Just as An Ling was getting excited about finally landing on the island, a familiar name popped up in her private messages.
“Survivor 533, Qin Xiao?” She was a little confused. They had exchanged their numbers back when they were still on the island.
Although she couldn’t be sure they were on the same channel, as far as An Ling knew, every survivor’s number was unique.
Qin Xiao: “I heard you completed the hidden mission and led all the survivors straight to the finish?”
An Ling: “Yes, there are two types of hidden missions, split into individual and team ones.”
Qin Xiao: “Did you get any special rewards?”
An Ling paused. Did the other party also receive a profession card and become an Ability User?
She was still debating whether to tell Qin Xiao about this when Qin Xiao, unable to wait, sent another message.
Qin Xiao: “Sorry for being abrupt. After finishing the hidden mission and getting my results, I received an A rating and was rewarded with a profession card.”
As expected!
If the other party got a profession card for completing the personal mission, then it wouldn’t make sense if she didn’t get one for completing the team mission.
But An Ling didn’t know what all the professions were. She couldn’t just reveal to Qin Xiao that hers was a rare hidden profession.
After thinking for a moment, she decided to ask first.
An Ling: “I got a profession card too, same rating as you. But I’m a bit of a collector—I tried to ask around for information about the professions, but couldn’t get much, so I haven’t used the card yet. What’s your profession?”
Qin Xiao: “I’m a Beastmaster. It’s a golden profession card. From the name, you should get a sense of its abilities.”
Beastmaster?
What kind of beasts could there possibly be here? Sea beasts?!
An Ling glanced at her little wooden boat, stunned. Wouldn’t survivors with these professions be able to ride sea beasts straight to the Resource Island?
What kind of treatment was that? The heavens are so unfair—she still had to row her boat with her own hands!
An Ling: “Wait, you said golden profession card. Are there other colors?”
As far as she knew, the color for each type of card was fixed, and there weren’t any rankings by color.
For example, Item Cards were just silver-white, Building Cards were purple, Upgrade Cards were red, Enhancement Cards were blue, and so on.
Aside from that, An Ling hadn’t seen any cards with other colors.
Qin Xiao: “No, as far as I know, regular profession cards are all golden, but there’s also a special kind of profession card—they’re black.”
An Ling: “Black? What’s the difference?”
Qin Xiao: “After using a golden profession card, you start at Blue Soldier level and have to rank up one step at a time. You can think of it as being a ‘Cultivator’. Black profession cards are the opposite: they can’t be upgraded, the level is set from the start, but it isn’t limited to the Soldier rank.”
An Ling: “So if I get a black profession card, I could start as a high-level Ability User right from the beginning?”
Qin Xiao: “Exactly. Those are called ‘Awakened’. Whether they can be upgraded is still unknown. I thought since you completed a high-difficulty hidden mission, you’d get a black profession card.”
An Ling: “I wish! But honestly, it’s hard to say which is stronger—black cards just have a big early-game advantage.”
Qin Xiao: “I think so too. Golden profession cards already have a 1% drop rate, black profession cards are probably even rarer.”
An Ling: “‘Awakened’ and ‘Cultivator’, those names sound pretty cool.”
Qin Xiao: “Aside from Beastmaster, there are a few other professions, like ‘Transcendent’ and ‘Evolver’, for example.”
An Ling: “I didn’t know your connections were so extensive.”
Qin Xiao: “The future situation could change at any time, and since we’re both Ability Users, maybe we could cooperate long-term. What do you think?”
An Ling: “Sounds good, thanks for trusting me.”
Qin Xiao wasn’t a bad person at heart. An Ling didn’t mind at all. In this vast ocean world, having one more friend was never a bad thing.
Besides, Qin Xiao had already shared so much information unconditionally and hadn’t even pressed her about her profession.
Looking at the Resource Island that was now right in front of her, An Ling knew she couldn’t keep chatting. She replied politely.
An Ling: “I’m about to land, let’s talk later.”
Qin Xiao: “You’re already searching for a Resource Island this fast?!”
Qin Xiao was clearly surprised, maybe even suspecting that An Ling was a Beastmaster too, or that she’d abandoned her own island.
An Ling smiled slightly and didn’t reply. Instead, she sat up, walked out of the wooden shack, and got ready to drop anchor.
The island before her wasn’t very large; you could see from one end to the other at a glance. The island was filled with birdsong and the fragrance of flowers, the scenery beautiful, like a secluded paradise.
“This is what a Resource Island should be!”
The moment An Ling stepped ashore, as expected, a light screen popped up with prompts.
[Resource Island Number: 0032]
[Exploration Time: 1 day]
[Introduction: The island has abundant mineral resources and fresh water. Fruits, vegetables, wild delicacies—everything you can imagine is here. You might even find treasure!]
[Reminder: Every Resource Island will sink beneath the sea with sunset. The coordinates will refresh. If you don’t want to be buried at sea, leave before dark!]
“Only one day?” An Ling frowned. Wait, she probably had less than half a day left now.
“I really should have come in the morning.” As she murmured, the light screen popped up three more prompts.
[You are the first survivor in the entire channel to set foot on a Resource Island. Reward: full set of toiletries!]
[You are the first survivor in the whole server to set foot on a Resource Island. Reward: one solar-powered automatic shower pod!]
[First time setting foot on a Resource Island: Reward—three days exploration time. The island will not sink at night, and the coordinates won’t refresh!]
!!!
An Ling was suddenly elated. These last three were system rewards. She quickly checked her wooden boat—thankfully, the rewards hadn’t appeared here, which meant they’d already been sent to her home island.
And now she had three days to explore. No need to hurry—she could take her time searching the island.
“Good thing I had the foresight to bring some food.” An Ling slung her backpack over her shoulder and headed onto the island.
But the Resource Island reminder also told her something: a locator card that cost 30 points not only had a chance of failing but also only granted one day of exploration on the Resource Island.
Once the coordinates disappeared on the second day, she’d have to spend points again to find it. Whether she’d be able to locate this same island again, she had no way of knowing.