Chapter 31: A Major Upgrade

"Why is it taking so long?"

Lily Rhodes looked at Shelly beneath her feet. The little tortoise was vibrating constantly, its body continuously changing.

When it had leveled up twice in a row before, the process finished in just a few minutes. But now, almost half an hour had passed, and it still was not over.

Not only that, but the tortoise tattoo on her wrist also began to grow faintly hot.

Lily had no idea what was happening. However, there was only one thing she could do right now, and that was to wait.

Over ten minutes later.

Shelly’s transformation finally stopped. At the same time, a vehicle panel suddenly popped up in front of Lily’s eyes.

[Detected that Survivor Lily Rhodes’s vehicle has broken through Level 5. The vehicle development direction can now be selected.]

Lily carefully studied the information on the panel and roughly figured out what this vehicle development direction was all about.

Simply put, before Level 5, both special and ordinary vehicles only had one upgrade path. However, after upgrading from Level 5 to Level 6, survivors could choose their vehicle’s evolutionary direction.

There were three directions in total, each with a different focus: Attack, Defense, and Balance.

Both ordinary and special vehicles shared these three paths. However, once a choice was made for a special vehicle, an uncontrollable qualitative change might occur.

Lily looked at the three options. She immediately ruled out Defense. After all, Shelly was a tortoise with naturally high defense. Furthermore, in her mind, focusing on defense inevitably required sacrificing speed. This completely contradicted her core philosophy of running away if she could not win a fight.

Attack did not seem very suitable either. She was not exactly a warmonger. Besides, watching Shelly continuously kill Sea Beasts over the past two days proved that the tortoise’s attack power was not weak at all. Ordinary Sea Beasts were bitten to death in a single snap. This was while Shelly was still in a shrunken state; once restored to its original size, its attack power would only become far more formidable.

Therefore, Attack was out of the question.

After weighing her options, it seemed only the Balance route truly suited her.

It would not lean too heavily on attack or defense, opting instead to develop evenly.

Once decided, Lily did not hesitate and clicked to confirm.

The moment she confirmed, white light enveloped Shelly’s entire body.

[Detected that Survivor Lily Rhodes’s vehicle is a special vehicle. The upgrade direction has undergone a qualitative change. Now custom-tailoring the vehicle upgrade direction for you...]

About half an hour later.

The upgrade finally finished.

When the white light completely dissipated, Lily’s eyes widened in sheer shock at the sight before her.

Her originally simple wooden cabin had transformed into a two-story house. A fence enclosed the surrounding area to serve as a courtyard. Furthermore, the ground itself had changed.

Over the past few days, she had been laying stone flooring on the ground, which was already showing some initial results. But the flooring right now was absolutely not the stone tiles she had laid down previously. Although it was still made of stone, the material was clearly vastly superior, and special patterns were carved into the surface.

If one looked closely, they could even see Energy surging beneath those intricate patterns.

Amidst her shock, a massive stream of information flooded her mind. It detailed all the changes that had occurred to Shelly after the upgrade.

[Congratulations to Survivor Lily Rhodes for leveling up her vehicle twice in a row. As the first Survivor from Azurea whose vehicle has reached Level 7, you are rewarded with three Advanced Self-Selected Weapon Boxes and three Advanced Self-selected Item Boxes. Do you wish to announce your feat to the world? Announcing it will reward you with one Golden Treasure Box.]

There really was a reward, and they were advanced self-selected boxes at that. The items inside would undoubtedly be incredible.

With that thought in mind, Lily selected yes.

After all, it was a Golden Treasure Box.

Following Lily’s choice, a world announcement refreshed in the World Channel the very next second.

[Congratulations to Survivor Lily Rhodes for reaching Level 7 with her vehicle. She is specially rewarded with three Advanced Self-Selected Weapon Boxes, three Advanced Self-selected Item Boxes, and one Golden Treasure Box.

The vehicle leaderboard will be opened after the Sea Beast Frenzy concludes. At that time, the top one hundred ranks will receive corresponding rewards.]

"It’s her again! It’s her again! Just what is this Lily’s identity?"

"I finally managed to upgrade my vehicle to Level 4 with great difficulty..."

"A big shot is truly a big shot."

"Please be my sugar mommy!"

...

Lily ignored the wailing and howling in the chat channel. Right now, she was focused on digesting the information in her mind.

Currently, her line of sight was filled only by this courtyard. The Commons Workshop and other previous structures had all been relocated elsewhere.

She stepped forward into the courtyard. The entire area had been swept immaculately clean. On the left sat a stone-built pool containing a white fountain. The cooling water stone and Healing Water Stone were embedded within it, serving as the fountain’s water source.

From the information in her mind, she learned that the two stones shared the same origin. Placing them together mutually enhanced their respective abilities.

On the other side were several freshly cultivated vegetable plots and a few empty water vats. She had opened these vats from her Treasure Chests.

After walking into the house, she found the interior space to be even larger than she had imagined.

Ten minutes later.

Lily finally finished touring the entire house. Behind the building was a warehouse with a tremendously large interior. It could store a vast amount of items and even possessed a freshness-preserving ability. She would never have to worry about running out of Treasure Chests to store things in the future.

Afterward, she adjusted the layout of the entire house to suit her current needs.

She placed the Pharmacist crafting table on the first floor, dedicating a specific room to serve as her studio. The adjacent room was specifically allocated for storing crafted potions for easy access.

The storage room would hold frequently used items. Aside from that, there was a kitchen, a living room, a bathroom, and a restroom.

Then came the second floor. First and foremost was her bedroom.

Lily had always loved herself the most, so she furnished the bedroom with the absolute best items she could currently produce. It came fully equipped with a private bathroom and restroom. While the downstairs bathroom connected to a different water source, the second-floor bathroom was hooked up directly to the Healing Water.

Showering with Healing Water seemed incredibly extravagant just thinking about it, but Lily was more than happy to indulge herself.

Aside from the bedroom, there was a walk-in closet, a weapon room, and a prop room. Finally, there was the third floor.

Although it was called the third floor, it was actually just a small attic. From the outside, the space inside did not appear large, but upon entering, one would discover a whole new world hidden within.

This was the core area of the entire vehicle.

Within the attic, the object occupying the most floor space was the sand table in the center. Displayed upon it was the current layout on Shelly’s back.

The once-haphazard vegetable plots had become exceptionally orderly. Each neat field looked as if it had been meticulously measured by a professional. Aside from the plants she had already sown, large swathes of the fields remained empty.

For someone with mild OCD, staring at those bare patches made her extremely uncomfortable.

In addition to these fields, there was also a miniature ocean. The two Orcas were in good condition. In the lake, Ink-Cloud had grown quite a bit, and in the stream, the Golden Fish swam leisurely.

All of this could be seen with absolute clarity on the sand table.