Chapter 16: 1st hot meal

Xu Xin looked at the discussions in the regional channel. A person named Ji Chaoyang was very active and would share some useful strategies with everyone, which made him quite popular in the whole channel.

"The newbie protection period is about to end, but this treehouse can't make weapons. Do we have to make a crafting table to make weapons?"

"Probably? Are there any experts who have made a crafting table? Can you sell us some weapons?"

Ji Chaoyang: "I've made a crafting table, but there are no weapon crafting options inside. Only some advanced workbenches and daily necessities."

Oh? Xu Xin raised an eyebrow. Indeed, besides him, there were other lucky ones who could make a crafting table requiring 100 units of green materials during the newbie protection period. After all, these three days were just for newbies to grow treehouses, and the surrounding resources were still quite limited. Obtaining 100 units of green materials was definitely a very difficult task. Even Xu Xin, who had the appraisal ability, had to cooperate with others to gather two types of green materials.

He had also searched for blueprints in the crafting table and indeed found no weapons. The closest thing to a weapon was actually the stone axe, which could be made without a crafting table. He wasn't sure how effective the stone axe would be against the upcoming dangers.

Remembering that his stone axe had broken, he directly used a piece of blue stone material and a piece of blue wood material, combined with green material, to make his second stone axe.

[Fine Stone Axe (Blue): Can chop down trees of purple level and below. Due to the addition of higher-grade stone and wood materials, it has become more durable and sharp. Durability: 1000]

A blue stone axe with 1000 durability that could even chop down purple trees. Xu Xin nodded with satisfaction. This thing should last for a long time. Speaking of which, could this axe even chop down his treehouse? In terms of level, his treehouse was indeed a purple-grade tree.

Resisting the urge to try chopping once, Xu Xin continued to look at the regional channel.

The survivor called Ji Chaoyang had already started revealing what was in the crafting table under the siege of many people.

"Furnace, fireplace, torch, grill, and backpack, these can all be crafted."

"The expert must have a lot of materials, please help us!"

"Yeah, we should unite and help each other to overcome the current difficulties!"

"Shouldn't resources be distributed equally?"

Xu Xin didn't read any further. He shook his head with a cold smile. He knew that in such an environment, moral kidnapping would be everywhere. With the newbie protection period not yet over and dangers still unknown, he didn't want to get into such a situation.

Ji Chaoyang didn't speak anymore either, seemingly not wanting to deal with these people.

Soon, half an hour passed. Xu Xin went down to the second floor and took out freshly made iron ingots (blue) from the furnace, then casually threw in the remaining iron ore.

[Iron Ingot (Blue): Iron ingot with basic impurities removed. Using one when crafting iron tools can increase the tool's grade.]

As Xu Xin expected, the use of iron ingots (blue) was similar to wood (blue) and stone (blue).

Making a grill required three iron ingots. He immediately used two iron ingots (green) and one iron ingot (blue) to make the grill he had been thinking about for a long time.

[Grill (Blue): High-grade grill that can cook food to perfection, making food more delicious while slightly enhancing the effects of the food's original ingredients.]

Without hesitation, he put in a few pieces of wood (white) and placed the previously obtained shiitake mushrooms (blue), king oyster mushrooms, and wood ear mushrooms on the grill to start cooking. The unique aroma of shiitake mushrooms filled the air, and they were cooked in no time.

The flame under the grill automatically stopped after the shiitake mushrooms were cooked, which made Xu Xin raise his eyebrows. This feature was really convenient, satisfying him as someone who always ended up with either undercooked or burnt food when grilling.

Finding bowls and chopsticks for eating in the list, Xu Xin made them using the lowest-grade white wood material. Although he still had blue wood material, using blue for bowls and chopsticks would be a bit extravagant. He'd use the lowest-grade tableware for now.

The grilled mushrooms, enhanced by the blue grill, fully released their aroma. Combined with the king oyster mushrooms and wood ear mushrooms, even without salt or seasonings, Xu Xin ate with relish. After all, he had been eating only apples, oranges, and berries for the past two days, and it had been a long time since he had a hot meal.

The twenty or so mushrooms were quickly finished. Xu Xin licked his lips, still savoring the taste. He remembered that the function of these shiitake mushrooms seemed to be a permanent, very small increase in intelligence?

With the enhancement from the grill and dining table, the effects of the shiitake mushrooms should have been amplified, but he didn't seem to feel any difference. Perhaps the increase in intelligence would be reflected elsewhere? Or was the increase too small for him to notice?

Shaking his head, Xu Xin didn't dwell on these thoughts for now. He didn't have a panel showing his intelligence, stamina, and strength stats, so he couldn't see how much had increased. But it didn't matter, as long as it tasted good.

After eating the mushrooms, Xu Xin decided to go out again. There were still two hours until midnight, and he could completely go to the lakeside to bring back some reeds and lotus roots. After all, once the newbie period was over, the lake might become more dangerous.

He also planned to catch some fish to grill and eat if possible, as he was still craving more after the mushrooms.

With some time left on his three-hour night vision buff, Xu Xin quickly left the treehouse and tiptoed to the lakeside. The lake water was very clear under the moonlight, and the fish in the water were not only clearly visible but also emitted a dim green light, allowing Xu Xin to spot their positions at a glance. However, without fishing tools, catching fish was not an easy task.

After bustling about for a while, Xu Xin returned with lotus roots pulled from the shallow shore and a large bunch of reeds.

"Catching fish is really a skilled job."

Soaking wet, Xu Xin sent a message to Li Wenxi: "Do you have any green stones left? I want to trade for some."

The reply came instantly: "Sure."

So Xu Xin initiated a trade, wood (green) *100 for stone (green) *100.

After the other side agreed to the trade, a video call came in.

Xu Xin looked at his current disheveled appearance, soaking wet with hair plastered to his forehead, and declined Li Wenxi's call, replying: "In a moment."

Then he quickly and generously made a fireplace and placed it next to the giant screen.

He hadn't noticed much when he hadn't gone out, but after returning from his trip, the room was filled with the smoky smell from the recent grilling. The fireplace had a function of automatically absorbing smoke and toxic gases, and now that he was soaking wet, he urgently needed a fireplace to dry off.

After making the fireplace, Xu Xin threw in a piece of wood (white).

[Remaining burn time: 15 minutes.]

The same piece of wood (white) burned three times longer than in the furnace.

Heat radiated from around the fireplace, gradually raising the temperature inside the entire treehouse. The originally comfortable treehouse became a bit stuffy, but in 10 minutes, the clothes on his body were dried and the odor was gone.

Xu Xin returned the video call. This was the fourth call with this little beauty he had just met today. Who would have thought this little beauty liked video calls so much.