Want to be human, but cube-like

Back at the hamburger shop, Alex carried Xiangzi, who was blushing and had completely given up resisting, upstairs to her room.

"I'll go make you something to eat. Wait here for me, and then you can take a shower after you've eaten."

After placing Xiangzi on the bed, Alex saw that she was in a good condition and turned to leave the room.

At this point, Xiangzi seemed to have reached a state of near-despair regarding these matters.

Her cheeks were flushed slightly, and she puffed out her cheeks a little, turning her head away to give a soft "hmm".

Alex had done more troublesome and dangerous things for her, so compared to that, Xiangzi couldn't find a reason to refuse this small favor of taking care of her.

"Click."

A faint sound came from the door hinges, and almost at the same time, Xiangzi dropped her pretense, leaned back as if relaxing, and lay heavily on the bed, letting her still injured legs dangle over the edge of the bed, her slender calves swaying back and forth.

She covered her face with her hands, her delicate fingers shielding her eyes from the soft light, as if this would separate her from the world. She felt the burning heat on her face with her fingertips and palms.

“Guwu…!”

The girl let out a soft, cute moan.

What on earth did I say tonight?!

What? Don't leave me alone... Don't lie to me anymore... This

How could I have said those words before?!

And...and she said she didn't want to see Alex like that...Ugh! That's so cheesy!

"Click."

However, just as Xiangzi was still blushing shyly, another door hinge clicked, only a few seconds after Alex closed the door earlier.

"By the way, Xiangzi, what about the luggage you left with me before..."

Alex pushed the door open again, but before she could finish speaking, she saw Xiangzi lying motionless on the bed, his face covered.

"Xiangzi, what's wrong?"

Alex took the suitcase, violin case, and doll case out of her backpack and placed them on the floor of the room, asking in confusion.

"...It's nothing, I'm just a little tired."

After a few seconds of silence, Xiangzi's delicate body stiffened, and her swaying legs stopped moving completely. She covered her face with her hands and mumbled.

"Okay, I'll go prepare some food for you."

Nodding, Alex didn't ask any further questions. She went out again and was just about to close the door.

"Oh, it's so late, I won't make burgers. How about I make you a bowl of chicken soup instead? It comes with a comfort buff that can restore your health."

Just as Xiangzi thought Alex had left and relaxed, she slightly pushed open the door again, poked her head in, and asked.

"...Okay, thank you. Is there anything else?"

Taking a deep breath, Xiangzi tilted her head away from Alex and said.

"Hmm...that's all. I'll head down to Sky Island now."

After thinking for a moment, Alex finished speaking and closed the door again.

"……it is good."

I heard the door hinges knock for the third time.

Xiangzi remained frozen on the bed, waiting for a long time, listening to Alex's footsteps gradually fade until they were completely inaudible.

She finally relaxed her body, slightly strained her slender waist, turned over and lay on her side on the bed, puffing out her cheeks as if she were sulking about someone.

Toyokawa Shoko, she really couldn't handle Alex at all.

As if venting her anger, she gently clenched her small fists and punched them against the soft blankets. The frustrated girl understood the truth in her heart.

……

After collecting some ingredients from the floating island, I returned to the kitchen of the burger shop.

Chicken, carrots, tomatoes, cabbage—just a few simple ingredients that Alex threw into the pot to stew.

A short while later, she ladled out a large bowl of chicken and vegetable soup and brought it to Xiangzi.

Xiangzi seemed to be extremely hungry. Even though she maintained an elegant dining etiquette, she still finished the bowl of chicken soup very quickly.

"thanks for treatment."

As Xiangzi finished drinking the chicken soup, a "Comfortable (3:00)" buff appeared in her status bar, which quickly replenished her health bar.

To Xiangzi's astonishment, the wound on his knee had completely healed.

But just as Alex had anticipated, her sprained ankle could not be healed in this way.

"The doctor said you shouldn't get hot water on your sprained area, Xiangzi. Do you need me to help you take a bath?"

So, it was only natural for Alex to ask that question.

"No! Absolutely not necessary!"

This time, faced with Alex's question, which she saw as completely taking advantage of her, Xiangzi resolutely shook her head.

"Didn't I just bring back a walking aid from the hospital? I can do it myself!"

She could tolerate everything else, but she would never back down on this matter.

"...Absolutely not!"

Even if Alex looks at her with those pitiful eyes, it won't work!

……

So, Alex, who had been kicked out by Xiangzi, had no choice but to return to the Sky Island alone and continue to wait for resources in front of the mob farm.

The most urgent task at present is to produce enough iron ingots and gold nuggets.

She needs three iron ingots to craft a barrel, and also needs two more iron ingots and one gold ingot to craft the sharp blade [White Sheath] from the nameless sword [Puppet].

As the next level in the standard crafting path of the Nameless Blade [Puppet], the Sharp Blade [White Sheath] is already a weapon that can be used in combat.

It is no longer a wooden sword, but a sharp iron blade called [White Sheath]. Not only does it deal twice the damage of the nameless sword [Puppet], but it also will not fall from your hand and turn into shattered Radiant Souls after its durability is used up.

Once its durability is completely depleted, the broken blade [White Sheath] only has a reduced attack range and extremely low damage.

These fatal flaws, which would be fatal to other weapons, have virtually no impact on combat when applied to the highly mobile and extremely frequent attack module of the katana.

The reason Alex was so easily defeated by the witch before was entirely due to the insufficient durability of her weapon. If the Nameless Blade [Puppet] hadn't been so easily broken, even if she only relied on the Phantom Sword's teleportation and Blink techniques to dodge the witch's attacks, she could have worn down the witch to death, no matter how low the damage she could inflict.

