Terra Tinkers Construct is fine.

...Forget about trying to survive in the wilderness far from human habitation in this forest.

Thinking of this, he smiled, turned around, and crawled back into the hole.

The wind and snow never cease on the Ursus wasteland.

Time never stands still, and neither does the Yeti Squad's journey; after leaving the woodland that provided Milan with vital starting resources, the squad broke camp again, and their march returned to normal.

As time went on, Milan gradually integrated into this resilient group of infected individuals, in a unique way.

"Master Milan."

"Master Milan!"

Every day after setting up camp, he faithfully performed his craftsman's duties: Yetis would come to him with worn-out tools, broken parts, or damaged items; his workbench became a sight to behold in the camp, as the convenience of working on it made the scene quite visually striking in every sense.

Amidst the dazzling maneuvers, some weathered equipment manages to at least superficially regain its former glory—such as the trigger of a crossbow, the transforming armor, and even faucets and Originium heaters.

His superb skills (and trickery) earned him the genuine respect of the Yetis, and the title "Master Milan" carried a more sincere tone.

It's because these silly bears are so sincere that Milan always feels like the downstairs repairman who runs a hardware store, repairs appliances, and fixes electric tires on the side.

...It feels like an April Fool's Day event has been integrated into a campaign where soldiers are called college students.

However, Milan was just as famous as his craftsmanship for his "meticulous" temperament: he didn't care about the materials he used to repair items for the Yetis, but when he was tinkering with things himself, he would always find ways to make up for the shortfall by requesting materials from the camp's warehouse—even leather that had been stored away for a long time, scrap iron that had been rusted for years, and account books from some unknown Ursus outpost that no one knew who had secretly stuffed into the warehouse.

He always insisted on actions that conformed to the principle of "exchange," even though Petrova tried to persuade him several times that the Yeti didn't care about such things, he just smiled and shook his head.

"Only when you borrow and return something can you feel at ease; if the rules are not followed, then they are meaningless."

"...If those *Ursus swearing* black dog tax collectors in the Empire could calculate accounts as clearly as you, we probably wouldn't have ended up like this today."

Over time, the Yetis stopped paying attention to the minor details about him. Just as he seemed to blend into the Yeti team, the Yetis gradually accepted that "it's not surprising that Master Milan behaves a little strangely."

What they didn't know was that among Milan's various strange requests for supplies were a few inconspicuous raw potatoes; and those raw potatoes, in just a few days, lost their childhood in the basement where he secretly cultivated them, and were quickly grown and harvested through bone meal, completely solving Milan's hunger anxiety.

Now that he has settled down, he can devote more energy to the important project that he has made his core focus since the first day he transmigrated: Originium.

The atmosphere in the camp was subtly changing.

After each campsite was set up, Milan would dig a small basement on the edge of the camp and stay inside for quite some time. The yetis, having seen this many times, were no longer astonished as they had been at the beginning; and just as the yetis adapted, Milan's little creations gradually brought changes to their lives—

Charcoal made from a whole cubic log has received rave reviews. This solid fuel, which can only be used to burn eight items in the game, can be kept burning in a campfire for two nights with some left over. It provides stable and abundant heat, greatly improving the conditions for cooking and heating.

Torches have become the mascots of the camp: they emit stable light regardless of wind and snow, and have their own unique, almost conceptual "constant temperature zone". Although the temperature is not high, they are not only precious in the wind and snow of Ursus, but also indispensable. Torches were given priority to sentries and the wounded, creating a comfortable environment in the harsh conditions.

Slightly increased the chance of Frostnova spawning outside tents with torches.

"Let's discuss something, boss. Master Milan is so skilled and a good person. Why don't we talk to her and see if we can formally invite him to join the Yeti?"

It's unclear which Yeti member mentioned this while chatting around the campfire, but the conversation quickly spread to Petrova, who in turn passed it on to Frostnova... while Frostnova remained silent.

"hold on."

She said, "We'll talk about it after we meet up with the old stubborn guy... Shield Guard."

