Chapter 2

The little puppy froze for a moment, then pretended not to understand and continued to look eagerly at the wooden bowl. “Mm, mm~!”

Cen An smiled. “Good boy. Did you come over because you smelled the food?”

He had wanted a dog since he was a child, but growing up in an orphanage, he couldn’t afford one. Later, when he started earning money, he was too busy with work to take care of a pet, so he gave up on the idea.

Hearing this, the puppy’s eyes lit up. It came closer, trying hard to be cute and affectionate, clearly determined to have a taste.

Cen An, who already loved dogs, couldn’t resist. He found a clean leaf and scooped some food onto it. “It’s a bit hot. Eat slowly…”

Before he finished, the puppy buried its head in the food and ate with great relish.

Food produced by the system was naturally delicious. The aroma of the wood mushrooms was fully brought out, the fresh savoriness of the fungi combined with the salty richness of the fermented fruit made every bite satisfying. The ground fruit paste was soft, sweet, and filling.

One serving wasn’t enough for both man and dog, so Cen An made another. The puppy ended up eating more than him.

“Are you going to eat that much?” Cen An asked with some concern. He had heard some dogs with genetic defects didn’t recognize fullness and could easily overeat. Although the puppy kept begging, Cen An didn’t dare give more. “Alright, alright, you can have more next time, okay?”

The puppy lowered its head in disappointment, thinking about how uncertain the next chance would be—it wasn’t easy to sneak out once already.

Suddenly, it perked up its ears and stood between Cen An and a certain direction, alert.

“What’s wrong…” Cen An hadn’t finished speaking when a shadow darted out.

A sharp-toothed rat!

He immediately grabbed his iron sword and took a step back to keep distance, but the little puppy rushed forward.

“Come back!” Cen An urged.

The puppy was less than half the size of the rat—wouldn’t it get hurt?

Unexpectedly, the puppy, though small and chubby, was remarkably agile. It twisted and leapt onto the rat’s back, biting its nape, then proudly looked back at Cen An.

Cen An exhaled slightly. “...Not bad.”

At that moment, another sharp-toothed rat suddenly appeared and lunged at Cen An’s calf!

The puppy was startled, instantly biting down and killing the rat beneath it before running over.

Cen An’s expression remained calm. He hadn’t relaxed his guard and had already noticed the arrival of the second rat. Swinging his iron sword just in time, he struck the rat away.

The iron sword crafted by the system had an attack bonus, killing the rat with one blow.

Only then did Cen An relax, but he heard the puppy yelping pitifully behind him. Turning around, he saw its tail was on fire.

It turned out the puppy had tried to rush to Cen An’s aid but, because of its short legs, tripped and fell into the campfire.

Fortunately, a river was nearby. Cen An quickly dipped the puppy into the water. When the flames were out, he examined it. “Hmm, it’s solid… I mean, it’s okay, no injuries, just the tail fur got burnt.”

The puppy, named Silver Echo, looked even more aggrieved. After finally sneaking out, its fur got singed—his brother would surely mock him when he returned!

Seeing the puppy’s dejection, Cen An comforted it, “Don’t worry. When we get home, I’ll trim your fur. It’ll grow back soon.”

The puppy gave a sad “Mm,” and Cen An placed it in the basket he had brought.

Though attacked, his gathering task was not yet complete.

Following the villagers’ example, he extracted the crystalline cores from the two sharp-toothed rats, skinned them, and stored both the pelts and meat.

The villagers had no use for rat meat, but Cen An could use it as feed and fishing bait—waste was not an option.

After completing this, he collected a batch of 30 bundles of dry grass. Dry grass could be used for bedding, making grass ropes, or kindling fires—common yet very useful materials.

Next, Cen An planned to find some iron ore to make iron blocks to take home, but after searching the entire hill, he found none and had to give up.

He carried Silver Echo back home in the basket.

A whole day passed, and the small cabbage seedlings had fully sprouted, two tender little leaves swaying in the breeze, utterly charming.

Cen An placed the puppy in the inner room and reviewed his harvest for the day: wood mushrooms x12, fermented fruit x8, ground fruit x22, lumber x40, long leaves x10, dry grass x30, crystalline cores x2, rat pelts x2, rat meat x2, and one puppy.

It was quite a haul, but the most urgently needed material was still missing.

The shabby hut had holes all over the walls, and without proper doors and windows, it would be impossible to sleep tonight.

“Better head to the small market. Maybe they’ll have iron ore for sale,” he told Silver Echo, picking up the basket and stepping outside.

The hut was on the west side of Yongning Village, near the foot of the mountain. To reach the market, he had to cross the entire village.

Along the way, he saw several villagers, all looking pale and thin. The few who appeared strong showed no smiles. It was clear, as the elder had said, that life here was hard.

Cen An felt even more grateful for having the system, able to grow food and at least avoid starvation.

The small market was modest, without formal entrances or exits—just a spontaneous gathering of stalls.

Standing at the edge, Cen An scanned the scene: food, tools, and a few weapons. Signs in front of the stalls read “Barter accepted” and “Crystalline cores only,” but no iron ore was in sight.

He had no choice but to enter and look more closely.

He didn’t need food now; he had recipes for tools and could craft them himself, which was cheaper than trading.

“Hmm?” Cen An spotted something familiar—a bundle of reed grass. Combined with long leaf wood, it could make a low-level monster repellent potion. Though only effective against level 1 or 2 beasts, it was just right for his current needs.

“How much for this?” he asked, eyeing the chaotic stall that seemed to sell whatever had been picked up from the wild, without any processing.

