Starting With a Reef [Global Survival]

Yun Luohe held the Lightning Raw Stone in her hand and looked up at the sky.
At this moment, the thunderstorm still raged, lightning slicing through the heavy clouds like silver serpents.
Countless bolts struck the rolling dunes of the desert.
Not far away, pale spring water poured steadily into buckets, and everyone was loading the filled containers into their backpacks.
Just then, Yun Luohe suddenly thought—if thunderstorms could bring forth Lightning Raw Stones, then in this area where lightning had struck so many times, could there be hidden resources buried beneath?
She once again took out the detector and began carefully scanning the sand around her.
Especially those spots where she had just seen lightning fall.
The reason lightning had been guided to strike those locations was precisely because some kind of material was buried under them.
Yun Luohe had roughly remembered several such positions.
She decided to search those areas carefully. After a round of searching, she did indeed find quite a few things.
She had discovered several hidden supplies.
By the time her teammates finished collecting the mineral water—
Yun Luohe had obtained the following items:
[Desert Rose Stone ×2; Agate from Dried-up Riverbed ×1; Amber ×1; Solar Panel ×1; Bronze Gear ×3]
Since they had reaped so much, no one was in a hurry to head back early.
The thunderstorm was dangerous, but with it came more opportunities—opportunities to find more high-grade materials.
The group continued heading toward the coordinates of the Treasure Cave, scanning with their detectors along the way, but they did not manage to find the cave.
By the time they reached their limit, it was time to return.
After coming back to the reef, Yun Luohe had no time to rest. She immediately used the workshop to craft the prepared Tidal Windmill and electrical cables, then sorted through the resources she had brought back from the desert.
All this took only half an hour.
She ate some ready-made food, rested for a short while, and then went straight back to work.
Next came studying how to repair the Damaged Thunderwhirl Trident.
Yun Luohe took out the Lightning Raw Stone and the trident, placing the stone against the broken part.
With a flash of blue light, the stone began to merge into the trident, and the damaged area slowly started to mend.
However, when it was halfway repaired, the blue light suddenly vanished, and the Lightning Raw Stone lost its luster.
Checking the trident’s condition, Yun Luohe realized that three Lightning Raw Stones would be required to fully repair it.
Still, the trident’s color had changed slightly, and its damage was visibly reduced.
The next tasks were harvesting shells, using the [Trash Can] to recycle materials, and organizing the fruits and vegetables gathered from the greenhouse today.
The beehives she had made earlier had lost all their bees due to the heat, so she had moved them into the greenhouse.
Now many vegetables in the greenhouse were flowering, and the bees had begun to stir again.
At last, the beehives bore fruit.
That evening, Yúntūn collected two bottles of honey in the greenhouse.
Honey could be used to make all kinds of food. Yun Luohe planned to bake some honey cheese biscuits.
These should restore quite a lot of stamina.
And they counted as fine food.
Ever since she became a [Professional Chef], she hadn’t been able to level up again.
The required experience was simply too much.
Even though she cooked daily, gaining lots of experience, the bar was still far from full.
She figured she needed to research more new dishes.
Aside from honey, mushrooms had begun growing in the mushroom house.
There were quite a lot of them.
Because she had placed the mushroom house in the forest, a bit farther from her home, and she had been so busy every day, she hadn’t gone to check it in a long while.
Today she suddenly remembered and went to take a look—only to be stunned upon entering.

The entire mushroom house was packed with mushrooms, so dense they made her dizzy.
Thankfully, Yúntūn helped out, and the harvest went quickly.
In just a few hours, they had collected over 300 catties of mushrooms, filling three big buckets and four baskets.
There was no way Yun Luohe could cook that many mushroom dishes in the short term.
She decided to dry half for storage, keep some fresh, and give the rest to Mu Zitang to take to the Mutual Aid Association members for their own trades.
Drying the mushrooms wasn’t troublesome.
With the freeze-dryer already built, she just needed to wash and slice them thin before drying. Once dehydrated, they would store for a long time. When rehydrated in water, they would swell again and could be used in stews or stir-fries, tasting just as fresh.
Fresh mushrooms could be canned or made into fried mushrooms.
All very delicious.
Two days earlier, Yun Luohe had made an Oil Press.
By putting soybeans or corn into the press, she could obtain cooking oil the next day.
She had no shortage of oil now, so frying mushrooms wouldn’t be a problem—she could cook whenever she had the time.
What she lacked most now was not supplies, but time.
When visiting the mushroom house, she also took ❀ Nоvеlігht ❀ (Don’t copy, read here) a walk through the forest.
After so many days—
the small saplings she had planted had all grown into big trees. The spring planting was now fully showing its results.
The forest was lush, the shade cooling the air.
In this environment, insects crawled on the ground, and faint bird calls and cicada cries could be heard.
Though rare, they showed the reef’s ecosystem was beginning to enrich itself.
It would just take more time.
——
Today Yun Luohe returned not too late. In the afternoon, Roubao had been helping her dig up shells, and luck was good—she had used up all three shell attempts.
One of them yielded a golden pearl.
The other two were white and gray.
Although she didn’t get a black pearl, the golden one left her more than satisfied.
