Newbie protection period has ended
"Well, it can't be helped. I'm a girl, you're a boy of course I'm weaker than you!"
Charlotte didn't mind Calvin's sarcasm at all.
"Besides, I've got you, don't I?"
Calvin had always been physically fit, regularly running and exercising.
From the information on the chat channel, most adult males had stats around ten.
But Calvin's attributes were above average, which meant he was in the upper tier among adult men.
Calvin didn't argue. If danger ever came, he knew he'd protect Charlotte. Just like on the first day, when she had given him most of their food and water.
Despite their constant bickering, when it came down to it, they always had each other's backs.
Just as Calvin was about to say something, more clouds drifted in from the distance.
"Another cloud's coming, Charlotte!"
"Let's go fishing!"
After hours of fishing,
They managed to reel in a decent amount of supplies. Several clouds passed by, but most of the loot was just materials:
About thirteen units of wood, three stones, and three packs of bread.
Without hesitation, Calvin crafted the wood into wooden cubes, expanding the platform to eight square meters.
Unfortunately, they still hadn't caught any food!
So the two of them agreed to save two more fishing attempts each, hoping to get a food cloud.
Even if they didn't, they could trade condensed water at the market.
But their water supply was running low, so they decided to save what they could for now.
As they sat around chatting and waiting for clouds to appear,
Suddenly, someone contacted Calvin.
The same guy who had traded compressed biscuits with him earlier.
Calvin thought he might be here to complain,
Since Calvin had traded for a valuable core.
But no.
The man: "Hey Calvin, do you have a water source over there?"
Calvin: "Why do you ask?"
The man: "Uh… my wife thinks, if you're selling such a rare blueprint like the water condenser on the market, you must have your own supply or at least another way to get water."
Reading his message, Calvin and Charlotte exchanged a glance.
"Why are you looking at me? Just tell him the truth, we do have water," Charlotte said.
Calvin didn't overthink it. Their guess was reasonable.
"Yeah, I have some extra water. Not a lot, just enough for us to drink."
"Are you willing to trade?"
Seeing Calvin stay silent,
The man added,
"I can give you twenty wood, twenty stone, and a blueprint in exchange for some water!"
Coincidentally, Calvin still had one unopened 1000ml water bottle left.
A duplicate from yesterday.
They looked at each other, thinking it over.
"Calvin, I think we should trade. With those materials, we could upgrade both our fishing rods," Charlotte said softly.
"Alright, let's trade but I'll haggle the price."
If this were yesterday, Calvin would've accepted right away.
But today, the game had given every player five free cubes.
Most likely, The man had broken them down into materials.
Water and food were still the most valuable resources.
"I'll give you 500ml, no more. We don't have enough to spare a full liter."
"How about you give me another 500ml tomorrow? That way it balances out with the current market rate!"
"Then why don't you just buy it from the market?"
Calvin replied slowly.
After all, neither he nor Charlotte was in a rush. They had the condenser.
At that moment, on a four-square-meter cube platform in the distance, a married couple sat together.
After reading Calvin's reply, the couple exchanged a glance.
"Honey, this guy's not easy to fool. That price is way too high. Do you really think he has that much water?"
"He definitely does. Otherwise, why would he sell such a valuable blueprint? If it doesn't work, we'll just keep negotiating. Our offer isn't low. Besides, most people nowadays aren't very sharp. If he's a college student, he'll be even easier to trick."
After some bargaining, Calvin agreed to trade 500ml of water in exchange for materials and a blueprint, and to deliver another 300ml three days later.
Both sides were satisfied with the deal.
After the trade:
[Received Wood ×20]
[Received Stone ×20]
[Received Hammer Blueprint ×1]
[Hammer Blueprint: Build a hammer. Attack +5.
Required Materials: Refined Iron ×5, Wood ×2
The hammer can be used for combat, to attack monsters, or to test how hard your teammate's head really is.]
