Hmm.
Come to think of it, when she used the Gathering Skill, she could feel a force flowing through her body.
Could that be how mana was channeled?
The more Lan Qingyou thought about it, the more plausible it sounded. So she tried deliberately directing the mana inside her.
Click — and suddenly she could "see" a small space, roughly one meter long, one meter wide, and one meter tall.
'Is this the spatial storage?'
The skeptical Lan Qingyou ran a test with a nearby Supply Box — and it actually went inside.
By the looks of it, the space could hold about a dozen chests. Not small at all.
Lan Qingyou grinned so wide it was harder to suppress than an AK's recoil.
If a simple linen pouch was this exciting, what kind of surprise would the dagger she'd jokingly labeled "Strength +999" bring?
With that thought, she impatiently placed the crystal dagger on the small screen to see what it could do.
[Moonbright Stone Dagger (C)]
[Effect: Damage +50, Strength +30.]
[Description: A dagger crafted from moonbright stone. Evidently forged by a master smith, giving it exceptional sharpness. However, prolonged mana depletion has significantly reduced its damage and stat bonuses. You can try nurturing it with mana — it might recover to its former capacity.]
Excellent!
Her Strength shortcoming had just received an epic-level upgrade.
And just like the herb bag, it could potentially be restored.
In that case, she'd sleep hugging these two items from now on.
If C-rank was already this powerful, imagine what they'd be like fully restored.
Thoroughly pleased with the dagger, Lan Qingyou picked it up, breathed on the blade twice, gave it a polish, then placed the glowing mushrooms on the small screen.
[Gloomy Light Mushroom (E)]
[Effect: Can be used for illumination, as well as an alchemy ingredient.]
[Description: A light-attribute mushroom that thrives in dark, damp environments. Found everywhere across the continent. Extremely prolific.]
'Yep, just as I thought — usable as an alchemy material.'
'Since they multiply so fast, maybe I should try growing some. There's a stream right below, so water definitely isn't an issue.'
'Oh wait — they need darkness. The stream gets sunlight.'
"Sigh..."
Slightly disappointed, Lan Qingyou set the mushrooms aside and turned to the chests.
Two boxes. Besides the usual food and drink, she also pulled out an air-conditioning quilt and a fist-sized glass orb.
The glass orb felt cold to the touch, as if it had just come out of a fridge, and seemed to contain something inside.
Curious, Lan Qingyou placed it on the small screen for appraisal.
[Sealing Orb (E)]
[Effect: An item used to seal large objects. Infuse mana to unseal.]
[Description: Ever heard of capsule storage? This is basically the same thing.]
'Well, well. It seals large objects?'
'Meaning there's something big inside?'
'A capsule could hold a motorcycle, a car, a plane, even a house. This couldn't possibly contain one of those, could it?'
Unable to make up her mind, Lan Qingyou decided to test it outside the door.
More room out there, and being right by the entrance meant she didn't have to worry about monster attacks.
So she took the Sealing Orb outside and infused it with mana.
Pop — the orb burst and vanished.
And there, right in front of Lan Qingyou, appeared a single-bed mattress — two meters long, one-point-four meters wide, fifteen centimeters thick...
'Wonderful. Wonderful.'
'So anything bigger than a Supply Box counts as a "large object," huh.'
Recalling the air-conditioning quilt, Lan Qingyou felt her theory about the Supply Boxes being bulk-ordered from Blue Star had just gained more supporting evidence.
Grumble as she might, she honestly lugged the mattress back into her room.
Sure, the straw was soft and comfortable enough, but no amount of comfortable straw could compare to a proper mattress. And now she had a quilt to match.
Tonight was going to be glorious.
After removing the straw and laying out the mattress, Lan Qingyou was about to throw herself onto it and bask in its comfort — but then remembered the state of her clothes and stopped.
'Time to brew potions instead.' She wasn't the least bit tired anyway; in fact, the eagerness to start brewing had her feeling more energized than ever.
