Besides successfully breaking it down and getting high-quality, uncontaminated Fish Meat, she also got fish glue on her first try.
The +2 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, this is like a gift from the heavens.'
'What's guarding the treasure chest? It can't just be coral polyps, can it?'
'Can this Water-Repelling Pearl also work as some kind of monster-proof shield?'
Faye Yardley's mind was filled with strange thoughts, but she didn't hesitate. While stowing her fishing rod in her backpack, she took a step back, crouched down, and quickly touched the treasure chest to collect it.
It went so smoothly it was almost unbelievable.
The last Silver Treasure Chest she got was from a Dungeon, and only after defeating a huge boss. This time, it 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. Even if I can't sell it, it would make for great interior decoration. It might even raise my raft's happiness index.'
She looked around. The red, pink, orange, and white ones were all beautiful. And so, Faye Yardley began her rampage of breaking and kicking the coral with her bare hands and feet.
If any environmentalists saw this, she'd surely be lambasted.
But right now, who was here to stop her?
While working hard to break off coral, she also picked up several palm-sized spider conches; she didn't even have time to bother with the smaller ones.
She also saw sea cucumbers, but the slimy things gave her the creeps, so she subconsciously ignored them.
Luckily, none of these sea creatures attacked her. A school of fish even swam a few laps around her.
[System Reminder: Dear player, the single-use duration of your Water-Repelling Pearl is about to expire. Please manage your underwater time accordingly.]
Faye Yardley froze for a second when she heard the notification before it registered. 'So the Water-Repelling Pearl has a time limit for each use? Did I forget to check when I took it out after falling in?'
'Doesn't even give you an instruction manual. The System is such a troll.'
She glanced at the timer—ten minutes remaining. Faye Yardley didn't dare delay.
She was afraid she wouldn't make it back to the raft in time; with her swimming skills, she'd probably just drown herself.
As she scrambled towards the surface, she realized that she had unknowingly walked into the ocean depths with the help of the Water-Repelling Pearl.
The reason she could see her surroundings was either because the game system had a built-in visual setting that let her see wherever she looked, or the Water-Repelling Pearl itself had a feature that illuminated its immediate vicinity.
Because she was surrounded by water, even though the Water-Repelling Pearl created a land-like environment, Faye Yardley's hands automatically started to make swimming motions as she walked.
Her leg-paddling posture looked ridiculous. In the end, her left foot tripped her right, and she fell flat on her back in the water before she realized just what a foolish thing she was doing.
'Oh well. As long as no one saw, it didn't happen. If I don't say anything, no one will ever know.'
She originally thought ten minutes would be more than enough to get back to the raft, but with two minutes left, she looked up and still saw nothing but shimmering light. The sunlight refracted through the water into a rainbow of colors, and she could faintly make out a floating dark shadow. 'That must be my raft.'
She broke into a frantic sprint in that direction, but in the end, she still choked on a mouthful of seawater. GULP.
Luckily, she could finally surface. With her pathetic swimming skills, even though the raft was only two or three meters away, it took her a solid ten minutes to finally touch it.
She was completely exhausted by the time she climbed onto the raft.
Still, she forced herself to go to the bathroom and rinse off. Feeling fresh and clean, she finally collapsed on the sofa to recover her strength.
She took out a roast chicken and started gnawing on it.
'Can't waste this time. I'll eat and check for news. Maybe seeing what others are up to 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?! Don't just buy them out the second they appear! I jumped into the sea to kill monsters for extra supplies, you think my life is easy?!]
[Yeah, yeah, you have it the hardest. There's already a low supply of that stuff, and there are so many people. You think you're the only one who needs it?]
[Can't you just quietly fish for chests on your raft? Who can you blame for your own stupidity?]
[You can't always get food from opening chests, you know. You could starve to death. That person is just trying their best to survive, no need to be so hostile.]
[Anyone in need of High Level furniture blueprints, please head to the trading market. Guaranteed to increase your raft's happiness index.]
Seeing this message, Faye Yardley immediately had the System switch her to the trading interface. She searched for "High Level furniture" and two blueprints popped up: one for a High Level Redwood bed and one for a high-level princess bed.
When she saw the required payment, Faye Yardley cursed the seller as a rip-off artist and decided to ignore it. The blueprint required High Level Redwood as payment. 'I'm not an idiot.'
She'd be better off fishing for treasure chests and opening them herself.
However, she thought about it and left a message offering to trade coral for the blueprint, asking them to accept the trade if they agreed.
'Oh, right. I still have unopened treasure chests in my backpack.'
After eating most of the roast chicken, Faye Yardley put the rest in the kitchen's mini-fridge. After washing her hands, she decided to go back to fishing for treasure chests. She had already wasted so much time.
From then until 6 PM, Faye Yardley became a ruthless, rod-casting machine.
In total, she had harvested 15 Wooden Treasure Chests, 3 Iron Treasure Boxes, and 1 Silver Treasure Chest that day.
Plus, a ton of seafood. It was a massive haul, enough to make her laugh with joy.
She didn't rush to open the chests. For now, she was sprawled on the sofa, waiting for her Spirit to recover to its peak before she started.
Zachary Pierce: "Yardley, I only managed to fish up one Iron Treasure Box all day. Mind helping me open it? Gift."
"Oh, okay. Just a moment."
Since she was the one who offered, Faye Yardley had no intention of backing out. 'Zachary Pierce's Luck Value must be really low,' she thought. 'Otherwise, how could he only catch one Iron Treasure Box all day?'
After getting up to wash her hands, Faye Yardley accepted two Gifts. One was a super-sized lobster, bigger than she could have imagined—it was almost the size of a baby.
'Good thing it's not alive, or I don't think I could take it.'
After breaking it down, she received: [Delicious Lobster Meat x10, Lobster Claws x2, Lobster Tomalley x2].
The other Gift was the Iron Treasure Box.
Faye Yardley thought for a moment and started a video call with Zachary Pierce. He picked up. "Hey, what's up?"
"Watch me work my magic!"
While a confused Zachary Pierce watched, he saw Faye Yardley clasp her hands together and chant, "Spirits of heaven and earth, oh System Father, show me your might!"
[Obtained: Dungeon 3 Fragment x3, High Level Coffee Table Blueprint x1, Fire Pit Blueprint x1]