59: Chapter 59 The Terrifying Requirement for Fourth-Order Advancement

Li Taiping arrived at the control hall on the first floor.

He walked to the control console and pulled up the ship's repair interface.

[third-rank duozi duofu hao]

[Current Durability: 1200/10000]

[Hull Damage Rate: 88%]

[Repair Required:

Tough Vine (normal grade) x30, Coral Stone (normal grade) x30, energy stone (normal grade) x200, energy stone (good grade) x5]

Looking at this long list of materials, Li Taiping's eyelids twitched.

Although most of these materials could be infinitely replicated using his [treasure basin], those five good grade energy stones were a genuine consumption.

He currently had only twenty-one good grade energy stones left in total.

This repair would directly consume nearly a quarter of them.

"Such a huge loss, such a huge loss."

Muttering heartbrokenly, Li Taiping still selected the "one-click repair" option.

There was no other way; the ship was his foundation, it had to be repaired.

With his confirmation, a large quantity of materials instantly disappeared from the warehouse.

Immediately after, the entire duozi duofu hao began to emit creaking and groaning sounds.

Those hideous cracks began to slowly mend under an invisible force.

The damaged deck became smooth and level once more.

The destroyed instruments also restored themselves to a brand-new state, as if time had reversed.

In just a few dozen seconds,

a completely new, undamaged third-rank warship once again appeared on the icy sea surface.

Even that semi-transparent energy shield enveloped the entire ship again, emitting a reassuring glow.

Looking at the fully restored duozi duofu hao, Li Taiping's mood calmed down. This "one-click repair" function was indeed pretty great.

The expenditure of these materials didn't seem like much anymore.

He let out a long sigh of relief and casually opened the ship's advancement panel to see what materials were still missing for the next rank.

[third-rank duozi duofu hao → Fourth-rank duozi duofu hao]

[Advancement Requirements:]

Completed:

[1. energy stone (normal grade) 1000/1000]

Not Completed:

[2. energy stone (good grade) 16/100]

[3. Coral Stone (good grade) 14/50]

[4. Tough Vine (good grade) 16/50]

[5. Waterproof Resin (good grade) 12/50]

[6. Power Engine (Excellent Grade) 2/3]

[Advancement Reward: Randomly rescue three new crew members.]

[Next Stage Talent Advancement Progress: (7/10), 70%]

[Talent Advancement: All crew members' good grade Talents advance to Excellent Grade.]

"Holy crap..."

Li Taiping looked at that long list and was completely dumbfounded.

One thousand normal grade energy stones?

One hundred good grade energy stones?!

And three types of good grade special materials, fifty units each?!

The most outrageous part was that it actually required three Excellent Grade [Power Engines]?!

Is this advancement? This is practically robbery!

Li Taiping felt his blood pressure spike instantly.

He knew advancing from third to fourth rank was a big hurdle, but he never expected it to be this extreme.

The material requirements had increased exponentially!

The normal grade energy stones were manageable; he had the [treasure basin], so theoretically they were unlimited.

But where was he supposed to gather that one hundred good grade energy stones and that one hundred and fifty units of good grade special materials?

Right now, he only had sixteen good grade energy stones left at most.

As for good grade coral stones, vines, and resin, he had barely over ten units each.

These materials, in the current stage of the survival game, were absolutely as rare as phoenix feathers and unicorn horns, even rarer than giant pandas.

Trying to gather thirty-six units to activate the [treasure basin]'s infinite replication function was as difficult as climbing to the heavens.

Not to mention those three Excellent Grade [Power Engines].

He had been incredibly lucky before, taking down that Goblin guardian and obtaining one.

Later, after defeating that indescribable shadow, he had another stroke of incredible luck and obtained another one.

Now he had two.

But he was still short one!

An Excellent Grade item!

Where was he supposed to find another Excellent Grade monster that would conveniently drop a [Power Engine]?

The drop rate for this thing, just thinking about it, was abysmally low.

Looking at these astronomical advancement requirements, Li Taiping felt a headache coming on.

How many years would it take to gather all this?

Agitated, he paced back and forth in the control hall, his brain working at high speed, trying to think of a way to break this deadlock.

Relying on himself alone to slowly gather these in this Extreme Cold Sea Region was too inefficient and extremely risky.

Who knew what kind of terrifying monsters were still hiding in this damn place.

He had to think of another way.

A method to quickly, massively, and safely obtain these high-grade materials.

Suddenly, Li Taiping's steps halted.

He thought of something.

Why was he fighting alone?

He abruptly raised his head, a glint flashing in his eyes.

He remembered earlier in the dungeon, he had used normal grade supplies to exchange for a large amount of good grade materials from other Survivor.

Could that approach be replicated?

Even amplified?

He now possessed unlimited normal grade supplies.

These things, worthless in his eyes, were life-saving hard currency for other Survivor!

And those good grade materials he urgently needed, while extremely difficult for him personally to obtain,

what about looking across the entire Survivor zone?

Tens of thousands, even hundreds of thousands of Survivor,

with such a massive population base, there were bound to be some lucky individuals who managed to get one or two pieces of good grade materials through opening treasure chests or other means, right?

These materials might be temporarily useless to them, or they might be too Reluctant to use, just collecting dust in their warehouses.

But what if he offered them a price they couldn't refuse?

Using the supplies they most urgently needed right now to survive, to exchange for the high-grade materials they couldn't currently use.

Would they take this deal?

Li Taiping's breathing gradually became rapid.

He felt like he had grasped a broad road leading to the fourth rank!

What he needed to do wasn't just trading.

What he needed to do was to use information asymmetry and resource disparity to establish a trade system centered around himself!

Make all the Survivor in the entire zone his "workers"!

Gathering everything he needed for him!

Thinking of this, Li Taiping's heart began to beat uncontrollably fast.

This plan was feasible! Absolutely feasible!