"The evaluation criteria include shelter level, the quantity and value of resources collected, exploration range, and other factors."
"Since others were afraid to go out at the time, but he went out to chop down a tree right away, his evaluation was very high!"
"I guess he got more than just the Sanctuary Light Shield. After all, it's a global reward!"
Reading this series of messages, James feels a bit overwhelmed.
Worried that James might not believe her, Mary sent a screenshot of her chat with Henry, along with a photo of the secret realm's stone pillar taken using the screenshot feature of the "Survival Handbook in the Fog."
Seeing these, James is somewhat convinced to try it out, even if it's fake, as the rewards are too tempting, and the chat screenshots and photos seem real.
James: "I'm not sure if what you're saying is true or false, trading with you is risky!"
Mary: "It's hard for me to prove that I'm telling the truth, if you don't believe me, I can only trade with someone else."
James: "I don't have fresh water nearby, I can trade with you, but you need to provide me with fresh water in the future!"
James values the Guarding Thorns highly and doesn't want to give up, so he chooses to trade.
Mary: "Great! Don't worry, I'll add you as a friend, and I'll take care of your water needs. There's a river next to my house, with more fresh water than I can use!"
Saying this, James sends a trade request.
He trades 50 stones for one Wood Attribute Guarding Thorn.
Based on the previous trade, James guesses that Mary is short of 43 stones and 30 wood.
James plans to trade long-term for fresh water and is happy to do a favor.
Giving 7 extra stones in exchange for wood is a good deal, as 7 units of stone for 30 wood is more than enough with current prices.
Soon, the trade is successful.
A greenish, baby-arm-thick thorn appears in front of him.
The thorn is covered in spikes, with a thin base, looking wilted and severely malnourished.
James pulls some grass from outside and places the Guarding Thorn on it.
The root of the Guarding Thorn visibly wriggles and adheres to the grass.
The grass gradually withers and is completely absorbed and decomposed, forming a soil-like substance at the base of the Guarding Thorn.
The Guarding Thorn looks a bit more spirited, but only slightly.
Seeing that the Guarding Thorn is still alive, James is relieved.
Just placing the Guarding Thorn outside the wooden house, it will automatically attack creatures not belonging to the sanctuary.
It also prevents the Guarding Thorn from accidentally hurting James.
However, the current Guarding Thorn is too weak and can only barely survive in the flower bed.
After doing all this, James opens the "Survival Handbook in the Fog."
It's the golden time for trading, and such opportunities won't come again soon.
Ignoring several messages of thanks from Mary, James opens the contact market.
He easily trades 13 units of stone for 65 units of wood at a 5:1 ratio.
This successfully meets the criteria for upgrading the wooden house.
Without hesitation, James flips to the shelter information page in the handbook and clicks upgrade.
A white light instantly envelops the wooden house.
After about five seconds, the light slowly fades away.
The previously dilapidated wooden house is transformed by a magical force.
When he opens his eyes again, he sees neat and sealed wooden walls.
The cold wind from outside can no longer get in.
Square stones are neatly laid on the floor.
The solid stone texture gives a sense of security.
The size of the wooden house has also changed dramatically.
What was originally a 10-square-meter cabin has now expanded to 30 square meters, equivalent to a bedroom, 6 meters long and 5 meters wide.
It now looks more like a house.
The oil lamp on the wooden table also becomes much brighter as the house enlarges.
It seems to symbolize the burning flame of hope.
In every corner of the world of fog, sparks flutter in the mist.
The shelter information in the handbook also changes.
[Shelter: Level 2 Wooden House (30 square meters)
"Wooden walls, stone foundation. Barely enough to shield from wind and rain!
But don't expect it to withstand greater disasters!"
Level 2 Shelter Facilities:
Bedroom: 3/50 wood (includes a single wooden bed)
Living Room: 3/50 wood, 50/10 stone (includes a small stove)
Warehouse: 3/50 wood (includes two storage boxes, no dimensional space capability)
Workshop: 3/50 wood (includes a small workbench, capable of making ordinary and good-quality items, requires crafting scrolls.)
Kitchen: 3/50 wood, 50/10 stone (includes a pit iron pot)
External Balcony: 3/50 wood (included in 30 square meters, with a rain shelter.)
Animal Pen: 3/30 wood (includes a feeding trough, only for taming ordinary-level creatures.)
Note: Level 2 Wooden House can only choose 4 types of facilities to build!
Shelter Upgrade: 3/250 wood, 50/500 stone]
The facilities of the Level 2 shelter are obviously much more numerous.
A total of seven!
However, due to only 300 square feet, only four can be chosen for construction.
James looks at the seven types of room facilities and ponders.
Bedroom, living room, warehouse, workshop, kitchen, external balcony, animal pen!
"Firstly, the workshop is essential, otherwise who knows where to find a workbench!" James mutters to himself.
