NOVEL NEXT chapter 145 - The 28th Day of Summer 03
After dinner, Yun Luohe took out several workshop blueprints and picked sites for construction.
She had already gathered the necessary materials.
Building the Pickling Workshop required: Advanced Hardwood×100, Ceramic×15, Sea Salt×15, Palm Leaf×20.
The Pickling Workshop could produce: Salted Fish, Kimchi Jars, and Candied Fruit.
Workshops had advanced considerably now.
All she had to do was put the raw materials into the workshop, and after a while new agricultural by-products would be automatically produced.
For example, the ingredients for salted fish were Fresh Fish and Sea Salt.
Salted Fish could be stored for a very long time without spoiling.
Kimchi required Wild Vegetables and Chili, while Candied Fruit required Fruit and Honey.
These things were not only easy to preserve, they also provided stamina and strength boosts. The effects weren’t as strong as cooked dishes, but they cost almost no time or effort to make, which made them an excellent choice for trade.
Building the Earthen Kiln Workshop mainly required large amounts of Clay and Wood Ash, plus some ore.
The kiln could produce Clay Jars, Bricks, and High-Grade Charcoal.
Clay Jars were used for storage, Bricks for upgrading buildings or house construction, and High-Grade Charcoal was an excellent fuel.
Once the weather turned cold, the demand for charcoal would soar.
As for the Cow Massage Brush and Automatic Feeder, those were for the animals. Yun Luohe put them to use in the livestock barn.
The brush could be used to groom the animals, and not just cows—chickens, ducks, sheep, horses, all of them benefited. It improved their mood, and better moods meant higher-quality products.
For example: Golden Eggs, Golden Milk, Golden Wool, and so on.
But improving °• N 𝑜 v 𝑒 l i g h t •° animals’ moods wasn’t easy. In addition to daily brushing, they needed to stay well-fed and have a comfortable living environment.
——
After finishing with the shells, Yun Luohe tossed all her broken blueprints into the trash can for synthesis upgrades.
She obtained many more equipment, furniture, and weapon blueprints.
But they were all basic things. Yun Luohe didn’t have time to craft them herself, so she handed them all—including the Compost Bin Blueprint—to Mu Zitang for distribution.
In truth, Yun Luohe didn’t need compost bins much. She had the Vertical Worm Tower, which produced large amounts of worm mucus and worm castings every day, both excellent fertilizers.
It only took a little time to collect and spread them for planting.
Lately, Yúntūn had been helping her with that work, whenever it wasn’t accompanying her outside.
Once the blueprint upgrades were finished, Yun Luohe began sorting broken electronic parts and scrap metal.
She still needed 200 Electronic Parts to build the Machine Tool, and was far from the target.
Tonight she planned to try combining different kinds of junk to see if she could make something new.
Besides, the trash can’s achievement progress had been sitting idle for too long—it was time to pick it up again.
Conveniently, Mu Zitang had just sent her over a thousand pieces of trash.
The Association had recently absorbed a new batch of members, which meant tons of daily exchange trash, and he forwarded them all at once. Yun Luohe had already filled several supply chests with garbage, and they were nearly overflowing.
So Yun Luohe decided to go all in on one big crafting spree.
She grinned at the trash can.
“Tonight I’m counting on you.”
One round of synthesis later, she quickly unlocked a new achievement—
[Single input of 100 identical trash items: Achievement Unlocked — Trash Storm! Reward: Bio-Battery Recipe×1]
“Huh! Just what I needed!”
This recipe wasn’t simple. The details stretched on for hundreds of words, introducing two methods for crafting Bio-Batteries.
The first was Mycelium Composite Bio-Battery; the second was Dung-Crystal Bio-Battery.
The Mycelium type required Butterfly Phosphor Powder, Scarlet Moss, Oyster Slime, and Acid Rain Distilled Water.
The Dung-Crystal type required burying a Dung Crystal in soil beside a Biogas Pit, then using Blood Crystal Fragments for underground biogas charging.
The processes were complicated.
Most of the required items Yun Luohe had already obtained before, even Acid Rain Distilled Water—she still had a little left.
