Chapter 5: Picking Apples

"6:15"

Warm sunlight slipped through the cracks in the window, and a cool breeze drifted into the room, along with a faint, hard-to-place floral scent. The knocking had stopped, and the scarecrow was back in its spot by the farm gate.

It was a beautiful day.

It was still early, but the chat channel was already blowing up.

"The Man Who Would Be Smoked Fish King": Thank god, it's finally morning!

"Wednesday No-No": How is it only 6 AM?

"Lu Ban the Five-Footer": This young master has never gotten up this early!

The little mushroom, all five centimeters of him, nodded in agreement—today was the weekend, after all. Based on Jiang Ye's usual habits, he'd definitely sleep till noon, dead to the world.

The latest time in the game was 2 AM, and the earliest was 6 AM.

At the stroke of 6, all players "naturally woke up" to start a new day.

He'd woken up way too early, but surprisingly, he wasn't sleepy at all. The mushroom stretched out its soft hyphae lazily.

"The Cold-Faced Pig-Raising Succubus": Weird, my fullness meter actually went up.

"Lu Ban the Five-Footer": How is that possible? This young master is starving to death! I haven't eaten in like a whole day!

"The Cold-Faced Pig-Raising Succubus": Last night my fullness meter was already at zero.

"You Got Nothing Better To Do": What about now?

"The Cold-Faced Pig-Raising Succubus": Now it's at one.

"Lu Ban the Five-Footer": ???

"Wednesday No-No": ???

"Sleep At Two": ???

"Lu Ban the Five-Footer": Are you serious? You call that going up?!

Jiang Ye patted his belly with a hand that didn't exist—he wasn't in the habit of eating breakfast, so he didn't feel all that hungry.

He clicked to pull up his stats.

"Fullness: 75/100

Stamina: 100/100

Health: 100/100

Sanity: 100/100"

"The Man Who Would Be Smoked Fish King": Hey folks, join us anglers! Every kind of fish tastes amazing!

"The Man Who Would Be Smoked Fish King": I'm telling you, fishing here is super easy. Aside from rare fish, there's basically no challenge to catching anything.

"The Man Who Would Be Smoked Fish King": Today I'm heading to the river to take on the rare fish! Wish me luck!

Jiang Ye glanced at the chat, then at the bait maker blueprint in his bag. Eight hyphae immediately started typing.

"Mushroom Soup": Hey buddy, I've got a bait maker blueprint for sale.

"Mushroom Soup": It boosts your bite rate when fishing and slightly raises your odds of running into rare fish!

"The Man Who Would Be Smoked Fish King": For real?! Bait!

"The Man Who Would Be Smoked Fish King": I want it! I gotta have it!

"The Cold-Faced Pig-Raising Succubus": A blueprint? Did you pull that from a treasure chest?

"You Got Nothing Better To Do": Whoa, you're so lucky. I roamed around all day, found one chest, and got 10 twigs out of it...

"The Man Who Would Be Smoked Fish King": I want it, I want it—sell it to me!

"Lu Ban the Five-Footer": What's this hot item? Everyone's fighting over it?

"Lu Ban the Five-Footer": This young master doesn't get it, but this young master can't miss out. I want to buy it too.

Jiang Ye saw this and his hyphae wiggled with excitement—this Five-Footer Young Master was a real godsend. Anyone would think he was a shill Jiang Ye had hired.

"The Man Who Would Be Smoked Fish King": Don't you dare fight an angler over bait! I'll pay 500!

"The Man Who Would Be Smoked Fish King": That's every last rupee I've saved from fishing! I'm giving you everything!

Five... five hundred?!

The hyphae on the mushroom's head drooped a little—way too little. Might as well just sell it to an NPC.

"Lu Ban the Five-Footer": This young master offers fifty thousand. Sell it to me.

"Mushroom Soup": ...

Jiang Ye silently thought there was no way the Five-Footer Young Master actually had fifty thousand.

"Mushroom Soup": Five-Footer Young Master, no IOUs.

"Lu Ban the Five-Footer": ...

The Man Who Would Be Smoked Fish King couldn't scrape together more than 2000 rupees anyway. Jiang Ye thought it over—maybe he'd just sell it to an NPC via the shipping bin. Simple, easy, and fast cash.

2000 rupees was a solid chunk in the early game, but as time went on, by mid and late game, it'd be pocket change—it depreciates fast.

"Sell the bait maker blueprint?"

"+2000 rupees"

Now Jiang Ye had 2012 rupees total in his pocket.

"Sweet, I can expand my inventory now." Jiang Ye immediately clicked the plus sign next to his inventory. Upgrade!

"Friendly Reminder: Head to the town general store to expand your inventory."

The hyphae curled into a bunch of question marks hovering around the little white mushroom. He had to go all the way to the town general store just to expand his inventory? Why didn't anyone mention that earlier...

Jiang Ye looked out the window—no matter, he'd set off right now. He was going to explore anyway.

Jiang Ye still didn't know exactly where the town was, but it definitely had more than just backpacks—there were bound to be all kinds of seeds for sale. A farming game, as the name suggested, was about farming to get rich. Jiang Ye planned to find the town and take a look—maybe 2000 rupees could buy quite a few seeds.

"And that treasure chest up in the tree."

He hadn't forgotten about that chest—he'd been thinking about it all night.

The mushroom pushed open the cabin's wooden door, poked its head out, then hopped outside. The sun was shining bright—good weather.

The scarecrow stood at the farm's front gate. Jiang Ye observed it from a distance—it wasn't his imagination; its position had definitely shifted since yesterday. So the scarecrow was alive at night.

