Farming Games are All About Grinding
Chapter 189 - 182: Combat Skills Upgrade!

Chapter 189: Chapter 182: Combat Skills Upgrade!

The method for cooking spicy crayfish is actually quite simple. As long as the quality of the crayfish is high, no matter how you prepare it, it’ll still taste great.

Sitting on a lounge chair in the courtyard, Han Qiwu happily munched on crawfish while admiring the moon. The meat was bouncy and full of flavor.

Delicious!

To be honest, these so-called ’small’ crayfish were really misnamed.

They weren’t small at all.

Where would you find crayfish that grow to be as long as half of an adult’s forearm?

Han Qiwu guessed that Little Shui must have eaten all the smaller ones, purposely leaving the big ones for him.

A thoughtful "little cotton jacket" indeed.

Meanwhile, the Little Prince prioritized filling its own belly before bringing anything home.

When the honey is ready, I’ll let Little Shui taste it first!

Lying in its underground nest, the Little Prince had no clue its honey was about to be taken. In its recent dreams, it had been sleeping in a river of honey.

After eating his fill, Han Qiwu instinctively wanted to chop down some trees to gather wood.

Unfortunately, his axe was still being upgraded.

Then he thought about reading a book for a while.

Unfortunately, his combat level hadn’t upgraded yet.

How frustrating—he couldn’t chop trees or read books.

All he could do was clean up the farm.

Although Han Qiwu wasn’t sure whether the growth of weeds would affect the yield of crops, doing a bit of tidying up always felt nice; it also looked much fresher.

After tidying up the surroundings of the farm, his stamina was almost completely drained.

After finishing a set of exercises called "Rainbow Sunshine," Han Qiwu climbed into bed and fell into a deep sleep.

Another fulfilling day had passed.

March 2nd Journal

Income......3101 gold (sold gemstones at the blacksmith’s shop)

Farming experience +125

Foraging experience +36

Fishing experience +1205

Combat experience +1261

Mining experience +1114

Relationship changes:

Guo Zihong: ❤

Current gold: 8445

Total earnings: 134,456

[Congratulations! Your combat skill has leveled up to Level 3.]

[Combat Specialty +1]

[Your accuracy with crossbow arrows has improved.]

[Your upper body strength has increased.]

[You’ve learned the recipe for Specially Made Mushrooms.]

[Specially Made Mushrooms]

[Ingredients: Red Mushroom ×1, Any Mushroom ×3]

[Stamina +0]

[Health +200]

[Note: Eating Specially Made Mushrooms will not cause hallucinations.]

"Splash, splash."

"Cluck, cluck."

"Moo, moo."

"Eee, eee, eee."

"Roar!!"

The long-absent symphony of animal noises echoed in Han Qiwu’s ears, accompanied by the sound of rain.

Rainy days had arrived.

Opening his eyes, Han Qiwu lay in bed and glanced at his journal entries.

The profits from mining were gradually increasing. Just yesterday, those gemstones sold for over three thousand gold.

What a delight.

It’s been a month, finally, my combat skill has reached Level 3. The experience-filled rice ball I ate yesterday really was effective—it gave over a thousand points to both combat and mining experience.

Reaching Combat Level 3 at long last, I can finally read "Sacred Spoils" directly. If I don’t make time to read it soon, it’ll reach the due date for returning it.

The boosts brought by the combat skill upgrade are quite practical too: one is improved accuracy with crossbow arrows, and the other is increased upper body strength. Both are genuinely useful in combat; their actual effects will have to wait until tested in battle.

As for this newly learned Specially Made Mushrooms recipe, it left Han Qiwu a bit stumped.

The effects are great, but I have no clue where to gather the needed ingredients.

It’s been quite some time, and I still haven’t come across any mushrooms. Let’s hope I can find some in the mountains after a while.

If all else fails, I might have to grab some meat and go ask Liu Lang.

Speaking of which, if the mine contains cave radishes, it logically might also have mushrooms.

Today, while exploring the mines, I’ll need to carefully search for some.

Now that I think about it, Han Qiwu realized his exploration of the first forty levels of the mine wasn’t thorough.

To find iron ore, he would usually descend as soon as he encountered a staircase, without having the chance to properly search each level.

Oh well, it doesn’t matter. I’ll be heading back to the first forty levels to mine for copper ores anyway. Taking the time to explore leisurely might even be more enjoyable.

Time to get up!

A new day has begun.

While washing up, Han Qiwu casually glanced at the television.

[Weather Forecast]

Tomorrow will be heavily cloudy transitioning to clear skies.

[Life Hacks]

When skill levels exceed Level 5, you’ll learn methods to craft tools for processing crops.

[Almanac]

Suitable: Exploration. Avoid: Over-resting.

[Shennong Recipes]

[Beginner’s Antidote Recipe]

[Ingredients: Any Tea Leaf ×5]

[Special Effect – Detox: Neutralizes poison effects lasting less than 10 minutes.]

[Note: Chewing tea leaves can also freshen breath!]

Han Qiwu: "....."

What does "heavily cloudy transitioning to clear skies" even mean?

Are the clouds especially thick or something?

The tip in the Life Hacks section was quite useful. Over the recent days, Han Qiwu had noticed this issue—right now, there was an increasing surplus of eggs, but selling them felt like a waste, and eating them all himself wasn’t feasible either.

The same logic applied to the milk that would soon become available.

If fish roe could be processed into caviar in the fish pond, then eggs should have their own value-added products too, shouldn’t they?

Would it be braised eggs?

Century eggs wouldn’t work; they require duck eggs to make.

Never mind, let’s stockpile eggs for now. After all, they won’t spoil. Once the equipment for deep processing is ready, I’ll look into it.

