Starting Off Survival With A Small Treehouse

Chapter 125: Chapter 125: Resources in the Vortex

Before leaving, Xu Xin wanted to leave the new resources he had brought back from outside inside the house.

He took out the wooden bucket, and the small fish were still swimming joyfully inside it.

He directly made a large fish tank half a person’s height out of glass and placed it next to the screen on the third level, pouring the water and fish from the bucket into it.

[Detected breeding Colorful Scale Fish (Green) *52 in the tree house, tree house decoration degree +10.4, current tree house decoration degree: 10.4]

The sudden voice startled Xu Xin.

A new attribute, decoration degree, appeared.

Xu Xin went to the screen and found that a new option had been added to the main choices, [Decoration Degree].

After clicking it open, the interface only had one line of text: Breeding Colorful Scale Fish (Green) *52, increased decoration degree by 10.4.

Apart from this, the interface had no other words.

Fifty-two Colorful Scale Fish added 10.4, which meant each fish increased the decoration degree by 0.2.

...So what exactly is this decoration degree for?

Must it reach a certain value to be visible?

At this moment, Keke climbed to the edge of the fish tank, curiously poking her head to look at the colorful little fish inside.

”Keke, and you two,” Xu Xin said to the three beasts, ”you’re not allowed to catch these little fish to eat, they’re for viewing, got it?”

”Ying!” Keke nodded her little head, using her small paws to stir the surface of the water in the fish tank. The Wolf King followed with a howl.

Mimi seemed to curl her lip, as if saying that these small fish weren’t even enough to fill the gaps between her teeth.

Xu Xin took out the redwood from his backpack along with the colorful crystals he had picked from underwater.

[Detected placing of Blue Crystal (Green) *1, Purple Crystal (Green) *1, Red Crystal (Green) *1, Green Crystal (Green) *1 in the tree house, tree house decoration degree +4, current tree house decoration degree: 14.4]

The redwood did not trigger a prompt sound.

The redwood’s description said it could be carved into sculptures or made into furniture, which then can increase the decoration degree.

And the introduction of those crystals also mentioned they could be carved, does this mean carved crystals increase the decoration degree even more?

But this wasn’t something Xu Xin needed to consider, as he didn’t know how to carve.

The urgent task now was to return to the underwater whirlpool beneath the tornado to see what exactly was inside it.

Since there was an intermediate mutated creature guarding it, there must be some good things inside!

Perhaps it was even connected to somewhere, otherwise where did this sailfish come from?

Xu Xin looked outside at the tornado, which remained as fearsome as ever, continuously throwing things outward.

He once again dived into the water, quickly swimming towards the direction of the tornado.

Along the way, he discovered several green-grade crystals and some redwood, which seemed to have been newly spat out.

Apart from the previous colors, Xu Xin also found Yellow Crystal and White Crystal, adding two new colors.

Packing these new resources into his backpack, he quickly swam to the side of the underwater whirlpool.

This time, Xu Xin did not feel a sense of crisis, but he dared not be careless, stopped his movement, and followed along with the surrounding water flow slowly rotating towards the whirlpool.

He could see the white-grade crystals on the seabed being gradually swept close by the whirlpool, eventually being sucked into it.

Gradually, Xu Xin was only a few meters away from the outside of the whirlpool, and the current pull was very strong, Xu Xin felt he could no longer resist the suction of the current but he did not panic, allowing the current to pull him into the whirlpool.

Passing through the outer edge of the whirlpool, the drag increased once again, the speed quickened, Xu Xin stabilized his mind, carried by the whirlpool, spinning faster and faster, getting closer to the whirlpool’s center.

Suddenly, Xu Xin was thrown out, staggering, his feet hitting the ground, and he couldn’t help but run forward a few steps.

Indeed, he was stepping on solid ground.

He was spun to the point of dizziness, almost thinking he was hallucinating.

”Is this the eye of the tornado? So cold...”

Xu Xin shivered from the cold.

He was thrown into the inside of the water vortex, and inside the whirlpool, astonishingly, there was no water.

Xu Xin was too lazy to explain it scientifically; it made no sense.

Looking up at the surroundings, the lower layer was a five or six-meter vortex water ring and above that was the tornado.

Although the spiral below was very peculiar, the water absorption was very slow, the rotation speed was not fast, part of the water was still sucked into the tornado, and gradually rose, becoming fog, causing the topmost cloud layer to increasingly oppress.

Luckily, there was no wind in the eye, just a rather low temperature and low air pressure. He had just emerged from the water, and was still wet, shivering from the cold and having difficulty breathing.

He urgently began searching for what he wanted.

