Chapter 318 - 291: Island 2-Week Settlement
As evening fell, the great ship returned to the dock for the third time.
Barrels of fish were carried off the ship.
The dock was crowded with members of the Alliance, queuing up for fish.
"One pound per person! Form a proper line, no cutting! If you have family members over sixty or children under twelve, each qualifies for an extra half-pound of seafood as a subsidy," Yuan Dajun announced, maintaining order at the front of the line.
Da Zhuang, Shi Meng, and Zhang Hu were responsible for weighing and distributing the fish.
Qin Ziwen and Jia Liangcai watched from the side for a while. Once they confirmed there were no issues, Qin Ziwen leaned in and whispered in Jia Liangcai’s ear.
"Understood," Jia Liangcai said with a nod.
Not far away, a bare-chested crewman rubbed his aching arm and grumbled to a coworker, "This work on the ship is exhausting. It’s brutal manual labor."
"I feel like it’s even more tiring than hunting beasts. It would be nice if they had a Hunting Team."
"Are you kidding? This is an Island. If you want to hunt, you have to go into the sea. At least working on this ship is a legitimate job."
"Besides the ship, isn’t the Military Equipment Supervisor a good place to work? My neighbor works there. As long as you meet your daily KPIs for quality and quantity, the team leader doesn’t care if you rest for the remaining time."
"It’s a good thing we have rotating shifts today. Otherwise, if we had to work the entire time, our arms would be completely worn out."
"For real? Ugh, if I’d known earlier..."
"What’s all this chatter?" Zhang Chongshan said, walking over.
Seeing Zhang Chongshan, the two complainers immediately shut their mouths.
’They didn’t know the deputy captain’s personality. If he was the type to snitch, they’d be in for it.’
"The Leader just gave an order," Zhang Chongshan announced. "All crewmen today will receive ten pounds of seafood each. Follow me to the back in a moment to collect it."
The crewmen erupted in cheers. "The Leader is the man!"
"Who was saying this job sucks? This job is great!"
The men who had just been grumbling immediately fell silent.
As long as the pay was good, they would not only haul two nets a day—they could even manage a third.
Zhang Chongshan saw the crew’s expressions. As a former crewman himself, he could empathize.
Most of the time, people aren’t afraid of hard work; they’re afraid of hard work that doesn’t pay.
As long as the pay was sufficient, nothing was a problem.
Ten pounds of fish was not only enough to feed a family of three for a whole day, but there would also be leftovers they could trade for other supplies.
Zhang Chongshan cleared his throat. "Keep the news about the bonus to yourselves," he warned. "Don’t go spreading it around. Benefits this good can easily make others jealous."
"Heh heh, don’t you worry, Captain. We won’t say a word."
"Whatever the captain says."
After all the workers had received their fish, nearly two thousand, three hundred and sixty pounds of fish remained.
Qin Ziwen said, "Take fifteen hundred pounds of fish and send it to the Urban Village from the anchor point. The rest should be salted and preserved as soon as possible before it rots. If the people in the Gated Community or the Alliance Association want to buy some fresh seafood, you can sell it to them at market price."
"Yes, sir," Jia Liangcai replied.
As evening deepened, the sky grew dark.
He waited until midnight.
Qin Ziwen, who hadn’t rested in his own bed for a long time, lay there, quietly waiting for the time to pass.
「You have survived for two weeks on the Gobi Desert and Island maps. Current day on Island map: 12. Successfully crafted the Ghost Ship: Lost Home; inflicted major losses on the rival Gated Community in a conflict; successfully completed the Level 2 Hunting Task to slay the Fish Dragon; the Military Equipment Supervisor has produced a large quantity of military armaments... Overall Score: 2001」
「Rewards obtained: [Advanced Building Card] Level 1 Martial Arts Arena x1, [Function Card] Level 1 Node x1, [Function Card] Level 1 Retrospect x1, [Building Enhancement Card] Space x1, [Growth Card] Basic Pet Growth Shortening Card x1」
Qin Ziwen got up and took out an [Advanced Building Copy Card], a type of [Duplication Card]. He used it on the new [Level 1 Martial Arts Arena], then fused the two Cards into a single [Level 2 Martial Arts Arena Card].