Moreover, he might not be willing to join us—looking at her family members who had followed her for many years, Frostnova thought for a moment but still didn't say it directly: unlike their immediate thoughts due to the increasing convenience they felt, she saw and thought about much more.

For example, Milan's rules and boundaries are too clearly defined.

There was another idea she had considered for a long time: although it seemed a bit unbelievable for someone who had survived a natural disaster, was there a possibility, just a possibility, that is—

Milan is not infected at all.

And... even without Cannot, without us, just based on Milan's abilities as we've seen so far—even in this wasteland, he has a way to survive, and even survive better than us?

Chapter 17 - Unexpected Events

The passage of time is fair to everyone.

So much so that Frostnova and the Yetis have made "whether to formally invite Milan to join them" a formal topic of discussion.

So what was Milan doing during this time?

Milan is doing research.

"Originium..."

Terra World, Ursus Wilderness, Yeti Squad Camp, Basement.

Milan snapped out of his reverie at the workbench and opened his eyes to reality; the basement was brightly lit, but he still took a deep breath and then sighed.

Before him was a fading green light net, the light from the workbench's analytical work was fading, and the Originium ore he had obtained from the Yeti Squad was floating on the workbench's surface.

It remained silent.

"...It's stuck again."

Milan rubbed her temples.

Several days have passed since he successfully triggered the Tinkers' Construct expansion and performed [Iterative Analysis] on the rock material to link it to the module database. This success greatly boosted his confidence, and he began to analyze the properties of more and more materials in the Yeti's warehouse. His initial idea was wonderful—since the quest is linked to memory, and as everyone knows, Tinkers' Construct is a furnace that can stuff anything into.

Then [Originium] should also be able to be analyzed and become a page in his Tinker's Soul Codex, or even unlock more transcendent terms in his hands - after all, it can support a civilization on this land and be used by so many races, so one more of him won't make much difference, right?

Reality, however, dealt him a heavy blow.

Milan's first problem in his analysis work was "database missing": at least before Milan's transmigration, this thing was not in the Artisan's Soul component of the Integrator Pack he was working on; the analysis function of the workbench is essentially to read the substances he touches and connects with as information, and then match and map them with the huge module material library associated with his memory.

Without matching items, you have to build a data model from scratch, which is like typing out a program by typing binary characters of 0101 on a blank hard drive without any software tools. The progress bar is incredibly slow.

As we all know, Minecraft is all-encompassing. It's not that he hasn't tried other Arknights mods and used items or materials that were set as "Originium" in them—but the cheats don't recognize them.

Good news: Through this experience in Milan, I've roughly figured out that my skill level is actually ridiculously high. At least if I can handle coding—it seems not impossible to do something like "information-energy-matter transformation based on the unified information theory," which involves editing reality.

The bad news is that such things are quite distant for him, and the seemingly insignificant hurdles in them have become the biggest obstacle preventing him from studying this land.

As for the second question...

【Originium】is not just a type of mineral.

It is more like a material carrier that is alive in a certain sense and has the ability to interfere with information; when Milan's analytical ability probes into the label layer of the Originium, the information that floods into his consciousness is completely different from that of rocks and wood - not just simple material properties.

It also includes a massive, chaotic, and disordered stream of fragmented information!

Indistinct screams, fragmented images, painful sensations, even incomprehensible mathematical formulas and snippets of some high-precision equipment—this torrent of information, like a mudslide, constantly battered his efforts to build a stable data model.

May he open his eyes every day with the realization, "Ah, we must believe that Sisyphus is happy."

"...The Originium's prestige in the game's setting is no joke..."

Milan rubbed his throbbing temples, forcing himself to detach himself from the unsettling fragments of information… and the failure of his third analysis attempt today; he was certainly familiar with the game corresponding to this land, so when he recalled the various hints and explicit statements in the game text regarding the nature of Originium—

A tombstone of civilization, a carrier of information, a manifestation of some kind of information access protocol, and the Balabala Sea whose name I've forgotten... Ah, how should I put it? As expected of a masterpiece attempting to perpetuate civilization from a higher-dimensional disaster, it's truly not easy to deal with?

