Chapter 2: Farmland?
“Ding-a-ling”
“Ding-a-ling”
Early the next morning, Chu Jiu was awakened by a series of bell rings.
Rubbing his eyes, he climbed off the pile of grass and walked to the window to peek out: Huh? Isn’t that Aman?
The little boy was standing far away under the road sign, vigorously shaking a copper bell.
It seemed the child had something to look for him, but didn’t dare come to this area to knock on the door.
Chu Jiu hurriedly grabbed his backpack and ran towards the intersection, tidying his sleep-tousled hair as he ran.
When he reached the road sign, Aman looked up, his eyes shining brightly: “Great, big brother, you didn’t leave!”
Chu Jiu: ?
Aman: “Two years ago, a pioneer came too, but he ran away the next day, leaving a letter saying he couldn’t do this job.”
Chu Jiu smiled: “Don’t worry, I won’t run.”
How could he earn thirty million if he ran away?
Aman grinned foolishly, pulled a yellow cornbread out of his pocket and handed it to Chu Jiu:
“My grandpa said you probably haven’t had breakfast yet, this is for you.”
“Also, he wants to ask if big brother has time to visit our house.”
As a newcomer, he should naturally visit the village chief’s house.
So Chu Jiu ate the cornbread while following Aman into the village.
The cornbread was probably made with cornmeal and not much flour. It had a corn fragrance, but the texture was dry and a bit choking.
However, Chu Jiu believed that in this village where large tracts of land were uncultivated and everything was desolate, this corn cornbread was definitely a delicacy.
*
The village chief was about sixty years old, with gray hair and two wooden planks tied to his right calf, making him indeed immobile.
But the old man was in good spirits, his eyes were bright, and he spoke clearly.
After chatting with Chu Jiu for a few words, he took out a tattered book and a cloth bag, looking solemn and a little apologetic:
“Logically, we should have prepared more for your arrival to pioneer in our village. But we can’t even scrape together a set of spare farm tools in the village right now…”
“This half of the book—it was handed down from the past, it records some furniture manufacturing methods… see if you can use it now.”
“And this, these are some seeds I kept this year. I don’t know if my legs will be able to farm next year, so I’ll give them all to you.”
The system immediately popped up a prompt:
[Obtained “Simple Furniture Manufacturing Manual”]
[Obtained Soybean Seeds X30]
Chu Jiu quickly thanked the old man, hesitated slightly, and then took out the sliced Screaming Mushroom from his backpack, telling them that it was the screaming mushroom, which was actually edible.
He was a little worried that the villagers would have trouble accepting “eating magical creatures,” but they weren’t repulsed at all.
Aman kept asking “Is it delicious? How do you eat it?”, while the old village chief sighed, “If we weren’t afraid of magical creatures hurting people, and if we could recognize which magical creatures are edible, we would have gone hunting in the Forgotten Forest long ago.”
When Chu Jiu told them that the Screaming Mushroom could be eaten by boiling it in clear water or roasting it over an open fire, and that “it tastes like meat,” Aman’s mouth watered, and he couldn’t wait to roast the mushroom immediately.
At this moment, the system popped up another prompt:
[Villager favorability increased! Obtained 20 pioneer points!]
So increasing villager favorability can increase pioneer points?
So this is also a way to make money…
Just as Chu Jiu was thinking, Aman, wiping his drool, poked at the fluffy, soft mushroom and asked curiously:
“Brother, how do you know this magical creature is edible?”
“Are you also an ability-user? A plant-type ability-user?”
The system mentioned yesterday, and Aman also said: A small number of people in this world have ” abilities,” capable of manipulating water, fire, and so on. Espers are much more powerful than ordinary people when dealing with magical creatures.
Chu Jiu was taken aback, thinking that he did have a cheat, but was that considered an esper ability?
After thinking about it, he still said half-truthfully: “I have a little, but this esper ability can only be used to dig wild vegetables and identify whether magical creatures are edible, it’s not very useful at other times.”
