After looking at the flour in the plate, Su Yu quickly polished off the instant noodles in his bowl. Then, after taking a satisfied sip of the soup, he set the bowl aside and told the two Goblins to wash it clean with seawater later.
Next, he took out two Energy Crystals and tossed them straight into the plate, then casually picked up the hammer from the ground.
"Bang, bang, bang." The moment the hammer was in his hands, Su Yu got right to smashing.
Before long, he had smashed the two Common Energy Crystals to bits. After glancing at the pulverized crystals in the plate, he tossed the hammer aside and got to work with his hands.
At last, after Su Yu finished making them, sixty portions of fresh Common Bait made their dazzling debut.
"Phew." Looking at the sixty portions of Common Bait in the plate, Su Yu felt a little relieved.
But then he thought of something else. He could make Common Bait because he could use his Insight Talent to see what materials were needed. How would ordinary Survivors deal with it once they ran out of bait?
Su Yu naturally didn't want everyone else to die off, leaving him alone in this region. If that really happened, what would be the point of developing anything? After all, now that there was a Trading Channel, the more people there were, the more varied the goods in it would be.
With that in mind, Su Yu opened the Communication Channel to see if anyone was discussing the problem.
After going in and scrolling through the chat history, he really did find people talking about it. No one, however, had come up with a solution.
After thinking it over, Su Yu started composing a message.
"Buying Common Energy Crystals. Anyone interested in selling can send me a picture via private chat." Once he'd finished typing, he pinned the message to the top. It was a privilege reserved for the top-ranked player, and he might as well make use of it.
As soon as Su Yu's message went out, it caught the attention of quite a few Survivors.
"Holy crap, the top-ranked big shot pinned a message!"
"What the hell are Common Energy Crystals? What do they do? Anyone got a big enough dick to explain?"
"I have no idea what these things are for, but they must be really rare. I wish I had some. If I did, I'd make sure to fleece the top-ranked big shot for a fortune."
Su Yu's message had instantly set everyone guessing.
After all, Su Yu had held the number one spot on the island Prosperity Value rankings all along. That meant his island was currently the most developed in their region.
"Ding. The Regional Island Prosperity Ranking List has been updated. First place remains unchanged, and places two through one hundred have been added." [Regional Prosperity Ranking] First place: [Su Yu] Prosperity Value: 20 points (Time on ranking: 7:31:25). Second place: [Zhou Yi] Prosperity Value: 10 points (Time on ranking: 00:00:01). Third place: [Wang Xu] Prosperity Value: 9 points (Time on ranking: 00:00:01). Fourth place: [Ji Qingrou] Prosperity Value: 8 points (Time on ranking: 00:00:01). One hundredth place: [Wang Dachui] Prosperity Value: 1 point (Time on ranking: 00:00:01). "Ding. The daily Regional Prosperity Ranking rewards are now available. In addition to the Ranking Treasure Chests, the following basic rewards can be claimed. Note: only the top ten on the ranking receive Ranking Treasure Chests." First place can claim twenty portions of Common Bait each day. Second place can claim fifteen portions of Common Bait each day. Third place can claim ten portions of Common Bait each day. Places four through ten can claim eight portions of Common Bait each day. Places eleven through twenty can claim six portions of Common Bait each day. Places twenty-one through fifty can claim four portions of Common Bait each day. Places fifty-one through one hundred can claim three portions of Common Bait each day. Everyone below one hundredth place can claim one portion of Common Bait each day as a basic allowance.
Not long after Su Yu sent his message, a mechanical prompt rang in the ears of every Survivor in the region.
In an instant, the Communication Channel exploded with activity.
"Holy crap, after one hundredth place, they only give you one measly portion of Common Bait a day. How are we supposed to survive?!"
"Jealous of the top-ranked big shot on day one."
"Holy crap, first place gets twenty portions a day—that's twenty times what I get!"
"Don't panic, everyone. There must be other ways to get bait. They can't possibly make this the only way."
"Big brothers and sisters in the top ten, can you tell us how you raised your Prosperity Value so fast?"
"Huh." Su Yu, who had just sent a message, couldn't help letting out a sound of surprise.
"So being on the ranking gets you bait, too. But this kind of setup looks a lot like raising Gu worms."
After glancing at the rankings and rewards on the light screen, Su Yu fell into thought.
The situation was already crystal clear. The higher your rank, the more resources were funneled your way. Those below one hundredth place would have to see if they could climb higher—or get lucky while fishing and haul up something unusual that could change their current situation.
"Survivor Wang Teng meets your private chat requirements and is requesting to chat with you. Accept?"
Just as Su Yu was thinking things over, a private chat notification rang out, interrupting his train of thought.
"This person has Energy Crystals." Su Yu immediately accepted once he realized what was going on.
The requirement Su Yu had set for anyone who wanted to chat with him was to possess Energy Crystals. Otherwise, he rejected the request outright.
If anyone could privately message Su Yu, wouldn't he be driven crazy?
This was a very useful feature in the Communication Channel. Whether the other person had Energy Crystals was automatically detected; otherwise, how would the items in the Trading Channel display their names?
As soon as Su Yu accepted the request and entered the private chat, he saw a message from a guy named Wang Teng.
"Is Su the big shot there? I have the Energy Crystals you're looking for. I can trade them to you, but can you tell me what they're actually for?"
At that moment, Wang Teng was on his own island, staring nervously at the light screen in front of him.
No one knew whether Wang Teng had struck it incredibly lucky or what, but the guy had somehow managed to pull two Energy Crystals out of a ★★ Common Wooden Treasure Chest he'd fished up.
Wang Teng didn't have an Insight Talent like Su Yu's. He could only see an item's name on the light screen, not its detailed information.
Still, after some experimenting, he'd learned to tell which chests held the more valuable stuff by their star ratings.
That was exactly why he hadn't put the things up on the Trading Channel. He had no idea what would be a good trade for them.
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