Chapter 18 – Reselling Axes for a Huge Profit

He went to the simple kitchen in the living carriage.

Although the kitchen was rudimentary, it had all the basic facilities like a stove and cooking utensils.

After lighting the fire and cooking the rice, Xiao Wuwang took out a pound of beast meat and began frying it in a flat pan.

Fortunately, he had brought all the seasonings from home, otherwise his proficient-level cooking skills would have had little room to shine.

This was a piece of meat obtained from breaking down a wild boar, with a good balance of fat and lean.

Once the beast meat was fried until slightly crispy on both sides, Xiao Wuwang skillfully brushed on some oyster sauce, then sprinkled a bit of salt, cumin powder, and other seasonings. As the sizzle echoed, the aroma of the beast meat gradually filled the air, making his stomach growl.

The wild boar meat here was unlike ordinary domestic pork—it was firm, chewy, and carried a unique fragrance.

Stimulated by the seasonings, it completely awakened Xiao Wuwang’s appetite.

After the roast meat was done, Xiao Wuwang took a closer look:

[Refined Roast Meat]

Trait: Carefully prepared by a high-level chef, increases Fatigue Points recovery speed by 20%

——————

This effect was indeed much better than instant noodles!

At this point, the rice was almost ready too.

[Polished White Rice]

Trait: Made by a high-level chef, soft, sticky, and sweet, increases Fatigue Points recovery speed by 10%

——————

Consuming multiple foods together does not directly stack their effects.

However, with proper pairing, they can have a wonderful synergistic effect, and the overall benefit will be greater than the highest value of any single food.

For example, combining polished white rice with refined roast meat now, after consuming both, increases Xiao Wuwang’s Fatigue Points recovery speed by 25%.

Currently, the ingredients are still too limited, especially with no vegetables at all, making this meal a bit monotonous. Otherwise, the improvement could have been even better.

After finishing the meal, Xiao Wuwang finally opened the Trading House.

A pleasant surprise awaited him—all 89 portions of food had been redeemed!

Xiao Wuwang obtained a total of 31 broken axes, 4 broken mining picks, and 19 scrapped axes.

He appraised all the axes and mining picks that still had durability.

Among them, there was 1 Superior-grade axe, 4 Fine-grade axes, 12 Excellent-grade axes, and the rest were Common-grade, which held little value.

As for the four mining picks, one was Excellent-grade and another was Fine-grade!

What a huge profit!

Just by upgrading one Excellent-grade axe to Level 1 and selling it, he could likely recover the resources equivalent to the value of those 89 portions of food.

Everything beyond that would be pure profit!

For the foreseeable future, wood would remain a resource everyone needed, whether for upgrades or fuel.

Given this, these axes would have no trouble selling at all!

Xiao Wuwang checked his Fatigue Points—he still had 42 left.

So, he upgraded two Excellent-grade axes and anonymously listed them on the auction house.

He set one to be exchanged for 5 units of rare metal and the other for a Train Upgrade Shard.

Both 5 units of rare metal and Train Upgrade Shards could potentially be obtained from opening chests. Those who had these resources but lacked axes were still quite likely to make the exchange.

It could be said that now was the best time to collect these rare materials.

His Fatigue Points decreased by 24 points. On average, upgrading a Level 0 piece of equipment now consumed 3 fewer Fatigue Points than before—a benefit brought by the improvement in his base attributes.

With only 18 Fatigue Points left, Xiao Wuwang felt utterly exhausted, yet he forced himself to take a quick shower before collapsing onto the simple wooden bed.

For most people, resting typically restores 2-3 Fatigue Points every 10 minutes. Under normal circumstances, a full night’s rest would replenish Fatigue Points to their maximum by the next morning.

However, Xiao Wuwang’s Talent allowed him to use Fatigue Points to upgrade items, and he still had many Iron Axes and mining picks waiting to be upgraded. Naturally, the faster his Fatigue Points recovered, the better.

Thanks to the dinner bonus combined with the Living Carriage’s effect, Xiao Wuwang’s Fatigue Point recovery rate was now increased by 35%.

On top of that, the Crimson Flame Bear’s blood further doubled his overall recovery speed!