Aman’s face showed an “I see” expression, while the village chief nodded:
“No wonder you dared to come and pioneer alone—if it were an ordinary person, they probably would have sneaked away before even spending the night in the forest.”
“Like this ‘Screaming Mushroom,’ ordinary people wouldn’t dare to approach it at all, let alone think of making it into food.”
The village chief paused and added: “If you can dig up other edible things or grow crops, you can try to sell them or exchange them for other things.”
Chu Jiu’s eyes lit up: Sell them?
*
Following the direction pointed by the village chief, Chu Jiu arrived at a small square in the center of the village.
Calling it a square, it was actually just a place about fifty square meters in size, with a few empty spaces for stalls.
These stalls were all empty now—it was said that every other Saturday, merchants from other places would come by carriage to sell goods, and the villagers would also bring out their stockpiles on that day.
What about buying and selling things at other times?
A wooden board was erected by the square. If someone caught two extra rabbits in the nearby woods and wanted to sell two rabbit legs, they would write or draw on the board: “Grandma Zhang’s house, fresh rabbit legs, 2 pieces, hoping to exchange for rice”; or if someone was running out of salt, they would leave a message on the board: “Aunt Hu’s house, needs refined salt, can exchange with corn cobs.”
Looking at the words written in charcoal on the wooden board, Chu Jiu felt his hands itching, wanting to write something immediately to see if he could exchange for pots, pans, and so on.
However, the Screaming Mushrooms in his backpack had all been given to the old village chief today, and he didn’t have anything to exchange right now, so he could only take a look around the square and leave with regret.
Just as he was about to turn around and leave, an old woman with a hunched figure walked over on the stone slab road on the side.
She seemed to be planning to write something on the wooden board, but her movements were quite slow, and her grip on the charcoal stick was also very clumsy.
Chu Jiu walked up to her and said softly, “What do you want to write? I’ll help you.”
The old woman turned to look at Chu Jiu, not answering what she wanted to exchange, but instead asking questions with joy and curiosity, asking if Chu Jiu was the new pioneer who arrived yesterday, asking how old Chu Jiu was and what his name was…
In front of such an old person, Chu Jiu could only act like a child, answering whatever he was asked, appearing very obedient.
Finally, Grandma Zhu sighed: She didn’t expect that there would really be young people willing to come and pioneer, let alone such a clean and handsome young man.
Chu Jiu wasn’t a good talker, and he wasn’t used to being praised like this, so he felt a little awkward. He scratched his head and asked again, “What do you want to exchange for?”
Grandma Zhu said that she had some radish seeds at home and wanted to exchange for some fish. Any fish would do, fresh ones were best.
Chu Jiu thought for a moment and said, “Grandma Zhu, I don’t have any fish on hand right now, but I should be able to catch some in the Forgotten Forest—where do you live? I’ll bring them to you later.”
Grandma Zhu looked very pleased: “That’s great!”
*
There was indeed a small stream in the Forgotten Forest. But the system’s “pioneer gift pack” didn’t prepare a fishing rod or net for him.
Chu Jiu didn’t plan to fish in the traditional way either.
If he remembered correctly, he could catch a kind of large fish with tender flesh and no bones with 100% certainty—he just needed to go to the forest to dig up a few eggs first.
He found a “small iron shovel” from the gift pack, and just as he stepped into the forest, he unexpectedly received a prompt:
[Host has fulfilled the hidden condition of “exploring wasteland with seeds!”]
[Obtained “Farmland”!]
It’s so easy to unlock “Farmland”?
Chu Jiu excitedly clicked on the detailed description of “Farmland”:
[Farmland: Can be used for cultivation on land.
Special reminder: Planting materials are limited to materials of the “seed” category or those with the “can be artificially cultivated” attribute.]
[Recipe Attribute: Facility]
[Recipe Usage Requirement: Pioneer Points X500, Spirit Beast X1]
Chu Jiu’s joyful expression froze on his face.
It costs 500 pioneer points to open a piece of land? Is it that expensive?
Also, what is “Spirit Beast X1”? Can’t I farm without a spirit beast?
