Yukinoshita Yukino's voice as she spoke her thanks was very stiff.
After speaking, she felt a trace of embarrassment in her heart; she focused her gaze on the Stone, deliberately avoiding Natsuyu.
The biting mockery Natsuyu had imagined did not arrive. Instead, it was gratitude. He looked down in confusion at the Yukinoshita Yukino below him, asking as he continued to chip away:
"What are you thanking me for?"
Yukinoshita Yukino's expression was calm, but sensing Natsuyu's gaze, her body stiffened. She pretended to be focused on picking up Stone Blocks and said with an elegant smile:
"This certainly isn't the first time you've unlocked an ability. You must have shouted incantations several times before to gain your current Resource Acquisition abilities."
"But I had no idea about it at all. Sakuraba Ema and the others haven't mentioned it, so they likely don't know either, which means you hidden it on purpose."
"The reason for hiding it is probably because you find it shameful, right? If I were you, I would absolutely never let anyone know about such a dark history."
Yukinoshita Yukino paused slightly, her voice unconsciously becoming a bit softer as she said gently:
"But now, out of consideration for our safety, you didn't hesitate to expose your shameful secret. Therefore, I want to say thank you."
"I will keep this secret for you and won't let Sakuraba Ema and the others find out. Please rest assured, gentle Natsuyu-kun."
Natsuyu was truly surprised, feeling a bit touched and a bit amused. He saw this shy yet serious girl in a new light:
"Yukinoshita, right now, you really are quite cute."
Yukinoshita Yukino piled the dropped Stone Blocks together and tilted her head up narcissistically. "I have always been cute."
"Ha." *2
The two shared a light chuckle.
After laughing, Yukinoshita Yukino immediately reined in her expression, looked at Natsuyu, and said calmly:
"I'll have to ask Natsuyu-kun not to get any wild ideas. I have no interest in romance."
"Yes, yes, yes."
Yukinoshita Yukino narrowed her eyes, feeling as though Natsuyu was treating her like a young, problematic junior.
Was it just a delusion?
After Natsuyu's favorability toward Yukinoshita Yukino increased by a point in his heart, he focused on chipping away at the Stone with force.
Each time a Stone Block with a ten-centimeter side dropped, the large Stone would shrink a bit as a whole.
Roughly five minutes later, the rock in front of Natsuyu had completely vanished, leaving only a flattened shallow pit in the soil where a few beetles scurried away in panic, vanishing into the distant shadows.
The tip at one end of the Wooden Pickaxe in Natsuyu's hand had been worn flat, and its Durability had decreased, but it hadn't affected his efficiency in obtaining Stone resources.
A Rule-based Ability was simply too high-class.
Seeing the work was finished, Yukinoshita Yukino took her image into account and didn't continue crouching on the ground to rest. She stood up straight, her large eyes filled with curiosity as she inquired, "Can you unlock a new ability now?"
"I can craft stone pickaxes and axes."
With a thought from Natsuyu, several pieces of Stone dropped to the ground, and he pressed his hands down.
Crack, crack...
The sound of stone splintering rang out, followed by it twisting together.
Soon, a Stone Workbench was generated under Yukinoshita Yukino's astonished gaze.
Natsuyu skillfully took out new Stone and placed it on the workbench. After thinking for a moment, he also took out Twigs:
If I use stone for the handle, it'll wear down the skin too easily, and it has no flexibility. It looks hard but is actually quite brittle.
Wooden handles are much more suitable.
A few seconds later.
Two Stone Axes and one Stone Pickaxe were successfully generated.
[Congratulations on achieving the Achievement "Getting an Upgrade". Please shout the incantation "I am already moving at full speed, ughhhhh~" loudly to receive the rewards: Wall Crafting, Roof Crafting, Door Crafting, Furniture Crafting, Experience 15.]
[The Basic Achievement Tree has unlocked new achievements:
...Getting an Upgrade — Doing it the Hard Way! (Smelt an iron ingot) — ?]
You're really obsessed with these Malphite incantations, aren't you?
Natsuyu rolled his eyes slightly and focused on the experience reward.
It was 15 Experience this time; it seemed it didn't just give 10 every time.
That was good news.
In the future, the speed of leveling up wouldn't decrease too much just because the Experience required for a level increased.
Natsuyu glanced at Yukinoshita Yukino.
Yukinoshita Yukino was looking at him with burning eyes.
Natsuyu couldn't take it and reminded her, "At a time like this, you should look away."
The corners of Yukinoshita Yukino's mouth curled into a shallow smile as she averted her gaze, promising once again, "I will keep your secret, and I definitely won't laugh at you."
Natsuyu didn't really care anymore.
Things like dark history—as long as you don't care about it yourself, others won't care either.
Unless that person already cared deeply about Natsuyu, then they would remember his dark history forever.
Yukinoshita Yukino clearly hadn't reached that level yet.
Natsuyu took a light breath, his voice deep as he shouted loudly:
"I am already moving at full speed, ughhhhh~"
"Pfft..."
Natsuyu looked speechlessly at the smiling Yukinoshita Yukino beside him, who was covering her mouth:
"I think basic trust should still be maintained between people. What do you think, untrustworthy Yukinoshita?"
"Cough, cough."
Yukinoshita Yukino forced back her laughter, her eyes curving like crescents. She explained in a cheerful voice, "I didn't mean to mock you. I just think your voice is very funny; it sounded... very simple and honest."
You can just say it sounded brainless, I get it.
Natsuyu narrowed his eyes and ignored Flat-no; he was about to level up.
[You have received the rewards: Wall Crafting, Roof Crafting, Door Crafting, Furniture Crafting, Experience 15.]
The recipes for walls, roofs, doors, and furniture only required one type of raw material to be processed on the workbench.
With this unlock, Natsuyu could directly use Logs or Stone to build houses of two different materials.
Once iron was smelted later, unsurprisingly, he would be able to build iron houses as well.
The only difference was that stone houses required a Stone Workbench, and iron houses required an iron workbench.
This belonged to the opening of his infrastructure abilities; he could now build a home in the wilderness.
[Natsuyu: Level 3 (Experience 10/25)
Free Attribute Points: 0.1.]
As per the old rules, he added it directly to his Physique.
A warm current surged through his body, and Natsuyu sighed inwardly:
Refreshing!
Deep Blue, show me my Panel.
[Natsuyu: Level 3 (Experience 10/25)
Physique: 1.2 (A youth with a scout-level constitution)
Soul: 1.3 (High level of mental fortitude)
Charm: 1.3 (Hostile to All Living Beings)
(The average optimal attribute for an adult is 1)
Abilities: Resource Acquisition, Item Crafting, Construction Crafting (Click for details).]
His Physique was another step closer to the human limit.
Previously, Natsuyu had swung the Wooden Pickaxe for five minutes without feeling tired. Although part of the reason was that the force used wasn't great, the Wooden Pickaxe was actually quite heavy.
If it had been Natsuyu before he added points, he would have certainly felt exhausted.
A 1.2 Physique was already very respectable. At 1.3, he estimated he could truly attempt to fight a wild bull single-handedly.
One step closer to killing a bull with one punch.
Right now, he was roughly at the level where he could kill 1.5 yellow-haired Minotaurs with one punch; he needed to keep up the good work.
Everything was ready; even if they encountered a Monster, they would have the strength to fight.
How about we explore the area ahead of us later?
★ ★ ★
T/N: That last line is a reference to Paimon when you approach the edge of the map.