Max opened the chat section and noticed many members in the region were asking about his identity.
"No way, I just received the system upgrade notice an hour ago, and someone has already fought the water beast and collected the treasure chests?"
"Brother, didn't you know? The one who took down the shark is the bigshot who sold parasols and oars in the trade market at minimal profit, unlike others who charged three times the product cost."
No, there are many members selling various items in the trade market, so we never noticed. However, could it have been a tactic used by merchants to slightly lower their prices to attract customers?
"No, brother upstairs. I just checked the trade section and compared the prices in his shop with other merchants in the region. I found a huge disparity in the prices. Many merchants joined hands to raise prices, but he displayed the blueprint showing the manufacturing costs and only charged the cost price for producing items, never increasing the price beyond that," another person chimed.
"Doesn't that mean he's just preventing others from earning money simply because he can produce a few items?" A negative comment surfaced right away as someone began praising him in the chat.
As soon as the message appeared, many began criticizing him for disrupting the market.
"Hey, are you one of the merchants selling basic items at extraordinary prices?" someone finally asked with suspicion.
"Yes, so what? I earned the blueprint through my efforts and sell the items as I choose. Why should he come and disrupt my market? Let me earn my money while he earns his. What gives him the right to interfere with our livelihood while he prospers?" one of the merchants complained indignantly.
As soon as the message was sent, the chat went silent for a few seconds, and then everyone started sending "LOL."
The merchant was confused about why everyone was sending LOL messages and responded with a series of ???? in the chat.
"Haha, for the first time, I saw someone boldly criticizing someone for doing a good deed," someone remarked.
"Sure, you do your thing, and he'll do his to help others. What's it got to do with you? He's selling things the way he wants, not complaining about the small profit he's making, and he's content with what he's earning. It means he's still turning a profit. Meanwhile, it seems like you've forgotten that we were inexplicably thrown out here to survive. Without thinking about how tough it is for others to gather resources, you're still pushing yourselves to the limit." Another guy argued.
"What does your survival have to do with us? We're just merchants trying to sell our products to make a living," the merchant argued back.
"Sure, sure, but have you realized how tough it is to move the raft and gather resources? We can't let others take advantage of us, and people will always align with those who benefit them. Unlike those who leave us barely surviving, taking a whole day's worth of supplies just to afford basic items at inflated prices, which kills our chances of making it through." Another netizen chimed
Max observed the argument and felt a sense of happiness seeing so many people standing by him, but he also noticed others struggling to get by. This sparked a desire to help, though he realized his limited supplies wouldn't be enough to make a difference for everyone, even if he shared them.
After a few moments of reflection, he decided to share his experience of finding the treasure chest and battling the shark to claim it.
He quickly typed out a lengthy message detailing how the shark started circling his raft as he got closer, only attacking him when he finally reached the surface of the treasure site.
He also described how much damage his raft had taken when the shark slammed into it, trying to shove the raft out of position and throw off his balance, which nearly sent him plunging into the ocean.
Max described the killing method, explaining how he made the shark charge at the raft again and strategically positioned a sharp spear in its path, causing the shark to impale itself and bleed to death.
Max suggested attempting this method only if the raft is upgraded to at least level 4, as lower-level rafts lack the durability needed to hold out until the shark succumbs to blood loss.
After confirming he hadn't missed any details, Max happily sent the message to the regional channel.
The previously heated chat, where everyone was arguing about who was right or wrong, suddenly fell silent as a message with golden font appeared in the conversation.
Max was stunned to learn that being the first to defeat the water monster meant his message would appear in a golden font.
Max felt a wave of joy as his message was highlighted, rapidly gathering countless likes and being automatically pinned to the top of the regional channel.
He quickly realized the impact of his advice when many people messaged him to express their gratitude for sharing the strategy, while others showed their appreciation by buying items from his shop in the trade channel.
With nothing else to do, Max retrieved two bronze treasure chests from his inventory, whispered prayers to every deity he could name for good fortune, and opened them simultaneously, his eyes squeezed shut in anticipation.
The treasure chest provided him with a fertilizer formula that would boost plant growth by 100 percent, along with bread tree seeds and coins that resembled game currency.
The other chest contained a water purifier blueprint along with a few more coins.
Max, now puzzled by the appearance of the coins again, decided to use the system identification to figure out their purpose.
Copper coins: "Used to trade in the islands governed by lords."
After reading the brief description, Max grasped the general purpose of the coins. He counted them and found exactly 1,000 copper coins, which he had collected from the treasure chests. Each chest had given him a small bag containing 500 coins.