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Athena watched this miraculous change, thinking she might never forget it. She pushed open the newly repaired wooden door and stepped into the wooden house, but stopped at the doorway. Looking at her dirty grass shoes, she chose to leave them outside and entered barefoot. The wooden floor felt comfortable underfoot, not as cold as she had imagined.
The small wooden house had grown significantly larger, with the small wooden bed that had accompanied her for two nights still there, only now adorned with exquisite carvings. Two delicate and soft grass mats were laid on top, clearly processed by the system, a world apart from her own attempts at weaving.
Glancing under the bed, she noticed five more mats of the same size. She could arrange them according to her preferences when needed.
Next to the bed was a hollow window, typical of ancient style, with a round wooden block beside it that would automatically fasten it shut when lifted. A rather magical way of closing windows.
What surprised Athena the most was that her two crude stoves were still there, surrounded by low wooden blocks but with the earth floor preserved.
This discovery left her both delighted and worried. There was really no need to keep everything exactly as it was; she wouldn't mind if the system made some improvements. Athena carefully examined her new home and felt very satisfied.
She opened the shop and spent her only 20 copper coins on a small iron pot and a rubber water bucket. The pot was essential for her daily barbecue meals, as she was already tired of them, and the bucket was for trading water since the water in her inventory wouldn't be enough.
Although the system's decomposition consumed resources unreasonably, it was convenient. The decomposed long-tailed bear meat was already prepared. She placed the meat in the pot, lit the dry grass with a lighter, added some twigs, and soon the fire grew, casting a warm glow in the room.
Today, she indulged herself by pouring a whole bottle of mineral water into the pot, intending to have a hot soup for a change of taste. The fire rose, emitting thick white smoke. Instead of dispersing, the smoke condensed and drifted out of the window on its own, sparing her the annoyance of smoke filling the room when she lit the fire.
Athena sat a little farther away, as it was still hot outside, and she was wearing winter pajamas. Looking through the window at the sunny weather outside, it was hard to imagine it suddenly turning into a blizzard.
"The seasons here are different from Earth. Bringing on a cold wave, are they trying to let us experience the winter we didn't have time to experience on Earth?"
She tried the soup, finding it not to her liking, and couldn't help but complain to the system for making her life less hopeful.
Server Announcement!
Instance rewards have been released!
In this instance, there are a total of three S-rank players, 268 A-rank players, and one S+ player!
In her private panel:
Congratulations to player [ Big Dream ], for becoming the only S+ rank player to clear the Lost Soul Instance this time. Congratulations on receiving the following rewards! White packages x5 Blue packages x2
Should it be announced to the whole server?
Yes / No ?
"No"
Athena looked at the system panel, rubbed her hands, and it was time to test her luck again. She took a deep breath. Every time she opened these, she never believed in superstitions!
Claim!
In the four white packages, there are a total of 4 bottles of mineral water and 6 compressed biscuits.
If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.
In the middle white package, there will be 5 cockroaches.
In one blue package, there is a blueprint for a defense turret (basic).
In the other blue package, there is a bag of rice!
Athena was shocked. She couldn't understand why the system's package could contain cockroaches. Of course, she had no intention of opening this white package; she planned to keep it and use it as a "favor" for someone else later on.
Opening a few packages, the contents were as described in purple font. Looking at yet another blueprint for a defense turret, she muttered to herself, "Seems like I can never escape the fate of being a lumberjack..."
Originally, she had planned to lightly chop ten trees this afternoon, gather some stones, and then return to rest. It seemed she would have to double her efforts now, as she only had this afternoon and tomorrow to prepare.
She opened her trading place and agreed to some trade offers for wood blocks, obtaining 6 units of wood. But the prospect of building two defense turrets seemed distant, not to mention the shortage of stone.
All the larger stones around had been used by her for the fireplace; tomorrow, she'd have to venture farther to collect stones.
"Distribute 0.5 of my free attribute points to strength and 0.5 to speed!"
Strength always needed reinforcement, but so did the speed for escaping.
Attribute Panel Name Athena Ravencroft Title [ Hunter ] Race Human Gender Female Strength 4.5 + 0.4 Speed 2.1 Agility 1.8 Mental 2
You are a strong and fast girl!
Her luck had been quite bad; she hadn't seen any randomly refreshed packages from the system since the first day...
Oh well, time to eat.
She cautiously lifted the lid of the pot. The fire crackled with some sparks, and the thick meat soup inside occasionally bubbled with white foam before bursting.
Athena deeply inhaled the rich aroma, covered the pot again, and let it stew for another half an hour.
Using two smooth tree branches as chopsticks since there are no spoons or any similar utensils, she patiently waited for the delicious meal to be ready.
Dipping compressed biscuits into the meat soup, she enjoyed a hearty meal.
She had a fierce internal struggle between sleeping and going out. Considering the substantial resource gap for building defense turrets, she finally decided to succumb to reason and headed out to chop trees.
Perhaps it was because she had eaten well or because she had added 0.5 strength, but she found herself even more adept at chopping trees this afternoon, effortlessly bringing down 18 trees.
It was already 5 o'clock in the afternoon, so she didn't push her luck.
She began to roam around searching for large stones. However, Athena made an interesting discovery: it didn't necessarily have to be large stones; if there were enough small stones, they could also count as a unit of stone.
Collecting stones was much simpler than chopping trees, but it was straining on her back. Each time she had to bend down to touch the stone before she could pick it up.
Stones x39
After collecting stones for an hour and a half, she had half an hour left to rush back.
Fortunately, she made it back to the small wooden house before dark.
Darkness is encroaching upon the world: 10, 9, 8... 0
As darkness fell, signaling the end of the third day's exploration, she realized she only had tomorrow to prepare before the cold wave struck.