Page 48

Song Xiaozhu had asked Qiu Shuyu to wait outside partly to keep watch. If Tian Man and the others arrived early, she could stall them for a while;

the other reason was that, now that Song Xiaozhu had a storage chest, her method of "crafting" had become increasingly miraculous, almost like creating things out of thin air. Sending Qiu Shuyu away also saved her some unnecessary explanations.

There was a little too little time to prepare, but fortunately, the Workbench synthesized things quickly. With no need to carry [raw material] back and forth, Song Xiaozhu soon synthesized ten simple axes.

She had been watching the experience bar all along. Just as she had expected, after ten syntheses, her experience stopped increasing.

Sure enough, to fill the experience bar, she had to synthesize every recipe except the small box at least ten times.

Synthesizing these things was no trouble for Song Xiaozhu, but she currently had no way to sell things like the "Simple Hoe," "simple pickaxe," and "simple skinning knife."

Once made, they took up quite a bit of space, too.

At that thought, Song Xiaozhu had a flash of inspiration...

Could she "recycle them again"?

She had tested this with the simple pickaxe before and knew that a higher-level recipe required it as a material. It could also be used for Random Synthesis.

But Song Xiaozhu had never considered whether she could dismantle it and synthesize [raw material] again.

Especially that damaged simple axe-repairing it was out of the question. The Workbench had no such function.

If she separated the stone part from the wooden handle, could both be synthesized into [raw material] again?

If that really worked...

It would practically be an endless recycling loop!

Song Xiaozhu felt she was getting a little carried away, but...

It cost her nothing to try!

As the saying went, the bolder the people, the greater the harvest.

She must not underestimate Mr. "Synthesizer"-not Ms., because the notification voice was clearly male.

The crack in that little axe was in just the right place, too. Song Xiaozhu gave it a hard tug and easily separated the axe blade from the wooden handle. She quickly performed [raw material] synthesis...

The results were quite a pleasant surprise to Song Xiaozhu.

[Raw stone material] failed.

[Raw wood material] succeeded.

It was not a hundred-percent recovery, but recovering half was already quite good!

Fortunately, Qiu Shuyu had her back to her and saw nothing. Otherwise, she would definitely have been heartbroken.

Her precious little axe, gone without even a body left behind...

And she had only used it once!

Song Xiaozhu made the most of her time and synthesized twice more. Fully focused, she listened carefully to the notifications and diligently marked each little axe.

The percentage boost to effectiveness was not fixed for the synthesized stone axes.

The minimum boost was 10%, and the maximum was 30%.

Song Xiaozhu made thirteen stone axes in total. Only one had a 30% boost to effectiveness, while three had a 20% boost, seven had a 15% boost, and the last two had a 10% boost.

Overall, both the highest and lowest percentages were uncommon.

Song Xiaozhu truly lived up to her title of "unlucky player." Of the tools she had synthesized for the first time, everything except the simple axe had been at 10%.

When it came to rotten luck, Master Song had to hand it to herself.

After marking them, Song Xiaozhu already had a sales plan in mind. All she needed now was for the customers to arrive.

When Tian Man and Luo Liuzi came over, they saw the four stone axes Song Xiaozhu had deliberately laid outside-seemingly casual, but actually carefully considered.

The emotion revealed by Luo Liuzi's shriek made Song Xiaozhu breathe a sigh of relief.

Sure enough, a 20% boost to effectiveness was quite enticing to skilled loggers.

Tian Man was a little more composed. He did not cry out, but his eyes widened considerably, full of surprise.

He had thought he would never see that little axe again...

Yet here were so many of them!

Luo Liuzi looked at Qiu Shuyu and muttered inwardly, Didn't she say she found it? How... Oh, right, Qiu Shuyu only said she found it, not that she found just one. Did she find five?! No, she didn't find them... There really is some badass craftsperson!

Impatient by nature, Luo Liuzi could not bother with all that anymore and asked outright, "Xiao Yu, are these axes the same kind you used during the day?"

Qiu Shuyu nodded.

Even Tian Man could not help drawing a sharp breath.

Qiu Shuyu looked at the iron axe in Tian Man's hand, still feeling a sense of warmth...

Tian Man really did keep his word.

"I'm not short on axes."

Qiu Shuyu said this to Tian Man.

Tian Man: "..."

With four little stone axes, she really was not short on them.

Tian Man was left at a loss for words.

Tian Man immediately added, "Those are separate matters. This is my apology. Even if you have no use for it, you can sell it later."

He had come to give her an axe in the first place. Now that he saw all these little stone axes, he had even more reason to shower her with goodwill.

No matter where Qiu Shuyu had gotten the little stone axes, they really were useful, and the two men really did want them.

Qiu Shuyu did not stand on ceremony with him. The thought that she had only used her little stone axe once made her heart ache again-he owed her compensation. He absolutely did.

She took the iron axe and casually set it aside.

The corner of Tian Man's mouth twitched. There was nothing he could do; she had the means to be "casual."

Honestly, this iron axe was quite good. It had caught his eye immediately when he went to the recycling station to buy one. Relying on his familiarity with Stationmaster Xia, he had haggled for ages and paid fifteen yuan.

That was a huge sum. Normally, Tian Man would never have spent that money.

Today was different: he had earned fifty in one go, and the logging yard still had a rush order. He was counting on Qiu Shuyu to keep going tomorrow so the four of them could make several more big payouts.

Luo Liuzi could not hold back anymore. He asked, "Xiao Yu, are you selling these axes? Ahem, we're all on the same team. We'd be more efficient logging together afterward, too."

Tian Man's heart rose into his throat, and he looked at Qiu Shuyu along with Luo Liuzi.

Their emotions had really been strung along. They had thought they would never see one again, only to find four at once...

At first, four had seemed like so many. Now, it seemed like too few.