Chapter 11 - 11 9 In the Tree

11: Chapter 9 In the Tree 11: Chapter 9 In the Tree This village was indeed as the old village chief had described—sparse in population, with only a few dozen inhabitants, it looked rather desolate. Most of the residents were elderly, weak, sick, or disabled. While wandering through the village, Xiao Jie was on the lookout for any potential characters to interact with. When he reached the woods behind the village, he saw a middle-aged man with one arm missing, looking sorrowfully at the expanse of trees. Although there was no task marker above his head, Xiao Jie felt that there was definitely an opportunity here. “Excuse me, sir, I’m looking for some work. Is there anything I can do for you?” The man eyed Xiao Jie with caution, but his expression brightened upon seeing his attire. Wang Daniu (Woodcutter): “You’re a returnee, aren’t you? I’ve heard about you all. You’ve come at the right time. I’m the village’s woodcutter. A few days ago, I was bitten by a poisonous snake, and although I survived, my hand is now useless. The village urgently needs firewood, and I can’t do this job anymore. If you’re willing, you could help me chop some firewood. Although it’s tiring work, I’ll definitely make it worth your while. I’ll give you ten copper coins for each bundle of firewood. What do you say, are you in?” A dialogue box popped up in front of him— [System prompt: Wang Daniu has offered you the task [Chopping Wood]. Do you accept?] Chopping wood, huh? That doesn’t sound too hard. Ten coins per bundle, so one hundred bundles would be 1,000 coins, enough money to buy equipment in the early stages. Xiao Jie decisively chose to accept. “Here, you can borrow this for now.” System prompt: You have acquired a temporary profession [Woodcutter]. System prompt: You have acquired a temporary item [Rusty Firewood Chopper]. [Rusty Firewood Chopper (One-handed Blade) Attack: 12 Chop. Weapon Effect: Wood Chopping. (Inflicts 50% enhanced damage on tree-type demons) Item Introduction: A rusty chopper meant for chopping wood, not killing people. It’s a very rudimentary weapon, but it’s better than being unarmed.] He even received a weapon. Not bad, not bad. Wang Daniu (Woodcutter): “Come on, young man, let me teach you the essentials of chopping wood. See those trees on the hill behind you? You can chop wood there, but remember not to go too far as it can be dangerous. Also, pick dry branches to chop. Fresh branches won’t burn, and you shouldn’t chop trees that are too thick. We’re chopping firewood, not logging; as long as it can burn, any size will do. Chop fifty branches, and then use the mountain vine nearby to bundle them up. If you come up short, I’ll have to deduct from your pay. Got it?” System prompt: You have learned [Chopping Wood (Entry Level)]. Your skill book has been updated. Xiao Jie couldn’t help but laugh. According to what that man in the black windbreaker had said, life skills could also be brought into reality. He had just acquired a new skill, although it probably wasn’t very useful in reality. “I’ve got it, uncle. You can rest now; I’ll take care of the rest.” As soon as Wang Daniu left, Xiao Jie began chopping wood on the hillside. The job wasn’t difficult. First, he had to identify if the trees were already dead as he couldn’t just chop any lush green trees—he could only go for those that had already turned yellow. Perhaps due to the poor soil, there were dead trees all over the mountain, while live green trees were scarce. Then, all he had to do was swing his axe at the branches of the dead trees. This method of collecting resources by cutting trees was a familiar gameplay mechanic found in many survival games, and Xiao Jie was well acquainted with it. The work progress kept popping up in the bottom right corner. Crack! Chopping Wood Failed. Crack! Chopping Wood Failed. Crack! Chopping Wood Successful, Dry Firewood +1. Crack! Chopping Wood Failed. Crack! Chopping Wood Major Failure, Firewood Chopper Durability -1. Crack! Chopping Wood Successful, Dry Firewood +1. These prompts seemed to have no pattern and appeared randomly. Sometimes a single chop could chop down a piece of dry firewood, while other times several chops would show only failures. Occasionally, there would even be a prompt about losing one point of durability. Fortunately, the chopper had a durability of 50 points, so it wasn’t a big problem for the moment. After about fifteen minutes, Xiao Jie had gathered enough dry firewood for a bundle, earning ten coins for it. Ha ha, this job is quite simple. 1,000 copper coins could be made in no time. After working for over an hour, Xiao Jie had chopped enough wood for five bundles. Although the process was somewhat tedious, the thought of being able to buy equipment and learn skills with the money filled him with enthusiasm. We shouldn’t aim too high for now. Forget about divine skills and such, let’s first get a book on Internal Cultivation Methods, experience the feeling of being a martial arts expert, then learn something like Qinggong to experience the joy of wall-climbing and leaving no trace in the snow. And then perhaps some saber or sword skills… After bundling the dry firewood in his bag again, he continued to chop trees. However, he soon realized that the speed of his wood chopping had slowed down. Xiao Jie hurriedly checked his status, not knowing when his energy bar had emptied. Xiao Jie found it strange, as energy values were supposed to constantly recover, as long as one wasn’t doing strenuous exercise, it shouldn’t have emptied like that. So, he