Time to set off!
Jiang Lin grabbed his Thornwood Staff, called for Little Axe and Little Pickaxe, and exited the wooden house.
The tomato seeds and red tentacle cup were left in the corner of the wooden house, and the mantis scythes he picked up yesterday, along with Little Axe's tentacles, were placed under the wooden table.
His system backpack only contained wood, stone, and bread.
He planned to eat one piece of bread for lunch, so he had three slots reserved.
Outside the house, the mist had receded, turning gray, with a visibility of 10 meters around the wooden house.
Jiang Lin shivered, feeling colder.
If it was twenty degrees yesterday, it was probably only a little over ten degrees today.
This change gave Jiang Lin a bad premonition.
Both cold and high temperatures were deadly.
Perhaps he should pay more attention to things that provide warmth; as for high temperatures, he currently had no good solution.
Before entering the mist, he planned to mutate the wooden house, which was something he had decided last night.
As for why he didn't mutate the Thornwood Staff? That was easy to understand.
With Little Pickaxe as a Tier 2 combatant, mutating another Tier 2 combatant wasn't very meaningful, and it might not even mutate into a creature.
Mutating the wooden house was a surprise move, and it might have an unexpected effect.
Thinking of this, Jiang Lin's thoughts stirred.
The panel popped up.
【Stone-Wood House (Tier 1, unupgradable): 115/300 wood, 5/150 stone, 0/20 crystals】
【Evaluation: Barely able to survive the third night, but definitely won't see the fifth day.】
Mutation activated!
The remaining 25 points of spiritual energy covered the wooden house.
The familiar special effects began, and the surface of the wooden house started to squirm, with thin, dark red filaments growing out.
Countless filaments pulsed and combined into various shapes.
It looked like many large mouths opening and closing.
Soon, it returned to its original state, the wooden house turning dark red, with the fine dark red filaments covering it almost imperceptible unless one looked closely.
【Mutated Stone-Wood House, gained Squirming Wooden House】
【Squirming Wooden House: Tier 2, a wooden house that has undergone unknown changes, can devour hostile living creatures nearby and produce materials.】
In the shelter column, it changed to—
【Squirming Wooden House (Tier 2, unupgradable): 115/300 wood, 5/150 stone, 0/20 crystals. This upgrade will make the wooden house sturdier, but it will not advance in tier.】
Very good!
Jiang Lin touched the dark red filaments on the wooden house; they were soft and fuzzy, not as terrifying as they looked.
Not to mention the active attack ability the wooden house gained.
It was like experiencing a Tier 2 shelter in advance, and it looked much sturdier than before.
In layman's terms, he could use mutation to 'loan' a higher-tier shelter. After the system truly upgraded to Tier 3, he could use the mutation skill again to experience Tier 4 in advance.
This was how the mutation skill was used on shelters.
After this use, Jiang Lin also gained a deeper understanding of the mutation skill.
The tier advancement of the mutation skill and the system's should be independent and not interconnected.
This could be seen from the fact that the system upgrade materials hadn't changed, and from the shelter upgrade prompt.
In other words, to upgrade, he still needed to collect materials according to the system's requirements.
One shouldn't be too greedy; he was already far stronger than others.
After verifying some assumptions, Jiang Lin no longer dwelled on it.
Let's go!
"Little Axe, you chop trees around here and just put them at the entrance. Be back before dark."
Little Axe nodded, then pattered away.
"Little Pickaxe, can you find crystals?"
Little Pickaxe shook its spider legs.
Apparently, there was no automatic search function... Jiang Lin sighed and had no choice but to choose the direction he went yesterday.
"Watch my back!"
One person and one pickaxe walked side by side, Jiang Lin didn't forget to remind it.
Little Pickaxe's spider legs clearly paused for a moment, then it seemed to suddenly understand and continued to follow.
The mist gradually thickened, and visibility quickly dropped to 6 meters.
Soon, they arrived at the place where he found the treasure chest yesterday.
Jiang Lin subconsciously tightened his grip on the Thornwood Staff and slowed his pace.