Calvin was silent after reading the description.
Just imagining smashing the hammer on Charlotte's head… the scene was almost too absurd to picture.
As a fragile little girl, Charlotte would probably faint from one hit.
Then Calvin gave Charlotte a sinister look.
"You... What are you doing!"
Charlotte instinctively hugged her delicate chest, clearly wary of Calvin's expression.
Every time he looked at her like that, it meant he was up to no good!
"Nothing, just wondering if this dumb little girl would start crying if I gave her one smack with a hammer."
"Pfft! You want to hit me? And you called me dumb? You worthless trash, go die!"
…
After a bout of playful fighting, Calvin's arm was covered in deep bite marks.
He looked at Charlotte with resentment.
She must've been a dog in her past life!
Charlotte, meanwhile, acted like nothing had happened, casually swinging her little feet on the platform, looking completely at ease.
Calvin began organizing their supplies.
First, the eight cubes beneath their feet.
Then, twenty-five pieces of wood, twenty stones, two energy cores, one energy crystal, a roll and a half of tissue paper.
As for food, after today's consumption, they were down to just three sausages.
After organizing their current supplies, Calvin picked up his fishing rod.
[Fishing Rod: Allows cloud fishing. Can be used 10 times a day. Upgrading increases usage limit.
Upgrade Requirements: Wood (10/10), Stone (10/10), Any Cube ×1, Energy Core ×1
Upgrade now?]
[Yes!]
[Please choose the cube to consume.]
After thinking for a moment, Calvin placed a dirt cube.
With the system's notification, the fishing rod in front of Calvin suddenly changed, and its description was updated.
[Level 2 Fishing Rod: Allows cloud fishing. Can be used 15 times a day. Upgrading increases usage limit.
Next Upgrade Requirements: Wood (0/10), Stone (0/10), Refined Iron (0/10), Any Cube ×10, Energy Core ×10]
The usage increased by five, but the new upgrade requirements were much tougher, at least ten cubes and ten energy cores.
Charlotte did the same, spending some resources to upgrade her fishing rod too.
Including today's usage, both of them still had seven fishing attempts left.
Just then, a cloud floated over again.
[Food Cloud]
"Calvin, awesome! It's a food cloud!"
After both of them finished fishing:
[Received Apple ×1]
[Received BBQ Feast ×1]
Calvin got an apple, while Charlotte landed a full BBQ feast.
Calvin was speechless.
It seemed like Charlotte always had better luck than him.
"Haha! Time to feast on barbecue!"
Before transmigrating, Charlotte often indulged in BBQ, everything from lamb kidneys, lamb testicles, lamb loins, even the urinary system, she devoured them all with gusto.
As she opened the package, a mouthwatering aroma filled the air.
Inside were ten skewers, lamb, beef, kidneys, testicles, beef hearts. Everything you could think of.
"Calvin, what are you staring at? Come eat!"
He had to admit, Charlotte's luck was amazing. Who else could fish up a feast like this?
Calvin nodded and joined Charlotte in devouring the delicious BBQ until every skewer was gone.
Later, they both fished up more materials from the following clouds.
Calvin also crafted two wooden cubes, forming a neat 3x3 layout.
He took the opportunity to craft the hammer as well, though he still wasn't sure what it was good for.
...
Night fell.
It was now the second evening since they had transmigrated to the cube survival world.
Charlotte and Calvin sat shoulder to shoulder in the center of the cube, gazing at the full moon above.
"Calvin… do you think we'll ever be able to go back?"
Charlotte asked, a little sadly.
She still couldn't understand why all of humanity had been transported to this strange world of cubes.
"Don't overthink it. We'll take things one step at a time. We're already ahead of most people. At least we've got a stable water supply."
Calvin gently patted Charlotte's back, trying to comfort her.
Then, to lighten the mood, he exaggeratedly said,
"Charlotte, you haven't showered in two days. You smell… strangely appetizing. Let me get a whiff!"
