It took seven biscuits and a good deal of talking for him to gather enough Mechanical Parts from the others.
"What a hassle."
Looking at the resources he had on hand, Ye Qiyan shook his head.
He couldn't blame Shangguan Yingxue for hating trading. He didn't like haggling with people either, going back and forth over prices for a tiny bit of food. It was such a waste of time.
He loaded the resources into the processing bench, and the acceleration device blueprint glowed a brilliant blue.
Soon, machinery and metal fused together, and a complex mechanical device appeared before Ye Qiyan.
[Train Burst Acceleration Device] [Note: can only be installed in the main train car. Place it beside the control system to install automatically. Once installed, it can produce Acceleration Bullets.] [Acceleration Bullet]: can be used a maximum of three times per day. [Crafting requirements: 1 kilogram of metal, 20 Mechanical Parts, 1 Train Coin]
"Even making bullets takes Train Coins?"
Ye Qiyan felt a little helpless.
"I wonder what it'll turn into after Ascension."
[Stamina: 55][Spirit: 70]
His stamina and spirit had recovered somewhat after eating the Whiteforest Fruit, leaving him enough for one Ascension.
"Let's try it."
After consuming 30 stamina and 40 spirit, the acceleration device changed.
[Red Triple-Speed Train Acceleration Device] [Standardized Acceleration Bullet]: can be used a maximum of five times per day. Increases the train's speed to three times its original speed for ten minutes.
The number of uses had increased to five, but the speed hadn't changed.
Its potential seemed to have been exhausted, though, meaning he couldn't perform another Ascension on it.
Following the instructions, Ye Qiyan placed the acceleration device in front of the control system.
A silvery-white ring of light enveloped the device. Then a black opening rose from the control console.
That was where the bullets went.
"A little pricey."
Ye Qiyan spent two Train Coins to make two Acceleration Bullets.
Looking at the silvery-white bullets in his hand, each as thick as a baby's arm, he felt the sting of the expense.
He put away his last two coins. Though he really wanted to test the acceleration these bullets provided, he thought better of it.
He couldn't afford that kind of extravagance yet.
With everything taken care of, it was time to rest.
"Come to think of it, are those side effects of low spirit just empty words? How come I've never felt them?"
[Stamina: 100][Spirit: 100]
"Finally, everything's back to full."
After resting all night, Ye Qiyan yawned and got out of bed in the warm, temperature-controlled carriage.
He washed his face and hummed a tune as he walked to the back of the carriage.
He dug a seed out of the Gray-White Soil and nodded at its unchanged appearance.
"Let's try Ascension. Hopefully it'll grow faster."
[Stamina: 70] [Blessed Whitesen Fruit Tree Seed] [Sprouts in three days, grows in three days, and matures in three days. Once mature, produces one blessed Whiteforest Fruit each day.]
"It actually worked. And the fruit got an Ascension along with it?"
Ye Qiyan sensed that the seed didn't have enough potential to support another Ascension, but he could try again once they had grown.
He dug a hole, buried it, and watered it.
Ye Qiyan was about to return to the front of the train to enjoy breakfast when he stopped beside the Garbage Recycling Device.
"Come to think of it, I seem to remember saying I'd give you an Ascension."
Looking at the inactive little robot, which looked exactly like an oversized matchbox, Ye Qiyan bent down and tapped its metal head a few times.
Ascension.
As usual, Ye Qiyan had intended to use stamina for the Ascension, but for some reason, the stamina he expended vanished without a trace, like a clay ox sinking into the sea.
Did the Ascension fail?
Ye Qiyan frowned. This was the first time anything like this had happened.
He tried again. This time, he used spirit instead of stamina.
[Spirit: 60]
The familiar glow began to emerge, and the power of Ascension enveloped the little robot completely.
[GT-1: automatic treasure-hunting robot] [Upon arrival at a platform, automatically leaves the train and locates treasure chests within the platform. For inaccessible chests, draws a map and gives it to its owner to retrieve them personally.] [Can be repaired with Mechanical Parts if damaged.] [Each use consumes one Train Coin.] [Will be forced to return to the collection station before each stop ends.]
A pair of camera-like eyes rose from the matchbox, rotated a full three hundred and sixty degrees, then fixed on Ye Qiyan's face.
[Owner information confirmed: conductor number E-3-1102, Ye Qiyan] [Please name the GT-1 model. If no name is provided, its name will default to: GT1]
Its appearance inexplicably reminded Ye Qiyan of a character from a movie he had seen in his former world.
"WALL-E?"
[Naming complete.] [Entering sleep mode. Please spend a Train Coin to awaken it after arriving at a platform.]
"..."
Train Coins again.
Acceleration Bullets needed Train Coins, and now the little robot needed them after its Ascension too.
The next time he upgraded the train, he would also have to spend Train Coins to purchase upgrade options. Perhaps even something else that underwent Ascension would need Train Coins.
Ye Qiyan kept feeling that his expenses were about to outstrip his income.
"Right, at this point, a lot of people probably still don't know what Train Coins do."
Something suddenly occurred to him. He jogged back to the front of the train, opened the control system, and searched the chat room for a keyword.
[Train Coins.] ["Have you guys opened any treasure chests? What are the Train Coins inside them for?"] ["Who knows? Maybe they're this world's currency, and you can buy things at some platforms."] ["You're so lucky. You've even opened treasure chests. I don't even know what one looks like."] ["What's the use of opening them? There wasn't a single thing to eat. I've had two garbage platforms in a row. At this rate, I'll be eating dirt!"]
Sure enough, they had no idea what Train Coins were worth. They were still worrying about survival.
["One compressed biscuit plus one bottle of drinking water in exchange for one Train Coin."]
He listed the food and water on the trading platform.
After watching for a while, he left it alone.
With a fixed-price trade like this, it would be great if someone bought it, but he wouldn't lose anything if no one did.
At twelve thirty in the afternoon, train time.
The prompt to choose the next stop at the fork appeared before Ye Qiyan right on schedule.
[Fork in Destiny triggered. Please choose one of the following two platforms to stop at.] [Platform one: Doomsday Town (level 2 quest platform)] [Platform two: Goblin Village (level 2 Hunting Station)]
A quest platform?
This was another new type of platform.
Compared to fighting goblins, which would most likely be a thankless task, Ye Qiyan felt the first option suited him better.
[Platform selection complete.] [Please remain seated and hold on. The train's third stop ahead is...] [Doomsday Town]
The train was accelerating.
The space ahead gradually faded into nothingness.
When the countdown reached zero, the surrounding world changed completely.
[Current platform: Doomsday Town] [Remaining stop time: 3:59:59] [Good luck.] [This stop: danger]
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