After checking the situation outside, she decided to risk a trip down to the stream for water to use in the brewing.
So she went to the Magic Desk and began browsing the Exchange.
She was still missing quite a few things. The most pressing: she didn't even have a container for water.
The crucible wasn't very large and was shaped vaguely like a bucket, but holding at least twenty liters — around forty pounds' worth — it could work. The problem was it had no handle and no carrying ring, making it impractical for hauling water.
She could hold it with both arms, but then she'd have no hands left for propulsion.
So she needed to buy a proper water container.
Even a smaller one was fine — she could make extra trips.
Fortunately, after a full day of exploration, plenty of people had found Supply Boxes and unlocked all sorts of odds and ends.
That gave Lan Qingyou plenty of options.
She soon spotted someone selling a wooden bucket, roughly the same size as her crucible, for ten units of materials.
Lan Qingyou didn't hesitate. She bought it immediately.
When the bucket appeared on the floor beside the desk rather than on the tabletop, she learned that larger items apparently didn't materialize on the desk surface.
'Alright. Everything's ready.'
'Let's do this!'
Bucket in hand, Lan Qingyou dove toward the stream below at top speed.
Though it was already dark, tonight's moon was extraordinarily bright. Under the moonlight, the stream glittered and sparkled — impossible to miss.
Filling the bucket didn't take long.
She kept a constant eye on her surroundings the entire time, and the moment the bucket was full, she launched into the air.
Only after returning to the Shelter did she finally exhale in relief.
She hadn't encountered any danger en route, but the tense, nerve-wracking atmosphere had her holding her breath the whole way.
After pouring the water into the rust-encrusted crucible, Lan Qingyou realized she didn't have a stove.
But that was a minor issue.
From her storage she retrieved the only twenty units of Stone she'd gathered, picked out four pieces of similar size, set them outside the door, and placed the crucible on top.
Fire was involved, after all. She could hardly do this indoors.
That would've been less "brewing potions" and more "smoking cured meat."
"One Apprentice-Level Mana Potion requires Ascetic Grass x10 grams, Yellow Tail Flower x10 grams. Problem is, I have no idea how much liquid one potion is supposed to be."
"No weighing tools either."
"No way to start a fire either."
Ready to get started, Lan Qingyou stood there with a fistful of herbs in each hand, staring at the crucible and wanting to claw her own head off in frustration.
'Just buy one. Buy one and get on with it.'
'She'd made this decision — she was seeing it through even if it killed her.'
The Exchange had exactly one kerosene lighter, offered in trade for one portion of food.
So Lan Qingyou opened a private chat with the seller.
Lan Qingyou: "Does the lighter have kerosene in it?"
Li Huai: "It does."
Lan Qingyou: "I have a pack of instant noodles. Large noodle cake, 110 grams."
Li Huai: "Deal, but I'll need a bottle of mineral water on top."
The reply came after a brief pause — clearly a considered decision.
After all, at this stage, instant noodles without hot water could only be eaten dry. But the large noodle cake was the value-size — more than enough for a meal.
Lan Qingyou: "I have a 500 ml beer, or a 500 ml Chafan tea."
[Li Huai has sent a trade request: "Kerosene Lighter x1" for Lan Qingyou's "Instant Noodles x1, 500 ml Beer x1"]
A window popped up on Lan Qingyou's small screen instantly. Evidently, the allure of alcohol was powerful.
She placed the noodles and the beer on the screen, and the trade completed in a flash.
"Fascinating."
Eyeing the kerosene lighter that had appeared out of thin air, Lan Qingyou murmured.
As for a weighing tool — that simply didn't exist in the Exchange.
'Oh well. This is a first attempt anyway. Failure is failure — the worst that happens is wasting some herbs.'
With that thought, Lan Qingyou dumped all the Ascetic Grass and Yellow Tail Flower in her hands straight into the crucible.
Then she lit a bundle of straw with the lighter, wedged it along with some wood under the crucible's base, and got the fire going.