The Double Drop Buff Surviving The Endless Ocean novel Chapter 4

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Chapter 4

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[Wooden Gazebo: Basic shelter. Provides shade and some warmth. Cost: 50 Wood, 20 Nails. Completion reward: 2 Iron Ingots, 1 Bottle of Water.]

[Workbench: Unlocks crafting recipes. Cost: 10 Wood, 5 Iron Ingots. Completion reward: 1 Bottle of Water, 2 Iron Ingots.]

She still needed iron ingots and more wood. Food and water were in short supply for pretty much everyone right now, which made her remaining custard croissants prime trading bait.

She checked her messages and found a flood of new pings. Taking a deep breath, she traded three croissants for six chests. The double bonus kicked in once more, counting the haul as twelve chests when she broke them down, delivering a massive 120 planks and 120 nails.

She dove straight back into the build menu.

[Wooden Gazebo: Basic shelter. Provides shade and some warmth. Cost: 50 Wood, 20 Nails. Confirm?]

“Hell yeah, let’s do this,” Leeanne said.

[Select placement location.]

She picked a spot just forward of center. A whirlwind of clattering planks and pinging nails rose from her piles, spinning and assembling themselves in midair. Ten seconds later, a charming little hut stood tall on the deck.

It covered roughly 7 feet by 7 feet, with four sturdy posts about 10 feet high supporting a gently sloped wooden roof.

The front and back were wide open, no doors or windows, just low railings along the sides with built–in benches running underneath.

This thing was adorable. It looked exactly like one of those cozy huts you saw in small towns.

Shade? Delivered in spades. Warmth? Leeanne wasn’t totally sold yet.

“Maybe curling up under the bench counts when the nights get chilly,’ she thought.

[Gazebo constructed successfully. Today’s double luck bonus applied: 4 Iron Ingots, 2 Bottles of Water!]

Four iron ingots and two extra water bottles appeared in tidy stacks. Leeanne did a quick inventory sweep.

Current total 90 Wood, 110 Nails, 4 Iron Ingots, one full basket of strawberries plus one partial, 4 large bread rolls, plenty of custard croissants left, 3 bottles of mineral water (after sipping from one earlier), I can of oatmeal.

She stashed the food and water inside a chest for safekeeping, left the building materials scattered across the deck, stood up. rolled her shoulders, and scanned the horizon.

Two more chests bobbed closer on the gentle waves.

‘Hell yeah, free delivery, she thought, a wide grin splitting her face.

She snatched up her fishing rod, snapped her wrist, and sent the hook flying. It latched onto the first chest with a satisfying tug

A few steady pulls later, she hauled it aboard. Barely pausing to check the contents, she cast again and reeled in the second one just as smoothly

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10:17 am P M M

Chapter 4

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When she finally dragged the second chest over the edge, she stopped short. This one was a rich honey–brown, practically brand new, and secured with a solid metal lock.

[System Notice: This is a locked chest. It can be opened with a standard chest key. Standard chest keys can be crafted at a workbench or obtained through other means from chests.]

‘Looks like that one’s staying sealed until I get a key, she thought.

She flipped open the first chest instead. Inside lay a bottle of water and a roll of gauze.

[Double Bonus: Bottled Water x2, Gauze x2]

[Decompose chest?]

“No chance, keep it whole!” Leeanne said quickly.

She set the two empty chests side by side to double as storage bins. Food and water went into one, nails, rope, and miscellaneous supplies into the other.

The locked chest had to sit by itself for now.

Thank goodness her raft had grown large enough to accommodate everything; anything smaller and she’d be playing Tetris with chests.

By the time she finished sorting, the sun was sinking low, turning the whole sea into a shimmering sheet of gold.

Leeanne dropped onto one of the chests, legs swinging over the side, fishing rod resting across her lap while she drank in the sunset.

Just two more chests, come on, universe…‘ she prayed.

Fat chance. The system interface popped up uninvited, and that perky tutorial voice rang out again: [After 6:00 p.m., no new chests will appear. Shift’s over, adventurers! You’ve put in a solid day–time to clock out and chill.]

Leeanne huffed out a disappointed breath. ‘Double drops all day and they cut it off right when the sun is still glowing. Oh well, no use sulking.

The global chat immediately filled with complaints.

(What the heck, it’s not even fully dark yet!]

(Hey, six o’clock quitting time is basically generous around here.]

[Generous my ass. I didn’t snag a single scrap of food all day. Clocking out to starve?]

[Nine–to–six schedule is honestly pretty decent… if they’d just toss us a little extra grub |

Leeanne was probably the most gutted of anyone, but whining never fixed anything. She shrugged it off, pulled up the expansion menu, and got back to business.

Time to finally put together that workbench She’d been itching for it since inorning

[Workbench. Unlocks crafting of various items once the blueprint is obtained Required Wood x10, Iron x.3. Successful build rewards Bottled Water x1 and Iron x2.]

Only one iron chunk short now One more piece and she’d be golden.

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10:17 am P M M

Chapter 4

She flipped back to chat and spotted Jessica’s message near the top.

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Jessica: [Pro tip, everybody. If you’ve got any planks at all, you unlock the decompose and build options. One empty chest breaks down into 3 planks and 3 nails. Ten planks plus ten nails expands your raft by roughly 10 square feet!]

The channel went absolutely nuts.

[No way, for real? That’s why everybody was hoarding empties this afternoon!]

[I’m actually crying. I opened four chests today and sold every empty. Two to Leeanne, two to some dude named Rodger Spangler.]

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