Building My Empire in the Frozen Apocalypse (Riley Carter) novel Chapter 15

er 15 A Gift of Berries

Chapter 15 A Gift of Berries

She didn’t push it. She wasn’t exactly Mother Teresa, after all.

Tossing the remaining half of the bread–the one she’d already bitten into–toward the girl, Riley turned and waved a hand.

“I’m out. Axe goes with me.”

***

Leaving the woods behind, Riley backtracked along her own footprints from earlier.

The whole trip had yielded exactly zero meat. And she’d lost a piece of black bread on top of it.

“A total loss. A complete waste.” Riley muttered under her breath as she walked.

What stung most was that on the way back, she’d taken several detours, deliberately looping around to cover more ground. Not a single supply crate. Nothing.

“Is my luck just permanently broken?”

Glancing at the sky darkening overhead, Riley had no choice but to accept reality: today had been a complete goose egg.

“Whatever. Heading back.

Tow. Tomorrow my luck’s gotta turn around.”

N

Dragging her tired legs, she trudged toward the faint, flickering glow of her campfire in the distance.

Night settled in deep. The campfire crackled and popped, casting long, dancing shadows of Riley onto the wall of the massive workshop behind her.

She stood in the center of camp and looked around.

Back when she’d first upgraded to a Level 2 Shelter, the fifteen–foot–radius “safe zone” had felt almost roomy. Now? With the glitched–out Intermediate Mechanical Workshop taking up half the space, plus the table, the drying rack, the outhouse… the whole camp was packed. No empty spots left.

And that workshop? More than half of it literally jutted out beyond the safe zone,

“Gonna need to expand.”

Riley sighed, tightened her bathrobe, and headed back into the main cabin.

Sitting on the wooden bed layered with dry grass, she felt a sudden pang of nostalgia. Her old bed. The soft cushions. The little desk lamp. Sure, survival wasn’t an immediate issue anymore, but the quality of life here was still… aggressively rustic.

Would be nice to find some decor later. Even just a little vase or something.

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20:12 Mon, May 4

Chapter 15 A Gift of Berries

Out of habit, she pulled up the system panel.

“Current Stamina: 30/100 (Fatigued)”

Riley blinked. “Only thirty?”

No wonder her legs had felt like jelly on the walk back.

+35 Free Coins

Today had been a marathon: logging in the morning, deer chase in the afternoon, miles of snow trudging. Even with 12 Strength backing her up, the human body had limits.

She flicked open the “Server Channel” and scrolled through.

The channel was buzzing tonight. Lots of names now had a little “Lv.2” tag next to them–optional display, which Riley had absolutely zero interest in enabling for herself.

“Guys! I finally have a log cabin! No more sleeping in the open, I’m actually crying!”

“Level 2 Shelter is legit. Gathering the materials was rough, but the security? Worth it.”

Seeing everyone hustling to upgrade lit a small fire under Riley.

Sure, she was ahead of the curve for now. And sure, she had that ridiculous workshop. But it was like they said, “In this world, you either move forward or you get left behind.”

And that first–completion reward for “Level 3 Shelter“? Tempting.

The Level 2 reward had given her a pile of supplies and that thermal base layer. Level 3 would only be

“Alright. Upgrading’s back on the table.”

Riley mentally ran the numbers for Level 3: Wood x200, Scrap Steel x30, Coal x20, Stone x50, Energy Core x2.

Aside from wood, she was short on everything. Especially those stupid Energy Cores.

“Problem for tomorrow.”

Sleep tugged at her eyelids. Riley closed the panel, pulled the worn coat over herself, and drifted off.

Early next morning.

Riley woke up hungry.

She blinked her eyes open and immediately checked her stats.

“Current Stamina: 90/100”

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20:12 Mon, May 40

Chapter 15 A Gift of Berries

+35 Free Cos

“Back to full.”

She rolled out of bed and stretched. After a few days of adaptation and stat boosts, her body felt lighter. Quicker.

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