Grand Voyage : Surviving on a Ghost Ship-Chapter 238 - Points redemption
“What does this symbol even mean?”
Yang Yi frowned, unable to come up with an answer.
But since it appeared both on the protein bar wrapper and on the vending machine, it likely stood for some kind of organisation, one with very advanced technology. Which meant this vending machine wasn’t simple at all.
It was an intelligent device capable of projecting holograms. It only looked like an old vending machine on the outside.
As soon as Yang Yi touched it, the machine lit up, as if it had its own internal power source. A small screen on the right displayed a string of numbers. These were the player points in his account.
At the same time the display case lit up, and seven or eight items appeared inside as holograms, each with a button and a price below it.
Yang Yi reached in and touched them. They were indeed projections, though extremely convincing.
Touching a projection or the display window brought up the item’s details. Several of the items were cards.
For example…
【Name: Crew Registration Card】
【Type: Consumable】
【Quality: Special】
【Description: With the target’s consent, this allows you to register a local native as a crew member. The captain may assign positions and permissions. The system will provide limited support. Requires the native to have a minimum level of intelligence.】
Price: 20,000 points.
【Name: Ship Fusion Card】
【Type: Consumable】
【Quality: Special】
【Description: With the consent of both parties, this card can merge two ships. The merged vessel will be larger, have more rooms, and inherit the skills of both ships. A ship can hold skills from at most two ships. Afterward, upgrade materials will increase or change accordingly.】
Price: 50,000 points.
“So that’s how it works. This must be the proper way to acquire cards.”
Yang Yi browsed through the list, checking every item.
“Suna, you should come take a look at the new vending machine. It’s in the captain’s room, and it sells special items.”
“I’ll come later.”
“I’ll send you the item details and prices.”
Yang Yi replied, then forwarded several entries to her.
【Name: Concealment Capsule】
【Type: Consumable】
【Quality: Special】
【Description: A special capsule with no side effects. Taking it resets your current exposure level to zero.
PS: Resetting the value does not slow the rate at which exposure increases. Keep an eye on it. Don’t take too many.】
Price: 100 points each, or 1,100 for a box of twelve.
【Name: Special Ship Voucher】
【Type: Consumable】
【Quality: Special】
【Description: Only captains of normal ships may purchase this. Grants a random blueprint for a special ship. Each player may draw once only. The blueprint is used immediately after drawing. If you refuse, the system will reclaim it. Choose carefully.】
The price was ten thousand points, but Yang Yi couldn’t buy it. The button was greyed out.
【Name: Portal Voucher】
【Type: Consumable】
【Quality: Special】
【Description: Each player may purchase this once. Grants the special ship equipment “Portal,” which allows teleportation back to the player island. At least one player island must be liberated before purchase is allowed.】
The price was one hundred thousand points. For now it couldn’t be purchased, and the button was greyed out.
There were several empty windows as well, likely reserved for future items.
Then there were the blind boxes, available in large, medium, small, and micro versions. Their descriptions were nearly the same, differing only in price.
【Name: Welfare Blind Box (Micro)】
【Type: Consumable】
【Quality: Special】
【Description: A blind box containing hidden rewards. Recommended for players with excess points. May contain unreleased special items, limited ultra rare items, and more. First come first served. When they’re gone, they’re gone!
Every ten draws include a guaranteed reward worth more than the cost of the box.
How can you not go all in on this?】
The four sizes cost 10 points, 100 points, 1000 points, and 10,000 points, respectively.
After reading the description, Yang Yi immediately sensed the trap.
This was something the system designed to drain points from players.
But the rewards in the blind boxes, the bait, were real. You could draw rare items that weren’t sold anywhere else.
Yang Yi didn’t worry about rigging. That would defeat the purpose. The system created the blind boxes to burn off excess points and encourage players to keep exploring rather than hoard capsules and slack off.
Its real goal was to keep players active.
If Yang Yi converted all his points into concealment capsules and hid on a safe island, he could probably live comfortably for a long time.
He kept thinking as he browsed. Aside from the concealment capsules, none of the items were things he needed. They were either unusable or irrelevant.
For him, the blind boxes actually had the highest potential value.
He hesitated for a moment, then decided to try. If nothing good came out, he’d stop.
But before that, he bought two boxes of concealment capsules, spending 2200 points for a total of twenty four capsules.
If they reached another island, these should be more than enough.
Most ordinary players only had around a thousand points, sometimes only a few hundred.
Then his wicked right hand reached towards the blind box section.
“If the guaranteed reward is garbage, I’m done.”
He muttered this and bought ten micro blind boxes, spending a total of 100 points.
The machine dispensed ten little boxes, each only the size of a finger. They didn’t look like they could hold much.
That turned out to be true.
【You opened one peanut】
【You opened one corn kernel】
【You opened one sunflower seed】
【…】
Yang Yi opened nine boxes and got nothing but tiny snacks, each a single piece in a wrapper.
A pile of little boxes gathered at his feet.
“These rewards are a bit lazy…” he complained as he ate the snacks. They were actually tasty, just far too few. Not even enough to fill a tooth gap.
He opened the tenth box and finally hit the guarantee.
【A guaranteed reward has been activated. You obtained…】
Yang Yi stared at the two vouchers in his hand and fell silent.
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