The rest of the day was surprisingly peaceful. After burning down a whole industrial park, what was a measly walk on a road ? Moreover, now Sandrine had riding pants, so her thighs were nicely cushioned when Paquerette came to a trot.
They gathered a few chests, not a lot but enough to be satisfied. Since yesterday, Sandrine had neatly separated the chests from the road and the chests from the offroad event, so she knew which would contain dangers and which would be safe. When they decided to stop around 8pm, she lined up all of yesterday and today's road chests and opened them one by one. She didn't have arms, but she had vicious kicks as well as two powerful pets. The chests' dangers weren't a big deal at all.
It was quite easy, almost cheating.
She sent the corpses to AlphaWolf and then looked inside the chests. As expected, there were only a few basic supplies, mostly bread and water as well as a few miscellaneous things. She didn't rely on the road chests anymore, so she just threw everything in her inventory, intending to trade most of it.
Then came the offroad chests, and that was a more interesting event !
She had 5 of them that her colorless gang had gathered today, as well as the golden one. Following the 'best for last' principle, she started with the wooden chests.
First one, a dud.
[vehicle fragment x35, metal x40, plastic x15, glass x7, electric component x1…]
"I saw people on the server chat share the upgrade materials needed to level up a vehicle. If I remember correctly, all those things are enough to take a car from level 1 to level 3 !"
This was an incredibly good reward ! At least, it would have been if Sandrine had a normal vehicle. But with Paquerette, she had absolutely no use for all of this.
"At least I can trade this for useful stuff…"
Sandrine sighed and put the materials on the side, then opened the next chest. This time, she had a bit more luck.
[Fever reducer x2, bandage x2, antidote x2, health booster x1]
There were a few small cardboard boxes, with unidentified medicine in them. Sandrine used the game screen to appraise them and was shocked.
[Fever reducer : Lowers immediately a fever. After one hour, the body temperature goes back to normal. Prevents any more fever for 12 hours after ingestion]
[Bandage : Immediately stops the bleeding from a wound. Accelerates the wound's healing speed by 10 for the next 12 hours]
[Antidote : Immediately eliminates toxins entering the body. Prevents further poisoning for the next 12 hours]
[Health booster : Immediately adds 50 points of health, curing all ailments necessary to reach the new value. Usable only once a season]
Sandrine gasped. This wasn't just a small reward, it was an entire treasure ! All those medicines were fast acting and highly efficient, able to keep her in shape during an emergency. If her evolved splinters were great for passive recovery, those medicines were made to be taken in action, when she couldn't wait to be cured.
Sandrine would always prefer to endure a bit of pain to ensure her stats go up, but she wouldn't hesitate to take those medicines if the situation was dire. She couldn't possibly die and leave her pets behind.
Anyway, this was great ! Even if the other chests didn't contain much, she would be satisfied.
At least that's what she told herself. Because when she opened the next chest, she couldn't help but feel sour.
[Chest detector]
It was such a useful thing ! This thing was made to be attached to a vehicle, and would send a signal when it would get closer to a chest. This allowed the driver to focus on the road, not having to strain their eyes looking for chests outside. It would also allow the player to drive faster, since they would be notified when there was a chest nearby, they didn't have to slow down and keep looking.
To sum up, this was amazing.
Great.
But this was not a portable GPS, this was an electronic module that had to be attached to a vehicle. So, once again, not for Sandrine.
"I'm starting to feel really tired…"
She might joke about it from time to time, but the feeling of being targeted really made her sick. She didn't like the feeling of being made fun of. The Gods might be having a blast seeing her struggle.
"Forget it, let's open the next one."
[Flour 5kg x4, cooking oil 1L x3, cow milk 1L x2, egg x6]
Seeing the content, Sandrine couldn't help but jump in surprise.
"Crêpes !"
She ran to Paquerette.
"I got everything needed to make crêpes ! Oh gosh, I can't believe it, I can make crêpes !"
Sandrine made a little happy dance, clapping joyously her heels.
"That's so good ! Really, it was a good idea to explore the offroad today !"
Technically, crêpes might be more trouble and less nourishing than cans, but the idea of cooking her own meal made Sandrine really happy. She had no memory about why she knew how to make crêpes, but the moment she saw the ingredients, she knew she liked it. She loved it, even ! It was one of her comfort foods.
