"Flesh Essence" can be obtained through other means.
The remaining three options are also difficult to choose from.
The "Warm in Winter, Cool in Summer Tree" is very effective, especially helpful for the upcoming cold wave.
The Sunflower is also great, almost guaranteeing the healthy growth of all other plants.
The "Crystal Rice" goes without saying, offering a long-term food source and improving physical condition.
After much struggle, James chooses the "Crystal Rice."
He must consider what to do if there is no food in the future!
The "Crystal Rice" is definitely the most secure option!
After choosing the plant item, five natural items appear, all of excellent quality.
[Mini Fire Copper Mine]: A warm, malleable copper mine. 5 square meters in size, automatically recovers 5% fire copper daily.
[Mini Spirit Mine]: Contains a small amount of spirit stones, about 500 in total.
[Hot Spring]: A spring rich in minerals.
[Spring Eye]: Produces 500 ml of energy-rich spring water daily, which has certain health benefits, sterilization, and cleansing effects.
Every seven days, it produces a drop of "Water Milk" rich in energy.
[Black Soil]: Rich in vitality, moderately increasing plant growth efficiency. (Needs nutrition replenishment, otherwise it degrades into ordinary soil.)
This time the choice is easier.
First, eliminate the Hot Spring!
Fire Copper and Spirit Mines are unknown, eliminate!
That leaves the "Spring Eye" and "Black Soil."
After much thought, James chooses the "Spring Eye."
Securing a stable and high-quality long-term water source has always been James's desire.
With the choices made, the stone pillar disappears.
The "Crystal Rice" and "Spring Eye" turn into orbs appearing in James's hands.
He is delighted, looking expectantly at the two orbs.
Today's gains have far exceeded his expectations.
Decisively establishing an early advantage!
...
James doesn't rush out to mine stones but first returns home.
There's much to do in the shelter, like setting up the fence, planting Crystal Rice, and placing the thorns and Spring Eye.
Back home, James first sets up the fence.
The cabin is a 5×6 rectangle with the door facing south.
James builds a long corridor-like fence on the side with the door.
It's the same length as the house, six meters, with a width of about 1.66 meters and a height of 0.6 meters.
This allows him to enter the fenced area directly from the door, convenient for nighttime access.
The Spring Eye, only occupying 0.25 square meters, is placed in the fenced space.
Bubbling clear water flows in the small pool, making a pleasant sound.
The Spring Eye already contains water but produces 500 ml of spring water daily. Exceeding the limit affects future production and could even dry up completely.
There's not enough water in the Spring Eye yet; it will likely reach 500 ml by evening.
Next, James moves the Guarding Thorns outside, planting them by the fence just outside the door.
Currently, with only one thorn plant, it can't function effectively.
With no other plants nearby, James uproots a bunch of grass and places it at the roots of the thorns for sustenance.
For the Crystal Rice, James decides not to plant it outside but in the indoor flower bed until it fully sprouts and grows.
The Crystal Rice he received is a complete, mature plant, with dozens of crystal-clear rice grains, each almost half the size of a fist.
He carefully counts, finding 33 grains in total.
Unwilling to eat them before successful cultivation, he waits until a stable harvest is possible.
He digs up soil from outside to fill the flower bed.
For now, he can only use ordinary soil, making him think of the Black Soil from the secret realm.
If only he could take it all!
James removes all the Crystal Rice, plants five grains in the flower bed, and waters them.
Not daring to use river water, he generously uses mineral water.
The flower bed is 1 meter long and 0.5 meters wide.
James arranges the five seeds in a row.
After setting everything up and looking at the newly transformed wooden house, James is very satisfied.
...
Half an hour of daylight has passed, time to go out and work.
James doesn't plan to chop wood, partly due to the low efficiency of the stone axe and also because stones are more valuable.
Many people don't have pickaxes, so stones have higher value.
They can be traded for more wood in the trading market.
James plans to mine stones for four hours, then explore the west and south of the shelter.
Understanding the surroundings is essential.
...
"Ding ding ding"
The sound of a pickaxe hitting stones echoes from the north of the shelter.
Four hours later.
James sits, sweating profusely, next to a pile of stones, gasping for air.
