Video game I Can Turn Waste Into Treasure novel Chapter 6

Chapter 6 Living the High Life

Andrea dropped the gold coins into her pouch and tucked it securely into her inventory.

She wasn’t entirely sure where gold functioned as currency yet, but in a survival game, one could never have too much cash.

She was sitting on nineteen coins now.

Based on yesterday’s help, she had intended to give Bubba two gold coins this morning as a tip.

To her surprise, he flatly refused them. He insisted he had a job and could earn his own way.

‘A job? Seriously?’ she wondered, her mind reeling at the absurdity of it. ‘Does this game world not have child labor laws for literal sea monsters?’

The thought left her feeling a strange mix of pity and disbelief.

Even though he was a ten-foot shark in the water, he was still just a kid in human form.

After tidying up her raft, Andrea pulled out a slab of cod and started grilling it over the fire.

Her inventory didn’t have a preservation feature, so it was best to finish off fresh meat as quickly as possible.

Even if it didn’t spoil, the quality would tank the longer it sat.

She’d only managed a few bites of bread during her lunch break and was still running on empty.

While the fish sizzled, she examined the arrowhead she’d scavenged from Bonnie.

[Damaged Arrowhead: Repairing this may yield arrows with a potent tranquilizing effect.]

Andrea decided to use Reforge on it. She was curious to see just how much she could recover from a single tip.

[Reforge Successful: Obtained x50 Tranquilizer Iron Arrows. Compatible with crossbows.]

Her eyes widened with delight as she scanned the notification.

‘Talk about a massive return on investment,’ she thought, a grin spreading across her face.

She’d expected maybe a handful of arrows, but fifty was a total windfall.

Now she just needed a crossbow to actually fire them.

She checked the Trading Post, but no one was listing any ranged weapons.

She quickly pulled up the chat channel and posted a message.

Andrea: [Buying a crossbow. DM me your price.]

Closing the screen, she flipped the cod and turned her attention to the two wooden chests she’d hauled in earlier that morning.

[Items Obtained: Toothpaste x3, Towels x3, Wood x5, Stone x5.]

Andrea was satisfied. Adding a few more toiletries to her stash made life on the water feel a lot more civilized.

Since her inventory was reaching its limit, she moved some of the physical items into an empty crate and left it on the deck.

She kept the basic raw materials in her inventory since they stacked easily and took up less space.

While organizing her loot, she remembered the small box the little shark had given her.

‘I wonder what kind of treasure he found,’ she mused, opening the dainty wooden lid.

Inside was a small, vibrant green capsule.

[Stamina Booster Pill]: Permanently increases Stamina by 60.

This was exactly what she needed.

Her stamina had been lagging, and while the food she ate kept her full, it did very little to actually replenish her energy.

She figured her stats were still recovering from that bout of flu that had wrecked her system.

She’d been stuck in a weakened state, and her daily recovery was painfully slow.

She swallowed the capsule in one go. A wave of warmth radiated from her stomach, surging through her limbs.

The lingering dizziness vanished instantly, replaced by a fresh sense of vigor.

She pulled up her status panel to see the change.

[Player: Andrea Rowland

[Age: 23

[Strength: 18+6

[Constitution:19+6

[Agility:20+6

[Stamina: 80 (Feeling Great)

[Evaluation: You’re officially eating better than a burnt-out college student.

[Special Status: NPC Trial Mode (6 days remaining)

‘Yeah, laugh it up, system,’ she thought with a sarcastic huff. ‘Of course I’m eating well. I just downed a literal super-supplement.’

The cod was finally grilled to perfection. Even without any seasoning, it tasted incredible.

By the time she finished the meal, her stamina bar was completely topped off.

She felt like she could tackle anything the ocean threw at her.

She switched on the underwater thruster, locked it in a single direction, and let the raft cruise automatically.

For the rest of the day, she split her time between fishing for crates and skimming debris from the surface.

When she had a spare moment, she crafted more campfires to list on the trading post at yesterday’s price.

Business was still booming.

During her scavenge, she snagged a tattered net.

By 8:00 AM, Andrea had two bowls of pasta ready.

She had traded for the dishes on the exchange earlier, brand-new and still in their packaging.

She’d even managed to snag one with a shark print, which she decided would be Bubba’s dedicated bowl.

However, as the minutes ticked by and the pasta grew bloated and cold, there was still no sign of him.

He had promised to be there at eight.

Andrea frowned, pacing the edge of her island and leaning over the water to peer into the blue depths.

The ocean was eerily still.

‘Did something happen to him?’ she wondered, her concern growing.

She opened the chat to see if any new threats had emerged.

The feed was a chaotic blur of messages, but the player count at the top caught her eye.

It had dropped from 100,000 to 99,878. Over a hundred people had vanished overnight, and she could only guess what had taken them.

Seeing no mention of any immediate regional events, she swiped the holographic screen shut.

She engaged her underwater thruster.

Regardless of her worry, she couldn’t afford to remain stagnant.

Survival required constant progress.

She spent a few minutes listing campfires on the trading post, noting that she was no longer the only supplier.

Others were clearly finding blueprints and crafting stations of their own.

To save fuel, she cut the thruster and took up the oars.

She rowed for a solid hour, covering roughly four kilometers until her lungs burned and her arms felt like lead.

‘I’ll just make this part of my daily workout,’ she decided, wiping the sweat from her forehead.

Just then, a splash broke the silence.

It was 10:30 AM when Bubba finally broke the surface, but he wasn’t alone.

Ten other sharks followed in his wake, their fins cutting through the water in a frantic, disorganized circle.

As soon as they saw Andrea, they began chattering all at once in a panic.

“Granny Shark, Bubba’s hurt!”

“He ran into a monster! A monster with horns!”