While Everyone Panicked, I Upgraded My Raft

Chapter 113: Chapter 107: Planting Eira Grass

Regular players were popping up in small chat groups one after another, and as the shop manager, Rowan Rhodes naturally noticed this. She didn’t think much of it, merely considering it an early manifestation of the World Channel feature. Players naturally tended to group up anyway; now, they were just using the Sea Survival Shop’s platform to form cross-regional factions. As long as these regular players formed their own groups, there was no need to worry. Since everyone belonged to a faction, it leveled the playing field—if everyone had one, it was as if no one did. More importantly, she had also joined a few of these small groups to lurk and had genuinely learned quite a lot.

What caught her attention the most, however, were the newly emerged medical recipes. Namely, the Antidote.

She knew about this recipe, but its main ingredient, Eira Grass, only spawned on a medium-sized island beyond the Coastal Waters Region. So, even though she knew the recipe, she hadn’t planned on making the Antidote. She just hadn’t expected the recipe to surface so soon. Not only had it appeared, but there were even Antidotes being sold in the Sea Survival Shop.

This meant that Eira Grass had appeared early.

Rowan hadn’t understood why at first, but then she remembered that yesterday was Harvest Day, which had introduced a plethora of special resources. This was her first time experiencing Harvest Day as well. She initially thought it just meant more special resources, but it turned out to also include resources tailored to players with different Skills.

For instance, players with the Medical Skill received various recipes and medicinal seeds. Players with the blacksmith Skill obtained all kinds of ores and Equipment Blueprints. Players with the carpentry Skill received Equipment Blueprints and tree seeds. Players with the Farming Skill acquired massive amounts of seeds... These resources were all highly targeted.

Since everyone mixed together when selling resources, this distinction hadn’t been obvious. But joining the small chat groups today, combined with the appearance of Eira Grass, made Rowan realize the truth. It seemed there was still plenty of potential to tap into the items held by players from other districts.

She wanted to mass-produce this Antidote. To do that, she needed to find Jaina Harmon.

Just as Rowan thought this, she saw that Jaina had directly sent her Antidotes and Eira Grass Seeds.

[District 1938 Jaina Harmon: Trade Antidote x10, Eira Grass Seeds x5.]

[District 1938 Jaina Harmon: Ah, benefactor, this is a token of my appreciation. Please accept it.]

Rowan looked at the two messages, the corners of her mouth curling up involuntarily. Ever since she had advanced supplies to Jaina, the latter would send over whatever new items she crafted to the Sea Survival Shop. And now, even this Antidote—a natural remedy for the viral disaster—was delivered right into her hands. This Jaina Harmon truly knew how to repay a debt of gratitude!

She had just been thinking about contacting Jaina, though she would have done so using her normal identity as Rowan Rhodes. She genuinely needed a stable channel for medicine. In the future, medicine would be of utmost importance—essentially the lifeblood of players. Beyond that, there were also blacksmiths, carpenters, tailors, weaponsmiths, and so on. Fortunately, Rowan already had candidates in mind for these corresponding roles. Right now, they were acting as individuals, but as time passed, she could have them form a team while she supported them from behind the scenes. This small chat group wave was the perfect opportunity.

Promptly, Rowan accepted the items Jaina had sent. In addition to Trading Coins, Rowan threw in some air purifiers and diving oxygen Masks as a bonus.

There were only a few seeds, but she knew their underlying value. This was an exclusive monopoly. By giving them to her, Jaina was, to some extent, diluting her own profits—especially this early in the game. She had to remember this favor.

Fortunately, it was only the first day of the viral disaster, and most players could still hold out. She would take this chance to propagate more Eira Grass!

A moment later, Rowan grabbed some shelves and headed up to the third floor.

The Seagull Family clearly knew that the air outside wasn’t right today, so they were currently following behind the Big Turtle, helping it tend to the fields and pasture. Occasionally, they would snack on the fruits from the trees. Coconut water, Mangos, and Watermelons were their absolute favorites.

When Rowan came upstairs, they were gathered around a table they had dragged out of a room. The table was piled high with all kinds of edible vegetables and fruits, and the Seagull Family and the Big Turtle were happily feasting.

Upon seeing Rowan approach, pairs of eyes looked at her with delight. ”Come eat!” they urged.

Hearing this, Rowan smiled and said, ”No need, you guys go ahead.”

With that, Rowan walked over to the area where the Seed Beds were kept. She lined up the shelves row by row and then placed the Seed Beds onto them. Originally, the Seed Beds had taken up less than a single shelf. The third floor’s ceiling was high enough that, rather than adding a new floor, adding more shelves was the most efficient solution. Rowan continuously stacked them on top of the existing shelves, setting up five rows in total, with each shelf measuring five meters long.

Just like that, the shelves packed the original space to the brim, not wasting a single inch. Meanwhile, the plantable area had multiplied several times over.

”What are we going to plant?” the Big Turtle asked eagerly, noticing the new planting base.

”Eira Grass,” Rowan replied, already taking out the five Eira Grass Seeds. ”I’m preparing these.”

The Big Turtle’s eyes instantly lit up when it saw the Eira Grass. It quickly crawled over to Rowan.

”Give them to me! Give them to me!”

Rowan placed them in front of the Big Turtle.

”Eira Grass can cure poison! But this plant doesn’t exist in the current sea region... Master, you’re so amazing!”

”Someone else gave them to me,” Rowan replied. ”Can you plant them?”

”I can!” the Big Turtle said excitedly. ”I can plant anything!”

”Do you need me to prepare more soil for you?” Rowan asked.

She still didn’t have a blueprint for fertilizer. Under these circumstances, she could only gather more soil resources. Speaking of which, the price of soil had fluctuated slightly with the appearance of seeds. After all, compared to other resources, the drop rate for soil was relatively low. Most of the soil hoarded by players was dug up from islands. Those who arrived late to the islands had no choice but to dig up dirt and sand. Then, when glass was needed, sand sold out in a wave. Later, when seeds appeared, soil sold out in another wave.

This allowed many ordinary players to recoup a substantial amount of capital, teaching them a valuable lesson: no matter what the resource was, as long as there was a chance to hoard it in large quantities, they should stockpile it first. You never knew when it might come in handy.

As a result, it was still very convenient for Rowan to buy soil. Without fertilizer, she had consciously stockpiled a fair amount of it. She asked because she saw that the Big Turtle had gone through several planting cycles today, and she figured the soil probably needed to be replaced.

”No need, I know how to compost!” the Big Turtle said in a soft, sweet voice.

Rowan listened, slightly taken aback. She couldn’t believe it actually knew how to do that.