Chapter 75: A Narrow Escape
Only two chickens remained, but hidden behind the large villa, they had vanished from sight. Yun Qing tumbled down from the villa to search for the chickens below.
As soon as she jumped down, Yun Qing did not see any trace of the chickens, but instead noticed a hole about a foot wide on the second floor of the villa.
She didn’t have to think twice—clearly, the chickens had flown up to the second floor through the hole.
Yun Qing felt her head buzzing with frustration; her paper-thin villa had been easily breached by chickens.
The hole was too small—big enough for the chickens, but not for her.
She could only enter the house through the main door on the first floor, then race up the stairs to the second floor.
Back when she arranged the cabinets, she had placed them wherever seemed convenient. Now, she found them all in the way, slowing her down.
On the second floor, the two chickens were flapping wildly inside a makeshift wooden cabinet, their beaks and claws already inflicting considerable damage.
Yun Qing watched as a chicken pecked through a cabinet, sending the stored charcoal spilling to the floor, where it promptly vanished.
She didn’t stop to wonder how the chickens could fly up to the second floor, or why the cabinets and wooden house seemed so fragile. Her reflexes outpaced her thoughts; she flicked two pebbles in quick succession at the chickens.
-20;
Battle experience +5;
-20;
Battle experience +5;
“Liuliu, my cabinets are damaged—will it affect anything?”
“I don’t care. Pick up the lamb first, and I’ll tell you.”
All the monsters were dead, the cabinets already damaged; the best thing now was to collect the dropped items.
Gained: 1 tael of silver.
Gained: 1 tael of silver.
Leaving the villa, Yun Qing ran to every corner.
Gained: 4 taels of silver;
Gained: 2 taels of silver;
Gained: 3 taels of silver, Dung Fertilizer *1;
Gained: 3 taels of silver, Lamb *1;
...
Fortunately, the dropped items hadn’t disappeared. Just as Yun Qing picked up the last pile, the countdown hit zero.
A message appeared in the air: “Congratulations, you have successfully defended your dwelling against the monster siege. Monsters broke through 4/10 cabinets. Rewards: Level 1 Energy *200; Battle Experience +600; Crafting Experience +600; Gathering Experience +600, Dung Fertilizer Recipe *1.”
“Congratulations, your combat level has risen to 31.”
A flash of white light swept over Yun Qing, as if her meridians had been cleared.
“Congratulations, your character level has risen to 31.”
She glanced at the recipe—Dung Fertilizer Recipe: Dung Fertilizer Ingredients.
Fertilizer could boost crop yields. The main ingredient was clearly dung. Yun Qing decided to ignore this reward.
The area around the dwelling returned to its usual gray haze. She had finally reached level 31 as she wished, and though the white light of her upgrade brought a faint sense of comfort, she did not feel as happy as she had expected.
“Liuliu, I’ve collected the lamb. What does it mean that monsters broke through 4/10 cabinets?”
“Monsters broke through four of your cabinets. If they break through ten, you’ll fail the defense.”
Yun Qing patted her chest, feeling a lingering fear. “That was close—I almost lost everything.”
The first time monsters attacked her dwelling, Liuliu hadn’t been concerned at all, knowing she couldn’t fail the defense—she didn’t even have ten cabinets, and monsters would have had to destroy everything to defeat her.
This time, Liuliu had warned her, but by then it was almost too late!
Yun Qing said, “Next time, before the monsters come, I must build a fence and reinforce the villa!”
“Next time, you can choose the difficulty of the monster siege. The rewards will be better.”
Indeed, the experience gained this time was not much compared to her current level. The silver she earned, once she deducted the cost of skills and lost arrows, barely broke even. At least she got some level 1 energy.
Energy!
“Damn it!” Yun Qing cursed inwardly. Her villa had been damaged, and repairs required energy.
She focused on the wooden walls of the villa. The display read: “This wooden wall is damaged from attacks. Repair requires Level 1 Energy *20. Repair now?”
Inside the villa, several floorboards showed: “This floorboard is damaged from attacks. Repair requires Level 1 Energy *10. Repair now?”
“This makeshift wooden cabinet is damaged from attacks. Repair requires Level 1 Energy *30. Repair now?”
She could still check the contents of damaged cabinets. Yun Qing saw that the cabinet once full of charcoal had lost about twenty percent of its contents.
Fortunately, she didn’t care much about the charcoal—it was just something she couldn’t bear to throw away or sell in Leaf Village.
But what about the future? Eventually she would have to store valuable items in her cabinets, and the monsters besieging her dwelling would only grow stronger and more cunning. Who knew if her rare treasures would survive the next siege?
Yun Qing grumbled, “Liuliu, this doesn’t seem fair.”
Liuliu replied meaningfully, “When you’re still so weak, it’s best to be friendly with others. Without absolute strength, don’t go around making enemies. If the people of Leaf Village weren’t so honest, the day you showed your storage pouch, your entire dwelling might have been destroyed.”
She realized Liuliu was right; seeking enemies without strength was unwise.
Yun Qing clenched her fist and asked, “Liuliu, can I draw a roof tile recipe?”
“What roof tile?”
“Didn’t you just say ‘not a single tile left’?”
“That’s just an expression, not an actual tile. There’s only a roof recipe. The basic draws only have wooden roofs. Now you can try intermediate draws and possibly get stone roofs.”
“Excellent! I’ll look into it.”
Now at level 31, having entered the Postnatal Realm, she had many things to research besides drawing prizes.
Her three passive skills—Strengthen Body, Dexterous Hands, and Unyielding Will—could all be upgraded, each requiring a hundred taels of silver and one skill point. She didn’t have enough at the moment.
The Purification skill had automatically leveled up with her character.
Crouch required ten spirit stones to upgrade—she had none.
Rolling and Jumping required five hundred taels of silver to upgrade; she didn’t have that yet, but that was at least earnable.
The Crosshair skill could not be upgraded.
The basic crafting machine and energy converter now showed their upgrade buttons as available, no longer grayed out. Upgrading them did not require silver or energy, just time.
Both machines had stopped working. Yun Qing collected the items from the crafting machine and the energy from the converter.
Upgrading them would take twenty-four hours.
She had not gained any new skills. Besides the three passive skills granted by the system, all her other skills were either drawn from the lottery or earned as dungeon rewards.
Her character stats had changed; from an original 100 health points, she now had 200. The rest remained the same.
An intermediate draw required 800 favor points for ten consecutive draws.
The machines were upgrading, so it was not the best time for the lottery. Even though she was tempted, Yun Qing decided to wait until the upgrades were done.
“Yun Qing, I have good news for you. I now possess a new ability. Would you like to unlock it for one piece of lamb and a hundred taels of silver?”
Yun Qing raised an eyebrow, eyeing Liuliu suspiciously. The hundred taels were likely the system’s price, but the piece of lamb was surely Liuliu’s own cut.
“What’s this new ability? Is it an alert if enemies are nearby?”
“No. Give me the lamb first, and then I’ll tell you.”
Yun Qing rolled her eyes. Did she look like someone who would deny a dog its meat?