By the time they finished picking everything up, Faye Yardley was so exhausted she slumped down on the beach, wanting nothing more than to just lie there. 'Who knew such a huge haul could be this tiring?' she thought.
Zachary Pierce looked at the exhausted Faye Yardley, a slight smile touching his lips as he held out his hand. "Get up. It's not safe here. You'll be in for a world of hurt if a monster suddenly pops out from under the sand."
"Oh, right. Let's grab our things and go, then."
Zachary Pierce said, "I'll open the chest then. We can put some of the smaller items inside."
"Mhm."
Faye Yardley's curious expression slowly turned into a dumbfounded stare as Zachary Pierce opened the Wooden Treasure Chest. Inside were only two items: wood x5 and Mineral Water x1.
"Mr. Pierce... from now on, if we find any more treasure chests on the island, how about you let me open them?"
Zachary Pierce had always considered his luck to be decent, at least among his friends. But from Faye Yardley's expression, he could tell she was probably a King of Luck who couldn't bear to watch someone with bad luck open a chest. 'Besides,' he thought, 'we're a team. It doesn't matter who opens them.'
"Alright. From now on, they're all yours."
'I should open a chest just to show him,' Faye Yardley thought. 'The loot will definitely be better than what he got. He seems to trust his luck, but seeing is believing.'
But she didn't have time for a demonstration. Zachary Pierce hauled her to her feet and started pulling her toward the inner part of the island. The area where the monsters had just spawned was beginning to refresh.
Being yanked around like that didn't feel great, but when she saw the densely packed monsters—even more than the last wave—Faye Yardley couldn't bring herself to utter a single word of complaint.
"Are you kidding me? There are so many of them!"
"Stay here for now and be careful. I'm going to take out this wave."
Faye Yardley's feelings were complicated. 'It feels like our team's monster-slaying strategy is 'stomp and slaughter.' I'm in charge of the 'stomp'—just making noise—while Zachary Pierce handles the 'slaughter.''
'It's nice to be protected, but I still need to get stronger on my own.'
"Mr. Pierce, let one or two get past you for me."
"Alright."
With the High Level Fish Spear in hand, Faye Yardley wasn't completely defenseless. Plus, she didn't have to engage in close-quarters combat.
So, when the occasional straggler got through to her, she was flustered and clumsy at first, but she quickly grew more and more adept at handling them.
Initially, even a single monster made her panic, but by the end, she could face a three-pronged attack without batting an eye. Her improvement was undeniable.
The only problem was how quickly it drained her stamina.
By the time the second wave was completely cleared, Faye Yardley didn't even feel like harvesting the monster corpses.
Of course, that was impossible. She took a wooden box from her backpack, tossed a bottle of mineral water to Zachary Pierce, then opened one for herself and GULP GULP GULP, chugged half of it in one go.
The water made her feel human again, and she immediately started looting the bodies.
Seeing her frantic pace, Zachary Pierce didn't dare waste any more time drinking his water.
In the end, a large number of the corpses were mercilessly despawned by the system before they could be harvested.
But by then, Faye Yardley was drenched in sweat, sitting on the rapidly heating sand, too exhausted to even lift a finger.
Zachary Pierce looked at the disheveled Faye Yardley, not with amusement, but with a pang of sympathy. 'If this had been just two days ago,' he thought, 'before our world was taken over by this so-called survival game, she would just be a normal, happy student.'
He walked over, bent down, and lifted her into his arms. "You're getting too much sun here. You'll get a sunburn or dehydrate. I'll carry you over to the shade under that tree."
Faye Yardley just grunted in acknowledgment. She truly had no strength left.
The old saying about finding good shade under a large tree was a perfect description of the moment. After checking that the surroundings were clear, Zachary Pierce gently set Faye Yardley down at the base of the tree, letting her lean against the trunk.
"I'm going to bring back the materials we harvested. Shout if anything happens."
As he spoke, he started organizing his backpack, needing to clear out some items to make room for the new materials.
Faye Yardley just blinked to show she understood. Leaning against the tree, she looked up. The massive canopy blocked the increasingly scorching sun.
'It's strange,' she thought. 'We entered this Dungeon at 8 p.m., but it's broad daylight in here.'
There was no point wondering why a giant camphor tree was growing on a tropical island. Game worlds didn't have to follow the laws of science.
Faye Yardley panted, wishing she could recover faster. 'If only I had a potion to restore my stamina and energy right now,' she thought.
"System, do you sell Recovery Potions?"
Transmigrating into a book didn't make you all-knowing, especially when you'd read over two million words of it. She'd long forgotten most of the early-game settings.
'You can earn points in a Dungeon, so there should be a Point Shop, right?'
[Dear Player, the Dungeon Point Shop can be unlocked for 10 dungeon points. Pay to unlock?]
Faye Yardley looked over at Zachary Pierce, who was still organizing his things. He had clearly heard the system prompt as well, because he gave her a confirmatory nod.
"Yes."
The Point Shop had a wide variety of items. As she'd hoped, it sold potions to restore stamina and energy. The price wasn't too steep either—just 10 points a bottle.
The points were shared by the group, but Zachary Pierce had been the one to kill most of the monsters, so Faye Yardley looked to him for a decision.
Zachary Pierce reached out and patted her head. "Go ahead and buy them."
His gaze lingered for a moment on the Small Group Chat Coupon in the Point Shop. A single one cost a thousand points, and they only had 769 points in total after killing two waves of monsters.
Faye Yardley bought two Energy Recovery Potions. She handed one to Zachary Pierce and drank the other herself.
She instantly felt her energy return. Her limbs were still aching, but it was no longer a major issue.
"Mr. Pierce, most of the points came from your kills, and you're the leader. Change the distribution settings so points go to whoever gets the kill," Faye Yardley said, getting up and dusting herself off. "As it stands, you have 700 points and I have 49. I guess I owe you for this potion."
There were plenty of good things in the Point Shop, and Faye Yardley was naturally eyeing them, especially the Basic Body Refining Pill, which would be the most helpful for her at the moment.
There were also Backpack Expansion (x50) Blueprints, Space Stones, High Level Wooden House Blueprints, Warehouse Blueprints, and so on.
A single Basic Body Refining Pill cost a hundred points; she wasn't sure if she could save up enough before they had to leave.
There were so many good items that even Zachary Pierce was momentarily dazzled. But he quickly composed himself and shook his head. "We're a team. We can't divide things like that. We'll just split the points evenly."
"I disagree. If you insist on that, I'll be too embarrassed to team up with you next time."
'Getting a free ride is nice,' she thought, 'but you can't build a partnership on that. Long-term cooperation is the best way to go.'
"As for all these miscellaneous materials, I just had a better idea. We could use the Red Envelope function between friends, or the exclusive one for group members. What do you think?"
Looking at the pile of loot before them, she thought, 'What's a little system exploit between friends?'