While Everyone Panicked, I Upgraded My Raft

Chapter 88: Chapter 88: No Comparison, No Harm

Meanwhile, Rowan Rhodes had begun comprehensively planting a variety of vegetables and fruits on the third floor.

The trees in the original planting area had been cut down and never replanted. The space freed up was now perfect for growing vegetables. Cabbage, lettuce, chives, tomatoes, cucumbers, radishes, and chili peppers—Rowan Rhodes planted all these varieties of produce right away.

[Cabbage planted, ready for harvest in 3 hours.]

[Lettuce planted, ready for harvest in 1 hour.]

[Chives planted, ready for harvest in 1 hour.]

[...]

Based on the growth cycle of each vegetable, their required growing times varied. Rowan Rhodes silently noted them down. She planned to categorize them by their distinct growth cycles so she could harvest them at the appropriate times.

In no time at all, the entire third floor was packed full with her crops. A sense of anticipation swelled within Rowan Rhodes at this moment. More vegetables and fruits meant her future meals would become much more abundant and varied. Her only regret was that, for now, she lacked any seasonings.

However, since so many varieties of vegetable seeds had already appeared, it was highly likely that others might have obtained spice seeds. In her past life, many players had crafted their own seasonings, and they sold for quite a high price within the Sea Survival Game. In this life, since players had obtained seeds so much earlier, the appearance of seasonings and the like was only a matter of time.

Next, Rowan Rhodes turned her gaze to the pasture. Seeing that the grazing area for the hens and the goat had become completely bare, she hurriedly planted some Pasture Seeds.

The pasture grass was the primary food source for the hens and the goat, and it possessed a built-in Regeneration function. Currently, because there were too many hens in a single pasture and the area wasn’t large enough, the grass was easily depleted. However, replanting every few days was sufficient to keep up.

The Pasture Seeds took almost no time to sprout; they grew out the moment they were planted. As soon as the fresh grass emerged, the hens and the goat immediately lowered their heads and began munching. Once they had eaten and drank their fill, they strolled contentedly around the pasture.

Rowan Rhodes continued gathering her harvest, and only then did she turn her attention to the nearby Pet Egg.

It had been eight days since she obtained the Pet Egg, and several days since the incubation process began. The incubation progress bar had finally loaded to ninety percent, leaving just the very last bit. Watching it, Rowan Rhodes couldn’t help but feel a bit curious. At this rate, it should hatch by tonight. She hoped it would hatch into a relatively useful pet, much like the Seagull Family.

After dealing with these miscellaneous matters on the raft, Rowan Rhodes returned to the first floor. She checked the Durability of the Workbench and the loom, restored them to peak condition, and continued listing the goods they produced for sale in the Sea Survival Shop.

With the natural disaster over, the goods Rowan Rhodes continued to sell steadily were the Engine, Steering Wheel, battery, bedding, and oxygen bottle. These five staple commodities brought her a massive influx of resources.

This was the pure joy of dominating the market!

Seeing everything proceeding in such an orderly fashion, Rowan Rhodes began to consider preparations for the next disaster. If she wanted to profit off other players, she had to offer what they desperately needed. In emergencies especially, players were much more willing to part with their resources.

The next natural disaster wouldn’t be like the extreme heat or extreme cold. It wasn’t temperature-based at all; it was a viral disaster. During the viral disaster, the air itself would be laced with all kinds of viruses. The creatures flying in the sky and swimming in the sea would all be affected, let alone the players.

If players were exposed to the open air for prolonged periods, they would contract a poison debuff. This would cause their Life Value to drop continuously, requiring large amounts of Healing Ointment to recover. Under such dire circumstances, players would need air purifiers and oxygen bottles to survive safely.

The air purifier could cleanse the air inside the raft. However, one of the most crucial resources required to craft it was a circuit board. And this resource was only available after upgrading to Level 7. For the vast majority of players, such an item was still exceedingly rare. Only players who possessed a Level 7 Raft within their zone, or those who stumbled upon special encounters, would have the necessary resources to craft an air purifier.

In this lifetime, however, because Rowan Rhodes had flapped her butterfly wings, the development Speed of rafts for all players across the zones had accelerated. There were now quite a few players capable of crafting air purifiers. All they needed was an initiator to start the trend. Since she had played the role of initiator for so long, she had no problem continuing to do so.

At present, her several electric Workbenches were busy producing goods. After a moment of thought, Rowan Rhodes added another one. As a result, the entire workspace was truly crammed full of various machines.

Once again, Rowan Rhodes felt that the raft’s surface area was a bit insufficient. After mulling it over, she began making adjustments to the raft.

She dismantled the canopy on the third floor and relocated the Seed Bed in the upper-left corner to the roof of the Wooden House where the seagulls lived. She then moved the trees from the first-floor planting area up to that newly vacated upper-left corner on the third floor. Next, she filled in the vacant space on the second floor and relocated the first-floor shower room there, connecting it directly to her bedroom. As for the sweet potatoes, potatoes, and Watermelon by the doorway, she stored them away after completing their Collection.

The now-vacant spots on the first floor—previously occupied by the planting area and the shower room—were absorbed into the workspace. With these adjustments, the layout of the entire raft underwent another massive transformation.

The first-floor workspace now housed all sorts of production Equipment. The second-floor residential area contained Rowan Rhodes’s bedroom, the shower room, and the Storage Box hoarding zone. Finally, the third floor served as the agricultural and livestock zone, alongside the Seagull Family’s quarters.

This way, the zoning Effect was noticeably more logical, making the area feel much more spacious.

Beyond this, Rowan Rhodes also executed a simple upgrade on the Wood Walls surrounding the first and second floors. The perimeter walls outside both rooms were entirely replaced with transparent glass. Anticipating the viral disaster arriving tomorrow, she fully enclosed the third floor. However, since she used glass, it effectively transformed the third floor into a massive sunroom—guaranteeing both ample sunlight and complete airtight sealing.

It was safe to say that this round of upgrades instantly elevated the raft’s aesthetic appeal by several tiers. Of course, this renovation consumed an astronomical amount of glass. Only a tycoon like Rowan Rhodes could afford to be so generous with her materials. Regardless of the cost, Rowan Rhodes was absolutely thrilled with the results of the remodeling.

At the exact same time, her score on the raft aesthetics leaderboard jumped directly from 10 to 12.

Rowan Rhodes hadn’t noticed this, but many other players certainly did. After all, realizing they couldn’t match others in sheer power, many players had planned to focus their efforts on practicality and aesthetics. Perhaps due to the limited surface area of their rafts, despite their endless tinkering, most players’ aesthetic scores remained stuck in the single digits. The only person to break into double digits was Rowan Rhodes. Seeing no fruitful results, they eventually gave up on obsessing over aesthetics.

Who could have expected that right now—while everyone else was desperately scavenging for resources or sailing toward the third island—the aesthetic score of Rowan Rhodes’s raft would suddenly jump by two whole points?

At this moment, the players who were paying attention felt a rather complex mix of emotions. While they were slaving away gathering resources, she actually had the free time and leisure to improve her raft’s aesthetics? They couldn’t help but feel that comparison truly was the thief of joy!

Furthermore, it made them genuinely curious: just what exactly did the number one ranked raft look like?