Li Chong had no idea what Gu Ning was thinking. At this moment, he was truly grateful to him—because from his point of view, those two cores really were useless right now.
If anyone else had tried to trade with him, there was no way he would have spent 2,000 white stones.
After receiving the money, Li Chong immediately upgraded his wooden ship. Now it had reached level three, and he even had a civilian by his side.
It was clear that Li Chong's current situation was actually better than most.
Of course, he still couldn't compare to Gu Ning.
Gu Ning was currently cuddled up with Windsor, arms around her, completely relaxed and drifting back to sleep.
When he opened his eyes again, Windsor was no longer in bed. Gu Ning got up, got dressed, and stepped outside.
By now, the rain had almost stopped—just a light drizzle, like on the first day.
It was now Day Six, and today would bring the weekend survival points rewards.
Gu Ning checked the Survival Points Leaderboard:
1st: Gu Ning (1320)2nd: Bai Xue (671)3rd: Danton (670)4th: Lico (592)5th: Ye Baifeng (589)6th: Kazanawa Shinai (532)7th: James (503)
He was still firmly in first place, with nearly double the score of second place. Winning the top reward was practically guaranteed.
As usual, Gu Ning went to the fishing corridor. A few civilians were already there. He told Molly to start preparing breakfast.
Then he sat next to Windsor, pulled out a resource fishing rod, and began fishing. Huohuo saw Gu Ning and flew out of Windsor's arms into his own.
She had been using the Blazing Body skill all day yesterday, and without any purple crystals to recharge in the morning, she was clearly exhausted. Once in Gu Ning's lap, she quickly fell asleep.
Soon, Gu Ning caught his first item—a blueprint.
Iron Pot Blueprint (White): Cooking requires the right tools, and this pot is just what you need.Build requirements: Iron Ingot ×2
Another iron pot blueprint.
Next, he fished up two sacks of salt—about eight pounds total, enough to last a good while.
On his final attempt, Gu Ning got a Commoner Summon Card—white quality.
He immediately used it. This time, it summoned a middle-aged woman with plain features.
Name: Sia (Common)Level: 1Strength: 6Agility: 5Defense: 5Profession: FarmerAbility: Skilled at managing farmland.
She had a profession, though it was just a farmer.
Sia walked over and respectfully greeted Gu Ning: "Greetings, my lord."
Gu Ning nodded, gave up his seat, and handed her a fishing rod. He then carried the sleeping Huohuo back into the room.
Now he had five civilians, and all fishing rods were occupied. He was finally free from daily fishing. One more civilian, and he could consider freeing up Windsor as well.
But that wasn't happening anytime soon—Windsor's rod was level 12. If someone else accidentally reeled in a sea monster, they wouldn't be able to handle it.
Clearly, he needed to help them all upgrade properly—especially Molly. Once she was strong enough, she could take Windsor's place.
Back in the room, Gu Ning got to work.
Using the materials he received yesterday, he crafted a luxury bedding set and a charged lantern.
The bedding was truly luxurious—much thicker than his current one, with golden and blue embroidered patterns. It looked extremely upscale.
The most important part? It was huge, with four pillows and two blankets.
Gu Ning had no choice but to craft another wooden bed and combine it with the old one to properly fit the new bedding.
He then took his old set to the small cabin and gave it to Molly.
The kitchen had also moved to the large cabin now, so after cooking, Molly would deliver meals directly to Gu Ning's core cabin.
After breakfast, everyone resumed fishing.
By then, the rain had completely stopped.
Gu Ning stepped outside and sat next to Windsor again.
Gradually, the clouds began to part.
A ray of sunlight pierced through the overcast sky.
Then more beams followed, as if making up for the days of suppression. The light spread rapidly, and within moments, the clouds were gone. A vast, cloudless blue sky stretched above.
The sun shone brightly, the sky was brilliantly blue, and the ocean stretched endlessly. In the distance, a few seabirds soared across the horizon.
Bathed in the warm light, everyone's spirits lifted. The heavy pressure of the past few days vanished with the retreating storm.
Gu Ning opened the chat channel—sure enough, the others were celebrating:
"Holy crap, guys, I survived!""Hahaha, the sun's out! It's so beautiful!""I've never felt so close to the sun!""I'm having a feast today, gotta celebrate!""What kind of feast?""Seafood, obviously!""Dude, don't even mention seafood—I'm gonna puke!"
The entire channel was buzzing with joy. Every message radiated happiness.
Gu Ning figured he should celebrate too. But seafood alone wasn't going to cut it.
After all, everyone was sick of seafood by now. Time for a proper veggie feast.
He still had plenty of vegetables stored in his warehouse.
[System-Wide Announcement: The Rain Disaster has ended. Congratulations to all survivors—rewards will be issued based on your survival points.][System-Wide Announcement: The top 10 on the Survival Points Leaderboard will receive bonus rewards.][System-Wide Announcement: Today's Personal Shop features special discounted drinks. Enjoy!]
Just then, the Heavenly Mother posted three announcements in a row.
Then Gu Ning heard her voice again—but this time, it was personal.
[You have earned the highest points this week. In addition to the standard rewards, you may choose one of the following three special items:]
Three images appeared in front of him.
Gu Ning began reviewing them one by one:
Professional Civilian Summon Card (Purple): Use it to summon a civilian with a profession.
Blood of the Abyssal Sea Dragon (Purple): Consume it to gain the bloodline of the Abyssal Sea Dragon.
Territory Return Scroll (Purple): Instantly returns you to your territory upon use.
All three items were purple-quality—and Gu Ning wanted every single one of them.
Civilians were the backbone of any territory's development—especially professional ones. For instance, a blacksmith of purple quality would let him craft purple-tier gear.
But the Abyssal Sea Dragon's blood was also tempting. Gaining a dragon bloodline would massively boost his survivability—dragonkind were nothing if not resilient.
Now, he just had to choose.