Chapter 10: Extreme Heat Disaster Strikes

Chapter 10: Chapter 10: Extreme Heat Disaster Strikes

The discussions about Rowan Rhodes continued, but Rowan herself had already closed the World Channel. Her gaze shifted to the "Calendar" in the upper-left corner.

[Sea Survival Calendar, January 3, 0:11. Weather: Sunny. Today’s temperature: 23 degrees, trending upward. Beware of heatstroke.]

Looking at the updated weather forecast, Rowan sneered. Calling it "trending upward" was a massive understatement. In reality, the temperature was rising by the hour. Those who failed to recover their status in time would have their Thirst Value plummet in their sleep, losing their lives before they even realized it.

Remembering the sharp drop in the survivor count when she woke up in her past life, Rowan immediately posted multiple listings in the trading hall.

[bread * 1, Trade: mineral water * 1]

[iron nails * 2, Trade: mineral water * 1]

[...]

She wouldn’t mention the "extreme heat" topic on the World Channel, but she could use her trades to hint to others that some players were anticipating a water shortage. Players who truly wanted to survive would never just sit and wait for death; they would actively try to gather information from the World Channel and the trading area. That was exactly what she had done in her past life, and it was why she had been able to struggle at the bottom rather than becoming another ghost lost at sea.

Having done all this, Rowan tried to use her F-level Skill: Nature. She was already thoroughly familiar with C-level Collection, but this new Skill required more practice. Only by using it could it be upgraded. Moreover, she wanted to know if this Skill could really allow her to hear sounds. Speaking of which, this Skill seemed to be a very suitable cover tool for her.

Just as Rowan was thinking this, the Skill took effect, and a voice suddenly popped into her mind.

"So hot~"

Rowan fell silent. "This Skill is truly straightforward," she thought. Once it upgraded, maybe more words would pop out? Filled with curiosity about this newly acquired Skill, she decided to use it more often whenever she had the chance. Not only would she master it better, but she could also level it up.

Having confirmed the Skill’s utility, Rowan sat by the table, feeling the breeze blowing across the ocean surface. The sea breeze already carried a trace of heat. The extreme heat disaster had quietly arrived.

Rowan opened her inventory and looked at the forty Wooden Treasure Chests inside, ready to open them. Compared to the beginner period where there was only bread and mineral water, the supplies inside the chests would begin to diversify once the game officially started. This was one of the few things she looked forward to.

In the period right before her death in her past life, just being able to eat her fill was an extravagant hope. When she obtained the Heart of Life and saw that it was S-level Equipment, her first thought was that she had struck it rich; if she sold it, she would definitely get a lot of resources and be able to survive for a while longer. And the result? Upon being discovered, others never once thought about trading for it—they only wanted to snatch it away.

Therefore, after her rebirth, she understood one hard truth: in the Sea Survival Game, reasoning was useless. Might makes right.

[Acquired: Steamed bun * 3, Coconut water * 2, scrap iron * 3, rope * 2.]

[Acquired: Brown sugar steamed bun * 2, Cola * 1, Palm Leaves * 2.]

[Acquired: dumplings * 2, Iced black tea * 2, Seaweed * 2, broken cloth * 2.]

[...]

A continuous stream of all kinds of food poured out of the treasure boxes. While opening them, Rowan sequentially crafted three Storage Boxes (No. 4, No. 5, and No. 6) to store the items.

From the forty wooden chests, she unpacked 288 resources. Among them, the variety of food and drinks reached 26 types. As for the rest, they were all resources Rowan had collected before, so she neatly sorted them into their respective Storage Boxes. She placed these three Storage Boxes in the living area as well. With this, the four Storage Boxes in the living area were stacked into two columns, looking exceptionally conspicuous.

Looking at the food and drinks packed to the brim, Rowan felt incredibly reassured. This meant that for quite a long time, she wouldn’t have to worry about going hungry. She could even use food to exchange for rare resources in the trading hall. The benefits of leading the pack and being a top player were simply massive. No wonder the competition was so fierce in her past life.

People fought for players, for Equipment, and for all kinds of buildings. Buildings only appeared on medium-sized islands in the Coastal Waters. The islands were covered with ruins of civilization and various structures. Once a player obtained a building core and had the materials to repair it, a blueprint could be generated and brought back to the raft. Of course, by that time, their raft wouldn’t be called a raft anymore—it would be a full-fledged Sea Base.

And what about her past self? As a survivor forcibly sent to the Coastal Waters, she had barely scraped by to upgrade her vessel to an ocean-going ship just to stay alive. Many pieces of Equipment were still low Level, let alone capable of supporting installed buildings. In fact, she had died in the Coastal Waters Region. At that time, the top-tier players were already finishing their exploration of all the islands and entering the next ocean.

As for what the new ocean was like, she didn’t know. But that was a matter for the future. Before then, she would properly lay the most solid foundation for her raft in the Shallow Sea and the Coastal Waters Region, establishing her very own Sea Base.

Pulling back her wandering thoughts, Rowan’s attention returned to the extreme heat disaster. The event had three characteristics.

First, the temperature would continuously rise in an inverted U-shaped curve. This would rapidly deplete a person’s Thirst Value, requiring extensive hydration. Having heat-resistant Equipment would reduce this consumption.

Second, marine creatures would attack the raft, but killing them would drop resources.

Third, small islands possessed resources with heat-resistant properties.

For Rowan to thrive during this extreme heat disaster, she needed to strategize carefully.

The optimal choice was to balance all three aspects: land on a small island, utilize Collection on the island’s resources, and then rely on those resources to combat the extreme heat. Afterward, she could return to the raft, reduce her overall consumption, and fight the incoming marine creatures.

The alternative choice was to rely on her current massive stockpile of resources to tank through the heat entirely on the raft while fighting the creatures.

Between these two paths, Rowan naturally chose the first. It was a strategy she had consolidated from the experiences of the top players after observing the World Channel for a long time. On this path, the stronger your capabilities, the greater the harvest. It would undoubtedly become increasingly difficult in the later stages, so failing to seize the time to maximize her gains early on would be a complete waste.

Having decided on her route, Rowan needed to prepare for the journey to a small island. She opened the newly added [My Map] but couldn’t see the locations of any small islands yet. Rowan knew that the islands would only be displayed on the Map tomorrow, after a full night of traveling. However, by that time, the competition would be fiercely cutthroat. It would be entirely too easy to encounter other players on the islands, leading to unnecessary conflicts.

Therefore, she planned to set off right now to avoid the main force of players entirely. Just at this moment, the temperature was still in a comfortable phase, and the marine creatures had not yet been awakened by the high heat. She had to take advantage of this time gap!

To increase the sailing Speed of the raft, she only needed to add two pieces of Equipment.

[Wind Vane: Clarifies direction. Requires: Wooden Board * 6, Palm Leaves * 10, rope * 2]

[Sail * 2: Adjusts the bow to sail with the wind and increases sailing Speed. Requires: Wooden Board * 10, broken cloth * 10, rope * 6]

These two pieces of Equipment could have their blueprints generated and produced via the Workbench. Once finished, she would set sail toward the first small island.