Chapter 174: Budget Cuts

[( T ᗜ T )]

[Host!]

[Noooo]

[This system would never push for Host to venture out into active danger zones!]

[But this system would not be surprised if there were no corrupted beasts remaining in this region]

[The wolves appear to have killed several since settling here, and this beast world is large]

’It is wild seeing you go off such simple speculation. There are nearly 200, right? Who knows, fifty of them might as well be here.’

[Now, Host is being ridiculous]

[(˚0˚)!!]

[But this system would not bet Host’s life on it]

[Please, don’t worry]

[Host still has the teleportation skill]

[You can use it to travel to the corner of this system’s scan limit and scan out the next range from there]

Tera paused, mulling the thought over.

[This system would never put Host in harm’s way!]

’Thank you, but this is barely freaking helping. I have no freaking TOOLS to even cut down any trees, much less carve the parts I need, and the sticks and branches here are worthless, brittle garbage. I can’t believe you only intend to unlock the third tier after the MAJOR task of building the wolf settlement?!’

’With what tools?!’

’This isn’t the Dow clan with pliable materials, and those materials would not even work well in this landscape if I wanted to use the teleportation portal to bring them here!’

[( •᷄‎ . •᷅ )]

Tera groaned and stilled when she noticed the wolves staring at her.

’Urgh, never mind. I will do what I can.’

She turned back to the eager wolves waiting for direction.

For now, they would use what they had. With the use of nails, hammers, hoes and a few other useful items in the system shop, Tera was going to have to find the sturdiest branches from the nearby trees and build a temporary structure sturdy enough to hold the animals while she figured out the long-term material problem.

It wouldn’t be pretty. It wouldn’t last. But it would buy her time.

The system was supposed to be helpful. At times, it was. But why was she lacking so much when it came to her core tasks?

Tera raised her hands, about to address the wolves when the system chimed in.

[This system is recalibrating current task parameters based on the material shortage...]

[Update complete!]

[Due to the expanded scope required for the future task, this system has added a supplementary reward for the farming and animal pen tasks!]

[Upon completion of this current task, System Shop Tier 3 will be unlocked!]

Tera was speechless.

’Wait, seriously?!’

[╭( ๐_๐)╮]

[This system recognises that the Glimmer Pack territory presents unique material challenges that Host’s previous environment did not]

[The additional reward reflects the increased difficulty]

Tera’s mood lifted despite herself. Tier 3 of the shop had been locked behind the massive shelter construction task. Now it was within reach from the work she was already doing.

But Tera was curious.

’What strings did you pull to do this?’

[ㄴ(ㅇㅁㅇ)ㄱ]

[Don’t worry about that, Host...]

’No, seriously. You just moved Tier 3 from a major task to a smaller one. Since when can you do that?’

[This system has a limited discretionary allowance to redistribute rewards between tasks within the same stage]

[(ᵕ ó ᴗ ò)]

’Redistribute?’

[This system did not create a new reward]

[It moved one]

’WAIT... WHAT IS LEFT ON THE SHELTER TASK THEN?!’

[The shelter task still retains its Legacy Points, stat rewards, and tips unlock!]

[Only the Tier 3 shop unlock has been moved forward!]

[Not to worry, Host]

[The rewards will be recalibrated to make up for the missing reward]

’I... see.’

[ᕙ( •̀ ᗜ •́ )ᕗ]

[This system did a good job, right?!]

[Can I have a pat on the head?]

’WTF are you asking for? Why act like a child all of a sudden?’

[ಡ ͜ ʖ ಡ]

’I would rather give you a swift knock on the head than a pat.’

[༎ຶ‿༎ຶ]

Tera smiled faintly. ’Thank you.’

She would only stress herself by focusing on more imperfections, but at the very least she was grateful the system had the sense to properly adjust its priorities this time.

- ※ - ※ - ※ -

The pen took four days to build.

And that was mostly because of the sticks and barks they had to gather.

But the system had been genuinely helpful this time. It had scanned every nearby tree and identified the ones with the densest wood despite the moisture saturation. It had pointed out which bark could be stripped without cracking, and had pointed out the sturdiest branches.

The wolves had worked hard.

The nearby trees were too brittle, too waterlogged, and too soft. The sturdier ones were deeper into the territory, and hauling thick branches back over uneven forest ground was backbreaking work that even the strongest wolves struggled with.

But they did it.

Bessier and Olaf had been invaluable, supervising the work itself after she had explained it to them while Tera focused on helping the wolves pick the right sticks and trees to strip their bark.

The wood especially needed to be strong enough to withstand the hammer blows that would drive them into the ground.

The elders, still nursing their pride from the washing incident, had been quieter than usual. A few of them had grudgingly helped with the lighter tasks, and Tera noticed with private satisfaction that they handled the animals with considerably more care than they had before she had screamed at them.

The pen itself was completed in a day.

Separate sections divided the species into groups that wouldn’t terrorise each other. The walls were mostly made of wide barks, with sticks and branches arranged in between, but they were high and far neater than the previous pen.

It even looked far fancier than the one back in the Dow clan.

Everyone was impressed.

Later on, Tera would consider layering the flooring with sand and dry grass to create a surface that was easy to clean.

But for now, this was fine.

And with the pen complete, Tera had something important to do, and the wolf leader was against it.

She needed to go deeper into the territory to find better materials.