[Break Gray Pearl → Obtained: Firefly ×1; Mosquito Coil ×1; Flashlight ×1; Worn Wardrobe ×1; Crude Wooden Table ×1]
[Break White Pearl → Obtained: Black Metal Fragment ×2; Copper Ore ×20; Shoe Cabinet ×1; Toast ×1; Empty Sunscreen Bottle ×1; Glowing Krill Bait ×1; Silkworm ×10; Summer Theme Furniture Blueprint ×1]
[Break Golden Pearl → Obtained: Key ×2; Obsidian ×50; Ice Crystal Stone ×10; Kitten Tencel Pajamas ×1; Summer Cooling Cat Bed ×1; Pet Bowl ×1; Bathtub ×1; Tropical Fish Tank Blueprint ×1; Rabbit Villa ×1; Jet Ski Blueprint ×1]
This round of shell-breaking struck right at Yun Luohe’s heart.
The white and golden pearls contained many things she loved.
And the surprise was the abundance of pet supplies—plus the Jet Ski Blueprint.
With a jet ski, she could go fishing at sea. Her home didn’t lack fish, but she really liked the idea of having a jet ski.
Yun Luohe took out some of the items to check their details.
[Glowing Krill Bait: Summer-limited fishing bait. Usable only on thunderstorm nights. 85% chance to catch Lightning Sailfish.]
[Summer Theme Furniture Blueprint: Coral Shell Vanity. Adds +20 Reef Rating.]
[Crafting Materials: Coral ×20; Shell ×100; High-Grade Hardwood ×50]
……
By the time she finished her work, it was already late at night.
Yun Luohe glanced at the time.
“Didn’t realize it had gotten this late.”
She decided to check the Trading Center and chat channel for a while before sleeping, since she needed to get up early tomorrow.
Though she hadn’t found the Treasure Cave yet, it wasn’t far. If they set out earlier, they should reach it sooner.
Only one week of summer remained.
She felt there were still many things left undone.
For example, she hadn’t gathered enough materials to upgrade the reef; the Desert Ruins still hadn’t been found; and the remaining Underwater Ruins couldn’t be searched for now—those would likely have to wait until autumn.
The second desert night market should also be happening soon. Otherwise, the desert event would end.
Thinking this, she opened the chat channel.
Players were currently discussing Lightning Raw Stones.
Aside from Yun Luohe, a few others had also picked some up.
But some players had been severely injured when the stones struck them, while others had simply carried them back in their hands.
Although no one yet knew exactly what the stones could be used for, it was obvious such rare stones had significant value, and they wouldn’t be traded lightly.
Still, if the price was high enough, they could be obtained.
Yun Luohe directly posted in the chat channel:
“Buying Lightning Raw Stones. Offering 10 ice creams, 20L mineral water, or lightning rods in trade.
If you want something else, we can discuss.”
She had offered so much—
that even players who hadn’t wanted to sell their stones began to waver.
Though some, seeing Yun Luohe herself trying to buy, felt the stones were even more precious and decided to keep them, thinking they might trade for something better later.
But since more than one or two people had them, Yun Luohe wasn’t anxious.
In the coming days, with more thunderstorms, their numbers would only increase.
Besides the stones, she also needed to collect sharkskin, golden seahorses, mother-of-pearl, and some furniture decorations.
These were things she searched for daily in the Trading Center using keywords.
Currently, to raise her Reef Rating quickly, relying solely on her own construction was too slow. She had to make use of decorations.
She had previously learned from Du Ruan-tian’s example: before summer ended, there would surely be one more Reef Rating count. Even if it wasn’t for upgrading, she had to make a sprint for it.
Searching for furniture and decorations required many keywords: lamp, painting, stand, carpet, curtain, vase…
After browsing the Trading Center for half an hour, Yun Luohe bought a huge pile.
She burned through 500 iron ore and got a mountain of materials.
She purchased all sorts of things:
[Firefly Glass Lamp: Made by capturing fireflies. Glows at night, provides illumination, creates atmosphere. Adds +8 Reef Rating.]
[Sand Painting Carpet: Designed with colored sand. Footprints disappear automatically. Adds +10 Reef Rating.]
[Starfish Wall Hanging: Wall decoration. Small chance to attract rare marine creatures. Adds +20 Reef Rating.]
[Tidal Crystal Ball: Built-in wave simulator. Standing near it lets you hear tidal sounds. Adds +10 Reef Rating.]
……
As long as she didn’t already own one, she bought it.
She even managed to snag a golden seahorse at a bargain price.
That made her overjoyed.
Now she had three golden seahorses.
She was already lying down, the newly purchased items still in her backpack for now. Tomorrow she planned to display one seahorse and store the other two separately in the special item chest.
Before sleeping, a few players messaged her privately about trading Lightning Raw Stones.
She replied briefly, then went to sleep—those could be handled tomorrow.
After all, most were just asking, not necessarily planning to trade.
——
The 24th day of summer.
Early that morning, she discovered that the rabbits had given birth to many kits, and the cow was pregnant.
To keep the animals in good spirits, Yun Luohe often fed them fresh vegetables and mixed fodder.
Each type of animal had its own favorite food, but all of them ate hay feed.
If she had Yúntūn do the feeding, she would just have it give them hay.
Once the cow matured, she could start milking it. Now that it was pregnant, its milk yield had already increased.
Before, it had only been a small jar, about 300ml. Now she could get a full 500ml bottle. Yun Luohe used a milking bucket—simple enough, just required the right angle.
She could shear the sheep’s wool when it grew long. The wool could be made into cloth, though that required a loom.
As for cotton, she planned to stockpile it. She wasn’t short of clothes now, but someday she could make better bedding or decorative fabrics.
Today she needed to set out for the desert again.
But then Yun Luohe noticed her night market pass had activated.
It looked like the second night market would be held tonight.