"Of the other six... no need for a warehouse, it only comes with ordinary boxes, not dimensional ones."
"No need for an animal pen right now, it's troublesome enough to keep the Guarding Thorns. Exclude the animal pen!"
"That leaves the living room, bedroom, kitchen, and balcony!"
"If I have to exclude one... the iron pot in the kitchen is hard to get! Let's build one!"
"The external balcony is also necessary, after all, many plants need to grow in the open air!"
"The living room has a stove, which can be used for heating... Yes, the living room can be used as a bedroom!"
"The room is not big to begin with, divided into four parts, the living room is only seven or eight square meters, the heating effect will definitely not be worse than the bedroom!"
James nods in satisfaction.
But although the plan is beautiful, there is still a shortage of materials for construction.
A total of 200 wood and 20 stone is needed!
Also, he needs to prepare for the upgrade of the wooden house.
250 wood and 500 stone! This quantity is already very large!
Today he has collected 163 stones, spent 50 for the Guarding Thorn, 13 for the wood, 50 for upgrading the shelter, leaving only 50 units.
Based on the most common efficiency, using ordinary-level stone axes and stone picks.
He can collect up to 80 wood or 80 stones per day.
Without eating or drinking, it would take ten days to collect everything.
Moreover, a lot of time or resources must be spent every day solving the food problem.
For most people, upgrading to a Level 3 shelter would take at least 20-30 days.
James thinks his pace can be much faster.
He is probably among the fastest-developing people in all humanity.
James thinks contentedly, looking at the package on the wooden table.
This appeared after the wooden house was upgraded, probably the temporary task reward mentioned in the announcement: the beginner's survival pack!
So many people are rushing to buy stones and crazily upgrading their shelters for this package.
James is also very excited about the beginner's survival pack.
Those who can upgrade their shelter on the first day are not many, so such a task reward is bound to be good.
He opens the package with excitement!
A bronze resource box!!!
James looks in surprise at the few items in front of him!
The biggest, most obvious, and most familiar is the bronze resource box!
Then, next to the resource box, there are three orbs!
(To explain a point, even if orbs are not opened, they will automatically open after five hours.)
Setting the bronze resource box aside for later, James opens the three orbs first.
A daily necessities set appears in front of him.
A five-liter bucket of mineral water!
A brick-sized compressed biscuit!
A thick cotton coat.
Exactly the most practical and needed three items at the moment.
The surprise comes so suddenly that James is stunned.
"I didn't expect the reward to be so generous and useful! With these three things, the survival rate in the early stage is almost perfectly guaranteed!"
James suddenly thinks that those who can upgrade their shelter on the first day are either very lucky or very strong.
Now with this batch of food, fresh water, and clothing.
Their early development will far exceed others.
Of course, this group is very small, just a drop in the ocean among the 7 billion population.
And James is one of those few!
James looks at the time and sees it's 8 PM in the "Survival Handbook in the Fog."
Daytime is from 10 AM to 4 PM.
It's been 4 hours into the night, but daylight is still far away.
But it's only four hours away from midnight.
The temporary task will end at midnight.
James opens the "Survival Handbook in the Fog" and hurries to buy some materials during the last hours.
He still has 50 units of stone, and James estimates he can exchange them for a lot of good things.
"Tomorrow morning I have to go to the secret realm, according to Mary, the evaluation includes shelter level, the quantity and value of resources collected, exploration range, and other factors!"
James browses the trading market, seeing many tempting things, hesitating which ones to exchange.
The shelter level can't be upgraded now.
Collecting resources like wood, stone, water, food, etc., is also hard to obtain in large quantities.
It's also hard to expand the exploration range.
Which items can gain an advantage in value assessment?
James thinks that only various special items from resource boxes.
Especially those that seem impractical, not needed in the short term, but are actually of high value.
James already has a target in mind!
In fact, even with the temptation of the "beginner's survival pack", few people take out items from resource boxes in exchange for wood and stone.
Even if they do, they're items of little value.
James sees a bunch of underwear, socks, toothpicks, cling film, and such.
So those who really want to trade, who want to complete the upgrade task, and have the ability to do so.
Most choose to trade "crafting scrolls."
James browses for a long time, and roughly sees two types of people.
The first type trades a crafting scroll for 40-50 units of stone.
These people themselves don't have much inventory.
They trade an unimportant scroll, if someone trades, great, if not, then it's fine.
Just relying on chance.
The other type only trades for ten to twenty units of stone.
These people are close to upgrading their shelter.
So they want to try their luck, offering a more affordable trading price.
But no matter which type, they won't take out truly valuable crafting scrolls.
After all, if they have a "Blueprint Crafting Scroll" or "Healing Potion Crafting Scroll", they definitely won't trade it.
Because even without the "beginner's survival pack", they can rely on the scroll to get more resources.
James, in the vast sea of trades, sees two decent scrolls.