Building My Empire in the Frozen Apocalypse (Riley Carter) novel Chapter 7

After finishing her meal and letting herself rest for a bit, Riley stood in front of her tool collection, weighing her options.

The chainsaw and the electric handsaw were both dead, and there was nowhere to charge them around here. She hadn't stumbled across any other useful tools yet, so it looked like she was going old-school.

She grabbed a sleek-looking camping hatchet and a long-handled splitting axe while she was at it—the extra leverage would save some energy.

"Hope this actually gets me somewhere."

Her right hand, wrapped in that green wristguard, tightened around the axe handle. That familiar rush of strength surged through her arm again.

Back in the woods, Riley found a decent tree and swung. The blade bit into the trunk, and she immediately noticed the difference. Way less resistance than before.

"Thunk."

Wood chips flew.

It wasn't as satisfying as the raw power of a chainsaw, but with the wristguard's Lumberjack's Proficiency kicking in, every swing landed with solid, efficient force. She was making real progress.

She kept at it until dusk started creeping in and the wind began picking up. Only then did she drag her haul back to camp.

Seven trees total.

Not exactly a record-breaking number, but for pure manual labor? Not bad at all.

Riley pulled the logs into the campfire radius and, out of habit, selected "Recycle".

"Equipment Effect Triggered: Resource Yield Increased!

"Acquired: Common Wood x42"

"Wait—what?"

Riley blinked at the number that popped up.

Seven trees. Forty-two units.

That meant each tree was worth six wood now. Before, it had been five.

"So the wristguard's lumbering efficiency boost doesn't just help me cut faster—it also bumps up the yield when I recycle through the system by twenty percent?"

That was a bonus she hadn't even considered.

It meant that for the same amount of work, she'd be pulling in one-fifth more resources than anyone else. In a world this stingy, that kind of edge was the difference between scraping by and actually getting ahead.

"Okay, yeah. This thing's a gem."

Riley grinned and patted the wristguard fondly. Forget legendary artifacts—this green-quality gear was already pulling its weight.

"If a basic uncommon item does this much," she muttered, "what would a full set of green gear do? Or something even higher rarity?"

The thought alone was enough to keep her motivated.

*****

Night rolled in fast, swallowing the frozen plains.

The polar sky wasn't completely dark, though. Ribbons of aurora drifted overhead like silk caught in a slow current, weaving through clusters of stars. It was breathtaking.

If it weren't for the soul-crushing cold that could kill you in hours, this would've been prime camping real estate.

Riley sat at her new wooden table, firelight flickering beside her and stretching her shadow long across the snow.

Dinner tonight was going to be a feast.

In front of her sat the still-steaming Beef Stew MRE. On the grill rack over the fire, a slab of raw meat she'd traded for yesterday sizzled and spat.

"Szzzz—"

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