Faye Yardley took the items out one by one, showing them to Zachary Pierce.
"Whoa, Faye!" Zachary Pierce exclaimed. "Your luck is off the charts! You must be the one who ranked first on the raft, right?"
"Hehe, I told you I was feeling lucky today," she said. "Please don't tell anyone, Mr. Pierce."
"Don't worry. I'm not a blabbermouth."
After sending the items to Zachary Pierce in a Red Envelope, Faye Yardley prepared to open her own chests.
She started with the Silver Treasure Chest.
[Obtained: Talent Stone x1, High Level Water Purifier x1, Large Garbage Recycling Bin x1, Space Stone x2, One-time Cross-regional Communication Device x1, High Level Wood x10]
'Huh, I can't believe I got a Talent Stone.'
Faye Yardley held the Talent Stone in her hand, and a system prompt indicated it was usable.
Her Attributes currently showed she had no Talent, so of course Faye Yardley wasn't going to pass this up. She used it immediately.
It dissolved into a ray of white light that shot between her brows. Then, a system prompt appeared: [Congratulations, Player. Talent unlocked. You have acquired the Double Good Luck Talent.]
'AAAAAHHH!!!! I'm gonna be rich!' Faye Yardley thought her new Talent was absolutely insane.
'Who could possibly be stronger or luckier than me!'
'Oops, I really took a loss on Mr. Pierce's iron chests.'
'Hehe, too bad for him he doesn't know.'
[Player Faye Yardley has obtained a Talent Stone and officially unlocked a personal Talent. A server-wide system announcement will now commence. Do you wish to remain anonymous?]
"Yes, yes, yes!"
[Server-wide Announcement: Congratulations to the player from Veridia, XXX, for being the first in the world to unlock a personal Talent. Reward: free attribute points +1, reputation +1000.] x3
The golden announcement dominated everyone's screen, pinned at the top and repeating three times. It sent the entire world into a frenzy.
[Holy crap, who's so amazing? I thought Talents were something you started with. I was even a little bummed that I didn't have one. I never thought there'd be a prerequisite to unlock it. Can anyone tell me how? I want one too!]
[Ahhhh, my great Veridia is the best! The first in the world to unlock a Talent! It should be much easier to get one from now on, right?]
[Aishibal, it's not someone from my Great Han Republic! I don't believe it, I don't believe it! That shameless Veridia must have stolen it from one of my countrymen!]
[Shit, I already got a Talent Stone, and I'm still not the first?!]
[Hahaha~ You guys won't believe this. I was holding a Talent Stone and was still one second too slow. It was one second of heaven, one second of hell. Second place gets jack squat.]
[Speaking of which, why are there so many scumbags from other countries in our Veridia region?]
[Second place isn't completely empty-handed. Besides the Talent, you also get a ball, a hair, a dick... absolutely nothing.]
[To the person above, for God's sake, have some humanity.]
The messages on the public channel never stopped, which let Faye Yardley know that she wasn't the only one who had found a Talent Stone.
'Other people have their own skills, too.'
'Hehehe, the reward is all mine! Good thing I stayed anonymous, or I'd be flamed to death.' Faye Yardley was so happy she wanted to twirl in circles.
She took the one free attribute point and, after some thought, added it to Strength. Now, just like her Constitution, her Strength was at 10.
'Now I guess I can be considered a "pro gamer".'
She hummed, "Today is a good day, everything you wish for comes true..."
Faye Yardley felt the song was especially fitting for the moment.
After humming a few lines, she took a deep breath, muttered a few words under her breath, and continued opening her chests.
[Obtained: Sharp Dagger x1, Ordinary Harpoon x1, wood x50, stones x30, Cotton x5]
[Double Good Luck Talent triggered. All items obtained have been doubled.]
"AAAAAHHHH!!!!"
Faye Yardley couldn't help but scream again, jumping up and down in excitement.
Reading about the Talent and seeing it actually work right before her eyes were two completely different experiences.
'Double Good Luck... this is my Double Good Luck in action!'
[Obtained: Oil x10, Intermediate Log Coffee Table Blueprint x1, Small Wooden Boat Blueprint x1, wood x30]
[Double Good Luck Talent triggered. All items obtained have been tripled.]
What is happiness?
This is the joy of a super multiplier!
'So the "Double Good Luck" Talent doesn't just double things... it can triple them, too! Maybe it can even go up to four or five times...'
"Oh my god, I'm about to faint from happiness!"
As she said this, Faye Yardley really did fall back onto the sofa, giggling like an idiot. The wave of happiness was so intense, she could barely handle it.
Pressing her hands against her wildly pounding heart, Faye Yardley felt like she was truly the system's favorite.
'For a side character like me to have such insane luck... it's completely illogical and makes no sense. But I love it!'
'With this Talent, I'm guaranteed at least double the loot every time I open a chest. If I open chests for other people, I'd get a copy of whatever they get. But never mind, I have more than enough of my own chests to open. For now, besides Mr. Pierce, no one else is worth my time.'
'And this kind of Talent has to be kept secret. What if there's a large-scale event in the future where the system gathers everyone together? If someone knows about my Talent, I'll definitely be in danger.'
'Calm down, calm down!'
Faye Yardley didn't expect that after telling herself to calm down, she would fall fast asleep right there on the sofa.
She woke with a start to find it was 11:47 PM.
Hearing the wind howling outside, Faye Yardley frowned slightly. She rubbed her stomach, feeling famished.
Seeing that the fireplace only had about two hours of fuel left, she threw in another three lumps of coal and five pieces of charcoal.
She went to push open the door of the Wooden House and felt a strong resistance. But with her Strength now at 10, she easily pushed the wooden door open. A fierce gust of wind swept in, echoing through the house.
She immediately slammed the door shut, cutting off the gale. 'My head still feels fuzzy,' Faye Yardley thought. 'Is the wind really this strong? Aren't we still in the protection period?'
'Those who don't have shelter yet are probably in for a rough night.'
Although she had this thought, Faye Yardley didn't do anything. After all, there was nothing she could do.
She brought up the system screen and saw the total player count in the bottom-left corner ticking down every second.
She checked the trading market. It seemed people were constantly listing new tents, and the prices weren't unreasonable.
'After three days of fishing for chests, plus the rewards from that one bonus Dungeon, if they still can't afford a tent... then I guess they were fated to not make it any further.'
It was surprising enough that the public channel was still so lively this late, but even her small private chat group was buzzing with conversation. Someone had even @'d her.
Just as Faye Yardley was about to check the group chat, she was surprised by an incoming private message.
Kyle Lewis: "Miss Yardley, are you asleep? If not, could you please make me a few more Blood Replenishing Potions? It's an emergency!"
Faye Yardley didn't reply immediately, staring at the message in a daze.