Starting Off Survival With A Small Treehouse

"You’re being a bit hard on yourself... Don’t you want to apply some hemostatic grass?" Xu Xin asked, looking at Li Wenxi’s hands with bloodstains. ƒгeeweɓn૦vel.com

"I forgot to bring it, wasn’t I going to apply it as soon as I got back..." Li Wenxi said, a bit embarrassed.

"You forgot to bring medicine... Is the bow that hard to draw?"

"It’s too hard, I’ve never drawn a bow before." Li Wenxi gently rubbed her injured right hand and then said excitedly, "I killed several wolves today! The blue-grade iron armor is so strong, those wolves scratching me didn’t hurt at all!"

"Impressive, impressive, you can kill wolves."

"Hehe, by the way, I want to buy your crossbow! Name your price."

"Three blue-grade iron pieces for a crossbow, plus twenty bolts and after-sales service."

Twenty bolts require two iron pieces (green), two lumber (white), and two feathers (green). Xu Xin used to make bolts with green-grade lumber, but there didn’t seem to be much difference, maybe just sturdier, allowing for more reuses.

"After-sales service? What kind of after-sales service?"

"If you run out of bolts, you can purchase more from me."

"Deal!"

Xu Xin didn’t expect her to agree so readily.

He thought exchanging a crossbow for two pieces was enough; previously, a full set of iron armor only swapped for two blue hemostatic grasses. Each blue iron piece could make a blue-grade weapon, not much worse than the hemostatic grass.

It seems she has a lot of iron ore.

"Wait!" Li Wenxi suddenly spoke up again.

"What, having second thoughts?"

"No, can’t the crossbow also be made into blue-grade? I’ll give you one more piece; can you make me a blue-grade one?"

"No, a blue-grade crossbow requires blue-grade beast tendons, which I don’t have."

Actually, Xu Xin had two blue-grade beast tendons, but one was for making a blue-grade crossbow, and the other for a blue-grade heavy crossbow, which he needed, so he couldn’t give them to Li Wenxi. If she had blue-grade beast tendons, he could make one for her.

"Oh, blue beast tendons... I don’t have any either, nothing we can do then."

Xu Xin casually asked, "You have a lot of blue iron pieces?"

"Not that many, just enough when you ask!" Li Wenxi winked at Xu Xin with a playful smile, "I can always provide you with iron pieces, so when you have something to sell, think of me first!"

Always provide? How confident.

"So wealthy? Do you possibly have some ability to explore minerals?" Xu Xin asked in a joking tone.

"...Huh? No, no, you still want to trade or not, I want to practice with the crossbow quickly!"

The young lady’s expression didn’t show any change, but there was a hint of hesitation and urgency in her voice.

As expected, she had an ability related to this.

Xu Xin knew, it’s not possible for only him to be lucky; some others similarly gain special abilities.

Pretending he hadn’t noticed, Xu Xin smiled, "Wait a moment, I’ll make the bolts. By the way, do you have any snake poison sacs? They can be used to make poison arrows."

"Poison sacs? Yes, yes, just a minute!" Li Wenxi rummaged through her backpack and sent Xu Xin a snake poison sac.

Xu Xin made twenty poison arrows, added his discarded crossbow (green), and sent it to Li Wenxi.

Li Wenxi traded iron pieces and feathers with him for twenty regular bolts, and only then did they hang up the video call.

Glancing over, Keke and the Silver King were curled up in the corner, seemingly asleep.

Xu Xin shook his head helplessly, "Eat and then sleep, be careful you’ll get fat."

Next, it was time to make his crossbow.

The blue-grade crossbow needed three types of blue materials: iron pieces (blue), lumber (blue), and beast tendons (blue), while Xu Xin used special materials from the Blood Pattern Rabbit instead of blue iron ore.

The blue light flashed, and a crossbow appeared in his hand. Like the previous sharp spear, the wooden crossbow arms were not different, but the metal crossbow and mechanism had a red and white color pattern, like a weapon skin in a game.

[Mutated Rabbit Ear Crossbow (Blue): A crossbow made with mutant rabbit ears, more powerful than ordinary blue-grade crossbows, the most powerful below purple-grade. Durability 1000.]

Xu Xin loaded a regular bolt, despite being more powerful, drawing the string didn’t require more effort; it even felt lighter.

Aiming at the tree trunk outside the window, he pulled the trigger.

"Whoosh!" "Crack!"

A familiar scene, but this time both the speed and power of the bolt were completely different.

The bolt shot out rapidly, penetrating the tree trunk out of sight.

Xu Xin hurried down to check, seeing the bolt had gone through the first tree and into the trunk of a second tree, embedding halfway in.

"Strong! If this hits a vital point, even that brown bear might not withstand it!" Xu Xin felt the penetrating power was greater than that of a typical handgun.

Pulling out the bolt, Xu Xin found visible wear on both the arrowhead and shaft.

"It seems the power is too strong, causing the bolts to wear faster. But it’s fine, I have plenty of feathers now, and with Li Wenxi, iron pieces aren’t an issue. However, I should look for iron ore myself, or I’ll be passive at critical moments."

Currently, Xu Xin was fully armed, with a full set of blue-grade iron armor, the strongest spear among blue-grade, and the strongest crossbow among blue-grade, probably unmatched at this stage.

If there was someone who could compare, it would be Ji Chaoyang, since he could also get materials by killing mutant creatures.

Returning inside the treehouse, his smartwatch suddenly vibrated; it was a message from Ji Chaoyang.

"Xu Xin, did you kill that mutant creature?"

This was to exchange information, and Xu Xin had the same thought.

If the two had killed different mutant beasts, they could exchange information for mutual benefit, assuming the other wasn’t lying.

Xu Xin replied, "Yeah, did you? Did you kill it?"

An audio call immediately came through.

"Xu Xin, you must have noticed, the mutant beasts from the altar statues look very similar to the patterns on the underground monsters." Ji Chaoyang got straight to the point.

"Indeed, so did you kill the mutant beast?" Xu Xin asked.

"I resolved it as I was messaging you; that wildcat was too strong, and it cost me a lot."

Turns out Ji Chaoyang took down a mutant wildcat, which was perfect.

"Your hunting speed is really fast." Xu Xin was somewhat surprised, even having guessed it; he relied on maps and Keke for efficient hunting.

He recalled Ji Chaoyang’s posts in the regional channel about common locations for various beasts, an impressive knowledge base.

"Not that fast, I spent a day focusing on hunting wildcats; they are aggressive, so no need to chase them." Ji Chaoyang explained, "Let’s not talk about this. Xu Xin, did you hunt wildcats too?"

Xu Xin raised an eyebrow, replying, "No, I hunted rabbits."

"Perfect." Ji Chaoyang clapped on the other side of the audio call.

"Xu Xin, we’re the only two who can make offerings to the altar right now. You’ve seen it, these mutant beasts summoned by the altar give a lot of points and special high-grade materials.

Let’s exchange information. I’ll tell you the characteristics of the mutant wildcat, and you tell me the characteristics of the mutant rabbit. That way, tomorrow we’ll both save some effort, what do you say?"