sat on a rock and rested for a while, watching as his energy slowly recovered. The recovery speed was significantly slower, and his energy only recovered halfway before it stopped increasing. There was also a ghost face icon above his head. [Hunger: Your satiety is too low, reducing the upper limit of your energy by 50% and the recovery speed by 75%.] What the heck is this? Xiao Jie hurriedly investigated, only to discover that the game had a hunger design. The full value was 100 points, below 30 would trigger the [Hunger] debuff, and above 80 would trigger the [Satiety] buff. Yesteray, Xiao Jie didn’t eat anything while he was hunting outside the village, and today he had been chopping wood for half the day, which decisively triggered the hunger effect. This… Xiao Jie hadn’t expected the game to be so detailed that he had to eat, and he didn’t know if Wang Daniu provided meals. As he walked down the hill, Wang Daniu was resting on a wooden stake, looking visibly distressed. Xiao Jie chose to submit the chopped wood and earned 50 coins, then asked, “Uncle, here are the woods I chopped. Do you have any food? I’m hungry. Let me eat something, then I’ll continue chopping.” Wang Daniu (Woodcutter): “You young man, don’t do much work but have plenty of issues. This isn’t a Charity Hall here. We don’t have free food. You might want to check the tavern in the village; they sell steamed buns and baked pancakes.” Xiao Jie went to the tavern, and indeed, there were various foods available. Steamed Bun (Satiety +10), 5 coins each. Baked Pancake (Satiety +20), 10 coins each. Dried Wild Boar Meat (Satiety +50), 25 coins each. Secret Recipe Roast Chicken (Satiety +50, additional benefit: satisfied), 50 coins each. Lao Bai Gan (Satiety +5, additional effect: dizzy), 15 coins a pot. Du Kang Wine (Satiety +5, additional benefit: sated), 40 coins a pot… Xiao Jie couldn’t be bothered with those and just bought six steamed buns, his satiety reaching 90 in one go. Looking at his significantly reduced wallet made him somewhat heartbroken. It wasn’t that he mind spending a few copper coins, but he suddenly realized that he had failed to account for food consumption when calculating the wood-chopping income. The more he worked, the hungrier he got. Initially, the revenue from a bundle of dry firewood for 10 coins wasn’t high, now after deducting the expense for meals, saving up to 1,000 coins was hardly easy. However, Xiao Jie soon discovered that food wasn’t the only expense. Returning to the hill to continue chopping wood, Xiao Jie observed the rate of decrease in satiety. Fortunately, it wasn’t falling too quickly and, with the [Satiety] buff in place, his energy recovered very quickly. He could mindlessly keep chopping; the efficiency of tree felling even seemed to improve for a while. The reason he got hungry so quickly today was probably because he didn’t eat while fighting monsters the day before. Normally, a satiety level of 90 should last a few hours. However, after only half an hour, a red warning suddenly appeared in the lower right corner. [System Notice: Your Firewood Axe’s durability is too low to use.] Xiao Jie opened his inventory and sure enough, the durability had dropped to 1/50. He immediately had a bad feeling, wondering if he would have to pay for the repairs himself. Just as he feared, when he found Wang Daniu and told him the Firewood Axe was broken, the latter was not in good mood. Wang Daniu (Woodcutter): “Look, kid, of course you have to repair the axe yourself. I gave it to you in good condition. It’s your own fault it broke; you can’t blame me. Look at my hands, they’re crippled. I hired you to chop wood just to make do, the village pays me ten coins per bundle of wood, and I gave it all to you. If I have to pay for repairs, wouldn’t I be losing money? Where’s the logic in that?” Wang Daniu’s pitiful words left Xiao Jie without any solution. Luckily, he sold two bundles of wood for 20 coins, and with the coins he originally had, totaling to 66 coins, it should be enough. He went directly to the blacksmith shop, but the big-bearded blacksmith wasn’t there, only the chubby apprentice who was forging a sword embryo. Xiao Jie thought that since it wasn’t a big job, an apprentice might do, and perhaps even for cheaper. “Hello, can you help me repair a Firewood Axe?” Wang Kai (Ironsmtih Apprentice): “No problem, let me see. Hmm, it’ll cost you 50 copper coins to fix.” 50 copper coins! Xiao Jie was momentarily speechless. This morning he had earned a total of 70 coins, spent 30 on six steamed buns, and if he now spent another 50 on repairing the axe, wouldn’t he be losing money? It was a good thing he had the 26 coins he got from the mountain bandits earlier, or else he wouldn’t even have been able to afford the repair. Was this some kind of joke? This game can’t be this unscrupulous. Xiao Jie didn’t agree immediately, instead, he began to think. The game was designed to allow players to earn money through work; logically, it couldn’t leave players without any way out. It couldn’t possibly result in a negative income. And he hadn’t forgotten the high degree of freedom in the game; perhaps the repair cost was negotiable. “Brother, can you make it a bit cheaper? It’s not easy for a returnee like me to make a living.” Wang Kai (Ironsmtih Apprentice): “You’re a returnee, and I’m not? This is already cheap. If you go to an NPC for repairs, you definitely won’t get it for less than 50 coins.” His words made Xiao Jie pause for a moment, then he suddenly realized something. “Huh? You’re also a player!”