[After giving your command, the golden compass's magnetic needle spun rapidly until it pointed northeast from where you were.]
[You didn't know how far you were from your destination, but at least you have a direction to navigate towards.]
[Your advantage compared to other survivors was that you already knew where a powerful Fairy Fruit was located. The journey might be long, but it wouldn't be a problem as you wouldn't have to worry about food.]
[With that in mind, you took hold of your wooden oars and rowed your wooden raft. The World Will was quite conscientious as you and other survivors started with two wooden oars.]
[You rowed your raft for half an hour, heading northeast. You often summoned your Absolute Compass every several minutes to check for any deviations and correct them in time.]
[However, as you rowed your raft, you felt it was quite slow, and the ocean waves sometimes made it a lot harder to move due to its being able to easily push back such a lightweight raft.]
["I might have to upgrade the wooden raft. Unfortunately, I didn't spawn near an island, so I can't even chop wood."]
[You had used your authority as a survivor to view the upgrade requirements of your Level 1 Wooden Raft. You found out that it required 20 driftwood/wood to upgrade it into a Level 2 Reinforced Wooden Raft.]
[You couldn't be bothered to find driftwood or change the compass's destination to an island just for mere wood. So, you decided to abuse your Unlimited Food Creation (Gold) talent.]
[Although it might expose you to having a food-related innate talent, desperate times call for desperate measures. At worst, if they ever find you, you dared to dive underwater to escape.]
[Opening the regional chat group, you went to the trade feature and started creating simple, ready-to-eat food and bottles of water using Unlimited Food Creation.]
[Afterwards, you placed that food and water into the trading market and requested the cost for the food to be either driftwood, wood, or any other useful materials for upgrading the raft.]
[Then, you advertised your goods in the public chat.]
[{Sea Food: I've put up ready-to-eat food and bottles of water in the trading market. Anyone who's interested can trade raft upgrade materials in exchange for it. I've used the World Will's recommended selling prices, so the prices I put up are fair, and I won't accept any bargaining!}]
[As soon as you posted that message in the public chat, the noisy public chat suddenly became quiet. Before they started sending messages and even friend requests.]
[{Mark: Holy cow! Did this big shot awaken a food-related talent! I checked, and he didn't sell preserved food or canned goods, but even bacon and eggs, hamburger, and any food you can think of!}]
[{Beautiful Girl: Big brother, can you accept my friend request? I'm a beautiful girl and can send you #### pictures to prove it! Can I request some food?}]
[{Trader_091: Boss! Absolute boss move! Using the World Will's recommended prices instead of price gouging? That alone proves you're a righteous person. People like you deserve to survive longer than the rest of us!}]
[{StarvingMother: I have a child with me. He hasn't eaten in two days. I don't have upgrade materials, but if you still have a heart, please consider lowering the price. I don't want my child to die because of numbers.}]
[{Lord's Lamb: Friend, I don't know if you believe in God, but please understand this: those who hoard blessings will be judged. The scripture says food is meant to save lives, not to be traded like currency.}]
[{System Notice: Multiple friend requests received. Private messages are flooding in.}]
[You received too many friend requests and private messages that even the World Will's created system had notified you about it.]
[Shaking your head at those clearly moral blackmail acts, you blocked them and only kept those who were willing to trade.]
[Anyway, as you said, you didn't inflate prices and used the World Will's recommended pricing. So you have a clear conscience.]
[Otherwise, something valuable as food and water could easily be sold twice or even thrice as high as the price you listed, since the early days of Global Ocean Survival were when food resources were extremely low.]
[You even saw messages of some desperados willing to dismantle parts of their raft just to be able to buy your bottles of water. It went to show that not everyone awakened a powerful innate talent.]
[After fifteen minutes have passed, you soon received the system's consolidated trade report.]
[{System Report: Trade Session Summary (15 Minutes)}]
[{Common Materials Acquired:
Driftwood ×21,436
Rope Fiber ×7,892
Natural Resin ×3,417
Cloth Scraps ×1,284
Scrap Fasteners ×912}]
[{Uncommon Materials Acquired:
Hardwood Planks ×536
Float Barrels ×487
Reinforced Ropes ×424
Processed Timber Beams ×238
Metal Scraps ×1,103
Tar / Waterproof Coating ×268}]
[{Rare Materials Acquired:
Refined Metal Ingot ×14
Thermal Stone ×2
Unknown Hull Fragment ×1}]
[Looking at the numbers, you fell silent for a moment.]
[You didn't know if it was enough to upgrade to Level 3, but the Level 2 Reinforced Wooden Raft was more than achievable.]
["Damn, so this is the power of someone who controls food resources this early. I had placed a lot of food and water for trading, and with nearly a hundred thousand people as potential buyers, achieving such numbers is even less likely, as it's only during 15 minutes of trading time."]
["Even now, there are still survivors buying my food and water. Give it more time, and I'd eventually get a lot of common and uncommon upgrade materials. The only problem is rare materials, but I'll worry about that later."]
[Without any hesitation, you used 20 driftwood to upgrade your Level 1 Wooden Raft to Level 2 Reinforced Wooden Raft.]
[Twenty driftwoods were deducted from your system inventory, and soon enough, your wooden raft shone bright until the upgrade from Level 1 to Level 2 started.]
[The wooden raft shook slightly beneath your feet.]
[The loosely fitted planks tightened together, the gaps between them closing as thicker boards slid into place. Additional beams formed underneath, reinforcing the structure and stopping the constant creaking that had followed every wave.]
[Ropes wrapped around the frame one after another, pulling tight, while metal fasteners locked everything down. A few sealed barrels settled beneath the raft, lifting it higher above the water. When the movement stopped, the surface felt solid and stable, and seawater no longer seeped through the cracks.]
[Your Level 1 Wooden Raft was upgraded to a Level 2 Reinforced Wooden Raft in just under an hour since the Global Ocean Survival started!]