In the wilderness, in a graveyard, on a pitch-black night, with buffs stacked this high, nothing could boost human morale more than a roaring campfire.
A campfire even had the nickname "wilderness television." Just watching the flames sway and listening to branches crackle in the heat could soothe an anxious mind to some extent.
If they had a dedicated campfire camping skill, the players could even gather around and grind back some SAN points.
After the Red Demon was killed, the Current Area entered a relatively safe state. The only enemies were a few Red-Eyed Crows that did not dare approach casually. They would not encounter new enemies until they crossed the river.
Before long, guided by the campfire, the two college students who had gone out to scavenge for food returned safely, their messenger bags and briefcases stuffed full.
Besides food, mostly snacks, they had also brought back tissues, wet wipes, lighters, keys, nail clippers, even individually wrapped condoms and sanitary pads.
Modern society had truly broad channels for spreading information. With the prevalence of phones and the internet, many people had access to all kinds of information.
The two of them had seen short-video explainers on little bits of knowledge, like using sanitary pads as shoe inserts or how a good-quality condom could hold 1.5 liters of water.
When they saw the campfire Cheng Tian had made and him boiling water in a helmet, the guilt on their faces from looting corpses swiftly turned into delight.
They had found plenty of food, but they had not been able to find a single bottle of water.
Without food, a person could still last around a week by consuming fat and muscle.
Without water, they would be dead in three days.
Soon, Minecraft-like eating sound effects sprang up around the campfire. Nut kernels, banana chips, and Crispy Sharks were being stuffed into Cheng Tian's mouth in endless variety.
With a whole garden of flavors blooming in his mouth, Cheng Tian directly lifted the helmet and drank. The two college students used emptied compact cases and business card holders as temporary water containers, carefully sipping the river water that was still somewhat hot.
He did not know whether the 5% permanent Flame Resistance also worked on hot water, but Cheng Tian did not find either the helmet or the water particularly hot. He quickly drained it dry, then decisively fetched another helmetful of water to boil.
Modern people played with their phones even while eating, and Cheng Tian's group was no exception. Only now, he and the college students were fiddling with their Personal Panels rather than talking face-to-face.
The scene was extremely modern Chinese style. If the older generation saw it, they would definitely get scolded.
Of course, Cheng Tian and the others were not playing around. There was simply too much they needed to figure out.
Many options on the Personal Panel could be tapped to view detailed information.
Cheng Tian had already checked the Strength entry in the attributes section, so now he began opening the other attributes one by one.
[Agility—corresponded to attack speed, movement speed, dynamic vision, reaction ability, and related stats.] [Spirit—corresponded to Magic Attack, Max MP, MP recovery efficiency, magic resistance, and related stats. The current Spirit-to-MP ratio was 1:10.] [Charm—corresponded to initial personal and faction reputation with NPCs, reputation gain efficiency, neutral creatures' first impressions, control over summons, probability of successful communication and persuasion, and related stats.]
The aspects covered by Agility and Spirit were more or less what Cheng Tian, this Daoslin, had expected. Strength, Agility, and Spirit probably corresponded to the three development paths available to Chosen Players. After all, evenly distributing points made one either exceptional or mediocre.
The Charm attribute was indeed somewhat special. It was clearly aimed at Chosen Players who focused on dungeon exploration, digging deep into storylines, and summoner-type builds.
Cheng Tian knew very well that although his appearance had no obvious strengths or flaws, he was clearly not the popular type. Many people would even instinctively feel a little intimidated upon seeing him for the first time, so having lower initial stats was normal enough.
Coincidentally, the first official skill Cheng Tian possessed was related to Charm and leaned toward summons.
Unable to make sense of it for the moment, Cheng Tian closed the attribute descriptions and opened the Achievement List instead.
The completed First Kill of Red Demon achievement was displayed prominently at the very top. Beneath it was a list of achievements that could not be viewed, some with their conditions already revealed and others still marked with question marks.
[General Achievements (can be completed across dungeons)—] [Zombie Outbreak: Kill a total of 100 zombie units. Current progress: 69/100.] [So Noisy!: Kill a total of 50 corvid units. Current progress: 4/50.] [Herbicide: Kill a total of 50 killer plant units. Current progress: 2/50.] [What's This? A Treasure Chest? Open It!: Trigger the traps of 15 Treasure Chest Monsters. Current progress: 1/15.] [...] [Demon World Village Achievements—] [The Kingdom Knight's HLA: Collect and obtain Knight Armor, Bronze Knight Armor, Golden Knight Armor, Knight Lance, Knight Shield, and Golden Knight Sword. Current progress: Knight Armor 1/1.] [There Are Six Others as Strong as Me: Participate in killing every gatekeeping boss serving the Demon Kings across Demon World Village's six main-story stages.] [Astaroth! Arthur Has Returned!: While teamed up with Arthur or holding Arthur's Proof, kill the true Astaroth.] [...]
Achievements were divided into general achievements that could be completed across dungeons and exclusive achievements that could only be completed within that particular dungeon.
What Cheng Tian could currently see were all achievements for which he had already met part of the requirements and could theoretically complete. Moreover, none of them listed their corresponding rewards.
Putting Demon World Village's exclusive achievements aside for now, quite a few Veteran Players had surely already completed those general achievements that could be done across dungeons. He should be able to gather relevant information later.
If every achievement corresponded to a title, then given that only one title could be equipped at a time, there might be something more special going on here.
"Burp!!!"
After stuffing himself with plenty of high-calorie snacks and drinking his fill of water, Cheng Tian let out a huge burp. Still somewhat unsatisfied, he tucked his phone back into the pocket of his underpants, gave it a pat, and adjusted his Gun Cannon Trajectory.
Only then did he leisurely shove every piece of Knight Armor, including the now-dried helmet, into the same inventory slot. He himself remained in nothing but Underpants Slippers.
There were clearly many more things worth exploring in Chosen Space. If he wanted to continue exploring it, figuring out how to kill the Cyclops and leave Demon World Village alive would be crucial.
Seeing Cheng Tian's actions, the two college students, who had clearly eaten far less than he had, immediately got to their feet and dusted off their butts. Their emotions, which had been soothed considerably by the campfire and food, began to ripple again.
"Don't save the food and water. Next should be Little Frog Crossing River. We'll probably need a running start to jump, so I suggest leaving anything unnecessary here."
Cheng Tian pointed at the Magic Moving Platforms shifting back and forth across the river not far away.
Then, it was time for some platform jumping.
Before you continue