Chapter 7: Hoeing the Ground

Chapter 7: Tilling the Soil

A glowing ring blueprint!

If I follow the blueprint and turn the glowstone into a glowing ring to wear, I won't have to worry about that wicked crow snatching the little stone away.

"Wait..."

Jiang Ye realized belatedly: the crow had taken the glowstone, so how was he supposed to make the glowing ring?

As he thought this, he opened his backpack, and there was the glowstone, plain as a pebble, sitting quietly in the item slot.

"Glowstone? Still here?" Jiang Ye was stunned. Right—this is a dream.

"Craft a glowing ring?"

"Crafting successful! Glowing ring obtained!"

All he had to do was bend down, grab two twigs, and combine them with the glowstone to craft the glowing ring. In an instant, the dull little stone in Jiang Ye's palm transformed into an exquisite ring. Its main stone radiated a dazzling light, illuminating the area around him and the scarecrow.

Maybe it was an illusion, but after being made into a ring, the glowstone's light seemed even brighter.

"It's light. Very beautiful." The scarecrow spoke in that dreamy male voice, his human speech halting.

Jiang Ye held the glowing ring in his palm and held it up to the scarecrow.

What's this supposed to mean?

Jiang Ye was confused, unable to control his own movements.

The scarecrow tilted his head. "For... me?"

Jiang Ye's eyes went wide, but he nodded.

Wait, no—why am I being so generous all of a sudden?

This is the only glowing ring! If I give it to the scarecrow, what am I supposed to do?

Jiang Ye screamed inwardly, but his movements were fluid and seamless. Without a single stumble, he hung the glowing ring on the scarecrow's withered finger.

The moment the ring touched the straw, the light expanded, enveloping the entire scarecrow in a bright orb of radiance. Jiang Ye was almost blinded by the holy glow.

If this were a fairy tale, the scarecrow would surely break the curse and turn back into a mysterious prince.

"Caw! Caw!"

A strange bird call startled Jiang Ye.

As the light faded, the scarecrow had turned into a massive black bird!

A crow!

Its wingspan stretched a full two meters—bigger than any raven Jiang Ye had ever seen.

The crow spread its wings, the glowing ring clutched in its beak. Its blue eyes looked down disdainfully at the stunned Jiang Ye, and it flew away.

A single jet-black feather fluttered down...

"Huh!"

Jiang Ye gasped sharply, and then—

It was morning already.

"Spring, Day 3, Monday"

"6:00 AM"

Little Mushroom woke with a start, springing up instantly, his mushroom head smacking right into the tent ceiling.

The tent cat bed wobbled but, thankfully, didn't collapse.

Ignoring the dull ache in his head, Jiang Ye opened his item slot to check things.

"The glowing ring!"

In the item slot was a new blueprint—the glowing ring blueprint. And there was a glowing ring too!

And that wasn't all.

There was also something weird in the item slot.

"Jet-Black Feather"

"A mysterious, beautiful feather. A rare item.

+???"

Mycelium quietly extended, tickling the mushroom cap. Jiang Ye was confused—didn't I give the glowing ring to the scarecrow, and then that wicked crow stole it?

What's going on...?

Little Mushroom crawled out of the cat bed. A new day had already begun. The heavy rain had long since stopped, and outside the sun was shining brightly. There weren't even any puddles in the yard, as if yesterday's downpour had been nothing but an illusion.

The mushroom hopped and bounced, pushing open the little wooden cabin's door, and immediately spotted the scarecrow standing upright at the farm gate.

Jiang Ye could hardly tell the difference between dreams and reality.

Dududu... dududu...

Little Mushroom hopped toward the scarecrow. The scarecrow's back—at least 1.8 meters tall—grew larger and closer with each hop.

"Um, Mr. Scarecrow, good morning." Jiang Ye greeted politely.

The scarecrow didn't answer.

"Hey, good morning?" The mushroom hopped around to face the scarecrow.

Still nothing.

"Ah, the ring!" The mushroom jumped in place, craning its umbrella cap up to stare at the scarecrow's neck.

Around the scarecrow's neck was a worn red scarf, and just beneath it, faintly hidden, hung a glowing ring on a coarse string.

Exactly the same as the glowing ring Jiang Ye had crafted.

Jiang Ye was dumbfounded. He looked at the scarecrow, then opened his item slot to check again.

Jiang Ye's glowing ring was still there, and the scarecrow had one around his neck too.

So strange...

Jiang Ye just couldn't make sense of it.

Whoosh!

Just as the mushroom was zoning out, the sound of flapping wings came from overhead.

The mushroom sprang up with a "boing" and looked up alertly. He was now wary of all birds—could it be that darn crow again?

"It's the crow!"

"Stupid bird!"

Jiang Ye locked eyes with a pair of gem-blue eyes—it really was that darn crow!

The mushroom hopped up and down several times, stomping its feet in a rage.

It's that one! It's that one!

"Caw!" The huge crow circled overhead, blocking out most of the bright sunlight.

Jiang Ye noticed something glowing around the crow's neck—it was a glowing ring too!

He suddenly remembered the strange dream from last night...

"Caw!" The crow circled three times, then its sharp claws let go.

Jiang Ye only then noticed the crow's claws were holding a transparent bottle, which came whistling down from the sky.

Air drop!

The mushroom shot half a meter into the air in fright, instantly hiding behind the scarecrow to avoid getting hit by the bottle.

The transparent bottle landed less than ten centimeters from the little mushroom with a "crash," rolled a few times, and finally bumped into the scarecrow before stopping.

"Caw! Caw!" The crow squawked loudly, and Jiang Ye suspected it was messing with him.