Even if she were to be submerged in that golden liquid, no matter how many negative status effects she had, it wouldn't prevent Alex from continuing to use her sword-drawing ability to fight the witch. As long as she didn't make a mistake, even if she was poisoned and reduced to only half a heart, she could still avoid all attacks and kill the witch.

After obtaining the materials needed to craft these two items, Alex still needs eight gold ingots to craft the Golden Apple.

Just as she had thought when she was submerged in the witch's barrier, the golden liquid could be used as a weakening potion for the zombie villagers. After all, it was a non-lethal negative status, and even if it was [poisoning], the zombie villagers, being undead creatures, were immune to it.

In this way, even without the witch's potion of weakness, she can still turn zombie villagers into ordinary villagers using golden apples.

Then, by having the villagers become shepherds, they can buy blue dye, synthesize blueprints, and then adventurers can be directly refreshed in the tavern without having to go through so much trouble to obtain a single villager.

"Okay! The burger shop will be closed tomorrow until all the ingredients are washed out!"

Volume 1: Chapter 60 Sleeping Together

"Father!"

Early in the morning, Xiangzi was awakened from his sleep.

She screamed, opened her eyes abruptly, and stared blankly at the unfamiliar ceiling, breathing softly.

"here it is……"

After looking around in confusion, Xiangzi recalled what had happened.

Last night, I moved into Alex's house and fell asleep on this bed.

Gently raising one hand, palm up, and covering his forehead with the back of his hand, Xiangzi lay quietly, calming his fluctuating emotions caused by being awakened by a nightmare.

She had a nightmare last night.

Or perhaps there's more than one?

Xiangzi doesn't remember very clearly anymore.

In her hazy memories, she seemed to have dreamt of Alex dying in front of her, and also of her father being drained of his emotions and life force by the witch in the witch's barrier, turning into a corpse that was carelessly thrown out and rotting on the ground.

Fortunately, it was just a dream.

I picked up my phone and glanced at it; it was already 9:40.

On Alex's bed, she seemed to...

I always sleep more soundly and wake up later than when I'm in my rented room.

Lifting the covers and leaving the warm bed, Xiangzi's petite body, clad only in a thin nightgown, shrank instinctively upon contact with the cold air.

She stretched her legs down to the edge of the bed, and was about to stand up when her toes touched the clean wooden floor. It was only then, because of the feeling of tightness in her right ankle, that she remembered that her sprained foot hadn't healed yet.

With his toes slightly curled, Xiangzi looked down at the bandage on his right foot, and with a helpless grip on the bedside table, he carefully stood up, tiptoeing and stepping barefoot onto the floor.

She reached out and pulled the walker over, slowly moving herself to the wardrobe, taking off a set of clothes and throwing them back on the bed, before laboriously moving back to change out of her pajamas.

If Xiangzi hadn't asked Alex to help her organize her luggage and put some clothes in the closet before taking a shower last night, it would have taken her even longer to organize her clothes herself now.

After all, the doctor had advised her that she should not only avoid contact with hot water for the next two days, but also be careful not to walk with her sprained ankle to avoid aggravating the injury.

I feel like I'm disabled.

Because of last night's nightmare, Xiangzi, who was already in a bad mood, became even more depressed after this ordeal.

But after glancing at the blonde doll she had taken out and placed aside the night before, she took a deep breath and quickly composed herself.

After a quick wash, Xiangzi carefully went downstairs with the help of his walking aid.

The second floor was still empty, and no one knew what Alex planned to do with the place. When he went down to the first floor, he didn't see Alex. The burger shop was also closed. Xiangzi thought for a moment and continued to walk down.

Most likely, she was working all night on the floating island again.

With this thought in mind, Xiangzi stood in front of the oak door and first tentatively knocked on it.

There was no response from inside.

After calming his breathing, which had become rapid from using the walker to go downstairs, Xiangzi pushed open the door.

Then she froze.

Last time, it was only with Alex's encouragement that I took her hand and entered this floating island world.

At that time, the scene here was very simple. Looking left and right, the entire small floating island could be seen to its end at a glance.

But when she stepped through the oak door again, she was surprised to find that the floating island had become something she didn't recognize at all.

If it weren't for the fact that it was still composed mainly of pixelated blocks, Xiangzi would have even thought that he had wandered into another world.

What came into view was a very wide meadow, surrounded by torches. To the left was a small field enclosed by a fence, on which various plants were planted, some red, some green, and some yellow, but because they were all pixelated, Xiangzi couldn't quite recognize what they were.

The right side, however, is a bit scary.

The same wooden fence enclosed a large grassy area, which was divided into four different areas, each containing one of four strange creatures.

They were packed so tightly that there was hardly any room to move, which was terrifying to look at. The density of these animals was simply insane.

Because they were so densely packed, Xiangzi couldn't distinguish their body structures or identify what kind of creatures they were. Some were even overlapping each other, reaching a level that could almost be described as mental pollution.

"Moo~!", "Baa~!", "Hmph~!", "Giggle~!"

She subconsciously dragged the walker forward two steps, fully entering the floating island world, and only then did she realize what kind of animals these four creatures were.

Cows in twos of white, black, and brown, sheep that are entirely white or black, pink pigs, and chickens of several colors.

Of course, just like the overall style of this world, these animals were all angular and blocky, making Xiangzi rub his slightly blurry eyes.

"...Alex?"

Looking up, she saw the same white square with a moon pattern in the sky. She suppressed her slightly quickening heartbeat, looked around, and called out.

After a while, Xiangzi saw a small white head popping out of the ground not far away.

It was a hole that was one meter long and wide, and because it was so inconspicuous, Xiangzi never noticed it.