"It seems that the progress we can make with just the Yeti sample is limited."

Thinking of this, he sighed again: the food he had to replenish his satiety level could only save him from starvation, but it was still a bit meager for "reckless analysis work"; and the analysis of Originium was different from what he had imagined. This thing could not perfectly preserve the progress every time... or rather, every time he changed the Originium sample, it would dilute the original analysis progress because it touched more information.

He needs more diverse contacts: for example, more advanced samples, more understanding and application of Originium by the civilizations of this land, or more direct contact...

“Enemy attack—!!!”

Just as he was about to tidy up the basement, clean up the traces, and go back to his tent to sleep, as he had done so before... a loud roar accompanied by an alarm broke the tranquility he had grown accustomed to these past few days.

"what?"

Milan was instantly jolted awake from his deep study!

He stood up abruptly, swung his stone axe a few times, knocking down the work blocks placed in the basement, and put the torches back into his inventory one by one, leaving only one in his left hand to provide him with illumination through dynamic lighting.

The sounds on the ground also became noisy at the same time. The well-trained shouts of the Yetis, the neighing of the pack animals, and the barking of the hunting dogs all indicated that they had started to move.

He quickly climbed up to the cave entrance.

Then I heard chaotic shouts of killing mixed with unfriendly and vulgar slang coming from a certain direction, getting closer and closer.

The Yeti's voice was clearer. He saw the Yetis in the various tents of the camp preparing and assembling. Some of their voices were heavy with anger as they muttered curses in a low voice:

"It's those *Ursus swearing* black dogs!"

Ursus army?

Milan frowned and bit her lip.

He couldn't see it very clearly.

In the snowy night, shadowy figures crisscrossed the outer edge of the camp: the Yeti squad's planning was indeed a true inheritance from the Shield Guards. This enemy, whose origins were unknown, did not intrude into the camp. Instead, they were discovered by the sentries on the outskirts and caught off guard by the Yetis who had been alerted.

The altar-shaped Originium devices in the Yeti camp, which usually seemed useless, were lit up one after another. The Originium emitted a cold glow and created air currents even colder than the glow. A snowstorm blew in the night that was not originally a snowy night. In the snowstorm, Yeti teams of three to five people were like fish in water.

They have always been a specialized force, particularly adept at fighting in snowstorms and extremely low temperatures.

Groups of three to five Yetis, like a pack of wolves, fully unleashed their sharp blades in the already harsh cold wind; the wind and snow swirled around their weapons, crossbow bolts accurately pinned the burly men in Ursus uniforms to the ground, and longswords, faintly gleaming with a cold light, whistled as they cleaved through Ursus sabers, cutting down the attackers' weapons along with the attackers themselves.

The icy blue light of Originium Arts flickered like fireflies on the battlefield, with occasional brighter halos appearing, always accompanied by screams of agony from an enemy in one direction.

But there are too many enemies!

This force, whose origins were unknown, seemed even more frenzied than the Yetis, who were a group of infected individuals. Milan could see that even the reinforcements that followed were not necessarily in good uniform; some were damaged and disheveled, and there even appeared to be wounded among them.

It was like being chased by a ghost from behind. If you didn't fight the Yeti in front of you, you would be more likely to have your life taken away by something behind you. —WI skirt Yi Ling Yin Shi Wu is wine (8) — But what was even stranger was that, he didn't know if it was Milan's imagination, but he always felt that when this group of people attacked the Yeti, in addition to their desperate madness, they seemed to have some kind of strange fanaticism.

...Wait, shouldn't you Yetis have some reputation in Ursus by now? Why are all sorts of Tom, Dick, and Harry pounceing on you like you've got military merit?

Milan suddenly felt an urge to complain.

