Not only did she successfully break it down and get high-quality, pollution-free Fish Meat, but she also got fish maw on her first try.
Those two points added to her Luck Value made Faye Yardley absolutely ecstatic.
Her already high Luck was now even higher; the effect was just way, way too obvious.
She looked down at her feet and saw a silvery-white treasure chest wedged in a coral reef.
'Whoa, it's like a gift from the heavens.'
'What's guarding this treasure chest? It can't just be the coral, can it?'
'Can this Water-Repelling Pearl really double as a protective shield to keep monsters away?'
Faye Yardley's mind was filled with strange thoughts, but her actions were swift. She stored her fishing rod in her backpack, took a step back, then squatted and quickly touched the treasure chest to collect it.
It all went so smoothly it was unbelievable.
Back in the Dungeon, she'd had to fight a huge boss just to get her hands on a Silver Treasure Chest, but this was even easier than collecting a Wooden Treasure Chest.
Then her gaze fell on the coral reef. 'Such beautiful coral... some big spender is bound to like it,' she thought. 'And even if I can't sell it, it would make for great interior decoration. Who knows, it might even raise my happiness index.'
She glanced around; the red, pink, orange, and white ones were all gorgeous. And so, Faye Yardley began the process of breaking off coral with her bare hands and kicking it with her feet.
If any environmentalists saw her now, she'd be verbally crucified.
But out here? Who was going to stop her?
While busy breaking off coral, she also picked up several spider conches the size of her forehead, not even bothering with the smaller ones.
She also saw sea cucumbers, but the things were so soft and limp that the sight alone made her skin crawl, so she subconsciously ignored them.
Fortunately, none of the marine life attacked her. A few schools of fish even circled her several times.
[System Friendly Reminder: Dear player, the single-use time limit for your Water-Repelling Pearl is about to be reached. Please manage your time underwater accordingly.]
Faye Yardley froze for a second when she heard the notification before it dawned on her. 'So the Water-Repelling Pearl has a time limit for each use,' she realized. 'Did I forget to check when I first took it out after falling in the water?'
'Doesn't even give you an instruction manual for the items. The system is such a troll.'
A quick glance showed a 10-minute countdown. Faye Yardley didn't dare waste another second.
She was afraid that if she didn't make it back to the raft in time, her swimming skills—or lack thereof—would just end with her sinking to the bottom of the sea.
It was only as she started scrambling for the surface that she realized she had unknowingly used the Water-Repelling Pearl to walk deep into the ocean.
The only reason she could see her surroundings was either because of the game's default visual settings, which let her see as far as her eyes could reach, or because the Water-Repelling Pearl itself came with a function for viewing the immediate area.
Surrounded by water on all sides, even though the Water-Repelling Pearl had created a land-like environment for her, Faye Yardley found her hands automatically starting to make swimming motions as she walked.
The way her legs kept trying to tread water looked ridiculous, and she eventually tripped over her own feet, falling flat on her back. It was only then, lying suspended in the water, that she realized what a dumb thing she'd just done!
'Luckily, if no one saw it, it's not embarrassing. If I don't say anything, no one will ever know.'
She had thought ten minutes would be more than enough time to get back to the raft. But when she looked up with two minutes to spare, all she saw was shimmering, multicolored light filtering down through the water and a faint, floating black shadow. That had to be her raft.
She broke into a full sprint in that direction, but in the end, she still choked on a mouthful of seawater. GULP.
Thankfully, she was able to surface. But with her "impressive" swimming skills, despite the raft being only two or three meters away, it still took her more than ten minutes to finally touch it.
By the time she climbed onto the raft, she was completely drained of energy.
Still, she forced herself to go to the bathroom and rinse off. Only after feeling fresh and clean did she finally lie down on the sofa to recover her strength.
She took out a roast chicken and began to gnaw on it.
'Can't waste this time,' she thought. 'I'll eat and see if there's any news. Maybe seeing how everyone else is doing will make this chicken taste even better.'
"System, open the regional channel."
[Help! Can you animals leave some Bandage Hemostatic Pills for people who actually need them?! Stop buying them up the second they appear! I jumped into the ocean to fight monsters just for a few more supplies. You think my life is easy?!]
[Yeah, yeah, you've got it the hardest. There's already a low supply of those on the market, and there are tons of people. You think you're the only one who needs them?]
[Can't you just fish for chests quietly on your raft? Who's to blame when you go looking for trouble?]
[You can't always get food from opening chests; you'd starve to death. He's just trying his best to survive, same as anyone else. Don't be so hostile.]
[Anyone who needs High Level furniture blueprints, head to the trading market! Guaranteed to increase your raft's happiness index!]
Seeing this message, Faye Yardley immediately had the system switch to the trading interface and searched for "High Level furniture." Two blueprints immediately popped up: one for a High Level Redwood Bed and one for a High Level Princess Bed.
But when she saw the asking price, Faye Yardley cursed the shameless profiteer under her breath and decided to ignore it. High Level Redwood was already incredibly rare, and they wanted it as payment? She wasn't an idiot.
She'd rather just fish for treasure chests and open them herself.
Still, she thought for a moment and left a message, offering to trade coral for the blueprint. If they agreed, they could make the deal.
'Oh, right,' she remembered, 'I still have some unopened chests in my backpack.'
After eating most of the roast chicken, Faye Yardley put the rest in the small kitchen fridge. She washed her hands and decided to get back to fishing for treasure chests, having wasted so much time earlier.
From then until 6 p.m., Faye Yardley became a ruthless, rod-casting machine.
In total that day, she had harvested 15 Wooden Treasure Chests, 3 Iron Treasure Boxes, and 1 Silver Treasure Chest.
Plus, a ton of seafood. It was truly a bountiful harvest, enough to make her laugh out loud with joy.
She wasn't in a hurry to open the chests. Lying on the sofa, she planned to wait until her Spirit was fully recovered before she started opening them.
Zachary Pierce: "Yardley, I only managed to fish up one Iron Treasure Box all day. Could I trouble you to open it for me? Red Envelope."
"Oh, okay. Just a moment."
It was her own offer, so Faye Yardley had no intention of backing out. She just figured Zachary Pierce's Luck Value must be pitifully low. Otherwise, how could he have only caught a single Iron Treasure Box all day?
After getting up and washing her hands, Faye Yardley accepted two Red Envelopes. One contained a massive lobster, so big it was beyond her imagination—almost the size of a newborn baby.
'Good thing it's not alive,' Faye thought. 'Otherwise, I don't think I could take it.'
Breaking it down yielded [Delicious Lobster Meat x10, Lobster Claws x2, Lobster Tomalley x2].
The other Red Envelope contained the Iron Treasure Box.
Faye Yardley thought for a moment and placed a video call to Zachary Pierce. He answered, "Hey, what's up?"
"Watch me work my magic!"
While Zachary Pierce was still completely baffled, he saw Faye Yardley on the other side of the call press her palms together and chant, "Spirits of heaven and earth, hear my plea! Daddy System, work your magic for me!"
[Obtained Dungeon 3 Fragment x3, High Level Coffee Table Blueprint x1, Fire Pit Crafting Blueprint x1]