A huge thanks to Jellyfish on Kofi for the support! Enjoy!

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Qiyu looked at the wooden lounge chair under the parasol. 

The chair looked incredibly comfortable, as if it possessed a certain charm that made one involuntarily want to sit down. He thought about it, but naturally didn’t act on it.

As he lay back, Qiyu realized it was actually a rocking chair. He applied a little pressure with his feet, and his whole body began to sway gently with the chair.

How pleasant. 

【Today’s catch has been collected. Please check your inventory.】

As the survival panel prompted, a splashing sound came from the bucket nearby. Do you have to sit in the lounge chair to get a blue-quality catch?

Qiyu lifted his body slightly and peered over the edge of the chair to look at the bucket on his left.

Inside the bucket, he saw a fish with a pale golden tail. 

The fish was slightly longer than his palm, looked plump, and had a tail as ethereal as gauze.

【Golden Veil Fish: Blue-quality, delicious; eating it grants random attribute points.】

The person who had initially just thought the little fish was pretty immediately sat up straight.

Delicious, and it boosts stats. What a find.

Qiyu hesitated for a moment; for just an instant, a thought crossed his mind: Why not get some water and cook the fish to eat? But God Has No Form had given me such powerful and beautiful wings.

He called me “brother.” 

【Your friend “I Love Survival Game” has sent you a gift.】

【God Has No Form:?】

【I Love Survival Game: Today’s catch from the little lake. One each for us.】

【God Has No Form: They boost stats—aren’t you going to eat one yourself?】

【I Love Survival Game: If there’s only one, I’ll eat it myself. If there are more, one per person.】 

The communication orb lit up.

Qiyu answered the call and heard the background noise from where Dan Xingyu was: the screaming lily of the valley he had sent over. 

It was just after dawn; he was clearly in the shelter.

“You’re so nice to me,” the other person said with a hint of laughter in their voice. 

Qiyu: “Mm, you’re nice to me, too.” 

What he meant was that it was a two-way street—since Dan Xingyu was kind to him, he would return the favor in equal measure. Dan Xingyu, perhaps misinterpreting his words, replied with a laugh, “Okay, I’ll be kind to you too. What do you want to eat this morning?” 

Qiyu didn’t answer; instead, he asked, “Did you spend all night last night slaying Earthfire Dragons?” 

Dan Xingyu understood what he meant and shrugged it off: “I’m a martial artist. Staying up all night is no big deal.” 

Qiyu said, “Staying up all night is no big deal, but staying up all night just to make me breakfast—that’s not okay.”

He added, “I’ve got plenty of good food in my backpack. I’ll eat on my own today.”

Dan Xingyu asked, “Why? Aren’t you afraid I’ll sneak and eat all your dried fish?”

Now that Qiyu could easily tell the difference between serious talk and joking, he said casually, “Well, go ahead and sneak a bite then. I catch fish every day—next time, I won’t give you any.” 

Dan Xingyu burst out laughing: “You’re so naughty—you’ve got me right where I belong.”

“To keep living off you for the long haul, it seems I’ll have to play the good guy,” he said with a straight face. “So, the esteemed Qiyu, please choose a fish—how would you like it prepared? I can offer you three suggestions: steamed, in soup, or pan-fried.” 

Qiyu played along with a straight face: “I don’t know. My master chef God Has No Form is quite skilled—just go ask him.” 

“As you command!” 

After ending the call, Qiyu was in high spirits. 

He pulled a pancake out of his backpack. Not wanting to go back to the small house, he simply held it in his hand and began munching on it.

His eyes were fixed on the fishing rod beside him.

It was truly strange.

The fishing rod looked perfectly ordinary, but it seemed to possess some kind of magical power. It made him want to grab it and cast the hook into the water. 

Qiyu recalled the fishing rod’s description: “Use it, and you may reap any reward.” 

He saw a pink seven-colored flower today—his luck was pretty good. So, shall he give it a try? 

For the first time, he multitasked while eating, casting the hook into the small lake.

Qiyu was actually a little curious: the water in the small lake was so clear he could see the white sand at the bottom at a glance.

Earlier, while walking around the lake, he had noticed that, aside from the exquisite flowers and plants on the water’s surface, there were absolutely no other living creatures in the lake.

So what was he going to catch? Sand? 

About ten minutes later, Qiyu had finished his pancake when the fishing rod in his hand finally twitched. 

He pulled on the rod—it felt a bit heavy.

He exerted force with his hand and flung it toward the shore, sending a silvery object flying in a parabolic arc onto the bank.

【Congratulations, player! You have obtained 1 fine iron chest.】

Qiyu：？

He stared at the treasure chest in surprise and couldn’t help but walk to the water’s edge to take a closer look at the lake. No matter how he looked at it, the water didn’t seem like the kind of place that would hide a treasure chest.

Where on earth did he fish it out from?

Still, survival games never lie—it really was a treasure chest. He opened it.

【Obtained 1 Woven Flower Rug, 1 Down Jacket Blueprint.】

All of them were daily necessities, and they all looked very practical.

Especially the down jacket blueprint. The weather is getting colder and colder, and thanks to the swifts’ activity, everyone has stockpiled plenty of feathers.

He was definitely having some good luck today. Thank you, seven-colored flower. 

Qiyu’s curiosity about the fishing rod has now reached its peak.

He cast his fishing line into the lake once more and didn’t waste any time waiting; the lounge chair helped him focus his mind, so he stayed there a little longer than usual.

