Chapter 46: Listing the Water-cooling Stone
Moonlight would work, too, but she’d sealed all the windows in the villa. And how could moonlight ever compare to the sun?
"By the way, Intelligent Brain, do you have a name?" Moira suddenly asked. ’Just calling it ’Intelligent Brain’ all the time could easily give away the fact that I have one.’
[Intelligent Brains only have serial numbers, not names.]
"What’s your serial number, then?"
[5201314]
’...What a hopelessly romantic serial number.’
"From now on, you’ll be called Patience."
[Okay! ٩(•̤̀ᵕ•̤́๑)ᵒᵏᵎᵎᵎᵎ]
Unlike the game system’s emotionless, mechanical voice, the Intelligent Brain’s voice clearly carried emotion.
After stowing away the single Gold Coin she earned from the game, Moira went to the laundry room. She tossed all the clothes she had dirtied in Mocha Forest into the all-in-one washer-dryer, then went upstairs to take a shower.
She let down her hair, which had been tied up for seven days, and gave it a thorough wash and deep conditioning. Only after blow-drying it did she finally get ready for bed.
Although meditation could substitute for rest, it couldn’t replace sleep.
While Moira fell asleep in an instant, none of the other players could. They were all scrambling to flood the game forums.
This was especially true after some guy who’d ranked in the top ten started showing off the reward he’d received.
The game forums exploded, like a basin of cold water thrown into a pot of hot oil.
It instantly drew out countless hidden tycoons, all offering exorbitant prices to buy the item from him.
Moira was jolted awake by the cold in the middle of the night.
In a world where the average temperature was sixty degrees Celsius, she’d actually been woken up by the cold.
"Patience, what’s the indoor temperature right now?"
[Current temperature: 3 degrees Celsius. Please dress warmly.]
’Damn, that’s almost freezing.’
She ran down to the living room. The moment her bare feet touched the ice-cold floor, Moira sucked in a sharp breath.
She glanced at the swimming pool in the living room and saw a thin layer of ice had formed on the surface. The culprit for all this was the small Water-cooling Stone sitting on the coffee table.
’I knew this thing could lower the temperature, but I never thought it would be this powerful!’
She quickly put the Water-cooling Stone back into her inventory, then brewed herself a cup of brown sugar ginger tea. ’Catching a cold in this heat would be no fun at all.’
After finishing her tea, she returned to her room. A glance outside told her it was almost dawn. She decided not to go back to sleep, but she didn’t feel like cultivating either.
She found some warmer clothes and put them on.
"By the way, Patience, when a Water-cooling Stone stops working, can water from Caelus restore it?"
[Analysis complete: Negative!]
’Heh heh, a new business opportunity.’
’She could set up a trade-in program in her shop. Depleted Water-cooling Stones could be used for a discount on new ones. That way, she could reuse them.’
’I’m a genius!’
She opened the game forums. She’d gone to bed too early yesterday to see any of the messages, but it wasn’t too late. The forums were still bustling with activity.
She scrolled up through the recent posts. Many of them were just people complaining about the game.
[RandomUser1: Son of a bitch! I worked my ass off to collect those points, and a bunch of bastards just stole them! Thank god for that seasonal limited ingredient. If I ever see those guys again, I’ll beat their asses on sight.]
[Future: You should be grateful. At least you didn’t get eliminated. A lot of people lost their right to even play.]
[AzureGown: You’re all so incredible. I, on the other hand, had terrible luck with people. Has anyone seen someone in camo gear, wearing a mask and a cloak made of weeds? They’re a bad person! Not only did they steal our points, they took our basket too! If I hadn’t been lucky enough to find another one, I would’ve been eliminated.]
Moira read AzureGown’s description. ’Isn’t that me?’
’She was the girl in the white dress.’
’And she still managed to clear the game?’
Moira scrolled down a bit further and saw another familiar name: Misty Cloud.
Reading the chat logs, Moira’s eyes widened in disbelief.
[JoyfulDays: Misty Cloud, you got the guts to pull that shit, so have the guts to face us! Drugging everyone right before the game ended and stealing all their points! If I hadn’t been prepared for your tricks, I’d have been screwed over by you too!]
[Misty Cloud: I don’t even know who you are. I have no idea why you’re trying to slander me. Everyone, please don’t believe them. I suspect they have a grudge against me in real life and are using this as an excuse for revenge.]
Reading this, Moira could only think, ’Damn.’ She hadn’t actually met that many people this time around, but every single one was a real piece of work.
’At first, I really thought Misty Cloud was a good person, even if she had a few ulterior motives.’
’But now, it seems I underestimated her.’
’It’s better if I just keep my head down from now on.’
She kept scrolling but didn’t find any new information, just more people who’d won special rewards showing them off.
She couldn’t help but marvel at their audacity. They had no idea how to hide the good things they had.
But, to each their own. Maybe they were just so powerful they felt they didn’t need to hide. Well, all she could do was respect their decision and wish them a long and happy life.
She closed the game forums and opened her shop interface.
The game’s difficulty had been higher this time, and ten percent of the players were eliminated, but the rewards were generous. As the first-place winner, she had received a single Gold Coin.
Even if the other players couldn’t match her, their earnings should be substantial as well.
Before listing the Water-cooling Stones, Moira first had to decide on a suitable price.
Too high, and she worried no one could afford it. Too low, and she’d be taking a major loss.
"Patience, what do you think is a suitable price for this Water-cooling Stone?"
[Fifty Gold Coins. However, Patience suggests that Master should also accept exchanges for Gold, jade, and other precious minerals.]
"Why?"
[Because Gold and jade are extremely expensive luxury goods in the interstellar era, typically circulating only among the upper echelons of society. Acquiring them would bring Master immense wealth.]
"Since Gold is so precious, then these Gold Coins..."
Moira took out the single Gold Coin she had earned yesterday. ’Isn’t this made of Gold?’
[They are merely gold-plated.]
"..."
Opening her shop, Moira began listing her items. She started by putting up ten Water-cooling Stones to test the market: five to be sold for Gold Coins, and the other five for Gold, jade, and other various gemstones.
She wrote out the warnings clearly. The stones should absolutely not be carried on one’s person, and placing them in small, enclosed spaces was not recommended. If someone froze to death, it had nothing to do with her.
She also noted that the Water-cooling Stones would stop emitting cold air as long as they were submerged in water.
Even water from Caelus would do the trick; Moira had just tested it herself.
The effect of a Water-cooling Stone would only last for about two weeks, after which it would turn into an ordinary rock. The shop would then offer a trade-in service.
She had to make this point clear to prevent people from carelessly tossing the stones away once their effect wore off.