Chapter 5: Job Opportunity |
Three hundred ration cards became quite a burden.
Every single ration card had a denomination of "1."
This made storing and carrying them incredibly inconvenient.
Lino suspected that the Coin Guild, which issued the ration cards, had designed them this way on purpose.
Their goal was likely to force people to spend their newly acquired ration cards as quickly as possible, rather than carrying around these sharp-edged, bulky pieces of plastic long-term.
In the foreseeable future, he was going to amass more and more ration cards.
Before they overwhelmed the space under his bed, Lino decided he needed to find a hard currency to replace them.
He made a mental note of this, placing it right after his plan to solve his water problem.
After returning to his residence and hiding the ration cards, he felt a wave of exhaustion wash over him.
After eating some Milk Mushrooms in his room, Lino quickly washed up and collapsed into bed.
The next day.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
The knocking was violent and urgent.
Lino jolted awake from his sleep, his heart tightening.
He thought the enforcers had discovered his contact with the mutants and were coming to check if he had mutated.
Instead, a voice outside roared, "Lino, open the door! Why didn't you show up for work today, kid?! Open up!"
Bang! Bang! Bang!
"Do you know that because you didn't come, the overseer gave the cushy job to another team?! All the ration cards we bribed them with went down the drain!"
Bang! Bang! Bang!
"Open up right now! You little brat, we have a score to settle with you!"
Lino let out a sigh of relief. It was just those loaders, not the enforcers.
It seemed his absence had caused them quite a bit of trouble.
But so what?
Lino chuckled. He sat up, pulled out some mushrooms to fill his stomach, and prepared to wait until the loaders outside left before heading out.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
The door shuddered as the workers pounded on it, cursing loudly, their anger steadily rising.
"Kid! Open the door!"
"We were nice enough to save you a job! Is this how you repay us?!"
"If you don't give us an explanation today, don't even think about leaving!"
A few subtle bulges appeared on the rivet-studded metal door panel—the dents left by the loaders' fists.
Lino frowned at the sight.
The absolute foundation of the hierarchy of needs was physiological.
Physiological needs referred to an individual's requirements for survival, including food, water, sleep, and air.
A good residence not only guaranteed the quality of one's sleep but also effectively blocked out external disturbances.
As the dents on the door multiplied, Lino acutely realized that he needed to cut ties with the people outside as soon as possible.
Moving somewhere with more frequent enforcer patrols would be a good choice.
Fweeeet—
Just as Lino was thinking, a shrill whistle pierced the air outside, followed by a booming shout.
"Hey! What are you doing?!"
The hard heels of leather boots slammed heavily against the ground as their owner marched toward the loaders at the door.
The very same loaders who had just been screaming their heads off were now trembling and submissive.
"S-Sir, w-we're just checking on our friend. He didn't come to work today, and we were worried about him."
"That's right, Lord Enforcer. We just wanted to check up on him."
"Enough! I'm not blind! Get back to work! If I catch you hollering again, I'll shove you into the sewer cleaning crew!"
"Yes, sir. We're leaving right now..."
The loaders scattered, and peace finally returned to the doorway.
Lino opened the door and looked outside.
The enforcer was standing right by the door, locking eyes with him.
"You're Lino, the one who recently finished studying Low Gothic and mathematics, right?"
"Yes, that's me. Thank you for bailing me out. Is there something you need?"
The enforcer asked casually, "Where's your father? I need to speak with him."
"I'm sorry, but my father passed away at the construction site a short while ago," Lino said, his expression darkening.
The enforcer paused. "Oh, my apologies. I wasn't aware."
"It's alright, no worries. If there's something you need, you can tell me."
The enforcer took out a stack of what looked like flyers, pulled one out, and handed it to Lino.
"Take a look at this. The Kram Cigarette Factory is recruiting a large batch of apprentices. The prerequisite is having studied Low Gothic and mathematics. Your grades at the academy were excellent, so the factory asked us to give you a heads-up to go register for the selection exam."
Lino glanced down at the text on the paper, a strange emotion welling up in his chest.
Sure enough, no matter the world, knowledge could change one's fate, and exams were the stairway to progress.
The original owner's father would have been incredibly gratified to see this.
Without his dedication and persistence, the original owner would never have finished all the Low Gothic and mathematics courses at the academy, much less received an invitation from the Kram Cigarette Factory!
He truly was a good father.
"Alright, I have other matters to attend to, so I'll be off. Remember to go register before the deadline."
The enforcer glanced at the visibly moved young man, smiled faintly, and turned to leave.
"Take care, sir, and thank you for passing on the message."
The enforcer waved a hand over his shoulder.
Lino watched him until he disappeared from sight.
The cigarette factory was a genuinely good place to work, whether in his previous world or here in the Warhammer world.
The employment prospects for applied mycology included research positions at cigarette factories, primarily focusing on preventing tobacco diseases and studying tobacco fermentation processes.
In the context of the Lower Hive where he currently lived, workers at the Kram Cigarette Factory earned generous wages, enjoyed safe working conditions, and held a status several levels higher than loaders or assembly line workers.
The factory itself was also a key protection target for the enforcers, meaning the surrounding residential areas were vastly superior to his current living situation.
Lino was thoroughly tempted by the job prospect.
He pondered the idea of getting a job at the cigarette factory while securing his door with a metal padlock and iron chains.
Ultimately, he came to a decision.
The deadline to register for the factory's apprentice recruitment was tomorrow evening, so he could put off the exam registration for just a little while longer.
Besides, even if he started working at the cigarette factory, he would still be living in the Underhive, completely unable to escape the exorbitant cost of purified water.
Therefore, his most pressing priority was still to permanently solve his water problem.
Lino had originally planned to use his system to cultivate a type of fungus with ultra-strong water purification properties.
Now, he revised that plan.
Since the system provided purified water during the simulated cultivation process, why not just directly cultivate a fungus capable of storing massive amounts of water?
Cultivating a water-storing fungus was far simpler than cultivating a water-purifying one.
Bringing a fungus bursting with purified water out of the system was effectively the same as transporting purified water directly out of the system.
It really did perfectly match that old saying—I don't produce water, I'm just a water porter.
Lino pressed a hand against the pocket holding his ration cards as he wove through the bustling streets.
As a graduate student specializing in applied mycology, he knew exactly what kind of fungi possessed excellent water-storage capabilities.
Snow fungus was one such answer.
The gelatinous matrix it contained was highly hydrophilic, capable of rapidly absorbing water molecules.
Wood ear was another option; its water-absorbing and storing abilities similarly came from its gelatinous nature.
But the problem was, did the Warhammer world even have snow fungus and wood ear?
Lino wasn't very confident about the answer.
'Perhaps I can look at this from a different angle...' Lino thought, a flash of inspiration striking him.
Snow fungus grew in dark environments and required higher ambient humidity than ordinary fungi.
In addition, wild snow fungus needed decaying matter as a substrate.
In an environment that met all three conditions—no sunlight, high moisture, and decaying matter—there was a high probability of finding fungi similar to the snow fungus.
These fungi might be unsightly or poisonous, keeping them off the dining tables of the Lower Hive residents.
But that didn't mean they didn't exist, nor did it mean they couldn't store water like snow fungus.
Lino's eyes lit up slightly.
He knew exactly where to go to find the fungus he needed.
