They acted as soon as they decided.
Each member of Bai Qiu’s group took up their own task: Ning Xingxue was in charge of chopping down the blackwood trees, Zhao Daqiang handled trimming and raft-building, while Huang Qi moved between the two to help wherever needed.
Bai Qiu, on the other hand, kept making mud boards to expand their foothold.
When they reached areas where the blackwood trees were densely packed, he simply increased his mana output to thicken and enlarge the mud boards.
With that, the four of them no longer had to constantly relocate, and their efficiency skyrocketed.
These blackwood trees were rated E-grade, and surprisingly classified as special plants.
They had only one trait—hard.
Even though the trunks were only as thick as a bowl, Ning Xingxue—with her current stats and weapon—still needed several swings to chop through one.
Keep in mind, this was just E-grade wood.
With Ning Xingxue’s stats, even poking a D-grade monster would probably get killed in a few hits.
Yet the toughness of this wood surpassed even the durability of D-grade monsters.
Was it because the trees had no offensive or special utility and were purely defensive in nature? Bai Qiu wondered.
But to him, these were still low-level materials.
They were fine for making a raft—at least sturdy and durable.
As for whether the raft might get destroyed by creatures lurking underwater, Bai Qiu already had a solution—kill everything before it gets close, simple as that.
After all, underwater creatures around level 10 to 15 gave less experience than the Dragonfabf Soldiers outside, and their drops were mostly just meat, nothing worth fighting over.
While working on the raft, Zhao Daqiang couldn’t help but exclaim, “Man, this wood is really something. Hard yet lightweight. I can’t even imagine what kind of structure it has. If we used these planks to reinforce a shield, it would greatly boost defense while keeping the weight low!”
Huang Qi nodded deeply. “Most civilian players now use E-grade gear, and shields are the most valuable among them. This wood is basically like adding an extra layer of E-grade defense onto an E-grade shield, and the weight only increases by about 5kg. Bro Qiang, if we cut down all these trees and sell them, we’re gonna be rich!”
Zhao Daqiang agreed, but his gaze drifted toward Bai Qiu.
After all, their “ground to stand on” was provided by Bai Qiu.
When it came to distribution…
Bai Qiu sensed Zhao Daqiang’s stare.
Still controlling the Stone Staff to maintain the mud board, he said calmly, “If you want to chop all these trees, go ahead. I don’t need them and I’m not planning to sell them at the trading hall. Just pay me the equivalent amount in Sanctum Coins.”
After all, in the 2233 Safe Zone where Bai Qiu lived, there were mage merchants.
He even had a C-grade plate armor collecting dust in his storage card—why would he care about E-grade materials?
Though this depended on the item type.
Plants like Redstem Grass and Purplebell Water Lily—E-grade special plants—could increase elemental affinity or resistance.
Even with Bai Qiu’s mana having reached C-grade, his affinity for most elements was very low.
Improving affinity took long periods of time, and these special plants could speed that up.
Even F-grade ones were useful.
For things that benefited him, Bai Qiu would collect and store them himself.
For things that were useless to him, he didn’t care how others collected them.
But if they wanted him to put in effort, then they needed to pay him accordingly.
If something was useless to everyone, then it was even simpler—just leave it alone.
Zhao Daqiang was delighted.
He knew Bai Qiu was always reasonable—not overly humble, not someone who gives a little help only to demand your life in return.
Bai Qiu maintained just enough distance—not owing favors and not giving them.
A perfect equilibrium, making it easy and pleasant to work with him.
For someone so overwhelmingly ahead of everyone else, this kind of personality was extremely rare.
After all, in just these fifty zones, the number of players who became arrogant after gaining a bit of strength was way too many.
While they continued chatting happily as usual, Ning Xingxue shouted between gasps, “Hey! If you two are done slacking, come help chop these trees! My sword’s about to get chipped!”
…
Soon, the raft—3.5 meters long, 2.5 meters wide, and forty centimeters thick—was completed by Zhao Daqiang.
The three then worked together to chop down all the blackwood in the area.
The three of them seemed to really like these dark, tough logs.
They dropped the raft into the swamp, and the four of them climbed on.
It only shook slightly before stabilizing atop the marsh.
Zhao Daqiang’s craftsmanship was excellent—there were very few gaps, and he even wrapped the bottom of the raft with several pieces of cowhide to increase buoyancy.
With this, the weight of four people barely made it sink.
Ning Xingxue squatted at the back to rest.
She was truly exhausted — after chopping wood for half an hour, giving her all with every swing, her arms now felt unbearably sore.
Huang Qi and Zhao Daqiang each held a simple paddle made from wooden branches and rowed with all their strength.
Bai Qiu stood at the front of the raft.
His staff continuously formed massive boulders that plunged into the water, and from far away they could see crocodiles and giant catfish being knocked unconscious and floating to the surface.
In this swamp, instantly killing these underwater creatures wasn’t easy.
The water surface absorbed a lot of the impact, reducing the damage significantly!
Watching Bai Qiu repeatedly summon rocks to bombard the swamp, Zhao Daqiang and Huang Qi completely gave up the idea of killing monsters together.
What a joke! Those four-to-five-meter-long catfish and crocodiles, with their gaping jaws full of sharp, terrifying teeth…
The two of them unanimously decided that rowing the boat was the best job.
As for the meat drops? They could just buy it from him afterward—no need to risk their lives.
All Bai Qiu needed to do was comfortably remain the C-position DPS.
As the unlucky rowers of the small raft, they had plenty of other things to worry about.
“Ding. Killed Crocodile. EXP +6, Leather +3, Crocodile Meat +30.”
“Ding. Killed Giant Catfish. EXP +4, Catfish Meat +20, Catfish Whiskers +2.”
As Bai Qiu’s group approached the shore, the underwater creatures died in large numbers under his wild bombardment.
This, however, attracted an elite creature.
A nearly ten-meter-long crocodile crawled out from the opposite side of the swamp, plowing a long trench into the muddy ground.
Bai Qiu couldn’t help feeling curious—this one was huge.
Time to check its stats.
Giant Swamp Mud Crocodile — Level 20, Elite
Strength: D+
Magic: E
Endurance: D+
Agility: E- to D+
Skill 1: Rock Armor — Greatly increases defense for 10 seconds.
Skill 2: Death Roll — A natural creature skill. (Please search online for details.)
Trait: Higher agility while in water.
“So that’s how it is. No wonder an E-grade dungeon would have a creature approaching late D-grade.” Bai Qiu laughed.
Turns out its agility was severely reduced after leaving the water.
As long as they didn’t encounter it while it was submerged, its agility stayed within the E-grade range, making it much easier to kill.
And since it was on land, that suited Bai Qiu perfectly.
After hunting all those giant catfish and crocodiles, the golden patterns on his Stone Staff now covered the entire staff—its energy fully charged!
Stone Staff Special Ability: Charged Strike!
A brilliant golden light burst from Bai Qiu’s staff.
A massive golden cone-shaped boulder materialized above the Giant Swamp Mud Crocodile’s head and, in the next moment, slammed down with incredible force!
“BOOOOOOM!”
The entire dungeon trembled violently.
The giant mud crocodile and the golden stone spike vanished without a trace, replaced by an enormous crater.
Swamp water surged toward it, pouring into the massive hole.
— The end of the Chapter–
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