While Everyone Panicked, I Upgraded My Raft

Chapter 146: Chapter 137: Valuable Guide

In the future, players would indeed encounter both the Abyssal Octopus and the Abyssal Sea Serpent. Speaking of which, the Sea Survival Game did have a massive trap.

When players were in the Shallow Sea, despite the natural disasters, the strength of the marine creatures wasn’t overly formidable. They generally matched the strength of the players’ rafts. However, once they entered the Coastal Waters Region, things immediately changed. The strength of the marine creatures spiked drastically. Compared to the balanced matchmaking from before, these creatures roamed much more freely.

This meant that some unlucky players might encounter Level 20 to Level 30 marine creatures—or even Boss-level ones—while they were only at Level 10. Therefore, the player mortality rate upon first entering the Coastal Waters was truly quite high. Many players had survived the initial hardships and acted with utmost caution, only to die due to a sheer gap in strength. It was a rather unfair way for these players to die.

Since Rowan Rhodes had realized that having more surviving players benefited her in the game, she didn’t mind offering a little help. With that in mind, she actually started writing guides—one for dealing with the Abyssal Octopus, and another for the Abyssal Sea Serpent. After finishing the edits, she listed the two separate guides for sale.

[Item: Rowan Rhodes Teaches You How to Deal with the Abyssal Octopus]

[Price: 1 Trading Coin]

*

[Item: Rowan Rhodes Teaches You How to Deal with the Abyssal Sea Serpent]

[Price: 1 Trading Coin]

As soon as the familiar product names appeared in the Sea Survival Shop, they immediately drew everyone’s attention.

”Ahhh! The ’Rowan Rhodes Teaches You’ series has appeared!”

”The big shot definitely saw our discussion.”

”Haha, the big shot is actually lurking and reading our chat.”

”That’s normal! Who doesn’t lurk?”

”I’m going to buy this guide.”

”Even though I can’t use it right now, it’s still good to learn about it.”

”I hope there are more guides like this.”

”Actually, I’d rather see a raft upgrade guide, especially for the Unlockable Equipment.”

”The guy above is scheming so loudly I can hear his abacus from here.”

”She doesn’t even need to share guides for her current level. Just sharing the previous level’s guides would allow Rowan to maintain her advantage.”

”In your dreams! Why don’t you share your own upgrade guides with the other players first?”

”That would just create dependency. I think it’s best for players to rely on themselves to upgrade.”

”Agreed.”

”...”

The discussion in the main chat of the Sea Survival Shop continued. Meanwhile, in the various districts, many people saw the name ”Rowan Rhodes” and reacted with a single thought: buy.

As for Rowan, after finishing the guides, she turned her attention back to her own raft.

In reality, the Abyssal Sea Serpent did have weaknesses, and she knew what they were. It was just that with her current strength, dealing with it was simply too difficult. This was especially true since the current Abyssal Sea Serpent had appeared during the virus natural disaster. It had mutated, taking its strength to an entirely new level. If she went out to fight it now, it would be no different from a sheep delivering itself into a tiger’s mouth.

Ignoring the Abyssal Sea Serpents circling her raft, Rowan continued to check her radar information. She had noticed earlier that neither the sunken ship nor the Void Isle was far away, so she had her Seagulls keep a lookout. She estimated the time; if nothing unexpected happened, she might reach the Void Isle tomorrow. Once she expanded her backpack, she would be able to carry many of her resources with her, meaning she wouldn’t have to list so many items in the Sea Survival Shop.

At the thought of this, a trace of anticipation welled up in her heart. This was something she had been looking forward to since the very first day of her rebirth.

For the time being, Rowan let the raft continue forward. Propelled by ten Engines, its Speed was even faster than before its recent upgrades. She noticed that the two Abyssal Sea Serpents, along with the other mutated marine creatures she hadn’t managed to deal with, were pursuing tightly to keep up with her raft’s Speed. A portion of them had already been left far behind.

Seeing this, Rowan raised an eyebrow. She seemed to have discovered a new method. As long as the raft’s Speed was fast enough, mutated marine creatures really could be shaken off.

After thinking it over, she wrote up another guide and uploaded it immediately. It was also priced at 1 Trading Coin. Those who needed it could simply buy it themselves.

However, as of right now, mutated marine creatures weren’t all that difficult to deal with. Most players were probably more willing to use them to gather resources. This was especially true for players who possessed the Antidote and Eira Grass Seeds. With the Antidote on hand, they were much braver about stepping outside, as they could acquire far more resources out in the open.

Rowan had already noticed this phenomenon in the trading hall of District 122. The trading hall was filled with all sorts of seafood. Besides that, many players were constantly tagging Skye Schuyler in the world channel.

Everyone knew that Skye had used the Sea Survival Shop’s platform to assemble a group of regular players who possessed Skills like cooking. In the districts where these regular players resided, there were other players with cooking Skills as well. A massive collective was thus connected by Skye. And Skye was able to make these connections because she knew Rowan, and because she was able to provide the absolutely vital Antidote and Eira Grass Seeds during this virus natural disaster.

While it was true that these items could be bought in the Sea Survival Shop, a player was considered lucky just to snatch up one or two. That was nowhere near as fast as trading directly with Skye. The fact that Skye could get her hands on so many Antidotes and Eira Grass Seeds also proved that Rowan was her backer.

Under these circumstances, an alliance forged by mutual interest centered around Skye. At the same time, apart from these specific benefits, there was also the profit to be made from other orders. It was an undeniable fact that players in District 122 held more resources than players in other districts. Precisely because they had more resources on hand, they were willing to trade them for better Equipment and food.

This was the market. In this manner, Skye acquired plenty of seafood from the District 122 trading hall, processed it into various foods with special Effects, and resold them to District 122 and the Sea Survival Shop.

Everyone involved was a beneficiary.

[District 122: (95,102 / 100,000)]

”So if your Speed is fast enough, you can shake off the previous wave of mutated marine creatures.”

”Rowan would actually choose to shake off mutated marine creatures? With her abilities, wiping them all out shouldn’t be a problem!”

”Think about what Boss Rowan has done today. She fought over a hundred players, battled two Abyssal Sea Serpents, built her raft into an impregnable fortress, planted Eira Grass, crafted Antidotes for sale, and published guides. She did all of this in just one day.”

”I wouldn’t have realized it if you hadn’t mentioned it, but now I’m shocked.”

”But for some reason, when these things happen with Rowan, it doesn’t feel all that unbelievable. It just feels like, ’Of course it’s her!’”

”True. An ordinary player couldn’t pull this off. Rowan’s raft has definitely been modernized with electronics, and she’s capable of coordinating everything perfectly.”

”But her energy levels are way too insane!”

”The main point is that she did all this while under siege.”

”That’s pure skill!”

”Plus, even if we don’t need her guides right now, they can still save a lot of players.”

”Who says we don’t need them? It’s not like every player in District 122 is doing well.”

”I want to buy an Engine. Does anyone have spares to sell? When the mutated marine creatures attack tomorrow, I’m definitely going to make sure they can’t catch me.”

”I need one too!”

”...”

All of a sudden, many trailing players stepped forward. They wanted to let the other players know that Rowan’s guides were far more valuable than they had imagined.