Chapter 35: The Players’ Celebration

Chapter 35: Chapter 35: The Players’ Celebration

Abyssal Heat Bacteria was a type of high-temperature bacterium. It didn’t cause direct harm to the human body, but it could attach itself to the raft and slowly corrode the hull. However, if a person touched it directly, they were prone to infection accompanied by high fever.

Because of this, people in her previous life had been helpless against the Abyssal Heat Bacteria. It wasn’t until the freezing weather arrived that the bacteria clustered together and entered dormancy, finally becoming visible to the naked eye. Only then did people discover the culprit responsible for damaging their raft’s Durability.

As a result, it took players a very long time to discover that the Abyssal Heat Bacteria had value beyond just destruction. First, as a heat source: after entering dormancy, the bacteria could be activated by friction to continuously emit heat, which was used for warmth and melting ice floes. Second, as a special fuel: adding it to fuel increased its burning time and efficiency.

It was practically a godsend for the impending extreme cold disaster. However, by the time players realized this in her past life, there was hardly any Abyssal Heat Bacteria left.

As for now, though? She could take this opportunity to stockpile as much as possible.

As for the containers to store the Abyssal Heat Bacteria, she would need glass. With her newly acquired Furnace, glass could be smelted using sand.

Speaking of which, she was currently the only person in District 122 who owned a Furnace. If she started selling glass, wouldn’t she basically be announcing to everyone that the number one player on the server was in District 122? Although the players in District 122 had their suspicions, as long as it wasn’t explicitly confirmed, it remained an unknown.

Just as Rowan Rhodes was pondering this, several Level 6 rafts suddenly appeared on the leaderboard.

Her eyes lit up at the sight. She thought, "Great! The risk of being exposed is gone!"

With this in mind, Rowan walked up to the Furnace and began tossing in sand.

[Producing glass requires 60 seconds.]

While Rowan was working, the Seagull rushed over, tilting its head and looking at her eagerly. It was as if it was saying, "Let me do it."

"You want to work?" Rowan asked.

The Seagull nodded frantically.

Seeing this, Rowan stepped away from the front of the Furnace, yielding her spot to it. "Then you do it! Turn all my sand into glass, then send it into the Workbench to make glass bottles."

One unit of glass could be crafted into four glass bottles. She would prepare the glass bottles now, and later, when the Abyssal Heat Bacteria appeared and could be collected, she would list them on the Trading Hall. Her collecting them would likely prompt others to do the same, which could be considered a small hint from her to the players of District 122.

As for what she would ask for in exchange, Rowan still set her sights on mineral water.

She looked at the three Seawater Desalinators diligently producing water nearby and immediately crafted four more.

[Seawater Desalinator x4: Stone x20 + Palm Leaves x24 + rope x8 + Coconut shells x4]

The Coconut shells were obtained from breaking down Coconuts, and it just so happened they had cracked open four Coconuts today.

The reason Rowan had been able to sell so much mineral water in the Trading Hall before was that she was constantly producing it. The days ahead were going to be even more grueling, and the demand for mineral water would only surge. Therefore, it would be easier to trade her mineral water for the items she needed, and other players would be more than willing to cooperate.

After the construction was complete, Rowan added wood and mineral water bottles to the Seawater Desalinators, and they quickly began production. During this process, she also set up another Workbench next to the first one, dedicating it to producing mineral water bottles. For her current stage, a Workbench didn’t consume many resources to build, yet it could generate far more resources for her. This was an incredibly worthwhile trade-off.

While the mineral water bottles were being produced, Rowan bought up all the plastic and empty mineral water bottles she could find in the Trading Hall. At the same time, she put up trade requests for sand.

Almost the moment she made her move, several players noticed. Although transactions were happening constantly, one could still glean clues from the contents of the trades. After all, those capable of buying up massive quantities of the same commodity were rarely ordinary players. Watching the actions of these top-tier players often revealed underlying truths. For instance, the abrupt mass purchasing of mineral water earlier had ended up saving countless players during the extreme heat.

Previously, everyone had been too busy dealing with the Abyssal Wurm to pay attention. But now, as players meticulously studied and scrolled through the market, they saw everything clearly. Discussions excitedly broke out in the World Channel.

"Someone is buying up tons of sand in the Trading Hall. What is sand even used for?"

"I have no idea! I just knew sand was a resource, so I dug some up when I saw it on Pyralia."

"When I got there, everyone else was digging it, so I just copied them."

"At least so far, I haven’t found any use for sand."

"Then why is someone collecting it?"

"It definitely has a purpose."

"So, are you guys going to trade it?"

"Of course I’m trading it! For water! I think it’s worth it."

"Yeah! I was just wondering what I’d do if the high temperatures continue. If I trade for water, I’ll definitely be able to survive."

"We can always just dig up more sand whenever we come across another island in the future! Trading it now for something life-saving is totally worth it."

"..."

Amidst the discussion, many players went to the Trading Hall, only to find that all the requests for sand had already been fulfilled. They were all chatting idly, but their hands moved faster than anyone else’s.

Many players stopped waiting around and simply listed their own sand for sale. Some asked for one bottle of mineral water in exchange for two units of sand, while others even offered three units of sand for the same price. All this was just to sell their sand as quickly as possible and convert it into the water they desperately needed.

Some even offered multiple units of sand in exchange for Watermelons, Coconut milk jelly, and other resources with cooling Effects.

Rowan naturally noticed this. Whenever she saw these offers, she accepted them. After all, she could continuously obtain resources like Watermelons and Coconuts. She had already begun to reap the benefits of farming, so she planned to put more effort into it later and try to acquire more seeds.

Seeing that goods with special Effects were so popular and could yield greater returns, Rowan listed all her remaining Coconuts and Watermelons on the Trading Hall.

[Coconut x5, Trade: Coconut milk jelly x25]

[Watermelon x1, Trade: Watermelon juice x20]

The prices Rowan set were so steep that only Skye Schuyler, who could craft special foods, could afford them. This was an unspoken, mutually understood transaction between them.

Sure enough, the moment Skye saw the listings, she bought them immediately. She was the only one capable of doing so. She had been intentionally rationing her sales just to save up for Rowan’s large orders. For anyone else, once they sold their stock, it was gone. But by selling to Rowan, she could get the raw materials back and earn even more. After all, once Rowan got the finished products, she would sell them anyway to get more materials.

Along with the items required for the trade, Skye also included ten units of sand with each transaction as a bonus. Since sand was useless in her hands anyway, using it to curry favor with a top-tier player wasn’t a bad idea.

Back on her raft, Rowan received the goods. Looking at the sand Skye had gifted her, she decided to include some glass bottles in their next trade as a return favor.

Just like that, the relatively quiet market was once again sent into a frenzy by Rowan’s entry. This time, however, it was a frenzy of celebration among the players.