Athena in Tower Defense Game! [LitRPG]

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Athena walked out the door to find a bright sunny day outside, devoid of the slightest hint of darkness that had lingered the night before. Compared to the darkness of the night, she could see much more during the day. Due to the rain last night, the ground still bore the signs of dampness.

What concerned her even more were the large footprints around the thatched hut, one after another. The footprints were especially dense at the doorstep, indicating that the monster had lingered there for quite some time last night. Athena's gaze sharpened. Since such absurd things had already happened, would it be too much for her, a weak woman, to kill a monster?

Following the prompt in purple font, she headed southeast. Along the way, she casually plucked many grasses. Walking barefoot was troublesome; she had to constantly watch out for sharp stones underfoot.

She found a small package similar to the one from yesterday, yet it was capable of containing so much, thanks to some sort of magic.

A sickle? Athena had originally planned to open it later when she returned, as she still needed to explore her surroundings. It would be inconvenient to carry many things, and a small package with just two palms' worth would be easier.

Upon seeing the sickle, she changed her mind. She opened the system panel, folding the page of attribute panel.

She clicked to upgrade, and as expected, the items needed for the upgrade appeared.

Athena had noticed these special weeds as soon as she came out. They were different from the ones she usually saw, but they were very similar to the thatched grass on the hut.

She had originally intended to collect them to repair the hut. However, the system was more convenient; as long as she collected enough specific materials, it would probably automatically upgrade, which was much easier than doing it herself.

She opened the package. Since there was no intention to continue exploring far away, as it seemed pointless since this was a forest, and apparently a deep one, she couldn't expect to get out in a short time.

It was better to quickly use the 7-day protection period for newcomers to upgrade her shelter. After all, this was a tower defense game; who knew when the system would release monsters? It was better to preserve her life first, and there would be plenty of time for exploration later.

Using the sickle she had obtained, she began to harvest the weeds on the ground frantically. She also found some vines and tied them into bundles.

"Hiss." Athena gritted her teeth as she lifted her foot and realized she had accidentally stepped on a stone. She needed to make herself a pair of grass shoes as soon as possible.

It was fortunate that she had helped with farm work at her grandmother's house when she was young; otherwise, she wouldn't even know how to use a sickle.

Another hour passed, and she looked at the six bundles of weeds piled up on the ground, deeply sighing. She was too tired. However, the collection progress was only at one-third.

She gritted her teeth fiercely and continued. She knew that once she stopped, she would find all sorts of excuses for herself and wouldn't be able to muster the motivation again.

She tied her hair up with the only rubber band she had and rolled up the fluffy sleeves and pant legs, disregarding her appearance. Carefully avoiding the puddles on the ground, she harvested the weeds at her fastest speed.

When she finally heard the notification sound she had been longing for, Athena almost collapsed on the ground. However, considering she only had one set of clothes, she forced herself to walk to the grass and sat down.

Her wrists and palms were red and hot, tingling slightly, and a blister had formed. Her arms and shoulders were sore, and her bangs, kept for appearance's sake, were soaked in sweat, sticking to her face.

She sat on the ground, panting heavily. This was the first time she had a chance to open the system panel and click on the regional chat channel.

The chat interface was still bustling.

Athena raised her sore hand and brushed through the chat channel. Seeing the person seeking medicine, she silently sympathized with them. Just as she was about to exit, she clicked back in and applied to add this person as a friend.

Originally, she was just trying it out, but she didn't expect the person to agree immediately. Before she could speak, the other party immediately sent a message.

Just as Athena was hesitating whether to reply to his message, the purple font seemed to know what she wanted to do and gave a prompt.

Athena smiled.

This guy was quite honest, quickly revealing all the information.

The other party still hadn't realized that he had given away information. Actually, with his message, there might be people willing to trade something with him, but definitely not medicine.

Setting her status as "Do Not Disturb", only then did Athena exit the chat interface and clicked on the trading function.

It seemed that in the future, she would have to pay attention to these purple serrated flowers mentioned by that person when going out. Was the blood flowing from the wound black? Shaking her head, she felt that this person probably wouldn't live long.

