After Rookie brought up the blackhead fish, it didn't eat it immediately. Although Li Yuan's bamboo pole was quite thick, there were only three in total. The fish weighed at least four or five pounds, and Rookie held it down with its teeth, but it kept flopping around, making the boat sway back and forth.

[Would you like to dismantle the blackhead fish?]

"Dismantle it! Quickly! If we don't dismantle it, it'll dismantle me!" Li Yuan hurriedly said, not caring to ask more questions.

In an instant, the lively fish turned into a complete fish skin, a portion of fish meat, a pile of fish organs, and a neatly arranged fish bone. The entire boat finally stabilized.

[Acquired fish skin +1, fish meat +1, fish bone +1]

"What are these things for?" Li Yuan asked, but unfortunately, the system didn't answer him. He then remembered that the artificial intelligence system that could answer questions had permanently exited, and now this programmed system could assist him but couldn't answer his questions.

However, when Li Yuan pulled up the basic information panel, he found a new submenu added to the previous data.

[Resource Gathering: 3]

Opening this submenu revealed new information.

[Fish Skin: 1; Fish Bone: 1; Fish Meat: 1]

 

[Craftable Items List: 5]

[Fish-Skin Hull: 1/100 (Fish Skin) Can reduce water resistance and decrease seawater corrosion (can be recycled after upgrading the vessel).]

 

[Short Rope: 1/3 (Fish Skin) Can be used to reinforce ship planks, among the most commonly used items.]

 

[Fish Bone Nail: 14/1 (Fish Bone Spine) A simple substitute for iron nails used for fixing, low in durability, easily breakable, but better than nothing.]

 

[Dried Blackhead Fish: 1/1 (Fish Meat) Can be stored long-term, food for crew members, delicious and nutritious.]

 

[Small Simple Seawater Purification Device: 1/4 (Fish Skin) 0/1 (Wood) 0/1 (Short Rope) 0/10 (Fish Bone Nail) Used to purify seawater into drinking water.]

"Hmm?" For Li Yuan, who had played many games, seeing these prompts, he already understood what they meant. The question was, what did these craftable items mean, and how did they relate to his evolution?

Isn't it about accumulating enough Evolution Points to upgrade to the next type of ship body? Does he also need to gather these resources?

After pondering for a moment, Li Yuan thought of a possibility.

It's like cars; a beat-up compact is a car, and a Ferrari is also a car, but clearly, the two are not the same.

When your car is equipped with ergonomic leather seats, diamond surround sound, night navigation systems, and other luxurious configurations, plus an aviation engine and finely crafted streamlined lines... the difference in both performance and appearance will be qualitative!

"I get it, these things are like accessories. Some can enhance certain performances of the ship, while others are just useful tools, but they don't determine the ship's level," Li Yuan said thoughtfully.

After figuring it out, Li Yuan finally felt relieved.

Since they weren't necessities, Li Yuan felt much more relaxed. He began to carefully examine these items, hoping to find something that could be of help to him at the moment.

Looking at these five craftable items, it wasn't hard to see that fish skin was the most useful, as several items required it.

Fish meat was just food, and since he only had one crew member, Rookie, as long as it was fed, there was no urgent need.

The purpose of fish bones was to make fish bone nails, and keeping a few would be enough.

"Make 14 fish bone nails."

A few seconds later,

[Ding, lost fish bone -1, gained fish bone nails +14, fish bone nails embedded in the edges of the bamboo raft.]

"Wow, you just nailed them right onto me!"

Luckily, it didn't hurt.

Checking the resource situation again, in the "Small Simple Seawater Purification Device," the number of fish bone nails had already changed to "14/10," which was enough.

Li Yuan was quite satisfied with the system's efficiency. Although he didn't have hands or feet, he could leave the crafting to the system. As long as he had the materials, he didn't have to worry about not being able to make things. In this regard, he believed no one else on the sea could compare to him!

"I need 10 pieces of wood to evolve, and this is something that depends on luck, which is a bit difficult at the moment. For now, let's ensure Rookie's survival. We have fish meat, but we're lacking drinking water."

"The small simple seawater purification device requires a total of 7 pieces of fish skin and one piece of wood, which is relatively easier to obtain. Alright, let's make this first!"

Having set a short-term goal, Li Yuan immediately looked at his only crew member.

"Rookie, did you hear that? This is our current overall strategy. As a crew member of this ship, you must work hard to complete the tasks, understand?" Li Yuan said to Rookie.

"Woof woof!"

"Good, there are active fish schools below, now, go!"

Rookie wagged its tail and immediately leaped into the sea. Before long, it caught a second fish!

[Ding, acquired fish meat +1]

 

[Ding, acquired fish skin +1]

 

[Ding, acquired fish bone +1]

Seeing this string of information, Li Yuan felt as if he had been injected with adrenaline.

"Rookie, well done!"

"Throw away all the fish meat and bones, just keep the fish skin!"

***

Two days later, Rookie was very effective, catching a total of thirty fish. Li Yuan made three pieces of fish meat into dried blackhead fish and tied them to the boat. Other resources, except for a few pieces of fish meat that Rookie ate, were all discarded.

The most important thing was the fish skin. Li Yuan kept 4 pieces of fish skin, and the rest were all made into ropes, totaling nine.

He reinforced the front, middle, and back of the bamboo raft, using 2 ropes for each, leaving 3 ropes.

Two of them were tied to the middle of the ship's body, one was used to string up the fish meat, and one was left for Rookie. In case of rapids, Rookie could bite the rope to avoid falling into the sea.

The last rope was reserved for the purification device.

After reinforcing, his body was now much more stable than before, with almost no gaps between the three bamboo poles, and it was sturdier, preventing any further friction and swaying.

To read the uncut version, go to [pawread.com].

After reinforcing the ship body, Li Yuan was no longer so afraid of small winds and waves.

However, up to now, Li Yuan still hadn't found any wood. Rookie had been drinking seawater for two days, and with the workload, it was more prone to dehydration than usual. If they couldn't find wood soon, even with plenty of food, Rookie might not make it.

Li Yuan had spent two days with Rookie, and the little guy had been very obedient, diving into the sea to catch fish during the day and sleeping tiredly on the bamboo raft at night. It felt like it was sleeping in his arms. Now, seeing Rookie sitting there listlessly, drowsy, Li Yuan felt bad.

"Rookie, hang in there a bit longer. I'll definitely find some wood!" Li Yuan said anxiously.

Whether it was because of Rookie's usefulness or Li Yuan's current feelings for Rookie, he couldn't let it die!

"Damn it, where can I find wood? Do you think wood grows out of the water? Will it float right in front of me? How am I supposed to get wood with just a bamboo raft!"

[Ding, scattered wood found 477 meters at 37 degrees northeast.]

The system's prompt sounded in Li Yuan's mind.

"What?" Li Yuan didn't expect his words to be immediately contradicted.

"Luckily, I'm thick-skinned. No, I mean, I don't even have a face! If you have the guts, try hitting me with wood!"

"Rookie, let's go, time to strike it rich!"

---

Proofreader & Editor: Peter Pan