Post-Apocalyptic Survival Modpack

Chapter 21.21: Tool Testing

The warm campfire burned steadily, sending wisps of smoke rising.

I opened my eyes and smelled a fragrance I hadn't smelled in a long time.

"you're awake."

Wang Ji leaned over and looked at Ryder.

"hiss--"

Ryder sat up, rubbed his shoulders and back, stretched his muscles, and then exhaled, saying, "Not sure, it feels like a dream."

"The past month has been quite eventful, with many unexpected things happening to me."

“I have to apologize to you, Wang Ji. This situation is not what I intended.”

Wang Ji shrugged and said, "It's nothing."

"Are you hungry? Have something to eat."

He handed him a fish that had just been grilled over the campfire.

A campfire is great; it can roast four things at once and doesn't consume fuel. As long as nothing unexpected happens, it will keep burning.

Ryder took the grilled fish, took a bite, then suddenly paused, looked at the fish and said:
"This fish... is cooked just right and very fresh, but it's lacking some seasoning."

But clearly, no one here carried any seasonings.

"Such fresh fish, what a waste."

Shaking his head, knowing that it was already a rare treat to have meat to eat in the current situation, Ryder didn't ask for more and continued to gnaw on the fish, eating slowly to replenish his strength.

"There's no need to regret it. I have plenty of fish like this in my collection, and they're all fresh."

Wang Ji said, "If you're interested, you can fish for it yourself."

Ryder seemed a little confused, as if he had a lot to say.

However, Wang Ji just smiled and continued, "You just need to take the fishing rod I made and find a place with water to start fishing. You don't need to bait it or worry about whether there are fish in the water. Just leave everything to the special characteristics."

The world will see.

Looking at Wang Ji, Ryder's long-winded words got stuck in his throat and he swallowed them down along with the fish.

After finishing the fish, Ryder sat on the ground, looked around, and said, "This place doesn't look like it has any ventilation shafts. Is it okay to have a campfire and so many torches burning here?"

Wang Ji nodded and said, "Don't worry, you can treat the smoke from those torches and campfires as illusions. Their burning won't consume the things in the air that we need to breathe."

Ryder chuckled and said, "You mean 'oxygen,' right? Don't worry, I'm not illiterate. I'm an outstanding graduate of Imperial University."

Ian, who was still sleeping or unconscious on the ground, suddenly felt a little uncomfortable, as if he had been poked.

“You don’t seem like a child,” Ryder suddenly said.

Wang Ji did not respond, but continued to sit on the ground and silently grill the fish.

After a moment, he said, "Maybe so. People around me have always said I'm very mature."

"So this change didn't just happen in the last month. You've been like this for a long time, right? Even a few months ago, when Ian and I went to see you, you were just pretending to be a seven-year-old."

Ryder seemed a little confused: "But everything takes time."

Wang Ji didn't know how to explain it either, since some secrets couldn't be easily revealed.

After a few seconds of silence, he said, "Perhaps I should confess a secret, Uncle Ryder. My talent didn't just awaken recently; I had it roughly since birth. I've only recently started to really use it."

Ryder opened his mouth, but his breathing slowed down.

Ian never mentioned this before.

“From birth, I have been able to experience more than others, and many natural thoughts have formed in my mind that influence me.”

Wang Ji continued fabricating stories, saying:

"Without these things, I might be like my friends in the village, rolling in hay, making things out of mud, observing the little insects on the grass, or looking up at the stars at night. In fact, I did all of these things with my friends."

"However, I can see and think about more things, so time seems to take longer for me."

"Time alone doesn't make people mature—real experience and reflection do, right? That's what Uncle Ian said when he was teaching us something."

Ryder nodded slowly, his jumbled thoughts beginning to sort out.

If a person is subjected to a large amount of stimulation in a short period of time and engages in more intensive thinking and actions than the average person, then their maturity will indeed be faster, their cognition will change, and they will become more adaptable to handling complex events, more rational, and more stable.

