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BOOM!

Ethan picked up the wooden planks and took a look. Every plank had a fist mark in the center. The first one was the most dramatic, it was punched straight through. By the last one, there was only a shallow fist print left.

The second-to-last one wasn’t penetrated, but the fist mark was still very clear.

As for Ethan’s own fist, not a single problem.

It seemed this Power Pill didn’t just make a person stronger. It even increased the toughness of the skin.

Before, if he punched wood like this, without any protection, scraping the skin off his knuckles would’ve been guaranteed.

But now, his skin wasn’t damaged at all, not even a red mark.

”Not bad, not bad!"

Ethan nodded, extremely satisfied with this upgrade.

Except… he smelled awful.

He lowered his head and saw a layer of black grime on his skin.

”In cultivation novels, this should be called “washing the marrow.” Impurities in the meridians are being expelled, right?”

Unfortunately, Ethan not only had no bathroom right now, he also had very little water left.

The 1L he had saved earlier had already been completely drunk.

Now—

[Ethan: “@Water Source Boss Any water yet? I need 10L!”]

[Water Source Boss: "Tons of water! Big bro, I saw you’re selling compasses. Can you let me buy one on credit? I don’t have enough mud yet, but I should be able to dig enough today. Please, I really need a compass. Otherwise, after going to the river to fetch water, I’m scared I won’t find my way back!]”

[Ethan: “Okay!”]

[Water Source Boss: ”Thank you, big bro! Let today’s 10L of water be interest for you. Big bro hahaha!”]

[Trade notification: 10L Poisoned Water : exchanged for 1 Compass]

Ethan confirmed the trade.

It wasn’t out of kindness, this Water Source Boss was genuinely important to him right now.

Before Ethan found his own water source, he didn’t want the guy selling water so cheaply to suddenly die in the fog. If that happened, not only would he need to look for a new supplier, those people might raise their prices.

He threw the six damaged planks and one bundle of dead branches into the bonfire, producing seven pieces of charcoal, then placed them into the purifier and activated it.

Only after that did Ethan pour in the 10L of water.

By tonight, he’d have 9L of fresh water again.

But today, he didn’t plan to sell the 9L. Instead, he planned to heat it up and take a proper bath.

A whole layer of filth was really unbearable.

“White Eagle, time to hunt!”

Ethan called out to White Eagle and opened the door.

The outdoor fog instantly flooded into the house, covering several meters inside the entrance in thick white mist. It was insanely dense.

Thud!

Ethan shut the door immediately.

Only then did the fog stop coming in. As the mist seeped inside earlier, he noticed the bonfire seemed to burn slightly faster.

After a while, the fog in the house was completely burned away.

”Today’s fog is truly terrifying.“

Even thicker than when he entered the fog forest last time.

This was way too exaggerated. Today, without a torch, stepping outside was absolutely impossible.

Ethan opened the magic book, planning to flip to the [Upgrade Tree] to look for the torch-making page, but the [Region Chat] caught his attention instead.

[“Damn! Good thing I ran fast, or something in the fog would’ve dragged me away!“]

["I’m now 100% sure, there ARE monsters in the fog! I went out just now and heard a baby crying. Where the hell would a baby come from in this cursed place? Scared me to death, thank god I had a torch lit.”]

[“Going out without a torch today is literal suicide!“]

[”Anyone have resin? I’ll trade my ass for it!"]

[“Who wants your ass? Get lost!“]

Ethan actually had plenty of resin.

But he wasn’t planning to sell any. This stuff would only become more and more valuable later.

After scanning the chat, Ethan was certain the game’s difficulty had increased. From now on, day or night, the fog would appear, and the monsters inside it probably couldn’t leave the fog.

This was likely a restriction added to protect players.

Based on the day-weak, night-strong pattern, who knew what would happen in the fog at night?

But now wasn’t the time to worry about that. Ethan quickly opened the [Upgrade Tree] and found the torch section.

Without realizing it, he was already able to make Level 2 torches.

[Advanced Windproof Torch: Burns longer than normal torches (can burn continuously for 4 hours), and has a larger illumination range. A must-have for going out. (Crafting requirements: Resin 185/5, Advanced Wood 181/1, Tree Vines 9/1)]

”A 4-hour burn time, four times that of a normal torch. Plus windproofing and a larger light radius. Definitely useful.”

Except it needed Advanced wood, and Ethan wasn’t willing to spend it.

If it were someone else, they might choose the windproof torch, but Ethan had system prompts, he didn’t need such a good torch.

[Resin -20, Wood -10, Tree Vines -9]

He made nine normal torches and stored eight in his backpack.

Lighting one, Ethan opened his door again. This time the fog truly didn’t seep inside.

“Let’s go, dumb bird!”

He tilted his head at White Eagle.

White Eagle immediately waddled toward the door on its two talons, spreading its wings a little to keep balance.

Who would’ve thought, the majestic eagle looked so silly walking on the ground?

But once outside, White Eagle instantly spread its wings and soared.

Watching the eagle glide through the sky, Ethan felt puzzled.

”White Eagle can see inside the fog?”

‘Eagle Eyes!’

He activated the Eagle Eyes ability.

Through White Eagle’s vision, Ethan saw that the sky had no fog at all, only the ground was covered in a thick layer.

And the fog distribution was strange. The closer it was to inhabited areas, the denser it became. For example, around Ethan’s stone house, the fog was so thick it looked practically solid.

But farther away from the house, the fog wasn’t as heavy.

Other dense fog areas included the fog forest and various valleys.

Using White Eagle’s eyes, Ethan scanned the world below.

Light sources could easily pierce through the fog.

From above, he could see faint orange-yellow spots of light within the mist, those were torches held by people below.

Through the eagle’s sight, Ethan suddenly realized that within roughly a 1-kilometer radius around him, there were about a dozen such light sources.

‘Doesn't that mean, there are actually quite a lot of players living around me?‘

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