11 Three Treasure Tree Holes! Rich Resources!

Ed no longer planned on trying to capture these chickens directly in front of his small wooden cabin. This time, he would go straight into the forest to look for them. 

The reason he had come to this decision was simple. Although the bait was effective at attracting the nearby chickens, the fragrance of the rice would not spread far from here.

Entering the forest would improve its efficiency.

Catching a larger number of chickens would undoubtedly be beneficial. They could either be eaten or traded with other survivors. If he waited until everyone else had adapted to this new world and found their own food sources, it would be much more difficult to reap the rewards.

The method would remain the same

It took Ed only a few minutes to set up the trap for the chickens. Following this, he found a bush where he could hide himself and shuffled into it. With the piece of cloth in his hand, he was prepared to react immediately at any movement.

The trap was set up. Now, it was time to wait for the fragrance of the bait to disperse into the forest.

As he waited, Ed did not idle. Instead, he opened up the chat interface. He had made it a habit to check this daily. From it, he was able to get a general sense of the situations of the other survivors.

He found that after the first night, most survivors had already accepted the treacherous reality of the hazardous vegetation. They were no longer as afraid as they were at the beginning. Of course, most still wisely held on to a timid mentality.

That was because as night fell, vigilance was of the utmost importance. A lack of caution may result in one ending up as nutrients for the towering trees, or possibly even facing death directly by the claws of some wild beast in the forest.

Ed skimmed through the chat and trading interfaces.

Wood still seemed to be the resource of least value. After all, there was anything but a lack of monumental trees everywhere. Unless the strength of these trees became terrifying overnight, wood would always be the most common resource.

Most items listed for trade tended to lean towards foodstuffs, with the number of people trading for water decreasing. This seemed logical. It would be sound reasoning to think that after so long, most survivors would have gotten their hands on some form of water collection equipment.

Regardless of how slow their progress, they should have gotten that far by now. Otherwise, they would have died of thirst a while ago.

"As expected, trapping in the forest has increased efficiency."

Ed looked down at the three forest chickens in his hands. It had taken him less than half an hour to capture all three of them. It seemed that the population of chickens in this area was dense.

Just as he was preparing to set up another trap, Little Treasure suddenly appeared, running over from a bush.

Squeak squeak!

Little Treasure tugged on Ed's pants as it pointed in a direction.

"You mean you found another treasure tree hole?" 

Ed vaguely understood what the little critter meant. Little Treasure nodded before dashing forward. Delighted, he followed behind the squirrel's tiny footsteps.

Ten minutes passed.

Ed and Little Treasure had passed through many big trees.

The squirrel's footsteps stopped. Just like before, its small nose twitched as it sniffed around. The only difference was that this time, the sniffing process was clearly taking much longer.

Squeak squeak squeak!

Little Treasure came to a halt in front of three big trees. Raising its paw, it made its way around as it patted each of the three big trees before it.

Ed's breathing unconsciously quickened.

Three treasure tree holes!

He did not doubt Little Treasure's treasure-hunting ability, but the thought had shaken Ed's heart.

One treasure tree hole already contained so many things.

Three would definitely contain more than a small fortune.

Ed raised his axe high.

The piercing red light once again enveloped the surrounding ten trees. As it dissipated, they crashed down.

"As expected."

He stared, dumbfounded at the three round stumps before him. There was indeed a faint glow on each of them. This was undoubtedly the same type of treasure tree hole that he had found previously.

Without hesitation, he brought his axe down once again.

[ Notice ] : Wood +120

[ Notice ] : Metal piece +20

[ Notice ] : Gold-quality soil +5

[ Notice ] : Bronze-quality corn seed +10

[ Notice ] : Inferior wood processing plant forging blueprint +1

Three different glowing items flew towards the center of Ed's forehead and disappeared, entering the system's storage space.

He had ignored the wood and other various resources, his attention fully on the last three items.

Gold-quality soil!

Corn seeds!

Wood processing plant forging blueprint!

Before long, detailed information regarding each of the three items appeared in Ed's mind, one after another.

[ Gold-quality Soil: Very fertile soil. Unlike ordinary soil, anything planted on this will grow rapidly. ]

Tss!

Ed couldn't stop himself from drawing a sharp breath before covering his mouth.

This gold-quality soil was indeed extraordinary. Its attributes were amazing. It was simply a treasure trove of soil with its own fertilizer effect!

After the introduction, he discovered that each patch of soil covered an area of one square meter. Since he had obtained five portions, he had five square meters at his disposal. This was more than enough to meet Ed's immediate needs.

[ Bronze-quality Corn Seed: corn seed. seven days to grow, seven days to bear fruit. ]

It was just an ordinary corn seed, which made sense as it was bronze-quality. Ed was grateful regardless. As long as he planted this, he could make all sorts of delectable dishes out of corn. Most importantly, he could replant the corn directly, creating a cycle.

At this moment, a thought flashed through Ed's mind.

If this corn seed was placed in the gold-quality soil, would it grow into a giant stalk of corn? He imagined a stalk of corn that could provide an entire day's worth of food.

He could make such delicious corn dishes... 

Corn noodles, popcorn, roasted corn, and corn porridge...

Before he had even planted it, Ed was already considering how he'd eat it in his mind.

He snapped himself back to reality as he focused his attention back on the inferior wood processing plant blueprint.

Information regarding the item appeared in his mind.

[ Inferior Wood Processing Plant Forging Blueprint: It can cut logs into various shapes. Necessary item for building houses. (Optional) ]

Its description was simple, but Ed understood it perfectly. This could be used to process wood and cut them into whatever he wished, such as the wooden strips for building a house, or fixed corner shelves, or even some decorations.

The brief description had also brought to light another notable point.

He could obtain blueprints to build more houses, which wouldn't be of any bother to him when not in use, which would be very convenient.

Ed couldn't wait to see what the material requirements of the so-called processing plant would be. After all, inferior-quality items couldn't be too expensive, right?

However, when he clicked on it, the requirements shocked him greatly.