Xia Chengfeng had been toiling the entire day. He felt thoroughly exhausted and was so tired that he stopped work for the day. I'll continue with the rest of the work the next day, he thought.
He entered his space bubble and headed right to his bed, then fell into a deep slumber.
When he woke up the next day, there were still many messages under his thread requesting his roast meat.
Xia Chengfeng had also noticed another meat merchant in the trading channel apart from him.
[Xingyuan] Temporary Meat Shop: Trading for all kinds of resources with roast meat! We are offering a large volume. It's a great value!
It looked like someone from the Xingyuan team had also discovered a cave of underground creatures. They were selling rat meat, but there was not a lot of them.
Xia Chengfeng faced competition. He had no choice but to increase the quantity of the meat he offered.
Today, his goal was to stockpile food and build a simple wooden hut and pigpen while he continued with grilling the meat.
He had already become proficient in butchering and grilling the meat.
While grilling the meat, Xia Chengfeng set up the steel pot he received the day before. He placed the fattier portions of the meat into the steel pot to fry. Xia Chengfeng was processing lard, which he then put into a can. He now had oil for future use.
Xia Chengfeng had learned some basics for survival in the past. He had also watched the entire "Man vs Wild" series. He understood what he had to do to survive independently in the outside world.
Also, he did not grill all the wild boars he had. He preserved a few of the boars with salt after he butchered them. He then placed them beside fire crystals to dry out the excess moisture and cure the meat. In that way, he could preserve the meat for a longer period.
After he completed the list of tasks, Xia Chengfeng started building his little wooden hut.
He had an area of 350 cubic meters in his space bubble. But its original configuration was a 5 x 5 x 5 meters cube, which meant that most of the space from the 5-meter height of the cube was useless. He would need to re-shape his space bubble to get more usable space.
He could mold the space bubble at will. So, Xia Chengfeng lowered the height of the cube to increase the base length and width. He configured his storage space to be only two meters tall and ensured he could reach anything he needed with ease.
Then he made the height of the berry farm at only three meters high. There was enough walkway for him to get in and out of the area. He also put up a wooden frame within the farm.
In that way, the cranberry vines could grow up along the frame and reduced the horizontal space they took up.
Xia Chengfeng left some space in the central region of the space bubble. It was three meters high, three and a half meters long, and three meters wide. It was the area reserved for his wooden hut.
It was a standard-size area for a small bedroom. Xia Chengfeng built the room with wooden planks. He did not have the requisite skills to construct a proper house, so he constructed it based on his creativity.
First, he set up a foundation. Xia Chengfeng spread a layer of soil and stone on the ground as a foundation, then nailed the wooden planks into the foundation. He alternated between these layers and stuck logs inside the house to act as pillars.
He used a pre-made wooden frame and planks of wood for the roof, then called it a day.
The wooden hut was rudimentary, at best, and it undoubtedly would not stand up to a large storm. However, Xia Chengfeng seemed satisfied with his handiwork. Besides, there was no wind or rain in the space bubble, anyway.
There would be the movement of air in the space bubble if its area was large enough. It could create wind or even lightning. However, at the moment, he was fine with it as the hut did not collapse!
Xia Chengfeng moved the bed into the hut. He had slept on the hard floor the night before and it caused his body to ache. He spread a layer of hay over the bed to solve the problem.
"Alright, I have completed the wooden hut. Now, I need to get to the pigpen," he muttered.
Building the pigpen was simpler than building the hut. Xia Chengfeng planted wooden beams into the ground and enclosed the entire area with the twine he had got from trading the day before. It became the fence for his pigpen.
He had intentionally set up the pigpen just beside the berry farm as he planned to use the boars' excrement as fertilizer. He scattered wild grass within the pen and made a trough for food and water with slabs of stone. His small-scaled pigpen was now completed.
"I wouldn't have been able to do this if I did not have energy crystals," Xia Chengfeng mumbled as he sighed to himself. He absorbed another energy crystal. It strengthened his constitution and increased his stamina.
He headed back to the cave where he found the wild boars and picked out the young pigs from the underground pit that he blocked off. He then placed the piglets into the pen he built.
There were 18 young boars in total. The young boars immediately drank and munched on the boar grass when they entered the pen.
The growth and reproduction rate of wild boars was fast. A mature wild boar would reproduce twice a year, and the female boar would give birth to a dozen little piglets at once.
Xia Chengfeng had finally got a stable source of food. The only inconvenience was that he had to harvest boar grass every day to feed the boars.
He had no choice but to harvest all the grass in the cave where he found the boars, which he stuffed into his storage space. He had to set aside a 3 x 3-meter plot of land as a farm for the boars' feed.
Xia Chengfeng did not miss even the excrements and insects in the wild boar cave.
System Notification: Obtained [Ordinary Fertilizer] +12, [Living Earthworm] +154.
Xia Chengfeng had scooped up everything in the wild boar cave!
Finally, he beat the wild boar cave and got himself a space crystal in the quest. This effectively allowed him to increase the area of his space bubble.
"Woo-hoo, I can live comfortably now!" exclaimed Xia Chengfeng. He had toiled the entire day as Chef Xia, but now he was sitting comfortably on his bed as he munched on some roast meat.
I have finally stepped out of the primitive era and progressed into a farming civilization, Xia Chengfeng thought to himself as he took stock of his situation. He had to continue to increase the area of his space bubble so he could expand his farms and pigpen. It would be best if he had other beasts of burden, then he could grow cotton or the like…
Just as he was planning his beautiful future, a system notification rang out.
: Over three billion people have discovered a cave. The newcomer protection period is about to end. There will be One Star caves appearing around players in 24 hours.
: [Suggestion]: Energy crystals, elemental crystals, soul rocks, runes, and "Profession Enlightenments" will become critical items.
Every survivor who made it to the Crypt World heard the system notification and flocked to the forums to express their thoughts.
Someone expressed his thoughts in area 2222 and attracted the praise of many.
Little Zuanfeng: Assumption regarding the new hint. Must read!
: According to my current observations and the information supplied by all of you, I guess we were in the newcomer protection period the past few days since we arrived. So, there was not much danger around us.
: Even though there were people who died, it was either because of their poor survival skills or that they were too unlucky.
: By this time, there has already been a variety of resources appearing in caves. All of you must have realized that this crypt world is different from the previous world we live in.
: The laws of physics here might be partially similar to that of the previous world, but science may not apply here. It is because this world might not follow familiar scientific principles as we know them.
: Energy crystals, runic treasure boxes, etc. We can perhaps identify the items which possess supernatural energy as a form of "magic". As seen, there must be various entities of energy, or monsters, in the Crypt World!
: And these monsters must live in the One Star caves that the system just announced earlier. These monsters would possess a certain amount of supernatural powers.
: Also, the system instructed us to find resources and "Profession Enlightenments". We will require those items to enable us to wield supernatural powers!
: So, the next 24 hours will be critical. Getting supernatural powers as soon as possible is the key to our future survival!
: Whoever can become a wielder of supernatural powers will have an advantage in the future game of survival!
Xia Chengfeng read through the post and could not help but praise the author's thought process. His hypothesis had been quite accurate.
The Crypt World would become more and more dangerous in the future. Food and water would no longer be the main issues for survival. A more critical problem to face would be the various monsters lurking in the crypt!
The wild boars, which he had faced previously, were not classified as a monster of the crypt as they did not wield supernatural powers.
To continue living in this world, the survivors had to gain a competitive advantage. They would have to become wielders of a variety of supernatural powers. They would require "Profession Enlightenments".