Chapter 13

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

One by one, tender green seedlings burst out of the ground, appearing before Ed’s eyes. The rate at which they were growing did not falter at all, and they only continued to grow

He knew that the gold-quality soil had the special effect of speeding up the growth of plants like a fertilizer. However, he had not expected it to be quite so fast. The growing period of the corn seeds had been quoted as seven days. Yet, in only a little while, less than two minutes to be precise, they had already sprouted.

The seedlings continued growing. It was not long before they had reached a height of half a foot. This speed was almost on par with the big trees at night.

Ed estimated the remaining time. Without the gold-quality soil, the corn would have taken seven days to grow. Now, it would likely take only two days before the seedlings matured into stalks, and about five for the corn itself to grow.

This was incredibly fast.

At that moment, Ed dawned upon a realization.

If the gold-quality soil was effective on the corn seeds, it should also work on the apple tree. 

Realizing this, he jumped into action.

Procuring a portion of the gold-quality soil, he poured it evenly around the apple tree. Just as he had expected, it was only a short moment before the apple tree, which had previously only grown up to Ed’s waist, was suddenly a few meters tall.

Only a few seconds ago, the plant had been below his reach. Now, Ed could only look up at it. Moreover, it seemed like it was already producing a number of small green apples. He believed that it wouldn’t be long before he could get his hands on some delicious red apples.

This gold-quality soil was truly terrifying!

As he watched the apple tree that was slowly growing before his eyes, he decided that it was still early. As such, he planned to enter the forest again to try and capture a few more forest chickens. They could be used as delicacies, or they could be raised.

Anyway, now that he had the gold-quality soil, the corn would grow quickly, pretty much settling the issue of where he would find chicken feed.

He took action as soon as he had decided on this.

This time, Ed did not bring Little Treasure with him. Instead, he instructed it to stay at the cabin to look after the apple tree and corn. He could not allow any accidents to impact these two things. They were his way of making a fortune in the future.

Little Treasure seemed to understand the seriousness of the matter. It did not make a fuss about not going into the forest with Ed.

For a while, Ed set up traps, continuously capturing chickens. Of course, while he waited, he looked periodically at the information swirling around the chat interface.

He could just barely afford to scrape together enough wood from what he had now for the processing plant. The only thing that he lacked now were the rarer resources. In that regard, he lacked quite a few. This was a bit of a headache.

Moreover, the processing plant blueprint that Ed had gotten would definitely be obtained by other survivors in the future. Blueprints were not unique, he had realized this a while ago.

The purpose of the processing plant was for something important: construction. When the time came, the amount of wood that everyone would need would also skyrocket. Therefore, it could be predicted that wood may become a somewhat valuable resource that people would fight over in the future.

Of course, Ed’s current efficiency in obtaining it was excellent. After all, he had a godly axe.

…

Night fell silently.

Starving, Ed concluded his operation of capturing forest chickens. Carrying seven chickens tied together with strips of cloth in his hands, he walked towards the direction of the small wooden house.

He was not a fool. He would not seek death in the forest at night.

Having reaped a great harvest in the afternoon, he returned to the open space before the wooden cabin.

Ed crafted a few wooden baskets and prepared to put in the captured chickens.

Adding together the two that remained after he had eaten one with the seven he had now, Ed now had a total of nine chickens, which could be considered as a huge fortune at the moment.

He compiled them one by one, placing them into a wooden basket.

“Looks like I’ll have to go deeper to capture them in the future.”

Ed looked in the direction of the depths of the forest. After spending an afternoon capturing chickens, he had realized that their numbers decreased as time went on.

That meant that the time he spent waiting grew longer and longer. The next time he set off to hunt, he would have to go deeper.

At least for now, Ed was not looking forward to that. After all, the apple tree and corn had not yet matured, so leaving for too long would be unwise.

The sky was dark after dinner.

The bright moon hung in the sky exactly as the night before, emitting its strange light.

Little Treasure had also begun to make some timid-sounding noises.

Squeak squeak squeak!

As if something was terrifying about the forest, it burrowed itself into Ed’s arms. He could clearly feel its trembling body. As he caressed it gently, Little Treasure gradually fell asleep in his arms

Perhaps from a nightmare, its body would twitch abruptly from time to time.

Ed wasn’t planning on falling asleep too quickly. After all, he had just eaten, and he wanted to let himself digest for a while.

He opened the chat interface.

He had also grown accustomed to doing this after dinner every day. The other survivors seemed to communicate more frequently at around this time than during the day. It was a reasonable observation. Naturally, during the day, most would be busy cutting trees, obtaining wood, and trading it. Needless to say, they wouldn’t have much time to chat.

Things were different at night. No one was foolish enough to wander off anymore. Those who dared to do so had to be prepared to be attacked on the spot by the strange trees.

If they were not careful, they would most certainly die.

“Are there any kind-hearted people here? I feel like my entire body is turning into a tree. I’ve eaten nothing but tree bark for an entire day.”

“Everyone, don’t eat the white mushrooms. They’re poisonous. I’ve been pooping for a long time today.”

“Why didn’t you tell me earlier? I’ve already eaten a plate. Let’s not talk about it anymore. I feel a pain in my stomach.”

“I saw a forest chicken today. It ran too fast. I couldn’t catch it at all.”

“Where’s the big boss who sold the Beggar’s Chicken? I have wood to trade for it.”

“He hasn’t been seen for an entire day. I wonder what he’s doing.”

“I think I heard a tiger’s cry…”

The rest of that final text had been cut off. It seemed that the person had either escaped or been eaten by the tiger.

This made Ed wary.

He had originally imagined that the wild beasts in the forest were similar to the trees, in that they would only be triggered when someone invaded their land. Yet now, he found out that the beasts could freely attack any survivors they found.

He closed the chat interface.

Looking around at his current environment, he realized that he had no protection at all. If any beasts came for him, they would easily find their target.