The little mushroom bounced along, taking a wide detour, terrified the scarecrow might suddenly wink at it.

The little mushroom squeezed through the fence and followed the path it had taken yesterday.

The map had opened up a bit now—with a map, getting lost was impossible. Jiang Ye quickly found the treasure chest in the tree from earlier.

"Looks like... the crow is gone."

Those blue eyes were gone, and there were no black feathers either. The chest hung there quietly on the branch.

Mycelium sprouted from the mushroom's body, did a little stretch, then nimbly wrapped around the trunk and started climbing.

Though only a day had passed, Jiang Ye felt he was already getting used to being a mushroom.

Climbing the tree went smoothly as silk. The mushroom sprang up, landed on a branch that was still fairly thick for its size, and immediately bonked its head against the chest—*click*, it swung open.

"Glowstone"

"A plain-looking ore that glows in the dark.

+5 SAN"

Inside the chest was a small stone—truly unremarkable, gray and lusterless. If not for the label, Jiang Ye would've thought the chest was empty.

Jiang Ye put the stone into his item slot. Could this thing work as a light bulb at night? It was so small—didn't seem very useful.

Just as he was complaining, he spotted a system notification—the glowstone was worth 500 rupees.

Jiang Ye's eyes lit up instantly. 500! More money!

The little mushroom hopped down from the tree and continued down the unknown path ahead, feeling on top of the world. He realized making money in this game was way easier than slaving away in the real world.

Up ahead, the path forked.

A crossroads.

The mushroom bounced over—there was a signpost. How considerate.

The signpost was a bit worn and shabby, but the writing on it was still clear. Before Jiang Ye could even read the words, his eyes landed on the carving on the sign.

A sun emblem.

Under the blazing sun, the mushroom shuddered, suddenly reminded of last night's horror story—the merchant's diary.

Jiang Ye wondered, this couldn't really be the afterlife, could it?

The little mushroom shook its head hard and looked up at the sign.

It read:

Left—Temple.

Right—Mines.

Straight—Sun Town.

Jiang Ye looked left and right. Temple and mines? What were those places? He was curious.

After a three-second hesitation, Jiang Ye decided to head to town first and explore the other areas later.

The five-centimeter mushroom kept going.

The gravel path stretched on, with the occasional big tree on either side.

8:10, onward.

9:00, onward.

10:30, onward.

11:30... The mushroom stopped, wiping sweat off its forehead with its mycelium. Still no Sun Town? Was it really that far?

Jiang Ye reflected—maybe the distance from the farm to town wasn't far for an adult, but... he was now a mushroom that was nowhere near adult-sized, only five centimeters tall.

As he walked, Jiang Ye noticed he seemed to be shrinking. Maybe it was his imagination, but the mushroom seemed to be getting smaller.

He pulled up his status panel.

Hunger: 20/100

Stamina: 80/100

HP: 100/100

SAN: 79/100

So he really was hungry.

The mushroom looked around. Where was he supposed to find food?

Jiang Ye had the fishing net blueprint now—he could catch his own fish and enjoy a meal. But he'd walked the whole way without seeing any water, not even a puddle, so fishing was a no-go.

"What's that?"

The mushroom tilted its head, nearly bending into a question mark.

There were red fruits on that big tree in the distance, and they looked delicious. The mushroom drooled.

"Wild Apple"

"A gift from nature, a crisp and sweet fruit.

+18 Stamina

+18 HP

+5 SAN"

The white mushroom dashed toward the apple tree like a little fluffy cotton ball.

*Swoosh—*

The mycelium kept growing endlessly. This time, Jiang Ye didn't climb the tree at all—the mycelium couldn't wait to stretch out, wrap around the biggest and reddest apple, and pluck it off.

"It's so heavy!"

Jiang Ye was surprised to find that this apple was bigger than him.

The mushroom picked the first apple but didn't hurry to eat it. The mycelium, in a flurry, wiped the apple clean, stuffed it into the inventory, then picked a second apple, then a third.

After harvesting five apples as provisions, the mushroom finally leaned against a big, perfect apple and "bit" into it.

Juice burst out.

The mycelium wrapped around the apple and began feasting. It was super crunchy! It was Jiang Ye's favorite kind of crisp apple—sweet with a little tartness, super fragrant, and definitely not bland.

So good, so good.

Jiang Ye thought, if only there were some watermelon. He still liked watermelon more than apples.

"Mmm, what's that?" Jiang Ye chewed on the apple, his eyes blazing more intensely than sunlight.

Were those trees up ahead also fruit trees? They didn't look like apple trees.

Fuzzy fruits covered the branches. Jiang Ye's stomach growled at the sight—they looked just like a tree full of chestnuts.

Sugar-roasted chestnuts—Jiang Ye's favorite!

The mushroom held up the half-eaten red apple, which was still way bigger than him, and ran over.

Whoosh!

The mycelium impatiently plucked off a chestnut.

"Ow, prickly!"

The mycelium tossed the "chestnut" on the ground.

That's just how chestnuts are—before being processed, they hang on the tree all fuzzy, and you need to remove the outer shell to make sugar-roasted chestnuts.

But this chestnut... why did it look a bit odd? And it smelled... a bit fishy.

Jiang Ye was totally confused.

"Wild Sea Urchin"

"A spiny echinoderm. Edible.

+30 Stamina

+20 Health

+/-30 SAN"

"Sea... sea urchin?!" The mushroom froze.

What grew on the tree wasn't chestnuts—it was sea urchins?