Chapter 26: The Cave Dwelling

Originally, Yun Qing had 10 points of first-level energy. The treasure chest in the dungeon gave her 1000, but as soon as she entered, only 1009 remained, and the energy continued to slowly decrease. Suddenly, Yun Qing began to feel uncomfortable; she needed to hurry and study her cave dwelling.

Apart from the homestead and farmland, the rest of the cave was shrouded in a gray haze, obscuring any view of the outside. Yun Qing tried to walk toward the misty areas, but it was as if she hit an invisible wall; no matter how she tried, she could not leave. Most of the homestead was unusable, with only a small ten-square-meter patch available. There was another ten-square-meter area that could be expanded, but that required ten taels of silver, which Yun Qing temporarily chose not to spend.

Standing before the energy converter, Yun Qing saw that activating it required 100 points of first-level energy, and conversion would consume additional energy. Multiple items could be placed in at once; items in her inventory that couldn’t be converted appeared grayed out, while those that could were selectable. For now, only the herbs she had collected were eligible for conversion, and upon selection, the system would indicate how much energy she could gain from each item.

All her belongings combined would yield a little over 200 energy points; subtracting the amount needed to start and run the converter, less than 100 would remain. It wasn’t wise to convert now. Her stored meat, fruits, stones, and so forth could not be used for conversion either.

The energy converter could be upgraded, allowing it to convert higher-level energy in the future. Yun Qing then inspected another machine: the basic crafting station.

It could produce many items: for building—floorboards, wooden walls, ceilings, roofs, and so on; for furniture—beds, tables, chairs, cabinets, et cetera. Moreover, the basic crafting station could also be upgraded, though at present upgrades were grayed out due to her character’s level.

Building-related items could be used to construct a house on the homestead. Only with a house could furniture be placed inside, and each piece of furniture served a different function. Resting on the bed could restore stamina and mental energy.

“Liuliu, sleeping in reality restores spirit and energy as well. I wonder how resting on the bed in the cave dwelling is different,” Yun Qing mused.

“It recovers much faster. The specifics—how fast, what is restored—depend on the grade of your bed,” Liuliu replied.

Yun Qing raised her eyebrows in thought: the bed’s grade, another pay-to-win feature.

Cabinets acted as an extension of the system’s backpack. Yun Qing tried it and found she could take items from her backpack in hand, but she couldn’t place them on the homestead nor anywhere else in the cave. This cabinet was essential! She glanced at Liuliu; no need to ask, she knew that the cabinet’s capacity depended on its grade.

Sitting at the table to eat could make food more delicious and so forth; likely, this increased attribute recovery. No need to ask, tables and chairs also varied in grade.

Furniture was wonderful, but she had neither materials nor a house.

How to build a house? After communicating with Liuliu and researching herself, Yun Qing learned that walls, floors, and other building materials could only be produced by the basic crafting station. Materials could be obtained from farming or brought from the real world.

Yun Qing went to the farmland, which was much like the homestead; most of it was unusable, with only ten small plots, each roughly a square foot, available. Another ten plots could be expanded for ten taels of silver.

Usable farmland could now be planted, but planting required seeds.

Yun Qing checked what could be planted. The system shop offered seeds for purchase, including wild strawberry seeds and saplings. Planting wild strawberry seeds yielded wild strawberries; saplings yielded wood.

Saplings cost five taels of silver each, with a daily limit of ten per day; wild strawberry seeds were two taels each. Yun Qing felt the twenty taels left in her sleeve; she could buy four saplings!

She certainly wouldn't buy wild strawberry seeds now—no spare funds.

The purification skill also required silver; she couldn’t spend it all on saplings.

Five taels per sapling—so expensive! Five taels could buy a pile of wood in the village, and planting a tree in the farmland, who knew how many years it would take to harvest.

Suddenly, Yun Qing’s eyes lit up. Surely the tree would mature within a day; otherwise, the shop wouldn’t impose a daily limit of ten.

She decided to buy one for a trial.

She placed five taels from her sleeve into the system backpack, transferring it, and silently recited, “Exchange for one sapling.”

Her silver dropped to zero, and she had one sapling.

She didn’t know how to plant trees.

Yun Qing tried silently reciting, “Plant the sapling in the farmland.”

Unlike using system functions outside, this time she didn’t even move her hands. Only a progress bar appeared. When it finished, a newly planted sapling appeared in the farmland.

To her surprise, this single sapling occupied nine of the ten available plots.

Yun Qing was glad she hadn’t bought four saplings at once.

Looking at the expandable farmland, she hesitated—should she spend ten taels to expand it and plant another sapling? But doing so would leave her penniless.

Being penniless felt unsafe; in the end, Yun Qing lacked the courage to spend all her silver.

The newly planted sapling had no countdown; she had no idea when it would mature.

For now, she decided to wait and observe; perhaps wood could be bought directly from the village.

At that moment, Yun Qing noticed her first-level energy had fallen to 998; in the time spent studying the machines and planting, she had lost twelve points.

With nothing left to research for now, she was curious about the outside world.

Yun Qing stopped expending energy and willed herself out of the cave dwelling.

Outside, it was still bright; the dark night seemed truly over. With doubts in her heart, she exited the room.

It was noon, the sunlight warm against her skin, the village bustling with voices. The villagers had not stayed in their rooms as the village chief had instructed; most had already come outside.

“The immortal has come!”

“The immortal saved the village!”

“This time, the cultivator was even more powerful!”

“Yes! Last time, the immortal only maintained the protective array until the dark night ended. Who would have thought that this time, the immortal ended the dark night outright.”

“……”

Yun Qing wondered: a cultivator has been here? What did I miss?

Ye Shu was a villager from the third group of Ye Family Village. When the last dark night struck, his parents were unable to return to the village, and he never saw them again.

Since their disappearance, as the eldest in the family, Ye Shu took on the burden of caring for his younger siblings at the age of fourteen. Although the village relief station provided some support, a household without adults struggled to meet basic needs.

To earn more silver and feed his family, Ye Shu set his sights on resources tainted by toxic gas. Gathering those resources, he finally managed to support his family, and his siblings no longer went hungry.

Yet human desires are boundless. Collecting resources polluted by toxic gas solved the problem of hunger, but Ye Shu’s next goal was to open his meridians. Besides opening his own, he hoped to help his siblings as well.

This required a great deal of gold; he needed to gather even more resources tainted by toxic gas.