After dealing with the immediate trouble, Shu Bao finally had time to carefully ponder the strangeness of the situation. It wasn’t that it was impossible for this planet to evolve creatures like a cat-headed snake or a snake-headed cat, but the timing of their appearance was too coincidental.
If it weren’t for the real existence of the snake-headed cat’s corpse in front of him, Shu Bao might have thought that everything he had just experienced was an illusion. Thinking of this, the mouse tiptoed closer and used its little paws to poke at the wooden stake that pierced through the snake’s mouth, confirming that the sensation was real.
Vaguely, Shu Bao had a suspicion. If it was true, he would have to speed up to avoid further complications.
Shu Bao took out a deconstruction gun from his bracelet, aimed it at the snake-headed cat, and pressed the trigger. A pale blue beam hit the snake-headed cat’s body, spreading like a layer of quicksand and covering the corpse.
Two options, deconstruct and store, popped up in front of Shu Bao. After clicking store, the corpse disappeared. Checking the bracelet space, the corpse was already inside.
“Interesting.” Shu Bao fiddled with the deconstruction gun for a moment and quickly understood that its working principle was the same as the system’s construction, which greatly facilitated the participants’ storage and purification tasks. Of course, the deconstruction gun was ineffective on living organisms.
Since there was only one deconstruction gun at the moment, the mouse suppressed the urge to take it apart and examine it. After storing the snake-headed cat’s corpse, Shu Bao continued toward his goal. This time, he thought about the combination of the deconstruction gun and whether he could create one himself in the future.
In this way, he reached the center of the valley very peacefully, where the vegetation was the most lush. After overcoming many obstacles, Shu Bao finally saw the treasure.
It was a pure black stone, about one meter in diameter, with an irregular spherical shape. The entire stone emitted a subtle glow. After being heavily covered by plants, no light escaped.
Although he didn’t know the specific function of the stone, Shu Bao knew at a glance that it was a rare treasure. Even in the cultivation world, he had traveled to in the past, such a good thing was not common.
Without further hesitation, the mouse took out the deconstruction gun and stored the stone in his bracelet. Whether it was an illusion or not, when the stone was stored in the wristband space, it seemed as if some barrier in the valley had been broken.
Shu Bao was cautious for a moment but didn’t find anything unusual, so he set off to return. This time, the mouse walked out of the valley quite smoothly. Behind him, the valley gradually filled with the sounds of insects and birds, returning to normal.
When Shu Bao returned to the Xia Wang tribe, it was not yet noon. The mouse sucked in his little belly and then stepped into the tribe. The anxious high priest quickly noticed Shu Bao and hurriedly came up to him, “Deity, are you alright?”
“I’m fine, it was just two strange cat-snake hybrids. I wasn’t scared at all.” Shu Bao puffed out his chest slightly to appear more imposing.
The high priest didn’t quite understand but was relieved to see that the deity indeed had no injuries.
Shu Bao’s attention was soon drawn to the blueprint, noticing that the resource progress bar had only increased a little, and the construction progress bar was still at zero.
Seeing this, the high priest explained, “The hunting team hasn’t returned yet. The women and children can only pick up small stones or branches, so the efficiency is not high. When the team returns, I’ll have everyone try to carry some large stones or cut down some trees to bring over.”
Hearing this, Shu Bao clapped his paws together, remembering his previous promise to create some handy tools to improve efficiency for everyone. This trip to collect materials was also to verify a hypothesis. Now that he had the resources, it was time to start Shu Bao’s great plan.
“Deity, are there mosquitoes?” The high priest watched as the deity clapped his paws together suddenly and then stood still.
The mouse spread his little paws, indicating they were empty, “Are there mosquito snacks here too? Lightly roasted, they’re delicious!”
The high priest was confused.
Shu Bao looked around with his little head but didn’t find any mosquitoes, so he began to focus on the main task, “I’m a bit tired. I’ll go back to the tent to rest. Don’t let anyone near the tent for now.”
The high priest nodded, “Rest assured, Deity. I’ll take care of everything here.”
Shu Bao was very satisfied. He felt that the high priest was really considerate, handling everything in an orderly manner, truly a good high priest.
With no more worries, the mouse trotted back to the tent. As soon as he lowered the curtain, his little belly, which had been sucked in, instantly bounced back, becoming round again.
In the center of the tent, Shu Bao took out the peculiar black stone and used a stone he picked up on the way back to knock off a small piece. Fortunately, the black stone wasn’t very hard, so Shu Bao easily obtained a small piece.
Due to the instability of the black stone, Shu Bao quickly put the large piece back into the bracelet space. He then took out the basic supplies from the bracelet, which were provided to the participants for basic support. These included the blueprint and materials for a small 3D printing pod.
After placing the blueprint in the right position and putting the required materials into it one by one, the resource progress bar on the blueprint instantly filled up. A construction option popped up in front of Shu Bao, but he didn’t rush to choose it. Instead, he placed the small piece of black stone he had just knocked off into the blueprint’s range.
The resource progress bar on the blueprint flickered twice and then stopped responding. Shu Bao studied it for a moment but found nothing unusual. He wondered if he had guessed wrong.
After some thought, he decided to try building. The resources in the blueprint began to deconstruct, transforming into streams of matter that intertwined in various colors, rearranging themselves. The black stone also turned into a faint light, merging into the material stream.
Since the small printing pod was not very large or heavy, the construction progress bar moved quickly. In less than three minutes, the printing pod in front of him was completed.
It was a spherical structure taller than a person, with the upper part opening to place materials inside. Once the sphere closed, it could disassemble the materials and reprint them. This was an important way for contestants to obtain tools in the early stages. It also allowed for long-distance material transfer, provided there was another printing pod at the destination.
Shu Bao checked the current tool menu and found only a few simple items: a stone axe, a stone pickaxe, and a stone sword. Although very basic, these were the necessary tools for the early stages. After selecting a specific tool, a virtual screen displayed the resources needed to create it.
Following the instructions, Shu Bao placed a piece of stone and a piece of wood into the pod and clicked confirm. The printing pod closed and began working.
Shu Bao stood waiting with his little paws, his tiny feet tapping the ground in anticipation. His eyes were fixed on the progress bar.
In less than three minutes, the 3D printing pod opened again. Shu Bao collected the remaining resources and took out the finished stone axe.
However, as soon as he held the stone axe, Shu Bao noticed something different. The blade of the axe glowed with a faint black light, giving it a sharpness that stone tools shouldn’t have. Upon closer inspection, a virtual screen popped up with a description.
【Enchanted Stone Axe, Sharpness Level 1】
Shu Bao was overjoyed. After learning that the technology tree could grow and change on its own, he had made some guesses and plans. What was the point of just developing technology? As a treasure-seeking mouse, he had to set higher standards for himself. It would be best to develop both technology and magic simultaneously!
When he crash-landed, Shu Bao had sensed the magical energy fluctuations in this world. Now it seemed that the black stone was a special magic stone. When mixed into the building materials, it gave the crafted items unique functions.
Excited, Shu Bao rushed out of the tent with the oversized stone axe, shouting, “I made an enchanted stone axe! This is amazing!”
The high priest turned his head at the sound, instantly showing the expression of an old man on the subway looking at his phone. If he were in the modern world, he would know the saying, “I wield a forty-meter-long sword, allowing you to run thirty-nine meters first.”
Yes, a ten-centimeter-tall fluffy ball holding a forty-centimeter-long stone axe was quite a bizarre sight.