Luckily, there was no second airdrop—the crow flapped its wings and flew away.

The mushroom stayed hidden behind the scarecrow for another two minutes, making sure the crow was really gone before creeping out.

"Stupid bird." Jiang Ye was thoroughly annoyed, and his mycelium reached out to kick the bottle on the ground. If that had hit his mushroom cap, it would've been completely flattened.

Jiang Ye wondered why the bad bird was also wearing a glowing ring. Overnight, glowing rings had gone on sale everywhere.

What kind of junk did that bad bird drop?

The little mushroom cautiously hopped over and peered at the transparent bottle.

"A bottle of tiny seeds?" The mushroom tilted its head, relieved it wasn't bird poop.

"Windproof Seeds x15"

A system prompt appeared next to the bottle.

Jiang Ye was shocked—the little things in the bottle were windproof seeds?

He'd never seen windproof grass before, let alone its seeds.

He'd heard that windproof grass looked like a white radish but tasted like a mix of carrot and potato—sweet with a unique aroma. Some people found it delicious, while others couldn't stand the smell.

"Windproof Seeds x15"

"Plant in spring, matures in 3 days."

Once mature, windproof grass could be eaten raw, cooked into dishes, or sold to NPCs for 35 Rupees each.

The key point: it could be sold, but it wasn't exactly pricey.

Meanwhile, in the game's social chat.

"Social Channel"

"Wednesday No-Go": Hey folks, hey folks! Need help!

"Wednesday No-Go": @everyone!

"Wednesday No-Go": Do seeds placed in a chest without planting disappear on their own in this game?

"You Got Nothing Better To Do": No way, food and fruit in the game never rot, and I've never heard of seeds just disappearing.

"Wednesday No-Go": Then what's going on? My 15 windproof seeds—I hadn't even planted them yet, and they suddenly vanished, just like that!

"You Got Nothing Better To Do": Vanished? Did you forget where you left them?

"Wednesday No-Go": No way, no way, they really disappeared.

"The Cold-Faced Pig-Raising Succubus": Why didn't you plant them in the first place?

"Wednesday No-Go": Hoeing the ground takes too much energy. Yesterday I hoed for a bit and almost passed out from exhaustion. I hadn't even finished when the heavy rain hit, so I went inside to hide from it, planning to hoe and plant the windproof grass today. Who knew I'd wake up and the seeds would be gone!

At that very moment, the little mushroom who'd received the windfall seeds had no time to check the social channel—he was busy figuring out how to plant the 15 unexpected gifts in the ground.

Jiang Ye was a seasoned gamer—sure, windproof grass was only worth 35 Rupees each, not as valuable as apples or sea urchins, but the key wasn't just the price; it was whether planting it for the first time might trigger some specific game event.

The little mushroom put its mycelium on its hips, nodded, and said, "That's right, this is a farming game, so I've got to plant something."

Rubbing its mycelium together, it got ready to get to work.

"Farming definitely needs a hoe," Jiang Ye said to himself, relying on his limited knowledge. "How am I supposed to farm without a hoe?"

The game system automatically popped up as soon as Jiang Ye finished speaking.

"Craft a hoe?"

"Blueprint: Hoe"

"Materials needed: Stone (2), Twig (3)"

Not every player in the game had the power of dreamweaving, and not everyone could create blueprints. Most blueprints were obtained by opening treasure chests or by triggering specific events and quests.

Of course, there were also some basic blueprints that came with the game system itself, craftable by everyone.

For example, the hoe, watering can, and wooden chest—those three.

The little mushroom nodded. So these were standard issue.

"Blueprint: Watering Can"

"Required materials: Stone (1) Small Branch (3)"

"Blueprint: Wooden Box"

"Required materials: Small Branch (10)"

The little mushroom casually picked up a few branches and pebbles, first crafting a hoe and a watering can, then went to fetch ten small branches to make a large box, placing it neatly next to his tent-cat-bed.

The wooden box had 36 slots, way more than Jiang Ye's item slot could hold. But once you put stuff in the box, you couldn't stash it back in the item slot to carry around.

Jiang Ye tidied up his item slot, shoving all the blueprints into the wooden box—no need to lug those around, which freed up a ton of space.

"Let's put the remaining apples in there too," the little mushroom said, stuffing the last four apples into the box.

As for the glowing ring, that had to stay in the item slot at all times, or else it couldn't light anything up.

Once everything was sorted, the little mushroom headed out with the hoe, watering can, and 15 Windproof Seeds.

He scoped out the area for a couple of minutes, then Jiang Ye quickly picked a spot, deciding to plant the Fangfeng Grass right near the cabin door so it'd be easy to water every day.

Next up: the hoeing.

Jiang Ye pulled the massive hoe out of his backpack and stood off to the side, hands on his hips, eyeing the little mushroom—his stem wasn't even as thick as the hoe handle. Not even close.

Making a mushroom that tiny do the hoeing seemed like a tall order.

"Let's get to work!"

The little mushroom was raring to go, his hyphae shooting out with a whoosh, wrapping around the hoe handle, and the heavy hoe swung right up.

Heave! Hack! Pry!

The stone hoe slammed into the dirt with a dull thud, the handle kicking up and nearly launching the little mushroom skyward. He came back down like he was working a seesaw, and the hoe smacked the ground again.

The farm had been abandoned for ages, no one had tilled it in forever. The ground was rock hard, so hoeing was a real slog.

Tiny as he was, the little mushroom turned out to be surprisingly full of energy.

Thud! Thud! Thud!

Scrape! Scrape! Scrape!

Before long, Jiang Ye had already hoed half the field.

"Friendly reminder: You're feeling really wiped out."