Chapter 9

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

Time passed quickly as he slept.

Ed rubbed his eyes groggily as he opened them.

The bonfire had gone out.

It was morning, and the forest was still once again. The leaves and branches of the trees surrounding him were covered in dew.

A new day had arrived.

Ed looked around at the now familiar surroundings. The woods in the forest around him seemed to have grown much denser.

The first thing he had to do when he woke up was, of course, check in with the system.

“Sign in,” Ed instructed.

[ Ding! Daily check-in successful! ]

The familiar turntable once again appeared in Ed’s mind, and the needle began to turn. He rubbed his hands together anxiously, looking forward to seeing which quality his second item drop would be.

The needle slowed, eventually coming to a stop above the diamond-quality section once again.

[ Ding! Congratulations to the host for obtaining a Diamond-quality treasure-hunting squirrel! ]

He was stunned at the system’s words. He had not expected for his second sign-in reward to once again be a diamond-quality item.

He thanked his lucky stars for allowing him to win two items of such high quality twice in a row. His luck was something that others would definitely envy.

This time, he had received an animal.

He cautiously summoned the squirrel.

A squirrel roughly the size of a forest chicken appeared in between Ed’s palms. It was well-behaved, quietly staying still without any trace of agitation. Its body was covered in silky brown fur, and it looked very pretty.

Ed slowly moved his hand to gently stroke the little squirrel’s fur. It seemed comfortable as it flipped around, exposing its belly to him.

Information about the squirrel abruptly materialized in Ed’s mind.

[ Diamond-quality Treasure-Hunting Squirrel ]

[ Female ]

[ Current quality: (Diamond), can be upgraded ]

[ Ability: able to quickly traverse through the complex forest, finding hidden food and treasures. ]

Squeak!

The little squirrel squeaked as it burrowed into Ed’s clothes. It soon popped out its head to reveal a pair of big eyes that darted around in every direction as it curiously examined the world around it. 

Watching the curious creature, Ed decided that he liked it.

It would be safe to say that he had found a partner in this eerie forest, and it was a diamond-quality treasure hunting squirrel.

“I’ll call you Little Treasure from now on.”

Ed stroked its head as he said softly.

Squeak!

The little squirrel in his arms called out in response, in a very human-like manner.

Ed surmised that the little squirrel liked this name. He had felt as if he had a very close connection with this creature even in the moment it had appeared, and he felt as if he could understand what the little critter wanted to express.

Squeak squeak squeak!

Little Treasure hopped abruptly out of Ed’s arms before landing steadily on the ground. Raising its front paw, it pointed in the direction of the forest.

The meaning of this was more than obvious. It wanted Ed to follow it. 

Ed wondered to himself if it could be that Little Treasure had already discovered some treasure? Without hesitation, he picked up the axe by his side and followed after it. Seeing that its master had caught up, Little Treasure dashed away before jumping onto a tree.

It was incredibly agile as it climbed its way up, eventually scuttling around the canopy.

Ed was a little surprised.

Little Treasure was quite different from the other squirrels he had seen before. As expected of a diamond-class creature, it wasn’t just a regular squirrel. It would stop occasionally on the branches after it had scuttled a certain distance, looking back to check if its master was catching up with it.

Ed was running wildly after it. He did not possess Little Treasure’s jumping ability, and it was all he could do to sprint after it with his weighty axe in hand. 

His curiosity was burning. After bringing him so far, had Little Treasure really found something that amazing?

Suddenly, Little Treasure, who had been jumping forward incessantly, finally slowed down.

Jumping off from the branch it was on, it sniffed and sniffed with its little nose, before finally stopping at a peculiar-looking tree.

Was it special? The tree seemed to be much thicker than the ones surrounding it, almost as if there was a boss hiding inside it.

Little treasure patted against the trunk with its tiny palms.

Ed immediately understood what it meant. This time, he didn’t have to activate the Flames of Hell, as he had gone a long distance from his cabin. He raised his axe high before forcefully swinging it down.

Whoosh!

A red light enveloped the surrounding ten trees.

Boom!

Every tree that the light had enveloped crashed to the ground with a loud bang. He had discovered a special area. A notification rang out in Ed’s mind that told him the amount of resources he had harvested was more than what he had gotten yesterday.

In other words, as the strength of the trees had increased. In cutting them down, his reward had also increased.

However, as his axe was of diamond quality, he had not even noticed that these trees were strengthened. To him, it was all the same, falling in one swing.

[ Notice ] : Treasure Tree Hole + 1

A special notification sounded.

Ed’s face lit up in excitement.

He noticed that the round stump of the big tree that had been before him was emitting a faint light. Once again raising the axe above the head, he brought it down with force.

[ Notice ] : Wood + 250

[ Notice ] : Metal piece + 55

[ Notice ] : Plastic + 15

[ Notice ] : Cloth strip + 50

[ Notice ] : Glass + 15

[ Notice ] : Silver apple tree seed 

A series of notifications rang endlessly in Ed’s mind.

He wasn’t bothered by the noise. To him, these sounds were like the sounds of nature.

The items that had just burst out from the stump were the most abundant that Ed had ever obtained so far.

He couldn’t help himself from laughing out loud.

Little Treasure, who had been watching on the ground, once again crawled up into Ed’s arms, squeaking all the way. It was as if it was boasting about its achievements.

“You’re awesome.”

Ed smiled as he rubbed Little Treasure’s little head.

Suddenly, he noticed that a small seed that had appeared before him was emitting a faint beam of silver light.

Information about it appeared in his mind.

[Silver Apple Tree Seed: Possesses special energy which causes it to be unaffected by moonlight at night. It is extremely easy to grow. It only requires three days to grow and seven to bear fruit!]

Ed beamed again.

This was great!

Ed carefully picked up the apple seed in front of him, caressing it gently. He simply refused to put it down. This sapling was not affected by the strange moonlight. In other words, it would not become vicious like the other trees.

This was simply an amazing ability!

This way, Ed would not have to worry about an apple tree he planted himself going crazy at night and attacking him.

His harvest this time was enormous, thanks to the incredible amount of resources that had burst out from the stump.