Fourteen thousand and fourteen
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Only one final sail was needed to complete the boat made for the little animals.
But as everyone knows, sails are usually made from fabric.
On this island, there were neither wool-producing livestock nor cotton for making fabric.
Though there were some wild beasts…
Hmm? Wild beasts?
Leaping Carp asked Newgate, “There’s no spare cloth on this island, but if we strip the beasts’ hides, clean and process them into sails, that should work, right?”
“That’s a good idea,” Newgate smiled. “Let’s give it a try.”
Leaping Carp felt proud of her cleverness. Without further delay, she said to the two little animals, “There seem to be quite a few fierce beasts deep in the forest; their pelts should be usable.”
Waving to the two animals, Leaping Carp picked up a sturdy branch from the ground to use as a staff and weapon. Turning around, she declared, “I’m off, be right back!”
Newgate dragged over a large log to the campsite. It showed no concern about Leaping Carp’s departure, only saying, “If you run into trouble you can’t handle, just call my name. I’ll hear you.”
Leaping Carp nodded and began her trek into the forest.
The forest map in this game was unexpectedly vast.
At first, Leaping Carp thought the game company must be a small operation, but after playing for a while, she realized the game was surprisingly open-ended, filled with thoughtful details far beyond her expectations.
Only after awakening her Observation Haki did a mini-map appear in the bottom right corner of the screen.
The visible area on the map was tiny, showing only the surroundings of the camp; the rest was shrouded in gray, likely because Leaping Carp hadn’t explored there yet.
As she advanced, the gray areas gradually cleared, revealing the terrain and features of the region.
Also displayed on the map was a green light point following her closely but not too near behind.
Leaping Carp turned around.
Kaido let himself be observed calmly.
“Why are you following me?” Leaping Carp asked in surprise.
“Just happen to be heading the same way,” Kaido replied nonchalantly.
“Are you going into the forest too?” she asked again.
Kaido said nothing but didn’t turn away.
“Then let’s go together!”
Before she even finished inviting, Kaido, as if eager, stepped ahead.
Leaping Carp originally wanted to test her combat abilities. Being a cautious player, she had manually saved before setting out. Even if she died recklessly, she could just reload.
So, in a way, she didn’t care whether she faced level 10 or level 100 monsters — it was merely a matter of how many times she’d have to reload.
Level 10 — baby bus level, fitting the casual farming game tone;
Level 100 — turning the farming game into a Souls-like challenge. She wasn’t afraid of the challenge, at worst she’d give the game a bad review after beating the monsters.
Leaping Carp had the pioneer’s reckless determination, but her teammate seemed to think otherwise.
They ventured deep into the forest, and soon encountered a lynx. Leaping Carp raised her wooden staff to test her strength, but Kaido, a herbivore, charged forward more fiercely than she did and took down the lynx with a single strike.
Kaido gave a disdainful snort: “Pathetic.”
Leaping Carp was puzzled.
Were you here just for grinding levels?
If you’re grinding, then what am I doing?
[Your teammate Kaido has slain [Lynx]! You gained 30 shared experience points.]
What? You can share experience in a party?
Leaping Carp immediately forgave him.
Pushing deeper into the forest, the second beast appeared. Leaping Carp was no longer tense and felt as carefree as on a spring outing. Seeing a brown bear, she even wanted to pet it.
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The black bear roared and lunged.
Ah, a red-name wild beast that attacks without reason. Leaping Carp completely abandoned any sympathy for wild beasts.
She glanced at Kaido: better to stick with the talking little animals who drifted onto the island.
Sensing her gaze, Kaido attacked the brown bear while throwing her a sidelong glare.
[Your teammate Kaido has slain [Brown Bear]! You gained 96 shared experience points.]
Then the next.
[Your teammate Kaido has slain [Tiger]! You gained 115 shared experience points.]
Leaping Carp happily followed behind, soaking up experience and comfortably playing the pure support role.
[Your teammate Kaido has slain [Vulture]! You gained 58 shared experience points.]
…
Leaping Carp took the opportunity to go AFK and use the restroom while her teammate farmed monsters automatically. When she returned, Kaido was on a frenzy, surrounded by more than enough beast corpses.
Realizing the number was sufficient, Kaido shifted targets and began plucking feathers from nearby birds.
Why was this cow at odds with birds?
Could it be that a seagull stole its fries, and now it hated all birds?
Kaido, your mindset is a bit extreme…
Leaping Carp felt this couldn’t continue and decided to get him to change.
As she pondered how to approach it, Kaido spoke first: “How do you plan to make the sail?”
Of course, Leaping Carp didn’t know, but the game had a set procedure.
Without tools, she found a hard rock and fashioned a crude stone blade by rubbing it by hand. Then she calmly sat by one of the dead beasts.
