Qiyu looked out the window.

Just moments ago, he had unconsciously tried to peer into the darkness to see what lay within. And he had indeed seen something.

Thick fog.

The thick fog made the night even more unpredictable—and even more dangerous.

Unfortunately, he only caught a glimpse of it. He raised his hand to touch his forehead, recalling the “warning” that had jolted him awake. It was as if he’d spotted a small animal peeking out and had instinctively smacked it on the head. 

Qiyu touched his forehead; it still seemed to retain a faint, cool sensation. He had no idea what exactly lay within the mist.

Qiyu couldn’t sleep.

Moreover, since his meditation had been abruptly interrupted, he found it difficult to return to that state.

But he wasn’t bored. With three hours left until dawn, he had just enough time to practice the magic he’d just learned.

“Fireball!” 

A moment later, a palm-sized ball of fire lit up the darkness, hovering quietly in midair. Qiyu discovered that as long as his magic didn’t run out, he could keep the fireball suspended indefinitely. 

He began directing the fireball to move wherever he wanted.

In the pitch-black wooden cabin, a ball of fire floated ahead, and Qiyu followed behind it, solemnly inspecting every corner of the cabin. Fun. 

After playing with fire for a while, Qiyu turned his attention to water. 

When he cast the Waterball spell, an ice-blue sphere of water appeared, emitting a faint glow in the darkness. It looked quite gentle. Qiyu didn’t dare test the offensive power of the Fireball spell inside the wooden cabin.

The Waterball spell, however, was fine.

He placed a piece of wood on the ground and guided the water ball toward it. The ice-blue sphere hurtled toward the wood like a small cannonball.

The poor piece of wood was smashed to smithereens. The attack power was a bit higher than expected.

After that, Qiyu eagerly began exploring other uses for the waterball spell.

For example, could he split a large water ball into several smaller ones, or could he directly transform the water ball into a mist?

Just as Aegnor’s notes described regarding the use of spiritual energy, he could shape them into any form he desired. Three hours flew by as he continued his experiments with great enthusiasm.

The darkness abruptly gave way to light in an instant.

His eyes squinted slightly as they adjusted; it turned out dawn had already broken. Qiyu immediately opened the door, eager to check on his sunflowers.

As soon as the door opened, he locked eyes with a creature crouching in front of the fence. A… sheep? 

Over a meter tall, its body covered in thick, fluffy gray fur that cascaded down to the ground like a waterfall. Three sharp, right-angled horns jutted from its head, and its blood-red eyes fixed on Qiyu.

The Survival Panel identified it as a Level 1 Mutant Creature called a gray-horned sheep.

Wow!

What a pleasant surprise!

Qiyu was just about to charge forward out of habit when he paused, remembering that he was now a mage. 

Time to try out the spells he just learned.

“Fireball.” 

A fireball flew toward the gray-horned sheep. The sheep broke into a gallop, swerving to avoid it, and lunged at Qiyu with its sharp horns. Qiyu’s eyes blazed as he laughed, “Don’t worry, there’s more to come.”

The fireball missed its mark, hitting the ground and exploding like fireworks. But the sparks didn’t vanish; instead, they spread.

Qiyu heard the sheep bleat pitifully twice, and numbers like “-10,” “-8,” and “-5” appeared above its head. 1 Qiyu hurled another Fireball spell at it.

This time, the gray-horned sheep couldn’t dodge it.

A bright red “-120” appeared above the gray-horned sheep’s head, and it vanished in a flash of white light.

【Congratulations! You have obtained 30 kg of gray-horned sheep meat, 10 kg of wool, and 3 sheep horns.】

Too bad there wasn’t a treasure chest.

Still, Qiyu was quite pleased to have gathered so much loot first thing in the morning. He collected the loot and looked toward the farmland.

The sunflowers, which had been nothing but tiny sprouts just yesterday afternoon, had now grown slightly taller than the fence, with each plant bearing a bud.

The buds were dotted with faint, shimmering specks of gold, making them truly beautiful.

That mutated gray-horned sheep was clearly drawn to the sunflowers, just like the two animals from yesterday. However, when Qiyu checked the fence’s durability, it was still at 100/100.

It seems that the territory with a fence, just like the wooden cabin, is protected by the survival game during the newbie period. But today is the last day of the newbie period.

No one knew what they would face once the beginner period ended.

Qiyu thought to himself: No matter what lies ahead, it never hurts to stock up on supplies, boost his strength, and upgrade the shelter. He returned to his wooden cabin, quickly washed up, ate a steamed bun for breakfast, and headed out.

His luck today was better than the past two days; he found a full four treasure chests within the safe zone—two fine iron chests and two wooden chests.

In addition, while searching for the chests, Qiyu encountered two gale rabbits. These little creatures, which were only slightly faster but had average attack power, posed almost no threat to him at this stage.

He collected 10 kg of rabbit meat, 2 kg of rabbit fur, 4 pieces of leather, and a green short sword with +2 attack power. After making sure he hadn’t missed anything, Qiyu returned to the wooden cabin.

He opened all four treasure chests.

The two wooden chests yielded 1,000g of fresh vegetable packs, 500ml of milk x2, plastic x10, rubber x10, a high-quality wooden axe x1, and a backpack expansion card x1. 

The two fine iron chests yielded 1 common iron sword, 1 men’s windbreaker set, 1 fireplace, 1 basic building upgrade blueprint, and 1 kerosene lamp.

Compared to the loot from the chests opened the past two days, this was a huge haul. Qiyu furrowed his brow.

Although he was grateful for the survival game, he didn’t believe it would be so generous for no reason. 

He opened the area chat channel, and sure enough, he wasn’t the only one who’d gotten lucky:

【Coffee Must Be Bitter: Does anyone else feel like there’s an unusually large amount of loot in the chests today? I got a high-quality wooden axe, which has greatly improved my tree-chopping efficiency. I’ve finally managed to gather enough wood to upgrade my wooden cabin.】

【The More You Involution The More Bitter Life Is: I also got a high-quality wooden axe, plus a weapon.】

【Ultimate ID: Are you guys all up this early? I didn’t fall asleep until very late last night—I just crawled back to my feet.】

Just then, the 【01 survival squad】 group chat lit up:

【Civil Engineering Brother: The loot in the chests is way better today, and most players have gotten wooden axes and weapons. I suspect that once the newbie period ends, the survival game players will soon face a crisis. Everyone should try to upgrade their initial wooden cabins and stock up on supplies and weapons.】

【Dare Not Open My Eyes: Got it, Civil Engineering Bro.】

【Tranquility Yields Transcendence: I’ll add one thing—when I opened my loot today, I got a down comforter and a pair of wool socks. I’m wondering if the weather might change once the newbie period ends?】

Qiyu froze.

It suddenly dawned on him that since arriving in the survival game, every day had been sunny, with the temperature perfectly comfortable—the kind where you wouldn’t even feel cold sleeping on the floor at night.

Since survival games are unusual to begin with, everyone just accepts this environment as normal from the moment they start. But what if this comfortable climate and weather are actually a way for the game to protect new players?

【I Love Survival Game: I’d like to add that I got a fireplace and a windbreaker today—the weather might not be this forgiving from now on.】

【Civil Engineering Brother: In the trading interface, all the cotton, wool, and other warm items have been cleared out.】