Having made up her mind, He Ni no longer hesitated and reached out to open her Player Panel.
The page popped up, half displaying her character’s portrait and half showing her attribute stats.
With the successful awakening of her Talent, all her attributes had changed:【Life: 130/130 (Talent +30)】
【Stamina: 33/130 (Talent +30)】
【Spirit: 120/120 (Talent +20)】
【Strength: 4 (Talent +1)】
【Luck: 2】
【Charm: 1 (Talent -1)】
【Skill: Locked】
【Talent: Scavenger 0.00% (Upgradeable)】
【Energy Points: 5】
Her maximum Life and Stamina increased by 30, Spirit by 20, and her Life and Spirit were immediately fully restored.
Strength rose by 1, Luck stayed the same, but Charm actually decreased by one.
He Ni was speechless.
Isn’t Scavenger supposed to be charming?
ow can a survival game have stereotypes too?
Luckily, Charm probably didn’t matter much for now, so she only muttered this quietly and didn’t pay it much mind.
Besides the attribute changes, all negative status effects disappeared.
She was no longer hungry or thirsty, and her Spirit was full.
She hadn’t expected Talent awakening to have such an effect, and He Ni couldn’t help but smile.
Anticipating a tougher afternoon, she recalled how she barely drank water in the morning and didn’t eat any compressed biscuits for fear of worsening her thirst, so she hadn’t eaten anything at all.
Now, her previous statuses of [Status: Moderate Dehydration] and [Status: Moderate Hunger] had completely vanished—quite the gain!
Her brand-new attribute panel eased her restlessness.
The sun was dipping toward the west, the evening glow softened, and He Ni glanced at the time: 18:41.
The first day was almost over.
She closed the virtual screen, grabbed the Hook Claw on the raft, and with 33 Stamina points left, decided to use them before night fell.
Surveying her surroundings, He Ni quickly chose a target: a floating plastic water bottle swaying in the waves.
It was a plump, round Plastic Straw Ton-ton Cup, probably holding about 1.5 liters.
With a double-mouth, double-cap design and a faded strap, it resembled one she’d carried to school—a convenient water container with ample capacity, easy to carry on foot.
If it wasn’t broken, she could use it as a vessel.
The Ton-ton Cup’s strap made it a relatively easy catch, and with her growing experience, she succeeded on the first throw: 【Obtained Plastic Straw Ton-ton Cup x1】
No critical hit—what a pity.
Inside the cup was only a little murky seawater; the lid was slightly damaged, and the strap’s adjustment buckle was broken, but the cup itself had no cracks or holes.
After washing it clean and stashing it in her backpack, He Ni looked back at the sea, her eyes fixed on a piece of wood floating about six meters ahead.
This was the opportunity she’d been waiting for.
Six meters wasn’t far; she felt she could try.
Taking a deep breath, she threw the Hook Claw several times before managing to land it correctly.
With a “plop,” the claw splashed into the water exactly where she expected.
He Ni crouched on the raft, letting the hemp rope lower as close to the water as possible, almost submerged, then slowly began pulling it back.
Soon the rope grew taut, and from the tension, she could distinctly feel the four claws hooking onto something.
Her heart leapt—this was promising.
She held her breath and carefully pulled, and the piece of wood began drifting closer, bobbing gently.
Only when she grasped the wooden log—about 80 centimeters long and 7 centimeters thick—and lifted it onto the raft did she finally breathe a sigh of relief.
Success—on the first try!
The virtual screen flashed a notification:【Obtained Wood x1】
【Hmm…Let me see if I can find more, additional Wood x1 obtained】
Her Talent passive had triggered.
It was the first time she’d activated a passive, and seeing the second piece of wood materialize out of nowhere made He Ni truly understand the joy of winning the lottery.
Cheerfully, she stuffed the two pieces of wood into her backpack.
With 27 Stamina points remaining, she seized the moment, scanning the sea again for more floating debris and started working diligently.
By nightfall, she had used up all her stamina, successfully collecting Wood x3, Jeans x2, Plastic Bubble Wrap x2, Foam Box x1, and Plastic Bag x1.
Trash.
After obtaining the wood, when she placed her hand on the raft, the system popped up a prompt:【Repair Player 117177’s Raft? Requires Wood x2】
He Ni declined—she only had three pieces of wood and wanted to save more before deciding whether to repair.
Two minutes before darkness, she sat down on the raft and emptied all the trash from the plastic bucket.
She poured out the warm seawater at the bottom, refilled with some fresh seawater, then efficiently tossed in the Crab and Sea Snail once again before organizing the pile.
She spread out all the plastic bags flat, stacking them to squeeze out the air, and arranged the various bottles and containers neatly by size and shape.
Just as she finished, as if the only light in the world had been snuffed out, everything suddenly plunged into darkness.
A complete silence fell, broken only by the sound of waves lapping against the raft.
Night had come.
The ocean, stripped of light, seemed like a vast, black whirlpool with no end.
He Ni felt like a tiny ant on a leaf, at any moment at risk of being overturned by a giant wave and dragged into the fathomless black sea.
The faint blue glow of the screen was the only source of light at sea, casting a reflection on her pale, dehydration-tinged face.
Clutching her heavy trash bucket, she shifted to sit in the center of the raft.
Even knowing that monsters caused zero damage during the Beginner Period, He Ni still felt a bit uneasy.
After cautiously confirming no unusual activity nearby, she raised her hand and opened the World Channel.
She needed something to distract herself.
Besides, the night lasted ten hours—she couldn’t sleep through it all.
She needed to learn more about the game and maybe even trade for supplies.
Though she doubted many players wanted trash.
As she relaxed, a healing symbol appeared next to her stamina bar, indicating gradual recovery.