"Get lost! You're insane!!"
Charlotte was furious, punching Calvin's chest with her tiny fists.
The next morning, Calvin slowly woke up, feeling a heavy weight on his body. Opening his eyes, he realized a delicate girl was lying on top of him, using his stomach as a pillow.
Speechless, Calvin gave her a slap.
"Ahh!"
Charlotte jolted awake, wincing in pain. When she saw Calvin, the culprit, she was furious.
"You loser! What are you doing?!"
Her face flushed with anger, and after a few days without brushing her teeth, her breath was... indescribable.
Calvin pinched his nose and got up.
"You used me as a pillow."
"That was unintentional in my sleep!"
"I don't care if it was on purpose or not. I had sleep paralysis because of you."
He grumbled.
"Also, your breath stinks. Don't talk to me!"
"What did you say, Calvin?! You wanna die?!"
Charlotte exploded, first waking up on him, then getting slapped, and now being roasted for her breath. It had only been two or three days without brushing, okay?
She leaned in and blew air at Calvin on purpose.
"Ugh, stop that!"
As they bickered, Calvin suddenly felt his stomach rumble. Without hesitation, he began taking off his pants.
"Calvin, what are you doing?!"
"I need to poop. Wanna watch?"
"Pervert!"
Charlotte covered her nose in disgust, but to her horror, her own stomach started growling too.
Their morning routines were quite similar both needed the bathroom first thing.
After taking turns doing their business, the two looked at each other awkwardly. No matter how close they were, there were just some things that made anyone uncomfortable especially when face-to-face with nothing around to block the view.
Yeah... it was hard to describe.
Even someone thick-skinned like Calvin was speechless.
After a moment, he muttered,
"Charlotte, you seem a bit constipated today?"
Charlotte glared at him.
"Shut up! That barbecue last night was way too spicy. It messed me up!"
"Want me to cool you down with a breath of air?"
"What is wrong with you?!"
Charlotte covered her backside, worried Calvin might actually try something dumb.
"I was just trying to lighten the awkward mood!"
"You're disgusting! From now on, no pooping at the same time. One goes, the other turns around. Got it?"
Her face was red.
"Hey, I was in there first! You couldn't hold it. How's that my fault?" Calvin shot back.
At that moment, the game system's voice rang out:
[The newbie protection period has ended. The chance of encountering Beast Clouds or Monster Clouds has now increased.
Each team now has a 50% chance of encountering them today. Prepare yourselves.
Monsters and beasts usually kill one person and leave. Occasionally, both may be killed and eaten.
You may choose to abandon your teammate as a human shield or work together to defeat the threat.]
Charlotte froze. The playful mood vanished in an instant.
Her face fell.
"Calvin, what do we do? There's a 50% chance we'll run into a monster cloud today!"
Calvin shrugged.
"If it comes, we fight. Simple as that."
"You're such a nerd... I'm feeding you to the monster first."
"Nooo, Calvin~"
Charlotte clung to his arm with a pitiful look.
Calvin ignored her antics and opened the regional chat to see how others were reacting.
[Does anyone know what Monster Clouds or Beast Clouds are?]
[Are we really getting attacked by monsters? If this was flat ground, fine, we could run. But on a tiny floating platform? We're screwed. I'm hiding behind my teammate.]
[Yeah, seriously. Anyone know what to expect?]
[What if the people who met the monster clouds already died? That's why no one shared info!]
[That's terrifying!]
[Guys, I actually know. When we transmigrated, another team was nearby. My sister and I even saw a live show that night. Tsk tsk, one cube, two people. I don't even know how they managed.]
[Dude! Just get to the point!]
[So around midnight, I woke up to pee and saw this dark-skinned humanoid figure standing on a cloud, slowly approaching their cube. They were frozen in fear. Guess what happened?]
[The monster ate them both. They had nowhere to run. It was just a one-square-meter space.]