Chapter 140: A Chance Encounter

Ten was the limit. With the territory's current level, she could only place ten of the same type of workstation at once.

After that, Su You built something called a "kiln."

This thing was also considered a workstation, mainly used for making ceramics. If needed, it could also serve as an oven replacement—good for baking bread, potatoes, corn, popping popcorn, and so on.

She had just collected a batch of clay, so her purpose for building the kiln was obvious—she was going to fire porcelain.

Ceramic bowls, plates, basins, cups… anything useful for daily life, she planned to make some first.

For commonly used items like bowls, plates, and cups, she made twenty of each.

Cups required 1 clay each, while bowls and plates required 2 clay each. Those sixty items consumed exactly one hundred balls of clay.

As for the remaining thirty-something balls, she planned to make five basins (3 clay each) and one ceramic pot (5 clay), then stop. She'd save the rest for future needs.

Because there was only one kiln, she had to fire everything in batches.

She could've built more—materials were simple—but the workshop was already cramped. Adding more and she wouldn't even have space to turn around. For now, she had to make do.

By the time she finished dealing with the clay, the bone meal was ready. Thirty bones produced ninety portions of bone meal. As always, she divided them into batches of ten; all ten workstations were put to use.

[Consume Bone Meal10, Ash30 to craft Basic Growth Fertilizer*10?]

[Crafting: Growth Fertilizer*1, Time needed: 30 seconds]

[Remaining: Growth Fertilizer*9, Time needed: 270 seconds]

…

Five minutes later, carrying a heap of growth fertilizer and a pile of cookware, Su You went to find Eusen and Meike and handed them their items.

Notably, she went to find Eusen first—and when she did, she saw Doya walking over from the direction of the bulletin board.

"Lord," Doya nodded to her.

Su You nodded back. "How was today's harvest?"

Because she found the system notifications from the bounty board annoying, she turned them off. Otherwise, every time someone picked up or submitted a task, her head would buzz.

Since Doya came from that direction, she must've just submitted a mission.

"Nothing particularly valuable today, but the traps I set up in various spots caught quite a lot." When it came to hunting, Doya always spoke more—after all, it was her specialty and her passion.

Su You chatted with her briefly, then took out the copper balanced arrows she'd crafted.

"Same as last time—these have fletching, but the arrowheads are copper. More powerful."

Doya paused, then nodded and accepted them. She pulled out three silver coins to pay Su You.

Copper balanced arrows were mainly expensive because of the copper ingots. One iron ore = 1 silver coin, while copper ore was usually 50 copper coins each. Calculating materials, labor, and costs, three silver was reasonable.

But Su You didn't accept the money.

"This batch is on me. Consider it a reward for helping take down the long-tailed crocodile last time."

Drops from hunts always went straight into Su You's inventory. She had been lucky—her early NPCs were obedient and fair. They didn't complain when she kept the loot, but Su You wasn't the type to take goodwill for granted.

A small gesture might not matter now, but stack enough small things together, and someday they might cause friction.

Not to mention—the long-tailed crocodile dropped a green-quality beast core. That single core was worth several times more than all the money Su You currently had.

Compared to that, these arrows were nothing.

Doya thought for a moment, then didn't insist, pulling her hand back.

"Um… hello!"

Just as Su You and Doya finished talking, someone suddenly popped out from the side.

Su You looked at Eusen, remembering—he seemed interested in Doya.

So… did they know each other?

But judging from the confusion in Doya's eyes, she clearly didn't recognize him.

"Hello. You are…?" Doya asked.

Seeing that she didn't remember him, Eusen looked a little disappointed. But the feeling didn't linger—he quickly reminded her, "A few days ago… do you remember killing a deer?"

Whether Doya remembered or not, Su You definitely did. The deer meat was long gone, but one antler was still in the warehouse.

The other antler had been used to save Doya.

So these two had a "chance encounter" back then?

Su You stayed silent, acting like she didn't exist, happily observing the unfolding scene.

"Oh—you're the one who was being chased by that deer?" Doya dug through her memory and finally recalled him.

…Chased by a deer?

Su You: …Beautiful archer girl saves weak, helpless young man from dangerous deer. Amazing. This plot is really something.

Because his embarrassing past was said out loud, Eusen looked awkward. But Su You noticed he wasn't angry—just embarrassed.

"Yes, that was me! I really wanted to thank you that day, otherwise I…" He trailed off. Probably difficult to admit he'd been rammed across eight streets by a deer.

Doya waved her hand dismissively. "You already thanked me. And honestly, I should thank you too for delivering that deer to me." After all, Su You had told her she survived that day thanks to the deer antler.

Even though the antler had little to do with Eusen—he hadn't contributed to killing the deer, he had simply run for his life and accidentally lured it straight to her… Whether coincidence or fate, it was amusing all the same.

Eusen: "…"

Was… was she thanking him for being bait?

Was he supposed to feel happy about that?