Not much, but enough to craft a few batteries.
Both methods were viable, both yielded Bio-Batteries.
And Bio-Batteries were one of the required materials for the Machine Tool.
Excitement flared in Yun Luohe’s chest. She continued feeding the trash can like mad.
[Accumulative input of 500 electronic trash: Achievement Unlocked — Eco Achiever. Reward: Grinding Machine Blueprint×1]
[Grinding Machine: Used to grind ore and stone.]
What would ground stone and ore turn into?
She knew ore smelted in a furnace became metal ingots, but what about ore powder?
Yun Luohe fetched some iron nails she had made earlier, laid out the Grinding Machine’s materials and blueprint on the workbench, and crafted one to test later.
Then she began throwing all sorts of odds and ends into the trash can for synthesis upgrades.
Fluorescent Jellyfish Venom Sac×1 + Cactus Palm×1
→ Success. Product: Arrow×1
It wasn’t a club or spear, but it had cactus spines stuck to it—funny enough. She tossed it aside.
The trash can’s results were just too entertaining.
After so many days without using it, she was hooked all over again.
Rusty Metal Net×1 + Spoiled Milk×1 + Poison Mosquito Wings×10
→ Success. Product: Small Bio-Trap Cage×1
A tiny iron net cage, looked like it could catch birds.
Rotten Can×1 + Moldy Bread×1 + Spoiled Yogurt×1 + Fermented Juice×1 + Soda Can×1
→ Success. Product: Small Bomb×1
Shorted Circuit Board×1 + Burnt Battery×1 + Charred Data Cable×1 + Cracked Screen×1
→ Success. Product: Music Player×1
Now that was something.
The music player looked like a small speaker with a screen, probably restored from the cracked screen. When she flipped it on, it played white noise.
There were options too: ocean waves, rustling leaves, cicadas, birdsong—all kinds of sleep-inducing white noise.
She had half-expected it to play pop songs.
Still, not bad at all.
Yun Luohe decided to keep it in her bedroom and play some white noise at night. Not that she needed help sleeping—after exhausting herself like a dog each day, she always passed out the instant her head hit the pillow.
After more tinkering—
Another achievement unlocked: Garbage Artist.
Cumulative ten times producing decorations from trash.
Reward: Golden Trash Can Trophy.
A miniature version of her beloved trash can.
Surprisingly, it even added +50 Reef Score.
Yun Luohe was delighted.
Once she was about done, she was just about to start the lottery draw when Du Ruan-tian messaged her.
The Golden Nutrient Solution was ready—two bottles, sent straight over.
Yun Luohe: “Thanks. Perfect timing, I’ll put it right to use. Really appreciate it.”
Du Ruan-tian: “No problem. This stuff works great for crops. If you pour it on fruit trees, they bear fruit quickly—and every fruit is oversized, golden quality.”
Yun Luohe: “Mhm. I’m planning to use it for tree planting. I might ask you again later—if you get the materials, make more, I’ll trade you other supplies.”
Du Ruan-tian: “The materials aren’t easy to find, but I’ll see. If I can, I’ll make more.”
The two then drifted into desert expedition talk, sharing experiences.
Each had their own team. Du Ruan-tian’s team was full of European Emperors with insane luck, but poor combat strength, so their route differed completely.
Her team’s style was safe and easygoing: trading resources for Desert Shards and Desert Cores to exchange for maps, then using desert motorboats and gliders to quickly reach destinations, grab rare loot, and leave. They never lingered, since the desert was too dangerous.
Yun Luohe’s team, by contrast, searched carefully, which let them unearth many things even those lucky Emperors couldn’t find, as well as unique desert specialties.
In truth, both teams were excellent in their own way. They were simply used to their different methods. But this exchange still netted them both useful intel.
Only two days remained for the Desert Event.
Summer was nearly over.
Everyone was preparing for autumn.
Yun Luohe: “Theories about the autumn disaster vary, but the consensus is radiation-related. Many are already gathering anti-radiation supplies—you should start preparing too.”
