three days before the arrival of each scene, then they wouldn''t be able to obtain the corresponding supplies from the system shop at all.
Some people might even try to guess the next scene, buy arge amount of supplies, and then sell them at a high price, which was a kind of gambling in another sense.
There was no way to vent her anger. She could only quit this system shop, which looked very disheartening.
The regional chat channel was still lively. But what was different from before was the high frequency of her ID, "Big Dream."
<table style="border-copse:copse;width:100%">
<tbody>
<tr>
<td style="width:100%;padding-left:40px">--Has Big Dream logged in yet?
--I caught a rabbit today, envy me?
--What''s your rabbit catch? Big Dream killed a long-tailed bear! Level 5!
--Big Dream must be nning to upgrade the shelter, needing so many wood blocks and grass. I haven''t eaten anything for two days yesterday and today. Today, I forced myself to go out and get some grass. I want to exchange it for half a piece of bear meat.
--Me too, I''m not even hoping to upgrade the shelter. Just having some food is a blessing.</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<hr>
Athena didn''t expect that selling the long-tailed bear would make her a big shot.
Big Dream, not bad, she gave a thumbs up to the person who came up with this nickname. But what puzzled her was why these people didn''t go directly for the trade and instead waited for her toe online.
She focused on each profile picture and found out based on eyes and chins alone that most loudiest people on the channel are Americans and Chinese.
When she opened the trading ce, she found out that she had forgotten to enable automatic selling. This meant that she had to manually approve each trading request.
What shocked her the most was that one person requested to exchange ten units of wood blocks with her.
The ID was [ Big Bear ]?
<table style="border-copse:copse;width:100%">
<tbody>
<tr>
<td style="width:100%;text-align:center">Big Bear wants to be your friend
Yes / No?</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>