Arriving at the arena, Qin Ziwen selected the Martial Arts Arena and chose to use the card.
At this hour, the arena was long deserted.
[The building upgrade requires a 100x70 meter area. Please confirm that there is sufficient empty space, or select a new location for the building.]
"Confirm."
A vast light enveloped the grounds, which expanded further outward.
The original granite ground was completely transformed. The flagstones turned into blocks of a bluish-black stone, and a metallic sheen seemed to flow within the cracks between them.
The four surrounding walls rose to a height of over thirty feet. They were constructed from solid, iron-gray boulders, and their tops were lined with pitch-black iron spikes.
The fighting stage on the northern side evolved into a high, bluish-black stone platform, its sides exceeding fifty meters in length.
The platform stood six feet tall, with a nine-step staircase leading down to the ground on three of its sides.
Qin Ziwen walked onto the high platform. From this vantage point, he could see that the center of the stage floor was inlaid with an intricate phoenix pattern carved from blue-green jade.
Glancing around, he saw that the area of training posts on the eastern side had transformed into a two-story building of classic design, with upturned eaves and wide-open doors.
He descended from the stage and walked into the small building. Inside stood four neat rows of wooden weapon racks, displaying all eighteen traditional forms of weaponry, from sabers and spears to swords and halberds.
The room was also filled with wooden training dummies.
’Does a Level 3 Advanced Building change this drastically?’ Qin Ziwen mused, impressed.
This was the first time he had witnessed an Advanced Building upgrade from Level 2 to Level 3. Both the Yanwu Military Equipment Supervisor and the Ghost Ship Dock were Level 4 Advanced Buildings, but he had acquired them at that level directly.
He used Insight.
[Level 3 Martial Arts Arena: Level 4 Physical Training Amplification, Level 3 Stamina Recovery, Level 3 Close Combat Weapon Enhancement] (Special Effect: True masters are forged in the crucible of life and death. Sparring on the stage will not cause physical damage, but injuries will reduce one’s spirit and induce fatigue. During high-intensity training or combat in the arena, there is a small probability of breaking through one’s limits to achieve the physical constitution of a normal Four-Star individual.)
After reading the description, Qin Ziwen’s gaze sharpened.
’Now, in the Martial Arts Arena, there’s a chance—even a small one—to break through your limits and reach the physical constitution of a Level 4 individual?!’
’This is a massive upgrade.’
’No matter how small the probability, it isn’t zero. As long as someone is willing to put in the work, there’s always a chance to break their limits.’
’This could completely save the use of an Enhancement Card!’
’On the strength of this effect alone, the Martial Arts Arena’s importance skyrocketed in his mind.’
’It’s only a Level 3 Martial Arts Arena, and it already offers a chance to reach Four Stars. If he keeps upgrading it, could it one day allow someone to reach Five Stars? Or even break through to the Extraordinary realm?’
’Of course, breaking through to Extraordinary seemed a bit too outrageous.’
’If it could do that, Breakthrough Cards would become meaningless.’
’In terms of rarity, Breakthrough Cards and Advanced Building Cards were on roughly the same tier, so it was unlikely to be that broken.’
’Regardless, as soon as word got out that the Martial Arts Arena offered a path to a Four-Star physique, that group of self-styled "Military Generals" would be howling with excitement and practically live in the arena.’
Besides that change, the Martial Arts Arena’s long-weapon buff had changed to a close-combat weapon buff.
It was no longer limited to polearms; short weapons like swords and sabers now fell under the category of close-combat weapons as well.
This added more training options for different types of weapons.
"Sir." Liu San, who had thrown on a jacket, hurried over when he heard the noise.
"I was just upgrading the building. You should go back to sleep. It’s late, don’t catch a chill."
"You got it." Liu San grinned. After Qin Ziwen left, he glanced back at the upgraded Martial Arts Arena. "Whoa, that’s impressive. The guys will have something new to gossip about tomorrow."
After leaving the arena, Qin Ziwen took out the [Building Enhancement Card] Space. The Card had a yellow back, and its face depicted a square shape outlined by a few simple geometric lines.
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