The fishing rod trembled again.

This time it was a light tug, and he reeled it in effortlessly.

[Obtained one copy of the Aora Empire Capital Times.] 

What on earth is this?

Qiyu pulled it out. It wasn’t wrapped in any newspaper at all—it was just hanging there on the hook. Amazingly, it wasn’t even wet. He took it off and unfolded it.

【Announcement from the Mages Association: An Honorary Elder of the Association has successfully advanced to the rank of magic saint. As that distinguished individual dislikes fanfare, the celebration has been canceled.】

【The Royal Court announces that preparations for the Stellar Trade Fair, to be held in late spring this year, are now complete. Distinguished guests planning to visit the Royal Capital in advance are welcome to contact us at any time.】 

【Confirmed news: His Highness Prince Sola successfully advanced beyond the Second-Tier Mage rank last month. His Majesty personally praised him as a magical genius rarely seen in the royal family in a century.】

There were some scattered items on the pages, including advertisements for XX brand products and reports on the visit of a certain royal delegation; Qiyu skimmed through them and soon forgot them.

On the back page, however, there was a story. Qiyu read it with great interest.

After finishing the newspaper, he was startled to realize he’d unknowingly spent over half an hour by the small lake. He’d originally just intended to check out the resource point.

He kept his eyes fixed on the fishing rod and probed it with magic to see if some kind of charm spell had actually been cast on it. How else could it be so captivating? 

Qiyu forced himself to stand up.

Fishing was fun, but he had more important things to do today.

He planned to head back to the Black Forest and dig up as many of the ancient black trees as possible.

Since the one he’d planted could restore life in his domain, the others surely could as well.

Black ancient trees—just by looking at them, one could tell they were no ordinary trees. If he managed to keep them alive, they might even turn out to be purple-quality lifeforms he’d never seen before. 

Unfortunately, he had searched the magical plant encyclopedia for a long time last night but couldn’t find a species that matched its appearance. 

Upon returning to the shelter, Qiyu changed into warm clothes and then slipped on his Guardian Mage Robe.

Before leaving the shelter, he casually crafted 20 energy towers and listed them on his trading page.

【1 Common Energy Tower: Exchange for 100 units of blue-quality wood or stone materials. Note: Energy towers require magic crystals to be charged for use.】

Energy towers are an absolute must-have at this stage.

He had checked the trading board and noticed that shelter-related defensive items were selling at extremely high prices there. Most of these items were consumables, and none could compare to the energy tower.

The current swift points event has elevated the importance of energy towers to a whole new level.

He listed the item for sale and set off immediately—he had such a long distance to travel and so many trees to chop down. Before he could start chopping, he might encounter an attack by Swifts.

He had to make the most of his time.

He paid no attention at all to the uproar the term “energy tower” had caused in the regional chat channel.

【Cockroach Taste Is So Weird: Holy crap, an energy tower? Am I dreaming? While newbies are manually battling Swifts with melee weapons, has the top player already started playing tower defense games?】

【Irritable Brother: …No wonder the points are so… How can we even compare?】

【Twilight Morning Song: I guessed the top player had shelter protection items, but I didn’t expect him to be so wealthy that he could actually sell energy towers.】

【Liver Emperor: Are your fingers that fast? I only managed to snag a seat!】 

【A Stray By The Road: Don’t whine just because you snagged a seat. The big shots’ resource cards are way too locked down—they should at least let us trade for emerald crystals or something. I don’t have any blue-quality wood or stone materials, so I just had to watch as everything sold out in an instant.】

【Little Old Me: So that’s why the big shots’ scores go up so fast. As long as you have enough energy towers and enough potions to attract mutated creatures, you can just farm points on autopilot.】

【Selling Sunflower Seeds and Soda: Everyone’s so rich… I don’t have any blue-quality wood or stone materials, nor do I have any magic crystals.】

【Hundred Ghosts Rebellion: They’re just selling this stuff to the top players on the leaderboard, heh. They never even considered us regular folks.】

【Irritable Brother: What, are ordinary people God? Should the big shots lose money just to consider your feelings?】

Little Old Me saw the energy tower, and his heart sank a little. 

He was under My Fate, not in the heavens. In his eyes, he was nothing but a blood bag right now. Once he’s squeezed every last drop of value out of him, he’ll be useless.

What he’d been keeping his eye on was that “I Love Survival Games”, which, despite being just a lifestyle gamer, had consistently dominated the top spot on all three leaderboards in Server 01. 

Even though there are people on the Daily Channel constantly making snide remarks like “It’s just a lifestyle job” or “It’ll lose its appeal sooner or later,” the only ones who actually listen to that and believe it are probably idiots like “My Fate Is Determined by Me, Not the Heavens” 

He’s already underestimated I Love Survival Game.

But since he’s never been number one on the leaderboard, he has no idea how prestigious it is to top the Shelter rankings. 

What does it mean that he can easily pull out 20 energy towers to list on the trading board?

It shows he has far more than 20 energy towers—and that energy towers are by no means his only trump card.

No one is stupid enough to put up for sale the very things that keep them alive—not even “My Fate is Determined by Me, Not the Heavens” would be that foolish. 

Little Old Me took a deep breath: With 20 energy towers on the market, some of the people who don’t have my best interests at heart in I Love Survival Game will probably have to think twice.

If they want to stir up trouble, they’ll have to figure out whether they can withstand a barrage from dozens or even hundreds of energy towers.