Du Ruan-tian: “I was just about to mention that. We have some anti-radiation goods. Check what you need, we can trade and fill each other’s gaps.”
“No problem.”
—
Closing the chat, Yun Luohe slipped into the greenhouse’s back plots. Tonight, she was going to transform the entire section into High-Grade Soil, then plant the Starwish Seed first thing in the morning.
First, she drew on the Vertical Worm Tower’s steady supply of worm castings, composting them into plenty of Black-Gold Soil.
Black-Gold Soil was the best grade of High-Grade Soil, so technically she didn’t even need to remake the land.
But to ensure the Starwish Tree grew perfectly, she decided to upgrade everything anyway.
She used nutrient solution and organic fertilizer to turn the base soil into High-Grade Soil, then layered the thick Black-Gold Soil on top.
And since she now had Golden Nutrient Solution, she planned to water the soil with some of it, strengthening its foundation so the Starwish Tree’s roots could grow fast. For other organic fertilizer, she would source it directly from the worm tower.
After that, all that remained was to plant the Starwish Seed.
Time passed into deep night.
Yun Luohe picked up the freshly crafted Grinding Machine from her workbench.
First, she tried Stone.
Half a minute later, a bag of Cement dropped out.
“So that’s it!”
Stone ground into powder became Cement.
Very convenient.
Next, she tried ore.
She fed in Iron Ore, Copper Ore…
The machine hummed, releasing fine black powder.
Pinching a bit, she saw it shimmer faintly with metallic luster.
When she ground Copper Ore, it came out as pale red powder, with a granular texture.
What could this ore powder be used for?
Yun Luohe pondered.
Why not try mixing them?
Her mind spun quickly. She poured the two powders into the furnace.
As the temperature rose, dark red molten metal slowly pooled. She poured it into a mold to cool.
A block of silver-gray metal formed.
[Refined Steel]
So that’s how Refined Steel could be made!
Yun Luohe beamed.
Until now, Refined Steel was a rare material. Supplies were slowly increasing, but aside from shells, there had been no other way to get it. Now she had found a method to craft it herself.
Grinning ear to ear, Yun Luohe hurried back to the workbench to make more Grinding Machines.
Clearly, they were going to be invaluable.
Refined Steel was the foundation for high-grade weapons. Many weapons required it. In District 2, most players still wielded common weapons. If Refined Steel could be mass-produced, it would be a boon for the entire district.
Yun Luohe’s own capacity was limited, so she focused on making multiple Grinding Machines and handing them to the trainee group.
Then she would have Mu Zitang relay intel on the machines through Tianji Pavilion, gifting it to S-rank members so they too could churn out Refined Steel.
Once the Trade Hub filled with Refined Steel, prices would fall, allowing more players to access high-quality weapons.
After that, Yun Luohe tested other items in the grinder.
Blood Crystals, Symbiosis Crystal Fragments, Obsidian, Blue Crystal Ore…
Most yielded only powders. Obsidian Powder’s use was unknown.
But Blue Crystal Ore revealed a surprise.
Roughly ten Blue Crystal Ore ground into one Blue Crystal Stone!
And she just happened to be short on Blue Crystal Stone.
Thanks to Yun Luohe’s perception, whenever she fed Blue Crystal Ore into the grinder, a strange anticipation drew her focus, as though it signaled high-value drops.
So even when the first piece yielded nothing, she didn’t give up.
The second, the third—only powder. But on the tenth, a Blue Crystal Stone dropped.
Blue Crystal Stone was essential for Reef upgrades, and a material for the Machine Tool.
But she had almost none left.
So she resolved to grind more.
The drop rate was lower than she expected—probably just bad luck.
Even so, as long as she could get some, it was worth it.
On the twentieth grind, a dazzling shard of blue gemstone clattered out.
Yun Luohe’s eyes lit up!
Another surprise!
She quickly scooped it up.
[Blue Sapphire Fragment: High-grade rare material. Can be combined into a High-Grade Key.]
Keys were already valuable. A High-Grade Key? What could that unlock?
Yun Luohe immediately queried Tianji Pavilion for intel on Blue Sapphires.
And she received some useful information.