After spending seven biscuits and quite a bit of persuasion, Ye Qiyan finally managed to gather enough mechanical parts from others.
"It's really troublesome."
Looking at the resources in his hands, Ye Qiyan shook his head.
No wonder Shangguan Yingxue hated trading; he also disliked haggling with people, constantly changing prices for a bit of food. It was a waste of time.
He placed the resources onto the processing bench, and the blueprint for the acceleration device glowed a bright blue.
Soon, metal and machinery fused together, and a complex mechanical device appeared before Ye Qiyan.
[Train Burst Acceleration Device]
[Note: Can only be installed on the train body. Place it next to the control system for automatic installation. Once installed, it can produce acceleration bullets.]
[Acceleration Bullet]: Can be used up to three times a day.
[Requirements for production: 1 kg of metal, 20 mechanical parts, 1 Train Coin]
"Does it really require a Train Coin to make bullets?"
Ye Qiyan felt a bit helpless.
"I wonder what it will become after sublimation."
[Stamina: 55] [Mental Energy: 70]
After eating a Baisen Fruit, his stamina and mental energy had recovered a bit, enough for one sublimation.
"Let's give it a try."
After consuming 30 points of stamina and 40 points of mental energy, the acceleration device underwent a transformation.
[Red Triple-Speed Train Acceleration Device]
[Standardized Acceleration Bullet]: Can be used up to five times a day, increasing the train's speed to three times its original speed for ten minutes.
The number of uses increased to five, but the speed remained unchanged.
However, its potential seemed exhausted, meaning it couldn't be further sublimated.
Following the instructions, Ye Qiyan placed the acceleration device in front of the control system.
A silver-white halo enveloped the device, and soon, a black hole emerged from the control panel.
That was where the bullets were to be loaded.
"A bit pricey."
Ye Qiyan spent two Train Coins to produce two acceleration bullets.
Looking at the silver-white bullets, as thick as a baby's arm, he felt a pang of regret.
He put away the remaining two coins. Though he was tempted to test the power of the accelerated bullets, he decided against it.
He wasn't that extravagant yet.
With everything settled, it was time to rest.
"Speaking of which, is the side effect of low mental energy just talk? I've never felt it."
"Finally, all filled up."
After a full night's rest, Ye Qiyan yawned and got up from the warm temperature-controlled carriage.
He washed his face and hummed a tune as he walked to the end of the carriage.
He dug out a seed from the gray-white soil and, seeing it unchanged, nodded.
"Let's try sublimating it, hopefully, it will grow faster."
[Stamina: 70]
[Blessed Baisen Fruit Tree Seed]
[Three days to sprout, three days to grow, three days to mature. Once matured, it will produce one Blessed Baisen Fruit daily.]
"It really worked, and even the fruit got sublimated?"
Ye Qiyan sensed that the seed's potential wasn't enough to support another sublimation, but once they grew, he could try again.
Digging a hole, covering it with soil, and watering it.
Ye Qiyan was about to return to the front of the train to enjoy breakfast when he stopped by the garbage recycling unit.
"Speaking of which, I think I mentioned sublimating you."
Looking at the inactive, matchbox-sized robot, Ye Qiyan bent down and tapped its iron head a few times.
Sublimation.
As usual, Ye Qiyan intended to use stamina for sublimation, but for some reason, the stamina consumed seemed to disappear without a trace.
Did the sublimation fail?
Ye Qiyan frowned; this was the first time such a thing happened.
He tried again, this time using mental energy instead of stamina.
[Mental Energy: 60]
A familiar halo emerged, enveloping the small robot in the power of sublimation.
[GT-1: Auto Treasure-Hunting Robot]
[Upon reaching a platform, it will automatically leave the train to locate treasure chests within the platform. Unreachable chests will be mapped for the owner to retrieve.]
[Can be repaired with mechanical parts if damaged.]
[Consumes one Train Coin per use.]
[Will forcibly return to the collection platform before each station ends.]
A pair of camera-like eyes rose from the matchbox, rotating 360 degrees before locking onto Ye Qiyan's face.
[Owner information confirmed, Conductor ID E-3-1102, Ye Qiyan]
[Please name the GT-1 model. If not named, it will default to: GT1]
Looking at its appearance, Ye Qiyan was reminded of a character from a movie he had seen in the previous world.
"Wali?"
[Name confirmed]
[Entering sleep mode. Please use a Train Coin to awaken upon reaching a platform.]
Another Train Coin.
Acceleration bullets required Train Coins, and the sublimated robot did too.
When upgrading the train next time, Train Coins would be needed to purchase upgrade options, and perhaps some sublimated items would also require Train Coins.
Ye Qiyan felt he might soon be in over his head.
"By the way, at this time, many people probably don't know the value of Train Coins yet."
Suddenly, he thought of something and ran back to the front of the train, opening the control system to search for keywords in the chat room.
[Train Coin.]
["Have you opened any treasure chests? What's the Train Coin for?"]
["Who knows, maybe it's the currency of this world, useful for buying things at some platforms."]
["You're lucky to have found a treasure chest. I don't even know what one looks like."]
["What's the point of opening them? Not a single piece of food inside. Two consecutive garbage platforms, and soon I'll be eating dirt!"]
As expected, they had no idea of the Train Coin's value, still worrying about survival.
["One compressed biscuit and a bottle of drinking water, in exchange for one Train Coin."]
He listed the food and water on the trading platform.
After watching for a while, he left it alone.
This kind of pricing trade, if someone bought it, great; if not, he wouldn't lose anything.
Train time, 12:30 PM.
The next station choice prompt appeared before Ye Qiyan at the Fork of Fate.
[Fork of Fate triggered, please choose a platform to stop at from the following two options]
[Platform One: Doomsday Town (Level 2 Mission Platform)]
[Platform Two: Goblin Village (Level 2 Hunting Platform)]
A mission platform?
This was a new type of platform.
Compared to fighting goblins, which was likely to be a thankless task, Ye Qiyan felt option one suited him better.
[Platform choice confirmed]
[Please sit tight and hold on, the third station ahead is...]
[Doomsday Town]
The train accelerated.
The space ahead gradually became void.
When the countdown reached zero, the surrounding world completely transformed.
[Current Platform: Doomsday Town]
[Docking countdown: 3:59:59]
[Good luck]
[This station: Danger]