Aethelgard: The Survival Game (Chloe) novel Chapter 34

Chapter 34

Chapter 34

Chloe went to collect the

than usual

wirom her Artane Dew Collectors. The torrential rain had driven their efficiency far higher

She hadn’t harvested them in two days. This time she gathered 35 ounces of Common dew and 17.5 ounces of Premium Arcane Dew, roughly the volume of a large sochs, bottle and a small of”

Her enthusiasm for fishing had evaporated. She reeled in her empty line and was about to head back inside when her eyes swept over the soggy ground.

The rain had beaten it into a dispirited, waterlogged mess. The earth was so sodden that water had seeped through every pore

Checking her Dampness, she saw it hadn’t yet climbed high enough to drain her Health, and the Arcane Workbench still had some time left before completion.

She picked up the Basic Hoe from her starter kit and went to work the old-fashioned way, digging a simple Drainage Trench beside her field.

The method was straightforward: she carved a tic-tac-toe grid of shallow channels that ran to the edges of her plot.

As she dug, the sky and her entire field of vision were swallowed by the blinding white sheets of rain. Her mind drifted to the cozy farming games she used to play on her phone back in the modern world.

She’d lay out neat rows of gardens, production buildings, all kinds of bakeries. She genuinely savored the satisfaction of managing a piece of land well.

Hoe stroke by hoe stroke, a quiet affection for this territory of hers took root in her chest.

She wanted to nurture this land into something thriving. Someday, she’d transform this barren, broken little patch of dirt with nothing but a wooden cabin into a full-fledged garden city.

*****

FearlessReaper was gripped by panic.

He’d been absolutely convinced that the player with the Slime Slayer title would eventually come crawling back, begging to trade all her high-grade resources for his Arcane Workbench Upgrade Tome since it was a special upgrade blueprint.

He’d pieced together from the chats that this player Chloe had a terrifyingly strong magic talent. She’snapped up magic blueprints that were useless to everyone else.

Even the smallest clues made it clear: Chloe was a magic user who desperately needed those magic blueprints.

In this survival Lord-builder game, everyone was sharp. Fearless Reaper had used his talent to gauge the intensity of Chloe’s desire for the Arcane Workbench and had confirmed one absolute certainty.

He believed she needed it more than anyone else. Buoyed by that belief, he’d messaged her private chat every single day. Even when she didn’t reply, he’d remained completely at ease.

But now, he saw that Chloe’s desire for the Arcane Workbench had vanished in a single instant.

The color drained completely from FearlessReaper’s face. He still hadn’t upgraded his own territory. He’d only just scraped together enough resources for his first building and was still desperately short on construction materials.

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now the one person he’d counted on to supply him with everything had no neesi for his Arcane Workbench at all

The vanishing light treapt only one thing: Chloe had already obtained an Arcane Workbench of her own.

FearlessReaper’s face was bloodless. He began frantically spamming Chloe’s private messages in a frenzy.

FearlessReaper: [Fine, fine, I won’t demand so many materials from you. Let’s just do it at the price you said. I’m being generous here, trading with you.

[Please, I’m begging you, trade with me. I really need supplies. Aren’t you a mage? Why won’t you trade with me?

[Trade with me. I’ll cut the materials in half for you.]

Then his messages turned vicious, filled with curses and slurs like “Screw you,” and “Who the hell do you think you are? You’re nothing but a piece of shit.”

Chloe didn’t see any of those malicious messages, nor would she care even if she saw them.

Every single one was intercepted by the system, a cold, blood-red exclamation mark stamped beside each word, as if mocking him in silence, mocking his impotent rage.

Had Chloe seen them, she would have done no more than raise an eyebrow before dismissing them entirely.

Fearless Reaper vented a towering inferno of fury into her private chat, spewing abuse without pause, until the system finally notified him that one-way communication required an additional material fee.

He couldn’t bring himself to part with even a single unit of wood. Seething, he decided he’d use the tome himself.

Notification: [Use Arcane Workbench Upgrade Tome? Requirement: Magic 6 or above.

[You don’t meet the upgrade conditions.]

FearlessReaper had a Magic stat of 1. The moment he read that line, his face flushed a scalding, naked red, as if he’d been slapped across the cheek with the sting of humiliation.

He sucked in a furious breath and immediately listed the Arcane Workbench at an exorbitant price on the Trading Post. Before long, someone messaged him.

A cold sneer curled across Fearless Reaper’s mouth. ‘Even without you, Chloe Bennett, my Arcane Workbench will still fetch a huge price.’

NobleScalper: [Bro, I’ll take it for 200 Premium Wooden Logs. What do you say? There really aren’t many players with magic talents, and a lot of magic buildings come with unique restrictions.]

FearlessReaper: [Get your eyes checked. This is a high-end item. Have you no sense of its worth?]

Noble Scalper didn’t reply again but let out a cold scoff and cursed silently. ‘What an idiot.

