15: Chapter 15 Second-order: Many Children, Many Blessings

Su Mei pursed her lips and set aside her playful mood.

"It's just okay, I guess." She sighed, her voice tinged with a hint of unwillingness. "I only managed to trade for 14 energy stones and three fishing rods."

She looked up at Li Taiping. "I was afraid that converting fishing rods with low durability would fail, so I only traded for ones with more than 20 durability remaining."

But no matter how much food or water I offered, most people refused to trade!

This group is basically a bunch of misers; they'd rather go hungry than let go of them."

Li Taiping was taken aback upon hearing this, then immediately understood.

It was within expectations.

On this vast ocean, not many people are fools.

Aside from the few Survivor who were incredibly lucky and had already converted their rafts into ships, thus escaping the threat of the terrifying "black tide" behind them, the vast majority were currently struggling on the edge of life and death.

For them, converting the raft into a ship was the only ticket to survival.

It was only the first day of survival. Although they were starving and thirsty, humans could survive for seven days without food and three days without water.

But if they didn't convert their rafts into ships, once the black tide behind them caught up, they would be obliterated in an instant!

The priority of survival was far higher than the desire for food and drink.

"It seems the first round of captain selection was useful; it filtered out those absurdly low-IQ individuals."

Li Taiping rubbed his chin, contemplating. "Everyone is hoarding strategic supplies; this is normal."

However...

A flash of arrogance crossed Li Taiping's eyes.

Even these elites who had fought their way out from among millions were still not enough in front of him!

They couldn't imagine what a dimensional reduction strike was.

"It doesn't matter." Li Taiping stepped forward and gently patted Su Mei's shoulder, his fingertips sliding across her smooth cheek.

"Don't worry about the fishing rods for now; there will be plenty of opportunities for those later."

"As for the energy stones..."

He flipped his wrist, and like a magic trick, a large pile of energy stones poured out, stacking on the control console with a crisp clattering sound.

"Give me those 14 you have." Li Taiping said in a calm tone. "Added to the 24 I just opened from the treasure chest, the total is already far more than 36."

Su Mei widened her eyes, her peach-blossom eyes that were always filled with affection now full of shock.

She looked at the mountain of energy stones on the table, then at Li Taiping, her red lips slightly parted: "You... you fished up this many?"

You have to know, she had spent all her efforts and used all her schemes in the trading post just to barely scrape together 14.

This guy just went to the deck to fish for a while and got 24?

This is too absurd!

"You're the one who surprises me." Li Taiping looked at Su Mei with a hint of admiration.

"The description of the energy stone shows that it's not just an upgrade material, but a key cultivation resource to increase personal power. Under these circumstances, you were actually able to squeeze so many out from between those people's teeth. Su Mei, your methods are even more impressive than I imagined."

Hearing the man's praise, the surprise on Su Mei's face instantly turned into a bright smile.

She lifted her chin slightly like a proud swan and took Li Taiping's arm, pressing her whole body against him: "Well, look who I am, and whose woman I am!"

Li Taiping did not hesitate at all. "Since it's enough, then..."

He waved his hand and swept all the energy stones on the table into the [treasure basin] he had long prepared.

Hum—!

The familiar faint light lit up again, but this time, the radiance was more brilliant than ever before.

[Detected that the quantity of the same item "energy stone (Common)" has reached 36.]

[Causality Law locked.]

[Infinite Replication Mode, activated!]

"Ding!"

"Ding!"

"Ding!"

The pleasant notification sounds rang simultaneously in both their minds; it was the sound of financial freedom, and even more, the horn of power freedom!

Common quality energy stones, instantly free!

Obtained without limits!

Su Mei watched the energy stones pouring out of the treasure basin, her face flushed with excitement. She gripped Li Taiping's sleeve tightly and whispered, "We're rich! We're rich! This time, we're really rich!"

Having infinite energy stones meant they possessed infinite energy, infinite trading currency, and even infinite cultivation resources!

In this resource-scarce world, they were walking vaults!

One hundred seconds later.

Li Taiping watched the rapidly rising numbers in the warehouse, took a deep breath, forced down the excitement in his heart, and opened the ship attribute panel.

[First-Rank Many Children, Many Blessings -> Second-Rank Many Children, Many Blessings]

[Upgrade Requirement: energy stone (Common) x100.]

[Upgrade Reward: Ship volume expanded, second-level cabin unlocked, randomly rescue one new crew member.]

