Chapter 441 - 440: Eight Times

Chapter 441: Chapter 440: Eight Times

After a quick glance, Seraphina Sinclair opened the Fire Seed leaderboard.

[Dolorum Zone 444 Fire Seed Value Rankings]

1st Place: Blacktiger Ford — 3,287 points

Seraphina Sinclair’s lips curled into a smirk. She savored the moment before scrolling down.

The second-place survivor, Night Owl, only had 435 points.

Even as the one in first place, she couldn’t help but be stunned by the difference.

’It’s a nearly eightfold difference. How could the gap be this big?’

Seraphina Sinclair’s brow furrowed slightly. She checked the overall strength rankings again. She was still Triple S there, and Night Owl was Double S.

No problem there.

But this gap in Fire Seed Value...

’Oh, right. I spent all of yesterday grinding mobs.’

She had entered a new area where the monster grades were higher, and the Fire Seed Value they awarded was also greater. Her score had naturally skyrocketed.

But for now, taking first place had no use other than making her a target for the entire Zone.

There wasn’t even a reward for being first in the interim.

All Seraphina Sinclair could do was maintain her rank and wait for the official tally in two weeks.

Further down, third place was Heart of Steel with 398 points, fourth was Whitephantom with 376, and fifth was Redflame with 354.

From sixth place onward, everyone was below three hundred points, with the scores steadily decreasing all the way to 1,000th place, where the person had only 7 points.

Seraphina Sinclair was silent for a moment before closing the leaderboard.

She glanced at the Zone channel again.

Messages were still flooding in, but the tone had shifted.

When they had first seen her Triple S Evaluation, many of them had been unconvinced, with a few idiots occasionally popping up to question if the system was blind.

But now, whenever the name "Blacktiger Ford" was mentioned, it was followed by a uniform chorus of "The boss is awesome."

Seraphina Sinclair didn’t care about any of that.

However, seeing this made her realize the upside of being first on the Fire Seed leaderboard.

No one would be foolish enough to go out of their way to cause trouble for her.

That was a pleasant surprise.

She had originally thought that being number one would make her a target for everyone in the Zone. It turned out she was a target, but one so big and tough that no one dared to take a shot.

The Zone channel was still buzzing, but the content had shifted from initial shock to all sorts of fancy flattery.

Seraphina Sinclair gave it a cursory glance and closed the Zone channel.

She was busy and had no extra time to waste admiring this nonsense.

The firework launcher was a single-use item; a new one had to be crafted after each use.

Seraphina Sinclair wasn’t short on the other materials, but she had run out of gunpowder, a relatively rare component.

This item could only be obtained from Supply Boxes, making it the same type of material as activated charcoal.

Seraphina Sinclair hadn’t moved her base in a long time. With no way to replenish her materials and only consuming them, it was inevitable she would run out eventually.

Fortunately, it was an F-level blueprint. No matter how rare the required materials were, the survivors who were still alive would more or less have some on hand.

Seraphina Sinclair poked around the trade channel for a bit and quickly found someone selling gunpowder.

However, the person’s requested trade item was quite particular: they wanted Moonlight Powder.

Most people might not think much of this material. After all, for those without a class, it was just a material with no obvious use.

But for someone with a class, this person might as well have had the words "I have a class" tattooed on their forehead.

Besides, Moonlight Powder was an E-level material, while gunpowder, a product of the old world, was only an F-level item in this one. Who would trade an E-level material for an F-level one?

Seraphina Sinclair stared at the trade listing for a long time, thinking. The more she thought, the more she felt this person definitely had some ulterior motive.

She clicked on the person’s profile picture and sent a message.

[Blacktiger Ford]: Still have the gunpowder? How many portions of gunpowder for one portion of Moonlight Powder?

The "Message Sent" notification flashed across the screen, followed by a long silence.

Seraphina Sinclair raised an eyebrow slightly.

’This person is either offline or deliberating whether to reply to me.’

Waiting around was boring, so Seraphina Sinclair laid out her rune-painting kit and sat down across from Luna Jacobs.

While Luna Jacobs improved the blueprint, she would paint runes.

About half an hour later, a reply finally appeared in her private messages.

[Moonlightdrinker]: My apologies, I just saw your message. Sorry for the delay. The gunpowder is still available. One portion of Moonlight Powder can be exchanged for 10 portions of gunpowder. After all, Moonlight Powder is an E-level item.

Seraphina Sinclair stared at the message, her rune pen pausing in her hand.

’One portion of Moonlight Powder for ten portions of gunpowder? Where did they get so much gunpowder?’

Curious as she was, Seraphina Sinclair had no intention of prying. She got straight to the point, asking, "I have ten portions of Moonlight Powder. I want to trade for 100 portions of gunpowder. Do you have that many?"

For most survivors, this was a huge deal.

For the old Seraphina Sinclair, ten portions of Moonlight Powder would have been an incredibly rare find.

But not anymore.

That fellow 001 was living in her mobile cabin, and the first portion of Moonlight Powder she had ever obtained was a gift from it.

The fact that it could just give it away as a gift showed how much of the stuff it had on hand.

When Seraphina Sinclair mentioned she needed some, 001 had waved its hand and generously given her several hundred portions.

Of course, in return, Seraphina Sinclair had given 001 over a dozen meal vouchers.

According to 001, it was just a poor little Traveling Merchant who had braved the elements and suffered untold hardships, never having had a decent meal.

Seraphina Sinclair had helped it solve its housing problem. Although there was no bed, the floor pallet was soft enough.

For that floor pallet, Seraphina Sinclair had even gone to the trouble of buying several more quilts from the trade channel.

This quilt acquisition, on top of the previous time she bought quilts for Sunflower, had somehow been leaked. The Zone channel had discussed it for a long time back then.

People really said all sorts of things.

Of course, most of those comments weren’t fit to be seen.

In any case, 001’s living situation was sorted. The next problem, of course, was food.

Therefore, giving it Advanced Meal Vouchers as a gift was truly a thoughtful present that went straight to its heart!

Never mind how grateful 001 was; back to the present.

When Moonlightdrinker saw Blacktiger’s message, she was completely stunned.

’Ten portions of Moonlight Powder!’

’That’s ten whole portions!’

’How many runes could she make with that?!’

She didn’t dare to imagine how many Black Fog Coins she could get from selling those runes to a Traveling Merchant, or what she could buy with those coins—food, drinks, supplies, or even use them to trade for items with other survivors and upgrade her cabin.

Moonlightdrinker took a deep breath, forcibly suppressing the swirling emotions in her heart. She carefully chose her words for the reply, trying to make herself seem less eager.

[Moonlightdrinker]: Yes, you can send the trade request directly.

Seraphina Sinclair raised an eyebrow. Without wasting any more words, she put up ten portions of Moonlight Powder and waited for the other party to put up the one hundred portions of gunpowder.

A moment later, the trade was complete.