Survival at Sea: I Became Number One by Growing Mushrooms

"Didn't any of you rest?" Xu Jiawei asked in surprise.

"How can someone my age sleep?" Li Ming saw the three people dressed neatly. Sure enough, he wasn't the only one who had secretly rolled up his sleeves. Didn't he see that the other three were also dressed so neatly, and didn't they look like they were going to sleep at all?

"By the way, sis, I've run out of the energy potions I bought before. Could you sell me some more?" Li Ming asked.

"Me too," Zhang Yunting added.

"Okay, I'll send it to all of you privately later." Even if Si Yunming didn't come, he couldn't be left out.

Xu Jiawei also secretly made up her mind. Everyone was working so hard, so she had to work even harder.

Only then did the group turn their attention to the dozen or so itinerant merchants. One of the merchants said, "You're only noticing us now?"

The traveling merchant at the head of the group, whom Xu Jiawei recognized, rubbed his hands together. "Excuse me, may I go in and buy something now?"

Xu Jiawei glanced at the time, then looked at the group and said, "Your timing is quite unique." She then gestured for them to enter.

The traveling merchant awkwardly rubbed his nose. "Sorry, we got too excited and forgot it was already this late. Boss, I'll definitely promote your shop properly from now on."

They invited the people into the house, and a dozen or so people started buying goods. Even Li Ming's small general store was visited, since the things Li Ming sold were very rare. Some of these things were very rare on the mainland, and some of them were things that people had never even seen before.

Lin Qin talked herself hoarse as she introduced each person one by one.

Finally, the traveling merchant spent all the gold coins he had, and Lin Qin smiled and handed the teleportation badges to the group.

"This is our shop's teleportation badge. Please keep it safe, so you can come to our shop anytime in the future." Lin Qin quickly made the payment, unable to suppress the smile on her lips.

When the stock was insufficient, Xu Jiawei took out more from the existing inventory to replenish it, while Zhang Yunting started wielding a ladle on the spot. The entire team of leaders got busy, working overtime to prepare food.

After replenishing the equipment, Bai Yu went back first, Zhang Yunting rubbed his sore shoulders and went back as well, and Li Ming put some other strange and unusual things on the shelf before going back, leaving only Xu Jiawei alone.

Unfortunately, Si Yunming didn't open a shop. After all, he was unlucky and couldn't sell anything good. The only thing he had to offer was his martial arts skills. Maybe he could take on some students and open a tutoring center in the future. Right now, he's the poorest guy.

He now basically takes on some guard duties at the association every day to earn some extra money, and he's doing alright.

Xu Jiawei looked at the energetic Lin Qin and asked, "How's business lately?"

Lin Qin immediately raised her head and said with a smile, "Not bad. People have moved in across the street from us. The residents there are frequenting the place. It's strange, and so many people live in such a small house."

Xu Jiawei was somewhat surprised. Who was diagonally opposite? Did new residents come to this godforsaken place?

There was another loud knocking at the door. She opened it and was surprised to see a familiar face – it was a player!

It was someone Xu Jiawei knew, none other than Commander Zhang, whom she had met before.

"Long time no see, Miss Xu. We've also bought land here and set up a guild. We came here tonight to greet you."

"Are you the first to reach level four?" Xu Jiawei immediately asked, realizing what was happening.

Commander Zhang nodded, looking around at the attractive decorations. He couldn't help but ask, "Excuse me, how many gold coins did you spend on this land? After we upgraded to level four, it showed that we could buy a guild, and we ultimately chose this place because it was the cheapest."

The officials didn't expect the land here to be so expensive. Even in the poorest area, the land alone costs one million gold coins, let alone in more expensive areas.

However, after the guild was upgraded, the first-place reward was 50 gold coins, which was not bad. 50 gold coins bought a decent courtyard, but it was still far from Xu Jiawei's house. I wonder how many gold coins it cost.

Upon hearing the price quoted by Commander Zhang, Xu Jiawei was stunned: "Have you been ripped off? The price of a house here can be bought for at most 10 gold coins, and the price in the city center is at most 30 gold coins." Xu Jiawei had inquired beforehand, and after hearing the price, she cursed in her heart several times, while the price of her shabby little house was even lower.

"This is the price quoted by the system, there's nothing we can do about it." Commander Zhang then gave a wry smile. It seems these city lords are deliberately ripping off outsiders like them.

No wonder they were rewarded with 50 gold coins; this is compensation, but at least they won't have to pay any miscellaneous fees for three years, which is a benefit in itself.

"Miss Xu, may I ask how you opened your shop?" Commander Zhang asked, revealing his purpose.

Xu Jiawei was quite surprised. Wasn't this displayed on the guild panel? "Huh? It's not on the guild panel? When the guild leader of the enforcement team came to collect the fees, I paid the fees for opening the shop as well."

Commander Zhang's expression was strange. A shop? Their guild panel didn't have it at all. What was going on?

[Ding! This is the reward for the first player to establish a Level 3 guild on their own. Other players will need to explore on their own. Completing the task will unlock the shop feature.]

Commander Zhang also heard the system message. "Alright, alright, I understand. Miss Xu truly deserves to be number one on the leaderboard. I believe Miss Xu is one of the top players in the entire player community."

After seeing Commander Zhang off, Xu Jiawei returned to her ship. Next, she would study formations diligently and strive to upgrade the barrier again in the next natural disaster.

These past few days, Xu Jiawei has been immersed in practice, and also spends two hours each day with her companions grinding monsters in the Sealed Rift.

Zhang Yunting and Li Ming also awakened their races. Zhang Yunting is a Ghost, while Li Ming is a Lucky Fruit, a plant race.

Xu Jiawei has also reached level 18, far ahead of the others, while Si Yunming is in second place at level 16.

Next up are Bai Yu, Zhang Yunting, and Li Ming. Bai Yu and Zhang Yunting are level 13, ranking third and fourth respectively. Li Ming broke through the level 10 barrier and reached level 11.

After a few peaceful and comfortable days, Xu Jiawei's practice progressed rapidly. With two hours of practical training every day, she was able to quickly turn her practice into her true skills.

The week passed quickly, and it was time for the settlement of each natural disaster.

[System notification: The natural disaster has ended. A system announcement will be released promptly at midnight tonight.]

I didn't expect the system to be lagging; this message must have been prepared in advance.

Xu Jiawei didn't pay any attention and continued practicing. As for the potions, Xu Jiawei started to mix them randomly, trying to develop new potions, but she hadn't succeeded yet.

Xu Jiawei now wants to combine the herbs needed for the Energy Potion and the Stamina Potion to see if she can create a potion that increases mental strength, or perhaps combine the effects of the two potions into one.

Each experiment ended in failure; indeed, developing a drug from scratch was no easy task.

After scraping off the residue again and cleaning the crucible, Xu Jiawei was not discouraged and continued practicing.