Sea Survival: My Luck is Off the Charts

Bramble arrived quickly. After acting as a gofer, Shawn Lawler headed back.

Upon learning of Faye Yardley’s plan, Bramble grew very excited. Its vines, like brown tentacles, descended from the edge of the raft and probed into the sea.

For now, it was just a drop in temperature; no new event had begun.

The temperature, hovering at five or six degrees below zero, didn’t cause much harm besides making people feel a bit cold. After all, those who had survived here for over a hundred days had all seen a general improvement in their Constitution.

In this era of one person per raft, you didn’t have the strength to act like a prince or princess even if you wanted to.

Even among the second wave of arrivals, if their families weren’t strong enough and they themselves weren’t willing to try, they were likely already dead.

They had become one of the disappearing numbers in the bottom-left corner of the screen.

Now, everyone was worried about the same thing: that the system wouldn’t give them a path to survival.

Not only was the temperature dropping and the sea freezing over, but monsters were swarming like a tide in the black water beneath the rafts, and they would attack proactively.

When that time came, could anyone on the rafts even go down to fight them?

After all, besides their families, most people had no other teammates. The majority were solitary individuals fighting for a slim chance of survival on the vast, open sea.

So, when an increasing number of people on the public channel reported that by diving just a little, they could see black seawater constantly surging upward, a tense atmosphere began to spread.

RING RING RING~

Faye Yardley, who had been leaning against a post of the thatched hut watching Bramble, was a little surprised to hear the call, and even more surprised by who was calling.

"Mr. Jonas, good morning. Is there something important you needed to call me about so early?"

Jay Jonas got straight to the point. "Yes. Can your island take more people? Don’t worry, they were all good citizens before this, or at least have no criminal records. The largest group is children under the age of twelve."

Faye Yardley was silent for a long moment. Just as Jay Jonas was starting to think her silence was a polite refusal, she spoke.

"I need to know the total number of people. As you know, I don’t want things on my island to get chaotic."

Jay Jonas nodded. "Understood. The total is only 2,000 people: a thousand orphans, 500 elderly, and 500 soldiers. If you’re willing, there are also 200 researchers, but they all come with their families. Accepting them means taking in 200 households."

"Oh. I agree. Send me the list. I’ll contact Mayor Thorne and have him prepare for the new arrivals."

"Thank you."

"You’re sending me talented people. I should be the one thanking you."

Jay Jonas didn’t have much choice in the matter; his goal was to get as many people as possible onto an island. However, just like Faye Yardley, he had to make sure that the people on his island didn’t cause chaos.

His island was now home to nearly 500,000 people. Given that they had started with practically nothing, this was the absolute limit they could accommodate.

For the sake of providing a better life for the island’s inhabitants, and out of sheer hope, they sent nearly a hundred teams into Dungeon No. 3 every day. This number wasn’t limited by their manpower, but by the supply of Dungeon Invitation Cards.

Even more people entered Dungeon No. 1, all just to earn more points to exchange for necessary supplies.

They had lost many teammates in the process.

Faye Yardley hung up and sighed. She hadn’t started out with this much of a sense of responsibility.

As long as she could feed herself, her whole family was fine.

At most, she’d worry about whether her brother was doing well.

Now, her brother was doing very well, and she was doing fine herself.

’How did it turn into me having to be responsible for other people?’

’Oh, forget it. No point thinking about it. I can’t figure it out anyway.’

’Besides, having more people on the island isn’t entirely without its benefits. As long as they’re willing to work a little harder, I get a bonus as the Island Master.’

[Agility +1: Through the constant efforts of your island’s warriors to improve themselves, you have received an agility bonus.]

’Wow, speak of the devil.’

’System, you’re encouraging me to take in more people, aren’t you?’

Soon enough, Faye Yardley received the list of people from Jay Jonas. It included photos, their age, and even their former place of origin back in Veridia.

Faye Yardley had the system scan and enter the data. Then, after calling Franklin Yardley and getting in touch with Wyatt Thorne to inform them of the matter, she sent out island entry confirmations to everyone on the list.

After finishing all this, Faye Yardley noticed that Bramble seemed even more excited. The speed at which its vines grew and crept down the side of the raft had accelerated.

Meanwhile, the vine that was "growing" in the large barrel of Flower Dew couldn’t help but extend a tendril, as if wanting to climb down and "take a look."

Faye Yardley said sternly, "Vine, you are not to touch that black seawater."

WHOOSH. The tendril shot back, so fast that one might have thought they’d imagined seeing it at all.

Bramble extended a branch to touch Faye Yardley’s hand. As she watched with a puzzled expression, a vine wrapped around her waist and then gestured toward the sea.

"Are you taking me into the sea? Alright."

And so, Faye Yardley was carried into the sea by the vine. Knowing she could breathe freely in the water, Bramble pulled her directly down into the depths.

Soon, they reached a spot just beneath the raft’s Energy Protection Shield.

The faint glow emanating from the shield was just enough for Faye Yardley to see the scene around her clearly.

Outside the shield, countless vines hung in the water, writhing like tentacles. Every so often, they would skewer the long, black bodies of fish, piercing and burrowing through their flesh.

The same black, monstrous fish were tangling with and biting the vines, but overall, Bramble had the upper hand.

Bramble placed Faye Yardley in the black water beneath the shield.

A steady, warm stream of energy began to flow into Faye Yardley’s body, and not a single monstrous black fish could get past Bramble to disturb her.

’Does this count as being kept by the very plant I raised?’

The slightly absurd thought flashed through Faye Yardley’s mind and was gone.

She didn’t dwell on it, instead relaxing her body to absorb as much of this energy as quickly as she could.

As time ticked by, a system notification sounded in her mind.

[Constitution +1]

...

[Constitution +1]

An unknown amount of time passed. Faye Yardley felt as though every meridian in her body was screaming, the stabbing pain unbearable.

But she couldn’t bear to give up on such a huge boost, so she gritted her teeth and endured.

[Spirit +1]

But after that boost to her Spirit, it seemed there were no more increases, no matter how much pain her body was in.

"Bramble, take me up."

A vine quickly wrapped around her waist and carried her back to the raft.

It was only then that Faye Yardley realized the sky above had long gone dark.

"Faye, are you alright?" Lucy White rushed over, steadying Faye Yardley, who was struggling to stand.

Faye Yardley shook her head. Nothing felt seriously wrong, but she couldn’t tell if it was because she had spent too much time in the water, or because her Constitution had increased too much for her body to adapt. Or maybe it was a side effect from the energy. Whatever the reason, she couldn’t stand steady and wobbled when she walked.