Chapter 83: 0.25 Lottery Ticket

Chapter 83: Chapter 83: 0.25 Lottery Ticket

Seraphina Sinclair checked the compass. Seeing no change in its position, she took out the door card again and infused it with her last 100 sunshine for the day.

The small house continued to move. Seraphina Sinclair raised a hand to gently brush the lens, then sat on the stool, waiting for the black fog to pour in.

She pondered for a moment, then suddenly stood up and pulled the furnace blueprint from her Silver Moon Earrings.

’Ever since I got this, I’ve been swamped with other things. I still haven’t managed to build it.’

Before the black fog arrived, Seraphina Sinclair quickly went to the bathroom, gathered the necessary items, and returned to the mobile hut.

She scanned the room and finally chose a spot next to the stone table.

’All my other things are here. It would be strange to suddenly put it somewhere else. Better to keep everything together.’

Seraphina Sinclair selected "Craft." Several materials immediately flew into the air and combined at her chosen location, forming a brand-new furnace!

’This thing... it’s pitch-black, with a feeding pit in the front and a few horizontal grooves on top. Not sure if they’re for heat dissipation or something else.’

Seraphina Sinclair raised an eyebrow slightly and opened the item’s panel to see how to make Metal Bars.

[Furnace]

[Description: Smelt your Metal Fragments into random Metal Bars! Place five Metal Fragments and one piece of charcoal inside, and the furnace will start working on its own! It can produce copper ingots, Iron Ingots, and gold ingots. The current probabilities are 99%, 0.99%, and 0.01%, respectively! You can increase the probability of obtaining high-grade metals by raising the furnace’s Level!]

’It can be upgraded?’

But one Metal Bar required five Metal Fragments and one piece of charcoal to make.

Seraphina Sinclair tapped her fingers on the stone table, thinking for a moment. She directly took out the only two pieces of low-quality charcoal she had left, along with ten Metal Fragments.

She read the instructions again. Seeing no mention of whether multiple batches of materials could be loaded at once, she began to experiment.

She put in enough materials to smelt two Metal Bars. The furnace didn’t react.

She deliberately put in six Metal Fragments and one piece of charcoal. The furnace didn’t react.

Seraphina Sinclair felt a bit helpless. ’The system’s requirements are incredibly strict. It won’t work if it’s off by even a little.’

She followed the instructions precisely, putting in the exact materials. A soft click came from the furnace, and then it burst into flames, a wave of heat washing over her.

Seraphina Sinclair silently took a step back. When she opened the furnace’s panel again, she saw its status had changed to "Working...", followed by a countdown timer.

It took half an hour to smelt one Metal Bar. Seraphina Sinclair sat back down on her stool and waited patiently.

While she was moving, the other players weren’t idle either.

Although Frostleaf hadn’t achieved their original goal in creating the group chat, since it was already made, there was no way they’d just disband it for no reason.

Besides, the group consisted of some of the fastest-progressing players in the entire Zone. Whether for trading or exchanging information, it was far more efficient than the Zone channel, so the group was reasonably active.

Seraphina Sinclair was bored and opened the group chat, just in time to see a message from Frostleaf.

[Frostleaf]: The second BOSS... I ran into it.

That one sentence brought a lot of lurkers out of the woodwork.

"Is it already taken care of?"

"Our Master Frostleaf is just that awesome! Encountering a BOSS and still having time to post in the group."

"Only someone who didn’t buy Master Blacktiger’s intel would say that. Those of us who paid a fortune for it know just how terrifying that monster is."

"There’s still one BOSS left. I wonder who the last lucky winner will be."

"Sigh... I have such mixed feelings about this. I’m relieved I wasn’t the one who ran into the monster, but also upset it wasn’t me."

"I totally get how the person above feels, but I just want to ask, did Master Frostleaf post this after finishing the fight, or right after encountering it?"

"Is there a difference?"

"Could you use your brain before asking?"

Seraphina Sinclair chuckled. ’Of course, there’s a difference.’

’The former means there’s really only one BOSS left. The latter means the group’s creator is still in danger and might even die here.’

’But in my opinion, that was highly unlikely.’

’With my intel, plus the stone table I’d thrown in as a bonus, even a total laggard could take down the BOSS, let alone one of these top-ranked elites.’

Frostleaf quickly posted again.

[Frostleaf]: Killed it. Took a little damage, but it was thanks to Master Blacktiger’s intel.

"You killed it already?"

"Ah! Now I’m even more upset! You guys in The Misty Path have Master Blacktiger paving the way, but what about us who chose the Rust Corridor?!"

"I’d just managed to forget about that! Don’t bring it up again!"

"Sweetheart... running away won’t solve anything."

"You shut up too!"

"So there’s only one BOSS left on our path, huh? Wonder who’s going to get that easy prize."

"Is it really an easy prize? Even Frostleaf got injured."

"That’s why we have mixed feelings..."

Seraphina Sinclair silently closed the group chat. She was actually a little curious about the reward the second killer received, but it wasn’t worth trading her supplies just to satisfy that curiosity.

She hadn’t even gone looking for Frostleaf, but they came to her first.

[Frostleaf]: Master, I’m so curious. Can I ask you something?

’Ask what?’

’They can’t be curious about the reward too, can they?’

Seraphina Sinclair thought for a moment and replied, "You can ask first."

[Frostleaf]: It wasn’t until I actually faced that monster that I realized how terrifying it is. I was fully prepared mentally and knew exactly how to deal with it, but you went in blind. Weren’t you scared at all?

’Of course she was scared.’

’But does being scared mean you should just stand there and wait to die?’

’Does being scared mean you just have to accept the reality of being torn to shreds by a monster?’

’Impossible.’

Seraphina Sinclair had always believed that true courage wasn’t the absence of fear, but the willingness to fight for your life even when you are afraid.

And as it happened, she was a courageous person.

’But... why is this person curious about *this* of all things?’

Seraphina Sinclair was a bit speechless.

She had no interest in having a heart-to-heart with a stranger.

’But since they came to me, if I answer their question, they should answer one of mine, right?’

Seraphina Sinclair gave a vague, noncommittal answer and then asked, "What was the reward you got?"

Frostleaf was honest enough, directly sending the item’s details.

[Legendary Equipment Lottery Ticket x0.25]

’0.25?’

Seraphina Sinclair: "..."

For some reason, she was suddenly reminded of one of those notorious "slash-the-price" apps.

She sighed, speculating that the reward for the third person to kill the BOSS would probably be a 0.125 lottery ticket.

’Wouldn’t that be just absurd?’

Seraphina Sinclair’s expression suddenly turned serious.

The black fog was pouring in.

The Sunflower, which hadn’t issued a warning in a long time, spoke again: "Something’s here... It’s very dangerous!"

Seraphina Sinclair could see clearly, but she couldn’t find where the monster was.

She took a deep breath and silently tightened her grip on her dagger.