Apocalypse Arrives: I Become a Powerhouse by Scavenging
Chapter 33: Mocha Forest 4

Chapter 33: Chapter 33: Mocha Forest 4

Moira Lynch sensed the Energy Ore underground was enveloped by a mass of plant roots.

Looking at the formidable plant on the surface, ’So it’s been absorbing the Energy Ore as nutrients.’

Additionally, Moira Lynch discovered many fruit-like objects buried underground. Each was connected to a rootlet, all of which ultimately converged on the plant above ground.

Moira Lynch took a deep breath, then silently recited a single word in her mind: ’Collect!’

The next second, the underground Energy Ore, along with the fruits and the soil, were all collected into her space.

Because the ground was suddenly hollowed out, the entire area began to collapse.

"Look out! Run!"

Someone shouted—it was unclear who—and everyone immediately turned and ran. Moira Lynch also used the chaos to slip away quietly, leaving her deeds unsung.

Only after she had gone far enough and confirmed no one else was following did she stop.

She took out the energy source she had collected from beneath the plant and counted them. There were a full seven of them.

’With these, not only can I pay off my debt to the system, but I’ll even have two left over.’

However, after today’s events, Moira Lynch was even more convinced that Energy Ores were valuable. She needed to collect more for emergencies, or at the very least, to trade with the system.

She put ten Energy Ores into the Space Button, and the two left over she stored in her personal space.

Then, she took out the fruits that she had collected along with the Energy Ore.

She washed the dirt off their surfaces, revealing red skin. ’The more I look at these, the more they look like pomegranates.’

She used the Learning Machine to scan one.

Crystal Fruit: A very rare ingredient found only in the Mocha Forest. When cut open, its interior is as translucent as crystal. It has the effects of clearing the meridians, eliminating hidden injuries, and repairing the body.

P.S. Crystal Fruits are extremely important to the Glazed Thorny Grass. Anyone attempting to acquire its fruit will be attacked.

’So that formidable plant from before was a Glazed Thorny Grass.’

Seeing the effects of the Crystal Fruit, Moira Lynch felt a little reluctant to put it in her basket.

She placed the Crystal Fruit in her hand into the basket. This time, it added a hundred points directly, equal to two Silvermoon Fish.

But Moira Lynch also discovered something: it seemed that ingredients worth more points all had special effects, like the Silvermoon Fish, and now, the Crystal Fruit in her hands.

After tossing one Crystal Fruit in, Moira Lynch didn’t add any more.

’There are still more than five days until the game ends. What’s the rush?’

With the Silvermoon Fish and the Crystal Fruit alleviating a huge portion of her point-gathering pressure, and the debt of ten Energy Ores to the system paid off, Moira Lynch felt a wave of relief.

But she didn’t truly relax. After all, this game used proportional elimination—the bottom ten percent with the fewest points would be eliminated.

No one knew exactly where the cutoff would be. To avoid elimination, the other players would be desperately collecting all sorts of ingredients to increase their points.

Watching the sky gradually darken, Moira Lynch returned to the stream’s edge and checked the traps she had set. There were no signs of damage.

This time, she found a hollow tree to serve as a temporary shelter.

The space inside the hollow was just big enough for her. She took off all the weeds she had gathered on herself and used them to block the entrance. Compared to yesterday, she was very satisfied with tonight’s shelter.

While things were going smoothly for her, the other players weren’t having such an easy time.

Compared to the previous two games, the difficulty of this one was off the charts.

The duration was extended from three days to seven, and on top of that, no food or water was provided. The days were manageable, but at night, all sorts of dangers would emerge.

Many spent half their day searching for ingredients, solving their food and water problems along the way. The Mocha Forest was known as a treasure trove of the jungle, so they wouldn’t starve to death, but things were far from good.

Some who had awakened a Fire Talent or knew how to build a fire could cook their food before eating. But many more couldn’t even manage to start a fire and had to eat their food raw.

The consequence of eating raw was that those with stronger stomachs would feel unwell or get diarrhea, while those with weaker stomachs would get it so bad they’d pass out.

On top of that, they had to spend their nights in fear, unable to get a good night’s sleep, which made their condition even worse the following day.

And this was only two days into the game.

Many people were cursing those who had caused the game’s difficulty to increase.

Although many had complained before the second round began, they hadn’t realized the severity of the situation, even though they knew the difficulty would increase. Their anger then was nothing compared to what they felt now.

Now, people wished they could tear those responsible limb from limb to vent their anger.

Moira Lynch hid in the tree hollow, her consciousness sinking into her space. The outlines of two ponds—and Ryan Hayes—had already taken shape.

These two ponds were more than twice the size of the first one.

Moira Lynch looked at the two large pits and nodded with satisfaction. ’This should be enough.’

After all, she didn’t know if she could come back after this game ended. To Moira Lynch, these Water-cooling Stones were a non-renewable resource, so naturally, she would take as many as she could.

This game was practically tailor-made for her.

「On the third day of the game」

At the crack of dawn, the weed-cloak blocking the tree hollow was removed. Moira Lynch emerged and walked straight toward her fishing nets.

These Silvermoon Fish had probably never encountered something like a fishing net before, so they had no wariness at all.

A new day, starting with a bountiful harvest.

She channeled water from the stream into her space, tossed in a third of the captured Silvermoon Fish, and then, before the water temperature could rise, began to collect Water-cooling Stones and put them in as well.

By the time Moira Lynch had collected all her nets, her score had broken fifty thousand, most of which was thanks to the Silvermoon Fish.

If the Silvermoon Fish she’d stored in her space were also counted, her score would probably be even higher.

Just then, she noticed that besides displaying her score, there was also a number five on the basket’s handle.

’Is this my rank?’

Fifty thousand points, fifth place!

That was a pretty good result. As long as she could maintain this rank until the end of the game, she would definitely pass.

However, Moira Lynch was very curious about the four powerhouses ahead of her, who were apparently even more formidable than she was.

Because she needed to collect Water-cooling Stones, Moira Lynch walked along the edge of the stream.

This time, she wasn’t in a hurry to set up her fishing net traps.

The Silvermoon Fish were active at night. Setting up the nets too early was useless and would make them easy for others to discover.

But the biggest reason was that Moira Lynch had detected signs of other players’ activity around the stream.

This meant that other people had also found the stream and might discover the existence of the Silvermoon Fish.