After receiving the fishing rod, Zachary Pierce quickly packed the items he had just mentioned into a Gift and sent it over.
At the same time, he couldn't help but add a reminder, "Don't trust others so easily."
Faye Yardley couldn't help but laugh when she saw his message. 'Does he think I'm some naive, sweet little thing?' If she hadn't read the book and known he was an upright person, and if she hadn't wanted to gamble on the accuracy of the book's information with a single fishing rod, she would never have done something so reckless.
Just as she thought, he was the "good guy."
"Thanks for the reminder. I know. I only gave it to you first because it was you."
Zachary Pierce's brow furrowed slightly. The name was completely unfamiliar to him. "You know me?"
Faye Yardley didn't keep him in suspense. "My brother is Ethan Yardley. I've heard him mention you occasionally."
After that, she paid Zachary Pierce no more mind. She had a pile of messages to go through.
'When did the trading system come out?'
'I can't seem to remember. But it definitely exists later on.'
'Probably right after the novice period.'
Instant noodles and mineral water were definitely hot commodities right now. So even though people knew she wanted upgrade materials in exchange, plenty of them were still scrambling to trade with her.
Of course, among the flood of messages, there were also quite a few from people who were hoping to get something for free.
She blacklisted all the freeloaders. She had no intention of ever dealing with people like that in the future.
Right now, she was 38 pieces of wood short of upgrading her raft to a Level 3 Raft. However, she also needed to craft a wooden fence and build a Wooden House.
'Why does it feel like the demand for wood is getting bigger and bigger?'
In the end, after some careful selection, she traded away 8 bottles of mineral water, 4 packs of instant noodles, 1 bottle of cola, and 2 steamed buns. In return, she received stones x45, wood x219, iron blocks x20, Crystal x1, and a Space Stone x1. The haul was nothing short of bountiful.
"System, upgrade raft."
[Raft Upgrade (Level 3): wood x331/150. Upgrade conditions met. Upgrade?]
"Yes."
A white light flashed, and the sound of hammering and sawing rang out for thirty seconds. As expected, the raft not only expanded but could also be freely reshaped.
A 5x6 raft, thirty square meters. She still needed to set aside 150 wood for the Wooden House, which left her with 31 wood for the fence.
[wooden fence: Use 2 wood to obtain one 1-meter-long, 0.5-meter-high section of fence.]
To completely enclose the Level 3 Raft with a fence, she would need a total of 22 meters of fencing, which required 44 wood.
It didn't seem like a lot, but she also had to keep some food and water for herself.
She was now just one stone short of building the Wooden House. Perhaps after the Wooden House occupied one end of the raft, she would need less fencing.
She had used up all her channel messages for the day. Her friends list was composed entirely of people she had just traded with.
After thinking it over, Faye Yardley clicked on Zachary Pierce's profile. "Mr. Pierce, do you have any more stones? I'm short one."
The sky had completely darkened by now, and Faye Yardley could feel the temperature dropping.
She desperately needed a Wooden House.
With her current physical condition, she was afraid that spending a night out in the open like this would cause her to catch a cold, affecting her ability to fish for treasure chests the next day.
Receiving no reply, Faye Yardley started scrolling through the regional channel, wanting to see if anyone was still looking to trade.
For example, trading iron blocks for stones, or something like that.
Many people were talking in the regional channel. It seemed that besides watching others chat, there was nothing else to do on this silent sea where everyone was alone. Fear enveloped them all.
[Wade Warren: Everyone, look at the player count in the bottom left of the regional channel. The number is starting to go down. Has anything strange happened to any of you?]
Faye Yardley took a look. Sure enough, the full one million players was no longer a complete number. Although the gap didn't look large, the count had already dropped by over three hundred people on the first day of the novice period. She wanted to know why, too.
'I'm so weak, yet I'm still alive and well. Why did the others die?'
'Could it be they were already critically ill to begin with?'
DING-DONG~
She received a Gift from Zachary Pierce. After opening it, she found stone x1 inside.
"Thank you, Mr. Pierce! If you need anything, just let me know. If I have it, I'll give it to you."
Zachary Pierce: "No need to be so polite. Ethan's sister is my sister."
Faye Yardley chuckled. 'This is no time for pleasantries.' She immediately used the materials on hand to build the Wooden House.
The same white light and clattering construction sounds appeared, but this time, it took a full minute to finish.
A small 3x4 Wooden House appeared before her eyes.
Even better, she could move the small Wooden House anywhere on the raft through the system panel.
She placed it against one end of the raft. This way, the 3-meter and 4-meter sides wouldn't need a fence.
That meant she needed exactly 15 meters of fencing, and she even had one piece of wood to spare.
'So nice!'
She entered the Wooden House. It was completely empty inside, but no matter how bare, the temperature was definitely much warmer than outside.
Just then, a DING sounded, followed by a system prompt: [Tool Workbench can be unlocked. Unlock?]
"Yes."
'That sounds like something good. I'll unlock it first and figure it out later.'
A table with tools on it materialized in a corner of the house.
'As expected, a game world defies all logic.'
Walking over to the workbench, Faye Yardley took out the blueprints.
[High Level Fish Spear crafting blueprint and Basic Iron Axe blueprint discovered. Input?]
"Yes."
After a flash of light, Faye Yardley saw that the workbench could now craft the High Level Fish Spear and the Basic Iron Axe. Of course, they required materials, but this meant she could mass-produce them as long as she had the resources.
She checked the materials needed for the Basic Iron Axe: iron block x2, wood x1.
Next to it was a green "Craftable" button.
Faye Yardley tapped it without hesitation.
The raw materials were consumed, and a shiny new Basic Iron Axe appeared on the workbench.
She picked it up and swung it twice, only to feel her arm get a little sore. 'Oh, great. The game is mocking my physical fitness and Strength, is it?!'
Looking closely at the Iron Axe, she discovered it even had durability: 70/70.
She then checked the materials for the High Level Fish Spear: iron block x5, Crystal x1, wood x2. A red prompt to the side indicated "Insufficient Materials."
"It even needs a Crystal? Thankfully, I have one."
'Damn it, I'm short on wood again. I don't just need it for the fish spear; I'll need it for a wooden bed later, too.'
'I can't really wield the Iron Axe myself, but I can trade it for other things. I don't know about others, but Zachary Pierce will definitely need one, right?'
So, she naturally found his profile and poked him. "Mr. Pierce, Basic Iron Axe.jpg. Need it?"
He replied instantly, "Yes. Name your price."
Faye Yardley thought for a moment before replying, "wood, Crystals, iron blocks, furniture blueprints—anything like that will work. But the trade has to include wood."
Suddenly, she remembered that there seemed to be a one-time Dungeon experience opportunity during the novice period, and you could form a team for it.
Faye Yardley sent the Iron Axe over in a Gift and then said, "Mr. Pierce, if a Dungeon event happens in the next few days, team up with me and bring me along. Deal?"