Following this train of thought, milk could potentially turn into butter, cheese, powdered milk, and a whole range of dairy products.

What a satisfying realization!

The almanac’s suggestion aligned perfectly with Han Qiwu’s plans for the day. Who knows, maybe I’ll stumble upon something good while exploring.

As for the Shennong Recipes, Han Qiwu was left feeling a bit helpless. He knew that Shennong tasted a hundred herbs and encountered seventy-two poisons, which he detoxed with tea.

Seventy-two poisons!

And all of them were neutralized by tea.

Han Qiwu was quite curious what kind of tea this was. That’s some god-level tea right there.

The new detox recipe he just gained certainly had strong effects.

But I don’t even have a tea tree at home—where would I get tea leaves?

There might be wild tea trees in the mountains, but whether they could be harvested into system items or not was still a mystery.

Everything remains to be explored.

Take it slow.

Farming is not something to be rushed.

Organizing his thoughts, Han Qiwu grabbed an umbrella and headed out to the courtyard.

Gentle spring rain pitter-pattered against the leaves of the plants, raising tiny clouds of mist.

The saplings to the west were growing taller by the day, soon to surpass the roofline of Jilei Mountain.

The Shennong-marked strawberries coexisted harmoniously with the surrounding rapeseed flowers, while the twenty plots of rice paddies had already sprouted tender green shoots.

"Roar, roar, roar."

Having gotten up long ago, the Little Prince was currently prowling the uncleared wilds of the farm, carrying Little Shui and Xiao Lai on its back.

What a lovely sight.

Walking toward the parasol tree, Han Qiwu noticed something; next to the glowing outlines of four eggs, there was an additional glow shaped like a drumstick bent at a 30° angle.

"Oh ho, the meat chicken has plenty of potential; giving one drumstick per day?" Han Qiwu nodded in satisfaction.

Indeed, pressure motivates improvement.

If it doesn’t push itself, it’ll never truly know how strong it can be!

Approaching the parasol tree, Han Qiwu first collected the other eggs and then turned toward the meat chicken’s nest. One glance and he immediately realized something was off.

The meat chicken was lying weakly in its nest. Upon seeing Han Qiwu approach, it used its wing to push the fallen Flame Bird leg toward him.

"Are you sick?" Surprised, Han Qiwu rushed over, giving the meat chicken a pat as he examined its condition.

[Flame Bird]

[Health Status: Healthy]

[Mood: ❤❤❤]

[Fullness: 90]

[Still Growing]

There’s absolutely nothing wrong—its fullness percentage is even higher than the other chickens’!

With other possibilities ruled out, there was only one explanation for the meat chicken’s behavior.

It was faking it.

Faced with this kind of act, Han Qiwu decided to indulge it.

"Meat chicken! What’s wrong? Why can’t you stand? Are you exhausted from working too hard?" Han Qiwu walked to the feeder, added yesterday’s feed, then grabbed a bag of Gold Star-quality feed nearby.

The meat chicken weakly nodded and used its beak to nudge the Flame Bird leg toward Han Qiwu, signaling for him to accept it.

Tsk tsk, is it trying to use softness to conquer strength?

Han Qiwu, looking grief-stricken, held the feed close to the meat chicken’s beak. "Want to eat a little for nourishment? You’ve worked so hard."

The meat chicken nodded, secretly delighted: It’s finally time to enjoy premium feed again!

But just then, Han Qiwu suddenly pulled the feed away, muttering to himself: Forget it, since you can’t move anyway, I might as well stew you. The extra legs could make for some crispy fried drumsticks.

The meat chicken froze in an instant.

Wait, aren’t we even trying to save me?

Just... giving up like this??

Excuse me, but I’m a mutated chicken, okay?

Not to mention, I can keep producing drumsticks!

The next moment, Han Qiwu grabbed the meat chicken by its legs, holding it upside down.

Adjusting his grip, he mimicked the professional chicken sellers at the market and grabbed the meat chicken’s wings instead.

Indeed, those pros know their stuff; holding by the wings is far more convenient than the legs.

"Do I pluck it or bleed it first? I can’t quite remember." Han Qiwu flipped the chicken around and inspected it closely. "Might as well bleed it first—I could also make some chicken blood cake."

As he said this, he carried the meat chicken toward the parasol tree’s doorway.

Seeing that its owner might actually go through with it, the meat chicken quickly flapped its wings in desperation.

"Xie! Xie! Xie!"

Han Qiwu, face full of sorrow, looked at the meat chicken. "Is this your last burst of energy? Don’t exhaust yourself; just rest in peace. I promise to bury your bones properly—I won’t throw them in the trash bin."

The meat chicken: "...... Who the hell wants your burial rites?!!!"

Seeing that Han Qiwu had already opened his umbrella and was stepping outside, the meat chicken panicked.

Aren’t you playing too rough?

How could you just decide to butcher me like that?!

Where’s your compassion?

Just as it was furiously venting its inner frustrations, the meat chicken’s body began to emit a faint red glow.

"Click."

Suddenly, Han Qiwu felt a lightness in his hands. Looking down, he found only a wing with long feathers remaining.

[Flame Bird Wing]

[Purpose: Ingredient/Material]

[Special Effect – Featherweight: Consuming it boosts movement speed.]

[Special Effect – Winged: Crafting it into a cloak grants a fire-enhancing effect.]

[Note: It’s having a really hard time.]

Shed its skin?

Or would this be more accurately called "Flame Bird shedding a wing"?

Looking at the Flame Bird that had already dashed back to the center of the parasol tree’s shade, Han Qiwu couldn’t help but laugh and shake his head.

So this was an option?