In the ranking on the prestige leaderboard, Norman realized that many pioneers had discovered ways to gain prestige by sharing intelligence in the communication channel.
Given the pioneers' abilities during this starting phase, it was nearly impossible to hunt abyss creatures. Those who had gained prestige clearly didn't want to share their methods with others, as no one mentioned this in the communication channel.
If you think about it, it's understandable. The system's hidden settings must be limited, and once all the settings are discovered, the method of gaining prestige through information sharing would no longer be viable. Everyone, therefore, wanted to maximize their benefits under these limited conditions. Selfishness is humans nature, especially in a situation where the social structure has completely collapsed, and survival has become the main goal. Everyone wants an advantage.
Norman sat in the cockpit, staring at the prestige leaderboard, rubbing his chin thoughtfully. After a while, a smile appeared at the corner of his mouth. Since no one had revealed the secret, he decided to be the whistleblower.
Firstly, Norman didn't care about these early-game prestige points. With his cheat being used on the sonar, he could gain prestige by killing abyss creatures after crafting ship-borne weapons and being safe while doing so. How, you might ask, the sonar will tell him how dangerous they are and if he's able to kill them. The speed of hunting abyss creatures for prestige would likely surpass that of sharing information.
Secondly, Norman understood the value of collective efforts. By exposing this secret and having more people discover it, he could more quickly gather hidden settings about the system, which would help him understand the world faster.
Even if this secret was exposed, it wouldn't significantly impact him. His cheat ability allowed him to get info drops on almost everything. Additionally, regarding the system's hidden settings, he would always be ahead of everyone else. Therefore, exposing this secret might even earn him additional prestige from the system.
With this in mind, Norman immediately closed the prestige list. He then opened the regional communication channel and typed his findings into the dialog box.
As the text appeared in the communication channel, system prompts followed one after another:
[System: You have successfully shared an effective piece of information, and the prestige of Tartarus goes up by +1.]
"It seems I was right. The guys on the prestige leaderboard have kept this secret, making it easier for me!" Norman nodded slightly, watching the chat messages go crazy in the communication channel with a smile on his face.
As Norman revealed two hidden system settings, the previously declining activity in the communication channel reignited completely.
[Sunshine: Damn, you can gain prestige by sharing information? I wondered how those guys on the leaderboard were gaining prestige—so that's the trick!]
[XP699: Such valuable information, and the Tartarus shared it without reservation. He's a true role model, selfless, and admirable!]
[The Survivor: The information about the fresh water extractor earlier was shared by the Tartarus as well. If it weren't for his reminder, we might have been trapped by the system's non-warnings about such a situation! This man has saved us! Benefactor, please accept my sincere gratitude!]
[Forge Ahead: Indeed, the two hidden system settings provided by Tartarus are extremely valuable and crucial for everyone's survival! When we reach the gathering outpost, I must meet the Tartarus captain and make friends!]
[Kamikaze: A few posts up, did anyone notice? The fact that Tartarus discovered the secret of the high power consumption of the fresh water extractor means they must have built one! The game has only just started, yet they've already gathered the materials for the fresh water extractor. This must be a top player!]
[Roadhog: Indeed, Kamikaze makes sense! I've only mined three iron ore deposits, and I haven't even seen a copper mine, but they've already gathered the materials! How many times did they dive underwater?! This is insane!]
[Beiyang: So, does that mean Tartarus can already produce fresh water? Damn, the captain of the Tartarus better trade with me—I'm dying of thirst here!]
[Caiji: hey! Beiyang, stop chatting on the communication channel—I wanted to trade privately with Tartarus' captain, you idiot!]
The communication channel was going crazy with activity, and the pioneers chatted non-stop, rapidly consuming their limited number of messages. The name Tartarus had become well-known among the 66671 channel.
However, Norman wasn't concerned with the reactions of these pioneers. He continued scrolling through the chat page, trying to find the information shared by the Mariner and a dozen other pioneer captains when they gained prestige, hoping to find something useful.
The communication channel was flooded with information, making it difficult to locate those chat records. Fortunately, Norman discovered the filter in the communication channel. By filtering by submarine name, he finally found those dozen chat records.
However, the results were underwhelming. Most of the information shared by other captains was already known to him and wasn't very helpful for his upcoming journey.
At this point, many pioneers contacted Norman through private messages, all of them wanting to trade for fresh water. Norman ignored them all. His own fresh water supply was limited, and he couldn't afford to trade it away. Until the submarine's energy reserves were fully replenished, he couldn't afford to be wasteful. If he ran out of fresh water halfway to the gathering outpost, it would be disastrous.
However, while fresh water wasn't an option for trade, he did have meat. The abyssal anglerfish he hunted earlier had provided him with five units of fish meat, each weighing at least two kilograms. He couldn't possibly consume all ten kilograms on his own, even in three days. It made sense to trade it now while food had a high exchange rate, exchanging it for something more useful.
With this in mind, Norman closed the communication channel, opened the auction market, and listed three units of fish meat for trade. He then specified iron, aluminum, plastic, and titanium as his desired items. After clicking "Confirm," a new auction option appeared in the auction market:
[Seller: Tartarus]
[Trading Item: Clean Fish Meat*1]
[Requirements: Iron Ore5, Aluminum Ore5]
[Alternative Requirements: Plastic5, Titanium3]