Am I the old man who's always by my apprentices' side?

Chapter 3 Campfire and Broth

Seeing that his apprentice was very obedient, Zhang Chengdao nodded in satisfaction.

If he remembered correctly, this guy was originally cast as a notorious good-natured protagonist, and if he didn't keep an eye on him, he might suffer in the future.

However, since they were already considered one of their own, Zhang Chengdao decided to take out the "Elementary Qi Refining Book" and let Chang Ping'an try to see if he could cultivate it.

To everyone's surprise, as soon as I opened the panel, I found that the "Character" section, which was grayed out next to the backpack, had suddenly become lit up!

He instinctively opened it and found that his newly accepted apprentice, Chang Ping'an, was actually inside!

To be precise, it was Chang Ping'an's personal panel lying inside!

Of course, unlike the panels in games that clearly show various values ​​such as health, attack, and defense, Chang Ping'an's panel only has two columns: realm and status.

The former displays "not cultivated", the latter displays...

"Enduring hunger and thirst!"?

Upon seeing these four words, Zhang Chengdao immediately abandoned his intention to obtain the "Elementary Qi Refining Manual".

You can't expect your apprentice to train on an empty stomach, can you? Even a capitalist hanging from a streetlamp wouldn't do something like that!
Zhang Chengdao flipped through his panel. In the construction section, there were only a few things that were lit up and could be built. The simplest building related to cooking was the [Campfire], which was a campfire.

God knows why a campfire is classified as an "architecture"!
Despite his complaints, Zhang Chengdao still planned to craft the Campfire first, as it required 10 units of stone and 5 units of wood, making it one of the buildings with the fewest required materials.

I just don't know exactly how many units of stone and 5 units of wood there are, or how to calculate them.

Zhang Chengdao tentatively broke off a branch, glanced at the unchanged material requirements section, thought for a moment, and then tossed the branch into his backpack.

Sure enough, the original requirement of 0/5 wood immediately became 0.1/5!

It turns out that all you need to do is put the materials into your backpack, and it will automatically calculate!
What the heck is this "0.1"?!
So Zhang Chengdao broke off an even larger branch, twice the size of the previous one, and put it in his backpack.

This time, 0.1/5 became 0.3/5!

Sure enough, the size of the tree branch affected the statistical value!
“Disciple,” Zhang Chengdao began to instruct Chang Ping’an after he had almost figured out how to use the cheat system: “Gather some branches and stones nearby, no matter how big or small. As a cultivator, I can live on wind and dew, but you can’t do that.”

Upon hearing this, Chang Ping'an said with shame, "This disciple is not hungry, Master, you don't need to be so concerned about this disciple!"

Zhang Chengdao glanced at Chang Ping'an's status bar in the "Character" section and rolled his eyes: "Do you think I don't know whether you're hungry or not? Just go when I tell you to! Stop talking so much nonsense!"

Now, Chang Ping'an dared not say another word. He quickly broke off branches from the nearest tree, bundled them together, and began sweeping away the surrounding snow so that he could pick up the pebbles buried under the snow.

Although he didn't quite understand what these things had to do with whether he was hungry or not, he dared not ask any questions since a master had finally agreed to take him as a disciple!

Zhang Chengdao wasn't idle either. He originally wanted to break off some tree branches, but when he turned his head and looked at the gleaming blue stone, a thought struck him.

The snow had stopped. The blue stone was where he had sat while meditating. Since he had only stood up recently, a layer of water had melted on the surface of the stone. If he sat on it again, his bottom would definitely get very wet.

But that's not the point. The point is...

Is it possible to simply put this rock into my backpack?

With this in mind, Zhang Chengdao reached out and touched the stone, manipulating it with his mind as if he were placing other things there.

Unfortunately, it didn't work no matter how hard I tried.

