Starting Off Survival With A Small Treehouse

Chapter 121: Chapter 121: Strange and Exotic New Resources

The water outside had stopped rising, completely unaffected by his treehouse. Although there were occasional lightning strikes, they were all absorbed by the lightning rod on top of his treehouse, causing no damage at all.

The tornado was still spinning in place, occasionally tossing out some objects. It was too far away for Xu Xin to clearly see.

In fact, he could completely relax inside his treehouse now, wash a bowl of fruit, play around with Keke, then study how to better cook the mutant beast meat, brew a cup of tea, and comfortably wait for this rainy season to end.

This was actually the most prudent method. Most people in his situation would definitely not choose to go out at this time, approaching that terrifying-looking tornado, which sounded like a death wish.

If it were the previous Xu Xin, who prioritized current survival, he probably really wouldn’t go out.

But the current Xu Xin considered more than before.

The reward from the last dungeon exploration, a treehouse level +1, played a very significant role in this rainy season.

The higher level treehouse not only attracted lightning during storms, keeping ignition points away from the treehouse and allowing survivors to cut a firebreak unharmed, perfectly avoiding the forest fire’s attack, but it also provided a place to stand when the rains came, as it wasn’t completely submerged.

This means that the rewards obtained in events might likely affect the survival ability in future events.

This event, known as the ”Rainy Season,” is supposedly the last event of the so-called ”first phase,” during which things that would never appear again in the jungle might play a very significant role in the future.

People should not only look at the present but also have a longer-term view, keeping the future in mind.

Finally, Xu Xin convinced himself to get close to that gigantic tornado and have a look.

He put on the purple-grade Scale Armor and sat by the table that enhanced the duration of food effects, eating all kinds of fruits to max out his statuses.

Night vision, spiritual power, stamina, strength, underwater breathing capability, positive emotion capability — Xu Xin ate all these fruits, feeling stronger than ever before, and his anxiety gradually faded away.

”Keke, Silver King, Mimi, you three stay in the treehouse. It’s all water down here, and I can’t take you out. Wait for me to come back,” Xu Xin said to the three beasts still gazing out the window.

”Awoo!” Silver King responded with a sound, while Mimi merely glanced back at him, then turned again to gaze at the distant tornado, seemingly sensing something from it.

But Xu Xin couldn’t communicate with it, so it was useless even if it sensed anything.

”Eep!” Keke, on the windowsill, pointed at the distant tornado and called out to Xu Xin again.

Through so much cooperation, Xu Xin had basically understood the meaning of Keke’s cries, indicating no danger, treasure ahead, and not to be afraid.

...Such a massive tornado, with numerous beast corpses and trees swirling inside, Xu Xin could hardly believe there was no danger. Still, this slightly eased his mind, at least from Keke’s perspective, it seemed not dangerous.

Keke had never been wrong in foreseeing danger.

Considering he might be out for a long time, he left enough food for the three beasts to last two days, then swung down using the treehouse’s roots, halting above the water.

The heavy rain instantly drenched Xu Xin, turning him into a soaked mess. Dangling in midair, he wiped the water from his face and carefully observed the newly formed watery area.

The raindrops hitting the water made it hard for Xu Xin to see what was beneath. He could vaguely see some fish swimming below the water surface. Luckily, their colors were normal and not the blood-red piranhas.

Checking the map, he found no red dots in the vicinity of his treehouse.

Xu Xin released the roots and jumped directly into the water.

Opening his eyes underwater, Xu Xin saw a different world.

Small trees densely grew on what was originally land and now lay on the seabed, looking like a jungle growing underwater. Some fish swam among the forest, seemingly interested in the trees never seen before underwater.

Xu Xin was familiar with these fish; they were all from the lake, and the rain had turned the whole jungle into a vast ocean, allowing these lake fish to swim into the jungle for the first time.

Ignoring them, Xu Xin swam towards the direction of the tornado.

After swimming about three or four hundred meters, Xu Xin was attracted by a special school of fish.

This was a group of colorful fish swimming in groups between delicate branches, giving Xu Xin the illusion of diving in clear seawater, encountering tropical fish near coral reefs.