He was a formidable information broker and had collected the vast majority of intel. The Arcane Workbench was valuable true, but only to players with high magic talents.

Noble Scalper had intended to buy it at a modest premium and flip it to a magic-talented player for a higher price and some goodwill.

He thought that this player FearlessReaper, however, was an interesting case.

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Chapter 34

unsilly. Noble Sealper operated on the principle that both sides should profit. Since that was the antude he was gerZAPIS -be denied to adjust his offer.

NobleScalper: [100 common Wooden Logs, plus 50 units of Storie. That’s the price. Come find me when you’ve come to your senses. Trust me, cross me and you won’t find anyone else willing to trade with you

FearlessReaper had been holding out for a bidding war. When he read that, his face darkened. It had never crossed his that the treasure he’d believed was so lofty and valuable would be ground down in price or s

wer again.

He was nearly incandescent with rage. He’d once made outrageous demands of others, and now that the tables had turnieju and he was the one being lowballed, he couldn’t stomach it at all.

Chloe had long since wiped FearlessReaper from her mind. She’d gotten her Arcarte, Workberich and hadn’t spared a sinus thought for him since.

Before her Dampness climbed too high, she ducked back into her wooden cabin to dry off by the fire.

The weather was a torrential downpour, but as long as she seized the right momers to periodically dry herself out, the negative effects wouldn’t grow too severe. They just left her feeling generally uncomfortable.

Once night had fully fallen, she opened Rich DragonWolf’s chat and apologized, explaining that something had come up and the umbrella production would be delayed by a few days.

RichDragonWolf was magnanimous and said he completely understood. Chloe had no idea that he was actually assuming she was being driven to her wit’s end by that Legendary magical material.

The Arcane Workbench had just ten minutes left until completion.

Chloe studied the Legendary material in her hand. In the half day it had sat here, it had already afflicted every nearby item with the Elemental Corrosion debuff.

She needed to build the Basic Arcane Defense Tower fast. She still had six unspent Talent Points. She planned to use them on the tower.

As for the single attribute point, she decided that she’d try spending on the soil where the carrot was planted.

When the timer ran out, a brand-new Arcane Workbench materialized inside the wooden cabin. It was roughly the same size as the old workbench, its form now suffused with a faint violet hue.

A number of its recipes had changed. For example, the common burlap woven from Plant Fibers could now incorporate magical material Ice Core, with a chance of producing Cooling Linen Fabric

The axe recipe, when infused with Ignis Crystals, had a chance to yield a Torch Axe with significantly higher Durability

Chloe sensed there were other differences as well, but she couldn’t pinpoint them at a glance, so she let the matter rest. E now, the priority was constructing the Basic Arcane Defense Tower.

Nervous and keyed up, she clicked to begin the construction.

Notice: [Insufficient space.}

Her territory was currently four by five, 20 cubic yards. She still had 18 Cubic Yard Soil Plots in reserve. With a defense tower on the way, she could finally push to expand her space to its limits.

She used 16 more plots, bringing her total area to a solid six by six.

Notification: [Please select 3 Elemental Mediums, 1 Epic or higher High-Magic Medium, 10 Magical Materials. 30 units

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Chapter 34

Substanres, 100 Premi

Wooden Lots, and 200 Fermiom Iron Ingots]

For the Elemental Medium, she chose the Legendary Emerald Phoenix Core and two Eyes of the Crimson Wylm. For the High-Magic Medium, she slowed in the Inferior Legendary Pristine Slime Core

For the ten Magical Materials, she poured in everything she could the three Epic-grafe Corrupted Goat Horna foto RichDragonWolf, one Rare Wind Slime Essence, two are Ice Cores, one Epic Ignis Crystal, and three Premium Ign Crystals

The 50 units of binding substances were the 30 units of lime Ooze and 20 of Fungal Ooze she’d traded for earlier.

After meticulously preparing every exotic component, she fed in the 100 Premium Wooden Logs and two hundred Premium Iron Ingots.

Notification: [Commence construction?]

Chloe confirmed. A resonant hum emanated from the Arcane Workbench. Through the glass window, she saw a dense white mist blooming about a meter beyond her cabin, a low thrumming sound emanating from within.

The interface on the workbench displayed the build time: [Construction Time: 24 hours).

It’ll take an entire day, she thought. ‘Oh no, I expanded my Cubic Yard Soil Plots too early!

It was common knowledge by now that the larger the territory, the more monsters it drew.

Sure enough, the moment that thought crossed her mind, she felt a faint, subtle tremor outside. Through the window, she could already see pairs of red eyes in the darkness.

Under the immense curtain of rain, those pupils were as terrifying as ever. Chloe sighed and picked up her Novice Mage’s Staff.

“They came at the perfect time! She was now in dire need of materials.

Building the Basic Arcane Defense Tower had wiped out every resource she’d painstakingly hoarded over five days. She was back to square one.

The monsters had grown much more troublesome. Chloe realized this with sharp clarity.

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