Chapter 17: The Magical Tide Takes a Detour

Two hundred meters away from the cave shelter.

Seeing that his spatial backpack was full, Liu Hen took out the campfire. He first placed one hundred units of wood into the campfire before beginning the upgrade. Four hundred units of wood and four magic crystals were consumed, and a countdown for the upgrade appeared. It was still one minute, much faster than the workbench.

"The wood in the fuel compartment wasn't consumed. It seems the wood stored there cannot be used for upgrades."

The fuel compartment of this campfire was truly miraculous; it currently showed no capacity limit and seemed capable of holding an infinite amount of wood fuel. Unfortunately, once the wood was put in, it could not be taken out, so it could not be used as a storage space.

Because he had intentionally placed the campfire in an area with trees before choosing to upgrade, he continued to gather resources while waiting.

[Tree Bark +5]
[Wood +10]
[Wood +10]

As the blade of the All-Purpose Pickaxe struck repeatedly, cracks continued to spread across the twisted, low-lying tree before him. To Liu Hen's surprise, even after gathering four hundred units of wood, the tree had not yet burst.

"Could the root system be that large?"

He immediately placed the three hundred extra units of wood into the campfire's fuel compartment and continued gathering. Soon, the campfire reached level four, and its radius for repelling monsters reached four meters. He immediately consumed another five hundred units of wood and five magic crystals to continue upgrading. While waiting, he kept harvesting the tree in front of him.

[Wood +10]
[Wood +10]

As the cracks multiplied, finally—

[Tree Core +1]

A special material was harvested. The next moment, the low-lying tree burst with a "bang," turning into a pile of wood chips. A massive pit appeared before him, five or six meters deep; clearly, the root system had been extensive.

"A tree core?"

Liu Hen felt a surge of excitement and took the core out. It was a white piece of wood, half a meter long and as thick as an arm. It was incredibly hard and heavy, feeling like metal.

"A special material—this should be very useful."

He put the tree core away and noticed that the campfire had just reached level five. At level five, the campfire's monster-repelling radius reached five meters, though no other data changes were apparent.

Liu Hen was preparing to continue the upgrade when Heishi, who was on lookout duty in the distance, ran toward him with a panicked expression. Before he could ask, the young girl said in a nervous, rapid-fire whisper: "Master, run! A monster tide is coming!"

"A monster tide?"

Liu Hen was puzzled. Before he could even process what a monster tide was, he saw a massive swarm of monsters sweeping toward them like a tidal wave from twenty meters away.

"Damn it!"

His expression changed drastically. He hurriedly packed up the campfire and, grabbing little Heishi, sprinted madly toward the cave shelter. However, among the monsters behind them were six-armed horrors with astonishing speed. They had only run ten meters when they were caught up, and a six-armed monster lunged, its sharp claws reaching for his head.

"Damn it! I have to gamble!"

He was terrified, but suddenly pulled out the campfire again and lit it instantly.

"Whoosh!"

Flames shot up over a meter high. The claw that was about to rake his head suddenly retracted, and the terrifying six-armed monster recoiled, smoke rising from its entire body.

"It really works!" Liu Hen was overjoyed.

At that moment, the army of the monster tide arrived.

"Master..." Heishi was on the verge of tears, believing she was going to die alongside her master.

But as the monsters reached the five-meter mark, they suddenly stopped, forced to detour by the pressure of the monsters behind them. In the darkness, the campfire stood like a stubborn nail, blocking their path. The unstoppable tide of monsters, upon approaching, had to divert, rushing past on both sides like a violent flood. The spot where they stood remained like a rock in the middle of a torrent, unmoved by the crashing waves.

Little Heishi was stunned, staring at the scene in disbelief.

"This... this..."

She felt her worldview being overturned, as she had never heard of such a thing. A monster tide—a force so terrifying that no life could survive in its path. And most importantly, a monster tide never turned; it would tear apart any living thing it encountered before continuing its march. Because a tide broke out every six months—or at most every two or three years—even she, at thirteen, knew its nature. The only way for wasteland scavengers to survive a tide was to stay out of the way; as long as one was ten meters away, the tide wouldn't bother with them, focused entirely on its march.

