Chapter 26: The Wall and the Basement

James sent out the information about charcoal and explained its benefits, then quietly waited for a response. As soon as he left the trading channel, his "Survival Handbook in the Fog" started beeping.

"Huh? A reply so soon?" James opened the message in surprise, only to find it wasn't about the blue-veined stone, but a trade regarding the basement instead.

The seller bluntly refused the trade request, replying, "400ml of spring water and enough food for five days, and I'll trade with you." James felt a headache coming on seeing this demand.

To be honest, if it was an outrageous price, there might still be a chance to negotiate it down. But if the price is very clear and not too excessive, it means that's their bottom line, and it's hard to lower it much.

"The price is still too high," James shook his head, hesitating. 400ml of spring water was not a big deal, as he received 500ml daily, so giving up a day's supply was feasible. Moreover, James hadn't used up his daily quota these days and had already collected over 1500ml.

So, for him, spring water was actually plentiful. However, five days' worth of food was really too much to ask.

James tried replying, "You're already asking for quite a bit of spring water, and now so much food too, I can't give that much."

The other party replied, "I can take less water, but not less food."

Seeing this answer, James felt even more troubled. The other person was clearly rational, knowing what they needed most, and not being blinded by the high quality of the spring water.

Sighing resignedly, James tried another approach, sending information about a beast trap. "I can trade this," he suggested. "There are plenty of wild animals in the Fog World, you can catch them yourself."

After sending the message, there was no reply for a long time, as if the other party was hesitating. Finally, five minutes later, a message came.

"You should know, the success rate of traps isn't too high, otherwise you wouldn't be willing to trade just traps instead of food."

James helplessly replied, "True, but like the basement, traps are optional. If the price is too high, I won't take it."

"400ml of spring water, 10 beast traps."

Seeing the other party finally set a price, James breathed a sigh of relief. It was a stretch, but within his limits. Still, he tried to negotiate.

After some bargaining, they settled on 400ml of spring water and 7 beast traps for the trade.

Meanwhile, the trade for the blue-veined stone also received a response.

George: "Is charcoal really that useful?"

James: "Good quality charcoal lasts 6 hours and produces higher heat and less smoke. I can give you a unit for free to try."

George: "Okay, but the exchange rate for the blue-veined stone needs to be lower. Mining this ore is difficult, 1:3 is too much of a loss for me."

James: "How about 3:7?"

George: "1:2, and we can do long-term business."

After thinking for a while, James agreed. "Okay, let's add each other as friends, I hope we can cooperate long-term."

Whether they could really maintain a long-term partnership was uncertain, as James didn't fully trust chance acquaintances like Mary and Karen.

In the end, James traded 100 units of charcoal for 200 units of blue-veined stone. He planned to use these stones to build a wall.

Among the facilities available in a level 3 shelter—walls, storage, vegetable garden, animal pens, and upgradable workshops and living rooms—James felt the wall was the most important.

Especially after moving to the forest, the number of nearby wild animals had increased significantly, raising the danger level, so establishing a wall was urgent. Plus, if he wanted to plant crops or raise livestock, he needed to protect them from external influences.

So, James decided to build the wall right away. Light enveloped the shelter, and the 200 units of blue-veined stone disappeared. Five seconds later, a blue stone brick wall rose around the shelter, 2.5 meters high and 30 inches thick, exceptionally sturdy and solid.

The originally open-view shelter was now tightly enclosed, but it felt much safer. With such a wall, ordinary and good quality wild beasts would hardly pose a threat to the interior.

James also built the basement. Since the basement was an item, it didn't require materials; a simple click was enough to construct it. Seconds later, a staircase leading downwards appeared near a window in the house, looking dark and ominous.

This was the newly emerged basement. Curious, James ventured inside but found it too dark to see. So, he went back upstairs, fetched a kerosene lamp, and descended again, this time seeing the interior clearly.

The basement was very basic, square without any decorations, about the size of a room, roughly 20 square meters. However, according to the item information, this basement was equipped with a ventilation system, making it livable for extended periods.

But for now, James had no plans to move down there. The lack of sufficient lighting was a significant impediment. More importantly, the fireplace was built into the bedroom wall, with ventilation pipes arranged to lead outside, so it was impossible to move it into the basement.

Until he solved the issues of lighting and heating, James wouldn't consider living in the basement. This made him wonder whether using the basement as a bedroom was practical. What else could it be used for? After much thought, he had no good ideas and decided to leave it vacant for the time being.

Considering the shelter's total area, now at 140 square meters, space was quite ample for potential uses.

After returning upstairs, James wasn't very sleepy yet. But to conserve energy for the next day, he forced himself to sleep early.

...

A quiet night passed, and the sixth day dawned. James woke up to darkness.

"Achoo, achoo, achoo!" Not fully awake, he sneezed three times in a row, feeling a bit dizzy.

"Is this... a cold?" He sniffled and rubbed his temples, feeling somewhat weak.

He forced himself up, drank several gulps of spring water, feeling a refreshing coolness sweep through his body, which somewhat revived his spirits.

"No good, I need to collect essence of flesh and blood to prepare a healing potion. If I catch a cold, it'll be hard to recover!" James worried internally.

Thankfully, it was just a mild cold, not significantly affecting his body. A severe fever would have been much more troublesome.

To stay warm, James layered a sleeping garment under his jacket, wrapping himself tightly before getting out of bed.

He rinsed his mouth, washed his face, and prepared breakfast. Since he had physical work during the day, breakfast usually consisted of meat. He took out a handful of beans, two steaks, and two honey breads for today's breakfast, including a portion for Nancy.

For James, a steak and a bread were just one breakfast, but for Nancy, it was a whole day's ration. Otherwise, James couldn't afford it.