Chapter 142: Chapter 142: Come, Have a Drink
The first day of July was peaceful, aside from the unbearable heat. Nothing else seemed out of the ordinary. At least, the daytime was.
Demand for ice blocks and Pure Water on the trading market had skyrocketed.
Ethan Yardley’s automated workshop had been producing ice blocks nonstop. He’d temporarily halted all other production; he just couldn’t keep up with the demand for ice.
Thanks to the ice, he’d earned a good amount of wood and other basic materials in return. He helped all his team members upgrade their rafts to Level 6, and his own raft had even reached Level 7.
He knew that a Level 8 raft came with a functional specialization, so he decided to focus on raising his raft level first and worry about everything else later.
After all, his Mercenary Company’s level was directly tied to his raft level.
Since he hadn’t merged with anyone’s raft, his teammates had all remained independent as well.
Gavin Donovan’s raft had been at Level 6 for a while, and he didn’t upgrade it this time either. He wasn’t in a hurry and didn’t feel the same urgent need as his leader to improve his strength in every possible way.
However, after a call with his eldest senior, he learned that his second senior had joined Logan Langdon’s Mercenary Company. An inexplicable sense of urgency began to grip him.
At 2 p.m., Faye Yardley went back into the training room. By the time she came out and rinsed off, she had no desire to fish for any more treasure chests.
In the end, between her and Willow Yardley, they had only caught five Wooden Treasure Chests and one Iron Treasure Box.
’Time to open them.’ She didn’t like the waiting involved in fishing for chests, but she loved the surprise of opening them.
"By decree of The Supreme Lord, I command you! Open!"
[Obtained: Ordinary Island Entry Order x1, Ordinary Sofa Blueprint x1, grass shed blueprint x1, 2-hour Same District Invitation Card x1, wood x30]
Talent triggered... items doubled.
"Whoa, an Iron Treasure Box really is something else. The loot is way better than what you get from a Wooden Treasure Chest."
Besides basic materials, food, and drinks, the only special item from the five remaining Wooden Treasure Chests was a mechanical watch with a built-in compass.
Thankfully, the watch was unisex, so she immediately strapped it onto her left wrist.
She gave one of the remaining two to her brother and, after some thought, gave the other to Zachary Pierce.
The appearance of a watch with a compass gave Faye Yardley the feeling that she absolutely couldn’t lose her way. She patted her head. Her memories of that novel had truly, completely vanished.
’But it doesn’t really matter whether I remember or not. Even if I did, it wouldn’t change anything. I wouldn’t be able to prepare for anything in advance anyway.’
’So what if I don’t remember? With my current strength and my unbeatable luck, what obstacle could possibly stand in my way?’
Both Ethan Yardley and Zachary Pierce had learned to graciously accept Faye Yardley’s gifts first. Then, whenever they found something good, they would set it aside specifically for her.
The two men also spent a lot of time pondering the implications of a compass and a watch whose time couldn’t be altered.
Zachary Pierce’s heart was heavy. Just yesterday, a "little game" had killed so many people. In some of the unmerged districts, populations of one million had been whittled down to less than half in just a month. Some districts had fewer than 200,000 people left.
Everyone needed to focus on their own development. No one would enter Dungeon No. 3 just for a Forced Merger Card. You had to prioritize the needs of your own district before you could even think about helping people from others.
Faye Yardley didn’t think that far ahead. She figured that as long as she could take care of herself and not cause trouble for others, she was being a perfectly good, upstanding citizen.
The moment she moved the food and water into the warehouse, Willow Yardley, who was in the kitchen, knew immediately.
She took out the items that would be suitable for dinner.
In the grass shed, Eamon stared at the ice man lounging on the chaise and couldn’t stop himself from drooling. Every time he tried to get closer, he would slap himself hard, but he couldn’t bring himself to leave, either.
The ice man just watched Eamon coldly, not at all afraid that he would actually dare to take a bite.
’It’s obvious the master of this place hates cannibals. If I dare take a bite, I’m sure the master they call ’Sister’ will kick me out immediately.’
’Besides, he wants to eat me? Does he really think his teeth are sharp enough?’
In high spirits, Faye Yardley went downstairs and headed straight for the dining room.
"Oh, are we having lettuce wraps today?"
Willow Yardley placed a platter of roasted meat and a large seafood medley in the center of the table, along with a tureen of mushroom soup.
Next to them were a plate of lettuce leaves and a bowl of rice.
There was even a bottle of plum wine.
’There can’t be many people living better than this,’ she thought.
Remembering she had a bunch of Invitation Cards, Faye Yardley used a one-hour Same District Invitation Card to invite her brother. An hour was more than enough time for a meal.
Ethan Yardley arrived quickly. He wasn’t busy when the invitation came, so he accepted immediately and appeared on his sister’s raft.
The moment he arrived, he was struck by the enormous changes.
"Holy crap, is this what a Level 8 raft looks like? This is so cool!"
Willow Yardley opened the door and called out to him, "Brother, hurry inside! Time to eat."
He went inside and sat down across from his sister. Seeing the feast on the table, he didn’t stand on ceremony, immediately opening the bottle of plum wine. He grabbed a cup, poured it full for himself, then poured a small amount for his sister. "Girls should drink less."
"Heh..." Faye Yardley didn’t know what kind of look to give her brother.
"Your raft looks so cool now. I haven’t gotten a good look at the details, but I can see it’s riding much higher out of the water."
Faye Yardley had the system pull up the raft’s 3D model and shared it with her brother.
"Take a look. You get a lot of choices at Level 8, but not a lot of time to choose. In the end, I picked Goliath. It seems pretty good so far. At least, I think so."
"It’s your raft, so as long as you like it, that’s what matters. And it looks really impressive and intimidating. Is it focused on defense?"
"Yep. Okay, let’s eat. If this isn’t enough, I still have a ton of gourmet food I got from opening chests."
"You’ve got plenty of good food here. This is already so much, and there’s fragrant rice, too. How could this not be enough?"
To be honest, seafood wasn’t hard to come by in this world, as long as you were willing to work for it.
It was vegetables, fruits, and other types of meat that were truly scarce for most people.
After eating for a bit, Ethan Yardley looked at his sister and said, "I thought you were in some kind of trouble. Turns out you just called me over for dinner. Oh, by the way, I built a livestock chamber on my raft and even did the first upgrade. Right now I’m just raising pigs, chickens, and ducks. If you get any other live animals in the future, you can just give them to me to raise."
"Okay. How much more wood do you need for Level 8?"
Ethan Yardley replied readily, "With the weather this hot, the income from ice is great. I should be able to upgrade in a couple of days. You don’t have to keep worrying about me. No matter what, I’m your big brother; I should be the one looking out for you."
"Fine, I won’t meddle in your business anymore."
"That’s more like it. Come on, let’s toast!"