The stall owner was a gloomy man with sinister eyes that made people uneasy. He appraised Cen An from head to toe and spoke in a probing, unpleasant tone, “You know how to make medicine?”

“Doesn’t knowing it or not affect whether I can buy it?” Cen An replied calmly. “Are you running a business or conducting an investigation?”

The man sneered and ignored him. “Two crystalline cores.”

Cen An put down two cores and placed the small bundle of reed grass into his basket.

As he left, he made a mental note that the man closed his eyes again and didn’t watch him leave. Earlier on the road, Cen An had noticed villagers showed no fear—security here seemed decent.

After passing a few more stalls, he looked up and met a pair of curious eyes.

He paused, looking around. The stall belonged to a little girl of seven or eight.

She was fair-skinned and dressed neatly and comfortably—rare in this village. Her parents must be special people, no wonder they let such a young child run a stall.

Looking closer, the girl’s stall displayed iron nails and iron blocks. Cen An quickened his pace.

The girl noticed him first and asked, “Brother, why are you buying from Yu Fei?”

“Yu Fei? The man from that stall?” Cen An asked.

She nodded. “He’s an ability user. But he’s strange, so the villagers fear him and won’t talk to him.”

Cen An chuckled at her mischievous spirit. “Aren’t you afraid of him?”

“I’m not,” she said, swinging her little feet while sitting on a wooden box. “My mom and dad are ability users too. Maybe I’ll become one when I grow up.”

“I see,” Cen An said. “So these iron blocks and nails are made by ability?”

“Yes. My dad has metal abilities. Brother, want to buy some iron blocks? I’ll give you a discount!”

After asking the price and doing some quick calculations, Cen An said, “I’ll take them all.”

The girl squealed with delight. “Wow! You’re so rich!” She jumped down and swiftly packed the iron items into the box. “Thirty crystalline cores in total. This little box is for you too. Welcome to come again!”

Cen An smiled and asked, “Where do you live? If I want more iron blocks, can I ask your dad to help?”

Surprisingly, the little girl shook her head. “It depends. Using abilities consumes your energy, and you have to absorb crystalline cores to recover. But the energy inside cores is wild—absorbing too much drives ability users mad.”

She sniffled. “Last year, Grandpa Tian in the village lost control of his abilities and died.”

Cen An was silent. He hadn’t expected so many limits on ability users in this world.

Once again, he felt fortunate to have the system.

Carrying the wooden box, he spent one more core to buy a small bag of salt, then returned home.

As night fell, the temperature dropped, and the hut without doors or windows grew colder.

Silver Echo had long jumped from the bed and circled Cen An anxiously. The human’s dwelling was terrible—maybe he should take him back to the den, though he wasn’t sure if his brother would agree.

Cen An misunderstood the puppy’s concern, bent down, and patted its head. “Don’t worry, I’ll trim your fur soon. But first, I need to fix the doors and windows.”

Silver Echo looked puzzled. How would he do that?

Cen An pulled out lumber and iron blocks.

Four pieces of lumber and two iron blocks could make a window; eight lumber and four iron blocks could make a door.

He quickly made four windows and two doors, installing them with iron nails.

Silver Echo was stunned. Could this human have abilities? Yet Cen An showed no energy fluctuations. Also, what kind of ability could turn materials into tools? Even his brother couldn’t do that!

The howling wind stopped inside the hut, and warmth returned.

As for the hole in the roof, Cen An hadn’t figured out a solution yet—he could only pray it wouldn’t rain tonight.

Then he took two iron blocks and made a pair of scissors. With two iron blocks and one lumber, he crafted a kitchen knife. Gritting his teeth, he used six iron blocks to forge an iron pot.

These were necessities—not something to skimp on.

He put the remaining iron blocks into the wooden box and clicked the brand-new scissors open. “Come on, time to trim your fur~”

The shiny scissors reflected in the puppy’s eyes. It realized too late and tried to run. “Awooo—”

Moments later, a puppy with a bald tail appeared.

Cen An stifled a laugh. “Well, not too ugly. It’ll grow back fast.”

Silver Echo looked even more downcast. This time, his brother would definitely tease him.

Outside, darkness fell, and distant mountains echoed with the roars of unknown beasts.

Cen An yawned and laid the dry grass on the broken bamboo bed. He had considered adding the rat pelts but the untreated fur smelled too strong, so he gave up.

Fortunately, the freshly gathered dry grass was soft and thick. Since it wasn’t freezing yet, it would suffice.

Before sleep, he counted his crystalline cores.

He had started with 500 from the newbie gift pack. After buying the hut, land, and seeds, 50 remained. The two rats gave him 2, he spent 1 to unlock the virtual reality protection field, 2 to buy reed grass, 30 for the iron blocks, and 1 for salt—leaving 28.

The reality protection system couldn’t be turned off and cost one core daily, so his cores would last about twenty days at best.

Looks like he’d have to find ways to earn more crystalline cores.

Speaking of reed grass, he still hadn’t made the monster repellent powder—but that wasn’t urgent.

The young man lay down on the bed. The soft, dry grass mattress, infused with the scent of grass and sunshine, enveloped him. He turned to the little puppy and said, “Good night.”

—

He had no idea what chaotic dreams he’d had that night. When he woke again, daylight flooded the room.

The puppy was no longer on the bed.

Rubbing his forehead, he noticed silence in the room. “Did it run outside?”

Opening the wooden door, he found an unfamiliar man standing there, holding the puppy by its scruff.

Cen An frowned. “Please put my dog down.”

The man snorted coldly, his eyes glinting with disdain as he glanced at the feigning Silver Echo. What a shame—turning into a puppy to mooch food wasn’t enough, now it was acting like a dog?