"Damn it, these bastards are selling wool at such outrageous prices!"
Charlotte groaned in frustration.
"Agh, I don't want to sleep on the floor anymore! Calvin, I want a bed!"
"There's nothing I can do even if you want one. Unless we fish up some wool today, stumble upon a sheep in the wild on a floating island, or buy it at a ridiculous price from the trade market."
Calvin shook his head as well.
Who wouldn't want to sleep on a bed?
Unfortunately, there are only three ways to get resources in this world.
First,
Fishing is the most direct method.
Each day, Calvin and Charlotte have thirty fishing attempts. With their cube vehicle, thirty tries are no problem.
Second,
The trade market currently dominated by cube resources, water, and food, followed by blueprints and other items.
There are also finished tools, weapons, and various useful goods but all absurdly expensive.
Third,
Floating islands but those depend on luck.
If you're unlucky, you might go days without seeing one, and you'll have to rely on the daily thirty fishing attempts just to survive.
Even when you do land on a floating island, you still need luck.
Calvin considered himself fairly lucky, matched with the familiar Charlotte right from the start, avoiding awkward strangers.
He also got a talent on his first fishing try, a weapon on his first floating island visit,
and another talent on his second island visit...
He glanced at Charlotte.
It seemed like she had been the lucky charm all along.
During the first fishing attempt, Charlotte suddenly bit him in a strange fit, and his hand slipped accidentally selecting the talent duplication.
On the second island, they were bathing in the same pool. He didn't notice the talent chest, but she did…
Charlotte quickly interrupted his train of thought.
"How about we trade some food for wool?" she suggested hesitantly.
"I'll try negotiating," Calvin said, tapping on the wool seller's profile.
Calvin: "Hey man, I don't have that many cubes, but can I trade water or food for wool instead?"
Not far away, on a 30-square-meter platform,
a man in a suit saw Calvin's message.
In front of him was a sheep.
Strangely, he was alone, his partner was likely already dead.
The suited man patted the sheep.
"Hey sis, someone wants to trade food for our wool. What do you think?"
To everyone's shock,
the sheep suddenly spoke.
"Sure, why not? Bro, your prices are way too high. Even if sheep are rare now, you're asking way too much, you'll offend people."
Turns out this wasn't a real sheep,
but the seller's sister,
transformed by a rare shapeshifting talent!
The man pulled out a pair of scissors and snipped off about three wool cubes from the sheep.
"Ugh, I was just trying to make the most of your talent. But seriously, of all things, you got a C-rank 'sheep transformation' talent. What a joke."
He was speechless.
In the chat, many players bragged about powerful talents, some could turn into T-Rexes, others into giant birds that fly across the sky.
Most were A or S-rank talents.
But his sister?
A useless sheep!
If he hadn't fished up a scissor blueprint, he wouldn't even know how to use her ability.
Soon, he bargained with Calvin, three wool cubes in exchange for four wooden cubes, two food rations, and water.
Pricey, but Calvin understood, rare cubes always cost more.
"Yay! Calvin, we've got a wooden bed!"
The two quickly used the materials to build a bed, about 1x2 in size.
It came with a fluffy white quilt that looked super soft, but only one pillow, meaning if they slept together, they'd have to share both the pillow and the quilt.
Charlotte's cheeks flushed at the thought,
but she quickly shook her head.
What was she thinking?
It was a special situation.
Besides, they had to take turns keeping watch, they wouldn't be sleeping together anyway.
Not to mention, even without a night shift, Charlotte often used Calvin's stomach as a pillow…
Calvin didn't know what Charlotte was thinking. He sighed,
"This wooden house is so cramped, just four square meters. One bed takes up so much space."
"Well, once we have more cubes, let's build a big mansion!" Charlotte said excitedly, raising her hand.
"Oh right, didn't we fish up an iron door blueprint and a wooden fence blueprint near the cloud sea last time? Want to use them now?" Calvin asked.
Right now, they had 109 cubes in total.
The wooden fence clearly wasn't enough, and the iron door would require extra refined iron from the market.
But refined iron blocks were ridiculously expensive not worth buying directly.
"Let's hold off. We're not dumb enough to fall off the cube edge. We can build fences later when we expand. Who knows, maybe we'll raise cattle and sheep in the future.
As for the iron door… let's wait until we have more refined iron blocks," Charlotte replied.
Iron tools are obviously superior.
People in chat said stone tools outperform wooden ones in both efficiency and durability, and iron ones are even better.
But currently, they only had one iron hoe…
Wait…
The iron hoe!
Calvin pulled it out and tapped it on a dirt cube.
Suddenly…
The dirt changed color. It darkened.
"Did that just become farmland?" Charlotte asked curiously, peering over.
"Looks like it," Calvin replied.
He planted the wheat seeds they'd dug up on day one into the darkened soil.
[Wheat seed planted successfully.
Growth time: 48 hours.
Watering with 500ml daily reduces growth by 3 hours.]
"Wheat seeds! Now we can eat rice!" Charlotte exclaimed.
"Idiot, wheat is for bread. Rice comes from rice plants."
"What did you just call me?"
"Idiot, so what?"
"Then you're a dumb root."
"…."
Calvin had no idea how Charlotte's brain worked.
He thought she'd punch him with her usual playful fury, the Massage Fist of Justice.
But she didn't even get mad…
Must be the wooden bed's effect.
That day, they continued fishing while driving their cube vehicle, searching for clouds or floating islands.
They found plenty of clouds. After fishing, they gained more food, refined iron, and other resources.
If converted, their total cube count would surpass 120.
But they needed wood, stone, and iron, so they kept some in reserve.
Since they had more iron now,
Calvin crafted the iron door. It was 1x2 in size like the bed. But in their 4x4x4 house, it looked asymmetrical. He scratched his head, slightly bothered.
Charlotte didn't seem to mind though.
Interestingly, they also discovered three elemental clouds.
Calvin fished up three defense attribute points, raising his defense to 17.
Charlotte fished up three "any-stat" points. She wanted to use them on attack,
but Calvin stopped her.
"Come on, give them to HP. It also boosts speed. That's like six points in one."
Charlotte thought about it with her not-so-bright brain and realized he was right.
She allocated them to HP.
Without her snakeskin armor, her HP was now 88. With it on, she reached 98, about the same as Calvin.
Afterward,
they couldn't find any more floating islands no matter where they searched.
Fishing time ended as dusk approached.
Charlotte got ready to sleep.
Last night, she stood guard while Calvin slept first.
She had stayed up extra late, worried Calvin wouldn't rest enough.
Now that it was around 6 PM, she planned to sleep until 2 or 3 AM and then switch.
Calvin had no objections.
After wiping her petite body with a towel and eating a little something, Charlotte collapsed onto the wooden bed and quickly fell into a deep sleep.
Calvin sat on the chair outside, in front of the cube's controls, keeping watch for any sign of the Sky Island while also avoiding the monster clouds.
Although Calvin wasn't afraid,
since Charlotte was sleeping, it was best to avoid battle if possible.
Giving her a quiet and comfortable environment to rest was the top priority.
She hadn't slept well the past few days.
"I wonder what she's dreaming about now?"
Calvin thought to himself.
But soon, he shook his head.
Forget it.
They had agreed not to peek into each other's thoughts during ordinary times, doing so now would break their promise.
What Calvin didn't notice, though,
was that the little girl curled up under the covers seemed to be having a sweet dream.
Her lips curved into a faint smile...
Charlotte, asleep on the large bed.