Chapter 60: Winter

Nothing particularly special happened on the journey back.

When they passed through the giant dragon’s territory, Ethan thought they might encounter her again, but the giant dragon did not appear.

Soon enough, they arrived back at the shelter, two Blood Jade Beasts were guarding his home.

"Oh, you’re back?"

"How was the trip to the south?!"

It was Draugor and Walter, the massive Minotaur and Walter, who was even shorter than Ethan, were sitting face-to-face playing chess.

The scene looked somewhat comical, but both of them were intensely focused on the game.

"I’m back, what brings you two here?" Ethan asked.

"I was a bit worried, so I came over to take a look, how did it go? Any good harvests?" Draugor asked.

Ethan patted the leather bags on the handcart.

A faint smile touched the corners of Walter’s mouth. "Does this mean I’ll be able to drink even more delicious juice soon? I’m truly looking forward to it."

"Before that, I need to make something first," Ethan said.

"Make what?" Draugor asked.

’First, a refrigerator and a freezer.’

Ethan walked into the forest and chopped down a few trees.

"Meow, you’re going to use wood, meow?" Pearl asked.

"It would be great if I had some iron..." Ethan sighed.

"I know where there’s some iron ore! However, the quantity isn’t very large," Draugor offered.

"Oh, really? Then let’s go together next time, even if it’s not a lot, it’s better than nothing," Ethan said.

After that, he would also need to build a new smelting furnace to smelt the iron ore, now that he could control flame temperature, it shouldn’t be a problem, but for now, he would just have to make a simple wooden version.

"What exactly are you trying to build?" Walter asked curiously.

Ethan drew the shape of a large box on the ground, Walter nodded in understanding and sliced the gathered wood into neat planks.

"Are these enough?"

"Thank you."

Ethan picked up the Hammer of Gaia and some nails and began assembling the box.

Clink! Clank! Clink!

The sounds rang out continuously, after a long while, the work was done.

[Well-crafted Expanded Wooden Box]

[A box made of wood with precise dimensions, capable of storing various items. Influenced by the Hammer of Gaia, it has gained the Internal Expansion function.]

[Well-crafted Effect: Durability increased.]

[Hammer of Gaia Effect: Gained Internal Expansion function.]

[Crafting Difficulty: ★★★]

’Internal Expansion function? Sounds like some sort of spatial attribute.’ He wasn’t entirely sure how it worked, but since it came from the Hammer of Gaia, it definitely wouldn’t be bad.

Ethan nodded and picked up the empty magic stone. ’Let’s make the refrigerator first.’

"Frost." He activated his magic, channeling mana into the stone, it began to emit waves of chilling air at once.

He secured the magic stone inside the box, the wooden box immediately radiated a soft glow.

[Well-crafted Expanded Wooden Refrigerator]

[A refrigerator made of wood. Influenced by the Frost magic stone, it can maintain a low temperature and extend the preservation time of food. Influenced by the Hammer of Gaia, it has gained the Internal Expansion function.]

[Well-crafted Effect: Durability increased.]

[Hammer of Gaia Effect: Gained Internal Expansion function.]

[Well-crafted Effect: Significantly extends the preservation time of food.]

[Crafting Difficulty: ★★★★]

[Your Crafting skill level has increased.]

[Your Handiwork skill level has increased.]

[Your Agility attribute has increased.]

[You have acquired the achievement: Intermediate Artisan.]

’Oh, my skill levels went up.’

[Character Status]

[Name: Ethan]

[Gender: Male]

[Race: Human]

[Achievement: Intermediate Artisan]

[Stamina: 10]

[Intelligence: 9]

[Agility: 17]

[Willpower: 10]

[Mana: 4]

[Combat Skills: Fire of the Spirits (Lv1), Frost (Lv1)]

[Production Skills: Handiwork (Lv5), Crafting (Lv4), Green Thumb (Lv2), Pottery Making (Lv3), Converse (Lv1)]

Ethan opened his status panel and found significant changes compared to before, he reviewed the attribute points and skill levels he had gained from farming and cooking recently, then checked the new achievement.

[Achievement: Intermediate Artisan]

[Successfully craft an item of ★★★★ grade or higher.]

[Achievement Reward: Agility attribute increased.]

’So crafting a four-star item grants the Intermediate Artisan achievement, does that mean crafting a five-star item will grant the Advanced Artisan achievement?’

It seemed he needed to work hard on his crafting.

Ethan closed the status panel and began carefully inspecting the refrigerator, the others were intrigued by this novel contraption and gathered around.

"This thing is amazing! The space inside is actually larger than it looks on the outside?" Draugor said in astonishment.

"Is it because of the Expansion function? Hmm, truly magical," Walter said, stroking his chin.

"It’s so cool inside!" Zharok opened the refrigerator, stuck his arm inside, and couldn’t help but praise it.

Walter stood to the side analyzing the structural design, while Draugor simply enjoyed the cool air drifting out.

"Are you done, meow?" Pearl asked.

"Not yet, I still want to make a freezer."

Since he had already started, he might as well finish the job, Ethan grabbed the remaining materials and began constructing another box, he made a freezer — similar to the refrigerator but with a much lower temperature — and placed it right next to it.

"Why are you making this?" Zharok asked.

"To store crops," Ethan answered.

"Do you even have surplus crops to store? Weren’t you planning to sell all your remaining crops to the elves?" Zharok asked.

"Mhm... although I will sell most of them to the elves, I still want to keep some." Ethan shrugged, enjoying the cool breeze from the freezer, and smiled.

"I need to make preparations before winter arrives."

"Winter is still a long way off, you’re starting to prepare already?" Zharok asked in surprise.

"It’s always better to be prepared, by the way, how do beastmen spend the winter?" Ethan asked.

"My village is even busier during the winter," Draugor said.

Ethan hadn’t expected that answer, he looked at Draugor in confusion.

Chewing on a piece of hay, Draugor explained, "Before winter sets in, we have to hunt monsters and collect mana crystals, only then can we pass the winter in peace."

"You just eat mana crystals? Don’t you need actual food?" Ethan asked.

"We store a lot of hay during the autumn, so we don’t have to worry about food!" Draugor clarified.

"I see, what about you, Zharok?" Ethan asked.

"I usually collect plenty of mana crystals in advance, so I basically just spend the winter reading books, I only go out hunting when I occasionally crave meat," Zharok answered.

It seemed Zharok’s winter was far more leisurely than Draugor’s.

That made things easy.

"Then, can you help me build a cabin?"