Since Paquerette got her new horseshoes, she didn't trot much anymore, preferring to galop. Of course, Sandrine wouldn't object. As a result, they got a lot more chests than usual and covered more distance. Of course, it was still a lot less than people with a car, but it was still fairly good.
When night fell, Sandrine unfolded the outdoor tent, prepared the pets' feed, and set up the camp. She had eaten a lot for lunch so she wasn't really hungry, however she had said that she would treat herself better, and she would stick to her words.
She searched on the trade tab for inspiration and found a few chestnut tree leaves. Most players bought them to use as fire starters, they didn't cost much, and those who found them in chests always felt unlucky. It was the same people who found hay, pots, fertilizers, and seeds. Their luck seemed to be related to plants.
This made Sandrine smile and she bought a few. After washing them in cold water and making them dry near the fire, those leaves could be used as parchment paper for cooking.
She didn't have an oven but she had a big earthenware pot that she had found in the cookware shop in the offroad event. She figured that it would be similar.
Without any eggs or milk left, Sandrine took flour that she mixed with a bit of water and salt to make a bread dough. Then she added a few green olives from a jar she had gained as a reward, and put pieces of dough on the chestnut leaves, flattening the dough to create little flat breads, similar to patonas. She put several of them in the earthenware pot, all separated by chestnut leaves, put it in the fire, and let them sit while she continued her routine.
With everything else done, she finally turned her head towards the unclaimed rewards. Those for the popularity contest would be distributed at the start of the new day, as usual, only the rankings had been given early. However, she still had her first place rewards for the obstacle course !
Sandrine claimed them and immediately a long list of stuff filled her view. Her pupils were shaking. First place rewards surely were different, no wonder Jackalope65 and AnaïsDu33 were in the top everytime, they probably had the top 2 rewards for upgrading their vehicles from level 1 to 3 and from the outdoor event !
There was an absurd quantity of cans, jars, preserved food, biscuits, staple foods like grains, potatoes, pasta, rice, semolina, cooking ingredients like flour, yeast, salt, sugar, spices, herbs, oil, cleaning products, outfits, bedding, vehicle upgrade materials and fragments, other construction materials, various odds and ends… And of course, there were pet products, dog food, hay, and other things that Sandrine needed for her pets. All of this was enough for her to live like a king for at least a month. Adding to what she already had, and considering the expiry dates of each product, she was probably fully settled for the next three seasons. Food was not a problem at all anymore, she had enough water to wash everyday and do the cooking and cleaning as well as laundry, she even had hygiene products galore.
It was just too bad that she didn't have a roof above her head or protection against outside attacks. She wasn't even as fast as other players. She lived in relative luxury, good by normal standards, dangerously bad in a death game.
Sandrine tried her best to ignore familiar items in the list, trying to focus on new things that could somehow better her situation.
There were a few interesting blueprints. Shelf blueprint, you could fill it with various things and then put the entire shelf into your inventory, saving space. However, everytime you wanted one of the objects on the shelf, you had to take out the entire shelf, so you could only use it for non necessary things. Wood stove blueprint, a blueprint for an ancient stove, one where you stack wood logs underneath, make a fire in the middle cupboard and use it as an oven, and use the flat top as cooktops.
There was also an exclusive reward that Sandrine had never seen before, named 'Little clever's book collection'. This was a stack of about a dozen children books with bright illustrations. Appraising them with the game screen, it showed :
[Little clever's book collection : Little clever is a good child. Being smart makes him loved, so he loves learning new things ! This is a collection of his favorite books, so that another child can become a little clever too, and be more loved. Effect : ?]
Sandrine scratched her head but eventually shrugged. She could think about it later.
She spent some time organizing her inventory, creating a few shelves in order to make space, and finally nodded, watching the neat little rows of items arranged by category. Food was first on top, as always.
While waiting for the olive bread to cook, Sandrine focused on the free space of her crafting table. She wasn't idle in the mornings and evenings, everytime she had a bit of time, she would try to draw plans for various things, trying hard to create blueprints. So far, she had managed to create a blueprint for a horse blanket, but it was a bit harder to make dog clothes. The little guy was fragile and with his four legs, little tail, and small head, she had to get every measurement just right to make the plans come alive. But it seemed that tonight she would finally succeed.
