Chapter 21: Magic¹ Plane, This Plane is Full of Magic

“This thing can actually catch fish? Doesn’t it taste terrible?”

Bai Yu looked at the snacks from the Flying Carpet Plane sitting before her. She never imagined that this strange-colored, foul-tasting stuff could actually attract a large fish.

“Maybe there’s something special in it?” Bai Xi guessed. “Didn’t they say on the Flying Carpet Plane that they give this to children? Since the kids there can eat it, it’s probably just a bit unpalatable, but the ingredients should be good.”

“That’s possible,” Bai Yu said. Suddenly hearing a sound from the side, she turned to look. Another fish had appeared on the water’s surface, flopping around in the shallows and opening its mouth wide to gulp water.

She immediately bent down, reached out, and swiftly hauled the fish out.

Bai Xi was shocked. “We won’t be lacking food tomorrow.”

“No need to cast the net anymore. If we catch any more, we won’t even have enough salt,” Bai Yu mused, never expecting a day would come where she’d be troubled by having too many fish. “Use the fishing net to hold these two and keep them in the seawater for now.”

“Alright.” Bai Xi stood up immediately, fetched a fishing net, put the fish inside, and tied it to the boat before tossing the net back into the sea.

They had enough fish to eat, but they couldn’t throw away those foul-tasting snacks that acted as such effective bait.

Bai Yu went into the cabin and took out the paper used for wrapping salt that she had obtained from a previous check-in. She wrapped the snacks in the paper. “We’ll try using these again when we’re short on fish. Let’s not let them go to waste.”

“That plane is truly unique,” Bai Xi said, looking at the paper parcel in her hand. “The fire starters were strange enough, the flying carpet even more so, and now there are snacks that attract fish.”

“We should study their language more. Once we’ve learned enough, we can communicate directly with the people over there. Then we should be able to find out what the Flying Carpet Plane is really like.” Bai Yu folded the paper parcel, picked up Bai Miao, who was still crouching and playing with the water, and headed into the cabin.

It was another night of peaceful sleep.

Early the next morning, the three of them woke up one after another in the cabin.

After confirming that Bai Miao was also awake, they used the Shell to [Check-in] right there in the cabin.

[Check-in successful. Obtained: [Building Upgrade Card] * 1]

“Is this thing similar to the boat upgrade card?”

“Probably, but where do we have a building? The Rain Pavilion?”

“Not just the Rain Pavilion, there’s also this,” Bai Yu said, setting Bai Miao down and pointing to the simple kitchen in front of them. “It can be used on this.”

“What will the kitchen look like after an upgrade?” Bai Xi leaned over and gave Bai Miao a gentle nudge. “Miao Miao, go give it a try.”

Clutching the freshly issued upgrade card, Bai Miao walked over to the simple kitchen, placed the card on it, and shouted, “Upgrade!”

Just like the boat upgrade, the simple kitchen was instantly enveloped in white mist.

Bai Yu pulled Bai Miao back into her arms and stood side-by-side with Bai Xi, waiting for the kitchen upgrade to complete.

After a moment, as the white mist slowly dissipated, the three of them once again wore expressions of pure astonishment. The scale of the building upgrade was no less dramatic than the sudden appearance of the Rain Pavilion.

The originally crude wooden shack had turned into a proper roofed structure. The simple stove made of piled stones had become a professional hearth. This was now a legitimate wooden house.

The stove itself was built from clay and stone, looking far sturdier than the makeshift one they had built before.

Bai Xi walked into the wooden house, looking around at the changes to the hearth.

“It’s as if the building upgrade knew exactly what we needed. It even provided two openings so we can cook with two small pots at the same time.”

“And they can be heated by the same fire.”

Using one fire to heat two pots would save a lot of firewood.

There was an aisle along the side; judging by the space, the three of them could sit directly inside this kitchen to eat.

“I still feel like I’m dreaming. How can there be a way to build a house like this?”

“Doesn’t matter if it’s a dream or not. We’re here anyway. Even if the dream ends one day, it won’t matter. At least we’ve lived a good life for a while.”

“True.”

The two sisters looked at each other and laughed.

With the small kitchen freshly completed, Bai Yu and Bai Xi quickly got to work. They brought up all the pots from the boat and placed them in the kitchen, followed by the vegetables and rice, intending to keep everything there from now on.

Then, they began cooking porridge for breakfast.

…

“Slow down, there’s no rush.”

“I know!”

Bai Miao and Qiqi were huddled in the grass, picking Withered Grass from left and right.

On the other side, Bai Yu and Bai Xi were also gathering grass.

The time for picking Flammable Grass was scheduled for every morning. Now that Bai Yu and Bai Xi fully understood how to make fire starters, they brought back the grass they picked entirely intact.

After the previous rain, the island had entered a long period of clear weather. If they dried the Withered Grass for a few days, they would have a batch of perfectly dry hay that could be easily crushed into fine bits.

In a few more days, they would be able to fill one hundred and fifty wooden sticks with the crushed grass.

The mere thought that this batch of fire starters could be sold for money gave them immense motivation. If it weren’t for the fact that every batch needed to go through the drying process, they would have wanted to pick a huge armful of grass at once and assemble eighty or a hundred sticks in a single day.

This was different from catching fish to sell. While they knew fish could be sold for money, they never knew exactly how much they would get. The number of fish that remained alive by the time they reached shore affected the price, as did the species of fish caught each time. Even if everything else was fine, different shopkeepers offered different prices.

