Ita Era

Chapter 36 Preparations on the Isolated Island
The Building Guagua Card, simply put, is a gift of a specific functional building; you have to scratch off the card to find out what kind of building it is. Once scratched off, it cannot be traded.

Ding Shi went to wash his hands again...

Ding Shi slowly scratched open the lottery area with his fingernail, first revealing the character "武" (Wu), which immediately delighted him. Looking back, he saw the little angel floating on his shoulder, its eyes fixed intently on the lottery area. Seeing Ding Shi looking at it, the little angel slowly floated away, not going far, but hovering nearby.

Ding Shi chuckled and scratched off the cover: Cold Weapon Martial Arts School.

The system introduces three types of martial arts school cards: hand-to-hand combat, melee weapon combat, and firearms combat. For the melee weapon school, level one will teach how to use a knife. Obtaining another melee weapon school card will upgrade you to level two, unlocking three different weapons.

The cost of a melee weapon martial arts school is $50. No maintenance or additional fees are required. It is movable and can be dismantled; moving costs $20, and dismantling costs $10.

There was plenty of open space on the island. Ding Shi went out and looked around for a while before setting up the martial arts school next to the teleportation array. After confirming, a 30-square-meter house rose from the ground.

Upon entering the martial arts school, the system prompted him to create a robot instructor. The first step was to customize the robot instructor's appearance. Ding Shi wasn't an ordinary person; instead of using the character customization system, he clicked "random." After randomly selecting characters over four hundred times, a beautiful female instructor was finally created.

The female instructor introduced the different types of knives, including the Tang sword, the embroidered spring sword, and the horse-slaying sword, which are quite famous.

Ding Shi pulled out a willow-leaf throwing knife: "I want to learn how to throw willow-leaf knives."

Female instructor: "I'm sorry, the willow leaf throwing knife is actually a hidden weapon, and it requires a level three martial arts school to unlock."

Ding disagreed: "It's called Willow Leaf Flying Knife, the knife of flying knife."

Female instructor: "I'm sorry..."

What can we do? We can only file a complaint. Every game has a terrible complaint system, most of which are just for show. Hopefully, Ita World won't be so vulgar.

"Hey you, I want to file a complaint." Ding Shi pointed at the little angel as he went out.

The little angel flapped its wings and came over, saying, "My name is Little Sugar, not that person." It was puffed up with sullen air.

Ding Shi: "I want to file a complaint."

Little Sugar: "Why did you complain to me?"

Ding Shi said, “Your existence is quite abrupt. You’re not exactly a pet, but you’re not affectionate either. You’re a living being, yet you interact with people. During my time in this instance, I’ve often pondered the question: what is the purpose of your existence? I’ve come up with two answers. The first is that you are a monitor from a higher-dimensional alien species. They use you to observe humanity and gain a comprehensive understanding of us. The second is that you’re there to solve problems for humanity anytime, anywhere, including accepting complaints and finding bugs in the Ita world.”

Little Sugar's purpose is naturally to monitor and observe humanity. By observing billions of humans, she can profile the thoughts and behaviors of most humans, and then uncover the characteristics that only a small minority of humans possess.

Of course, Little Sugar wouldn't admit to being a monitor. Following up on Ding Shi's topic, she asked, "What is the content of your complaint?" Interaction is also a means of observation, but the aliens don't want the monitors to be too proactive, so as to avoid humans deliberately flattering and ingratiating themselves in order to gain benefits.

Ding Shiyi explained the situation with righteous indignation, adding: "In Earth's culture, a knife is a knife, whether it's a large knife, a small knife, a pencil sharpener, a nail clipper, or a US dollar knife, it's all a knife."

Little Sugar said, "The willow leaf throwing knife is a type of throwing weapon."

Ding Shi said, "All knives and all weapons can be thrown. Similarly, the willow leaf throwing knife can also be used in close combat."

Little Sugar is thinking... connecting with the mainframe... The mainframe, through searching, confirms that throwing is a method of using knife-like weapons. Little Sugar nods to the female instructor, puts her hands behind her back, and floats away, looking a little cool and a little arrogant.

The robot female instructor began to tailor a training program according to Ding Shi's preferences.

No rush. Ding Shi went back to his room to wash his hands and opened the fifth random logistics card.

Blue card item: Fireplace, construction cost: $10.

This is good stuff, but there's no rush now.

Ding Shi went to the vending machine and started examining the products inside, since he now had $100.

Basic necessities such as toilet paper, toothbrushes, and toothpaste are priced as low as $1. For example, toothbrushes range from $1 to $10,000; Ding Shi could only find toothbrushes priced at $100. The description stated that the toothbrush bristles are made from the tentacles of a shell-like creature found 100,000 meters deep in the ocean on Hulk Planet, and are produced by the Good Clean Toothbrush Company from Summer Insect Planet.

One unique feature of the Good Clean toothbrush is its automatic cleaning function after entering the mouth, gently targeting any unclean areas without interrupting your conversation. When used with Good Clean toothpaste, it can completely eliminate oral bacteria.

Advertising slogan: Recommended for couples in relationships to avoid cross-infection of oral bacteria.

After observing the whole process, the conclusion is that the poor have their own way of living, and the rich have their own way of enjoying life. Interestingly, do vending machines calculate prices based on cost? For example, a pound of beef costs $1, a pound of flour costs $1, a pound of salt costs $1, and $3 can make many bowls of beef noodles. Instant beef noodles, though containing no beef, cost a whopping $5. A fresh beef rice bowl costs $10.

In short: Encourage players to be self-reliant.

The prices of materials were surreal; simple A4 paper and pens were very cheap, which provided Ding Shi with the opportunity to learn the Five Thunder Talisman. However, small mechanical parts such as springs were extremely expensive.

Ding Shi concludes: Things that could be produced in ancient times without modern factories were very cheap. Items that required lathes and the use of electricity or other energy sources were very expensive.

Furthermore, weapons are extremely expensive. For example, the set of willow-leaf throwing knives that Ding Shi brought out cost $380 from a vending machine. A Tang sword costs a whopping $500. However, if you're willing to change your perspective, weapons can also be very cheap; for instance, a kitchen knife can cost only $1.

Televisions, mobile phones, and computers are ridiculously expensive, while an encyclopedia weighing 129 kilograms costs only one dollar.

Based on the availability of the goods, the bed will remain unchanged; two layers of quilts will be laid on top, making it not much different from a Simmons mattress. All the tables, chairs, etc., will be replaced with inexpensive bedding sets.

With 100 kilograms of honeycomb briquettes costing 1 dollar each as fuel, and equipped with pots, pans, and utensils, the era of eating steamed buns could basically be said goodbye. For safety, Ding Shi followed the system's advice and used 20 dollars to expand the house by 10 square meters, using these 10 square meters as a kitchen to avoid carbon monoxide poisoning.

System Note: Inexpensive goods will not deviate from their original function.

For example, an iron bowl is a cheap container that can hold rice, soup, or even dirt. But you can't modify an iron bowl into an iron weapon.

After buying all sorts of things, Ding Shi only had $25 left in his bank account. He spent $1 on a cheap ingredient package containing a pound of noodles, a pound of vegetables, a pound of pork, and a pound of mushrooms. He washed the ingredients, boiled water, added them in order, seasoned them, and was done.

Ding Shi was too lazy to wash another bowl, so he took his chopsticks and wok, sat down on the rocks outside, and enjoyed the sea view while eating.

(End of this chapter)