Sandrine sighed in joy when she saw the blueprint list update. Creating a clothes blueprint only necessitated the original blueprint, and then you could make all kinds ! Take this dog shirt she had just made. Take the blueprint in the free space with cotton, and you have a cotton shirt ! Use tarp and you'll have a rain shirt ! Leather or fur, and it becomes a winter shirt ! She can also take the blueprint and add a hood to it, lengthening the sleeves, and she'll have a hoodie !
Once she had the first blueprint, everything could flow smoothly. Also, thanks to the game mechanics, the clothes would grow and adapt to the little one, there wouldn't be a problem of Gribouille's clothes not fitting.
Anyway, this wasn't the most important thing. Sandrine had analyzed the current situation on the server, and she was now sure that the roads would meet soon. Maybe even tomorrow. She would meet another player for the first time, and she needed to be ready to fight and defend her pets.
She had made sure to train in fighting techniques and speed everyday, stretching to better her flexibility. Her strength may be average, but her agility had reached the limits of humanity and her constitution wasn't far, specialized in healing wounds.
[Player : Sandrine Legrand
Nickname : 84jojo84
Species : Human
Vehicle : Paquerette (Select to see profile)
Job : Tamer
Health : 14
Fatigue : 79
Strength : 7 (Average human : 7)
Constitution : 9 (Average human : 6)
Agility : 10 (Average human : 7)]
She wasn't scared for herself, but for her pets. Thankfully, so far no firearms had appeared in the death game, and she knew that Paquerette had a higher constitution than her. It would be hard to hurt her, even more so with her speed. But still, Sandrine wanted to prepare.
"Let's at least cover the vital areas."
Sandrine took the horse blanket blueprint and changed it a bit. It was tighter, not covering the legs anymore, centered around the body. At the flanks and chest area, she made sure that the blanket had several layers, and in one of them she wanted to slide a thin metal sheet. In order not to hurt the mare, those places were padded with pillow stuffing and feathers. Finally, she chose leather as a fabric, asking AlphaWolf for the skin of the animals he butchered. The guy tanned every animal hide to pass time, just like he cleaned the feathers.
Even if there wasn't a thick protection everywhere, at least leather would serve as a protective layer.
When she finished designing it, Sandrine crossed her fingers. There was a brief pause, and then… The blueprint list updated.
"Yes !"
There was now a 'Simple horse armor blueprint' added to the list.
"Thank goodness… Let's do the same with my baby !"
She went back to the free space and took out the dog shirt blueprint, modifying it similarly. Now both her pets had some kind of protection against fatal attacks.
"I'm the best, I'm so strong and clever !"
Sandrine did a quick happy dance and then finally relaxed. With the tamer's pitchfork that boosted her strength and constitution when fighting, as well as her leveled up pets wearing armor, she didn't fear the other players. Well, no, she did fear them, but she thought that even if she got injured, it would be hard for her to die.
"Okay, now that that's done, let's check out the food."
She came towards the camp fire and took out the big earthenware pot from the flames, looking inside. All the little breads, as big as a hand, had turned a nice golden brown color. They were the same size of the loaves given by the game in the wooden chests, except they had olives.
Sandrine loved olives. It only occurred to her now, smelling the aroma of cooked bread and green olives together. She didn't know it before thanks to her strange amnesia, but now she was sure of it. She loved olives.
"Do I come from the south east of France, near Italy ? There are a lot of olive trees over there. No, I'm sure I've never been in the 84 department and it's in the south east, I wouldn't be so sure I've never visited if I lived close to it…"
Then maybe she was an exception. Like those who loved crêpes and galettes but had never been to Bretagne, or those who like corsican cheese but never visited the island. She was just a girl who liked olives.
She took the bread off her improvised oven and waited for a bit for it to cool down before taking a piece. She gently peeled off the chestnut leaf from the bottom, ignoring the small pieces that had crumbled and were stuck to the bread. It wouldn't kill her to eat it.
Taking a bite immediately filled her mouth with warmth. It wasn't only because it was still very hot inside, but also because the taste was so different from the bread provided by the system. Those loaves were so standard, as if computer generated, the most bread of all bread, with a taste so basic it seemed unrealistic. But this patona tasted like warmth, happiness, and a little bit of clumsiness. It was good and stuffed with feelings.
