Starting Off Survival With A Small Treehouse

Chapter 9 - 9 Improved Tools

”Are these stones for sale? I want three pieces,” Xu Xin got straight to the point.

”Depends on your offer,” the other side was equally shrewd.

Xu Xin thought for a moment and said, ”You should have many green stones, right? I have a lot of green wood here. Iʼll offer you 50 green wood to help you build a crafting table, and you give me 3 blue stones.” Xu Xin turned the tables.

The other side didnʼt reply for a long time, likely pondering.

”60 green wood, and I want your red berries too.”

”Okay, but the red berries need to be exchanged with iron ore, 20 iron ores for one berry.”

”Deal.”

[They initiated a trade with you: Stones (blue) *3 for Wood (green) *60]

Such a swift deal? Xu Xin reluctantly canceled the trade, saying, ”I donʼt have that much green wood right now, need to chop more. Letʼs trade the berries first. How many do you want?”

”... Give me three for now.”

Xu Xin initiated the trade.

[You initiated a trade: Large Red Berries (blue) *3 for Iron Ore (green) *60]

[The other party accepted the trade and received Iron Ore (green) *60]

[The other party initiated a trade with you: Stones (blue) *1 for nothing]

”Hmm?” Xu Xin was a bit puzzled, wondering if they were gifting him one piece?

”Iʼll give you one first. Quickly make a new axe to chop trees. Iʼll give you the other two after youʼre done,” the other side explained.

Quite considerate. Xu Xin couldnʼt help but smile. It seems she might have plenty of blue stones, maybe as many as his large red berries.

Xu Xin accepted the trade and gave her a thumbs up. He immediately crafted a new axe.

[Improved Stone Axe (green): Capable of chopping blue-level and lower trees, it has become more durable and sharp with the higher grade stone added, durability 200.]

Feeling great, he could now chop blue-level trees! It seems he must maintain a good relationship with Li Wenxi.

He suddenly remembered finding a blue-quality poplar tree. The function of blue-quality wood might be similar to the blue-quality stones. Now with this axe, itʼs time to fell that blue tree.

...

Elsewhere, in a treehouse smaller than Xu Xinʼs by a ring, a short-haired girl was carefully examining the red berry in her hand. Wearing simple newbie shorts and a T-shirt, her tall figure, along with her exposed fair yet firm arms and legs, suggested she exercised regularly to keep in shape.

”Provides keen vision effect, grants 2-hour night vision... thatʼs right, blue-quality items really come with extra abilities,” the girl murmured to herself.

This was a two-story treehouse, each floor about fifty square meters. At that moment, Li Wenxi was on the second floor, seated in front of a screen.

Li Wenxi walked down to the first floor of the treehouse, looking at the various stones and iron ore piled there. Seeing that the trade platform would open today, she knew she could trade these stones and ores for something good, so she spent an entire day mining, leaving her thoroughly exhausted.

Transporting these items required countless trips. Fortunately, her treehouse was close to the mine. Plus, her fitness was significantly better than most girls, allowing her to bring everything back.

Even so, today she was sore all over, her legs trembling with every step since sheʼd been overexerting herself hauling things all day; even regular workouts couldnʼt prevent that. So today, she planned to stay in and use the trading platform to exchange these items for other supplies.

”This guy seems quite capable; heʼs already made a crafting table. I chopped trees for half a day yesterday and didnʼt even see a shadow of green wood, all were white.” Li Wenxi propped her shaking leg back to the second floor, lying back on the bed, she sighed, ”Heʼs impressive indeed, but it looks like he lacks a source of iron, we should collaborate.”

Li Wenxi had positioned her treehouse by a mine, with a small stream nearby too. She stopped here because it had two resources, thinking it better to settle than roam aimlessly.

”A low, small treehouse, just over twenty square meters and only one floor; could it be that my treehouse is more advanced than theirs?” Li Wenxi chuckled to herself. Just a sophomore in college, sheʼd awoken in this unknown world.

”I wonder what that guyʼs treehouse looks like; maybe mineʼs even better!” Li Wenxi delighted at the thought, continued lounging on her side in bed, scrolling through the text in the chat room.

Her iron ore had only been inquired about by Xu Xin, unsurprising since most people hadnʼt even made a crafting table yet, relying on the identification platform to gauge material quality, leading to like-for-like trades. So iron ore was basically useless for most at this stage.

”If that anonymous person truly proves trustworthy, selling him a few blue iron ores wouldnʼt be out of the question.” Seeing nothing useful in the chat, Li Wenxiʼs mind drifted back to Xu Xin.

She kept blue-quality items on the second floor. Her identification platform had a mineral noticeably different from ordinary iron ore, glowing blue. Since she had blue stones, her tools could gather blue materials.

[Iron Ore (blue): When smelting iron ore, adding just one piece produces blue iron blocks, practical and efficient!]

Suddenly, Xu Xin messaged her.

”Huh, did he come back so soon?”

...

On the other side, Xu Xin, holding the newly crafted stone axe (green), came down from the treehouse. Half remained uncleared below, mostly poplar trees, with white and green quality making up half each.

He swung the axe at the nearest poplar tree (white).

”Crack!”

The poplar tree broke in response, falling to the ground in five segments.

”Seriously?!” Xu Xin looked at the much sharper axe in his hand, wide-eyed. He remembered it used to take five chops to fell a white poplar.

He then struck a poplar tree (green), once, twice.

”Crack!” The poplar tree (green) fell permanently.

”This... is too strong!”

Five times the efficiency, one axe swing equating to five—this is the power of blue-quality materials! Much more useful than any red berry!

Like a divine warrior, Xu Xin cut down all the remaining trees under his treehouse, white and green logs scattered across the ground.

Since he was working directly beneath the treehouse, there was no need for transport, he just grabbed the logs and let the treehouse lift him. Quickly, he stacked all the wood on the first floor, then initiated a trade with Li Wenxi.

[You initiated a trade: Wood (green) *60 for Stones (blue) *2]

It worked as expected; so long as the materials are inside the treehouse, trades could be done anywhere.

[The other party accepted the trade and received Stones (blue) *2]