The fact that the villagers were a hundred percent loyal to him eased Liao Fan a lot.
Soon, he would be able to obtain the clay blocks!
Although it was somewhat risky to leave the villager alone, Liao Fan had no choice!
It was the most efficient method.
If he stayed on the spot to mine himself, then it would just be a waste of time.
He would not be able to explore further.
Not only did Liao Fan need a large number of materials, but he also needed to cover a huge chunk of distance.
In fact, knowing the location of the materials was more important than actually mining them.
Every second counts!
Besides, this was still a competition.
While the other Lords were still trapped in their thatched cottages, Liao Fan had already begun his own exploration.
Along the way, Liao Fan continued to draw lines on the ground with the black crystal block. The other villager made sure to follow his master closely.
The flames on the torch gradually burned out, and the light began to dim.
Upon seeing this, Liao Fan immediately took out a new torch and lit it.
If he did not act quickly, he would be swallowed by the fog.
Liao Fan had to be vigilant all the time.
He could not afford to make any mistakes!
...
Five minutes passed.
[ Ding! Congratulations to Lord Liao Fan for successfully mining clay *1 ]
[ Ding! Congratulations to Lord Liao Fan for successfully mining clay *1 ]
[ Ding! Congratulations to Lord Liao Fan for successfully mining clay *1 ]
...
The system's notification tone rang continuously.
Up until now, the villager Liao Fan left behind had collected about forty clay blocks.
Clay blocks were very important as they were needed to craft many useful items, particularly the wooden fences!
It was crucial to craft those fences since they could hinder the fog.
That was why Liao Fan allocated an ample amount of time for mining!
Furthermore, the villager's mining speed was rather fast.
Liao Fan felt a little more relieved.
He held the torch in his hand and stepped forward again!
Another three minutes passed.
Once again, Liao Fan tried to move five steps to the left and right.
When Liao Fan took a step to the right, he was shocked!
The texture of the ground had changed!
Earlier, it felt like he was walking in a desert but now, Liao Fan was stepping on soil!
It was simply unbelievable.
Liao Fan stayed sharp!
He stopped walking and stared at the ground.
'This is a grassland!!!'
He was right. There was grass.
It was something that Liao Fan had been searching for a long time!
From the cottage to the grassland, it took Liao Fan about twenty-five minutes!
That was a little more than two torches used!
Thinking about how much torches were consumed, Liao Fan's heart ached a bit.
Furthermore, he would need another twenty-five minutes to return.
Fortunately, he still had seven torches on him.
He should have more than fifty minutes of free time.
If he explored any further, the return time would keep increasing.
The thought made Liao Fan depressed.
'Perhaps in the future, there will be a way for me to go even further?'
Liao Fan dared not think too much unless the fog issue was resolved.
He took a deep breath.
Then, he heard the system's notification again.
[ Ding! Congratulations to Lord Liao Fan for exploring 5% of this area. ]
[ When you cover more than 60% of an area, the fog will completely disperse. This place will be purified! ]
[ This area will also be opened for the rest. ]
After hearing that, Liao Fan's pupils slightly contracted!
'The fog will disperse once I cover 60% of this area!'
This piece of information was crucial.
At the same time, Liao Fan felt numb.
'60% is still no easy task!'
After all, the dense fog covered everything. If there were no torches, one would definitely die!
Right now, Liao Fan was confident that there were more than just monsters hidden in the fog.
For example, there would probably be something like poison.
Additionally, if this place was a dense forest area, there might be deadly swamps with methane gas.
There may also be cliffs! A person could have easily fallen to their deaths if they were not careful since the fog would have blurred their vision.
These were all problems caused by the fog.
The probability of something unfavorable happening was very high!
Earlier, Liao Fan actually bypassed an area that was filled with poisonous gas.
After inhaling the gas for just a few seconds, he felt suffocated.
He really needed to be on high alert at all times!
Anyway, Liao Fan had almost exhausted all his basic resources.
If he wanted to explore deeper, he would certainly need more torches!
Another important fact was that the thatched cottage could not be moved.
Liao Fan could only use the thatched cottage as the center point and explore its surroundings.
This was very inconvenient for him!
The supplies required were like a bottomless pit.
Just mining for resources would not be sufficient.
Moreover, Liao Fan only had two villagers.
It was simply not enough. Even if he was given another villager, there was no guarantee that Liao Fan could afford to feed them all.
There was a talent recruitment column in the system's interface.
Liao Fan had already looked through it when he was in the thatched cottage.
In order to recruit talents, one must first have a talent recruitment card.
However, he did not know how to obtain those talent recruitment cards.
For this problem, the first solution that Liao Fan thought of was using the trading function.
The resources in this region were limited.
If he wanted to explore further, he would need to make good use of the trading function.
That was why he needed to use his daily speaker meticulously!
Thinking about this, Liao Fan felt somewhat dejected.
He only had seven torches with him.
It meant he had a mere ninety-five minutes left.
Returning to the cottage would take twenty-five minutes.
In other words, the moment he lit one of the last three torches, he would need to rush back!
Even though the twenty-fifth minute just took up one minute of the third torch, it was better to be safe than sorry.
Anything could happen within this fog.
In short, Liao Fan only had a total combination of four touches of free time!
It seemed like a lot, but time flies when searching and mining for resources.
Moreover, he needed multiple types of resources such as wood, stone, coal, and so on.
Without these resources, Liao Fan would not be able to make more torches and axes! Then, he would not be able to explore for a second time.
Also, he had yet to discover any food and water.
The premium bread could only last for a day and a half at most.
He had a scarce amount of supplies!
'Maybe my luck is bad.
'There's a puddle next to my cottage.
'My spawn location might not be ideal!'
...