”Where did all these strange fish come from?” He was puzzled.

These fish definitely weren’t from his lake; during his previous exploration of the lake, he hadn’t seen this variety of fish.

The fish appeared very bright and colorful, and when Xu Xin tried to approach them, they didn’t flee and even swam circles around him.

They weren’t afraid of Xu Xin’s Scale Armor!

You should know, the python scale armor he wears has the ability to intimidate aquatic creatures.

Driven by curiosity, Xu Xin reached out and scooped one up, examining it closely.

These fish were only as long as his index finger, and their shape and form were somewhat like small pomfrets—a very delicate type of small fish.

They have very beautiful rainbow patterns on their bodies, reminiscent of tropical ornamental fish. The stunning colors gave Xu Xin the urge to keep them in his treehouse.

These fish are truly beautiful, with colorful patterns that look almost manually painted; magical and alluring.

[Colorful Scale Fish (Green): A beautiful ornamental fish, not much meat and not tasty, raising them in the treehouse can increase the decoration level of the treehouse.]

The sudden introduction left Xu Xin stunned, without even focusing on the content of the introduction.

Since when do living creatures also have attributes and descriptions? Wasn’t it only materials decomposed after death that had attributes and levels?

Only then did Xu Xin notice that the colorful scale fish swimming around him were emitting a faint green light. Initially, he hadn’t noticed this because they were already so colorful.

These living fish actually are resources directly, and green-level resources at that!

Perhaps it’s because these fish are only useful while alive, and each one counts as a resource, which might explain this occurrence.

But... what exactly is this decoration level mentioned in the description?

A new concept. It seems likely to bring some beneficial effects to the treehouse or the survivors.

Are these the new things brought by the rainstorm and hurricane?

Gently releasing the fish in his hand, it didn’t struggle, naturally returning to the school of fish, swirling around Xu Xin with the group.

New resources, related to a new concept, these little fish must be taken along.

Xu Xin roughly counted the number of fish in the group, approximately fifty or so. On the spot, he crafted a wooden barrel, aiming the mouth of the barrel toward the direction of the swirling fish. Naturally, all the fish swam into the barrel without any attempt to hide.

He quickly surfaced, preventing the fish from swimming out again.

”These little fish are also resources, probably can be directly stored in the backpack, right?” Xu Xin thought to himself, attempting to place the barrel filled with water and fish into the backpack.

The barrel disappeared from his hand, with the barrel, water, and fish each occupying a slot in the backpack. Xu Xin raised his eyebrows and took out the barrel again, the colorful little fish still happily swimming in the water.

It works!

Surprisingly, after just a few hundred meters out, he easily acquired a new type of resource.

Putting away the barrel and fish, Xu Xin submerged again, continuing to swim towards the direction of the tornado.

Initially, there were only small trees around, but as he moved closer to the tornado, more strange and peculiar things began appearing.

A few floating animal corpses appeared on the water surface, but not many, only a handful. Xu Xin couldn’t help but wonder, where have all the beasts once scattered densely throughout the jungle gone?

Before the rainstorm season arrived, the jungle was dotted with dense little red spots. Now, there isn’t even a single red spot in the surroundings, yet there are only a few animal corpses.

Even though he had doubts, he still took the resources delivered right to him. He decomposed all the animal corpses floating on the water, acquiring two blue-level hides. Unfortunately, there were no beneficial ingredients like bear paws.

Since the black bear, he hasn’t found any blue-level beast ingredients.

Xu Xin only took the blue-level resources, not the animal meat or such, as they’re useless, occupy backpack slots, and are heavy—a complete burden to carry.

Continuing towards the tornado, soon, the distance to the outer edge of the tornado was only about three to four hundred meters.

Within this range, suddenly under the water, strange stones appeared scattered everywhere.

A piece of azure crystal stone on the water bottom caught his attention, prompting him to dive down and scoop it up with his hand.

The entire crystal stone was about the size of a fist, crystal clear, allowing him to see the lines on his hand relatively clearly through the crystal.

[Blue Crystal (Green): A beautiful crystal, placing it in the treehouse can increase the decoration level, can be used for carving.]

Again with the decoration level.

What exactly does this decoration level do?