But Zhang Chengdao did not give up. He gritted his teeth, channeled the limited spiritual energy within his body, lifted the bluestone with both hands, and gave it a final, powerful pull—

He actually managed to lift the bluestone, which weighed several hundred kilograms, using his spiritual power!
Although it was only a very narrow gap from the ground, and it was wobbly, it was indeed lifted up!
Then, Zhang Chengdao tossed the bluestone he had lifted with his spiritual power into his backpack—

"It actually went in!" Chang Ping'an, who happened to glance at Zhang Chengdao, was stunned when he saw this scene. His admiration was palpable.

Although once one cultivates martial arts to the level of an eighth-rank martial artist or above, lifting a boulder weighing several hundred kilograms is not difficult, but making the boulder disappear...

That's unheard of!
Unless the boulder is smashed into pieces, which would be another form of "disappearance," but that would still leave behind a pile of rubble and dust!

Chang Ping'an was stunned for a moment when he heard Zhang Chengdao's instructions: "No need to pick up stones, just get more wood... just tree branches will do!"

"got it!"

Chang Ping'an responded and quickly sped up the process of breaking off tree branches.

Zhang Chengdao, meanwhile, looked at the 171.1/10 required stones in the materials list and was extremely pleased with himself.

This cheat code is really useful!
Before long, Chang Ping'an brought over a pile of branches. These branches had been covered by snow for a long time, so some were tough and others were even wet from the melted snow. They would definitely not be able to start a fire if used normally.

But the game's building system is illogical.

After tossing a bunch of branches into his backpack, Zhang Chengdao easily crafted the [Campfire] and placed it on the ground, right where the blue stone that had been vacated after he put it into his backpack was.

The orange glow of the fire reflected on the white snow, and the branches in the fire crackled as they burned. Chang Ping'an, who was standing nearby, was stunned.

Creating something out of thin air?

Regardless of Chang Ping'an's shock, Zhang Chengdao was somewhat perplexed when faced with the campfire, which had some cooking functions.

The simplest soups, lean meat soup and wild vegetable soup, require either "animal meat" or "wild vegetables," neither of which he had.

but……

Zhang Chengdao then looked at the two membership red envelopes in his backpack.

Logically, the member's bonus should contain everything in the game, including various materials.

When he played the game, besides [Kudzu Root Soup] and [Traumatism Powder], he often got eggs and meat from the boxes. Of course, he would also get other food items, since the game had a hunger system, so there were a lot of recipes, which made up a large proportion of the blind boxes...

Anyway, let's try drawing one first.

In the past, every time he opened a blind box, he would grit his teeth for wasting a blind box. But this time, he began to look forward to getting food.

Even the cheapest eggs or meat will do!
Zhang Chengdao manipulated the device with his mind, and as soon as he opened the red envelope, an item suddenly appeared in his backpack. It was a rare item with a dark blue checkered background, which meant that the item was also very valuable!

Upon closer inspection, he recognized it as the blue-grade treasure [Zouwu Bell] from the game!
[Zouwu Bell: The wearer of this bell gains 1 point of movement speed]

Treasures are items that villagers can wear in the game, and they have different effects. The highest level is the top-tier treasure of orange quality, followed by the advanced treasure of purple quality, and then the common treasure of blue quality.

The [Zouwu Bell], though only blue quality, is still a treasure! It's extremely rare in the game! At least, I've never gotten it from an opening!
For a moment, Zhang Chengdao was both happy and speechless—although he was indeed very happy to have drawn a treasure, it didn't solve his problem of eating!

My apprentice is starving to death!

Having no other choice, Zhang Chengdao opened a second red envelope. Fortunately, this time, the law of conservation of Europium and Africa was manifested in him, and he indeed opened a set of animal meat.

Open the cooking panel, select [Lean Meat Soup], consume 1 portion of beast meat, synthesize, wait 2 seconds, and a bowl of [Lean Meat Soup] will appear in your inventory. It's convenient and quick, requiring no seasoning or even water.

“Here,” Zhang Chengdao took out the lean meat soup from his backpack and handed it to Chang Ping’an, saying, “Make do with this for now. Things are indeed a bit tough right now. If it’s not enough, I have more!”

Chang Ping'an looked at the steaming bowl of meat soup in his master's hand with a bewildered expression.

Where did this come from?!
(End of this chapter)