But the appearance of more figures left him with little enthusiasm for complaining: he could tell from his own perspective that the enemy had split into at least two groups. One group was constantly approaching from the front, relentlessly putting pressure on the entire camp; the other group, howling, led by a small squad of Ursus spearmen, circled around and rushed towards the camp's relatively weak logistics area.

Yes, it consists of pack animals, supplies, wounded and sick personnel, and a few Yeti warriors responsible for overseeing all of these.

And himself—yes, Milan hasn't even gone through the process of "becoming a member of the Yeti team" yet; in the Yeti hierarchy, he's naturally classified as a "non-combatant."

"Master Milan!"

Petrova's voice rang out amidst the chaos. She wasn't particularly outstanding in combat, and in this kind of confusion, it would be better for her to guard the base in place of Frostnova than to join the fight. Vasya and Vasily were also beside her. She glanced at Milan's burrow, then quickly shook her head, dismissing a certain idea, and turned away while taking Milan's arm...

She yanked Milan's right hand, which was holding the stone axe, but instead of pulling him, she stumbled. Turning around with a look of astonishment, she quickly said, "Master Milan, the logistics department needs you. I remember you have the ability to turn supplies into blocks and then quickly stack them up with a rumble."

"I understand. Don't worry, I'm good at this."

He nodded and started running faster than the three Ursus men. Petrova, not caring about the oddities, quickly turned around and ran with him towards the logistics area, which was not far from the warehouse.

He raised his hand but didn't make any obvious movements.

Tons of dirt blocks appeared out of thin air, stacking up in the direction he pointed, like building blocks; he jumped onto the dirt blocks and ran in circles, and a wall made of dirt and cobblestone blocks was erected out of thin air, surrounding the logistics personnel and the warehouse.

Petrova: "Huh?"

"what?"

Vasily: "Huh?"

The three Ursus bears were completely dumbfounded: What is this thing?

Even the most professional craftsman wouldn't do something like this!

What is this innate Earth and Wood Sacred Body?

Their initial idea was simply to have Milan complicate the environment, ideally blocking out the aspects that were difficult to defend, reducing the pressure of defense from multiple directions, and concentrating the enemy's attacks on one side as much as possible.

After all, their combat force is small and their control area is limited; once they lock the enemy's attack direction to one side, it will be a battle of skill when they meet on a narrow path.

Do your best and have a clear conscience. As for whether you will die, that's up to fate.

What they really didn't expect was that Milan directly built a wall around the perimeter, effectively putting the target that needed protection into a safe.

To be fair, the Terrans are indeed incredibly strong... but if Ursus could easily take down even their grunts at such a defensive structure, they wouldn't have such a large territory today.

"Petrova!"

While the three... and a few more Yetis were momentarily stunned, Milan used the blocks as stepping stones to jump down from the high wall. He knocked the blocks away with his backhand and said to the group, "I don't need special protection. I'll guard this place from now on. You main force go support the front, and a few of you can stay behind to provide support from the side cover."

"what?"

Petrova was taken aback.

The younger Vasily hurriedly said, "Master Milan, what are you joking about! How can we leave our wounded brothers and sisters here and send a craftsman like you to the battlefield?"

As the enemy drew ever closer and the Yeti warriors began to set up defenses around them, Milan twitched the corners of his mouth, revealing an indescribable smile that seemed a little too exaggerated.

Do I look that easy to bully?

This young man, who called himself a craftsman and always had a gentle smile, was now exuding an aura completely different from his usual self. It was as if he was showing an aggression that they had never seen before, an aggression that was fundamentally different from that of the Ursus people. If someone familiar with Yan culture were here, they might understand that "a gentleman keeps his weapons hidden until the time is right" and "possessing a weapon will naturally give rise to murderous intent" are not contradictory.

But they didn't understand.

So, right before their eyes, Milan stretched his shoulders, turned around, and ran straight toward the enemy; in that short time, just as he could see the enemies, the enemies could also see his actions—they didn't know what was going on with the suddenly appearing wall, but if it was Originium Arts, eliminating the caster was definitely the most direct method, and they understood that as well.

"artisan!"