An Ling was a bit surprised; she hadn’t expected an ordinary stone to actually be a material. Her gaze shifted to both sides of the coast, and she discovered that there was quite a lot of Flint here.
She immediately began picking them up along the shoreline.
Every few meters, there was usually a piece of Flint—some buried in the sand, others under the waves—all easily collected by her using her powers.
After two hours of stopping and starting, An Ling had collected a total of 65 pieces of Flint.
After that, it became much harder to find this kind of stone, and she decided not to waste any more time, instead wandering around the vicinity of the island to see if she could gather any other useful resources.
She spent another hour making a round, managed to get a few birds using her Bow and Arrow, but there were no other useful supplies.
An Ling stored the 20 feathers she had obtained in her backpack, and as for the pitifully small amount of Bird Meat, she immediately put it up on the Trading Post to trade for feathers.
Some survivors might not necessarily want these feathers; on the contrary, bird meat was more appealing.
An Ling glanced at the time. It was already past four in the afternoon, and it was about time to return to her island. After all, it would take another two hours to travel, and she didn’t want to have to make her way back in the dark again.
“Might as well see what new devices I can unlock with today’s haul,” she said as she slung her backpack and headed toward her wooden boat. Maybe after today, her island’s technology would be upgraded.
Reaching the wooden boat, she skillfully retrieved the anchor and, using her powers, began to row back toward her construction island.
Come to think of it, her powers had been in use for so long, yet there was no sign of a breakthrough. Logically, shouldn’t they level up with increased proficiency and frequent use?
If they couldn’t be upgraded, then what was the point of having levels at all?
Besides, An Ling’s current abilities were only helpful with daily tasks. If she relied solely on them in combat, her verdict was: not as good as Lucky Streak or Enhancement Cards.
Two hours later, in the glow of the setting sun, the sea shimmered golden. The small wooden boat drifting on the ocean slowly returned to the side of the modest island.
An Ling quickly dropped anchor, secured her little boat, then leapt onto the island.
The first thing to do was to clear out the materials in her backpack and refill the Rainwater Storage Tank with fresh water.
As expected, there were eight buckets left—just enough to store in the storage chest. She couldn’t just leave them outside.
“I could make another trip tomorrow and at least refill the fresh water,” An Ling murmured, rubbing her chin and looking at the empty plastic buckets in front of her.
Then she went inside and sorted and processed all the supplies.
Opening the construction module, sure enough, she saw many new buildings unlocked, making her eyes light up.
[Flint Axe: Logging efficiency 0.6, slightly stronger than the Scrap Iron Axe. Materials required: Flint2, Wood1, Rope1, Gain Points1.]
[Flint Spear: Essential for hunting, damage depends on the user’s strength, average penetration. Materials required: Wood1, Flint1. Gain Points*1.]
[Flint Pickaxe: …….. Gain Points*1.]
[Horn Bow: …….. Gain Points*1.]
………..
Aside from these, there were also flowerbeds, flower pots, standard iron axes, standard iron pickaxes, standard iron swords (bows, shields, spears, knives), and a whole series of special equipment unlocked this time.
The former could be crafted directly at the Workbench, while the latter—whether it was Loess or Iron Ore—would require further processing, and An Ling currently did not have the building for that.
From her gaming experience, this building was most likely the Furnace, which usually required a Blueprint, in other words, a building card to unlock.
As for how to get a building card, well, maybe if she had a Lucky Streak one day, she could try opening a box.
“Although I’ve unlocked a lot of things, there are only a few I can actually make right now.” An Ling frowned, deciding to craft all the things she could for now, treating it as a way to rack up some points.
Horn Bow—she tried holding it and found its power wasn’t much different from a deer horn bow, not really any more advanced than the one she’d made before.
Might as well leave it in the house to gather dust, or sell it if nothing else.
Next up were the three Flint items—efficiency 0.6. Obviously, they were better than her old makeshift pickaxe and axe, so naturally, she replaced those.
“Looks like I’ll need to go ashore again tomorrow. The Flint Pickaxe should be more powerful and make mining less of a hassle, and I can replenish the fresh water supply while I’m at it.”
An Ling finalized her plan: sell off the three spare tools and complete her set of plastic buckets—a full set meant fifty.
After all this was done, it was nearly dark. She lit the stove and began preparing her dinner.
Dishes were easy to make, but An Ling had neither Seasoning nor a Main Course!
She opened the trading module, but after searching for a while, found no one selling Seasoning. That was going to be a problem.
Actually, she preferred to eat the perishables first. She still had Self-Heating Rice and Canned Food in the box, but those could be stored long-term. If an emergency came up, they’d be a lifesaver.
With so many people around, she didn’t believe no one had any. It was just that nobody was selling.
An Ling opened the Chat Module and called out directly.
“Anyone have Seasoning or a Main Course? I’ll trade fresh beef!” Anyway, she had too much beef. With her appetite, she’d have trouble finishing it in a month, and if left alone, it would spoil. Right now, this was the biggest temptation for any survivor.
“Beef? Where did you get beef!”
“Damn, I’m still eating compressed biscuits and you have so much beef you want to sell it?”
“Comparing people just makes you mad. The heavens are unfair!”
“Boss, I bow before you! Please, you must let me have a Steak. I love it raw.”
“I’m an idol—I can sing, dance, and rap. Can you spare me some beef? I’m starving…..”
“Scram, you sissy!”
………..
At this moment, An Ling was bombarded by a flood of private messages from unfamiliar survivors—undoubtedly the people who actually had Main Courses and Seasoning.
Compared to having Seasoning but no ingredients, they wanted some hearty grilled beef even more.
Of course, a serving of beef weighed about three kilograms; even if they pooled all their Seasonings, it wouldn’t be enough to trade for one portion of beef. So, An Ling decided to cut up a serving and sell it in parts.
No knife? Not a problem. The Flint Axe she’d just made hadn’t been used yet—it was clean. She’d just use it to cut up the meat.
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