Yet—these monsters, known for never turning or detouring, were doing exactly that. They were bypassing them, leaving them untouched.

They... no, to be precise, the light of the campfire was like a warding light, repelling all demons and monsters. Any creature that approached within five meters, whether two-armed or six-armed, would smoke all over and retreat in terror. Yes, monsters that were supposed to be mindless were showing genuine fear. It was unheard of; no one would believe it if told.

Yet, it was happening.

*What exactly is Master? Is he really just an ordinary esper?*

Heishi contemplated this for the first time. The Night Mist World was full of legends about espers, but she had never heard of one with such miraculous power, capable of making a monster tide flee like it was avoiding a venomous serpent.

Meanwhile, Liu Hen finally found relevant memories in his current body's mind. A monster tide was a rapidly moving swarm of countless monsters, the smallest consisting of thousands. When a tide passed, almost nothing survived. And they never turned.

But here, that rule was broken. These monsters were ignoring them. He even saw an eight-armed monster pass by, but even that creature, with its terrifying aura, showed fear in its eyes and veered away from the campfire, ignoring the two of them within its light.

*My campfire... does it really have an absolute attribute?*

Liu Hen himself was shocked. *Although it doesn't seem to directly kill the monsters in the dark, this repelling effect feels like a law—even an eight-armed monster has to detour...*

An eight-armed monster... Although he hadn't seen one's strength firsthand, two-armed monsters dropped one crystal, and four-armed ones dropped eight. If the strength gap was eightfold, six-armed ones likely dropped sixty-four. An eight-armed one... it would probably drop hundreds. He hadn't fought one, but the mere aura of it had made him tremble. It was clearly a super-terrifying existence. The fact that even such a creature feared the campfire's warding property was incredible.

Finally, about a minute later, the tide passed completely. These mindless creatures vanished into the dark as quickly as they had arrived, moving without a sound. There wasn't even the sound of wind, let alone footsteps. They marched in silence, which was profoundly eerie.

"I... I actually survived the monster tide..."

Heishi collapsed to the ground. Though she could endure hunger, her legs were now jelly from terror. While wasteland scavengers had strong mental fortitude, their bodies often betrayed them. It was likely the effect of a high-level entity's intimidation on a lower-level one. In fact, Liu Hen’s legs were also weak, but he was slightly better off because he had known the campfire possessed warding properties.

Since he couldn't walk yet, he sat down by the fire to rest.

*This campfire... its value might be higher than I imagined... though value doesn't even begin to cover it.*

He realized that monsters were the most common threat in the dark, while humans or other animals were rare. In the future, when gathering, he could light campfires to increase his field of vision and minimize danger. Since little Heishi was only one person, she could only watch one direction at a time. They had been lucky this time that the tide came from the direction she was watching. What if it came from another direction next time?

*The recipe for the campfire and the workbench are still there; they didn't disappear after one use.*

Liu Hen thought to himself, *So, theoretically, both the campfire and the workbench can be crafted multiple times.*

As long as he had the materials, he could make more. Since he could craft them repeatedly, there had to be a reason. Perhaps this was the true way to use his "golden finger," not by focusing on upgrading just one.

*There's probably no need for multiple workbenches, but campfires... they are essential!*

He planned secretly: *Upgrading is also necessary, but I'll only choose one to upgrade, the one I carry with me. The others can be discarded without regret.*

Of course, that was for the future. For now, wood was scarce, so he would focus on upgrading the current campfire to its limit. Since the All-Purpose Pickaxe had a maximum level cap, he suspected the campfire and workbench did as well.

After resting for more than half an hour, his legs felt steady enough to stand, and he prepared to take Heishi back to the cave.

Just then, however, many monsters appeared in the distance. Unlike the previous tide, their numbers were far fewer, and they weren't marching in a straight line—they were charging madly toward their location.