After studying his territory for a while, Marcus roughly understood that, even crafting, building doors, windows, or a bed for his wooden house also required blueprints.
It seemed farming was still a long way off.
The countdown was still ticking, but instead of heading straight to the next cave, Marcus decided to open the last available function to see if there were any hidden pitfalls he had missed.
The [Chat] interface was divided into [World Chat] and [Regional Chat], and Marcus first entered the former.
Despite the restriction of being able to send a message only once an hour, the chat channel was still flooded with messages.
“What’s going on here? Why have we been thrown into some survival game? Does anyone know?”
“I’m so scared, wahhh!! It’s so dark around me, and I think I hear rats. Can someone save me?”
“I’m starving. I didn’t even eat lunch. I’m about to die of hunger. Can anyone spare some food?”
“Water! I need water! Someone, give me some water!”
“Whose stupid prank is this? Send me back, or you’ll regret it!”
“I’m the CEO of Tes*a company. If someone can send me back, I’ll give them a billion.”
“I was in the middle of something, not even wearing clothes, and now my body is pixelated!”
...
The world chat was filled with complaints about being thrown into this survival game or cries for help due to thirst and hunger.
Marcus, however, focused on something different from everyone else—the number of people.
It wasn’t just him who had been thrown into this underground survival game. Many others, or perhaps everyone, had come as well.
Luckily, Marcus was an orphan. His parents had died when he was in his teens, and he had never had a partner all these years. There was no one else he needed to worry about.
Out of a sense of thoroughness, Marcus also opened the [Regional Chat], which had content similar to the world chat.
Aside from some joking and unserious messages, rest of the messages were people begging for food and water.
In fact, the majority of the messages were pleas for food and water.
But who had food or water now? Even if someone did, they’d keep it for themselves. There was no way anyone would give it away freely.
Understanding this reality, Marcus felt a growing sense of urgency.
Not to mention the beast attack nine hours later—if he didn’t find food and water, he might starve or die of thirst!
Just as he was thinking about this, Marcus felt his throat go dry and scratchy. He wasn’t sure if it was a mild sign of dehydration or just psychological thing.
He left the wooden house and stepped back into the previous cave through the blue portal.
There were four tunnels in different directions, and the caves beyond them were completely unknown.
Whether there was food or monsters, it all depended on luck.
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‘Leaving everything to luck…tch, this is such a trashy game.’
But faced with four identical walls, Marcus couldn’t make a decision and had to rely on his instincts to pick one.
Standing at the tunnel directly in front of him, he took his shovel and dug into the wall. Contrary to his expectation of hard-packed soil, the dirt here was soft and easy to dig, requiring little effort—even a frail girl could manage it.
A large chunk of dirt was dug out and automatically went into his inventory.
[Dirt +1]
[Dirt +1]
...
After gathering 10 units of dirt, a blue door-shaped passage opened up.
Marcus raised his shovel, prepared for a fight, and stepped toward the glowing portal.
[Ding! There is a hidden reward in the current cave that has not been claimed. Would you like to proceed to the next cave?]
“Yes… Wait, no, no!”
Marcus blurted out “yes” but immediately realized this wasn’t a simple message about entering the next level—it was a notification that there was a hidden reward he hadn’t claimed.
“Phew, that was close. I almost missed it!”
A hidden reward—just thinking about it made Marcus’s heart race.
Normally, only exceptionally lucky players would encounter hidden rewards.
Marcus felt like he had hit the jackpot.
Putting his exploration of the next cave on hold, he meticulously searched every corner of this one.
After thoroughly examining the entire cave, he confirmed that he hadn’t missed any spot but still couldn’t find the hidden reward.
Could it be messing with him?
The message only informed him that there was a hidden reward left to claim, but if only it could also indicate the exact location!
“Where’s the hidden reward? Why can’t I find it?” Marcus tried asking the air.
Sure enough, a voice immediately responded.
[In the northwest corner, dig about 20 centimeters down with your shovel to find the hidden reward.]
“The northwest corner… Which way is northwest?”
Marcus stood with his shovel, trying to figure out the direction, but eventually gave up.
Without sunlight in the cave, it was impossible to discern directions.
There were no more hints this time. It seemed the guiding voice only responded to questions about hidden rewards and wouldn’t answer other queries.
Direction-related questions, apparently, fell into the latter category.
After fumbling around for a while, Marcus finally noticed a small map in the upper left corner of the game interface. It showed a progress indicator marked “0%” and also labelled the cardinal directions.
The “0%” seemed to indicate his exploration progress.
With a sense of direction at last, Marcus headed for the northwest corner. He dug twice with his shovel and suddenly hit something hard.
Clearing away the loose soil by hand, Marcus uncovered a wooden chest.
‘This must be the hidden reward mentioned in the prompt.’
The chest was locked, but Marcus wasn’t worried. With his trusty shovel, he pried the chest open to reveal its contents.
A weathered parchment scrolls, a sleeveless leather armour, and a brooch shaped like an arm.
[Warrior Class Scroll]: A crude parchment detailing the requirements for changing your class. You must follow its instructions to reach a designated cave and complete the class change (note: some skills require the Warrior class to learn).
[Lost Heirloom Leather Armor]
* Quality: Crude [F]
* Attributes: Defense +1
* Description: Who would pass down such a useless piece of armor as an heirloom?
[The Third Hand]
* Quality: Fine [E]
* Attributes: Attack +2, 2% chance to hit a critical spot during attacks, and a 2% chance to loot items from enemies upon defeating them. After collecting loot for a certain amount of time, you can upgrade the weapon(0/10).
* Description: With it, you’ll gain a third hand.
The hidden reward consisted of three items. While the leather armor’s stats were negligible, having an extra piece of equipment early on was better than nothing. The Warrior Class Scroll was a valuable item, especially in this mysterious survival game where everything was uncertain.
‘Ha, not only for crafting? People even need scrolls for upgrading their class. I wonder how many people are going to die withing today!’
As soon as Marcus picked up the scroll, a blue line appeared on the map, akin to an auto-navigation feature in games. It even helpfully displayed the distance: 35 tiles.
Luckily, the direction pointed to the tunnel he had already opened. Otherwise, he’d have to dig through again.
As for the final item, “The Third Hand,” its fine quality left Marcus breathless.
At this stage, gear like this was practically a divine artifact, and the list of special effects was dazzling, clearly emphasizing its value.
Marcus quickly stored everything in his inventory, equipping the leather armour immediately. Though it left his arms exposed, it gave him a sense of security.
Even after all this, Marcus felt he might be wasting resources, so he used his shovel to dismantle the wooden chest for its materials.
[Wood +4]
After squeezing out every last bit of value from the chest, Marcus cheerfully stepped into the next cave.
“What things await me in the next cave?”