"Great, so great ! Okay, let's open the last chest."
No matter what was inside, she would be happy.
However, when she opened it, her expression turned peculiar.
"It's… A saddle, right ?"
She should have been overjoyed, but there was a small issue.
[Sidesaddle]
A sidesaddle, or Amazone saddle, is a saddle made to sit sideways, created for ladies who wore dresses and couldn't possibly sit astride a horse. It has two small leather flaps on the side to help secure the legs.
It was indeed a saddle. But it was not the one Sandrine wanted. She was conflicted.
"On one hand, it might be more comfortable than sitting directly on Paquerette's back, but on another hand this is less comfortable than a real saddle and offers less freedom, less balance… If I have to fight while on a horse, an enemy can easily knock me down while I'm on a sidesaddle, but it would be much trickier if I am on a normal saddle, with my legs on each side."
It might be better than nothing comfortwise, but practically, Sandrine would fare better without it.
"Those dogs… Did they do it on purpose ?"
Sandrine, gritting her teeth, turned and met Gribouille's eyes. Immediately, her anger melted like snow in the sun.
"I wasn't talking about you. You're not a dog, you're my son."
She made sure that her baby wasn't mad before she looked at everything she had pulled out of the chests.
"I guess there's really nothing to keep except for the medicine and the food… It's a bit disappointing, somehow."
Sandrine sighed. She couldn't do anything about the game's favoritism.
Anyway, now that she was done with the wooden chests, she turned to the golden one. She had a lot of hope for it, since it was based on what she needed.
"Open sesame !"
She undid the latch, lifted the lid, and…
[Crafting table, Tamer's pitchfork]
There was a lot less than in yesterday's golden chest, but the quantity had made way for a higher quality.
"Finally I got the crafting table !"
Previously, Sandrine had gained a blueprint for horse baskets, but this required a crafting table to make. Now that she had one, she couldn't be happier.
Sandrine took out the crafting table and put it on the ground. Immediately, a wooden table appeared. It didn't look like any magical furniture, it was just a working table with a few drawers, but when the girl touched it, her game screen opened.
[Craft - Disassemble - Free space]
Sandrine first touched 'Craft'. Then, a list of blueprints appeared in front of her. Those were very basic tools, like a stone axe, an iron pot, or a wooden stool. Nothing grand, just a few useful things. However, at the bottom, she could add owned blueprints to the list. She did it immediately, and the horse baskets appeared in the list, as well as the materials required.
"Wood, leather, straw, metal… It doesn't require much. Are inventory spaces so easy to make ? Well, I guess it's still less practical than the backpack, since it can't be linked to me or become invisible, and I can't send things to the horse basket just by touching them. In a way, it's just a replacement for a car's trunk."
Then, Sandrine chose 'Disassemble'. It allowed her to put in any object she didn't need, and obtain crafting materials out of it. For example, she could break an empty wooden chest herself and get a few broken planks, or she could use the crafting table to disassemble it and get intact wooden planks as well as a few pieces of metal. Very useful.
The last option, Free space, was something Sandrine would have to ponder. In short, it could create blueprints based on her technical drawings. If she had an idea for an object and designed it entirely, if her input was precise enough, it could create a new blueprint. This also allowed her to put in random materials and see if a blueprint could be created based on them. Very useful, but this would take a bit of time and technical skills.
Anyway, the crafting table was good news, Sandrine was very pleased.
The other thing that was in the golden chest, the Tamer's pitchfork, was intriguing. It looked just like her broken pitchfork, except it glowed slightly in blue, like the evolved splinters. It looked magical.
Sandrine appraised it with the game interface.
[Tamer's pitchfork : Exclusive to the Tamer's job. Linked to the player, evolves with them. When wielding it, Strength +2, Constitution +1. When taking care of pets, Agility +3]
When fighting with it, Sandrine would get stronger. When using it to take care of pets, she would get faster. And more than that, this was a weapon that was linked to her just like her backpack, able to be made invisible and then summoned back when needed, always on hand ! This was just great.
