Chapter 17: Extreme Heat Creature — Abyssal Poison Conch

Chapter 17: Chapter 17: Extreme Heat Creature — Abyssal Poison Conch

DING DING DING!

Rowan Rhodes had been diligently scavenging marine resources. She even used the Heart of Life halfway through, only stopping to rest when she pushed her body to its absolute limits.

The moment she stopped, she heard a peculiar noise coming from beneath the raft. Hearing it, she immediately realized what it was. The Abyssal Poison Conch had appeared.

This was the first marine creature to spawn during the extreme heat weather. These Abyssal Poison Conches would firmly attach themselves to the raft. If left uncleaned, they would continuously corrode it, forcing players to constantly repair the raft with Wooden Boards. Furthermore, these conches were covered in venom, which they relied on to hunt their prey.

In her previous life, many players had been poisoned and knocked unconscious while diving to clear these conches, ultimately drowning in the sea. It was safe to say that these Abyssal Poison Conches were like persistent parasites—incredibly difficult to deal with.

Rowan remembered that later on, someone had sold a tool on the trading channel that could scrape these conches straight back to the ocean floor, which finally resolved this first wave of crisis. While that method worked for other players, it did not apply to her, because she knew that killing the Abyssal Poison Conch would yield a special resource.

[Nerve Toxin]

This toxin could also be used against other marine creatures, making it a powerful weapon for dealing with oceanic threats. She only found out about this in her past life when the server regions merged, and top players from other regions mentioned it in the world channel. This clearly showed that players in different regions possessed different Skills, leading to divergent development paths. Since it was useful, she had to stock up on it early.

The next moment, Rowan opened her control panel, preparing to upgrade the raft and unlock some Equipment. By now, she noticed that after a night and a day, many rafts had already been upgraded to Level 4, and some even reached Level 5. As a result, her ranking had dropped quite a bit.

This alone was enough to show just how fierce the competition in the Sea Survival Game truly was. They were never just competing against others in their own region, but against countless players across numerous regions.

However, even with her rank dropping, Rowan was not anxious. She only cared about rankings for the sake of the system rewards. Otherwise, properly developing her raft and turning it into an impenetrable fortress was far better than simply upgrading its level. Right now, the extreme heat weather had just begun. The ranking at the end of this disaster was what truly mattered. She would focus her efforts when the final rankings were about to be decided.

With this plan in mind, Rowan clicked the upgrade button for the raft.

[Constructing one square meter of the raft requires: Wood x10, iron nails x10. The current maximum expandable area is 9 square meters. Do you wish to expand fully?]

"Yes."

Upon confirmation, the raft’s area immediately expanded from 4x4 meters to 5x5 meters, and the corresponding stats updated accordingly.

[Territory: Initial Raft]

[Level: Level 5] [Upgrade]

[Introduction: The raft is no longer so cramped.]

[specification: 25 square meters] [Expansion]

[Durability: 600/600 (Wooden House +100)]

[defensive power: 600/600 (Wooden House +100)]

[Current Equipment: Hook Claw, fishing net, campfire, long spear, Wooden House, wooden fence...]

[Unlockable Equipment: raft (wooden ladder) Production (Crafting Table) Survival (Seawater Desalinator) Weapon (Basic Bow and Arrow)]

Rowan chose the Crafting Table without hesitation.

[Crafting Table: Used for Manufacturing cloth, clothing, etc. Requires Wooden Board x20, iron nails x10, scrap iron x5, Iron Hammer x2.]

The Iron Hammer itself had to be built by investing scrap iron into the Workbench! Fortunately, Rowan had ample resources on hand right now. After preparing all the materials and initiating the build, the new Crafting Table Equipment appeared on the raft. Rowan placed the Crafting Table next to the Workbench. Next, she took out the previously stored Shark Skin from the nearby Storage Box.

[Shark Skin can generate Blueprint: Basic Waterproof Armor Set, ship parts blueprint, and Double-layer Umbrella Hat Blueprint.]

[Basic Waterproof Armor Set: Lightly waterproof. Requires Shark Skin x4, broken cloth x4.]

Soon enough, a basic armor set made from Shark Skin was completed, and Rowan immediately put it on. At the same time, she also took out the shark headgear. While the shark headgear was nominally just for decoration, wearing it on her head could actually defend against the venom of the Abyssal Poison Conch!

Fully geared up, Rowan grabbed her iron shovel and leaped into the sea. The Seagull was startled the moment she dove. It flew out from under the awning toward her direction, circling above her head and letting out an occasional squawk.

As soon as Rowan entered the water, she found an Abyssal Poison Conch and forcefully scraped it off, killing it instantly.

[Obtained: Nerve Toxin x1]

Confirming that she could indeed harvest it, Rowan moved on to the next one. Needing to breathe halfway through, Rowan broke the surface of the water and greeted the Seagull. Seeing that Rowan was perfectly fine, the circling Seagull relaxed and stayed on the deck, occasionally plunging into the water to retrieve some resources.

Wooden Boards, Palm Leaves, Seaweed, broken cloth... Both the person and the pet were hard at work.

A short while later, Rowan had entirely cleared out the first wave of Abyssal Poison Conches beneath the raft. By the time she climbed back onto the raft, she was feeling quite exhausted. Especially down in the ocean, where there was no awning to block the sun, the high temperatures made the stifling heat feel even more intense.

So, the moment she returned to the raft, Rowan immediately opened a bottle of cola and drank it down with a GLUG GLUG GLUG. After finishing it, Rowan let out a long sigh of relief. Drinking cola was incredibly satisfying! It would be even better if there was ice!

Speaking of which, the extreme heat disaster would be followed by an extreme cold disaster. At that time, the temperature would plummet drastically, even freezing the ocean. Players would have to smash through the ice to gather surface resources, making survival even more difficult than it was now. This game was absolutely ruthless.

While she was cursing in her head, the Seagull pecking at her side pulled her back from her thoughts. Rowan looked over and saw the Seagull wobbling as it walked. Only then did she notice that there was a considerable amount of resources piled up on her raft. Looking at the Seagull’s exhausted state, she knew it was the one who had fetched them.

She quickly took out another cola and poured some out for it to drink. At its first sip, the Seagull jumped slightly in surprise, then happily continued drinking. Watching this, Rowan smiled and took out some brown sugar steamed buns. One for the Seagull, and one for herself. When the Seagull ate it, its eyes involuntarily narrowed in delight.

Rowan gathered up the resources it had fetched and pointed to the Storage Box in the living area. "This is full of food and drinks. If you ever feel your condition slipping, just take what you need to eat and drink yourself."

Listening to her, the Seagull squawked twice at Rowan.

[Okay~]

Hearing this, Rowan’s lips curled up uncontrollably, though she added, "You can only eat and drink to replenish your condition. No wasting." Resources were still incredibly important; she wasn’t living luxuriously enough to waste them.

[Mhm~]

The Seagull agreed obediently.

At the same time, the DING DING DING sound rang out once more. More Abyssal Poison Conches had begun successively occupying the bottom of the raft. Rowan looked at the Nerve Toxin x8 in her inventory, let out a long breath, and leaped right back into the ocean.

While Rowan was handling the situation with ease for now, other players were currently suffering major headaches over these Abyssal Poison Conches.