Want to be human, but cube-like

Alex randomly opened a villager's interaction interface and chose to inquire about information.

Yes, I did know, but I forgot! I'm so sorry!

A box popped up; although it was just text, the tone of the text felt a bit off.

Alex didn't pay attention and chose to tell a joke. She didn't think much about what kind of jokes she could choose and just picked a classic one.

Haha! This is really funny!

"These options all seem rather meaningless."

Feeling bored, Alex muttered something and swiped open the interaction interface again.

Next is a storytelling option, but it's probably not much different from telling a joke. Then there's hugging, flirting, and the kiss that got me attacked by the villagers after I chose it last time.

"Well……"

Alex, still concerned about the meaning of these two options, let out a somewhat hesitant nasal sound.

"what happened?"

Xiangzi, who was standing aside watching her interact with the villagers, noticed Alex's expression and asked with concern.

"Xiangzi, I still really want to know, what exactly do flirting and kissing mean?"

Full of confusion, Alex looked at Xiangzi, but her question made the latter blush slightly, unsure how to answer.

…………

This is a kiss.jpg

P.S. I feel that the Valentine's Day burger shop event and their performance in the storyline don't really need much emphasis; it would be redundant and pointless, as there's not much important information in it. I'm considering skipping it over in a few paragraphs. There's a very important scene later on that I want to write about quickly—the interesting idea I mentioned earlier.

Volume 1: Chapter 136 Strange Meat?

"Hmm... Xiangzi clearly knows, but why won't he tell me?"

Late at night, Alex was busy alone on the floating island, muttering to herself and looking very depressed.

After working late into the night on the Sky Island for two consecutive days, Xiangzi was already exhausted. She hurriedly brushed off Alex's questions and left the Sky Island, leaving Alex still looking through the various synthesis formulas for Ansan Alloy.

Indeed, after buying some andesite from the stonemason, Alex, whose basic resources were no longer so scarce, was finally able to begin researching mechanical power.

But at this moment, she held an andesite alloy made from two iron pellets and two andesite rocks in her hand, her eyes filled with clear confusion, feeling at a loss as to where to begin.

"First, I remember we were supposed to build a... waterwheel?"

Trying hard to recall her mother's experience building mechanical power-related facilities, Alex synthesized the transmission rod from the Andesan alloy, and then searched for a long time before finally finding the synthesis formula for the waterwheel.

"No, no, if resources were plentiful, we should just use windmills..."

But before assembling it, she thought about it again and realized that the waterwheel's power was not enough, and the windmill would be better.

The recipe for the windmill bearing is on the last two pages of the watermill. The materials are also very simple; all you need is a transmission rod, wooden planks, steps, and round stones.

But how do you assemble a windmill again?

"It seems like it needs... wool and slime balls?"

These two items are easy to make. The warehouse is already overflowing with wool, and as for the slime balls, they can be synthesized directly from yellow-green dye and a bucket.

"And then...?"

But then, Alex's mind went blank.

She had completely forgotten how to assemble the windmill afterward.

Alex only remembered that she needed slime balls, but she forgot what she needed them for.

The uses of wool are the same.

His little head was blank; there was nothing there.

"Forget it, let's use the waterwheel first."

Somewhat dejected, Alex rebuilt the waterwheel, took a set of planks and two buckets, and ran down to the lower level of the sky island.

A little distance from the mob farm, Alex set up a small pool, placed a waterwheel inside, and poured in two buckets of water to create a flow direction. The most basic power source for the mechanical system was now complete.

The rest was quite simple: the power generated by the waterwheel's rotation was transmitted through gears, followed by commonly used equipment such as a power roller press, a platform, and a stone mill.

The synthesis method and materials are very simple. You only need to peel the bark off the logs and put on Ansan alloy to get Ansan machine shell, which is one of the basic materials used to synthesize most mechanical and powered items.

"Humph~"

Just as Alex was busy, a soft humming sound that sounded somewhat familiar came from behind her.

"Eh?"

Suddenly turning his head, a large-nosed, blocky man wearing a blue robe came into view.

"A wandering merchant!"

Alex shouted happily, only to be met with a blank stare from the other person.

"It's finally here! I've been waiting for a month."

She had always been curious about what kind of items the wandering merchant on the Sky Island would give her.

However, as soon as Alex opened the wandering merchant's trading interface, the smile on her face froze.

"Fried eggs, boneless lamb chops, chili sauce, hash browns...aren't these all food?"

With her cheeks puffed out, Alex looked displeased.

She could make these things herself; there was no need for her to buy them from the wandering merchant.

Looking at the prices again, eight fried eggs cost 30 cents, while the suggested retail price for one fried egg was only 2 cents.

And it's so expensive!

It was all for nothing that she had waited so long.

Alex narrowed her eyes, concealing her slightly hostile gaze, and drew a sharp knife, the White Sheath, from her backpack.

However, before taking any action, Alex took one last look and discovered that there was actually a slightly different trade item at the very top of the trading interface.

It requires a full sixteen emeralds. Alex couldn't tell what it was, but it vaguely looked like a feather draped over a scroll. The item's properties also said "Primitive Pine Conifer Forest".

