Chapter 32: Building a Furnace, Partial Raft Upgrade

Chapter 32: Chapter 32: Building a Furnace, Partial Raft Upgrade

Rowan Rhodes focused on salvaging Metal Ingots and leather, occasionally pulling up a few Wooden Treasure Chests. She didn’t stop until her condition hit rock bottom, at which point she began consuming food and drinks.

As for the Heart of Life, she didn’t plan on using it just yet. Because in the middle of the night yesterday, when others encountered four Abyssal Wurms, she had faced eight. After dealing with the eight Abyssal Wurms, her condition had been extremely poor. She had to use various foods and drinks to pull her stats back up, and only after a few hours of rest did she finally recover. She speculated that when the next wave of Abyssal Wurms struck, there might be sixteen of them. Faced with such a massive number, she had to save the Heart of Life just in case.

After recovering, Rowan Rhodes turned her attention to the control panel. She had been too busy yesterday; even after the Dry Bricks were finished, she hadn’t immediately built the Furnace. Now, taking advantage of the fact that the Deep Sea Wurms hadn’t arrived yet, she prepared to start construction. She even planned to upgrade a section of her raft into a Metal Raft first.

This was because, while sorting through her resources just now, she noticed the Bronze Treasure Chests she had set aside. Like Wooden Treasure Chests, Bronze Treasure Chests could also be dismantled. However, dismantling a Bronze Treasure Chest yielded Metal Copper Ingots, which had a higher purity than regular Metal Ingots and usually only proved useful in the later stages. So she could reverse the process—run the Metal Copper Ingots through the Furnace, mix in impurities, and produce a larger quantity of Metal Ingots.

Abyssal Wurms could damage a wooden raft, but the damage they dealt to a Metal Raft was negligible. With a lower rate of damage, she wouldn’t have to worry about the raft being torn apart while she fought the Abyssal Wurms.

As she calculated this, the Furnace was completed.

[E-level Furnace: Smelts metal and processes materials, using Wooden Boards as fuel.]

Indeed, upgraded Equipment started at the E-level. Once the Furnace was built, Rowan Rhodes took out the Bronze Treasure Chests and began dismantling them.

[Bronze Treasure Chest dismantled. Gained Metal Copper Ingot x10.]

[...]

Four Bronze Treasure Chests yielded forty Metal Copper Ingots. After igniting the Furnace, she began smelting the Metal Copper Ingots. During the smelting process, she threw in two pieces of scrap iron. When the smelting was complete, one Metal Copper Ingot had turned into three Metal Ingots.

For the second batch, she greedily tossed in three pieces of scrap iron, but it still only yielded three Metal Ingots. After that, she stuck to the ratio of one Metal Copper Ingot to two pieces of scrap iron, forcefully converting all forty Metal Copper Ingots into 120 Metal Ingots.

Combined with the forty-two Metal Ingots she already had, she now possessed a total of 162 Metal Ingots. This meant that, paired with the corresponding number of Wooden Boards and iron nails, she could upgrade sixteen sections into a Metal Raft. These sixteen metal sections were exactly enough to finish upgrading the outer perimeter of the raft on three sides.

As for the front, she would guard it herself.

She operated the control panel to begin the upgrade. Once the upgrade was complete, the original wooden structure transformed directly into a Metal Raft, gleaming under the sunlight. It looked incredibly sturdy.

The Seagull was busy Manufacturing Basic Bows and Arrows by the Workbench! Noticing the changes to the raft, it glanced over a few times, then looked at Rowan Rhodes with a hint of admiration. Clearly, it also acknowledged Rowan Rhodes’s ability. As a member of the raft, how could it not be happy seeing the raft upgraded and its living environment improved?

Seeing the Seagull’s reaction, Rowan Rhodes smiled. "Keep working. You’re a part of this construction too."

[Oh.]

The next moment, the Seagull went back to guarding the Workbench. By the looks of it, it was even more focused than before.

The corners of Rowan Rhodes’s lips curled up involuntarily. Her little pet was just too cute!

Speaking of pets, she hadn’t forgotten the Pet Egg in the planting area. She went over to feed and hydrate it. Come to think of it, she had been worried last night that the planting area would be too hot for the Pet Egg and had planned to move it under the awning. Instead, the Pet Egg had rolled itself right back into the planting area. She understood then that the Pet Egg’s incubation had already begun, and it was even adapting to the high-temperature environment. So, she left it alone, only feeding it at regular intervals.

After feeding it, it was time to harvest: Palm Leaves, Coconuts, Mangos, Watermelons, potatoes, and sweet potatoes. The sweet potatoes had come from a Bronze Treasure Chest. During a previous harvest, she had planted them alongside everything else. Lastly came the fishing net.

