Chapter 305: Am I Freeloading?
The shop owner was a fantastic businessman. Once Faye Yardley won a system-recognized Dungeon 1 Fragment from a scratch-off, and with each ticket costing only 10 copper coins, she was caught in an endless cycle of buying and scratching.
In the end, she spent a total of one thousand silver in that little shop all by herself.
But she had to admit, she was very satisfied with her haul.
Aside from various flavored drinks, she had obtained: Dungeon 1 Fragment x7, Treasure Map Fragment x1, tiny pull-back toy cars x11, a Dungeon 7 Fragment x1, useless little pebbles x29... an Ocean-Going Ship Blueprint x1, Small Group Chat Coupon x5, and a Boss Attractor x1.
She had thought she could stay in Lumina for a long time, but just as she paid the one thousand silver coins and prepared to continue her shopping spree, the system reminded her that she only had half an hour left.
Stumbling out of the little shop in a daze, Faye Yardley couldn’t decide whether to head straight back to her store or make a trip to the City Lord’s Manor.
’Forget it. I’ll just take a carriage to the shop’s entrance. If those two aren’t back yet, I’ll have Eliza Yardley pass on my decisions for me.’
Besides, she could come back again in five days.
’Wait, my employees know embroidery, which is great, but how do they get back to their rafts? Do they have to teleport to my raft first, only to be sent back to their own by the system?’
"System, can my employees’ rafts be moored at Conch Isle Pier long-term?"
Faye Yardley asked the system this question in at least ten different ways before it finally offered a response.
[As the Island Master of Conch Isle, you have the right to invite specific players to be guests on your island.]
???
Faye Yardley felt like she kind of understood, but not entirely.
’It seems I’ll have to really think about how to use my Island Master status to invite others’ rafts to my island once I get back.’
’I really haven’t been an Island Master for long enough. I don’t understand half the features.’
A group of five people staggered toward her from up ahead. Relying on her high agility, which had been boosted by various stats, Faye Yardley weaved right through the middle of them without touching a single person.
After she had completely disappeared down the alley, the five of them stopped and looked at one another. One of them spat. "Damn, so she’s a pro. No wonder she was able to get one of That Wretch Wynn’s people into the City Lord’s Manor."
"Looks like the five of us are no match for her. We might as well go grind for more XP in the dungeons outside the city for now."
"Let’s go, let’s go. I heard that little beauty even rented a shop right next to Blazing Dragon Rhonda Dixon’s place. I’ve seen her having a lively chat with Rhonda Dixon."
"Fuck, why didn’t you say so sooner?"
Faye Yardley had no idea that those five people had been deliberately targeting her. After all, even though this was only her second visit to Lumina, she hadn’t really interacted with many people, let alone gotten into any conflicts.
Faye Yardley picked up her pace after leaving the alley, returning to her shop with about a quarter of an hour to spare.
Good. Shawn Lawler and Laura Summers were already back.
Shawn Lawler handed a card to Faye Yardley. "Boss, this is the one-hundred-thousand deposit we agreed on. The client said the money is on the card."
Faye Yardley grunted in acknowledgment and took the card. A system prompt informed her the balance was exactly one hundred thousand gold coins. She left ten thousand gold coins for the pair to purchase gold and silver thread and other materials, then gave them each 10 gold coins for living expenses.
She also put away the body measurements for Lilia and her companion, along with all the fabric bolts except for the dark green one.
However, Faye Yardley also left Laura Summers a small casket of Merling-tear pearls. At a glance, they looked vastly different from ordinary oyster pearls.
She told Laura Summers to use them in combination with other high-grade pearls.
Based on what she had seen while shopping earlier, Merling-tear pearls were actually an extremely rare item.
If Faye Yardley hadn’t met Jennifer, she would have had a very hard time getting her hands on so many.
"Oh, right, what do you two think we should name our shop?"
Shawn Lawler answered immediately, "That’s something the boss should decide, of course."
"I see... In that case, what do you think of ’Heaven-Sent’?"
Laura Summers fell silent for a moment but still offered a gentle agreement.
And so, Lumina gained a new shop: Heaven-Sent Custom Designs.
She hung the business license on the wall, entered the chosen name, and the shop was officially open for business.
"For now, partition off two bedrooms upstairs. I’ll probably be back again within five to ten days." After speaking, Faye Yardley went upstairs and left through the Teleportation Array.
The two left behind were both proactive individuals. They exchanged a look, and Shawn Lawler said, "I’ll head out for a bit and buy two beds."
Laura Summers replied, "I’ll go buy them. You should head to the fountain plaza the boss mentioned. You’re young, so you’ll have an easier time talking with the other players. We also need to see if Lumina has a curfew or anything like that at night."
Back on her raft, Faye Yardley was, of course, oblivious to how her two employees were organizing things. The first thing she did was open the main group chat, cast the Great Silence Technique, and post an invitation for master tailors to come and live on her island. She then announced the two designs that had won the client’s favor. The corresponding designers received prizes; in addition to the standard rewards, one of them also received a Water-Repelling Pearl.
The other designers received second-tier prizes and specially flavored drinks.
It had to be said that most people trying to survive at sea were severely lacking in supplies. This was especially true for flavored drinks; many people hadn’t tasted one since they first appeared on their rafts.
Faye Yardley then sent out a Red Envelope in the chat. Only five lucky people could claim a share. The prize was the canned fruit she had gotten from a previous loot box.
After lifting the silence restriction on the main group, she opened her smaller group chat and sent out another canned fruit Red Envelope there.
’I still have the blueprint for canned fruit,’ she thought. ’I don’t want to keep everything on my raft. Besides, the people on the island need a source of income, don’t they?’
"System, System, can I place an automated production workshop on the island?"
She asked seven or eight times in a row, and the system, perhaps tired of her pestering, finally responded.
[Dear player, you may establish factories on your island as you normally would.]
"What about an automated production workshop?"
This time, the system didn’t answer.
Faye Yardley walked over to her swing chair and sat down, pouting in dissatisfaction.
The system’s response led her to a troubling suspicion.
’It’s possible,’ she mused, ’that the automated production workshop—which can craft any item on the raft as long as you load a blueprint and the right materials—would become a dedicated factory producing only one specific product if I built it on the island.’
’Countless possibilities would be reduced to a single one. Faye Yardley would have to weigh the pros and cons of such a trade-off herself.’
Of course, the decision wasn’t that difficult. She planned to acquire two automated production workshop blueprints from Zachary Pierce. In exchange, she would offer a Superpower Crystal Stone. If they could figure out a safe way to use the stone, it would be a good thing for her as well.
’Tsk. Am I not just a freeloader at this point?’