The mist would repair traces; the footprints left yesterday and the green slime Little Axe spilled had all disappeared.
This discovery made Jiang Lin even more vigilant.
If there were no traces, it meant he couldn't judge danger based on the traces of unknown creatures.
Continuing forward, Little Pickaxe followed closely, even subtly shielding one side of Jiang Lin with its spider legs.
After walking another 30 meters or so, they were already more than 50 meters from the wooden house, with nothing but trees.
Just as Jiang Lin was wondering whether to explore in a different direction, something different suddenly appeared in his line of sight.
A wooden treasure chest.
It looked a bit more refined than yesterday's wooden treasure chest.
【Wooden Treasure Chest: Contains a random item, 75% chance of Tier 1, 25% chance of Tier 2】
It was also a wooden treasure chest, but this one was clearly more advanced than yesterday's.
Yesterday's had only a 5% chance of yielding a Tier 2 item, while this one had 25%.
Jiang Lin didn't rush forward, carefully observing his surroundings.
Nothing unusual.
That was unlikely; yesterday's treasure chest had a mutated mantis guarding it.
This clearly more advanced treasure chest today couldn't be so easy to obtain.
Thinking of this, he moved closer to Little Pickaxe.
Ensuring Little Pickaxe could protect him well.
Jiang Lin casually picked up a stone.
Bang!
The stone hit the treasure chest and bounced off... He waited for a while, but there was no movement.
"That shouldn't be..."
Jiang Lin didn't quite believe he had such good luck.
A person whose game gacha rolls required sacrificing lifespan, what good luck could he have?
He glanced at Little Pickaxe beside him, then moved under a tree, leaning tightly against it.
Clutching the Thornwood Staff tightly with both hands, his eyes scanned the surroundings.
"Little Pickaxe, go, get it."
He pointed his chin towards the treasure chest.
Little Pickaxe nodded its spider legs, swaying its other six spider legs as it walked towards the treasure chest.
5 meters.
3 meters.
1 meter.
A sudden change occurred!
Crack!
The ground split open, and a black scorpion tail as thick as a bucket suddenly shot out.
Little Pickaxe's pickaxe head was clamped down hard.
"As expected!"
When Jiang Lin saw this, a chill ran down his neck.
If he had rushed to get the treasure chest just now, he would be the one clamped now.
His neck wasn't as hard as Little Pickaxe's, and he didn't even know if the scorpion tail was highly venomous.
In a flash of lightning, Jiang Lin's expression hardened.
Probe.
【Earth Dragon Scorpion: Tier 1 ferocious beast, a scorpion that has undergone unknown mutation, extremely strong defense, good at hiding underground, highly venomous scorpion tail. Note: It's surprising you can still open this description after seeing it. Its speed can turn you into a headless corpse in an instant. Perhaps you should run away?】
Hmm... Jiang Lin breathed a sigh of relief.
Thankfully, this Earth Dragon Scorpion was only Tier 1; Tier 2 Little Pickaxe should be able to handle it.
As he expected.
After the initial dazed , Little Pickaxe seemed very angry.
It suddenly jumped up, two of its spider legs clamping onto the scorpion tail in return.
Its other six spider legs plunged fiercely into the ground.
Puff, puff, puff!
A continuous sound of armor plates being pierced rang out.
Little Pickaxe's six spider legs alternated, stabbing down again and again until the scorpion tail drooped before it stopped.
All of this happened in the blink of an eye.
By the time Jiang Lin regained his senses, Little Pickaxe had already counterattacked five or six times.
The dust settled.
Its pickaxe head probed into the hole, as if sensing something.
After confirming there was no movement, it reached for the treasure chest.
Everything went smoothly, no other surprises... Jiang Lin took the treasure chest, feeling a sense of unreality.
"Amazing!"
He gave a thumbs up.
Little Pickaxe raised its spider legs, like a child receiving praise.
Putting the treasure chest into his system backpack, Jiang Lin decided to open it back at the house.
He walked to the hole where the Earth Dragon Scorpion appeared and looked inside.
A faint blue glow emanated from the hole, like some kind of mineral.