"I'm quite lucky, all things considered ! Well, I would have preferred a more aggressive weapon, like a sword or a chainsaw, but I guess I can't be picky…"
She now had a linked weapon that would evolve with her, that was good enough.
Sandrine took a deep breath. She was quite satisfied. The game was clearly targeting her, but she had managed to survive until now even without a vehicle, and faced enemies way stronger than her. She wasn't about to give up now.
"Okay, now that those things are done, let's check out one last thing !"
Sandrine had gained quite a few rewards by having her vehicle evolve, but she hadn't claimed any of them because she was too busy with her miserable survival life. Now that she was in a good mood, she finally opened her inbox.
[Congratulations on upgrading your vehicle to level 2, you are the 8th player to do so on your server. Open the rewards ?]
This message was from when Paquerette leveled up after hitting the night monster to protect Sandrine. The girl pressed 'Open'.
[Rewards : Foldable toilets, Macaroni pasta 1kg x5, 1L water bottle x5, vehicle fragment x5]
Those were good rewards. Nothing incredible, but it was only a level 2 reward where she had taken 8th place, so she didn't expect much in the first place.
Sandrine then turned to the other messages.
[Congratulations on upgrading your vehicle to level 3, you are the 2nd player to do so on your server. Open the rewards ?]
[Congratulations on upgrading your vehicle to level 4, you are the 1st player to do so on your server. Open the rewards ?]
Both had been received when Paquerette had fought with the pack of dogs during the first day of the offroad event. The mare had gone up two levels that day. It was one of Sandrine's biggest advantages having a pet rather than a vehicle : She didn't need materials to level it up, only experience. But this too was a rare ressource, she had to find dangerous monsters for Paquerette to fight, small critters weren't enough anymore.
Anyway, she opened both rewards.
[Rewards : Water purificator Blueprint, spaghetti pasta 1kg x10, flour 1kg x5, pesto jar x2, 1L water bottle x10, vehicle fragment x20, metal x10, wood x10, rubber x5, glass x5, plastic x5]
[Rewards : Portable stove Blueprint, random clothing set x3, toiletries set x2, potatoes 5kg x5, ratatouille can, cassoulet can, coq au vin can, veal blanquette can, corn can, green beans can, salt 1kg x2, 1L water bottle x10, vehicle fragment x40, metal x20, wood x20, rubber x10, glass x10, plastic x10, electric component x1, straw x5, dog food 1kg x5, hay 1kg x20]
At least the rewards were decent compared to before. And it looked like the 1st place rewards were somewhat personalized, as evidenced by the presence of dog food and hay. This was good to know !
"I should make sure to level you up thoroughly !"
Sandrine laughed, but she couldn't really act on it. Currently, there weren't any enemies that Paquerette could fight. For both offroad bosses, the llama and the spider, Sandrine could do nothing but run. They might have ended up dead, at least she knew the llama was, but since she didn't really land a blow, there was no experience awarded.
A bit sad, but understandable.
Anyway, the other players wouldn't be able to catch up so soon. There might be hidden experts amongst the players on this server, but even for them it would be hard to gather all the materials needed to upgrade a vehicle to level 4 on the 5th day, let alone level 5. Sandrine still had a bit of time.
She looked at the time, it was already 8:50pm. Night would fall in 10 minutes.
"I guess it's time for the reveal !"
Contorting herself, she cautiously undid the splinters on her arms, revealing slightly bluish skin with shades of yellow. The bruises had faded a lot, almost gone, and her joints weren't swollen anymore. Even the nails on her hands had started to grow back, small and revealing tender skin underneath, but still mostly healed.
The bigger part was still to come. Sandrine crouched and undid the ankle splinter. Underneath, the skin was all thin, tender, pink, and there were still scabs in some places, but she was able to put some weight on it without any issue.
"That's great ! Starting from now I can spend my day normally and put on the splinters at night !"
This would accelerate her healing speed while still allowing her to be somewhat useful during the day.
With her body finally free to move, Sandrine wanted to run around and dance like a happy child, but she couldn't. She still had to take care of her pets.
"Okay, celebratory feast for everyone !"
She had everything needed to make crêpes, she wasn't about to pass on the opportunity ! But first, she had to clean up everything and set up camp.
She was starting to get used to this survival life, finding joy in her achievements and comfort in her companions.