In four hours, he mines 186 stones.
He also brings an empty resource box for transport.
"If only I had a cart, it'd be much easier to carry!" he muses.
The thought of carrying 186 stones back is daunting.
Considering the remaining daylight, he begins the arduous task of transport.
After nearly half an hour, he finally brings all the stones home.
This time, he places them in the fence outside the wooden house.
In the fenced area, the Spring Eye is on the left, the thorns on the right, and the stones in the middle, just leaving a walkway outside the shelter's wall.
James checks the Spring Eye, noticing more water.
He also inspects the Crystal Rice and thorns, finding them healthy.
Without wasting time, he heads west.
After upgrading the shelter, the fog-free area extends to 500 meters, and the thin fog area to 5 kilometers.
James still doesn't plan to venture deep into the thin fog area, exploring only up to two or three kilometers.
He heads west for about ten minutes but finds nothing but disorderly grassland.
The soil nearby doesn't seem fertile.
Despite the grass, it all looks withered, giving a desolate feeling.
Thankfully, sunlight warms this land.
James circles counter-clockwise towards the south.
Approaching the southwest, he finds some berries.
Small, nail-sized red berries hang on branches.
After picking them, information appears.
[Name: Berries (Ordinary)]
Effect: Slightly quenches thirst and hunger.
Introduction: If there's no food, eat some berries!
They are very ordinary, but James doesn't mind.
He picks all ripe berries, totaling 521 grams, and is quite satisfied.
Pocketing the berries, he wraps up and heads south quickly.
The south begins to show more trees and lush grass.
If there's a water source nearby, it's likely east or south, most likely south.
The east has sparse trees, not forming a dense forest.
But the trees in the south are noticeably more robust, with many other plant types.
The southern forest, about 600 meters from the shelter, lies within the thin fog area.
James doesn't enter but hears animal sounds from within.
Bright bird chirps and other animal movements indicate the forest's vibrant life.
James wishes the forest were closer to the shelter for the thorns' nourishment.
Currently, feeding the thorns only grass isn't a solution; he must gather nutrient-rich plants.
Satisfied with the forest, he still feels overall disappointment.
Apart from stones and trees, there are no more precious resources around the shelter.
Even food is only 500 grams of berries.
Without the task rewards and resource box food, James would have to spend much time and resources on food, slowing his overall progress.
He checks the "Survival Handbook in the Fog" and finds only an hour left.
James decides to chop some trees, not for wood, but to collect roots.
Tree roots are essential for making healing potions.
Also, if they can be used for potions, they must be rich in life energy and suitable for the thorns' growth.
He mines nearby in the southern forest.
As he's not after wood, he targets smaller trees for efficiency.
After cutting the trunks, he digs out the roots.
Without proper tools like a shovel, he uses the pickaxe instead, reducing efficiency.
After roughly digging out the roots, small green rootlets appear in the soil, no need to extract the entire root.
They're only about the size of a finger.
In 40 minutes, James digs out 5 roots and 23 wood.
The wood yield is low due to small trees.
With the last few minutes, he packs the roots and wood and hurries back to the shelter.
The daylight fades quickly, and the sun's light disappears within minutes.
Thick clouds spread across the sky, fog thickens, enveloping every corner of the world of fog.
Survivors return to their shelters.
Mysterious and fierce creatures start to dominate the land.
James runs back to the shelter, quickly covering the 600 meters.
...
He places the wood in the fenced area outside the door, alongside the stones.
As darkness falls completely, the cabin's candlelight brightens.
Sitting on the grass mat, James opens a bottle of mineral water to drink.
Then he takes out two pieces of bread for today's lunch.
The bread is small, only palm-sized, insufficient for an adult's appetite.
With scarce food, James can only meet basic needs.
He decides to save the precious compressed biscuits for later, needing to conserve in the current food scarcity.
"When will these days of hunger and cold end?!" James rubs his flat stomach in distress.
Returning to Earth is impossible; he must strive for a better life in the world of fog.
He looks at the full Crystal Rice, feeling bittersweet.
How good it would be to eat warm rice now!
But for future development, James reluctantly looks away.
Then, the "Survival Handbook in the Fog" glows and beeps.
It's an announcement from the world of fog!