Chapter 164: The Money and the Planets Have Arrived
At the sound of Patience’s voice, Moira Lynch’s eyes snapped open. She pulled up her account, and her vision was filled with a long string of zeros.
’With this much money, I could probably buy out the entire System Mall.’
After all, the entire System Mall was designed for the players on Caelus.
And since the players on Caelus had only been through a few game rounds, they had limited funds. Naturally, the items in the System Mall wouldn’t be too expensive.
The moment that thought crossed her mind, the game system’s warning blared in her head.
[Warning! Warning! Player SoySauceDrunkard, please do not entertain such a dangerous idea!!]
Hearing this, Moira Lynch pursed her lips. "I get it, I won’t do it."
Besides, she didn’t need most of the items in the System Mall, and this money was earmarked for the auction.
Having achieved financial freedom once again, Moira Lynch was absolutely thrilled. As the saying goes, money can’t buy happiness, but you can’t do anything without it.
After calming her excitement, Moira Lynch opened the email.
Inside was a thank-you letter from the person in charge. The letter stated that all the planetary certification procedures had been completed. Mochina and the three Garbage Stars were now officially registered under her name, and the certificates and other documents had been delivered along with the email.
Reading this, Moira Lynch looked around. ’It said they were delivered together, so where are they?’
In the next instant, the screen before her flashed white. Then, four silvery-white, certificate-like objects dropped out.
Each certificate was incredibly thin, its surface engraved with exquisite patterns.
A closer look revealed that the pattern on each one was unique.
There was a forest, an ocean, a swamp, and a Gobi desert.
One could tell which certificate represented which planet simply by looking at the pattern on its cover.
Moira Lynch eagerly opened the certificate engraved with the forest pattern.
Upon opening it, a holographic image of a planet covered in lush green vegetation appeared before Moira Lynch.
Gazing at the slowly rotating planet before her, Moira Lynch felt even more thrilled than when she had seen the two billion Gold Coins.
’This is a real, bona fide planet! From now on, I’m a planet owner!’
Moira Lynch could even zoom in to observe every single plant and tree on the planet’s surface.
’This is so convenient.’
The silver certificate in her hand not only proved her ownership of the planet, but also served as the key to travel to Mochina.
After calming herself down a bit, Moira Lynch suddenly noticed something unusual on the certificate, right after the name "Mochina."
She gave it a light tap, and a line of text immediately appeared underneath.
[Please choose a name for your planet.]
After asking Patience, Moira Lynch learned that every planet owner had the right to name their planet, and the first time was free.
Mochina had been renamed once before, but since Moira Lynch was the new owner, she was granted one more change.
Moira Lynch hesitated. She couldn’t think of a good name off the top of her head, so she decided not to change it for now, though she kept the renaming right.
She barely had to worry about Mochina. It had everything Planet Mocha had, and even boasted large quantities of Water-cooling Stones and Water Wood Stones.
’I wonder if it has any energy stones. It’d be great if it did.’
After putting away the certificate for Mochina, Moira Lynch opened the other three—the ones for the Garbage Stars.
These three planets had no names, not even designations.
For the same reason as before, Moira Lynch didn’t give them names either.
Moira Lynch had already decided to use the water-covered planet to incubate the Cloudsea Whale, but it would need some modifications first. The same was true for the other two planets.
After checking the conditions of the other two planets, she found they were even worse than she had imagined. No wonder they were called Garbage Stars.
Luckily, they weren’t entirely useless. The swamp planet possessed vast freshwater resources and even seemed to show signs of life.
Although the Gobi desert planet showed no signs of life, analysis indicated it contained various ores. However, the deposits were widely scattered, and mining them would be extremely difficult.
Moreover, this planet’s environment was the harshest of all. Quicksand was everywhere, sandstorms raged for twenty-three and a half hours a day, and the temperature difference between day and night was extreme.
She took out the Earth Soil she had acquired before, divided it into three equal portions, and sent one to each of the three planets via their respective keys.
The terraforming process would take a month.
In the meantime, she could get a head start on a few things.
The water planet was already designated for incubating the Cloudsea Whale, so it was off the table. She also planned to wait a bit longer with Mochina.
That only left the two other Garbage Stars.
In truth, Moira Lynch’s first choice for a partner was her own country, Cathaya. After all, it was more reassuring to work with her own people. However, just handing the opportunity to them on a silver platter felt a bit cheap. There were proper channels to go through.
Besides, while developing a planet offered many benefits, it wasn’t without risk. She wasn’t sure if Cathaya could bear the potential costs.
With this in mind, Moira Lynch decided to have a chat with the system.
"System, are you there?"
As expected, she received no reply.
"System, if you don’t answer, I’m going to buy out the entire System Mall."
Still nothing.
Seeing this, Moira Lynch opened the System Mall, selected every single item, and watched the total climb to two hundred million Gold Coins.
For the current Moira Lynch, however, this amount was trivial.
Just as Moira Lynch was about to hit "Confirm," the game system finally responded.
[Player SoySauceDrunkard, please refrain from such dangerous behavior.]
"Well, you were ignoring me."
[What do you want?]
The game system asked, its tone seemingly one of compromise.
"I want to hold an auction. Think you could help me out?" Moira Lynch said with a grin.
To her surprise, the game system agreed without hesitation.
[Fine. But I have two conditions.]
"Name them."
[First, the starting bids must be set by the system.]
"No problem."
Moira Lynch agreed readily. She had no idea what an appropriate price would be anyway. If she set it too low, she’d be at a disadvantage; if she set it too high, she feared no one could afford it.
[Second, the system will collect a twenty-percent tax on the proceeds.]
This time, Moira Lynch thought for a moment before nodding. "No problem. That’s only fair."
[Agreement reached. You may now edit the auction information. The system will simultaneously push this announcement to all players.]