Compared to yesterday when she clicked on the trading function and found nothing, there were many changes today. The seller's section was filled with numerous items. Each player's avatar was accompanied by the items they were selling, and their avatars could be customized in various ways.

The goods were all sorts of strange things, from broken branches to picked-up stones. Some even sold their own selfies and other weird items.

After browsing through, she found nothing of value. But that was normal; in the early stages of difficulty, who would offer good supplies?

As she scrolled through, she suddenly discovered someone selling water.

She noticed that more than ten transactions had already been completed. Athena was very surprised; it seemed that there were still quite a few people living well, as their resources had become abundant enough to trade with others.

If there was a river nearby, would she also not have to worry about water?

It's never that simple. It seemed that everyone's birthplaces were different.

But yesterday, after spending the whole day browsing through the chat channels, she found that everyone's initial skin was a broken thatched hut. This was the only thing that comforted her.

I need to keep pushing forward.

After a brief rest, Athena flexed her arms and clenched her fists, pounding them heavily a few times. Using a thicker vine, she bound all the weeds into a large bundle and dragged it back in the direction of home. Of course, she didn't forget about her newly acquired sickle and axe.

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After exerting tremendous effort, she finally managed to drag all the special grasses back. She hesitated for a moment before reluctantly untying the grasses because of the small wooden door. She could only carry them back one by one.

Since they were already undone, she decided to lay a thick layer on the bed. She lay down and tried it; it was much warmer than before. By the time she finished, it was nearly 3 o'clock.

She was severely dehydrated. She opened a bottle of mineral water but didn't drink much. She ate a packet of compressed biscuits with the water and then didn't move.

The taste of the compressed biscuits wasn't good, but she wolfed them down nonetheless. She even felt like having some more but restrained herself. Just think of it as dieting.

She kept brainwashing herself, and eventually, she found that she wasn't as hungry as before. After reluctantly feeling full and hydrated, she began to contemplate.

If they continued at this pace, was the 7-day preparation time too much? Why did the system give them so much preparation time?

The more Athena thought about it, the more something felt off. If that was the case, what awaited them after 7 days, and how many people would survive?

She lay on the bed, planning tomorrow's actions. She would wake up early again, then use the axe to chop trees and get wooden blocks, aiming to upgrade the shelter to level one as soon as possible.

As for today, she didn't plan to do anything else; she was already exhausted. She had persisted through it all with sheer willpower, and as someone who didn't usually exercise much, suddenly engaging in a lot of physical activity could result in injuries. So, she wouldn't chop trees today. Instead, she planned to go around the area at 5 o'clock to see if any new packages had spawned.

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First, a nap.

She lay on the bed for a while and woke up after it was already past 4 o'clock. She had hastily woven herself a pair of grass shoes with some vines and weeds. They looked ugly up close and even uglier from afar, but she didn't have much choice. She put her feet in and took a couple of steps. She sat back on the bed, picked up the grass shoes, and angrily tossed them into a corner.

I'm really not cut out for this. Whose idea was it to make grass shoes that hurt so much? It's better not to wear anything at all! If I wear these for a while, my feet will be covered in blisters.

Abandoning the idea of weaving grass shoes, she picked up the sickle and left the house. She wasn't going to cut grass; she just carried the sickle for self-defense. The axe was a bit too heavy, and she wasn't very good at wielding it.

Wasn't that the place where she had just cut grass? Could one place be refreshed twice?

Without dwelling too much on it, she headed over there. But to her surprise, about a hundred meters away, there was a huge creature that looked like a bear, except it had a long tail and a sharp horn on its head.

This behemoth was sitting on the grass where Athena had just finished cutting, playing with a white package in its hand.

Athena swallowed nervously; she recognized this as the monster that had been lurking outside her door yesterday. She hadn't expected it to still be around.

Wasn't it said that daytime was a safe zone? Even if it wasn't absolutely safe, was it this dangerous?!

Now all she could do was pray that the monster hadn't noticed her.

Unfortunately, sometimes luck just wasn't on one's side.

The long-tailed bear turned its head, staring directly in her direction. It stood up, revealing a menacing grin, showing off its sharp teeth.