As for the last item—the Territory Return Scroll—it also had its uses. For instance, if Gu Ning ventured far from his territory, he could use it to return instantly, saving a great deal of time.
Besides that, if he ran into danger during an expedition, the scroll could serve as an emergency escape, offering him a second chance at life.
After some thought, Gu Ning decided to choose the Blood of the Abyssal Sea Dragon.
His reasoning was simple: in this world, personal strength was the foundation of everything.
Individual power was like the root of a tree, while the strength of one's territory was the canopy. Only with deep roots could the tree grow tall and strong, with flourishing branches.
Plus, he still had a vial of Azure Sea Dragon Blood. He was curious to see what might happen if the two were combined.
After making his choice, Gu Ning took out the Abyssal Sea Dragon Blood. It, too, came in a small glass vial—only this one contained a deep purple liquid.
Abyssal Sea Dragon Blood (Purple): After consumption, grants the bloodline of the Abyssal Sea Dragon.Usage requirement: All base attributes must be above 50 points.
The usage condition was the same as for the Azure Sea Dragon Blood.
Gu Ning took out the Azure Sea Dragon Blood, uncorked the vial, and poured the purple blood into it—only to find the two liquids didn't merge.
The purple and blue fluids remained distinctly separated in the glass vial, like there was an invisible barrier keeping them apart.
What's going on? Gu Ning frowned, staring at the two vials.
"Aning, maybe it's because they're different in quality," Windsor offered thoughtfully.
Last night, she had agreed to call him "Gu Ning," but said she wasn't fond of using names so directly. So she chose "Axin" as a more affectionate nickname instead.
Gu Ning hadn't minded. In fact, he welcomed the closeness. And this nickname certainly felt more intimate than just his name.
After hearing Windsor's reasoning, Gu Ning felt she might be right. He separated the two vials and stored them away.
Once he found something to improve the Azure Sea Dragon Blood's quality, he would try merging them again.
He had a feeling—an intuition—that fusing the two would yield something extraordinary.
Next, Gu Ning took out the basic survival reward pack, which was given based on each person's survival points. Everyone received one—the only difference was how much they got.
He opened it.
200 jin of flour
200 jin of vegetables
100 jin of meat
50 jin of fruit
50 liters of drinking water
Various cooking oils, salt, soy sauce, and vinegar
All daily essentials. Enough to feed the seven of them for half a month!
Gu Ning instructed his people to move everything into the warehouse.
Then, Gu Ning started to feel a little bored. All the fishing rods were in use, leaving him idle with nothing to do.
Might as well see what everyone's chatting about.
He opened the chat channel and glanced at the remaining player count in the regional channel—just over 5,000. In just five days, half the players had died.
But that should slow down from now on. The ones still alive all had some degree of strength. The most brutal phase was over.
"Guys, the wine in the Personal Shop is awesome! I just bought a bottle."
"Wait, seriously? You bought alcohol? That cost 10 white stones!"
Gu Ning suddenly remembered the Heavenly Mother had announced today's Personal Shop featured discounted drinks.
He opened it and checked—there was juice and various types of alcohol.
Juice was 2 white stones per bottle, about one jin in volume. Beer was sold by the barrel—50 jin for 50 white stones.
Red wine was 10 white stones a bottle. White spirits were 20 white stones per bottle. Each bottle held one jin.
Gu Ning thought it over and decided to stock up—after all, it was a limited-time deal and might not return next weekend.
He had money, and he could still hunt at sea for income. Plus, his money tree kept yielding returns. He could earn more, but once the goods were gone, they were gone.
So he bought:
200 bottles of juice
10 barrels of beer
50 bottles of red wine
10 bottles of white spirits
Total cost: 1,600 white stones. He checked his funds—only a little over 300 left.
Yesterday, he had 21,000. Now? Almost gone. Money really did vanish fast.
Still, no big deal. He had two hours each day to hunt—he'd earn it back quickly.
He kept a few bottles of juice for himself and had the rest moved into storage.
Then he grabbed a wooden tub, used Ice Magic to freeze some seawater, made a few ice cubes, and chilled the juice.
Just then, Molly walked over.
"My lord, I fished up a blueprint," she said, handing it over.
He took it and told her to continue fishing, then checked the blueprint:
BBQ Grill Blueprint: A beautiful evening isn't complete without delicious barbecue!Construction requirements: Iron Ingot ×10
A barbecue grill!
Gu Ning immediately chose to build it. Today, they were having grilled meat with beer.
He went to the warehouse and brought back some pork, beef, and lamb. After prepping and marinating it, he crafted some iron skewers.
Then he realized—wait, he didn't have any charcoal!
He checked the trading channel—no one was selling it.
Now what?
Suddenly, he smacked his forehead. This was another world—why use charcoal? He had Huohuo!
And so, Gu Ning began skewering meat.
By noon, he finally finished.
He set up a wooden table on the bow of the ship.
Then he called Huohuo over and showed her how to grill the meat.
He took a bite—it was delicious. But something was missing—ah! Cumin and chili powder!
He quickly checked the trading channel—and to his surprise, someone was actually selling it.
He sprinkled on the cumin and chili powder, took another bite—perfect!
Gu Ning called Windsor and Molly to join him for lunch.
Chilled juice. Ocean views. Grilled meat.
Now this was living. The past few days had just been survival.
He thought back to his first day—just a tiny wooden plank under his feet. Now, he had a proper ship.
In this moment, Gu Ning felt a deep sense of accomplishment.
And he didn't want to enjoy it alone.
So he took a photo of the scene and posted it in the chat channel. Just to rub it in, he even made Windsor kiss his cheek as he snapped the picture.
The world chat instantly exploded:
"Damn! The boss life is unreal—I'm jealous!"
"Gu Ning, you're a savage!"
"With first place on the leaderboard, I bet he's loaded!"
"Man, how is a goddess like that not with me?!"
But just then, that troublemaker Kawanakawa Shinai popped back up, ready to stir the pot again...