Sandrine bit again and an olive burst under her teeth, the juices hitting the cooked dough and giving it a salty sweetness. It was really some good bread. She finished it in a few bites and sighed in satisfaction.
She had a dozen of those small breads. If carefully wrapped in a cloth, it would keep for a few days, it was just enough to eat as snacks or as bread during meals.
After putting the bread in her inventory and cleaning up, Sandrine finally went to sleep.
The next morning, while keeping her usual morning routine, she also made sure to equip her pets. Each had their own little armor put on, and Sandrine stretched widely. Once everyone was ready and had eaten, Sandrine jumped on Paquerette's back, and the dreaded announcement arrived with its usual buzzing sound.
[Players who didn't reach the required mileage will disappear]
[6,643 players enter the 9th day]
[Congratulations on entering the 9th day]
[You have ranked 3rd in the popularity contest event, congratulations ! Rewards have been sent to your inbox]
[First welfare event completed, opening the welfare rankings]
[Required mileage for today : 90km]
[Time left for the newbie protection period : 6 days]
[Today is an event day !]
[Event : Double roads]
[Randomly, two players' roads will meet]
[Everytime two roads meet, there will be a chest on each side]
[This event will last 2 days. After the event is over, the double roads will stay as a random possibility for the rest of the game]
[There are 2 days left for this event. Enjoy !]
"The double roads… Shit !"
As she had guessed, people could now meet each other. Sandrine could guess that today would be a blood bath.
She tied her vest as a kangaroo pouch on her belly and scooped Gribouille inside. Since he had leveled up, she had let him walk around and do his thing, but today she preferred to have him as hidden as possible. Paquerette could fight or run away, Gribouille didn't have as many options if faced with an enemy.
Sandrine was very curious about those welfare rankings, but she didn't dare check it out. If she was distracted and missed the double road, the other player could take her by surprise.
Her hyper vigilance tired her quickly, but Sandrine didn't relax. Most of the day went peacefully, Paquerette kept galloping, Sandrine kept opening chests, until at one point the mare was still moving forward, but the girl saw something strange.
On her right side, the black mist seemed to be getting thinner.
Sandrine felt Paquerette tensing under her, her animal instincts screaming that danger was approaching.
The mist thinned and thinned, until another road appeared to their right, merging with their already big infinite road to form a path as big as a highway. Far ahead, on each side of the road, Sandrine could see a chest. But not a wooden one, no. A metal chest.
It would surely provoque the players' greed.
Sandrine clenched her teeth and took out the tamer's pitchfork. Then she heard a sound from afar, slowly coming closer. It was both familiar but also foreign, as if she hadn't heard it in a long time. It took a while, until the sound was almost on her, for Sandrine to remember.
An engine.
Then, poking out of the thin mist, appearing on the road, she spotted it. It was a big vehicle, long and thick, with a window on the side. Probably an RV. But it was also in a bad state, rusted, with pieces of metal missing and flat tires. The bumper was scrunched up, and one of the windows was broken. Also, it was slower than the galloping Paquerette.
Sandrine relaxed slightly. They had only been in the game for less than 10 days, rust couldn't have formed in such a short time. So this meant that the RV had been in this state since the beginning. This was a level 1 vehicle.
She glanced inside and met panicked eyes. The guy was absolutely terrified.
"Looks like it's our lucky day !"
Sandrine leaned forward, Paquerette accelerated and stuck to the side of the road, keeping an eye on the RV. The vehicle had naturally gone to the other side, eyeing the group with vigilance.
When the mare reached the chest, Sandrine grabbed the horse basket as handles, and leaned to the side, touching the chest with her fingers to send it to her inventory, not allowing Paquerette to stop.
This made her fingertips crash against the metal, sending pain signals all over her arm, but Sandrine didn't flinch, she sat up and leaned forward again, glancing towards the vehicle. The man had slowed down and was approaching the other chest. Fighting for resources didn't make sense at this point, so Sandrine just encouraged Paquerette to keep going, and they galloped until the roads separated, the thin mist growing thicker again, and Sandrine went back to her own infinite road.
Only then did she relax. She was really lucky today.