Level 46: Lone Journey

It was obvious that this tree was not as fine as those cultivated within the cave dwelling. Still, it would be a waste to discard it—it could be used for charcoal.

Yun Qing measured the trunk, found a section about three meters long, and first swung her axe to clear away the lower branches. Then she started chopping at the three-meter mark, intending to cut the trunk into manageable segments to see if she could use the basic crafting machine to produce charcoal.

The trunk here wasn’t as thick as at the root, but it was still tough to cut. After a strenuous effort lasting the time it takes to drink a cup of tea, Yun Qing finally severed it. As soon as she finished, a system prompt appeared:

Gathering experience +20;
Obtained wood *1;

She focused her gaze on the other section she had just chopped down. A display appeared: “Wood, collectable, requires Gathering Level 20.”

Wonderful! Now the system would automatically guide and adjust her actions, though she still had to do the hard labor herself.

Catching her breath, Yun Qing stowed the freshly cut wood in her system backpack and walked over to the remaining large segment, muttering, “Use Gathering Skill.”

With the system’s help, she approached the branches and swung her axe effortlessly; each blow severed a branch cleanly. After a dozen swings, the trunk was stripped bare, and the smaller, upper segment was removed, leaving a section about six meters long.

She went to the middle of the trunk and, after twenty or so strokes, managed to cut it through.

Gathering experience +40;
Obtained wood *2;

Even with the assistance of the Gathering Skill, the quality of this wood was still inferior to that grown in the farmland. Yun Qing stored it away in her backpack. As for the branches she’d cut off, she also put them in the system backpack; once dried, they’d make good firewood.

With a thought, she entered the cave dwelling. The saplings planted in the farmland were nearly grown, and the wooden wall had long been finished. Yun Qing put the wall down on the floor.

There were still quite a few things missing for the little wooden house. Yun Qing tested her materials: the wood she’d just collected from the wild could be made into floorboards and walls, though there wasn’t enough for everything.

Considering the difference in quality, Yun Qing decided to use the wood she’d just acquired to make charcoal.

Leaving the cave dwelling, she continued searching for trees to harvest and herbs to dig up.

Since the poisonous wheat field had been shrouded in darkness last time, few people came here now, and wild plants and trees flourished. Yun Qing felled several trees and dug up herbs without disrupting the ecological balance.

After two hours, her system backpack was unexpectedly full. The main issue was the lack of uniformity in her finds; too many varieties couldn’t be stacked, so it was time to add some energy to the cave dwelling.

She tossed everything she didn’t immediately need into the energy converter. Most items were contaminated, and she judged their quality by the estimated energy yield provided by the device. Not knowing much about such things, Yun Qing didn’t bother to keep items that would only take up space.

Only contaminated items could be converted into Level 2 energy, but the energy converter currently couldn’t process Level 2, so she had no choice but to settle for Level 1 energy—it was better than discarding them.

At last, she hesitated a moment before tossing in the soul corpse that was taking up space.

Just as Yun Qing was about to drop the soul corpse into the converter, it was rejected.

System prompt: This item cannot be placed in the energy converter.

“Liuliu, didn’t you say corpses could be put in? I’ve tossed in rabbit bones after stripping the meat, haven’t I?” she asked.

“Check if it’s the clothes he’s wearing, or if there’s something on him that can’t be converted,” came the reply.

So she had to undress the corpse first? With a thought, Yun Qing exited the cave dwelling, brought out the soul corpse, apologized to it, and began to remove the tattered, bloodied clothes.

As she searched his waist, her fingers touched a familiar hard lump. Its shape made her heart leap—silver!

The soul corpse had once been a villager, and it was perfectly normal for villagers to carry silver.

After a thorough search, Yun Qing found twenty taels of silver on him. She didn’t recognize this mutated villager, so he likely wasn’t from Ye family village.

The silver was blackened—would it, like her own skin and clothes, never be restored to its original color?

She decided to try. Without cleaning it, Yun Qing transferred the silver directly to the system. As expected, the system’s silver count increased by twenty taels.

With the silver acquired, Yun Qing lost interest in the clothes. When she tossed the corpse into the converter again, this time it was accepted.

The energy converter began to run, slowly turning each material into energy. Once converted, the energy could be withdrawn as a number in the cave dwelling; unprocessed materials in the queue could be removed if she changed her mind.

The conversion was slow; it would probably take most of the day to finish.

In front of the basic crafting machine, Yun Qing collected the ten batches of charcoal she’d just made and heard the system’s pleasant chime:

Crafting experience +668!
Congratulations, your crafting level has risen to Level 20.
Congratulations, your character level has risen to Level 20.

Level 20—yet nothing seemed to have changed. She was still just an ordinary person.

Liuliu said, “So hungry, I really want some meat.”

She had always hoped to reach Level 20, believing she would become stronger, but now that she was here, she realized she was still the same.

It was already afternoon. She considered finding a way to return to Ye family village before dark.

But after two hours of solitude, she no longer wanted to go back. Though she worried about Ye Mao and the others, at Level 20, she really couldn’t help much.

“Liuliu, I don’t want to go back. I want to survive in the wild,” she said, eager to level up faster.

“At night, it’s pitch dark and dangerous out there.”

“I can wait in the cave dwelling until morning.”

“That would waste a lot of energy, and your mind wouldn’t recover,” Liuliu replied.

“Then I’ll just find somewhere to spend the night. Can you stand guard and warn me if there’s danger?”

“Liuliu is just a question-answering sprite; I can’t do what you’re asking.”

“Fine. Anyway, I don’t want to go back right now. I’ll decide tonight.”

Emerging from the cave dwelling, she saw it was still afternoon. Not only was Liuliu craving meat, but after all that labor, Yun Qing herself was starving.

She gave Liuliu a chunk of pork belly and ate two roasted potatoes herself.

Leveling up was a long-term goal. For now, her focus was to chop more wood and see if she could finish building the wooden house and craft a bed to sleep in the cave dwelling.

Ignoring the hills covered with contaminated but collectable plants, Yun Qing quickly found a tree she could harvest.

As she began chopping again, she wondered if it was her imagination, but it seemed a bit easier than before she leveled up.

This time, she didn’t turn the wood into charcoal for experience, but reserved it for the construction of the wooden house.

It didn’t take long. With the wood from outside, Yun Qing crafted a wooden wall. The gaps in this wall were much larger than those of the walls made from trees grown in the farmland; its quality was also much poorer.

Each wall was about one meter wide and three meters tall. To enclose the nine floorboards, she would need twelve walls in total. Some of the walls would also require doors and windows.