Adding one more person means adding one more helping hand. The Calabash Sisters are definitely not just for decoration.
"Girls, you're already mature—why aren't you coming down yet?"
With the help of the Celestial Dao Stone, Yi Tian knew the gourds were in a mature state.
"Daddy, once we're born with true spirits, the gourd vine will stop producing new gourds. We have to fully absorb the divinity of the vine to make up for our innate shortcomings. I have the most complete foundation, and after one more day, I'll be able to land."
The eldest, the Red Gourd, explained to Yi Tian calmly and methodically. Yi Tian could tell she's the most reliable among the Calabash Sisters, her childish voice generous and sincere.
Yi Tian observed carefully and discovered that while the gourds looked about the same size, there were actually some differences.
The oldest, the Red Gourd, was the largest at two and a half feet. The youngest, the Purple Gourd, was the smallest, at two feet three inches.
Only when all the Calabash Sisters reached about two and a half feet would they be able to come down.
Humans are social creatures; staying alone in an enclosed environment leads to a sense of loneliness.
Even though the chat channel can ease Yi Tian's loneliness, there's still a psychological gap.
If he had a Calabash Sister for company, not only wouldn't he feel lonely, but he'd also have more fun.
Yi Tian was really looking forward to tomorrow.
"Daddy still has work to do. I'll chat with you all tonight. This is the Celestial Dao World—if I don't work, I can't support you."
After having fun with the Calabash Sisters for a while, they were reluctant for Yi Tian to leave, each one whimpering.
"Once we land, we'll definitely help Daddy work." said the oldest thoughtfully.
Yi Tian left smiling. He had to plant watermelons as soon as possible—lots of watermelons.
It was easy to foresee that half a month later, when the first batch of crops from the Trial Takers matured, the price of fruit and vegetables would drop off a cliff.
Intelligent life forms are truly smart; Yi Tian learned from regional chat yesterday that Trial Takers had already figured out how to collect fresh water from the lake.
Somebody had summed up that as long as you don't get within three meters of the lake, the Lightning Python won't attack.
Make a wooden bucket, use a rope, and anyone with a bit of strength can draw fresh water.
It's easy to find materials for weaving grass rope and making wooden buckets on the plains.
Looking at the auction house, fresh water had already dropped from yesterday's 100 Spirit Coins to 10 Spirit Coins. The lakes had virtually inexhaustible fresh water resources; clearly, as time passed, fresh water would become worthless.
This world never intended to starve Trial Takers by cutting off their water.
Yi Tian still had over twenty thousand drops of Water of Life, and only planned to use a little over ten thousand of them. He'd save the remaining ten thousand for later.
Yi Tian felt Water of Life would come in handy elsewhere. If he acquired other Heavenly and Earthly Treasures in the future, he'd still need Water of Life to help ripen them.
Water of Life was rare and could only be chanced upon, not sought after. Most likely, he'll only draw it this once.
Yi Tian studied the auction house again and found that most sellers were anonymous, though some had picked nicknames.
There were rules in the auction house: the items for sale and their descriptions must be accurate, no fabricating information, or else you'll be punished.
In the auction house you can set any price, as long as you can sell it. You can also contact sellers privately for side deals.
No transaction fee for auction house trading, but you can't change the auction price. Canceling a listing will deduct a five percent fee.
Say Yi Tian listed watermelons for a thousand Celestial Dao Coins each, but nobody bought them and he wanted to cancel—that would cost him 50 Celestial Dao Coins.
In theory, there's no limit to how long an item can be listed, but watermelons have a shelf life. Once high-quality watermelons turn rotten, they'll be forcibly removed from sale.
The same goes for other meat products and vegetables.
The Celestial Dao Rules are essentially penalizing price gougers.
So you must think carefully before listing any item. The auction house is a huge test of a Trial Taker's judgment and nerve.
Yi Tian understood moderation, so he wasn't greedy enough to set a watermelon at over a hundred Celestial Dao Coins.
"What name should I use?"
Yi Tian decided not to go anonymous—time to build his brand.
On the light curtain, Yi Tian typed in "Honest Merchant," then deleted it. He was honest, sure, but it felt too flashy.
"Fair Trade." Again, Yi Tian sheepishly deleted it.
"Wealthiest in the World. Hmm, that's good."
Yi Tian settled on his auction house name. But his regional and partition info stayed hidden—he only mentioned Earth Human Race, Huaxia Race, in the galaxy.
On the auction house page, Yi Tian saw a section for trading Special Items.
You could input some information to form a guidebook scroll, which Trial Takers would need to spend to view.
Seeing this feature, Yi Tian thought deeply.
"Right now, most zones face their greatest problem: the Three Threats. The Three Threats restrict Trial Taker progress; unless they're dealt with, Trial Takers will be trapped sooner or later. If I can figure out how to handle the Three Threats, publish the Wild Boar Guidebook, Brown Bear Guidebook, Lightning Python Guidebook, or even make strategy items—how can I not be the Wealthiest in the World?"
Yi Tian thought to himself.
But Yi Tian knew himself well—he was way too one-sided now, and killing the Three Threats was hard enough, let alone finding strategies for beating them.
"Sell watermelons, boost physique!"
Yi Tian already had a plan in mind and was ready to get to work.
Yi Tian spent eight hours opening up a huge plot of land, planting over a thousand watermelon pits front and back.
By now, the yard was stacked with ten thousand quality big watermelons, almost reaching the gourd rack. The Calabash Sisters hopped around, clamoring to eat watermelon once they landed.
The reason for such crazy efficiency was that Yi Tian realized he didn't need to dig holes at all. Just toss the watermelon seeds onto the ground, drip half a drop of Water of Life, and they'd automatically take root. In less than three minutes, the watermelons would bloom, bear fruit, and ripen.
"Attention, Lord! Celestial Dao Fortune descends—three Celestial Dao Treasure Chests will appear in your territory. Please collect in time!"
"Time until Celestial Dao Treasure Chests disappear: 11 hours 59 minutes."
Yi Tian was about to plant more watermelons, but the voice caught his attention.
The Celestial Dao World was finally giving out its first welfare benefit.
But while the territory wasn't huge, it also wasn't small. Finding the Celestial Dao Treasure Chests in these ten square kilometers was no easy task.
The chests were likely sitting right on the Three Threats' turf.
Plus, there were only two hours until dark—looking for treasure chests would be even harder by then.
"Better sell the ripe watermelons first. Treasure chest hunting can come later."
The Celestial Dao Stone scanned the watermelons—ten thousand listed, still at thirty Celestial Dao Coins each.
This huge wave of watermelons, even with Celestial Dao Fortune running, still caused a massive stir. All the major zones were talking, speculation everywhere. Even the High-level Races got interested in "Wealthiest in the World."
Watching watermelons in the yard vanish one by one, Yi Tian was overjoyed.
In less than three minutes, only a hundred watermelons remained in the yard.
Of course, these hundred Yi Tian planned to save for seeds. Watermelon here might be huge, but getting good seeds wasn't easy. Most of the seeds in the fruit were white and couldn't be planted.
"Celestial Dao Coin balance: 305,000."
Yi Tian didn't hesitate—he raised his Physique and Agility attributes to fifty, spending a total of 63,000 Celestial Dao Coins.
Celestial Dao Coin balance: 242,000.
All three-dimensional attributes above 50; next up, 10,000 for an attribute boost.