The mist dispersed.
Instantly, the Regional Chat channel exploded.
["The mist is gone. I see I'm in a forest. What the hell is this place? Why is there only wood?"]
["Forest? You're already lucky! I'm in a damn desert. Other than sand, there's not even a ghost!"]
["Wuwuwu~ I think I'm on a cliff. My hut is at the top of the cliff. What am I supposed to do?"]
["Then I'm very lucky. I'm by a river. There are mountains, water, and even fish!"]
["I'm in… some kind of abandoned building. Looks like a city, but not exactly."]
["I'm jealous, big brother, go look around to see if there's anyone where you are. If you find the police, please, big brother, call them and let them look for me. I will reward you heavily!"]
["H…"]
The chat refreshed faster and faster.
But Ethan didn't have the time to care. Because he saw that the mist had only cleared for roughly ten meters.
Anything farther was still a sea of white. Even though the fog was thinner than before sunrise, in any city this would still count as heavy fog.
And the place he was in happened to be the boundary between forest and grassland.
He couldn't see beyond that.
"Which means the area I can explore is only a ten meter radius around this hut?"
He picked up the only weapon in the hut, the broken stone axe.
Ethan walked out of the hut.
But just as he was about to take a step forward, a prompt appeared in front of him.
[Walk straight ahead, you can collect some dry grass. There are some short pines fifteen meters ahead that you can chop. No danger.]
"What is this?"
'Can it even warn me of danger?'
Ethan quickly looked toward the other directions.
Sure enough.
[West: there is a dead tree with a squirrel hole filled with pine cones.]
[But I think you definitely won't want to go there, because under the tree, a leopard is sleeping soundly. You, with only a broken stone axe, are absolutely no match for it. If you're willing to sacrifice a hand or a leg, maybe you can gamble.]
"…", He would have to be brainless to fight a leopard.
If he had a gun or a bow, maybe then he'd consider it.
He turned around.
Next direction.
[East: there are many dry branches, good material for your campfire. But under the branches there is a Gale Snake waiting for a chance to attack you. Be careful.]
[South: there is a bronze treasure chest hidden among the grass. No danger.]
[Bronze Treasure Chest: What might be inside? Only by opening it can you know what kind of surprise awaits.]
"Tsk! Tsk! Tsk!"
"So this is my golden finger?"
Every danger and every good thing could be seen at a glance.
And, he also found a bronze treasure chest hidden in the grassland.
If he couldn't see the red exclamation marks, he would never have found such a thing hidden in grass half as tall as a person.
Compared to the other three directions, the treasure chest was naturally his first choice.
.
.
.
Very soon, Ethan reached the location from the prompt.
He pushed aside the tall grass and indeed saw a bronze box glowing with metallic luster. A big copper lock held the lid shut.
[Bronze Treasure Chest: contains some ores. No danger. Open?]
If there was no danger, of course he should open it.
Crack!
The moment Ethan silently said "Open," the big lock vanished, and the lid popped open, revealing a pile of stones shimmering with metallic sheen.
[Flint: can be used to make fire. Extremely precious in the wilderness.]
[Collect?]
"Collect!"
[Flint +20]
[System prompt: treasure chest automatically dismantled, Bronze +10]
"The entire chest is full of flint?"
Also known as firestone.
Ethan's eyes lit up. He didn't need this many for himself, but he remembered the magic book also had a trading channel.
He took out the book.
The time reminder had changed.
[Time 08:12, only 3:48 left before the mist spreads again. Leave time to go home. Do not get lost in the mist.]
The mist-free time was too short.
Only four hours to go outside.
And Ethan had already used twelve minutes just to find this treasure chest.
Still, he got a whole chest of flint, "If this can be traded, it should fetch a lot of useful resources."
He opened the book and silently said "Trading Channel."
Then, the blank page filled with trading listings.
▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬
[Trading Channel]
[Dry wood (2): does anyone want this, just give me something to eat, anything!]
[Comment: This is the garbage we all started with. It's barely enough for one fire. Who would trade with you?]
[Reply: If you won't trade, then don't! Stop whining! Get lost!]
———
[Wood (1): trade for one piece of meat, I'm starving!]
[Comment: Whoever has food is the boss now, and you want meat? Dream on!]
[Reply: Do you even know how hard it is to chop wood? I chopped more than ten minutes for just one!]
———
[Low-quality stone axe: selling a weapon, just give me something to eat.]
[Comment: If you sell your axe, how are you going to chop wood?]
[Reply: None of your damn business!]
———
[Apple (1): trade for one hundred wood. If you have it, come! Can negotiate. DM.]
[Comment: Are you insane? One tree takes at least half an hour to chop down. One lousy apple for a hundred wood? Who has that?]
[Comment: If I had a hundred wood, I'd upgrade to a small wooden house already. Why would I trade with you, you nutcase.]
[Comment: Sister, will you trade for one piece of wood? I'm starving! Trees are so hard to chop here!]
[Reply: I heard someone opened a treasure chest and got tons of wood. If you don't have wood, stop staring!]
▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬
Each listing had comments and complaints attached.
Ethan didn't waste time and only skimmed for key information.
From the comments, he quickly gathered something useful.
One hundred wood could upgrade a hut into a small wooden house.
"Not bad!"
"But how do they know that?"
Ethan suddenly remembered there was an Upgrade Tree channel earlier.
"Maybe the hints are there?"
He silently said "Upgrade Tree."
Soon, the magic book began to show the contents of the Upgrade Tree.