Chapter 80: Sky Garden

Lily Rhodes held the water gun, stopping a safe distance away from the Scarlet Anemones near her home.

She used the cooling water to neutralize the Scarlet Anemones first, then steered her sailboat to ram them off the reef below.

Fused with the Gold Spirit Pearl, the sailboat was practically indestructible; there was no need to worry about collision damage.

Knocked loose from the reef, the Scarlet Anemone curled completely into a red ball.

Lily noticed that it wasn’t dead, merely in a state of suspended animation.

She tossed the Scarlet Anemone into a Bronze Treasure Chest and moved on to the next. By the time her Bronze Treasure Chest was full, she had barely cleared a third of the patch. The further in she went, the larger the Scarlet Anemones became, boasting longer tentacles and wider attack ranges.

Furthermore, sensing her threat, they attempted to attack her several times.

Had the Scarlet Anemones not been immobile, she likely would have fallen prey to them.

Lily returned with a Bronze Treasure Chest packed full of Scarlet Anemones.

The moment she landed, Sprout’s vines eagerly coiled around her.

"Don’t rush, I’ll give them to you right now," Lily said. She opened the Bronze Treasure Chest to reveal the bright red, fleshy balls of Scarlet Anemones.

Dumping them all out, she gazed out at the distant patch of scarlet.

Earlier, while harvesting the Scarlet Anemones, she had accidentally cracked a piece of the reef. Normally, this wouldn’t be a big deal, but beneath the fractured stone, she had spotted a flash of white.

She then overturned several other rocks, and sure enough, more white objects lay hidden underneath.

Upon closer inspection, she realized the white material was actually the bones of some creature. What she had seen was merely the tip of the iceberg.

This entire forest of Scarlet Anemones was growing on the skeleton of a colossal beast.

"I’ll go check it out after Shelly wakes up."

The Scarlet Anemones at the center of the patch were simply too massive. Even with the cooling water in hand, she couldn’t guarantee its effectiveness. Besides, their attack range already exceeded that of her water gun.

"I need to find a way to increase the water gun’s range and capacity."

Looking at the water gun in her hand, an idea suddenly struck her.

She ran off into the distance.

For the sake of aesthetics, she had previously moved all the surplus surrounding buildings to another location.

She arrived at The Weapon Forge.

Since acquiring this building, she had only used it a few times. Whether it was good luck or bad, her few attempts at Enchantment on her gear had only yielded basic stat boosts, like defense and sharpness.

Initially, she felt fortunate that her equipment genuinely improved after processing. But gradually, she realized something was off.

Not only was the resource consumption for each use steep, but if all it offered were basic stats, the cost-to-benefit ratio was entirely disproportionate.

"It’s just a water gun. The required materials and time should be lower. Hopefully, it’ll be quick."

Lily placed the water gun and the necessary materials inside, quietly waiting for the enhancement to finish.

She absently stroked the Golden Egg in her arms. Truth be told, once she got used to it, the shell felt surprisingly nice to the touch.

"My expectations are low this time, so the enhancement should succeed. Come to think of it, many Survivors have developed their own combat systems now. Should I take this opportunity to make a fortune with The Weapon Forge?"

Although the cost was a bit steep, the stat boosts were very real.

Furthermore, having more Survivors stay alive would benefit her too.

"Right! I almost forgot about that."

She opened the Advanced Materials Trading Group.

Rhodes: "Do you guys want to hear some intel on upgrading vehicles from Level 10 to Level 11?"

Immediately after, a red packet was sent to the chat.

They had noticed her upgrade the moment it happened, which had caused a brief uproar in the chat channel before quickly settling down.

After all, Lily’s rapid leveling speed was public knowledge. She had been stuck at Level 10 for several days, so advancing just one Level now wasn’t particularly shocking. Some even felt a little disappointed.

Rhodes: "I’m talking about special vehicles. I don’t know if it’s the same for normal ones. After upgrading to Level 11, the System allows you to select one area for a special enhancement. The functions of that area will be strengthened, and it will continue to get buffed with every subsequent upgrade."

Gu: "Our current Levels are averaging around Level 6 to Level 7. We’re still a long way from Level 10."

It had to be said, special vehicles were great, but their upgrade speed was agonizingly slow.

Fortunately, back at Level 5, most Survivors had been bottlenecked by the Refined Steel material, which gave them a chance to catch up.

Rhodes: "The Supreme Shop has a new service: weapon enhancement. You provide the materials, and I only charge a small processing fee. However, the resulting stats are completely random, and there’s no after-sales service."

Rhodes: "Since you’re old customers, I can give you a fifty percent discount. But once the enhancement is done, you have to advertise for me in the World Channel and your respective regional channels."

Yes, that was right—the few of them weren’t in the same region, but hailed from different ones entirely.

Vaughn: "Are you interested in this?"

[Sky Garden

Vehicle Type: Special Aerial Vehicle

Vehicle Introduction: A garden capable of flying in the sky.]

Seeing this, Lily slowly typed out a "?".

Vaughn: "Enhance the weapons for all my Guild members, and this special vehicle is yours."

After reading that, Lily stared blankly for several seconds before recovering her wits.

Rhodes: "Bring out ten more vehicles like that, and I might agree. Do you have any idea how expensive weapon enhancement materials are?"

She was indeed very tempted by the vehicle, but not to the point of squandering all the hard-earned resources she had painstakingly hoarded these past days for it.

Immediately after, she sent over a price list.

Rhodes: "Read this clearly before you speak."

The required materials for weapon enhancements were already numerous, and Lily had doubled the cost on top of that, making the price exorbitant. Ordinary Survivors simply couldn’t afford it, but for the few elites in this group, trading those materials for an equipment upgrade was still highly worthwhile.

Vaughn: "Twenty pieces. Enhance twenty pieces of equipment for me, and that special vehicle is yours."

Seeing this, Lily hesitated for a moment before finally clicking confirm.

Still, this was a special vehicle. It was astonishing that someone was willing to trade it away rather than keep it for themselves. When she traded hers away before, she had been forced by circumstance—she was genuinely terrified of ghosts.

Sky Garden... just hearing the name made it sound like an excellent place for farming.