Many players panicked on the World Channel when night fell, but upon realizing there was truly no threat during the Beginner Period, everyone gradually calmed down.
The current hot topic was the awakening of Talents:【God Candidate 11: Saluting the A-rank Talent big shot in the front row, please add me as a friend! I can trade supplies for a friend slot, look at me, look at me.】
【Player 325567: What? What Talent? Did I miss something by not checking World Channel?】
【Su Jia Luo: How exactly do you awaken Talents? It’s unfair that it’s already dark and I haven’t awakened yet.】
【Nyx: Seems like everyone has a different trigger for awakening. I got a Talent Card this morning after catching three sea fish in a row. From what I see, lucky ones get Talents just by drinking water. Keep exploring on your own.】
【Anonymous Player: I thought my C-rank Talent was pretty good, but seeing all these higher-level Talents, it’s like dying in the game means you lose at the starting line.】
【Player 115647: So is there still a chance to get a Talent at night? What about those without Talents? Just waiting to die? I haven’t checked World Channel all day, now I find out about this…】
There were many kinds of Talents.
According to diligent players’ summaries on the World Channel, the lowest rank was E, the highest A.
Talent names were visible and couldn’t be hidden.
Clicking on a player’s avatar would clearly show their Talent name, but what specific skills or development directions the Talent entailed remained unknown to others.
For example, others would only see that she was a [Scavenger], but not what three skills she had, only guessing from context.
Some players chose to reveal their Talent directions, like Player 321178 on the Achievement Leaderboard, who changed her ID to “No Name” and had awakened the A-rank Combat Talent—
Fearless Warrior.
That player named Xiao Luo Hao had awakened the A-rank Support Talent—
Hawkeye.
He Ni reasonably suspected there might also be S-rank, SS-rank, or even SSS-rank Talents.
She really wasn’t a chosen one.
Her Talent was no match for others—just a garbage picker…
He Ni sighed.
It wasn’t that she despised Scavenger; rather, seeing everyone else’s Talents gave her a growing sense of crisis.
The game’s future was uncertain, but from the Nearby People function, Divine Game wasn’t a solo survival experience.
For example, the Abandoned Stone Island near her—if she wanted to land there, other players nearby surely wanted to as well.
Many?
If the island had scarce resources, disputes and fights after landing were inevitable.
In this lawless, amoral game world, conflict would almost certainly involve casualties.
He Ni’s eyes flickered.
Considering this, player-versus-player relationships were likely hostile by default.
Her Talent leaned toward living and base-building, so if she encountered players with awakened Combat Talents, chances were slim.
Others stored guns and food; she would just be a food warehouse for them.
Also, just a B-rank Talent had boosted her attributes significantly; higher-level Talents probably offered even more powerful enhancements.
That “Anonymous Player” wasn’t wrong—players were not on the same starting line.
Scavenger was at best a middle-tier Talent.
To survive, she had to keep getting stronger.
She needed to unlock her Talent’s full strength, upgrade her raft as soon as possible, and equip better weapons to improve her self-defense.
Until her combat power rose, she had to lay low and develop stealthily.
Time ticked on.
After browsing players’ World Channel comments to understand Talents better, He Ni switched to the trading hall.
Over the entire day, the store had clearly stocked more supplies.
Her eyes immediately caught what she wanted:【Flint Firestarter x1 Price: Wood x50】
Fifty pieces of wood!
With her near-perfect Hook Claw throws and the Talent passive, she’d only gained three wood pieces.
That price was ridiculous.
Before dark, she had wanted a torch or similar, but resources were too scarce.
Searching for firestarters, the trading hall had only three listed—all at exorbitant prices.
Looking back at the World Channel, no one had torches either.
Considering no monsters threatened during the Beginner Period and the virtual screen provided some light, she temporarily shelved the idea of buying fire-starting tools.
Scrolling further, another treasure appeared:【Wooden Sword x1 Price: Antibiotics x1】
Antibiotics?
She didn’t even know the game had antibiotics.
There were also harpoons, tinderboxes, multifunctional knives—all expensive and beyond her current means.
Many players sold drinking water too, but prices were outrageous:【Drinking Water 50ml Price: Fish Meat x10】
【Drinking Water 100ml Price: Any Weapon x1】
【Drinking Water 50ml Price: Non-Meat Food x2】
He Ni even wondered if she’d misread—
50ml was barely a big sip.
But in this scorching, sun-exposed ocean environment, it was understandable that freshwater prices soared.
Her current status was [Status: Mild Dehydration], and her lips were cracked and bleeding.
The Drinking Water Bottle only had 100ml left, and she didn’t dare to drink it freely, only wetting her lips now and then.
If she had enough resources, she would have swapped for freshwater to drink to her heart’s content.
After searching for a long time, He Ni traded one piece of wood for three units of Cooked Fish Meat.
After filling her stomach, she watched the rapidly flashing messages on the channel and slowly fell asleep.
She had a dreamless night, and when she opened her eyes again, dawn had come.
The golden sunrise peeked over the horizon, scattering warm light across sea and sky.
He Ni’s mouth and throat felt as dry as if she had swallowed a handful of flour—no saliva at all.
Her status had deteriorated to [Status: Severe Dehydration].
She took out the Drinking Water Bottle and treasured the last 20ml she drank before feeling a little strength return to her body.
She had to find a way to solve the water problem quickly.
After a night’s rest, her Spirit and Life had slightly dropped due to dehydration, but her Stamina was full.
Grasping the Hook Claw, she stood up and looked forward.
About six meters ahead, a mottled black-green spherical object floated and bobbed in the shimmering golden sea.
He Ni’s pupils constricted instantly, and she leaned forward to take a closer look.
Her sudden movement rocked the raft noticeably.
A coconut!?