Gu Ning assigned Windsor to go fishing and spent white stones to upgrade her fishing rod to Level 12, after which a prompt appeared saying no further upgrades were possible. He deduced that item quality determined level caps in this world—green items maxed at Level 12, white at Level 6. He suspected talent quality might also limit personal level caps, meaning his current talent could only reach Level 24, requiring talent upgrades for further growth.
Returning to his cabin to sort loot, Gu Ning counted 9,982 white stones—nearly a gold stone, his first massive fortune. Other gains included:
- 4 Territory Cores, 4 Ship Cores, 4 Green Fishing Rods, 97 Plastics, 4 Green Oar Blueprints
- 1 White Wall Blueprint, 1 Green Wall Blueprint, 3 Green Arrow Tower Blueprints, 1 Blue Arrow Tower Blueprint
- 1 Tailor Shop Blueprint, 1 White Militia Nest Blueprint, plus unenchanted weapons and food
(all looted from three Demon Realm lords and Noxina).
From sea monster kills:
- 2 White Civilian Summon Cards, 1 Green Civilian Summon Card
- 1 Blue Entanglement Skill Stone, 1 Blue Confusion Skill Stone, 1 Purple Freeze Skill Stone
- Additional food supplies.
The white stone haul was staggering—Wang Mu had only 800+ stones, making Gu Ning's tenfold wealth remarkable. He used the summon cards to recruit three civilians: two men and a woman named Molly.
Molly (Excellent)
Level: 1
Strength: 9
Agility: 10
Defense: 8
职业: Chef
能力: Creates delicious food.
The other two had no special occupations, so Gu Ning gave them fishing rods and sent them to fish.
Checking the regional channel, he saw fewer than 7,000 survivors—a heavy loss. On the world channel:
- "I massacred monsters in the Demon Realm and earned hundreds of white stones!"
- "I got a Summon Card and recruited a hero!"
- "I got attacked by a Level 5 sea beast as soon as I entered. My only civilian died, and I've been bailing water ever since. Someone lend me white stones!"
- "Wait, Noxina's gone from the leaderboard. Did she die?"
- "The merit ranking's out! Check out the big shots."
Gu Ning opened the merit list:
1. Gu Ning (183)
2. Bai Xue (132)
3. Li Ke'er (72)
4. Danton (69)
5. Ye Baifeng (67)
6. Wakana Kazuki (52)
…
Bai Xue, 7th in survival points, surprisingly ranked 2nd in merits with 132 points. Gu Ning acknowledged luck played a role in encountering more lords, but he remained confident in his top spot.
Amid channel chatter mocking jealous players like Wakana Kazuki, Gu Ning closed the interface,不屑 (disdaining) to engage. He accessed the Tech menu, spending 500 white stones to unlock Ship Thermal Energy Tech, then upgraded it for 1,000 stones. He also upgraded Ship Drainage Tech to Level 2 for 1,000 stones.
To unlock Ship Propulsion Tech, he first needed Ship Automation Tech—costing 1,000 stones to research and 500 to build. Finally reaching Propulsion Tech, he faced a 2,000-stone research fee. Grumbling at the cost, he researched Multi-Oar联动 (linkage) Propulsion (500 stones to build), adding ten automated oars to his ship.
Total tech spending: 6,000 white stones. The upgraded ship featured larger drainage vents, red energy纹路 (patterns), and ten oars rowing autonomously—slower than Xiaolan's pull but serviceable. Steering was fixed-direction only, lacking obstacle avoidance or turning functions—features requiring further (costly) tech investments.
"No wonder they say氪金 (pay-to-win) is the only way to get strong on Blue Star," Gu Ning muttered, donning a raincoat to inspect his now-automated vessel.