Stocking up!

[Mo Yu]: Cousin, you came to the right person. I happen to have some. Today, I used the Hand Crossbow you made to kill a Mutant Crocodile in a swamp beside the road. It dropped ten pieces of meat, and each one increases physique by 0.5.

[Mo Yu]: I'm roasting them right now. I was going to tell you once they were done, but you asked first.

Su Ye's eyes lit up.

His luck really was good. Just when he needed something, it fell right into his lap.

[Never Checks the Fuel Gauge]: Great. Send me three pieces when they're done. I'll buy them at market price.

[Mo Yu]: Cousin, you're not treating me like a brother if you say that. I'm counting on riding your coattails in the future. Once this crocodile meat is roasted, I'll just give it to you. Talking about money makes us sound like strangers.

[Never Checks the Fuel Gauge]: All right. Since you put it that way, I'll take it. But I can't eat your food for nothing. I happen to have some information for you. Consider it a trade.

Su Ye immediately told him some key information about choosing a Vehicle Building after his Vehicle reached level ten, as well as hiring NPCs.

He wasn't stingy with this information when it came to Mo Yu.

His upcoming plans required Mo Yu's help in collecting more basic resources.

[Never Checks the Fuel Gauge]: Keep this information to yourself. Don't spread it around. I've already sold it to Ling Yue and gave him my word.

[Mo Yu]: Holy shit, so there's all that to consider when your Vehicle reaches level ten! Don't worry, Cousin. I promise I won't tell anyone.

[Mo Yu]: My Vehicle is already level eight, and it's upgrading to level nine right now. Thanks to you helping me earn so much fuel earlier, I have plenty of upgrade materials. Without your warning, I'd have been completely clueless at level ten and just picked any old building.

[Never Checks the Fuel Gauge]: Right. Try to reach level ten before the Beginner Period ends. Also, don't slack off each day. Cover as much distance as you can. Even if you don't make the top ten, more mileage can only benefit you.

Su Ye didn't tell Mo Yu that the game would begin a purge of the players after the Beginner Period ended.

Whether Mo Yu listened was up to him. If he refused to follow instructions, Su Ye would simply have to find another underling to groom.

There was no shortage of clever people here eager to latch onto someone powerful.

[Mo Yu]: Sure, I'll do whatever you say, Cousin. Just point me at a target, and I'll hit it. Oh, the meat's ready. Try some first.

Accompanied by a system notification chime, three pieces of Mutant Crocodile meat appeared in the trade window, roasted golden and crisp and giving off a rich, meaty aroma.

Su Ye retrieved them and nodded in satisfaction as he savored their aroma.

"Everything's ready. I can break through to the first tier tonight."

Su Ye picked up a piece of Mutant Beast meat that increased his mental attribute and took large bites.

The meat melted in his mouth, turning into a cool current that rushed straight into his mind.

His mind cleared, and his perception expanded outward once again.

He then ate the second piece of meat that increased his mental attribute.

Boom!

A muffled thunderclap seemed to explode in his mind, and Su Ye felt as though his very soul had undergone a baptism.

His thoughts became sharper than ever, while his memory and ability to calculate rapidly soared.

"So this is what a mental attribute of 10 feels like?"

Su Ye opened his eyes. Raising his own attribute to 10 was very different from reaching 10 through equipment.

Attributes boosted by equipment felt somewhat unfamiliar, but the attributes he raised himself were different. This power belonged entirely to him.

"My mental attribute has reached ten. Next is physique."

Su Ye picked up two pieces of Mutant Beast meat and quickly swallowed them.

Unlike the cool sensation of an increased mental attribute, the increase in physique brought searing heat.

Violent energy surged wildly through his limbs and body. His muscles began to tremble and swell, and his bones crackled.

He could clearly feel his muscle fibers tearing apart, then rebuilding themselves into a tougher, more perfect form.

His blood flowed faster, and his heart pounded powerfully like a war drum.

[System notification: Your base physique attribute has increased by 1.5. Current base physique attribute: 9.9.]

Su Ye clenched his fists, feeling the power within him, as though he could shatter anything with a single punch.

"Physique is at 9.9, but my mental attribute is only at 10. Could Mutant Beast meat only work while I'm at zero-tier?"

A suspicion formed in Su Ye's mind. He glanced at the Mutant Crocodile meat, then forcibly suppressed the urge to keep eating.

"There's no rush."

Su Ye put the meat back into his Storage Ring. "Breaking through to the first tier might cause a disturbance, or even leave me weakened for a while."

"My Vehicle is still upgrading. If I break through sitting here beside the bonfire and a monster comes along, I'll be in trouble. Even with the Gray Fog Medal, it's not completely safe."

"At the very least, I should wait until the Vehicle finishes upgrading, hide in the rear compartment, and lock the doors before eating it. Better to avoid any accidents."

Su Ye knew very well that his top priority now was to play it safe.

If he hadn't been so eager to experience the power of the first tier, he would even have considered waiting until daylight tomorrow and asking the Great Xia Soldiers to guard him during his breakthrough after he met up with them.

Seeing that the Vehicle still needed some time to finish upgrading, Su Ye opened the chat channel again.

The channel was still bustling.

"Please have mercy, big shots. I ran into a Mutant Wild Dog today, and it bit a chunk out of my thigh. The bleeding won't stop. Can anyone sell me a Simple Bandage? I'll trade all my timber for it."

"Please, I need a bandage too. I'll trade twenty units of fuel."

"Damn it, why doesn't this shitty game drop Medical Kits? I'm a proud Flame Tribe warrior. Am I really going to bleed to death here?"

"Where's Never Checks the Fuel Gauge? Can you sell us some more Simple Bandages?"

A hint of a smile appeared in Su Ye's eyes as he watched the injured players begging to buy bandages in the channel.

"Not bad, not bad. Someone's already offering twenty units of fuel for a bandage. Maybe Mo Yu really can sell them for fifty units each on the final day."

Su Ye turned toward the Workbench beside him, which was still emitting the faint hum of machinery.

"After tonight, my stock of Simple Bandages will reach thirty thousand."

Su Ye had been stocking up all along, waiting to cash in big on the final day of the Beginner Period.

"Once this batch of Simple Bandages is finished, I can pause production. I'm running short on bandage materials anyway. I can make some other things."

Su Ye's fingers swiped rapidly across the Workbench's blueprint interface. Besides the Hand Crossbow and bandages, it also contained blueprints for other items.

These included weapons such as machetes, ground spikes, and maces.

He had acquired all these blueprints earlier while trading fuel with Ling Yue and the others.

Those Major Guilds might not think much of these low-level weapon blueprints, but to Su Ye, they were another excellent way to cash in on Solo Players.

At this stage, the vast majority of Solo Players were still fighting monsters with wooden clubs and steel pipes.

Some had machetes or even better weapons, but they were a minority, after all.

If he crafted these items and put them up for sale now, plenty of players would still be willing to buy them.

As he considered this, the fifty-minute countdown finally ended.