Chapter 25: Night in the mountain

Lying down on the wolf fur with the fleece blanket over me and fire burning in the stove nearby, the feeling of being in my own log cabin was fantastic. I didn’t need the torch for reading the chat, so it was back in my inventory.

The total number of participants in the ‘Regional Channel’ were already down from 25000 at the starting to 23467 – almost 1500 participants had been eliminated already. There was a clamor in the chat.

JHY “anyone has water to trade? I am in wasteland and water is lacking.”

Sea breeze “Cultivators don’t need food and water. We can survive on spiritual energy. You lesser mortals are looking for death participating in this challenge.

Wolf “I just killed an ape. I can exchange meat for water.”

Prity “I am a water elemental magician; I can make 500 ml water. Wolf set up the trade.”

Croy “why do the monsters disappear on killing paltry things? I am craving blood.”

Mountain range “It’s called loot you idiot. Mine gave me blood. Tell me what you have, and I will trade with you.”

Mud Slime “my shack collapsed. Anyone know how to build a new one?”

Lion king “animals are attacking – time to gather loot and show my prowess.”

Curran “anyone know how to cook meat? I am hungry.”

Croy “vampires don’t need to eat. Thankfully”

Jhajhee “I will kill all of you to win. Get ready minions.”

It was a strange chat. I figured there were human beasts, vampires, cultivators, magicians, and many psychopaths in the chat. Some of the essence and probably true names were lost in translation. As I scrolled through the chat, one thing was sure water and food were somewhat in demand and blood too, though the format of food was different Ahem!

I checked the ‘market’ tab and saw some very strange things available for sale –

1. 20 copper coins – need cooked meat (2 kg)

2. 7-inch dagger – need water 1 L

3. 1 worn shirt – 20 copper coins

4. 1 tree log – need blood 1 L

5. 4 L fresh water – need fur pelt (warm)

I had quite a few pelts, so I decided to exchange one of the wolf fur pelts with 4 L fresh water. As soon as I confirmed the trade, I had to put the pelt from inventory into the barter slot of the trade and the water appeared. So, this event system cannot directly access my inventory – this was an important information. The trade remained anonymous – you couldn’t tell who the buyer and sellers are.

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I asked the Life skill system “System - do you know if all monsters will give loot or only dungeon monster.”

[Host currently this planet is set up like a dungeon. If you kill any monster, you will get exp and loot but if someone – monster or human kills you they will also get exp and loot]

“What is the most important thing to focus on.’

[getting stronger]

That is when I realized – disaster is one thing to survive against, but most important factor is still increasing my strength. Now that my base is somewhat secure, I needed to explore and find monsters to gather Exp. If I am strong, I will survive the disaster.

I checked the ‘store’ function in the LSS grey tab and was delighted to see that just like the online delivery app, the categories were not just ‘Build’ but also food, groceries, clothes, and many many more. The first thing I wanted to buy pronto was ‘Toilet Paper” I was starting to get rashes with all these leaves you know.

A bag of 6 rolls was 1 silver coin. “Rob me blind system when did the simple TP become so expensive.”

[Host this is to ensure you focus on important things]

I didn’t know if I should laugh or cry, I still bought the TP. It’s great to know that you can buy burger king, even though it may cost you an entire gold coin.

I had been hearing some grunts and snores and even occasional roars all this while, I was after all lying in the middle of mountains right now, so this was to be expected – main reason I wanted a sturdy fence. But what I wasn’t keen on was the sound of someone hitting against my newly built fence in the night. Fire had died down and i had put away the torch so were these monsters attacking based on smell?

Should I just ignore it and go to sleep? The bang was getting increasingly louder making me worry if my fence was sturdy enough. I didn’t think going out of the gate was a good idea, so I asked the system if there was a gauge for the sturdiness of the fence.

[Host you can use your appraisal skill]

Why didn’t I think of that. Duh!

Appraisal

Perimeter Fence

Defense - +50

Durability – 95/100

Which means these bangs were decreasing the durability of my precious fence. Dammit!

I didn’t have a ladder that I could use to climb up the fence and see who the culprit was, the system had closed out all gaps between the logs.

“System can I increase the sturdiness of the Fence?”

[Host, you will need to expend system points]

Sigh! I will wait till it declines more before I act then. I went back to my warm fur and blanket as the night was cold in this mountain region. I will have to make a coat for myself tomorrow for the cold nights. Time to activate the tailoring skills. I had thought about keeping watch, but I needed sleep more as everyday was precious. With this thought in my head, I went to sleep and ignored the bangs during the night. They weren’t strong enough anyway.