NOVEL WEB 0003 – Athena Found Bear Meat
Athena Ravencroft could clearly feel that her whole body was burning up, but her mood was as cold as an ice cellar.
It was mimicking her!
Her heart was pounding like a drum, biting her lip to keep from screaming. It felt like there was a boulder crushing her chest, making it hard to breathe.
However, the bear wasn't always facing her direction, just repeatedly standing up, learning to smile. Eventually, it even learned to wave.
Looking from afar, it resembled a person in the darkness.
It wasn't until the bear got bored, casually dropping the package on the ground and walking away, that Athena dared to move, remaining still in the grass.
She couldn't tell if this guy was playing with her as prey or genuinely hadn't noticed her.
But this time she escaped unscathed.
"..."
After lying motionless for over ten minutes, she glanced at the white package from afar and decided to return to the thatched hut.
| Darkness will fall at 7 p.m.! Players, please return to the shelter as soon as possible. |
Athena paced around the shelter, feeling restless.
If she didn't drive away this damn bear, she wouldn't be able to move freely.
But given the vast difference in strength, she felt helpless.
She was definitely a unique case in the newbie tutorial.
Feeling increasingly agitated, she sat back on the bed, trying a few rounds of deep breathing to gradually calm herself down.
I remember this guy is afraid of fire?
Great, a weakness, which means there's hope.
Taking out her only possessions: a half-empty bottle of mineral water, an axe, a sickle, and the last compressed biscuit. She opened the shop and chose to sell her sickle to the system.
| Would you like to sell the sickle for 10 copper coins? Yes / No ? |
With her current resources, food and water couldn't be touched.
Although the sickle could speed up grass cutting, she could still do it by hand. Though much less efficiently, at least there was a way to get weeds. The axe couldn't be sold. Without it, she couldn't chop trees for wood.
Although food and water were precious to her, selling them to the system store would only yield two copper coins, which she ultimately gave up on.
After much deliberation, she reluctantly sold the sickle.
Without hesitation, Athena clicked the button.
Clicking "yes," Athena successfully obtained 10 copper coins.
Sure enough, on her game interface, there were ten extra copper coins. She quickly navigated through the myriad of items in the store, heading straight for the fire attribute section.
| [ Fire Enhancer (Basic) ] |
| This is a fire enhancer that can instantly increase the intensity of your fire. Even if you only give it a little material, it can become very large, regardless of whether the material is exhausted, lasting for two minutes! It's powerful but also a burden. Are you sure you want to spend copper coins to buy it? If you want to set the mountains on fire, then your choice is correct. |
| Price: 8 copper coins |
This was what Athena wanted to buy, but it required fire first.
She clicked to confirm the purchase and successfully obtained the fire enhancer.
Only after holding it in her hand did she realize it was a spherical bead the size of a marble, with a pattern of flames burning and surging inside.
The soreness from selling the sickle had finally eased a bit.
She opened the search interface again, looking for fire-starting devices, only to find that they were even more expensive. The cheapest one cost 1 small gold coin.
This was clearly unaffordable for most players. She finally understood why it was considered junk.
There was no other way. She could only resort to the second plan, though she really didn't want to.
She quietly waited for the darkness to arrive.
| Darkness is encroaching upon the world: 10, 9, 8... 0 |
As darkness fell, the candle on the left instantly ignited.
| Light Candle | |
| Feature 2 | At the moment darkness arrives, it automatically reignites to fend off the darkness for you |
This was Athena's second plan. Without a lighter, it meant she had to burn precious candles even during the day and be careful not to extinguish them along the way.
Until the moment she encountered the bear, she would ignite and use the fire enhancer. But there were too many variables. The bear was extremely averse to fire, but that didn't mean it couldn't deal with her, a human.
Who knew if it would anger it instead, causing it to charge at her at full speed. Moreover, when she went out today, she found that the wind here wasn't small. Protecting the candle from extinguishing was too difficult.
There was no other way. She had to resort to the third plan.
"Buying lighters!"
| --> Buying lighters! Private message me! |
This was her third plan. It was only the second day, and many people hadn't yet realized the value of such items. If it weren't for her urgent need for fire, she wouldn't have thought of this. Plus, everyone had light candles, so they temporarily didn't need to worry about a fire source.
There would always be one or two people who would take the bait.
She believed that some people had already discovered the value of lighters, but they wouldn't publicize it because it wasn't beneficial to anyone.
Probably many people, like her, were quietly collecting them, just not as openly as she was.
Yesterday and today, she had a total of 6 opportunities to speak.
At the same time, she posted her profile picture on the exchange and tried hard to squeeze out a smile to make herself look harmless.
| [Compressed Biscuit] | |
| Price | Lighter + Flintstone |
| Details | I have surplus food, but the birthplace is too cold, can't make fire, don't want to waste light candles anymore, seeking to buy a lighter. |
Because it was night now, everyone could only stay in the shelter, and most people were online. Even though messages were scrolling quickly, many people saw her message.
Soon, someone added her as a friend, and she accepted some of them.
| -- Miss beautiful, you also know lighters are valuable. Why do you have to do this? If others find out, it's not good for both of us. |
She directly set the other party's messages to do not disturb. She was almost dying, why would she care about those things? Ridiculous!
She dismissed a few more idle people who were bothering her. Only two people were left willing to sell lighters.
| -- Little sister, you are pretty... This lighter isn't something I can't give you. I have plenty, but the price can be negotiated online or maybe some small benefits. |
Athena didn't rush to reply to this person; she left him aside for now.
The other one.
| -- You want a lighter? The price is too low. |
| -- Add half a bottle of water |
| --> No |