Without a word, he immediately fashioned a stone (blue) into a stone pickaxe. He planned to gather more stones (green) today. After all, that's the Black Bear Mine, and once the newbie protection period is over, he won't be able to go there until he can defeat the black bears.
At this moment, Li Wenxi sent him a message: "How did you collect everything so quickly? Are you surrounded by green trees?"
Xu Xin looked out the window. At least the whole area circling the lake was covered in lush green. The trees he'd chopped down over the past two days probably didn't even amount to a fraction. So he replied, "That's right, I'm not short on timber."
"Do you have a lot of food too?" the other side continued asking.
"What is it you want to know?" Xu Xin didn't rush to answer and instead asked back.
The other side suddenly initiated a voice chat, which startled Xu Xin.
There's actually voice chat?
After thinking about it, he decided to answer.
A pleasant girl's voice came through the screen.
"Hello? Hello? Can you hear me?"
The girl's lively voice invigorated Xu Xin, and he replied, "I can hear you. You probably want to cooperate with me."
"Wow, your voice is really nice!" The compliment from the girl made Xu Xin chuckle a bit. He remembered that when he first interacted with Li Wenxi, she was quite aloof.
"Exactly, I want to cooperate with you. So, do you have a lot of food there?" Li Wenxi continued to ask.
"Enough for me to eat." Xu Xin didn't tell her that there are many wild fruit trees in this forest, and besides, he lived by the lake, which was abundant with fish and shrimp. There were also many apple trees in the forest, so food was never an issue, and he could even feed a group of people.
"That's good. To be honest, I have a lot of green-level and above stones and minerals, but all my trees are white. Judging by your situation, you don't have much stone and minerals either. How about we exchange resources? I'll trade my stones for your timber!" The girl's voice sounded quite excited.
"Then what were you asking about my food for?"
"I just wanted to make sure you didn't squeeze me for food because you were running low, I barely have enough for myself and I can't support you," the girl showed no hesitation in revealing her thoughts, "So what do you say, are we partnering up?"
This girl... Xu Xin recalled how she had directly gifted him a piece of blue stone earlier, and couldn't help but shake his head, saying: "You're really not afraid I'll swindle you."
"There's nothing to cheat. I've got the stuff right here, and with the trading platform, you can't trick me. Worst-case scenario, I'll find someone else to trade with."
She made a fair point, though it sounded a bit blunt. Still, Xu Xin didn't mind; he quite liked Li Wenxi's forthrightness and straightforwardness, so he said, "I have no problem with this, I'm just worried you might not have enough stones."
"Are you kidding? I'm right by the mine... you're trying to get information out of me!"
"Even if I know you're next to the mine, I can't exactly fly over there." Xu Xin shook his head; this girl was quite amusing. However, knowing she's by the mine eased his worries.
"You're right..." Li Wenxi scratched her head, her pretty face showing a hint of embarrassment. Suddenly, she remembered something, "Oh dear, I still don't know your name."
Xu Xin then revealed his name to her.
"Xu Xin, nice name. How old are you?"
"Just graduated from college."
"Oh wow, I'm only a sophomore, so you're older than me. Um, Xu Xin, do you have timber right now? I still need some." Li Wenxi seemed rather familiar.
"I just gave it all to you, and you..."
"Oh, wait!" Li Wenxi suddenly interrupted Xu Xin, ending the call. Xu Xin was puzzled about what she was up to when a system notification sounded.
[Li Wenxi has initiated a video call with you, do you accept?]
There's video calling too?
This girl really is bold, starting a video call with someone she just chatted with a few times. But he understood; discussing collaboration face-to-face feels more substantial, and all he could do was look.
Accept.
The screen suddenly displayed the girl's image, with her delicate features, almond-shaped eyes, thin lips, and short hair reaching her chin, making her appear energetic.
The other party's eyes lit up upon seeing him and said, "You're quite handsome!"
Of course. Xu Xin smiled, "You're not bad yourself."
"Even without makeup, I look great, okay!" The little beauty puffed out her chest, looking quite cute, her chest... well, it's slightly bigger than Xu Xin's.
"Impressive, impressive."
"Hehe, I just wanted to show you... why is your treehouse so big!" Li Wenxi's almond-shaped eyes widened in shock, looking at the spacious and wide-open area behind Xu Xin.
Seeing her expression, Xu Xin showed a hint of amusement, stating, "I don't know either, it grew this big naturally. But your place seems a bit small?"
"I…" Li Wenxi instantly deflated; she started the video wanting to show Xu Xin her treehouse, so he'd recognize her capabilities and the transaction would proceed smoothly. The intelligence gathered in the chat hall showed everyone had only low and cramped treehouses of about twenty square meters!
"My... My treehouse does have two levels!" Li Wenxi didn't seem convinced, and continued to argue.
"Yes, very nice indeed."
"Hehe, right!"
"But mine has three levels."
"Mm, mm… huh?"
Seeing Li Wenxi's reaction, Xu Xin couldn't help but laugh, and watching the video, her face gradually turned reddish, he managed to hold in his laughter and asked, "By the way, what did you want to show me earlier?"
"I..." Even without him asking, Li Wenxi's expression showed slight panic. She glanced around and grabbed a stone beside her to show him, "I want to show you this!"
Although through the screen, Xu Xin could still see the blue glow emitted from the stone.
[Iron Ore (blue): When smelting iron ore, one block is enough to produce a blue iron ingot, affordable and functional!]
"You even have blue iron ore." Xu Xin's eyes also lit up. Given the blue stone's function, he could pretty much deduce the utility of blue iron ingots, which were indeed rare and valuable!
"Yes, I told you, there's no need to worry about the stones... wait, wait, why is your treehouse so big!" Li Wenxi couldn't hold it back any longer, staring enviously at the incredibly broad room Xu Xin had.
No harm in sharing a bit.
"It's a purple-quality treehouse," Xu Xin laughed.
"Pur...purple quality!? So purple is above blue…" Li Wenxi muttered. Then she looked at him, her eyes showing a hint of envy, "You're too lucky, I thought my luck was good enough, but it can't compare to yours."
She hadn't thought in any other direction nor realized the treehouse's growth was due to soil fertility. After all, aside from the treehouse seed's note reading "Remember to find fertile soil," she hadn't understood anything else, nor could she discern which soil was more fertile.