Chapter 51 - Florida Man Sues His Dad for Imposing 40% "Family Tax", Claims It Violates Bro Code
The 24-hour defense mission was uneventful. Felix remained awake for the entire day, but no creatures showed up to attack his construction site. In the end, he completed the fifth quest without any hindrance. A fully constructed oil derrick pump, an injector well, water treatment tanks, sophisticated pipelines, and ten massive storage tanks had been built. However, there was no refinery facility to extract raw oil from the underground water.
*DING*
Felix let out a long sigh of relief. Exhausted from the task, he leaned against a storage tank and sat down. A minute later, he passed out, falling asleep.
...
Waking up refreshed, Felix stretched his arms and opened his eyes. He looked at the sky and bitterly smiled. It was already nighttime. The rumbling noise of the active oil derrick and the wind were the only ambient sounds he could hear. A dozen small red LED bulbs on the derrick blinked, providing the only source of light in the dark forest.
Despite the spooky, liminal atmosphere, Felix's heart was at peace. He popped another cigarette and sat up. Opening the system menu, Felix checked the quest log. As he had predicted, a new quest had been updated.
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Main Quest #6: Extract Mana Oil, Get Rich, and Pay Taxes!
Congratulations on building your first Oil Derrick! You must have thought you'd become an oil baron soon, right? WeEeEeEeEeEeELL… You aren't there yet. You're forgetting something.
This system ain't free, doc! It's time for you to pay your due! Do you think your ancestor resurrected you because he cared for you? No, no, no. You got it all wrong. Everything you have received so far is an investment so that you can grow and contribute something in return.
For starters, collect and extract 10,000 barrels of mana oil within the first month. Please note that you will only receive 60% of the mana income, as crude mana oil extraction has a fixed tax rate of 40%.
Mission: Extract 10,000 barrels of Mana Oil within 30 days. Extracting more than 10,000 barrels will fail the mission.
Rewards: Super Democracy Pass (Class E), Void Phoenix Breathing Manual Volume 1, and 10,000 Essence Stones
Failure Penalty: You will be charged and arrested as a traitor.
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There were so many questions Felix wanted to ask his ancestor and Jessica. He suppressed the urge to swear out loud. "Seriously?! I've escaped Earth's crappy government, but I'm still stuck with a 40% tax rate?! What the hell is this?"
Jessica remained expressionless as she answered, <60% of the income is still enough to make you a lot stronger. In fact, your body won't be able to handle it if you extract 100,000 barrels of mana at once. There is a 99% chance that you will explode and die.>
"…What is this about? Why explode?"
"Duh, the balloon bloats."
Felix started to understand. He closed his eyes and imagined his body bloating like a balloon.
Getting lectured by a system AI embarrassed Felix. He slapped his forehead, blaming himself for not thinking of this before Jessica reminded him. Felix got up and looked at the oil tank. "Okay, mom. I get it. So, how do I take the oil?"
As usual, Jessica coached him.
Felix followed the instructions. Upon checking the new inventory menu, he noticed a new overlay tab next to the general item section. Pressing on it, the screen showed the volume of the storage tanks. After nine hours of sleep, one of the oil tanks was 10% filled.
The oil derrick and the injecting well worked in pairs, pumping liquid through the prepared pipes, bringing blue sticky liquid into the storage tank. However, it also brought underground water along. In the oil tank, mana oil and water separated into two layers. Disappointingly, 80% of the content was water.
Felix inspected the menu carefully. Under the diagram image, there were text boxes labeled as barrels and element abbreviations, indicating the content within the oil tank. Not counting 40,000 barrels of raw water, there were already 10,000 barrels of mana oil in there!
Jessica continued to guide Felix,
Indeed, there were four buttons around the oil tank diagram image. Felix could order the facility to stop pumping oil, transfer the content in the oil storage to his general inventory, transfer the content to external containers, or crystallize the mana oil.
Felix raised his eyebrows when he noticed the last option. Interested in this feature, he looked at Jessica. "What's this option?"
"Oh!!"
Felix rubbed his hands. If he couldn't turn all the mana oil into his mana, he might as well convert it into mana crystals. Additionally, he thought about upgrading his weapons and ammunition. Thinking of the upgrades, Felix recalled that he hadn't checked the quest rewards and the newly upgraded weapon creation menu yet. He continued exploring in glee.