Combined, Xiao Wuwang could now recover roughly 1 Fatigue Point per minute!

While waiting for his Fatigue Points to replenish, Xiao Wuwang opened the Chat Room.

It was already well past 6 p.m., meaning no treasure chests would respawn on the tracks. With darkness having fallen, even if there were mineral deposits, they would be impossible to spot. Those who had finished dinner but weren’t yet asleep mostly gathered in the Chat Room to pass the time, making this the liveliest period of the day.

At the moment, the group was heatedly discussing whether to keep the train moving or bring it to a halt.

Passerby A: 【After upgrading the train to Level 1, starting it consumes 10 units of Wood per hour. With no treasure chests to collect and no way to spot mineral deposits now, all you Big Shots who’ve already upgraded—are you stopping your trains or continuing to burn Wood to keep moving?】

Rice Bowl Hero: 【I upgraded, but now I’m stuck idling because I ran out of Wood right after upgrading!】

Heartbroken Kitten: 【I envy you Big Shots who could upgrade! Sigh~ I’m still 10 Wood short and can’t upgrade, wooo…】

Wu Jiechao: 【I have a question too—if the train runs out of fuel and stalls tomorrow morning at 8 a.m., will it still Pull Into Station?】

Good Folk Stay Flat-Chested: 【What are you thinking? Didn’t you notice during the first station arrival? The train seemed to pass through a barrier when it entered the station. How could it pass through if it isn’t even moving?】

Rice Bowl Hero: 【That makes a lot of sense. I’d better stock up on some Wood first. Anyone have extra Wood? I can trade half a box of matches for it.】

Wu Jiechao: 【@Good Folk Stay Flat-Chested, Good thing I saved some Wood. Otherwise, if the train stalled during tomorrow’s station arrival, wouldn’t I miss the chance to collect resources at the station?】

Overlord Don’t Rush: 【So if it makes no difference whether the train moves or not, why not just stop it? Wouldn’t that save dozens of units of Wood overnight?】

I’m Zhang Lang Not a Cockroach: 【You’d save Wood, but I doubt the system would leave such a big loophole for everyone to exploit.】

Hu Tutu: 【By the way, I have a Talent that speeds up the train, but it also increases fuel consumption. Doesn’t that make my Talent pretty useless?!】

Immortal God King: 【@Hu Tutu, You’re a Talent holder too? What exactly does your Talent do?】

Hu Tutu: 【@Immortal God King, Do you also have a Talent?】

Immortal God King: 【@Hu Tutu, Yes! I suspect there aren’t many people with Talents. Let’s exchange ideas and see how to maximize our Talents’ potential.】

Hu Tutu: 【@Immortal God King, Let’s Private Message!】

Yi Xiao Zui: 【Don’t be like that! Give us a rundown on what Talents are and what’s so special about them!】

Unfortunately, neither of them paid any attention to them.

When Xiao Wuwang saw “Hu Tutu,” his heart stirred slightly.

Many people didn’t know that after the novice period ended, a Leaderboard would appear.

One of these Leaderboards was for travel distance, competing to see who could cover the farthest mileage!

The higher the ranking, the better the rewards, naturally.

In his Previous Life, the top spot on this Leaderboard was often claimed by “Hu Tutu”!

So he had a Talent for speeding up the train—no wonder!

Moreover, traveling farther wasn’t just about this benefit.

The farther one went, the higher the probability and Quality of encountering treasure chests, as well as the greater the chance of stumbling upon resource points!

Thus, later on, once everyone realized this pattern, they no longer minded the fuel consumption and all moved forward at full speed.

Xiao Wuwang remembered that the reward for the first top spot was quite generous, but if “Hu Tutu” kept moving at full speed, Xiao Wuwang’s chances of competing for this Leaderboard were very, very slim.

However, he wasn’t entirely without opportunities. Right now, if “Hu Tutu” wanted to level up quickly, he would need to accumulate Wood resources, so he probably wouldn’t move at full speed at night.

And Xiao Wuwang also had a Talent—he could obtain various resources in large quantities through his Talent, allowing him to level up quickly while maintaining full-speed travel.