Chapter 3

Chapter 3

It was the second day since Amelia had arrived, and the first thing she did upon waking was check the chatroom.[Adam S]: I just caught an Aether Stone, and it gave me a pond! It’s big enough to jump in and bathe! [Adam S]: Additionally, the water is safe to drink! Hah! I’m so lucky. [June P]: That’s awesome! Maybe you can spare some water? I haven’t had a drink since last night. [Kurt D]: Same here, dude. Help a brother out!

“Looks like someone got lucky with a big pond, while mine is only deep enough to soak my feet,” Amelia murmured. She stretched her sore body; although she was used to sleeping in the wild, she usually had her gear for comfort. Here, she had nothing, and she had to make do.

After a brief exercise to wake herself up, Amelia checked the sky to see if any stones were drifting nearby. While she waited, she drank the remaining water from the night before and ate half a pack of bread. Afterward, she used her empty bottle to collect water from her small pond, pouring half of it over the spot where she had planted the seed. Just as she finished, an Aether Stone floated by. She immediately grabbed her pole, extended it, and nabbed the stone.

She continued to fish for stones, deciding to open them later. While she waited, she observed the chatroom and the trade board, hoping to find something useful. After a few hours of “stone fishing,” Amelia’s arms were sore once again. She had caught six stones.

“Who would’ve thought a pole could be this useful?” she said, setting the tool aside. She sat cross-legged on her makeshift bed and looked at the haul. She had discovered that the pole, aside from being extendable, had a magnetic pull that reached about a meter. Even though the pole itself was only three meters long, the magnetism gave her a total reach of four meters.

“Not bad at all.” Excitedly, Amelia touched each stone, and the system notifications began to chime.