The fire crackled steadily as Caleb leaned back against the cold wall, chewing the last strip of boiled meat. It wasn't seasoned — he had nothing but melted snow and heat to work with — but the warmth alone made it feel like a royal feast. His stomach no longer gnawed at him. For the first time since arriving in this frozen hell, he felt a flicker of satisfaction.
As he stared into the dim flames, a thought popped back in his head.
Caleb blinked. "Sharing," huh?
He straightened up and focused, remembering how he'd accessed the system before. Just like last time, the interface bloomed before his eyes: clean, segmented, minimalist.
[SYSTEM HUB ACCESS GRANTED]
Current Active Users in Sector 12-Gamma: 704,641
Trade Market | Sector Rankings | Knowledge Vault | Currency Exchange | Inbox
He instinctively opened the Trade Market, and a sub-menu slid into place.
Trade Categories:
Food & Resources
Tools & Weapons
Knowledge & Skills
Materials & Construction
Apparel & Armor
Caleb scrolled down the "Food & Resources" category. A few dozen offers were already listed — some offering thin pieces of dried meat in exchange for wood, others looking to trade snow-melted water for crude tools or shelter materials.
Prices were... wild. A single strip of dried meat fetched anything between 2 to 15 Shivers, the new currency officially listed on the hub.
He checked his inventory panel — something he had just discovered existed. It was barebones, and without a spatial ring, he had to manually list what he had on hand.
He selected [Offer Item], then dragged a piece of boar meat from his list.
Offer: 1x 100g Boiled Boar Meat (fresh)
Quality: Medium-High
Condition: Safe (boiled)
Requested in return: Wood, Cloth, or 5 Shivers
He hesitated. The hub clearly restricted only a few categories — no corpses, no slaves, no illegal trafficking — but it was otherwise ruthless and open. He liked that. It felt like the system itself expected people to be desperate, and didn't care how they survived.
[Confirm Listing? Y/N]
He tapped Y.
The listing was submitted.
Almost instantly, he got a ping — a private message.
[UNKNOWN: Got a bracer I found in a collapsed tunnel. Leather, bit scratched, better than nothing. But I'll need at least half a kilo of meat.]
He leaned forward, curious.
The system showed the item: a single Crude Leather Bracer with mild cold resistance. Nothing fancy, but better than his threadbare sleeves.
He accepted.
Trade complete.
+1: Crude Leather Bracer
-500g: Boiled Boar Meat
The item appeared moments later in a secure lockbox just outside his home — a neutral delivery system set up by the Hub. Caleb rushed out, snatched the bracer, and returned to the warmth of the hut.
It was real. All of it.
He sat down again, sliding the bracer onto his forearm, still slightly damp with blood from the cut he'd made during the hunt.
A grin stretched across his face.
"Alright," he muttered, the firelight dancing in his eyes. "Let's see how far I can go with this."
End of 8th chapter.