Xu Xin wandered around the cave again but didn't find the source of the wind noise, so he decided to ignore it for now. The urgent task at hand was to take these stones back and make the crafting table.
After gathering 50 stones, Xu Xin headed in the direction of his treehouse.
He needed to quickly make a backpack. Although fifty pebble-sized stones weren't heavy, carrying them was too troublesome.
Upon returning to the treehouse, Xu Xin immediately accessed the screen, entered basic material crafting, and clicked on the [Primary Crafting Table] option.
[Primary Crafting Table creation complete, please select where to place the crafting table.]
An image of a crafting table appeared before him, approximately the size of a dining table. After a moment of thought, Xu Xin decided to place the crafting table temporarily in the far corner of the third floor.
Since there weren't many items yet, he didn't plan extensively. Xu Xin's idea was to use the first floor as a warehouse and the second floor as a workshop, while the third floor would be his living area. However, that would mean being too far from the screen, which wasn't convenient now, so for the moment, he put it on the third floor. Anyway, the area of the first floor was a full hundred square meters.
With a loud bang, the crafting table appeared right in front of Xu Xin. It was a simple tool table made of stone and wood, looking quite professional, and a virtual small screen was positioned at the back of the crafting table, displaying various options.
"Why is this so high-tech!" Xu Xin couldn't help but complain.
Looking at the virtual small screen, the content on it pleasantly surprised Xu Xin.
[Backpack (Green): A backpack with 10 slots, each able to accommodate various quantities of materials based on their type, reducing the weight of materials to 20% of the original. Requires Animal Skin (Green) *1, Rope (White) *3]
This backpack sure is a good thing! Although in Xu Xin's expectations, the materials in the backpack should ideally be weightless, reducing the weight to 20% wasn't bad either. It reduced a full 80% of the weight, meaning he could carry five times his usual load capacity worth of materials, and this was just a green-grade backpack.
But what is this animal skin? And what about the rope?
Xu Xin thought for a moment and figured it out. He was still within the three-day newcomer protection period, with no beasts around. So far, the only animals he had seen were non-aggressive fish, shrimp, and insects, not even a rabbit. These land animals should appear only after the newcomer protection period ends, right?
As for the rope, Xu Xin thought of the reeds by the lake.
Maybe he should go check it out later.
Continue looking.
[Torch (White): A simple torch that allows you to venture out at night, with a narrow field of vision; be cautious though, setting the wilderness on fire could land you in prison! Requires Wood (White) *1, Charcoal (White) or Coal (Green) *1]
[Grill (Green): A simple barbecue grill where wood can be placed for automatic burning; you can grill anything! Requires Iron Block (Green) *3]
[Primary Furnace (Green): The lowest grade furnace allowing wood to burn automatically; try smelting some materials for unexpected surprises! Requires Pebble (Green) or Stone (Green) *100]
[Fireplace (Green): Can be placed on the treehouse wall; with wood burning automatically, it absorbs smoke and harmful gases; without it, beware of freezing in winter! Requires Pebble (Green) or Stone (Green) *100]
Looking at these fire-related items, Xu Xin rubbed his chin in contemplation. He had over thirty large red berries, and there was a plant with large red berries in the jungle; the night vision effect was much better than a torch.
But the torch is a movable light source, providing deterrence to beasts, so it's necessary to keep some.
Based on his gaming experience, charcoal should be able to be produced using a furnace, and considering it's white quality, white wood should suffice. As for coal, it might not be something he needs to consider at this stage.
The grill is a good thing, but he didn't have any iron blocks. However, he wasn't worried since soon the regional channel would open, and with a trading platform, someone's treehouse might be near iron mines, enabling him to purchase some from others.
The fireplace wasn't urgently needed now; in the middle of summer, wearing a short sleeve shirt or even being shirtless worked up a sweat, and the nights were still hot. Currently, this item was unnecessary.
Thinking about it, most survivors wouldn't manufacture a crafting table so early since green-grade materials were hard to find; if winter came early, a large number would freeze.
Xu Xin glanced at the screen's time; it was already past eleven o'clock at night, meaning the third day of the newcomer period was about to begin.
He opened the [Regional Channel], which showed a countdown for the opening time.
[6 hours 53 minutes until the channel opens]
It seemed that the regional channel would open at six the next morning.
Xu Xin lay on the creaky wooden bed, quickly falling asleep after a day of exhaustion.
Xu Xin was awakened by a notification sound.
[Regional Channel Open, Current Area: Jungle District 188, Current Population: 9997 people. From today, you are no longer alone. Final warning: do not abandon the small treehouse that belongs to you alone. Now, survive together with other survivors!
Initially grumpy from being woken up, Xu Xin immediately sprang up upon hearing this sound. Xu Xin had placed the bed next to the screen, so he reached out and clicked on the [Regional Channel] option.
The channel included two sub-channels, namely the chat lobby and trading platform, just as Xu Xin had imagined.
Eagerly clicking on the chat lobby, he found it completely quiet with no one speaking.
Suddenly, a line of text appeared in the previously silent chat lobby.
"Is anyone there?"
Instantly, the lobby came alive.
"There are really people!!"
"Holy crap! Finally!"
"Two days, two days! Do you know how I've lived these two days?!"
"What's the situation now?!"
The chat lobby was quickly flooded with various responses.
"Are you guys in your treehouses now?"
"Yeah, yeah, everyone starts with a treehouse seed, is it the same for everyone else?"
"Same here!"
"Me too!"
"I must say, this display screen is quite high-tech!"
"Does anyone know how to go back? I haven't saved my game! I fell asleep on the desk and ended up here!"
Seeing the non-stop discussion in the chat channel, Xu Xin couldn't help but smile. Some of the conversations were accompanied by names, while others displayed as anonymous. Xu Xin clicked the chat box and discovered it had a voice input-like function.
[Please choose whether to be anonymous.]
Xu Xin chose yes; he'd wait and see for now.
He tried calling out the names of some acquaintances, including family and friends, but nobody responded; however, it sparked a fervent search for relatives and friends.
"Zhang San, is Zhang San here, is Zhang San in this district?"
"Li Si, your dad is calling you home for dinner!"
"Wang Wu, Wang Wu, it's your girlfriend; please contact me if you see this!"
Yet, the calls hardly received any responses; only a few replies came due to shared names.