Xu Xin circled around the cave again, but couldn't find the source of the wind sound, so he decided to ignore it for now. The most urgent task at hand was to bring these stones back and create the crafting table.
Having gathered 50 stones, Xu Xin headed towards his treehouse.
He needed to craft a backpack quickly. Although 50 pebble-sized stones weren't heavy, carrying them like this was too troublesome.
Back at the treehouse, Xu Xin immediately opened the screen and entered the basic resource crafting menu, clicking on the [Basic Crafting Table] option.
[Basic Crafting Table creation complete. Please choose a location to place the crafting table.]
A phantom image of a crafting table appeared before his eyes, about the size of a dining table. After some thought, Xu Xin temporarily placed the crafting table in the far corner of the third floor.
With few items at present, he decided not to plan the layout yet. Xu Xin's idea was to use the first floor as storage, the second floor as a workshop, and the third floor as his living and sleeping area. However, that would be too far from the screen, which wasn't convenient now, so he placed it on the third floor for the time being. After all, each floor had an area of about 100 square meters.
With a loud noise, the crafting table appeared before Xu Xin. It was a simple workbench made of stone and wood, looking quite professional. At the back of the crafting table, a small virtual screen was erected, displaying various options.
"Why is it so high-tech!" Xu Xin couldn't help but comment.
Looking at the virtual small screen, its contents delighted Xu Xin.
[Backpack (Green): A backpack with 10 slots. The amount of resources each slot can hold depends on the type of resource. It can reduce the weight of resources to 20% of their original weight. Requires Animal Hide (Green) *1, Rope (White) *3]
This backpack was indeed a good item!
Although in Xu Xin's expectations, it would be best if items placed in the backpack had no weight at all, reducing it to 20% was still good. It reduced the weight by 80%, equivalent to being able to carry five times one's weight capacity in materials. And this was just a green-quality backpack.
But what was this animal hide? And what about the rope?
After some thought, Xu Xin understood. They were still within the three-day newbie protection period, so there were no wild animals around. So far, the only animals he had seen were harmless fish, shrimp, and insects. He hadn't even seen a rabbit. These land animals should appear after the newbie protection period ends.
As for the rope, Xu Xin thought of the reeds by the lake.
He would go out and check later.
Continuing to look down the list:
[Torch (White): A simple torch that allows you to go out at night. The range of vision is narrow, but be careful, arson is a serious crime! Requires Wood (White) *1, Charcoal (White) or Coal (Green) *1]
[Grill (Green): A simple grill. Just put wood in it and it will automatically burn. You can grill anything! Requires Iron Ingot (Green) *3]
[Basic Furnace (Green): The lowest level furnace. Put wood in it and it will automatically burn. Try melting some materials, there might be unexpected surprises! Requires Pebble (Green) or Stone (Green) *100]
[Fireplace (Green): A fireplace that can be placed on the wall of the treehouse. Put wood in it and it will automatically burn. It will also automatically absorb smoke and harmful gases. Without it, beware of freezing to death in winter! Requires Pebble (Green) or Stone (Green) *100]
Looking at these fire-related items, Xu Xin pondered for a moment. He still had over thirty large red berries, and there was a large red berry plant in the jungle. Their night vision effect was much better than torches.
But torches were mobile fire sources and could also intimidate wild animals, so he still needed to prepare some.
Based on his gaming experience, charcoal should be producible in a furnace, and since it was white quality, white quality wood should suffice. As for coal, it probably wasn't something he needed to consider at this stage.
The grill was a good item, but he didn't have iron ingots. However, he wasn't worried about this, as the regional channel would open soon. Once there was a trading platform, someone around their treehouse might have iron ore deposits, and he could purchase some from others.
The fireplace wasn't necessary right now. It was midsummer, and even wearing a short-sleeve shirt or going shirtless would make one sweat. The nights were stuffy and hot, so there was no need for such a thing at present.
It made sense, as most survivors wouldn't be able to create a crafting table this early. After all, two types of green materials weren't easy to find. If winter came too soon, wouldn't a large number of people freeze to death?
Xu Xin glanced at the time on the screen. It was already past eleven at night, almost the third day of the newbie period.
He clicked on [Regional Channel], which displayed a countdown to the opening time.
[Time until channel opens: 6 hours 53 minutes]
It seemed the regional channel would open at 6 AM tomorrow.
Xu Xin lay down on the creaky wooden bed. Exhausted from the day, he quickly fell into a deep sleep.
Xu Xin was awakened by a prompt sound.
[Regional channel is now open. Current region: Jungle Area 188, Current population: 9997. From today onwards, you are no longer alone. One last warning: do not abandon your unique little treehouse. Now, survive together with other survivors!]
Xu Xin, who initially had some morning grumpiness, immediately sprang up from the bed upon hearing this sound. He had placed the bed right next to the screen, so he directly reached out to tap the [Regional Channel] option.
The channel had two sub-channels: Chat Hall and Trading Platform, which was pretty much what Xu Xin had imagined.
Eagerly opening the Chat Hall, it was quiet with no one speaking.
Suddenly, a line of text appeared in the previously silent Chat Hall.
"Is anyone there?"
Instantly, the hall became lively.
"There really are people!!"
"Damn! Finally!"
"Two days, it's been two days! Do you know how I've spent these two days?!"
"What's the situation now?!"
The Chat Hall was immediately flooded with all kinds of responses.
"Brothers, are you all in treehouses?"
"Yeah, yeah, it started with just a treehouse seed. Is it the same for everyone?"
"Me too!"
"Same here!"
"I have to say, this display screen is quite high-tech!"
"Does anyone know how to go back? I haven't saved my game yet! I fell asleep at my desk and ended up here!"
Watching the constant stream of messages in the chat channel, Xu Xin couldn't help but smile. Some of these messages had names attached, while others were anonymous. Xu Xin tapped on the chat box and found it was similar to a voice input function.
[Please choose whether to remain anonymous.]
Xu Xin chose yes. It was better to observe for now.
He tried calling out some familiar names, including parents and friends, but there was no response. However, this sparked a wave of people searching for their loved ones.
"Zhang San, Zhang San, are you here? Are you in this area, Zhang San?"
"Li Si, your dad is calling you home for dinner!"
"Wang Wu, Wang Wu, I'm your girlfriend. Contact me if you see this!"
But there were only calls, rarely any responses. The few responses were only due to people having the same names.