Chapter 9: Level 3 Vehicle

As Lily Rhodes continued trading, the one hundred Fish Spears she had crafted slowly disappeared. Beside her, various supplies constantly appeared out of thin air.

"There’s actually such a thing as a Skill Book? And this person didn’t learn it immediately after opening it?"

Lily’s eyes lit up when she saw one of the traded items. It was a Collection Skill Book. She hadn’t expected such an item to exist in this world, let alone that someone would trade it away instead of using it themselves.

Soon after, she spotted several more Skill Books. None of them were offensive; they were purely auxiliary Skills. But it made sense. If they were the type that taught combat Skills, the owners would have learned them immediately rather than trading them for her Fish Spears.

After half an hour of busy work, she finally traded away all the Fish Spears. Next up...

She looked at the pile of goods she had hauled in. Aside from basic materials, there were quite a few Crystal Cores, blueprints, items, Skill Books, and some bizarre things she had never seen before.

First, she opened the trading section, adjusted the listing under the Fish Spears, and added a few words.

[Today’s Fish Spears are sold out. Come back tomorrow.]

Ignoring the pleading wails of the other Survivors, she closed the interface to take inventory of her haul. She didn’t even bother looking at the Treasure Chest she had just arrived at. It wasn’t like the Treasure Chest was going anywhere, anyway.

First up: Crystal Cores.

Not only were these the upgrade materials Shelly would need in the future, but certain blueprints also required them for crafting. Naturally, the more she had, the better. This time, she hauled in a total of 387 Crystal Cores. On average, each trader had provided her with at least three.

Comparisons were truly maddening. She hadn’t encountered a single one so far, nor had she opened any from a Treasure Chest, yet these people were throwing down three right off the bat.

The basic materials went without saying. Though common, they were vital resources—like the foundation for building a house. While she didn’t need them to upgrade her vehicle, she absolutely needed them for crafting. She sorted and stored them all neatly into her Treasure Chests.

Next came the items and miscellaneous sundries: toothbrushes, toothpaste, mattresses, blankets, and pillows. She stored the useful daily necessities away and set the currently useless ones aside in a separate Treasure Chest. She could see if they’d be handy later or just use them for future trades.

The seeds were stored separately. She had traded for five types of plant seeds in total. Two were crops—sweet potatoes and potatoes—which meant she wouldn’t have to go hungry in the future. The remaining three were fruit seeds: strawberries, watermelons, and cherry tomatoes.

As for the blueprints, aside from the initial planter box, grill, and cabinet, she had also received ones for a table, a bucket, a cup, a simple raft, and more.

She chose to learn all of them.

Finally, the Skill Books.

Aside from the Collection Skill Book, she had also traded for a Decomposition Technique, a Mining Skill Book, a Woodcutting Skill Book, and a Medicine Gathering Skill Book.

Although she had no idea why simple manual labor like mining, woodcutting, and gathering herbs would require Skill Books, Lily firmly believed that everything existed for a reason. Since such Skill Books existed in this world, they had to be useful. Without hesitation, she chose to learn all of them.

[Collection Skill: Can collect items after learning.]

It was an incredibly simple and crude Introduction, yet it seemed perfectly reasonable. In contrast, the Decomposition Technique had a slightly more detailed Introduction.

[Decomposition Technique: Can decompose certain objects, including buildings and prey.]

The other Skill Books had similar descriptions.

After reading through all the skill Introductions, she couldn’t wait to test them out. However, given her current environment, she could probably only test the Decomposition Technique.

She pulled a fish out of her chest and silently chanted, *Decompose*. The next second, a white light burst from her palm. The roughly eight-pound fish in front of her instantly separated into two perfectly clean, intact fillets, a complete set of organs, a fish head, and fish bones.

This was far cleaner than doing it by hand. Most importantly, not a single bit was wasted.

The meat could be eaten, and the organs could be used as bait. She couldn’t think of an immediate use for the bones and head—maybe she could feed them to a pet if she ever got one, but for now, she might as well toss them.

"This skill is seriously handy," Lily mused.

Having sorted everything out, Lily stood up and took a deep breath. "Alright, time to get to work. But before that..."

She took out one hundred Crystal Cores.

Shelly seemed to sense something. The large turtle turned its head and stared at her with wide eyes. Smiling at the sight, Lily fed the Crystal Cores to her pet.

"Eat up. We need to upgrade once you’re full."

Shelly happily scarfed down all the Crystal Cores in one bite. Shortly after, Lily felt the ground begin to tremble faintly. The surface beneath her continuously expanded, and even her line of sight was raised significantly.

Shelly’s body kept growing until it reached the size of a basketball court before finally stopping.

Lily also noticed that after upgrading to Level 3, a pale golden protective shield appeared on Shelly’s back, completely enveloping her safely inside.

"Is this a Level 3 Vehicle? It sure feels incredibly safe," Lily marveled.

No wonder the System urged them to upgrade. It seemed vehicles only offered protective properties once they reached Level 3. If the Survivors couldn’t upgrade their vehicles to Level 3 before the novice protection period ended, then they would...

Lily wasn’t sure how other people’s vehicles upgraded, but without a doubt, their upgrade conditions were definitely not as difficult as Shelly’s.

"That’s weird. There was a Treasure Chest reward when I hit Level 2, so why isn’t there one this time?" Lily waited for a moment. Once she was certain there was no reward, she sighed in disappointment. "Fine, whatever."

She walked over to the edge near the sea.

After casting her fishing net, she turned back to look at the empty turtle shell while she waited. Her hands itched to do something. This wouldn’t do; she absolutely had to build something. Leaving it completely bare like this was just too ugly.

It looked like farming definitely needed to be put on the agenda.

The travel time spent searching for Treasure Chests later could be used to cultivate the fields. At this thought, Lily suddenly froze. She remembered she had no farming implements, nor any other suitable tools. She couldn’t possibly dig the soil bit by bit with her bare hands, could she?

Well, it wasn’t completely impossible. In any case, she would just plant the seeds first and worry about the rest later.