Chapter 3
◎ Novice Protection Period ◎
【Trade Content: Ten wood planks for one loaf of bread.
Trade Description: Starving to death, save me, save me
Trader: SurfingTheSea】
【Trade Content: Ten pieces of plastic for one bottle of water
Trade Description: Can you drink seawater? (maniacal version)
Trader: ILoveBlueSkies】
Yu Chi skipped over some of the more ridiculous-looking trades. As she browsed, she also saw a few accounts that were quite active in the chat channel.
After thinking about the resources in her hands, Yu Chi also posted a trade.
【Trade Content: One cola for twenty wood planks / four metal scraps
Trade Description: None
Trader: DazedFish】
It was hard to say whether a bottle of cola or a bottle of drinking water was more valuable, but for someone with skills, a beverage was definitely harder to obtain than water.
【VMe50ForFood】: DazedFish must be a top player, right? How did you get cola so soon?
【CapitalCrime】: How dare you, person above! Is DazedFish a name you can just call out? Please call her Sis Dazed!
【TiltedHeadDuck】: Why not Bro Dazed?
【DayDoesntKnowNightsMadness】: Holy crap, cola? This stuff will definitely be a rare item in the future! slurp slurp!
【YoureOnMyHair】: It’s already been snatched up! Who was it? Who stole my cola! Was it you? It was you!
【ColaFromAllDirections】: It was I, hahahahaha.
【TiltedHeadDuck】: Why not Bro Dazed?
Currently, the trade section did not allow for anonymity. Although this was a bit high-profile, Yu Chi speculated that everyone was in an independent space; otherwise, with so many people from Earth, it would be impossible not to have run into someone by now.
This way, her safety was also guaranteed… After all, not trading was impossible. She had to upgrade her raft as soon as possible.
Yu Chi sat quietly on the raft, fishing. The cola sold for 20 wood planks. As she had expected, she might be lucky, but there were plenty of people stronger than her.
Spending 20 wood planks to buy a single bottle of cola was something she would never do when resources were scarce.
The fishing was proceeding very slowly. She had previously thought that being able to use the All-Purpose Fishing Rod only 10 times a day was not nearly enough. But there were only 24 hours in a day, and it might take two hours to get a single bite with the rod.
The third time, she reeled in another black chest, but when Yu Chi touched it, it displayed “Level 1 Resource Chest.”
【Wood Plank x7, Bread x3, Steamed Bun x1】
The contents were much worse than the Level 3 resource chest, containing only the most basic resources. She stuffed the food into her backpack. She now had 30 wood planks again. After crafting them into three units of wood, a patch of space cleared up on the raft.
Yu Chi continued to fish while idly scrolling through the channel. Suddenly, she caught a glimpse of something black rapidly approaching her.
Instantly recalling the black monster mentioned in the channel, Yu Chi didn’t dare to be careless. She put away the All-Purpose Fishing Rod and grabbed her small wooden axe.
The black monster drew closer and closer. Yu Chi squinted at it for a long while before realizing it was actually a black shark!
Her heart pounded like thunder. She subconsciously took a step back, her foot making a noise as it stepped on the materials behind her, which brought her back to her senses slightly.
This shark was completely different from any she had seen in her life. Its entire body was covered in black scales that glinted with a chilling metallic luster under the sun.
Its half-open mouth was like a bottomless abyss, with jagged teeth lined up on the outside, covered in a viscous black liquid—a foul-smelling slime made from a mixture of rotten food residue and fresh blood. As it swam, the slime dripped into the sea, leaving a nauseating trail.
What made Yu Chi’s heart palpitate even more was that this shark was nearly twice the size of a normal one. Every swing of its tail fin kicked up a spray of murky water, like a hunter from the abyss.
Damn it all.
The shark monster got closer and closer. Yu Chi swallowed, tightly remembering the principle that as long as she didn’t attack first, she wouldn’t be harmed during the novice protection period. Clenching her teeth, she stood motionless on the raft.
However, the shark did not swim away from her raft as she had hoped. Instead, it deliberately rammed the edge of the raft with force.
The raft began to sway from side to side. Under the effect of the novice protection period, the raft wasn’t smashed, nor was she thrown into the sea from the instability.
Yu Chi put the feeble-looking little wooden axe back into her backpack and gripped the edge of the raft tightly. After ramming the raft once, the shark circled it a few times before finally swimming away with a flick of its tail fin.
