"Phew."
She let out a soft sigh and prepared to continue working.
Ten energy points—it was only a matter of time.
She would split first when the time came.
Whatever she did in the future, using clones would be much safer.
After everyone continued working for several hours, Ye Qian had accumulated ten energy points as well.
She could try splitting.
But there was no need to rush. It would be safer to do it after they returned; otherwise, if someone saw her, she would have no idea how to explain it.
She licked her lips and looked at the pool in the distance.
She checked the map range and tried walking over.
Polluted Water Source
"Pollution?"
Seeing those words, then seeing how murky the water was, she twitched at the corner of her mouth.
She could only endure it. She could not drink water from an unknown source.
But just as she was about to leave, a line of text appeared before her eyes:
Due to your talent, physical contact can purify this water source.
Her brows rose.
"A special talent?"
She remembered. This was the effect of that mysterious light earlier: her limbs could purify Pollution.
"I wouldn't dare drink it, but I can try."
The pool was somewhat deep, so she knelt beside it and stretched out her hand as far as she could, touching the water's surface with her fingertips.
Unfortunately, her arm was too short. She could not reach it...
Black lines appeared across her forehead.
She stood up, took off her shoes, and exposed her calves wrapped in black stockings.
Then she stretched out her little feet in black stockings with all her strength. At last, her toes touched the water's surface.
Purifying...
The water visibly became clearer.
"Damn!"
It really worked.
In just over ten seconds, the water was identified as drinkable Water of Purification, beneficial to health.5
"What the hell does 'beneficial to health' mean?"
She withdrew her leg and put her shoes back on. After confirming that her ability worked, Ye Qian could not help complaining inwardly.
No matter what, this ability was still pretty good.
At that moment, Tall Man actually ran over.
"How did you get over here? You can't drink this water... Hm?"
Seemingly noticing the change, he hurried to the pool. His eyes lit up, and he squatted down excitedly, scooping up some water with both hands and pouring it into his mouth.
"Gulp!"
A few seconds later, the man's expression changed slightly.
"The water is sweet. I feel like my whole body has relaxed quite a bit. Normally, most of the water in this world is polluted."
He licked his dry, cracked lips and immediately began drinking in huge gulps.
"Eugh~"
Seeing this, Ye Qian glanced at her little feet in black stockings and immediately covered her face.
She would just pretend she did not know. She definitely could not tell him about something like this.
He could not notice anyway, right?
But judging from this guy's cracked lips, it seemed he had not had water in a long time.
Did that mean this world itself was severely lacking in normal water resources?
What happened next seemed to prove it.
Black substances slowly seeped out around the pool, gradually restoring the water to how it had been before Purification.
The man noticed it too.
"This water..."
He seemed to realize something and looked at Ye Qian.
"I didn't do anything." Ye Qian hurriedly shook her head innocently.
Looking at the petite girl's timid expression, the man swallowed and shook his head.
"It's nothing."
New Body
After that, Tall Man quickly made a wooden bucket and filled it with water before it became completely polluted.
"As you can see, the land in this world is highly polluted. Therefore, food, medicinal herbs, and anything edible are especially scarce. And every so often, you have to buy the kind of herbs I gave you earlier from the market and apply them externally. They can clear Pollution."
He explained why he was collecting water. Afterward, he rolled his neck and remarked, "That water earlier worked pretty well. I feel much better."
Ye Qian: "..."
After that, everyone built a simple house and surrounded the area with a full ring of wooden walls.
More monsters did approach afterward, but they were all killed under the Arrow Tower's continuous fire.
This safe environment allowed them to build new facilities with peace of mind.
Their goal was a second Arrow Tower.
Ye Qian continued hoeing the ground.
Her work was not without results. She successfully dug a long trench and planted rows of spikes inside it.
Because it was wide enough, it was almost impossible for wolves to jump across. They could only slow down forcibly or go around from the sides.
During that process, the Arrow Tower could keep dealing damage.
By evening, Ye Qian had accumulated enough experience to level up.
Ding!
Your level has increased to: LV3 Strength +0.2, Constitution +0.2, Agility +0.3, Spirit +0.2, Intelligence +0.3, Resistance +0.1 Remaining unspent energy: 4 points
"Does it only go up by this little every time?"
Not only that, she discovered that once her energy reached the threshold for leveling up, it would be automatically consumed to raise her level.
In other words, if she wanted to Proliferate, she had to do it before leveling up.
As night fell, the group chopped down another pile of wood.
"I'm going to buy the materials for the second Arrow Tower. You two handle the Iron Arrows."
Ye Qian exchanged glances with the woman, then opened the market as well.
Iron Arrow: 20 Copper Coins/20 arrows
"Good. I have 165 Copper Coins now."
She exchanged them through the system for 1 silver and 65 copper, otherwise she would not have been able to carry them all.
So she bought sixty arrows in one go and placed them on the stone blocks they had made.
Woman bought twenty arrows.
"Eighty? That's enough."
After finishing the Arrow Tower, the man smiled at Ye Qian, carried bundles of Iron Arrows up the ladder, and placed them into the slots.
The Arrow Tower held fifty arrows, so it was more or less full now.
"Phew, done. Let's get some rest. It's best if we take turns keeping watch tonight. If a monster appears that the Arrow Tower can't handle, we might still be able to escape."
He took out his phone and checked the time.
It was eight at night, basically matching the sky in reality.
Of course, there was no signal here.
"Ye Qian, you take the first watch. You look a little frail, so get some rest early later. Wake me at eleven."
She had not expected him to be so considerate of her.
Ye Qian did not stand on ceremony. After nodding, she climbed to the top of the nearby Arrow Tower and began admiring the distant scenery.
She felt the phone in her pocket. Thankfully, the fierce battle earlier had not broken it.
Then she played an offline game, occasionally glancing at the minimap.
Before she knew it, it was eleven.
Several battles occurred in the meantime, allowing her energy to accumulate to fourteen points again.
"Time to sleep."
She slid down from the side and woke the man.
"Mm, is it my turn?" He yawned and sat up.
Looking at the innocent young girl's face illuminated by firelight, the man froze for a moment. Then he cleared his throat, stood up, and said, "Go sleep."
"Mm."
Ye Qian stretched lazily and lay down right where she was.
Having an Arrow Tower really was great. Experience came automatically.
The night passed without incident. When she opened her eyes again the next morning, she found that she had reached LV4.
"I didn't expect to level up again overnight."
The next level required fifty energy points.
She tested her physical condition.
"I really do seem a lot stronger."
Unfortunately, the attribute increases were small. This could only prove one thing: her main body's growth talent was not very good.
"As expected, I still have to rely on Proliferation."
The sky gradually brightened.
With the Arrow Tower protecting them, everyone's movements became much easier. The group divided up the work and began building a wall around the Arrow Tower.
After working busily for several hours, the man glanced at the time on his phone.
"There are five minutes until we're forced to log out. Since we're a team, let's add each other as friends offline, so it'll be easier to contact each other later." As he spoke, he looked expectantly at Ye Qian.
Ye Qian did not think much of it and silently displayed her social messaging ID.
Since there was no network, they could only save each other's information and add each other after going offline.
After the three of them exchanged information, the woman asked, "Will we come back here at the same time next time?"
Before you continue