Looking at the message from Faye Yardley, Zachary Pierce was certain she had a large weapon she couldn't use.
It made sense. She had trouble even using an Iron Axe and had traded it for supplies, so this new weapon was likely the same.
"What is it? Send it to me so I can see."
"2-Meter Greatsword.jpg"
Faye Yardley used the last bit of time she had to quickly browse messages from people wanting to trade. She ignored everything else for the moment, focusing on finding a Space Stone. Her priority was to successfully craft the backpack from its blueprint. 'What if I need to carry a lot of things in the Dungeon? You can never have too many backpacks.'
Seeing the large iron pot and horseshoe crab shell, Faye Yardley quickly opened her door, took them out, and placed them outside. It would be good to collect some rainwater with them. 'I can't drink it, but I can use it to wash my face or wipe the floor.'
There was also an iron box she'd been using as a stool, or even a backrest. Now she could put it outside with the lid open to collect rainwater, too.
She organized her backpack. Out of a total of 20 slots, two harpoons, a Basic Iron Axe, a dagger, and a pair of scissors took up four slots. They were weapons, after all, so keeping them in the front slots made for easy access.
She had a wooden box that she used for miscellaneous odds and ends. Now, she moved some things she wouldn't need into her room, freeing up the box to be used exclusively for food and water. She didn't want to starve or die of thirst in the Dungeon.
She also stored two torches in her backpack; it would be a waste to leave them outside to burn away for nothing.
Bandages and Hemostatic Pills were also essential, of course. They weren't very large, so if she ran out of inventory space, she could squeeze them into the box with her food.
'That's eight slots filled, which leaves twelve free. If I can just get a Space Stone before the Dungeon opens, I'll have another ten slots.'
Zachary Pierce had sent several urgent messages about wanting to trade, but Faye Yardley hadn't replied. Now that her backpack was more or less organized, she finally sent a reply: "Do you have a Space Stone? You can trade it for the greatsword."
"Is a Space Stone the only thing you'll accept?"
Faye Yardley blinked, momentarily unsure how to answer. 'A Space Stone is what I need most right now,' she thought. 'Of course, I need other things too, but those can wait.'
'But the problem is, he's about to be my teammate... he's my lifeline!'
So, gritting her teeth, Faye Yardley packaged the greatsword she had just been using as a grill rack into a Red Envelope and sent it over.
[Dear players, the trial Dungeon will open in five minutes. Please prepare yourselves.]
Just then, the group chat showed 99+ unread messages. 'So that's the biggest difference,' she realized. 'There's no limit to how much you can post in the group chat, but you can only send three messages on the public channel every twelve hours.'
Faye Yardley took a look; many of the messages were @-mentioning her.
Wade Warren: @Faye Yardley, group leader, can you trade me a Basic Iron Axe? Is wood x50 and iron x10 enough?
Leo Sloan: @Faye Yardley, group leader, I sent a Red Envelope. Please help me make two torches, for the same price as before.
Bonnie Callahan: Can anyone team up with me? I discovered you can enter the Dungeon in teams, but only in squads of two.
Faye Yardley quickly accepted the Red Envelopes from Wade Warren and Leo Sloan, then swiftly crafted the Basic Iron Axe and torches they wanted at her workbench and sent them over.
Just as she finished, a 10-second countdown to enter the Dungeon began.
Faye Yardley checked herself over and found nothing wrong. She took a deep breath, preparing to face the unknown trial Dungeon.
3...
2...
1!
Faye Yardley vanished from her raft and reappeared on the sandy beach of a small island. Beside her stood a tall, handsome man.
"Mr. Pierce?" Faye Yardley had barely gotten the name out before she shrieked, "Watch out!"
As she spoke, she pulled a harpoon from her inventory and hurled it toward the space behind him.
Zachary Pierce's reactions were indeed swift. He had just started to turn but instantly spun back around, a two-meter-long greatsword already in his hand. He split a large crab that had just emerged from the sand into two halves.
[Congratulations, player. You have successfully killed one crab. Team points +1]
Faye Yardley ran over to retrieve her harpoon, only to find that it had indeed speared a gopher, which was still squealing frantically.
Zachary Pierce came over, greatsword in hand, and sliced it in two.
Points +3.
Faye Yardley's eyes instantly lit up. She went to loot the corpse. [One Gopher found. Break it down?]
"Yes, yes, yes."
[Obtained: stones +2.]
"Mr. Pierce, quick, loot the crab's body! You'll get materials if you break it down."
"Okay."
Faye Yardley was so thankful she had called for backup. Otherwise, relying on herself... 'It's not that I couldn't have handled it... but it would have been incredibly tough.'
Faye Yardley, who had just been about to tell herself she'd have been fine, immediately changed her mind. Mobs were beginning to pop up one after another in a three-meter radius around them.
'What kind of "trial event" is this?'
'You have to kill a pile of monsters the moment you get here.'
'What are people who came with nothing supposed to do?'
While Faye Yardley stood gripping her harpoon, still thinking nervously, Zachary Pierce had already begun to carve a path in every direction with his two-meter greatsword, his swings wide and powerful.
All she could hear was the chime of notifications: Points +1, +1, +3, +2, +1, +1, +2...
"Watch yourself, don't get clipped by my blade. Wait for me to clear this area, then you can go loot the bodies."
"Oh, oh, okay."
At first, Faye Yardley was still looting the bodies carefully, but she soon realized her looting speed couldn't keep up with the rate at which Zachary Pierce was killing the mobs.
She just kept bent over, looting and looting. Some of the corpses even despawned because she wasn't fast enough. 'That's just ridiculous!'
Eventually, Faye Yardley put away her harpoon and started jogging around, looting with both hands. Before she knew it, she discovered her backpack was almost full.
"Mr. Pierce, do you have any space left in your backpack? Let's finish looting this wave and head further onto the island, okay? Then we can divide up the supplies we've gathered." Faye Yardley was worried the system would spawn a second wave if they stayed there.
"Okay, my backpack is completely full," Zachary Pierce said. Now, unless the items he broke down were of a type that stacked, they would just appear on the ground beside him.
"Huh? Mr. Pierce, not far behind you—is that a treasure box in the water?"
"I'll finish breaking these down and then go take a look. You can come over and pick up the things I can't fit in my pack."
"Okay."
Faye Yardley felt she was incredibly lucky and had shown amazing foresight.
'With this many monsters, if I were alone, I would've been screaming in terror long ago, and I'd most likely be seriously injured by now.'
BEEP BEEP BEEP!
Someone was @-mentioning Faye Yardley in the group chat again.
Leo Sloan: @Faye Yardley, group leader, do you have any more Bandages? I just got swarmed by a mob of monsters, and my injured leg is bleeding again. The blood is making them attack more ferociously. Can I trade an unopened Iron Treasure Box for one?
Wade Warren: The public channel is grayed out now, so we can only use group chat or message friends directly. Thanks for the Iron Axe earlier, group leader. It was a huge help.
Faye Yardley checked her inventory; she had three Bandages and two Hemostatic Pills left. After a moment's hesitation, she gritted her teeth and agreed.