When she stepped inside the cabin again, the store area had expanded to ten square meters, and the daily replenishment limit of bread and water increased to five hundred.
Near the counter by the service window sat a black cash register. A small touchscreen rose from its base, and directly beneath it was a narrow card slot connected to a built-in printer. A tiny camera lens was embedded at the top edge of the screen, barely noticeable unless one looked closely, giving the machine a sleek and functional appearance.
She asked the system what the printer was for.
[It is used to print an e-wallet card. Customers can set up an e-wallet in the store. The camera will scan the person's facial biometrics to register the e-wallet, which allows them to top up points using cores. The e-wallet is bound and cannot be destroyed or lost.]
So it was setting up a digital account!
If someone set up an e-wallet, there would be no need to carry cores around all the time. According to the system's explanation, the meta-humans in this world did not possess inventory spaces.
Out of curiosity, Isla Lane registered an e-wallet herself. The process was surprisingly simple. It was completed in ten seconds. The camera scanned her face, and moments later, her e-wallet card was printed. There was no need to fill out any form or provide her name or other information.
The e-wallet was a sleek silver card. A thumbnail-sized, slightly haggard photo of her sat beside her name. Below it was a shiny silver strip used to swipe the card. In the middle of the card, her balance was displayed—zero.
Isla Lane glanced at her abysmal balance and decisively turned her eyes away to spare herself the heartache.
"Oh yeah, what's the conversion rate between cores and points?"
[One F-Class core is equivalent to one point. One E-Class core is equivalent to ten points. A D-Class core is worth one hundred points, a C-Class core can be exchanged for one thousand points, a B-Class core is worth ten thousand points, an A-Class core is worth one hundred thousand points, and each S-Class core is worth one million points.]
Nodding, her curiosity about the water beasts of this world deepened.
She tucked the card into her pocket and resumed her inspection.
The long bench was now positioned near the doorway and had been upgraded with a cushion, making it very comfortable to sit on.
On the left wall, where the bench used to be, there was now a faucet with a wooden sink beneath it.
The water flowing from the faucet was clear, free of impurities, and devoid of the rusty or fishy smell of the seawater outside.
"Where does the water come from? Did you filter and process seawater from outside?"
[No. It comes from another planet. An uninhabited water planet with only ten percent landmass. The system ensures that the water is safe to drink and can supply this world for several generations.]
Isla Lane patted her chest in relief.
Aside from the new sink, there was also a new door next to it. She pushed it open and found a narrow bed inside, complete with a mattress, two pillows, and a blanket. A light bulb on the ceiling illuminated the room. To the right of the head of the bed stood a small cabinet.
When she pulled open the drawers, she found two pairs pink sleepwears and pink undergarments neatly folded inside.
Although her clothes were already dry thanks to the system's perks, they were still uncomfortable to sleep in.
She turned and noticed another door beside the bed. This one led to the bathroom, which was divided into a toilet cubicle and a shower area.
By the time she finished exploring, it was already late afternoon. The sun was nearing the horizon.
As the night deepened, the lamp post beside the mooring post lit up, casted light over the surroundings.
The lamp post was incredible. She could clearly see thirty meters away.
But there were still no customers.
That wasn't surprising. Her raft was practically surrounded by a mountain of debris.
And since Moonstone Province was among the first areas to be submerged, no one would think to come here.
She sighed, worry creeping in about the future.
On a side note, she hadn't expected nights at sea to feel so eerie and dark. If she stared long enough, it felt as though a pair of eyes were staring back at her from the depths.
After eating dinner, Isla closed the service window and took a bath.
The system even provided shower gel. Once she finished bathing, she washed her clothes and hung them on a temporary clothesline she had set up using electrical wires she found this afternoon.
She changed into the new sleepwear.
Lying on the bed, she checked the quest tab and discovered the next mission: clean a radius of two hundred fifty meters. The reward was another cabin upgrade and the unlocking of basic accommodations which was a wooden cabin.
Two hundred fifty meters?!
Her eyes hardened, but when she saw the reward, she rubbed her chin thoughtfully. She wondered what the basic accommodation cabin would look like.
Meanwhile, in one of the skyscrapers Isla Lane had spotted in the distance this afternoon, a person blinked in confusion as he saw a flicker of light coming from the direction of Moonstone Province, wondering if it was nothing more than a hunger-induced hallucination.