"Can't pick them all, just can't!"
Half an hour quickly passed, and Jiang Yuan found himself on the other side of a forest near a place called Jade Lake. But according to the map, he was only at the edge of this forest that stretched into the deep mountains.
He worried there might be wild beasts deeper in the forest and had to hurry to complete his tasks, which is why he didn't venture further to collect more mushrooms.
[Woodcutting Skill upgraded to Level 1, Physical Strength +5]
Returning to the roadside to chop trees, by the time the sun was in the west, a sudden flash of golden light indicated a system prompt for a skill upgrade.
"Huh? That's strange! I leveled up in less than half a day of chopping trees. Last night, I smashed so many stones, yet the Mining Skill didn't accumulate at all?" Opening his personal skills and studying for a moment, Jiang Yuan finally concluded—smashing stones last night didn't count as system-recognized mining!
After all, even cultivating farmland to grow strawberries moved the progress bar for farming skills a bit. If smashing stones counted, there's no way the progress bar wouldn't budge at all.
What's going on? Could it be that one must mine within system-specified areas to count?
He hadn't spotted any mines on the daytime map; Jiang Yuan thought he might take some time to explore and familiarize himself with the surroundings, as there might be nearby mines to mine more safely, instead of competing for territory with those monsters when the wilderness descends at night.
Even thinking with his pinky, there's no way he could win that contest!
Returning fully loaded to the yard by 5 PM, Jiang Yuan hurried into the room to synthesize a bamboo fence and wooden door at the beginner's workstation. Once they were stowed in his storage bag, he envisioned a series of somewhat rudimentary fence walls standing in the desired positions, finally installing the gate, conveniently blocking the rickety wooden bridge outside.
Sure enough, once the entire yard was fenced off, dazzling digital fireworks appeared in his view, celebrating the desolate yard's official upgrade to Level One Home!
[Main Quest: Build a Level One Home complete, rewards issued]
[Main Quest: Build a Level Two Home. Reward: Foundation Establishment Pill Formula X1]
[Quest 1: Build a basic Floating Market. Reward: Low-level Magical Treasure, Black Cloak, able to conceal aura, slightly flawed]
The system displayed a string of new quests, leaving Jiang Yuan's heart racing—completing quests would directly grant magical treasure rewards. This meant that starting from Level Two Home, he would formally interact with the cultivator community in the wilderness game!
Moreover, by establishing a Floating Market, it would be possible to sell items and trade directly in the game.
"For safety's sake, it's better not to cash out too much. There are resources here to trade out, even if it means earning a little less, steady and balanced is key, can't be too rash," Jiang Yuan firmly decided, suppressing his excitement.
Cashing out a thousand yuan yesterday wasn't much. If he sold through the market and withdrew large sums, it might be deemed the actions of a game company employee.
If it ever shut down or went offline, getting back in would be a hassle, so if unnecessary, it's best to keep accounts separate: money earned in the game should be spent in the game; resources that can be taken out should be sold for real-life use.
The Level One Home quest reward was an ornament—a thirty-centimeter-long, fifteen-centimeter-high piece, crudely carved from some unknown stone into undulating mountain ranges.
[Divine Mountain Statue: Level One Home protection treasure, can cover the entire yard range, ensuring it won't be destroyed when the wilderness descends. The weak protection barrier can resist attacks from cultivators or demon beasts below the fifth layer of Qi Refining, providing only basic protection, effective once placed, materials can be collected and upgraded at the Treasure Forging Workshop]
Riverfront Village's villagers sacrificed a large amount of resources in rituals for a divine statue that could protect the entire village, surely more potent than his Divine Mountain Statue, but it was still destroyed with a single axe blow by a player even at Level Two. This thing must be rather fragile, it's vital to guard it well.
Jiang Yuan thought it over and finally decided to place it under his bed. The straw hut was too simple and cramped, leaving no safer spot before upgrading to higher levels with better security measures. He'd try to stay as little away from the yard as possible.
Even when going out during the day to chop trees and mine, he would carry the Divine Mountain Statue in his storage bag to avoid uninvited guests stealing it while he was away!
Today around 5 AM, the storage bag seized from the Flame Rat Leader entered a five-minute countdown. Once hitting zero, it would be deemed an ownerless item, granting access to its hidden treasures.
Jiang Yuan didn't idle around waiting; he took a scythe and, as night crept in, circled behind the straw hut to carefully inspect the vine-covered cliff.
The system-granted straw hut stood three meters from the cliff, which loomed knife-sharp and towering. Looking up, he glimpsed the sheer cliff piercing golden, sunset-illuminated clouds. Verdant, lush vines enraptured and intertwined extensively, masked the cliff face. It's unknown where their roots lay, fully enveloping the cliff.
"Rustle, rustle!"
The battered scythe grated harshly against the vines but didn't even cut a leaf.
[Iron Wire Vine, requires Profound Iron Scythe for harvesting]
The system prompt popped up, clearly indicating that the troublesome vines were beyond the battered scythe's capability. Faced with unexplored mysteries blocked by the Iron Wire Vine, Jiang Yuan felt sudden disappointment.
"Forget it, forget it, better check what materials are needed to build the Floating Market." Unwillingly, he grappled for a while with the cobweb-tangled Iron Wire Vine using the scythe but eventually yielded, unable to break through.
Tool and Weapon upgrades required constructing the Treasure Forging Workshop. The Mall hadn't unlocked this building yet, so he had to proceed step-by-step as the system assigned tasks.
[Materials needed for Floating Market construction: Pine Plank *300; Wood *1000; Stone *1000; Moonlight Pearl *30; Moon in the Water *1; 3000 Gold Coins]
"Moonlight Pearl, obtained by killing Moon Pearl Birds around Wilderness Lake. Moon Pearl Birds resemble quails with fan-like wings, agile in gliding and skilled at emitting blinding flashes." Jiang Yuan clicked the details, confirming his hunch—daytime farming, nighttime adventuring and monster-fighting.
Obtaining Moon in the Water was even trickier, requiring purchasing a fishing rod from the mall to fish by the lake for a random chance of success.
As the sky darkened further, he felt exhausted after a busy day and decided to quit the game first, to eat, drink, and rest before collecting materials.
Today, having inquired from the villagers, he learned that the wilderness descends seasonally—spring, summer, autumn, winter, each lasting three months, with unique wilderness scenery differing every year, leaving the villagers unsure of the wilderness's full scale.
This meant throughout spring, Lushan would be near when the wilderness descended each day. After last night's Ice-winged Eagle wiped out the Flame Rat and seized the mine, would it also round up miners to dig?
"Fortune favors the bold, as long as I'm not annihilated by a demon beast on sight, there will surely be a chance to collapse their gang!" Jiang Yuan sat on the straw-covered wooden bed, watching the Flame Rat leader's storage bag enter a ten-second countdown, encouraging himself as he eagerly awaited viewing what treasures the big rat possessed.
[Level One Storage Bag ownerless status confirmed, items can be claimed]
The system notification was more than welcome; he unhesitatingly clicked to acquire everything.
200 Spirit Stones; 196 pieces of Spirit Stone Ore; Profound Tier low-level cultivation technique, Heaven-Burning Scripture; artifact refining material, Golden Jade... one by one, he examined them, finding everything a rarity in the early stages of the wilderness game. Finally, a yellowish strip-shaped item caught Jiang Yuan's attention, rejuvenating his spirits—a Teleportation Talisman!