Chapter 91: Departure and Vehicle Leaderboard Settlement Rewards

The girl spoke while touching her own cheek.

After enduring the ocean breeze for so long, their facial skin had grown rough despite their utmost caution, entirely losing its former smoothness. The sun had been especially brutal lately. Even though they avoided it as much as possible, they still suffered exposure. Getting a tan was the best-case scenario; most people suffered severe sunburns and developed brown spots on their bodies.

As she said this, the woman suddenly looked toward Lily Rhodes, who was standing not too far away. She trotted over to her side. "Teacher Wendy, do you know of any plants that have beauty, whitening, spot-removal, or sun-protection effects?"

Hearing this, Lily looked up, blinked blankly, and replied, "I haven’t seen any."

"That’s impossible! The exposed skin on your face is so flawless," the girl said, her eyes widening in utter disbelief.

But there truly were none.

Her skin was flawless because she bathed—and even soaked—in Healing Water every day. Furthermore, she spent her days at the bottom of the sea. Although she had the Light Wing Tree for illumination, it was not true sunlight. The Healing Water continuously improved her complexion, and the lack of sun exposure made her progressively paler.

However, a closer look would reveal that Lily’s paleness was not a healthy porcelain white, but rather a sickly pallor born from a total absence of sunlight. The other woman simply hadn’t noticed because most of Lily’s skin was covered up. Naturally, she could not explain any of this. Telling the truth would be tantamount to exposing her real identity.

Lily let out a sigh. "That’s because I always wrap myself up completely like this. Even my current glasses... I usually wear this pair."

Saying so, she swapped her current frames for the Protective Goggles, which concealed half of her face. With this change, the very last bit of Lily’s exposed skin was completely hidden.

"As long as I have the cooling potion, I don’t have to worry about getting heatstroke while dressed like this."

While the cooling potion was excellent, its duration was ultimately limited. To ensure they used it where it mattered most, Claire Lancester and her group obviously could not afford to consume it twenty-four hours a day. Without the cooling potion, their only way to dissipate heat was by wearing less clothing.

Hearing Lily’s explanation, the disappointed girl walked off to gather plants elsewhere. At that moment, Claire walked over, carrying two Bronze Treasure Chests in her arms.

"Teacher Wendy, these are the plants I just gathered. Could you take a look and see if any are useful?"

Lily quickly walked over. Claire dumped out all the contents of the Bronze Treasure Chests. A pile of green, weed-like plants appeared between them, rapidly forming a small mound. Lily swiftly sorted through the pile of "weeds" while Claire stood by, recording the information.

Since she had accepted tuition fees from Claire’s group, Lily naturally held nothing back in her teachings. However, as she had reiterated many times, most medicinal herbs could not be used directly; they required drying or special processing first.

"This one is just a common weed. This one is highly toxic, so don’t touch it or it will kill you. This one is a medicinal herb; once dried and ground into a powder, it can stop bleeding, though it’s best brewed into a potion..."

Just like that, Lily spent five days on the island. During the day, she gathered various herbs with Claire and the others. At night, Lily would head out alone to hunt.

Claire and her companions did not complain about this arrangement. After all, they had the backing of their friends and guilds, whereas Lily was entirely on her own. While venturing solo allowed Lily to hoard all the resources for herself, it also meant she had zero support. Her margin for error was extremely low; a single moment of carelessness could lead to irreversible consequences.

Of course, that was only part of the reason they didn’t pry. The other factor was that over the past few days, Lily had consistently maintained a detached demeanor toward them. She answered all their questions, but there always seemed to be an invisible wall between them. This was likely the so-called sense of personal boundaries. Wendy Lancester was someone with a very strong sense of boundaries. For people like her, overly enthusiastic and intimate gestures felt more like an offense than a kindness.

The group maintained this lukewarm dynamic until two days later, when the island’s peaceful atmosphere was completely shattered.

As the number of arrivals increased, the early birds gorged themselves on resources while the latecomers were left with absolutely nothing. As time passed, conflict inevitably erupted. The tension was especially fierce because those who had hoarded the lion’s share of resources refused to leave. But the real trigger for the explosion was when an ambitious group set their sights on the island’s wealth and attempted to claim it as their exclusive territory. This move instantly threatened everyone’s interests.

Claire and her friends clearly sensed the shifting tides. They sought out Lily. "Teacher Wendy, we’re preparing to leave."

They seemed entirely accustomed to this nomadic lifestyle. Every time they found a suitable island, they could only enjoy a few days of peace before chaos inevitably descended. Since this island was quite large, securing five days of stability was already a rare luxury.

Lily nodded at the news. "I wish you a safe journey."

Watching the four of them depart, Lily glanced back at the island. It was time for her to leave as well.

Claire’s group had chosen to flee because they had attracted too much attention over the past few days. Once word spread that they possessed medicinal knowledge, several factions had approached to recruit them. Claire had rejected them all. These continuous rejections had pushed the recruiters’ patience to the absolute limit, prompting the girls’ hasty retreat.

Listening to the commotion drawing closer from the forest, Lily leaped forward and plunged headfirst into the ocean. Once underwater, she retrieved her sailboat.

[Sufficient vitality materials detected. Do you wish to upgrade the sailboat vehicle?]

"The materials are fully gathered? Yes!"

The very next second, a blinding white light enveloped the sailboat. The vessel began to expand rapidly, only stopping its transformation several minutes later. Upgrading from Level 3 to Level 4 naturally brought a massive increase in overall size, making the cabin significantly more spacious. In addition to the original rooms, the ship now boasted new facilities such as a storage warehouse and a freezer room.

There was also one other thing.

"Right, there’s also the settlement rewards from the vehicle leaderboard."

Because she had been constantly surrounded by Claire’s group, she hadn’t found an opportunity to take the items out and inspect them until now.

The two special structures awarded this time were exceptionally useful. The first was an Energy Cannon. It consumed a Crystal Core to launch attacks, functioning on the same principle as the Arrow Tower but boasting vastly superior destructive power. The Energy Cannon sported a sleek, silver-white exterior that practically hummed with advanced technology.

"This thing actually matches the sailboat pretty well."

The second item was a Biological Radar. It was somewhat similar to Lily’s Exploration Medal but possessed far more potent capabilities, able to automatically scan the surrounding ocean for several kilometers.