Level 2 Shelter

Although obtaining E-Rank Devilish Creature Crystal Cores did not necessarily mean confronting a wolf pack head-on.

In reality, though, it was not something one could obtain simply by wanting it.

Devilish creatures were still devilish creatures.

Take the Horned Rabbit mentioned before. Its attack power was indeed not particularly strong, but it moved very quickly.

It could be said that every E-Rank devilish creature was a challenge for current Survivors.

That was why Lan Qingyou's purchases of the materials needed for her upgrade proceeded slowly.

But she did not mind. Since Survivors had these things in their hands, buying them all up was only a matter of time.

So she stopped sitting at the Desk.

After buying another Water Bucket, she carried both buckets to the creek, flew over, filled them with water, and brought them back.

That way, she would not need to risk going out for water tonight.

Afterward, once she had used up her three daily uses of Gathering Art, Lan Qingyou took out the bedsheet she had just bought, spread it over the Mattress, lay down, and began reading the books she had purchased today.

After skimming through them, she found that aside from Basic Semiotics and Basic Drawing, the rest were like functional books.

Some were even rambling essays where the authors simply wrote whatever came to mind.

But Lan Qingyou was not picky.

Knowing that her physical condition was far inferior to others', she had a greater thirst and curiosity for the knowledge of this world than most people.

For someone without legs, everything in this fantastical magical world offered limitless possibilities.

Even if her legs could not move, could not be controlled, and could not walk like a normal person's.

As long as she had knowledge, even if she stayed home forever, it would not affect her life in any way.

Especially after the massive sales of the Crude Mana Potion, which further proved that the success she had stumbled upon before had been the right path.

Learning about this world naturally became an even more correct thing to do.

She was not some monster obsessed with pursuing "correctness." She was merely an ordinary person who wanted to live a little better.

At the very least...

At the very least, she would not be like before—at the mercy of others, without even the slightest ability to resist.

However, when Lan Qingyou began seriously reading Basic Semiotics, a trace of embarrassment appeared on her face.

Semiotics mainly discussed the various symbols of this world.

These symbols could serve as codes during rituals or as symbols used to construct magic arrays. Naturally, this also included the symbols used in alchemy arrays.

For example, The Sun represented "gold," The Moon represented "silver," an upright triangle represented "fire," an inverted triangle represented "water," an hourglass represented time, and the M-shaped symbol for a generation gap represented "mixing."

There were also symbols representing "filtering," "dissolving," "boiling," and so on.

All of these were needed for alchemy arrays.

Albert's notes had, in fact, also recorded matters concerning alchemy arrays.

But because there were no illustrations, Lan Qingyou did not know how to draw them. In the end, she could only burn Wood as a substitute. Now it seemed that the function of an alchemy array was not merely as simple as controlling flames; it at least involved things like internal circulation.

But that was not her fault, right?

After all, in this world, she was practically no different from an illiterate person.

And Basic Drawing, put simply, taught people how to draw these symbols, as well as how to draw circles freehand.

Lan Qingyou found it fascinating. From time to time, she even used Charcoal to draw something on a Wooden Plank.

After all, drawing was her specialty. Back then, her father had even praised her, saying she could become an artist someday.

Once Lan Qingyou started reading, she had no idea how much time had passed.

The light of the Hurricane Lamp on the wall slowly flickered. Outside, the night deepened, and the forest echoed with insects and frogs. It was such a peaceful, pleasant scene that one could not bear to disturb it.

Beep—beep—beep—beep—

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Just as Lan Qingyou had become engrossed in her book, a crisp sound came from the Desk beside her.

It was the notification sound she had set for completed item purchases.

Any item purchase for which she had set a quantity would trigger a notification when completed, and it would keep ringing until she turned it off.

The purchases were complete?

Lan Qingyou, who had been quietly reading, froze for a moment before slowly getting up.

She had originally thought the food purchases had been completed, but unexpectedly, it was the Devilish Creature Crystal Cores!

Looking at the records, aside from three cores exchanged by different people, the other seven had all been exchanged by Li Huai?

Li Huai... Was he not the one who had sold her the Kerosene Lighter yesterday?

He must have had some very powerful combat talent.

Lan Qingyou nodded, then eagerly tapped the Shelter upgrade button.

With a ding, a window popped up on the panel.

"Let's see... Please select an upgrade path?"

"First, expand the Tree Hole Shelter threefold."

"Second, expand the Tree Hole Shelter twofold, but add a second-floor area."

A second floor!?

Was there even a need to choose?

Back when two bastards had thrown her from the hospital into the slums, she could only sleep on a hard bedboard and stare at the high-rises outside while waiting to die. At that time, she had always thought about how wonderful it would be to stand atop one of those towering buildings and look down upon the countless people below.

Now that she had a little home of her own, of course she would go higher if she could.

Without the slightest hesitation, Lan Qingyou immediately selected the second option.

As Lan Qingyou's finger pressed down, the entire Shelter began to shake violently.

If Lan Qingyou had not been a ghost, she would probably have been shaken senseless.

When the shaking ended, Lan Qingyou saw that the three walls of the Shelter had magically expanded outward, and even the ceiling had grown taller.

In the blink of an eye, the Tree Hole had expanded from its original twenty square meters to forty.

In one corner along the side of the Tree Hole, an opening and a Vine-woven rope ladder leading to the second floor had appeared.

"After making such a big fuss, it turns out it isn't a staircase."

Lan Qingyou looked at the Vine rope ladder with slight disappointment, but a rope ladder was also rather suitable for her.

At least it saved quite a bit of indoor space, did it not?

So she reached out, gently grasped the Vine rope ladder, and with a slight exertion of force, slowly floated up to the second floor.

Like the first floor, those strange patterns extended into the upstairs room as well.

Its area was roughly the same as the first floor's original twenty square meters. In a sense, it had indeed expanded threefold, though the space had been staggered.

Lan Qingyou was very satisfied with the space. The lack of windows was a minor flaw, but it did not matter much if she used it as a bedroom.

After looking around, Lan Qingyou immediately decided on the functions of the two rooms.

The first floor would be the workspace, and the second floor would be the small bedroom.

After all, the second floor had no windows. Doing alchemy in a place like that would be asking to suffocate herself to death.

But the opening to the second floor was a little small. The Mattress probably could not fit through it, could it?

After returning to the first floor, Lan Qingyou began pondering how to carry the Mattress upstairs. Only then did she notice the panel was still on the Desk.

"..."

Damn, she had been careless!

Lan Qingyou scratched her head awkwardly.

Let's see what this is about.

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