Chapter 37: Glass Making

Chapter 37: Chapter 37: Glass Making

She entered the Planting Space and saw the incubator was still there, the dozen or so eggs completely unchanged.

Thinking of her newly renovated shelter, she eagerly left the space.

Her eyes fell upon a two-story stone house. Aside from the front part, which looked a little strange, the house was quite beautiful.

Stepping into the cave, she saw the first floor was the same, except the supplies piled in the corner were gone.

A staircase had been built in the southeastern corner, leading up to the second floor and down to the basement. After a moment’s thought, she decided to head down to the basement first.

Unlike the darkness she had expected, torches had been placed on the stone walls leading down. They were like voice-activated lights, flaring to life the moment they detected a sound.

After a couple of turns, Shi Zhile arrived in the basement.

The basement wasn’t large, only about 15 square meters, and stone shelves had automatically formed on the walls.

The supplies that had been piled in the cave corner were now arranged on these stone shelves. Shi Zhile looked them over one by one; the food was all together, the seeds were all together, everything neatly organized.

After confirming that none of her supplies were missing, she went up the stone stairs to the second floor.

Two large wooden windows opened to the outside, with a large door set between them. It was built in the style of a two-story family home.

Looking out the window, she had a clear view of the seashore. ’A telescope would make this even better,’ she thought. ’At least then I could see what’s happening on the ocean’s surface.’

A video call from Jiang Yu came through the system. After accepting, Shi Zhile suddenly remembered she still hadn’t crafted the furnace.

"Shi Zhile, do you have any vegetables left? A friend of mine ate too much fish and is constipated, so... ahem!"

Leafy greens were a good laxative and incredibly scarce right now.

"I have some. Do you need them, or does your friend?"

Jiang Yu sounded a bit helpless. "It’s really for my friend. If it were for me, I’d just say so."

Shi Zhile pondered for a moment. "I can sell some to her, but the price will definitely be high. Seeds are too rare, and growing them requires a lot of water."

"I want rare materials, blueprints, iron blocks, or all kinds of seeds. Live sheep or cattle would be even better."

Jiang Yu nodded. "She’s not short on supplies. I’ll have her add you as a friend. You two can negotiate the price yourselves."

Jiang Yu knew Shi Zhile was a ruthless bargainer. She didn’t want to get involved, worried she’d feel bad for her friend if the price was too high. It was better to just stay out of it—out of sight, out of mind.

After hanging up, Shi Zhile opened her private messages and found Ma Xiaoya, the friend Jiang Yu had recommended.

It turned out Ma Xiaoya had already sent her several private messages before.

First, she had asked about trading for water, and later, if she could buy some vegetables.

Shi Zhile had so many direct messages that she hadn’t noticed.

[Contentment Brings Happiness: Hello, are you Jiang Yu’s friend?]

Ma Xiaoya replied almost instantly: [Yes, yes! Boss Shi, I’m begging you, please, please sell me some vegetables. I have cantaloupe seeds and ten sweet potatoes. Can I trade those with you?]

’Sweet, delicious sweet potatoes!’

Shi Zhile replied: [Five vegetables for your ten sweet potatoes.]

[Ma Xiaoya: Please, I’m begging you, take the cantaloupe seeds too. You don’t have to give much, just one more vegetable will do.]

Shi Zhile thought about it and agreed.

She had plenty of vegetables for herself, and trading one for seeds was a great deal.

’This Ma Xiaoya is basically a delivery service for supplies.’

[Contentment Brings Happiness: In the future, if you have any other rare materials, you can trade with me. I’ll trade vegetables or fresh water.]

Ma Xiaoya sent a "Thank You" GIF.

After they both collected their items from the trade, Shi Zhile took out the furnace blueprint.

[Furnace Blueprint: Rare Blueprint. Once learned, allows you to build a furnace if you have the required materials.]

[Build Furnace: Can smelt products like glass and iron ore. Required Materials: Furnace Blueprint x1, Iron Block x10. Build?]

"Yes!"

[Furnace successfully built. Please select a placement location.]

Shi Zhile looked out the window and pointed to the southernmost corner of the yard, up against the wall.

There was a large window there, and it was close to the lake, making it convenient for using water and observing the seashore. It would kill two birds with one stone.

"Place it there."

Soon, a large furnace appeared in the spot she had indicated.

She went down the stairs to the placement location and circled the furnace, examining it carefully.

[Furnace: Can be used to smelt glass, extract required materials from various ores, and develop more uses. The prerequisite is that you must discover them yourself. (With me, anything can be refined, but only for tasks that are already unlocked on my panel. You have lava! Quick, feed it to me! I can refine even more materials~)]

The furnace was over a meter tall. No fire was visible from the outside. It looked a lot like the workbench. There was a panel on the furnace that displayed a few pieces of information.

[Glass: I don’t need to tell you what glass is for; you already know. Required Materials: High-Quality Smeltable Sand x100 units, Mold x1.]

[Coal Briquette: A flammable item made from coal chunks. Required Materials: Coal Chunk x1, Loess x1, Water x1.]

[Iron Block: A common and versatile mineral. Ten iron nails can be smelted into one iron block, or it can be refined from raw iron extracted from iron ore. Required Materials: Iron Nail x10, OR Raw Iron x20.]

Seeing this, Shi Zhile decisively tossed the lava she was holding into the furnace.

Sparks immediately shot out of the furnace. Shi Zhile cautiously approached the opening, but a blast of hot air hit her in the face, forcing her to retreat at once.

’To smelt glass, I need a mold. I wonder what the requirements are for it?’

She took out the sailboat, opened the workbench, and scrolled up and down the workbench’s panel, searching for a mold.

She couldn’t find a recipe for a mold, but she did find one for a large, rectangular iron tray.

[Rectangular Iron Tray. Required Materials: Iron Block x2. Craft?]

"Yes!"

A rectangular iron tray quickly appeared before her.

She walked over to the furnace and put the yellow sand inside to smelt. Soon, the furnace indicated that the process was complete.

She poured the smelted liquid into the iron tray and waited for nearly an hour for it to cool completely.

Shi Zhile took a deep breath and removed the cooled, slightly yellowish glass. When it came out of the mold successfully, she almost laughed out loud.

"I did it! I did it!"

She took a picture and posted it to the World Channel: [The weather’s getting colder. Need glass to block the wind? I’ve successfully crafted glass! Players who need it can place a custom order with me. Those with rare materials get priority. First come, first served.]

The moment her post went up, the chat exploded.

[Big Plane: Contentment Brings Happiness, don’t you have a heart? Why can’t you make such an important material for everyone for free? Are you just going to let us freeze to death? Oh, right, and Contentment Brings Happiness has a heat source.]

[Wang Xiaoya: Congrats on unlocking a new skill, Boss Shi! Um, can I get in line? I’d like to upgrade my windows.]

Casting a wide net was the only way to catch fish. She needed to get people talking to make a name for herself.

Now, there was no doubt that glass would be a hot commodity.

Shi Zhile ignored them and went back to making glass.

After making a dozen or so more pieces, Shi Zhile clicked on a window to upgrade it.

[Upgrade wooden window to glass window? Materials required: Glass x2.]

"Yes!"