Chapter 81: Big Fish Eat Small Fish

Chapter 81: Chapter 81: Big Fish Eat Small Fish

But this Group Chat Proof wasn’t just for show. The leaderboards weren’t public yet, but when this group of people got together and shared their progress, a rough ranking quickly emerged.

Master Blacktiger was unquestionably number one. The top few spots were hard to determine, but the ones ranked after twentieth place were clear.

These people had already made up their minds not to buy information from Blacktiger Ford. ’After all, there are twenty people ahead of us. Even if the BOSS is blind, it won’t pick us, right?’

On the other hand, the people ranked higher were even more panicked.

The probability of encountering the BOSS was too high. They were now too scared to even move.

They tentatively made new offers to Blacktiger Ford. The previous prices hadn’t been enough, so they added a little more.

"Master... How about this? I have three Black Fog Crystals, two Sunshine Crystals, and that Unknown Seed I mentioned before. If that’s not enough, I’ll even throw in 50 portions of basic materials! Okay? I’ll give you everything, just for one piece of information about the BOSS!"

Seraphina Sinclair sighed as she read the message. An Unknown Seed was a good item to her, but to this person, it was just an unknown tool. ’Trying to trade with something like that just shows a lack of sincerity, doesn’t it?’

Seraphina Sinclair thought for a moment, then opened a private message with Frostleaf. "Add me to the group."

Though they found it strange, Frostleaf did as she asked.

A group chat soon appeared on Seraphina Sinclair’s screen. The owner was Frostleaf, and there were thirty members.

In other words, the top thirty players in the current area were all here.

Seraphina Sinclair shook her head and proceeded with her reason for joining the group.

[Blacktiger Ford]: It seems you all still don’t get it. The value of BOSS intel isn’t about the size of the reward, but about its ability to save your life.

Seraphina Sinclair slowly typed out the line, then added another:

[Blacktiger Ford]: How about this, I’ll give you a standard. Anyone with "special items" or "rare materials" gets priority for trades. If all you have are common E-level Crystals and basic materials... then don’t waste my time.

As soon as the message was sent, the group chat erupted.

[Nightingale]: Master! I have a "Concealment Scroll"! It hides your presence for 10 minutes after use, even monsters can’t find you! Will this work?

[Bluebird]: What a coincidence, I also have a "Teleportation Scroll." I haven’t figured out where it teleports you to, but it’s definitely a rare item.

[Frostleaf]: ...You all were really holding out on us.

Seraphina Sinclair smiled.

’So these people had aces up their sleeves all along, and they were trying to fob me off with low-level crystals?’

’Good thing I’m smart and saw right through their little games.’

The trades finally began to proceed in an orderly fashion.

Although the bidding was done in the group chat, the actual trades were conducted through private messages.

Nightingale’s trade consisted of: Black Fog Crystal x2, Sunshine Crystal x3, Fusion Crystal x100, Concealment Scroll x1.

Bluebird’s trade consisted of: oatmeal x10 cans, Soda Water x10 bottles, Sunshine Crystal x1, Teleportation Scroll x1, basic materials x10.

Indeed, while Seraphina Sinclair had clearly shown her disdain for crystals and basic materials, she’d never said she wouldn’t *take* them.

In total, these trades netted her: Black Fog Crystal x23, Sunshine Crystal x18, Blood Moon Crystal x12, Expansion Crystal x6, Fusion Crystal x300, Concealment Scroll x1, Teleportation Scroll x1, Copy Certificate x1, Permission Certificate x2, Unknown Seed x2, takis x6 bags, oatmeal x10 cans, Soda Water x10 bottles, Self-heating Hot Pot x3 boxes, and 500 portions of basic materials.

Everyone she traded with this time had chosen The Misty Path. Coincidentally, more than twenty of the top thirty players had made the same choice.

Although she had sold more copies of the information previously, she hadn’t earned nearly as much as she did from these trades.

Big fish eat little fish, and little fish eat shrimp.

And a super-sized fish like Seraphina Sinclair had to eat other big fish to get her fill!

Satisfied, she laid out all her new items and began to inspect them one by one.

She had seen Black Fog Crystals and Sunshine Crystals before. It was worth noting that after she obtained the schematic for the Essence Crystal, the purpose of Sunshine Crystals was finally revealed.

[Sunshine Crystal (E+ Level)]

[Description: An exceptionally rare material in this world, generated alongside the sun on clear days. Current Use: Can be used directly as a material or combined with a Black Fog Crystal to craft an Essence Crystal.]

Seraphina Sinclair took out a few Black Fog Crystals and swiftly synthesized three Essence Crystals before putting all the crystal materials away.

Next was the Blood Moon Crystal.

Seraphina Sinclair had a feeling about it even before reading the description, and tapping on it confirmed her suspicion.

[Blood Moon Crystal (E+)]

[Description: A very rare material in this world, generated alongside the moon during a blood moon. Current Use... Oh, you haven’t earned the right to know yet.]

Even without being told, Seraphina Sinclair had a good idea of what it was for. ’It must be similar to the other two crystal materials...’

She put that away, along with the Expansion Crystals.

But speaking of Expansion Crystals...

Seraphina Sinclair opened the upgrade page for her mobile cabin again.

[Current Mobile Cabin Level: Level 2 (Max level for current tier is Level 3!)]

[Current Mobile Cabin Quality: Bronze]

[Current Black Fog Invasions per 100 Sunshine of distance: Three! (Next Level Black Fog Invasions per 100 Sunshine of distance: Three!)]

Seraphina Sinclair had grumbled about this number of invasions before, but she had also managed to analyze a few things.

The number hadn’t changed last time, and it didn’t change this time either.

’This probably means that normal upgrades don’t affect the number of invasions. The only thing that could change it... must be a tier upgrade, right?’

In other words, improving the mobile cabin’s quality. It was currently Bronze, and she speculated that raising it to the next tier would increase that number.

And to improve the quality, she would definitely have to max out the level first.

Feeling a bit resigned, Seraphina Sinclair continued to read.

[Current Cabin Configuration: 15 square meters, two-meter wooden bed x1, table and chair set x1, sturdy wooden door x1, reinforced window x1 (Next Level Cabin Configuration: 15 square meters, two-meter solid wood bed x1, double-paned glass window x1, wall-mounted storage shelf x1, small fireplace x1, basic flooring x1)]

’A solid wood bed?’

Seraphina Sinclair narrowed her eyes and glanced at the two-meter bed she had gotten from the upgrade.

’So, does this mean my current bed isn’t solid wood? It looks sturdy, but it’s actually prone to collapsing, isn’t it?’

The thought of how she stood on the bed every time the black fog surged in...

Seraphina Sinclair: "..."

Her luck was truly excellent.

Besides that, there was also a new storage shelf and a fireplace.

A fireplace would be useful. Right now, she had to keep a fire going every night to sleep. If she used too little fuel, Seraphina Sinclair worried it wouldn’t last until dawn; if she used too much, she worried the fire might spread and burn the cabin down.

With a fireplace, she wouldn’t have to worry about those things.

But it was useless to think about it now, because the upgrade materials were wood x80, Stone x20, Metal Fragments x20, and Expansion Crystal x30.

She had just acquired six, and adding them to the six she had left over from the last upgrade, she had twelve—exactly two-fifths of what she needed.

Seraphina Sinclair put her things away and began to inspect the new scroll items she had acquired.