The entire eye of the tornado was a circular area roughly ten meters in diameter, the small trees from just now in the vortex area were gone, swept away by the tornado, yet in this area, these little trees were surprisingly undamaged, not destroyed by the tornado.

”What is that?”

Xu Xin discovered that in the center of the small grove, there was a wooden box that looked shabby, very small, about the size of a beer crate.

He hurried over, no, it’s too cold and uncomfortable here. He can’t stay too long.

It seems like he’ll need to use the pill Qi Xuefei gave him when he gets back. Soaking wet and still so cold, it would be outrageous if he didn’t catch a cold or fever.

As he stood in front of the wooden box and got a clearer look at it, Xu Xin’s eye twitched a bit.

”This is so broken, was this box picked out from a trash heap?”

He got the feeling that this wooden box was dropped here after being ravaged. Could this just be a piece of junk fallen out of a tornado?

But in the eye of the storm, other than a small tree, there was only this broken box. Xu Xin reluctantly crouched down.

The box was locked, but as it was already very broken, Xu Xin could even see some of its contents through the gaps, which seemed to be some colorful stones.

...Emitting green and blue light.

Green-grade resources and blue-grade resources!

Xu Xin’s eyes lit up, and with a strong twist, he directly ripped off the box lid. His strength now was indeed quite substantial.

The box was full of colorful crystals, exactly like the ones Xu Xin had picked up from the water outside.

Xu Xin rummaged through and took out a few crystals emitting blue light.

[Red Crystal (Blue): Exceptionally beautiful crystal, placing it in the tree house can enhance decoration, suitable for carving.]

At the same time, there was also a blue crystal and a white crystal, both of blue grade.

”Is this all?” Xu Xin wasn’t satisfied; he had killed an intermediate mutant beast to get in, surely there couldn’t be just this little resource here.

He turned the box over and dumped all its contents out.

A streak of purple light appeared, immediately bringing a smile to his lips. Sure enough, there were purple-grade resources here!

It was a card, and just by looking at its form, Xu Xin could tell it was another kind of contract.

Picking up the card, unfamiliar text gradually appeared on the somewhat damp card.

[Artist Contract (Purple): After using this contract, unlock the artist option, enabling crafting blueprints related to sculpture and painting, and gain mastery in carving and painting.]

Xu Xin: ”?”

For a moment, he felt this contract was worthless.

But then he thought, the new resources he had obtained earlier seemed to be related to carving; could this contract help create sculptures and paintings that enhance decoration?

Beside the contract, there was another purple crystal, but unlike the other crystals, this one also emitted purple light.

Another purple-grade resource!

Xu Xin reached out and picked up the purple crystal.

[Purple Crystal (Purple): Exceptionally beautiful and durable crystal, placing it in the tree house can enhance decoration, suitable for carving.]

Purple carving materials!

Xu Xin didn’t hesitate to crush the contract in his hand.

A warm current flowed from his hand into his heart, pulsating with his heartbeat throughout his body.

Feeling the enhancement of his physique and strength once more, Xu Xin clenched his fist.

Meanwhile, his mind suddenly was filled with numerous memories of carving and painting, as if being crammed into him. He felt that now, as long as he picked up a carving knife or paintbrush, he could create artworks that would astonish the world.

Xu Xin opened his watch. Sure enough, under the main option of [Decoration Degree], a new [Artist] sub-option lit up.

Upon opening it, there were only three crafting projects in the option.

[Carving Tool Set (Green): Capable of carving green-grade materials to create green-grade sculptures. Requires Iron Block (Green) *1, Wood (Green) *1]

[Brush (Green): Dipped in water, it can paint desired ink paintings, capable of creating green-grade artworks. Requires Wood (Green) *1, Animal Hair (Green) one strand]

[Carving and Painting Workbench (Blue): Only on this workbench can works of historical significance be carved and painted! Requires Redwood (Green) *10, Stone (Blue) *5]

My goodness, a set of tools for carving and painting!

This is really going to turn him into an artist!

Xu Xin was a bit speechless; he still didn’t know what the decoration degree was used for, so he didn’t feel much excitement about this ability, feeling rather subtle.

Hopefully, the decoration degree will have great use.

After going back, he decided to try carving a bit to enhance the decoration degree of the tree house.

He looked up, originally just wanting to see if any other advanced resources might drop down, but what he saw made his gaze tighten.

There was a small purple-black vortex about two meters above his head, quietly spinning there.

”What is this thing?” Xu Xin’s eyelid twitched.

This purple-black vortex looked almost like a miniature black hole, making the surrounding space appear warped.

But strangely enough, the vortex had no effect on the surrounding trees or on Xu Xin below, it just hung in the air, quietly spinning.

What the heck is this?! How is there a smaller vortex in the eye of the tornado?