Jiang Lin sat on the wooden bed and checked the time.
It was 4:40 PM, still 20 minutes until dark.
Little Axe had returned twice in between, bringing back many logs. He could rest after his next trip.
Little Pickaxe had been digging for stones around the wooden house and had collected quite a bit.
He surveyed his surroundings.
The wooden house had expanded overall, now roughly 50 square meters with a height of 3 meters.
It was more than enough space for one person, especially since Jiang Lin didn't have much furniture.
The setup remained a bed, a table, and a window.
The wooden plank bed was hard, but given the current primitive conditions, he could only make do.
On the wooden table, there was only the strange oil lamp and a packet of tomato seeds. Under the table were two empty treasure chests.
The Mantis Scythe, Little Axe's tentacles, and the Earth Dragon Scorpion's corpse were all thrown into the furthest corner.
The Red Tentacle Cup was placed in the corner near the bed for easy access to water.
He waited a few more minutes.
With the pattering of footsteps, Little Axe returned.
Jiang Lin went out and told Little Axe and Little Pickaxe to stop working and enter the wooden house.
He collected the last batch of materials.
His backpack now contained—
【Wood 86, Stone 57, Crystal 25, Constitution Potion, Thorny Wooden Club】
Five slots, filled just right.
He opened the Shelter panel.
【Wriggling Crystalwood House (Tier 2, unupgradable): 86/500 Wood, 57/200 Stone, 25/100 Crystal】
Little Axe collected at least 240 units of wood per day, while Little Pickaxe collected at least 100 units of stone and 40 units of crystal.
This was Jiang Lin's most conservative estimate.
For example, Little Axe collected 271 units of wood today.
At the current collection speed, it would take another two days to upgrade the shelter.
The current strength of the wooden house should be sufficient, as it was only the second day.
His wooden house should be much stronger than others', having undergone two Tier 2 upgrades.
One from Aberration and one from the system.
Many people might only be able to upgrade their wooden house to Tier 1 today. In comparison, Jiang Lin was far ahead.
Even if someone managed to find crystals and upgrade to Tier 2 today, its strength would absolutely not compare to Jiang Lin's.
He closed the wooden door.
Little Axe and Little Pickaxe instinctively found empty spots to rest.
Outside the window, the fog grew thicker, turning black, and visibility decreased.
Jiang Lin closed the window tightly.
Soon, the strange oil lamp began to emit a dim, reddish-yellow glow.
Jiang Lin actually wanted to aberrate the oil lamp as well, but the number of Aberration Arts uses was limited, so he had to save it for critical needs.
"No food left."
He scratched his hair and sat on the wooden bed.
Four Aberration Arts had solved the problems of wood, stone and crystal, shelter safety, and drinking water, respectively.
The Aberration of the skill 'Ghostly Steps' was a bug and consumed nothing.
Tomorrow's two Aberration Arts must first be used to solve the food problem.
Bread was not filling at all, barely enough to stave off hunger.
There might be food in the fog, but it was too random and dangerous, so he wouldn't count on it for now.
Thinking of this, Jiang Lin looked at the tomato seeds on the table.
Since he had no planting experience whatsoever, these seeds could only be put aside for now. Perhaps he should try using Aberration Art on them tomorrow.
Maybe it could solve the current food source problem... He wasn't very sleepy.
Jiang Lin opened the panel, intending to lurk in the regional chat.
Just then, a system notification popped up.
【Congratulations, all survivors, for adapting to the rules of the Mist Survival world. The Trading Post is now open. Survivors can freely list item information for trade. Please ensure that listed items are present in your system backpack, otherwise the trade will be invalid.】
"Finally, we can trade!" Jiang Lin was a little excited.
As an experienced survival game enthusiast, he naturally understood the function of a trading post.
But after reading the system's introduction, Jiang Lin couldn't help but feel a little disappointed.
What was listed was item information, not the items directly. This meant there was no loophole to exploit.
Jiang Lin's original idea of using the trading post as an alternative system backpack fell through.
The system was clearly not stupid; if direct listing of items were allowed, the system backpack would become useless.
He opened the Trading Post.
There were already many 'want to buy' listings.
【10 Wood for half a bottle of water】
【20 Stone for food】
【Used pantyhose for food】
【White socks for food】
...All sorts of things were listed. Prices weren't particularly outrageous, as there were many people in this area, and quite a few had food and water sources nearby.
Unlike Jiang Lin's vicinity, which was nothing but trees, and those were bare pine trees.
Many people must have exchanged food and water for wood and stone to upgrade their wooden houses to Tier 1.
As for those miscellaneous items, if he didn't have the Red Tentacle Cup, Jiang Lin might have traded for a pair of filters for dirty water.
But now there was no need.
Jiang Lin traded 15 stones for an apple and 30 pieces of wood for a leather jacket.
He hadn't forgotten the detail of feeling the temperature drop this morning.
Perhaps the danger wasn't only from the fog.
Humans were very fragile; even a headache or fever could be fatal.
He picked up the apple, made sure there was nothing unusual, and took a bite, scrolling through the chat as he ate.
He looked around again but didn't see anything of value.
No one was stupid; truly valuable items would not be traded lightly.
Jiang Lin reviewed his possessions and found that he lacked nothing and had nothing good to sell.
As for the fierce beast corpses and parts in the corner, he wanted to keep them to see if there was an opportunity to use Aberration on them.
It wouldn't be too late to sell them if they proved unusable.
Moreover, the system description stated that the Aberrant Mantis Scythe and Earth Dragon Scorpion Tail could both be used for forging.
Although he didn't know where to forge them yet, since the system mentioned it, it would naturally appear.
He closed the Trading Post and opened the regional chat.
【10068 Chat Channel (9432 / 10000)】
Casualties were significantly fewer during the day today.
Although exploring the fog was dangerous, there were no more fools among the survivors; no one would venture out unprepared.
Facts proved that human adaptability was still very strong.
Information refreshed.
Jiang Lin found that most of the survivors had already upgraded their wooden houses. Materials for Tier 1 were relatively easy to collect.
After all, everyone had a talent, and if all else failed, they could trade items for materials.
Among them, a few messages caught Jiang Lin's attention.
Xu Qian: I used Transmutation to turn a tree into an apple tree. The apples have been listed on the marketplace. Everyone who needs them, hurry and buy!
Lin Yifeng: I walked over ten kilometers today and saw another wooden house. I wonder if it belongs to someone from our area.
Fu Hui: I encountered a humanoid monster that looked incredibly disgusting. It could not only spit venom but also shoot spikes, but I instantly killed it with a Disintegration Art...
Only then did Jiang Lin realize where his apple came from.
He knew this Xu Qian. It was after seeing her previous operation of turning an axe into a wooden stick that he resolutely transformed Transmutation into Aberration Art.
Now it seemed Transmutation wasn't entirely useless, but it was indeed quite mediocre.
It couldn't compare to Aberration Art in the slightest.
He also had an impression of Lin Yifeng, the one who awakened Invisibility Art.
He didn't expect this guy to actually roam freely in the fog using invisibility, even walking over ten kilometers.
To know that Jiang Lin had only ventured out less than a hundred meters at most so far.
But could invisibility truly allow one to act with impunity?
Jiang Lin didn't agree. Perhaps it was just due to the novice period? Invisibility allowed free movement.
He always felt that Mist Survival wasn't that simple.
But none of this was the main point.
What Jiang Lin truly cared about was the possibility of encountering other survivors.
