Chapter 137: Time Dilation

I had intended to slowly accumulate favorability points and perform a ten-pull draw once I reached the Qi Refining stage. But now, my hands are itching; I want to try a few pulls. The addiction to gacha is truly hard to kick.

"Liuliu, is the favorability cost for draws after reaching level 41 the same as it is now?"

"Levels 1-30 require 10 favorability points per pull; levels 31-40 require 100 points. As for level 41, you’ll find out once you reach it."

Should I test the waters with one pull now? And save the rest for when I hit level 41?

"How can I get what I want on the first try? Is there anything I can sacrifice to make it work?"

"Next time you pull, you can try saying out loud what you are sacrificing."

Yun Qing asked skeptically, "Really?"

Liuliu lay on the ground, eyes closed. Even a dog wouldn't believe her, but she had no other choice.

If saying it out loud makes it work, then it doesn't matter if it's true or not! The temptation to get exactly what I want is too great. Even if it's just for one try, I want to test it.

She took a deep breath, and inside the villa, she shouted, "I sacrifice Vivi’s ten years of celibacy for a barbecue grill! Pull!"

Vivi: *My ten years of being single is only worth a barbecue grill?*

Liuliu’s prompt: *Sacrifice failed.*

Yun Qing’s heart sank. Liuliu’s prompt chilled her half to death. The gacha interface appeared, the pointer stopped on a question mark, and the question mark opened.

*Congratulations, you have obtained: Cozy Countryside Double Bed Recipe.*

*Cozy Countryside Double Bed Recipe: Cotton Cloth x5; Sub-cotton x20; Wood x20.*

*Cozy Countryside Double Bed: A comfortable double bed. It feels lonely for one person, restores 50 energy per hour, and if the materials used are rich in spiritual energy, it possesses minor healing properties.*

Seeing this description, Yun Qing couldn't help but curse: "Vivi! I don't blame you for making my sacrifice fail, but what is this double bed nonsense? Living beings aren't allowed in my cave dwelling, except for you, Liuliu, and the monsters attacking the place. It says it feels lonely for one person—are you telling me to sleep with the dog or the monsters?"

Liuliu: "The dog won't sleep with you, sleep by yourself."

Monster: "I'll help you dismantle it, no need to thank me."

Though Vivi was a chatterbox, she was genuinely good to her. Knowing Yun Qing suffered from back pain when sleeping, she must have wanted her to get this bed so she could mooch off it.

Hmph, she won't get a chance. Whoever sleeps with Vivi is a fool; you can't fall asleep listening to her babble all night long.

The bed was actually excellent. Previously, it took over three hours to restore all 100 points of energy, but sleeping on this bed took only two hours, and she wouldn't wake up with a sore back. The materials were common, and Yun Qing had them all, so she immediately set the intermediate crafting machine to build the countryside double bed.

Although she didn't get the barbecue grill, Yun Qing’s system inventory was far better than a storage bag. Fish placed inside truly had their time frozen; they stayed fresh even if she cooked them much later. Furthermore, fish meat could serve as the main ingredient for Body Refining Pills.

Crafting bait, purifying, and cooking yielded crafting experience; fishing and harvesting fish meat yielded gathering experience; killing fish yielded combat experience. Fish meat could be used for cooking and alchemy, while other scraps could be converted into energy.

With so many benefits, Yun Qing decided not to leave for now. She planned to stay by the lake and grind for more experience. She would cultivate in the training room until her internal energy was full, then observe if it was safe outside. If it was, she would go fishing; if not, she would refine pills in the cave until it was safe.

Once, twice, three times—each time, she successfully caught a dozen fish, all under level 40. After Yun Qing reinforced the entire training room with level-one building materials, she realized the time it took to fill her internal energy had shortened. More accurately, while the time spent cultivating remained the same, the time ratio between the training room and the outside world had changed—time outside moved much slower.

This reminded her that Liuliu had once told her that the duration of alchemy not only depended on her proficiency but also on the quality of the alchemy room and furnace. By that logic, the better the training room she cultivated in, the slower time would pass outside.

"Liuliu, what is the current time ratio between my training room and the outside?"

"1:2. One day outside is two days inside."

"Does that mean I’ve aged one day or two?"

"One day."

"Will the ratio change if the training room and meditation cushion get better?"

"Yes."

That is fantastic. Maybe one day it will be one day outside for a year inside. Since it concerned her own strength and the most precious resource of all—time—she had to work hard to earn money and resources to buy herself more time.

After fishing several times, Yun Qing was disappointed to find that once she reached 100 fish, she stopped gaining gathering and crafting experience, and she still hadn't reached level 41.

With full internal energy and no more experience from fishing, Yun Qing crafted a few more baits and returned to the cave, though crafting bait no longer gave experience either. She was still reluctant to leave and set her sights on the fish above level 40. She recalled that every time a fish over level 40 approached the bait, it would swim away quickly.

Fish above level 40 possessed divine sense. Although they were different from land animals, they clearly had their own unique traits.

Yun Qing entered the crafting room to research how to make a hook that wouldn't be detected by divine sense. She actually had the material for it. When she fell into the Hell-grade secret realm at the Han family mine, she had dug up a large piece of Spirit-Severing Stone at the entrance. It was a high-level material, and since she didn't know how to use it, she had left it in a corner. Now, she could extract a sliver of it to try crafting a hook.

After a day of hard work, Yun Qing finally saw the system prompt:

*Crafting experience +1200;*
*Obtained: Spirit-Severing Hook;*
*Spirit-Severing Hook: Mid-grade magical tool, can block divine sense detection below level 50, very suitable for fishing fish up to the third tier.*

Looking at the fine-quality hook in her hand, Yun Qing sighed. It was worth the hard work; she had burned through several basins of refined charcoal, but she had finally forged the ideal hook.

The hook was too precious, and she worried about the linen line snapping during a catch, causing the fish to run off with the hook and leading to a significant loss. A thought struck her, and she took out the broken mosquito swatter. The spider silk had lost its stickiness, and the net had large holes, but the silk itself was unbroken and of high quality; it could be repurposed.

She dismantled the swatter, leaving the broken wood in her system inventory, and carefully unraveled the spider silk. Using her own height as a measure, it was about twenty meters long. She used all her might but couldn't snap it, confirming that the non-sticky, translucent white silk was perfect for fishing.

Spider Silk: *I am a precious resource, and you're using me for mosquito swatters and fishing lines? Is that really appropriate? You spiritless creature.*

After a while, Yun Qing fixed the hook to the spider silk. As for a fishing rod, in a place where fish were fighting to bite the hook, a rod was unnecessary. She put on gloves and wrapped the silk around her hand a few times to get a better feel, making it easier to tell if a fish had bitten.

With that done, Yun Qing observed the outside. It was night, and no spirit beasts were coming to the lake to drink.