While obtaining E-rank Monster Crystal Cores didn't necessarily mean you had to tangle with wolf packs,
that didn't mean they were easy to come by either.
Monsters were still monsters.
Take the horned rabbit mentioned earlier — its attack power wasn't particularly high, but it was blazingly fast.
Every E-rank monster was a genuine challenge for the survivors at this stage.
So the upgrade materials Lan Qingyou needed were trickling in slowly.
Not that she minded. Since the survivors had the goods, buying them all out was just a matter of time.
So she stopped camping at the desk.
She bought another wooden bucket, then flew down to the stream with both buckets and hauled two loads of water back.
This way she wouldn't need to risk another nighttime water run tonight.
After that, Lan Qingyou used her three casts of Gathering Skill for the hour, then spread the bedsheet she'd purchased over the mattress, lay down, and started reading the books she'd bought today.
After a quick skim, she found that apart from "Basic Symbology" and "Basic Drawing," the rest were more like functional reference manuals.
Some were even stream-of-consciousness essays where the author wrote whatever came to mind.
But Lan Qingyou wasn't picky.
Knowing full well that her physical condition was far inferior to everyone else's, she craved knowledge about this world with an intensity that surpassed most people's curiosity.
For a girl without functional legs, every aspect of this fantastical, magical world opened up infinite possibilities.
Even if those legs couldn't walk, couldn't be controlled, couldn't carry her the way normal people moved —
as long as she had knowledge, she could stay cooped up at home forever and it wouldn't affect her life one bit.
Especially now that her crude Mana Potions had sold like hotcakes, proving that the stumbling, accidental success she'd achieved was the right path.
Studying this world's knowledge was, therefore, the obviously correct thing to do.
She wasn't some obsessive monster chasing "correctness." She was just an ordinary person trying to live a little better.
At least...
At least never again be so helpless, so defenseless, so completely at the mercy of others.
But when Lan Qingyou started seriously reading "Basic Symbology," a flicker of embarrassment crossed her face.
Symbology — the book primarily covered the symbolic systems of this world.
These symbols could serve as ritual codes, as building blocks for constructing magic arrays, and — naturally — as components of alchemy arrays.
For instance: the sun represented "gold," the moon "silver," an upright triangle "fire," an inverted triangle "water," an hourglass "time," and the generation symbol M meant "mixing."
There were also symbols representing "filtration," "dissolution," "boiling," and so on.
All essential for alchemy arrays.
Albert's notes had actually mentioned alchemy arrays as well.
But without diagrams to reference, Lan Qingyou couldn't draw one, so she'd been burning wood as a substitute. Now she realized that an alchemy array's function went far beyond mere flame control — it also facilitated internal circulation and more.
But she could hardly blame herself.
In this world's terms, she was essentially illiterate.
As for "Basic Drawing," it was essentially a tutorial on how to draw these symbols — and how to freehand a perfect circle.
Lan Qingyou found it thoroughly enjoyable, even occasionally sketching something on a wooden board with charcoal.
After all, drawing was her forte. Her father had once praised her and said she'd become an artist someday.
Lan Qingyou lost track of how long she read.
The lantern's glow rotated slowly on the wall. The darkness outside deepened. Crickets chirped and frogs croaked in the forest, painting a scene of such tranquil beauty it felt wrong to disturb.
Ding — ding — ding — ding—
Just as Lan Qingyou was deeply absorbed in her reading, a crisp chime sounded from the desk beside her.
This was the alert she'd set for completed purchase orders.
Whenever a quantity-limited purchase filled up, the notification would sound — and keep sounding until dismissed.
Already done?
Lan Qingyou blinked, then slowly sat up.
She'd expected it to be the food order that finished. To her surprise, it was the Monster Crystal Cores.
Checking the transaction log, three had been exchanged by three different people — but the remaining seven were all from Li Huai.
Li Huai — wasn't that the guy who'd sold her the kerosene lighter yesterday?
Must have been one hell of a combat talent.
Lan Qingyou gave a small nod, then impatiently tapped the Shelter upgrade button.
A single chime — ding — and a window popped up on the panel.
"Let's see... 'Please select your upgrade path?'"
"Option 1: Expand the Tree Hollow Shelter to three times its current size."
"Option 2: Expand the Tree Hollow Shelter to double its current size, but add a second floor."
A second floor?!
Did this even require thought?
Back when those two had dumped her from the hospital into that slum — lying on a bare wooden board, staring at the distant skyscrapers and waiting to die — she'd daydreamed about how wonderful it would be to stand atop one of those towering buildings and gaze down at the world below.
A second floor?!
Did this even require thought?
Now that she had a little home she could call her own, of course she'd go as high as she could.
Lan Qingyou didn't hesitate for a single moment. She tapped Option 2.
The instant her finger touched the screen, the entire Shelter began to shake violently.
If Lan Qingyou weren't an "airborne" type, she'd have been tossed around like a ragdoll.
When the shaking ended, she saw that three walls of the Shelter had magically expanded outward by quite a bit. Even the ceiling was higher.
In the blink of an eye, the Tree Hollow had grown from twenty square meters to forty.
In one corner, a vine-woven rope ladder had appeared, leading up to a second-floor opening.
"All that commotion, and it's not even a staircase?"
Looking at the vine rope ladder, Lan Qingyou felt a twinge of disappointment — but then again, a rope ladder was exactly right for someone like her.
At the very least, it saved a lot of interior space, didn't it?
So she reached out, lightly grasped the vine ladder, and with a gentle push drifted up to the second floor.
Like the first floor, those strange patterns extended into the new room.
The area was roughly twenty square meters — the same as the old first floor. In a sense, the total space had tripled, just split between two levels.
Lan Qingyou was pleased with the size. The lack of a window was a minor flaw, but for a bedroom, it was hardly a dealbreaker.
After a quick inspection, she'd already mapped out each floor's purpose.
First floor: workshop. Second floor: bedroom.
After all, the second floor had no window. Doing alchemy up there would be asking to suffocate.
But the opening to the second floor was rather small. The mattress probably wouldn't fit through.
Back on the first floor, Lan Qingyou was pondering how to get the mattress upstairs when she noticed the desk panel still had something on it.
"..."
'Damn it, I overlooked that!'
Lan Qingyou scratched her head in embarrassment.
'Let's see what this is about.'