[Current Progress: energy stone 100/100.]

The number had turned green, indicating that the conditions were met.

"Hoo..." Li Taiping exhaled, his gaze becoming incomparably firm.

"Upgrade!"

As his thought moved, the entire ship suddenly began to shake violently.

Rumble!

The originally compact single-layer deck began to extend wildly in all directions.

The ship's body rose, and the originally somewhat thin hull became heavy and solid.

Most miraculously, on top of the original cabin, a second-story structure grew out of thin air!

In just over ten seconds, the original medium-sized ship transformed into a two-story boat about twenty meters long and eight meters wide!

The deck area expanded to one hundred square meters; it was not only spacious and flat, but a small ram had also appeared at the bow, looking ferocious and domineering.

"Is... is this a Second-Rank ship?" Su Mei stood on the spacious new deck, feeling the weight beneath her feet, her eyes filled with shock.

Compared to the previous "small sampan," the current Many Children, Many Blessings finally had a hint of a "warship" prototype!

Just then, a grand voice resounded throughout the entire region, and this cold mechanical sound echoed in the ears of every Survivor.

[Regional Announcement!]

[Congratulations to player Li Taiping for successfully upgrading the ship to the Second-Rank! As the first player in the region to achieve this, a special reward is granted!]

[The regional ship rank leaderboard system is now open; you may choose to remain Anonymous.]

[Player Li Taiping has obtained the unique title: Far Ahead!]

[Far Ahead: When wearing this title, your ship's sailing speed increases by an additional 3 knots, and ignores 20% of wind resistance.]

The moment the message dropped, the already lively [Regional Chat Channel] became like boiling water!

"WTF?! Who is this holy being? I'm still struggling to convert my raft into a First-Rank ship, and they're already at Second-Rank?!"

"Is the gap really that big? This 'Far Ahead' is confirmed! I want to report! Doesn't this game have any balance?"

"Don't be jealous, guys above. Look at the title's attributes! Additional 3 knots of speed! And ignores wind resistance! This is too OP!"

"Wuwuwu... With this speed, there's no need to worry about the black tide behind us, right? Is this the world of big shots?"

"Big shot Li Taiping! Please let me hug your thigh! I know the Awei Eighteen Styles! I can go 'ying ying ying'!"

"Handsome, want to team up? Our ship team members are all female college students! From the dance department! As long as you carry us, we'll dance whatever you want to see!"

"Is this f*cking cheating? It must be cheating! It's only the first day! Where did he get so many resources?!"

"+1! I also think it's absurd! How did he gather it all? Did he rob the system warehouse?"

"+1" x 10086...

The flattery and envy on the chat channel kept scrolling.

But this was irrelevant to Li Taiping at the moment.

Because his gaze didn't linger on those mindless flattery and insults, and even the attribute bonus brought by that top-tier title only made him nod slightly.

3 knots of speed was indeed good.

But what really made his heart race and his breathing quicken was the last item of the upgrade reward—[Randomly rescue one new crew member.]

These words seemed to radiate golden light in Li Taiping's eyes.

What did this mean?

It meant another beautiful crew member was about to board!

It meant his [Many Children, Many Blessings] system would usher in a new triggering opportunity!

It even meant he might obtain a second heaven-defying Talent!

Su Mei obviously noticed Li Taiping's fiery gaze. She walked to Li Taiping's side, her tone carrying a hint of teasing.

"What? My great captain, are you already impatient?"

She leaned into Li Taiping's ear, her breath like an orchid: "What are you still hesitating for? Save another sister. The ship has gotten bigger, and with just the two of us, it's indeed a bit lonely."

Speaking to this point, she paused slightly, her voice becoming lower and more charming, like a devil's whisper: "Don't worry, if the new sister doesn't know the rules, I can help you... train her together~"

Boom!

This sentence was like adding fuel to the fire.

Li Taiping turned his head, looking at Su Mei's pretty face that was both pleasing and charming, secretly calling her a succubus.

But he wasn't dazzled by her beauty. Instead, he took a deep breath and pressed his hand on the button on the console that was flickering with golden light.

If what Su Mei brought was a logistical god-tier skill like [treasure basin], then this time, he hoped for something different.

Preferably... combat-oriented!

"Draw!" Li Taiping shouted in a low voice, pressing his finger down heavily.

Hum—!

A brilliant pillar of light descended from the sky, landing directly in the center of the deck.