Kaido watched nearby.
Holding the stone blade, Leaping Carp lowered her head and entered a trance-like state, focusing solely on the carcass.
Like a master butcher carving an ox.
Within minutes, a complete pelt was flawlessly removed from head to tail.
Kaido frowned, watching Leaping Carp’s meticulous work without blinking. When she finished the second pelt, Kaido seemed enlightened.
While Leaping Carp processed one beast’s pelt, Kaido caught a rabbit and tried himself.
Obtained: Shattered rabbit fur ×1.
…Looks like dinner is settled for tonight.
He caught a second rabbit.
Obtained: Shattered rabbit fur ×1.
Kaido glanced at the remaining beasts nearby, thinking tonight’s dinner might be plentiful.
No problem, some could be saved for tomorrow.
He caught a third rabbit.
…
Never mind, some people just aren’t born with this talent!
Kaido was furious, angrily throwing the fragmented fur aside. Unexpectedly, Leaping Carp had finished her work and was watching Kaido’s clumsy efforts with interest.
“What are you doing?”
Kaido’s bovine frame trembled as he tossed the rabbit fur away. “Preparing ingredients for tonight’s dinner.”
“I thought you didn’t mind eating meat without skinning it before?”
Leaping Carp muttered but didn’t care much. Maybe the little bull’s taste buds had upgraded, now craving more refined dishes?
Leaping Carp put the pelts into her backpack, and Kaido showed no surprise at the player suddenly vanishing the items from her hands.
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He had just heard Leaping Carp say she was returning, so he took the initiative to drag the remaining beast corpses back to camp, clearly looking forward to dinner.
Seeing the sailboat nearly completed, Leaping Carp brightened. Following behind, she said to Kaido in a sigh-like tone, “Thank you, Kaido.”
Kaido glanced sideways at her; his expression wasn’t exactly friendly, but Leaping Carp detected a flicker of confusion.
“You followed me because you were worried I’d run into danger, right?” she asked straightforwardly.
The little bull bristled and immediately replied, “What nonsense! It’s simply because there are things I want here too! My reason for going into the forest has nothing to do with you, don’t get conceited!”
“Is that so?”
Kaido, now even more flustered, snapped, “Shut up, you’re so annoying!”
“The tsundere act’s out of season now,” Leaping Carp laughed. “But anyway, thanks.”
“I’m grateful to you, my dear friend! Kaido, you’re really a kind soul!”
Kaido stomped his foot. If he weren’t carrying prey, he’d probably have raised his spiked club again. “Who’s kind?! Don’t just say whatever you want!”
“Huh? Not kind? Oh… I get it! You’re a good bull! Thank you, Kaido!”
“You jerk, don’t get ahead of yourself!!”
…
Back at the camp, night fell swiftly in the game’s day cycle. Following the game’s guidance, Leaping Carp worked on crafting until dinnertime.
In reality, drying beast pelts would take a long time, but just as one can’t fell a tree barehanded in real life, Leaping Carp didn’t dwell on it. After all, this was a game, and making one pelt only took the time of a single dinner.
[To craft [Sail], you need the following materials:]
[Beast Pelt (1/3)]
Leaping Carp munched on roasted meat while staring at her pelts, not paying attention to what the other two animals were doing—
Newgate seemed to be getting hooked on crafting, fiddling with a piece of wood;
Kaido suddenly stood up, walked over, and called “Hey,” catching Leaping Carp’s attention.
“What is it?”
Kaido said nothing, but slipped something into Leaping Carp’s arms, then stealthily turned and left.
[Congratulations! You have obtained R-rank item: [Handmade Pillow]!]
[Description: A pillow handcrafted by Kaido. Sewn with rabbit skin and stuffed with bird feathers. Due to the maker’s poor skill, it looks quite shabby.]
[Effect: Using this pillow while sleeping increases skill acquisition speed by 3.3%.]
Leaping Carp was momentarily stunned—another very useful item!
So, judging by the description, Kaido’s obsession with plucking bird feathers was to make this pillow. His following her into the forest was also to catch rabbits (and incidentally protect her)?
Leaping Carp recalled Kaido’s earlier words: “My reason for going into the forest has nothing to do with you, don’t get conceited.”
…So all along, the real reason was because of me!
This bull truly was the textbook tsundere—saying one thing but meaning another!
Kaido glanced sideways, watching Leaping Carp’s reaction.
Leaping Carp really wanted to tease him further, but seeing even the white bear smiling beside her, she felt that saying one more word would probably set Kaido off, triggering duel mode.
So she only held back her laughter and said:
“Thank you!”
She switched her expression deliberately and gave Kaido a big smile.
“Nonsense,” Kaido immediately looked away and said.
(Kaido’s affection toward you +3. Current affection: 71.)