This shark was trying to bait her into attacking it!
Yu Chi’s heart went cold. More terrifying than monsters were monsters with intelligence! She instantly thought of the players who had died earlier. With the system’s warning and their own fear, very few players would actively attack these monsters.
But what if the monsters were the ones actively luring players to attack?
Under the mistaken belief that their lives were threatened, many people would choose to fight to the death, and that was exactly what these monsters wanted to achieve!
Unbelievable…
Yu Chi calmed her emotions and continued to cast the All-Purpose Fishing Rod into the sea, maintaining a frequency of using First Aid once per hour to make bandages and adhesive bandages.
She had initially thought these monsters had no intelligence and were controlled by the system, thus would not actively attack players during the novice protection period. But if these monsters possessed intelligence, then their actions were not controlled by the system.
In that case… if a player actively attacks a monster, they lose their novice protection. What if a monster actively attacks a player?
What kind of penalty would it receive?
She believed that this restriction was mutual.
When dealing with something intelligent, if it could lure others, it could certainly be lured as well.
The All-Purpose Fishing Rod got two more bites. Yu Chi obtained a water purifier blueprint and a case of beer (12 bottles).
As for something like beer, she immediately put half of it on the trade interface in exchange for materials. And the water purifier blueprint…
【Water Purifier (Common):
Materials: Wood x30, Plastic x15, Nails x3】
They were all simple, basic materials. However, if she could build the water purifier, she wouldn’t have to worry about drinking water in the future.
Ignoring the new uproar she had caused in the channel by selling beer, and considering the players’ purchasing power, she sold her beer one bottle at a time. The price was the same as the cola, targeting players who had surplus materials and considerable strength.
Soon, she had all the materials needed for the water purifier.
After Yu Chi selected “Craft” on the [Crafting] page, a simple water purifier instantly appeared on her small raft.
System-produced, fully automated.
【Item: Water Purifier
Quality: Common
Description: A must-have for wandering the seas! Can purify 1L of fresh water every 12h.】
She had to upgrade to a small boat as soon as possible, or her raft wouldn’t be able to hold all these things.
Yu Chi continued to fish with a deadpan expression, trying her best to avoid thinking about the shark from before.
No matter what, she was just an ordinary girl from the 21st century. She might appear calmer than most, but when faced with a monster she couldn’t possibly fight, her first reaction was still fear.
She had to keep herself busy to minimize this lingering sense of dread.
Around six in the evening, another wave of debris arrived on the sea. After observing that the shark was not nearby, Yu Chi once again used the same method to jump into the water, throwing all the materials she could reach onto the raft.
She obtained 【Wood Plank x20, Plastic x18, Palm Leaf x21, Metal Scrap x6】.
The “marine debris” might appear once every six hours. At this frequency, it wouldn’t be difficult to gather enough materials to upgrade the raft within a week.
The evening was much colder than the day. After taking off her clothes, Yu Chi sneezed several times in a row. However, wearing soaked clothes posed a greater risk of catching a cold. It seemed she couldn’t jump into the water the next time the marine debris arrived.
After resting for a while, Yu Chi gnawed on another loaf of bread and finished the bottle of drinking water she had opened earlier. After trading all the beer for materials, she now had a total of:
【Wood Plank x80, Wood x5, Palm Leaf x21, Rope x2, Metal Scrap x6, Nail x16, Plastic x18, Stone x7, Iron Ore x2】
After crafting, her materials were as follows:
【Wood x13, Palm Leaf x1, Rope x4, Nail x19, Plastic x18, Stone x7, Iron Ore x2】
The supplies in her backpack were as follows:
【Bread x2, Water x3, Steamed Bun x1, Braised Beef Noodles x1, Pickled Cabbage Beef Noodles x1, Beer x6, Apple x1, Four-Inch Small Cake x1】
In addition, she also possessed:
【Small Flowerpot x1, Small Wooden Axe x1, Water Purifier x1, Bandage x9, Adhesive Bandage x18】
After taking stock of her supplies once more, the anxiety in Yu Chi’s heart finally dissipated quite a bit. It was only the first day. She would eventually figure out a way to deal with that shark.
【Author’s Note】
The fish hates the big shark, so no log entry today [Sobbing]