It wasn’t like these fire starters, where every stick made meant a fixed amount of money earned.

After several days of hard work, all one hundred and fifty fire starters were finished.

The day before, Bai Yu had sought out Qiqi and had Bai Miao convey their intention to go to the market to sell the fire starters. This morning, they arrived early at the Flammable Grass area to wait for Qiqi.

The little girl soon came skipping over with a bag on her back, chattering away with Bai Miao.

By now, Bai Yu could roughly understand a few words, though she didn’t know their exact meanings. She stood to the side, waiting for Bai Miao to translate.

After the two finished talking, Bai Miao turned around. “Qiqi says her mother isn’t going today. She’ll go with us instead, which will save us two copper coins.”

Bai Miao was still used to using their original terms for money.

“Will it be okay without her mother?” Bai Yu asked, a bit worried. “Miao Miao, can you handle the talking?”

“Sure, it’s just selling fire starters,” Bai Miao nodded.

“Then I’ll leave it to you,” Bai Yu took a deep breath, looking at Qiqi, who was about the same age as Bai Miao. “Is her mother really that comfortable letting her come with us?”

“Her mother said…” Bai Miao thought for a moment, “She said we don’t have ‘Magic’, so it’s fine. I don’t know what that means.”

Bai Yu thought about it, but naturally, she couldn’t figure it out either.

“Alright then, let’s go take the flying carpet,” Bai Yu held Bai Miao’s hand with one hand and Qiqi’s with the other. “Can you say the words when we get on the flying carpet later?”

“I remember,” Bai Miao repeated the words Qiqi’s mother had said when they rode the flying carpet before. “I heard several people say it that way.”

The four of them left the area of the flammable grass, and as they crossed a boundary line, they arrived back in the bustling village.

The boarding point for the flying carpet was still in the same place.

They walked straight up and found a spot near the middle to sit down. Bai Yu held Qiqi close while Bai Xi held Bai Miao. Once a circle of people had gathered around them, someone came by to collect the fare.

Two adults and two children counted as two adults, making the fare four copper coins.

Not long after the money was collected, someone stood at the very front holding a small, thin stick and made the carpet fly.

This time, Bai Yu and Bai Xi were experienced. They sat steadily on the flying carpet, completely lacking the nervousness they felt during their first ride. After all, counting this trip, it was already their third time on the flying carpet.

Before long, the flying carpet came to a steady stop.

Bai Yu and Bai Xi skillfully pulled the two children up and led them out of the carpet area, heading toward the busy market.

Returning to the same spot as last time, they set up their stall to sell fire starters.

Not long after they set up, people began to come over to buy.

The fire starters were all the same price, and no one haggled. Most people simply took a fire starter, paid the money, and left.

Bai Xi collected the last bit of money and put it into her backpack.

“Eldest Sister, Second Sister, Qiqi says she wants to go buy something to eat.”

“Then you two go ahead, we’ll follow behind you.”

Bai Miao told Qiqi, who immediately and happily pulled Bai Miao along as she ran forward.

Bai Yu and Bai Xi followed behind the two of them, keeping an eye on them while also observing the market. The items for sale were much the same as before: multicolored meat and multicolored water.

There were also multicolored flowers.

“Wow!”

The two children were captivated by flowers that were currently blooming, standing frozen in place.

Bai Yu and Bai Xi also stared blankly as bright flowers slowly began to bloom from the stage of tight buds, as if they were still growing in the soil but at a greatly accelerated speed.

“Buy one for the children, only two copper coins,” the flower seller said with a smile, holding out a pink flower. “I think you’ll like it.”

Bai Miao whipped her head around, looking at the two sisters with expectant eyes.

The two were still not fully recovered from their shock.

It wasn’t until Bai Miao walked up to them, looking up and grabbing their clothes while pleading coquettishly, “Eldest Sister, Second Sister, Miao Miao wants one.”

Bai Xi snapped out of it and glanced at Bai Yu. After Bai Yu nodded, she pulled two copper coins from her bag and placed them in Bai Miao’s hand.

Bai Miao happily clutched the coins, turned back to the stall, and handed them to the vendor, receiving a pink flower that had just bloomed.

Qiqi couldn’t resist the temptation either, spending two copper coins for a purple flower.

Having both gotten what they wanted, the two children ran forward hand in hand again.

Bai Yu and Bai Xi followed them. After a few steps, they looked back at the stall. The vendor had taken another handful of unbloomed flowers and was letting them gradually bloom into their most beautiful forms right in her hands.

“It looks like a magic trick.”

“But it’s definitely not a trick. I’ve heard that tricks are all fake, but she’s actually turning buds into open flowers.”

“Could this be that ‘Magic’ Miao Miao mentioned?”

“It’s a bit like a trick, but maybe we could use a different word. Mag-ic?”

“Mag-ic sounds a bit strange,” Bai Xi thought for a moment. “This ‘Magic’ looks very mysterious. Why don’t we just call it magic? It’s easy for us to remember and understand. What do you think?”

“That works. From now on, let’s call this ‘Magic’ magic. This plane is full of magic everywhere. We can’t do without it for the fire starters, the flying carpet, or those blooming flowers. We should call it the Magic Plane.”

“Right, let’s call it the Magic Plane.”

Translator’s Notes