Apocalypse Arrives: I Become a Powerhouse by Scavenging
Chapter 32: Mocha Forest 3

Chapter 32: Chapter 32: Mocha Forest 3

Moira Lynch continued upstream, realizing that one pond probably wouldn’t be enough to hold everything.

After all, with something like Water-cooling Stones, the more, the better. She could already predict how popular they would be once she brought them back.

Previously, her shop had mostly sold food, aside from a few interstellar machines, and her customers were primarily ordinary people.

Ordinary people didn’t have much money. It was nowhere near as satisfying as reaping profits from the capitalists.

So she decided to dig several more ponds—and make them large—while also setting up a few more fishing nets in other locations.

Moira Lynch didn’t stop until she had filled one-third of the first pond with Water-cooling Stones. Only then did she climb out of the water and back onto the bank.

She used the Learning Machine to look up the small, silver fish in the stream. She learned they were a species called Silvermoon Fish, which preferred to live in extremely cold water—especially in areas with Water-cooling Stones.

During the day, Silvermoon Fish hide in the crevices between stones and only come out at night, making them extremely difficult to catch.

The flesh of the Silvermoon Fish was tender and delicate. It also had the miraculous ability to calm spiritual power and accelerate the healing of injuries, making it one of the signature dishes at the Mocha Restaurant.

Reading the description of the Silvermoon Fish, Moira Lynch finally understood why they were so expensive.

With these fish, the pressure on her would be greatly reduced.

In the forest, Moira Lynch extended her spiritual power. Ever since she broke through to level two, its range had expanded to about a hundred meters.

With the Silvermoon Fish as a safety net, much of the pressure on Moira Lynch was lifted. Since she still needed to search for Energy Ores, she decided to multitask again.

She tried to sense the fluctuations of Energy Ores underground while simultaneously using her spiritual power to collect any Water Wood Stones she came across into her storage space.

These were good for helping plants grow healthily and could shorten their growth cycle by half.

Water Wood Stones were far more numerous than Water-cooling Stones; a casual glance was enough to spot a large pile of them.

During the day, however, these Water Wood Stones looked just like ordinary, moss-covered pebbles. They couldn’t have been more plain.

In addition to those two tasks, Moira Lynch also had to keep an eye out for any potential ingredients along the way.

She was finding it more worthwhile to look for mushrooms than to hunt large animals.

Take the rabbit she’d painstakingly hunted earlier. While it had earned her twenty points, the whole process had wasted several hours. In that same amount of time, with a bit of luck, she could have found several termite mushrooms.

The scent of blood from butchering it could also easily attract other predators.

Besides, some plants were just as valuable as animals, if not more so.

After searching for an entire morning, Moira Lynch finally detected an unusual fluctuation coming from underground.

She hurried to the source of the fluctuation. A massive boulder dominated her view, and the precise location of the pulse was deep underground, right beneath it.

Moira Lynch simply raised a hand, storing the boulder in her space. Then she took out a large shovel and started to dig.

After digging for about half an hour, she hadn’t found any Energy Ores, but she had unearthed a number of red tubers that looked remarkably like sweet potatoes from Caelus.

She tossed a whole one into her basket, and the system indicated her points had increased by one.

Moira Lynch thought for a moment, then began storing these sweet-potato-like things in her space.

As the pit grew deeper, she could feel the fluctuations intensifying.

Finally, a few small, blue-green stones came into view.

The stones were so small that if she hadn’t sensed their fluctuations, Moira Lynch probably would have overlooked them completely.

She kept digging until the fluctuations disappeared completely. Moira Lynch counted them: five thumb-sized stones in total. They were crystal clear and beautiful, emitting a blue-green glow when held.

’These must be the Energy Ores the game system mentioned.’

’Great. That’s half the task done in one go.’

However, Moira Lynch quickly realized another problem: the fluctuations from these Energy Ores were incredibly weak.

She had only been lucky enough to find them this time because the fluctuations of all five had combined.

Moira Lynch sighed. Even so, she didn’t have a better solution. The only thing she could do was search more carefully.

Based on the depth where she had just found the Energy Ores, Moira Lynch began to push her spiritual power deeper underground.

Compared to the quiet forest above, the world underground was much livelier. All sorts of insects burrowed back and forth, creating subtle sounds.

A person wouldn’t normally be able to hear these noises, but under the blanket of her spiritual power, every subtle movement became incredibly distinct.

Just then, an unusual commotion came from about a hundred meters ahead. It sounded like other players were there.

Moira Lynch was about to turn and leave, but then she suddenly felt a familiar fluctuation from deep within the earth.

Moreover, this fluctuation was even stronger than the one before. ’If this goes well,’ she thought, ’I can pay back the Energy Ores I owe the system today.’

Moira Lynch didn’t rush over immediately. Judging by the sounds, they were clearly in a fight. ’I’d better camouflage myself first.’

She took out her sickle and began hacking away at the nearby tall grass.

Half an hour later, Moira Lynch had wrapped herself completely from head to toe, leaving only her eyes exposed.

Moira Lynch surveyed her handiwork with satisfaction. ’Looks like all my recent practice wasn’t for nothing,’ she mused. ’Before, I never could have wrapped myself up so neatly without restricting my movement.’

Once her camouflage was complete, Moira Lynch slipped into the undergrowth, vanishing completely. As long as she stayed quiet, no one would ever know she was there.

Arriving at her destination, she carefully parted the grass. A massive plant, constantly whipping its vines through the air, appeared before her.

Surrounding the plant, seven or eight players, their hands flashing with multicolored lights, were ganging up on it.

Moira Lynch focused her senses and confirmed it: the fluctuations from the Energy Ores were coming from beneath that very plant.

However, watching the plant fight, she saw that it wasn’t losing ground at all, even while being swarmed by seven or eight players. Its vines were covered in dense thorns, looking vicious enough on their own, but they were even more brutal in motion.

Moira Lynch couldn’t understand why these people were bothering this plant instead of gathering ingredients, unless defeating it offered some kind of unexpected reward.

’But as it stands now,’ she thought, ’the chances of them defeating this plant are slim to none.’

’Instead of helping them, I should figure out how to get those Energy Ores for myself.’

A thought suddenly occurred to her. ’If I can use my spiritual power to collect stones on the surface, then collecting stones from underground should be no problem, right?’

With that in mind, Moira Lynch decided to give it a try. But first, she had to pinpoint the exact location of the Energy Ores.

While the players below continued their battle, Moira Lynch’s spiritual power slowly began to seep into the ground.

After about five minutes, she finally found the exact location of the Energy Ores.