"ACHOO!"
Ren Yuanyang sneezed, a chill running through his body.
’If I catch a cold now, I’m in big trouble!’
He immediately got up and set up the one-person tent the bitter grass had just brought back.
To secure the tent to the Round Duckweed, Ren Yuanyang tied its guy lines directly to the plants’ roots.
At the same time, he had the enhanced bitter grass wrap around it again, thoroughly securing the tent to the Duckweed platform.
This only used a small section of the bitter grass’s stolon, so it wouldn’t interfere with its ability to continue catching items.
After getting all that sorted, Ren Yuanyang dove straight into the tent.
"Looks like I’m pretty lucky. It’s actually a waterproof tent!" Ren Yuanyang remarked with some emotion.
The rain was pouring outside, but there was no sign of any leaks or seepage inside the tent.
Ren Yuanyang took off his clothes, reached outside the tent to wring them out, then laid them aside to dry.
Without the soaking wet clothes and sheltered from the wind and rain, Ren Yuanyang actually felt a bit of warmth, even though he was bare-chested.
To ensure he had enough energy to fight off a potential cold, Ren Yuanyang opened another yogurt and sipped it slowly while organizing the system information.
From the recent task of securing the tent, he discovered that only active abilities gained from enhancement could be managed with Mind Control.
For example, the bitter grass’s enhanced tangling ability. He could use his Mental Energy to control the bitter grass’s stolons and make them wrap around things.
The Round Duckweed, on the other hand, was enhanced for buoyancy. This was a passive ability that couldn’t be controlled—not that it needed to be.
If Ren Yuanyang wanted to connect the Round Duckweed together, he had to get into the water himself and tie their roots. He couldn’t control the root systems to make them tie themselves into knots.
Having the bitter grass made things much more convenient. He could use its tangling ability to gather all the Round Duckweed.
But right now, he only had one enhanced bitter grass plant, and it was tasked with the important job of fishing for supplies. He couldn’t use it to gather the Round Duckweed just yet.
Fortunately, his previous work of tying all the Round Duckweed roots together was still holding up. The plants wouldn’t be scattered for the time being.
"ACHOO!"
Ren Yuanyang sneezed again, feeling another chill run through him.
’My situation just started to improve. Don’t tell me I’m actually getting sick!’ Ren Yuanyang thought, looking helplessly at his wet clothes inside the tent.
Even though he felt cold, he had nothing on hand to keep him warm.
Shivering, Ren Yuanyang curled into a ball. He reached up to touch his forehead. It was burning hot!
’This is real trouble! I don’t know how strong this body’s constitution is. Can I fight this off on my own?’
[Ginger detected. Class: Monocotyledon... Enhance?]
[Enhancement Paths: Medicinal Value, Growth Speed...]
Already hazy from the fever, Ren Yuanyang heard the system prompt and immediately replied, "Enhance Medicinal Value!"
At the same time, he tugged on the bitter grass, pulling in the ginger that was tangled in its stolon.
[Enhancement Successful!]
[Ginger (+1): Highly effective against colds, coughs, etc....]
Ren Yuanyang immediately stuffed the enhanced ginger into his mouth.
’There’s no other way right now. I have to eat it raw!’
A pungent, spicy flavor spread through his mouth. For someone who didn’t eat ginger, the taste was incredibly unpleasant.
But Ren Yuanyang knew he had to eat it. It was his only chance to survive.
After forcing down the chewed-up ginger, he immediately felt a wave of heat spreading from his stomach.
’Is the effect this potent?’
That was Ren Yuanyang’s last thought as he drifted into a deep sleep, his mind hazy.
An unknown amount of time passed before Ren Yuanyang slowly woke up. For a moment, his eyes were filled with confusion, but he quickly came to his senses.
He pushed aside the tent flap. The rain outside hadn’t lessened at all. He was still surrounded by a vast ocean, drifting with the waves.
On the Duckweed platform where the tent sat, some of the Round Duckweed had been scattered. Ren Yuanyang quickly went to work, gathering them back together.
After gathering the loose Round Duckweed, he noticed a chunk of the platform, which was originally a meter in radius, was missing. It seemed some of the enhanced Round Duckweed had been washed away for good.
’Good thing I woke up, or I’d be back in the water again!’
Ren Yuanyang felt a sense of relief. Although some of the Round Duckweed had been lost, the remaining platform was still large enough for his tent, so it wasn’t a major problem.
Next, he immediately started pulling in the bitter grass. He wanted to see what it had caught while he was unconscious.
He hauled in the bitter grass’s stolon. Sure enough, there was a catch!
"Is this? Chocolate!"
Ren Yuanyang stared at one of the small packages with immense joy. It was only fifty grams, but this high-calorie food was exactly what he needed right now.
He set the chocolate aside and continued to open his "blind boxes."
Untangling the bitter grass, a cell phone appeared before him.
’A phone? Shouldn’t something like this sink to the bottom when it falls in the water?’ Ren Yuanyang couldn’t help but wonder.
But now wasn’t the time to dwell on it. He shook the water off the phone and set it aside. He didn’t dare try to turn it on yet; better to let it dry out first.
He pulled the rest of the bitter grass’s stolon onto the Round Duckweed platform. At the very end, there were two perfectly sealed bottles of mineral water!
"Fantastic! I don’t have to drink rainwater anymore!" Ren Yuanyang carefully placed the mineral water to the side.
Then he threw the bitter grass’s stolon back into the water.
The system prompt immediately sounded.
[10 bitter grass detected. Enhance?]
Ren Yuanyang was slightly taken aback, but without even looking at the possible enhancement paths, he immediately replied, "Enhance tangling ability!"
He had reconfigured the system’s notifications to make the voice prompts more concise, with other detailed information displayed as text afterward.
’Otherwise, the system spouts a bunch of class, order, family, genus, and species stuff that I don’t understand, which just wastes time at critical moments. Besides, I can always check those details later!’
[Enhancement Successful!]
Enhancing the tangling ability of ten bitter grass plants at once left Ren Yuanyang feeling like his Mental Energy was almost completely drained.
’It seems different plants require different amounts of Mental Energy to enhance.’
’When I enhanced the Round Duckweed, it was definitely more than ten plants.’
’After all, the enhanced abilities of each plant are different. It wouldn’t make sense if every plant consumed the same amount of Mental Energy.’
’Plus, the size of each plant varies, so the Mental Energy cost for enhancement must be different too!’
Ren Yuanyang took a small bite of chocolate and immediately controlled the newly enhanced bitter grass, making them wrap around all the enhanced Round Duckweed to keep them from being scattered.
This was much sturdier than when he had tied their roots together before.
He used only three bitter grass plants to bind all the Round Duckweed together. The remaining seven were distributed evenly around the Duckweed platform!
Including the first one he had enhanced, he now had eight bitter grass plants acting like an octopus with eight tentacles, ready to snatch any items that passed near the Duckweed platform.
The bitter grass plants used to bind the Round Duckweed would also tangle with any items that came near them, serving a dual purpose.
’I hope I can catch more food!’ Ren Yuanyang prayed inwardly.
Right now, he only had six yogurts, two bottles of mineral water, and a small piece of chocolate. It wouldn’t last him long.

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