This is equivalent to compressing certain aspects of a person's growth process.

But there's one more thing...

Ryder suddenly turned around and asked, "Is that so, Ian?"

"Also, once you're awake, don't lie still. Be careful with your old bones."

Ian sat up helplessly and stretched his shoulders.

"First of all, I haven't been awake for long, and secondly, my bones aren't old. I feel like I'm still in my prime, and I won't get sick just from lying down for a while."

"As for what I've said, there's a lot. I've given many lessons to the adults and children in the village."

"What are you eating, fish?"

Ian naturally leaned over and took the grilled fish that Wang Ji handed him. "It's cooked just right, really good."

That concludes the discussion about Wang Ji.

Ian and the Ryders ate the fish silently, recovering their strength.

While eating, they chatted about the empire, mostly criticizing the corruption and decadence of the higher-ups and the short-sightedness of some people. Wang Ji didn't understand and was too lazy to ask.

Only after the two of them had eaten, drunk their fill, and rested did he take out the thing he had just rubbed.

"I would like to ask you to help me with some experiments."

"experiment?"

Ryder was clearly sensitive to that word.

He asked with great interest, "What experiment?"

Wang Ji placed several items on the ground and said to the two people who had come closer, "Try to see if it works and what happens."

"Oh?"

Ryder picked up a stone pickaxe first and weighed it in his hand.

Ian chose a fishing rod that he was more interested in.

"Go fishing in that little puddle over there. You don't need to bait the hook or worry about whether there are fish in the puddle. Just fish."

Under Wang Ji's instructions, Ian, looking puzzled, began to squat by the clear puddle and 'fish,' his eyes fixed on the float.

While Ian was fishing, Ryder wasn't idle either; he swung his stone pickaxe and banged it against the wall next to him.

thump.

A dull thud was heard, and a small crack appeared in the wall.

Wang Ji estimated that the effect was similar to swinging his hand once, except that he wouldn't feel tired and the speed would always be the same.

"Continue." Seeing that it was working, Wang Ji urged from behind.

"I thought it would break if I used a stone to dig another stone."

Ryder muttered to himself, but his actions didn't stop. As a well-trained experimenter, he knew that it was his duty to execute Wang Ji's instructions flawlessly.

Thump thump thump thump...

As Ryder swung his stone pickaxe, the cracks in the wall grew wider and wider. Finally, when the cracks covered the entire stone, it shattered with a 'crack', turning into a miniature version of the fallen object that landed on the ground.

"this…"

Wang Ji's instructions continued: "Try to pick it up."

Ryder immediately did as instructed, trying to grab the miniature cube that had fallen to the ground with his hand.

—He picked it up.

Looking at the almost weightless miniature cobblestone in his hand, Ryder felt a sense of novelty.

Wang Ji's breathing slowed down.

I can actually pick it up...

He immediately threw a set of stones from his backpack and let Ryder try.

As a result, once Ryder picks up a set of the same items, he can no longer pick them up.

He can pick up a maximum of two sets of items with both hands, and while picking up items, neither hand can do anything else.

The item will fall if you do something else or try to pick it up.

In addition, the stones that Ryder digs out cannot be stacked because he does not have the mineral dictionary that King comes with, so he cannot standardize the blocks.

"In other words, you can use the tools I make, and the effect will be the same as if they were in my hands."

"Both hands are counted as two inventory slots, and each hand can only hold one type of item at a time."

"You cannot store items with anything other than your hands, such as putting them in your pockets."

Wang Ji drew several brief conclusions.

This judgment looks familiar; it's so similar to the zombie mechanic.

thump.

Just then, a familiar voice came from the puddle next to them.

Ian quickly lifted the fishing rod, and a salmon was caught.

"You can really catch fish!?"

The old supervisor looked at the fish in his hand, unable to control his expression.

Seeing that the fishing rod was also effective, Wang Ji became even more certain of his conclusion.

That means there's a lot of room for maneuver...