Since it wasn't too expensive, she thought for a moment, put away her weapon, turned around and went to find the arrow maker. She traded the wooden stick for some emeralds and then readily bought the items.

Upon receiving it, I discovered that it was indeed a scroll, which I gently unrolled.

It is a map.

She was slightly taken aback, then realized that this must be a biome map, which would indeed be very useful on a floating island.

"It helped a lot."

Alex put away the map and thanked the wandering merchant.

Then, she drew her sharp knife again from its white sheath and mercilessly turned the wandering merchant and the two alpacas beside him into ropes and leather.

After all, no matter how useful something is, it can't change the fact that the seller is a swindler.

As Alex opened her backpack to sort through her lost items, she discovered two unfamiliar pieces of raw meat inside.

She took another look.

"...raw villager flesh?"

With a hint of surprise in her eyes, Alex took the meat out and weighed it in her hand.

In this floating island world, can you even get raw meat as a drop from killing villagers?

She blinked, looked up, and gazed with a slightly dangerous look at the arrow maker who had just finished his transaction with her, and the other villagers beside him.

No, nothing dropped when we killed the extra adventurers before, so is it only wandering merchants that drop items? Or is it because the mod changed the villagers?

Alex didn't know the reason, but she didn't really care.

Curious, Alex opened the recipe for raw villager meat, wanting to see what it could be used for.

Then she saw that, in addition to being able to directly roast the cooked villagers' meat, it could also be processed on the cutting board into a kind of meat called "strange meat".

This strange meat has more recipes; it can not only be grilled and eaten, but also used to make sushi, cakes, chocolate mousse...

"I'd like to try some..."

Looking at the recipe for the strange meat sushi that she happened to have the ingredients to make, Alex was very curious about what it would taste like.

Following the recipe instructions, I crafted an iron knife for cutting vegetables. With a couple of quick swipes, I processed raw villager meat into monster meat. Then I bought some kelp from the farmer, dried it, and threw it into the workbench along with rice.

"An ominous aura...?"

Looking at the item description on the Monster Meat Sushi, Alex hesitated for a moment. She had seen this description on the Monster Meat itself; it seemed to be a common item description for foods that used this ingredient.

"So...is it really safe to eat?"

After some consideration, just to be on the safe side, Alex went and fetched a bucket of milk. Then, she put the strange meat sushi that exuded an ominous aura into her mouth.

"Wow...!"

Suddenly, the whole world in Alex's eyes began to spin.

She felt nauseous after eating it.

…………

P.S. I'd like to ask first, do you all really consider the villagers and the wandering merchant to be human? Or, to put it another way, would you all be okay with eating their flesh? I don't think this should be considered cannibalism.

Volume 1: Chapter 137 Monster Transformation and... Beast-Eared Girl Alex?

Suppressing the nausea and dizziness, Alex quickly gulped down the milk she had prepared.

"call……"

The viewpoint instantly returned to normal, making her breathe a sigh of relief.

The visual distortion caused by nausea was unbearable for both Alex herself and her mother.

"You ate too fast..."

Because the feeling of nausea came so suddenly, she hadn't been able to taste what the strange meat sushi actually tasted like. Alex frowned in annoyance.

You should eat it in small bites.

Thinking this, and feeling that there was nothing else unusual about her, she opened her status bar to take a look. But she found that, in the status bar that she thought had been completely cleared, there was still an unfamiliar buff that had lasted for more than fifty seconds.

[Half-Yokai Transformation (00:51)]

Alex blinked, closed the status bar, looked at her body from side to side, and saw that nothing seemed to have changed. She then jumped up and down and ran a couple of steps.

Actions were not affected in any way, and there were no abnormalities in health or hunger levels.

So, what is the effect of this buff?

Lost in thought, Alex returned to the lower level. She looked up at the bottom of the upper wooden plank, which was still pitch black due to the lack of light from above.

It doesn't seem to be night vision.

Would that be an effect similar to strength?

Thinking of this, she ran to the monster-spawning tower, where five or six zombies, already low on health, were aimlessly jostling each other and howling.

Considering that the damage from a drawn sword attack is indeed difficult to judge, Alex simply picked up a zombie that was in front of her and touched it a couple of times with her bare hands.

Her already meager health was immediately reduced by two bars. At a glance, the damage seemed no different from her usual condition.

Glancing at the status bar, Alex saw that the duration of [Half-Monsterization] was less than ten seconds left. She took out the iron knife that she had just used to process raw villager flesh into monster meat, which she had kept in the most convenient place, and swept it across, reaping all the zombies.

In fact, this mob farm is no longer very important. With the introduction of villager trading, she almost no longer relies on the resources spawned here. As for gaining experience points, it is temporarily meaningless for Alex, who does not have obsidian and cannot craft an enchanting table.

Nevertheless, she added a hopper to the mob farm last night.

Watching the messy pile of dropped items fall into the funnel and into the box, Alex, who had no idea what the [Half-Monster Transformation] buff did until its duration ended and it completely disappeared, immediately bent down to tidy up the contents of the box.

Xiangzi usually enjoys tidying up things on the Sky Island whenever she has free time, especially organizing the chests and warehouse items. However, there's one chest in the mob farm that she absolutely refuses to help Alex tidy up.

So Alex usually handles the loot from the box herself.