Chapter 15: Amidst the Hustle and Bustle

Next was the Level 3 upgrade for The Commons Workshop, which unlocked fences, tables, and wooden barrels.

The Level 4 upgrade for The Commons Workshop offered stone slabs, wooden beds, and fireplaces.

Level 5...

Lily Rhodes saw that the materials required to upgrade The Commons Workshop to Level 5 were over ten times the previous amount. She decisively gave up, figuring Level 4 would suffice.

Stone slabs could be used to pave the ground. As for the wooden bed... it wouldn’t fit inside the tent, but she could place it outside for lounging.

By the time Lily finished all her tasks, the sky had turned completely dark.

She hadn’t found a single Bronze Treasure Chest today, but relying solely on items crafted from The Commons Workshop and the salt from the condiment workshop, she had already made a massive profit.

Tents, clothing, and toiletries were all incredibly popular—especially clothing.

Since everyone had arrived in this world at night, many people were practically naked. Even those who had clothes found them mostly ruined after a few days of survival.

Besides all this, she made an important discovery: she could conjure hot water out of thin air.

Well, not exactly out of thin air.

With just a thought, she could heat up the water condensed by the Bright Water Stone. She guessed this was likely an ability granted by the Fire Spirit Pearl.

Realizing this, Lily immediately pulled a giant wooden barrel from The Commons Workshop and filled it with perfectly heated water. She took a refreshing bath, washed her hair, and changed into fresh clothes.

As she stepped out of The Commons Workshop, a gust of hot wind blew past, instantly drying her wet hair.

"Phew, that feels good."

Lily stretched her back and returned to the Owl Tent, though she didn’t rest right away.

Having acquired plenty of good loot today, she needed to plan for tomorrow and the days ahead.

First was exercise. With the Potential Seed, she needed continuous training to improve her speed, strength, endurance, and other physical aspects. Stockpiling supplies couldn’t stop either; she needed more resources, no matter what they were.

Then there were the seeds she had just obtained. Those had to be planted tomorrow.

Upgrading The Commons Workshop to Level 3 had unlocked fences, which offered some defensive value. She planned to build a perimeter of fences around Shelly’s back.

Factoring all that in, her workload for tomorrow was going to be massive.

With this in mind, Lily pondered for a moment. She decided to plant the seeds first thing tomorrow while simultaneously installing the fences, trading in the channel, and hoarding more supplies.

Lily lay down in the tent, closed her eyes, and quickly fell asleep.

Unbeknownst to her, countless pairs of green eyes stared intently at her and Shelly through the darkness outside the tent. Yet, deterred by some unseen force, the creatures didn’t dare approach.

Early the next morning, Lily woke up, grabbed a quick bite to eat, and started her day’s work.

"Master, are we looking for Treasure Chests today too?" Shelly asked.

"Of course we are. Hold on a second, I’ll point out the locations for you right now."

Lily closed her eyes and listened for a moment. She quickly opened them and told Shelly, "Keep going straight ahead. There’s a Treasure Chest over there."

Upon hearing Lily’s instructions, Shelly paddled its limbs and swam forward, while Lily officially began her own tasks.

She started by taking her hoe and planting the ten types of vegetable seeds and ten types of fruits.

The vegetable seeds included carrots, tomatoes, cucumbers, pumpkins, spinach, celery, chives, scallions, eggplants, and green beans. The fruits consisted of five types of seeds and five types of saplings.

She wasn’t worried about the survival rate of the plants, but the sheer quantity was an issue. If she planted everything, Shelly’s back would become incredibly crowded.

Realizing this, Lily simply had Shelly revert to its true, massive size. She would need it expanded for installing the fences later anyway.

She deliberately chose a spacious area to plant all the vegetables and fruits. Once she finished, a thought struck her. She took out her thick stack of Environment Cards and selected a Small Ocean Card and a Stream Card.

As the two cards vanished, Shelly’s back transformed. First, a flowing stream appeared, followed immediately by a vast, azure lake.

Because Shelly was so gigantic, the two water features were actually quite far apart.

"I wonder where the source of this stream is. It’s like it just appeared out of thin air," Lily muttered to herself, then turned her gaze to the small ocean.

Her reason for wanting this ocean was simple. She remembered the System prompt when she acquired the golden fishing rod: there was a three percent chance of hooking Special Fish, and a one percent chance of catching a Golden Fish.

Although she hadn’t succeeded yet, that wouldn’t stop her from preparing in advance.

Furthermore, since it was an ocean environment, she could try raising some fish for emergencies.

Next, she tossed out a Bamboo Forest Card.

Bamboo was a fantastic resource. The shoots were edible, and the stalks could be crafted into containers and various other items.

With all that done, she began utilizing The Commons Workshop to continuously produce fences, installing them piece by piece.

Each fence segment produced by The Commons Workshop was roughly two meters long and one and a half meters high.

When two segments were placed side by side, they automatically fused together. This saved Lily a considerable amount of effort.

However, Shelly’s size was simply too massive. After a full day of exhausting work, Lily hadn’t even finished installing a tenth of the fences. Meanwhile, she had to constantly monitor the trading hub, list items, trade for Fish Spears, and pause to fish up underwater Bronze Treasure Chests. She was incredibly busy.

Despite the physical exhaustion, Lily could feel her strength, endurance, and speed steadily increasing. This was all thanks to the Potential Seed. Otherwise, let alone a tenth, she wouldn’t have been able to install even one percent of the perimeter.

Shelly shrank back down to its previous size. Miraculously, the small ocean, stream, and bamboo forest she had just added vanished—likely hidden away in some spatial pocket.

"I’ll continue tomorrow."

Lily collapsed into bed and immediately fell asleep. As for the Bronze Treasure Chests, she stowed them away, planning to open them all at once after she finished the fencing.

On the fifth day of the beginner protection period, Lily opened her eyes, feeling incredibly refreshed and brimming with power.

"It seems this is the true effect of the Potential Seed," Lily said excitedly.

She grabbed a quick bite, then headed to The Commons Workshop to start producing fences. As they were crafted, she stored them inside a Treasure Chest.

The main materials for the fences were wood and metal, so her stockpiles of these two basic resources had depleted rapidly over the past couple of days.

"Looks like I need to prioritize collecting these two materials from now on."