Chapter 38: The Treehouse Ball Begins!
Not long after...
Little Ash actually dug up a bamboo shoot from the ground.
The bamboo shoot was the size of a trash bin, much larger than the two that Ye Da had found. The ones Ye Da unearthed were only slightly bigger than a 1.5-liter bottle of mineral water.
Witnessing the little wolf cub’s talent for finding things, Ye Da’s eyes lit up and he said, “Little Ash, you’re so clever! This earns you a share of meat as well. When we butcher the pig, the pig’s lungs will be yours!”
Pig lungs aren’t particularly tasty.
But for a wolf, the innards are even more valuable than the pork itself.
Innards hold more energy, allowing them to last longer!
Therefore...
Within a wolf pack, only the alpha and the strongest males are allowed to eat the innards.
The others have no such privilege.
“Woof!”
Little Ash barked happily, his gray, fluffy tail wagging with delight.
This meant he was satisfied, joyful!
“Woof?” Little White was puzzled.
Why did Little Ash get meat for digging up something that couldn’t even be eaten?
He could do it too!
These things were everywhere—what was so hard about digging them up?
“Woof! Woof! Woof!”
Ye Da’s promise seemed to ignite Little White’s ambition—or perhaps it was the prospect of more pork that spurred him on.
Imitating Little Ash, he sniffed around the ground and soon found a bamboo shoot.
He stuck his rear in the air and began furiously digging with his front paws!
Before long...
A mound of earth piled up behind Little White, higher and higher.
He was much faster than Ye Da!
“Woof!”
Having dug up a bamboo shoot, Little White barked excitedly at Ye Da.
Ye Da glanced back and said, “Good, good!”
“Little White, you’re amazing. The pig’s liver is yours!”
“Woof! Woof! Woof!”
Little White barked several times in excitement, then moved on to another spot to dig.
Watching the little fellow completely forget about urging him to go hunt the pig, Ye Da’s lips curled into a sly smile.
Promising grand rewards really works—not just on people, but on animals too.
An hour passed.
In front of the man and his two wolves, a small mountain of bamboo shoots had piled up. Ye Da counted them—eighteen in total, enough to last for some time.
But now...
Both Ye Da and the wolf cubs were so tired, they barely wanted to move.
Ye Da waved his hand, planning to stash all the bamboo shoots in his storage backpack, only to discover it was full.
The basic storage backpack only had five slots. In it, Ye Da kept a loaf of bread, the treehouse orb, a bouncy mushroom, and the goblin treasure—four items in total.
With just one slot left, Ye Da managed to store ten bamboo shoots, but the rest simply wouldn’t fit.
Left with no choice...
Ye Da removed the goblin treasure. The bamboo cylinder wasn’t big, just right for slipping into his pocket.
Though he could barely cram the remaining bamboo shoots into the backpack, this situation made Ye Da acutely aware of its limited capacity.
He wondered if the basic storage backpack could be upgraded.
Putting on his analysis glasses, Ye Da studied the backpack for a while.
[Basic Magic Storage Backpack] [Upgradeable]
[Standard Upgrade: 10 units of inferior fur, 1 unit of inferior linen—upgrades to an inferior intermediate magic storage backpack (+1 slot).]
[Premium Upgrade: 10 units of standard fur, 1 unit of standard linen—upgrades to a standard intermediate magic storage backpack (+5 slots).]
[Top-tier Upgrade: 10 units of excellent fur, 1 unit of quality linen—upgrades to an excellent intermediate magic storage backpack (+5 slots, storage per stack +10).]
A standard upgrade only added one slot—not really worthwhile.
To truly expand its capacity, he’d have to choose the premium or top-tier upgrade.
But when Ye Da saw the material requirements for the premium upgrade, his scalp tingled.
Just the fur alone required a hundred pieces!
Fur...
Could that be the stuff wrapped around the meat?
Was that considered a crafting material as well?
Ye Da was a little surprised.
But as he ran the numbers in his head, he realized he already had 75 pieces of fur—just 25 more to go for the upgrade!
It seemed...
Ye Da needed to find a way to hunt that wild boar. A single pig would yield at least 25 pieces of fur.
That would be enough for the premium backpack upgrade!
“All right, let’s go catch a pig!”
With newfound motivation, Ye Da felt his fatigue melt away. He sprang to his feet and declared, “Come on, everyone! Let’s move out!”
“Woof!”
“Woof! Woof! Woof!”
Ye Da set off with his two wolf cubs toward the wild boar territory to the south.
Passing through the woods, Ye Da chose a tree with a trunk over five meters in diameter and tossed the treehouse orb at it.
This time, the orb didn’t emit any strange noises.
Swish!
A flash of green light.
A vermilion-lacquered wooden door abruptly appeared on the once flawless trunk. Ye Da tried to open it, but found the handle wouldn’t budge.
“What’s going on?” Ye Da was puzzled. Was it stuck?
Just as he jiggled the door handle, a line of text appeared on his analysis glasses!
[Treehouse fusion remaining time: 4 minutes 35 seconds]
“So that’s it...”
Seeing the timer, Ye Da finally understood.
The treehouse wasn’t instantaneously deployed—it took about five minutes to fuse with the tree each time. Realizing this, Ye Da could only wait.
He hadn’t planned on returning to the house, but with his backpack full, he had no choice but to unload some items. Otherwise, there would be no space for any new ingredients or treasures.
The wild boar territory was a good 2,500 meters away—two and a half kilometers. The round trip would take quite some time.
“With four minutes left, I might as well see what’s inside the goblin treasure.”
While waiting for the treehouse to finish fusing, Ye Da took out the bamboo cylinder he’d picked up in the bamboo forest and examined it.
The cylinder looked no different from any other in the forest—utterly unremarkable.
If Ye Da hadn’t seen it roll out of the goblin’s chest with his own eyes, he wouldn’t have bothered picking up such an ordinary object.
No wonder those goblin porters never noticed what they’d dropped.
“How strange...”
But the more Ye Da studied the forearm-length cylinder, the more peculiar he found it.
There were no seams or joints at all—it looked just like an ordinary piece of bamboo, plain and nondescript.
“Never mind if there’s no opening—I’ll just force it open!”
Seeing that the treehouse fusion was nearly complete, Ye Da decided not to waste any more time. He’d just crack it open and see what was inside.
To avoid damaging anything within, he turned his hatchet around and used the flat of the blade to tap open the bamboo cylinder, rather than chopping it apart.