Chapter 399 - 397: The Profiteering System
Chapter 399: Chapter 397: The Profiteering System
When the downpour in her area subsided to a drizzle, Faye Yardley took the Seven-Colored Tree to the next location caught in a torrential storm.
Like this, she kept moving from place to place. By noon on the third day, there were no more storms anywhere in the region. In many areas, even the drizzle had stopped.
The wind and rain had ceased. Though the sun was out, the cold remained.
Back on her raft, Faye Yardley gazed at the Seven-Colored Treasure Tree, which was now nearly two meters tall. She couldn’t suppress the broad smile on her face.
The Seven-Colored Tree was no longer just a bare trunk. It was now adorned with crystalline, emerald-green leaves and had bloomed with small, five-petaled, pure-white flowers, each the size of a fingernail.
The flowers were small, but their fragrance was incredibly strong. Inhaling it for too long made one’s head spin.
She still didn’t know what purpose this particular Seven-Colored Tree served, so for now, she placed it on the edge of her terrace as an ornamental plant.
Yesterday, the roots of the Seven-Colored Tree had shattered the nearby ice sheet into chunks of various sizes. By now, however, the ice had frozen over again, forming an even more rugged and uneven surface.
Faye Yardley watched for a moment before heading inside to change and wash up.
As she came downstairs, she was already wondering if she should try her luck in other Dungeons.
’The System hasn’t announced any events recently, but the weather is completely unpredictable—hot one moment, cold the next, then raining. There’s never a moment of normalcy.’
’Forget it. I’ll head back to the island first and find a philosophy teacher to give me a lecture. It’s not like I have to understand it all; I just feel like my brain needs to be filled with some new knowledge.’
"System, return to the island."
Faye Yardley had been secretly looking forward to seeing how the System would get the raft moving through the ice. But this time, the System was even more unreasonable, teleporting the raft directly into The White Mist Zone.
After less than ten minutes, she passed through The White Mist Zone and saw the pier of her island.
’But on closer inspection, the travel fee had silently tripled.’
’Ripoff!’
"Bramble, let’s head to the pier."
Lucy White and Cole Kensington were the most excited. This time, Eamon also needed to bring the Peach Tree Seedlings and other saplings to the island.
Faye Yardley needed to lead Eamon and the others to the hidden valley where her house was located first.
As it turned out, the Seven-Colored Tree had also snuck onto the island.
The moment it set foot on the island, Faye Yardley received a message from the System.
[You may plant the semi-mature Seven-Colored Tree on your island. Doing so will significantly reduce the maturation time of medicinal herbs on the island and greatly enhance the island’s resistance to corrosive damage.]
Huh?
’The System is probably telling me this because it doesn’t want me to take the Seven-Colored Tree back to the raft. After all, it didn’t say a thing when I left Bramble on the island.’
’So, does that mean Bramble is actually better suited to stay with me on the raft?’
Trusting the System’s judgment, Faye Yardley planted the runaway Seven-Colored Tree in the main courtyard of the second enclosure of her residence.
"Eamon, I need you to help plan the landscaping here. I want a large peach grove outside the house. It’s okay if you can’t finish planting it all this time; you can continue the next time you’re on the island."
"Don’t worry, I’ve selected varieties that have been cultivated for several generations. With Lucy White and Kingston’s help, we’ll definitely have them all planted before we leave tomorrow."
Lucy White shot him a glare but didn’t object.
"Alright, you all handle things here. I have some business to attend to up front."
As Faye Yardley rode Bella toward the town, she suddenly had a thought: perhaps she could give Kyle Lewis a hand.
’There’s still an Inheritance Scroll on the island. My brother even received the Fire Element inheritance from it, and so far, no one else has managed to activate that scroll again.’
’Since Kyle Lewis has improved his personal aptitude, maybe he has a chance.’
’But helping someone without expecting anything in return... Faye Yardley was worried she might end up nurturing an ungrateful wretch.’
’People change.’
’Especially Kyle Lewis. He’s a year younger than me and his character isn’t set yet.’
’Forget it. The Inheritance Scroll is right there. If he does something to help my brother, or makes a huge contribution to the guild, I can offer him a chance at it as a reward.’
’Giving him that much help just because they knew each other from the World of Ocean Survival would be putting Kyle Lewis’s character to an unfair test.’
’And as everyone says, human nature rarely withstands a true test.’
After mulling it over, Faye Yardley abandoned the idea of giving him the opportunity directly. She sent Bella to find Cole Kensington and the others on its own, then pulled out a car and drove from the pier toward town to find Wyatt Thorne’s group.
She parked the car in Franklin Yardley’s courtyard. As Faye Yardley got out, she felt someone watching her from the second floor of the house next door. She glanced up and met the bright, sparkling eyes of a little girl.
’Mr. Sloan’s daughter.’ A smile involuntarily appeared on her face.
A group of people walked over from the neighboring Thornton Family’s residence.
"Island Master, you’re here."
Faye Yardley pulled her gaze away, turning to face the crowd. "Let’s all go inside before we talk," she said calmly.
Franklin Yardley’s place felt more like an administrative office than even Wyatt Thorne’s.
’Come to think of it, for every vegetable harvest on the island now, the System gives me a bonus equivalent to one-tenth of the total yield.’
’The more they plant here, the greater my reward.’
’It’s just that it’s quite difficult for them to break through their physical limits by themselves. So far, at least, I haven’t seen anyone reach the Third Tier on their own.’
By now, she had a rough understanding of the relationship between herself as the Island Master, the island itself, and its inhabitants.
Without a doubt, she was at the apex of this entire power structure.
However, the returns from their efforts weren’t as significant as she’d imagined. Especially when it came to breakthroughs in personal physical abilities, it wasn’t a simple matter of quantity over quality.
"Island Master, we have some preliminary results regarding the spider Egg Ore you asked us to research. Here, this is the experimental report." Marlin, the secretary in charge, handed her a report and continued, "The engines from the cars you provided have all been converted to electric. They’re now viable for long-term use here. If you wish, we can convert the car you just arrived in, too."
’Modifying them is easy, but building a car from scratch would be difficult. They lack not only the manufacturing equipment but even the raw materials.’
’To make their own steel, they’d at least need iron ore.’
’Right now, even their clothes are entirely supplied by me from the outside world. The islanders have already started planting mulberry and hemp, hoping to eventually weave their own fabric and make clothes. Achieving self-sufficiency, step by step... it’s really going to take a long time.’
Faye Yardley grunted in acknowledgment, accepting the report and giving it a cursory glance. "This ore can be used to enchant weapons? And to cultivate beasts? Interesting. Oh, right, I brought back a batch of electronics this time. You all can figure out how to distribute them. Since the car conversions were a success, I have about a dozen more in storage that you can have as well."
Then she took the initiative to ask, "Thorne, how are the children who arrived last? Are they adapting to life on the island? Once the school is ready, send them all. They can attend classes and recuperate at the same time."
Wyatt Thorne shared the sentiment, but at the very least, they needed a chair for each child to sit on during class.