By the time she finished all this, it was almost eight o’clock. The temperature had risen from 58 degrees to 60. However, with the awning and the Heat-resistant Suit she was wearing, she didn’t feel any scorching heat. It could only be said that, thanks to her precautions, the natural disaster’s impact on her was close to zero.

Looking back at all the hard work she had put in over the past few days, at this moment, it was all worth it! And when the extreme heat ended, she would use her one day of rest to prepare everything needed to survive the next natural disaster—extreme cold.

While Rowan Rhodes was lost in thought, the boiling seawater around her began to churn even more violently. Her heart skipped a beat, and she tightened her grip on her weapon.

The next moment, one Abyssal Wurm after another surged straight toward her raft. However, compared to their agility last night, the Abyssal Wurms were noticeably slower today. The light was clearly having a significant Effect on them!

Rowan Rhodes narrowed her eyes, raised the Sleeve Arrow in her hand, and began targeting the Abyssal Wurms one by one.

One, two, three, four, five.

Five consecutive shots. Every Arrow struck an Abyssal Wurm instantly.

But even with those five dispatched, the rest continued to accelerate toward the raft, moving in an encircling formation. A few attacked from the flank, snapping their jaws onto the raft. Yet, the moment they bit down, they discovered it was metal. Their teeth left only shallow scratch marks on the surface.

Noticing this, Rowan Rhodes’s lips curled into a smirk. Taking advantage of their divided forces, she quickly replenished her Arrows and resumed shooting at the Abyssal Wurms at the front. Once again, each shot was a fatal blow.

Seemingly realizing how troublesome Rowan Rhodes was, the Abyssal Wurms began trying every possible method to climb onto the raft and attack her in close combat. Since there was no railing at the front, several of them leaped straight aboard. As they slithered across the deck, they left a trail of scorch marks on the raft. Of course, after getting onto the raft, the Slime on their bodies became excessively gooey, making it look as though they were melting.

Seeing this, Rowan Rhodes drew her Iron Axe and swiftly hacked at their weak points while simultaneously using her Sleeve Arrow to deal with the adjacent Abyssal Wurms. She multitasked seamlessly.

The Seagull hovered in mid-air, occasionally diving down to attack the Abyssal Wurms with its claws. It perfectly coordinated with Rowan Rhodes’s assaults.

Together, the person and the pet dispatched the remaining Abyssal Wurms one after another.

By this point, not a single patch of intact skin remained on Rowan Rhodes’s exposed body; it was covered entirely in various corrosion marks. The Seagull tilted its head, looking at her with concern.

Watching her Life Value steadily drop until it neared the danger line, Rowan Rhodes activated the Heart of Life. The moment it was activated, her stats were instantly maxed out. Aside from the lingering poison debuff, the wounds on her body vanished completely.

The Seagull watched in shock. It stared at her with wide, round eyes, as if to say, "You actually have this kind of ability?" Thinking of this, it stuck out its little claw, wanting Rowan Rhodes to heal it too. It had also gotten injured while fighting the Abyssal Wurms.

Looking at it in slight exasperation, Rowan Rhodes checked the Seagull’s status, then grabbed a bandage to administer some simple first aid.

"That was a special Skill; it doesn’t work on you," she explained. "As for the poisoning, you’ll just have to tough it out."

The poisoning only made her internal organs feel slightly hot and left her feeling a little dizzy. At the very least, thanks to the poison, she had slept quite deeply last night.

[Eat~]

The Seagull squawked at her. It needed good food to soothe its soul. Rowan Rhodes had fed it so many different kinds of food that its appetite had been completely spoiled.

After a moment of thought, she took out the coconut milk jelly she had exchanged from Skye Schuyler that morning. Skye had requested Coconuts for the trade. Since she happened to have plenty on hand, she had exchanged for quite a few servings.

The Seagull’s eyes lit up instantly at the sight of the coconut milk jelly, and it immediately dug in. After finishing it, it let out a happy squawk. Then it flew out of the awning, circled once in the sky, and landed. Clearly, it also felt the cooling Effect of the coconut milk jelly.

Seeing this, Rowan Rhodes ate one herself. After eating it, she felt as though the temperature around her body dropped a bit more, and even the burning sensation brought on by the poison debuff was significantly reduced.

Rowan Rhodes raised an eyebrow. Skye Schuyler’s Cooking Skill talent was truly remarkable! The food wasn’t just delicious; its Effect was also unexpectedly good. It seemed she could exchange for more of it.

As someone who had already died once, she was absolutely unwilling to mistreat herself when conditions allowed for better.