Why Was There Another One???

All his current proficiency had come from forging Golden-Pattern Iron Ore into iron ingots earlier.

After that, he had only hammered iron ingots in Dream Space, merging the Pure Heaven and Earth Divine Mantra with them. Was that why his proficiency hadn't increased?!

But hadn't he been practicing his hammering skills all that time, too?

Even his Blazing Tiger Fist had reached Master-Level proficiency through that process!

"Uh... no way..."

Another guess suddenly occurred to Tang Zhixue: Do I have to forge things in the real world to increase my proficiency?

The more he thought about it, the more likely it seemed. Otherwise, he couldn't explain why his forging proficiency wouldn't increase in Dream Space.

After all, Dream Space could perfectly simulate objects from the outside world. Processing prey there had increased his proficiency before. Under normal circumstances, there was no reason forging shouldn't work.

"I'll try it this afternoon, and again tonight. I need to test both to figure out where the problem lies!"

Having made up his mind, he went on eating his lunch.

Roasted meat with rice cooked in a bamboo tube, followed by White Melon. It was simple, but it filled his stomach.

After finishing his meal, he wiped his mouth and began planning his work for the afternoon.

"The Shelter is already level three. Next, I need to gather ten thousand energy points as soon as possible. That should be easy enough. But before that, I need to build the wall I planned earlier. I can't leave all the surrounding land unused..."

As he thought, he opened the regional chat channel.

There were only 206 people left in the regional chat. A few more had died.

It was considerably more active than it had been over the past two days, though. Everyone seemed to be gradually adjusting to the rhythm of this world, and some worthwhile discussions had begun.

[Tang Zhixue: Good afternoon, everyone. Have you eaten?]

[???]

[!!!]

[Cousin Tang, why are you here at noon?]

[Yeah, Cousin Tang, don't you usually only show up at night?]

[Tang Zhixue: What's that supposed to mean? Why can't I show up at noon?]

[Tang Zhixue: I'll get straight to the point. If you have the means, you should upgrade your Shelters sooner rather than later.]

[Tang Zhixue: Using special materials can also give your Shelters special effects.]

[Xu Shi: That's true. Cousin Tang is right, but those materials are hard to get. Speaking of which, what level is your Shelter, Cousin Tang?]

[Wen Yue: It's not just the materials. Energy is hard to get, too, you know.]

Should I tell them?

Reading the regional chat, Tang Zhixue fell into thought for a moment.

To tell them, or not?

After a long silence, Tang Zhixue replied in the chat channel.

[Tang Zhixue: Just upgraded it to level 3. It nearly killed me.]

[Xu Shi: Level three?! Cousin Tang, you're way too fast. I've only just gathered enough energy for level two...]

[Tang Zhixue: I had no choice. A Weird broke my Shelter's front gate, and upgrading the Shelter was the only way to repair it. Otherwise, I wouldn't have felt safe at all.]

[Yuan Lexian: I just reached level two as well. How much energy does level three need?]

[Tang Zhixue: Upgrading a level 3 Shelter further requires ten thousand energy points.]

[Xu Muqiu: Ten thousand... I'm struggling to save up even triple digits right now. There are too few Weirds to hunt each day, and the Jade Flowers grow slowly, too. Speaking of which, Cousin Tang, is there any way to make Jade Flowers mature faster?]

[Tang Zhixue: Uh... I don't have any way to make them mature faster at the moment, either.]

[Wen Yue: I'm still level zero... I haven't even gathered enough energy for level one. Just dealing with the Weirds every day is exhausting enough. I have no energy left to go hunting.]

[Fang Yunxi: Wen Yue, what kind of environment are you in? Why is gathering energy so difficult?]

[Wen Yue: The coast. It's all beaches and saline soil around me, with very few plants or Weirds. There are plenty of Mutated Beasts, though. Every day, I can see things swimming around in the sea...]

[Xu Shi: The coast? Doesn't that mean you get seafood? I'm jealous!]

[Wen Yue: Yes, the sea is full of Mutated Beasts, but the problem is that I have no way to go into the sea and hunt them. Right now, I'm mostly living on coconuts and the edible fruit of a kind of beach vine. It's barely enough to keep me from starving.]

[Luo Hongcai: We all have our own difficulties. There aren't many Weirds bothering me here in the desert, but water is a major problem. I have to walk a long way every day to fetch water from an oasis.]

[Yuan Lexian: Getting back to the subject, exactly what new functions does a level-three Shelter have? Could you give us some details, Cousin Tang?]

[Tang Zhixue: The Shelter's functions will most likely differ depending on the materials used.]

[Tang Zhixue: My Shelter became much larger, and there's a plant inside that provides lighting.]

[Xu Shi: Lighting? That's a great function! My Shelter is still pitch-black. If it weren't for Sister Fang's oil lamp, I wouldn't be able to stay in here at all...]

[Fang Yunxi: Tsk, doesn't that mean I'm losing a customer? What I'm more curious about, though, is whether the purification range of a level-three Shelter has expanded.]

[Tang Zhixue: No. The purification effect mainly comes from the influence of the Pure Heaven and Earth Divine Mantra, so you should all recite it more in your spare time and contemplate the meaning within it.]

[Xu Muqiu: That's tough. I've probably recited this Pure Heaven and Earth Divine Mantra over ten thousand times, but the effects are still just so-so...]

[Xu Shi: All right, enough talking. I need to gather energy. You guys have spurred me on. Go do your thing, Cousin Tang. I'll get back to grinding.]

[Yuan Lexian: Same here. I'm off to grind, too.]

[Fang Yunxi: Me too.]

Tang Zhixue smiled and closed the chat channel. He stood, picked up the hunting knife and bow and arrows in the corner, and walked out of the Shelter. "First, let's test my guess about forging proficiency."

So far, he had only learned to forge sabers and swords, but those weapons had more than just metal components.

He was heading out now to gather some Clear Spirit Wood to make their grips and sheaths or scabbards.

Silent White Fog still shrouded the area outside the Shelter. Tang Zhixue took a deep breath of the faintly putrid air and headed toward the woods.

Yet the moment he entered the woods, Tang Zhixue noticed something unusual.

Wet patches lay scattered across the ground a short distance ahead, like traces left by something that had just crawled out of the water and passed through here.

Those wet patches gave off a faint, fishy stench, exactly like the smell of the Giant View Weird he had encountered before.

Tang Zhixue frowned slightly and crouched to examine the traces on the ground.

"Fresh... these must have been left not long ago."

Tang Zhixue looked up toward his right, his mood poor.

That was where the Junweng Weird he had killed that morning had stood.

Didn't the Junweng Weird kill this morning's Giant View Weird? Why was there another one here??