Chapter 1: Transmigration

A house full of pastoral charm, trees in front of the door she couldn’t name, a few wildflowers swaying in the breeze beside the pond, and a faintly sweet fragrance lingering in the air…

Amy stared blankly at everything before her.

Had she… transmigrated?

About an hour ago, she had still been at her workstation, working overtime, trying to finish her tasks quickly so she could clock out early and go home to play games.

The large-scale life simulation game Hot Spring Town Time, scheduled to launch its open beta that very evening, was a collection of farming, cooking, fishing, construction, and layout elements. It had already received glowing reviews from players during closed beta, and after several rounds of optimization, its playability had been greatly improved.

Amy had been looking forward to this game for a long time.

Aside from being a diligent office worker, she was also an unabashed farming game enthusiast. Since childhood, she had been obsessed with and addicted to house-playing games. Growing up, she had played through nearly every farming game available on the market. Every morning when she opened her eyes, her first thought was farming. She had been doing it for more than twenty years and had never gotten tired of it.

Unfortunately, once she started working, her gaming time had been drastically cut, otherwise she would never have missed Hot Spring Town Time’s closed beta.

As soon as she typed the last word of her document, Amy stretched tiredly and pressed the shutdown button on her computer.

Staring at the screen as it went black, she hadn’t even had time to feel the joy of finishing work when a sudden, violent stabbing pain shot through her chest.

What was happening?!

Before she could even react, her vision went black like her computer had lost power, sinking uncontrollably into darkness, as if she had been dragged underwater.

Just before losing consciousness, her last thought was: I was just about to get off work. Couldn’t this sudden death have waited a little longer?

She hadn’t even gotten to play the game she had been waiting for!

Perhaps her resentment at dying had been too strong, touching the heart of God, who granted her a chance to live again—by transmigrating into this strange… no, wait.

This wasn’t strange at all. It was familiar.

Though she hadn’t participated in the closed beta, Amy had browsed plenty of information and trailers online. She had watched Hot Spring Town Time’s teaser trailer at least ten times and was already familiar with its characters and settings.

Once her initial shock faded, she quickly realized that the place before her was almost identical to the player’s starting farm in Hot Spring Town Time.

So, had she transmigrated into the game?

…Well, either way, she was finally playing her beloved game. And it was the ultimate immersive experience.

While pondering whether this was good or bad, Amy began wandering around the farm.

Grass. Grass. Grass. Grass.

She wasn’t cursing, just stating the truth.

Everywhere she walked, there were overgrown weeds, rocks and gravel of all sizes, fallen branches that nearly tripped her, and plenty of crookedly growing trees.

A broken farm from the very beginning.

But it wasn’t all bad news. After a walk around, Amy realized her farm was bigger than expected—large enough for her to farm to her heart’s content.

Without question, she would have to clear away all the weeds and stones. As for the trees…

Amy tilted her head up to study them.

They were sugar maples and redwoods.

Maple syrup was a unique sweetener with a woody aroma and a hint of caramel, sweet like honey and distinct in flavor. It was an excellent ingredient for waffles and cheesecakes. The sweet fragrance she had smelled earlier must have drifted over from someone else’s maple syrup in Hot Spring Town.

And the raw material for that syrup was right here—these sugar maple trees.

As for redwoods, there was no need to explain. Their wood was sturdy and durable, an ideal construction material.

Unfortunately, these trees grew right in the center of her farm. From watching the trailer, Amy had already decided she wanted to grow large fields of fruits and vegetables there.

There was no helping it. She would have to cut them down.

But the trees wouldn’t be wasted. Amy remembered that the town had a carpenter—she forgot the name—but that didn’t matter. She could sell the wood and probably make good money. After all, carpenters loved wood.

Just like she loved raspberry tarts.

So, she set her first-day plan: chop trees. If there was extra time, she could clear the weeds near the house.

Chopping trees and clearing weeds required tools. If she remembered correctly, these should all be in the starter’s gift pack.

Amy pushed open the wooden door of the small house.

She had braced herself for a dusty, musty interior, but surprisingly, there was no smell of dust or dampness at all.

The room was spotless, practically immaculate.

The house was divided into three sections: bedroom, kitchen, and bathroom.

The furnishings were simple. The bedroom had a bed with a pillow and quilt. The kitchen had a small square table, a wooden stool made of unknown timber, and a set of cooking utensils—pot, bowl, and cutlery. As for the bathroom, well, that spoke for itself.

It looked like a basic rental unit.

Amy was easygoing. She didn’t demand much from her new living conditions. As long as she had a place to eat and sleep, she was satisfied. This house fit the bill perfectly, and it even came with a sizable farm to grow crops on. What more could she want?

Content, she sat down at the table and opened the conspicuous “starter pack”—a box practically begging her to notice it.

Inside, just as she had imagined, were tools for clearing the farm: an axe, hoe, and sickle, along with some daily supplies, a purse containing 500 gold coins as starting funds, and a bag of fragrant butter bread to serve as rations.

Amy’s eyes lit up at the bread. It was the first thing she grabbed.

Tearing open the brown paper bag, the stiff wrapping crackled, and the rich aroma of butter filled the entire room.

She swallowed hard at the sight of the golden bread inside. She couldn’t help it—she hadn’t eaten since leaving work.

But in the end, she tied the bag shut again.

There were only six palm-sized croissants inside. At her usual meal portions, she would finish two in one sitting—meaning they’d be gone in a day. Even eating one at a time would only last two days. She had no choice but to ration them.

Who knew what prices were like here? 500 gold might not go far. Starter packs usually weren’t generous.

This wasn’t a game anymore—it was reality. She couldn’t just blow all her gold and quit when she ran out.

Besides, she wasn’t starving yet. Amy patted her flat belly and decided she could wait until after chopping some trees.

To speed up that moment of reward, she grabbed the axe without hesitation.

—As it turned out, she was too naive.

Why on earth was the axe so dull and heavy?!

After cutting down just two small redwoods and chopping them into logs, Amy was drenched in sweat, her face red as a Swiss apple—glistening with droplets.

She had forgotten: tools in these games always had to be upgraded.

She was a beginner, and everyone knew beginner’s tools were awful until you built up enough skill to improve them. It wasn’t just the axe. The hoe and sickle in her toolbox would be just as clumsy.

Amy groaned at the thought.

The difference between games and reality was bigger than she had expected.

After all that chopping, her slight hunger became unbearable. She turned back to the house and dug into the bread.

The butter was rich, the croissant soft and moist, with a delightful texture.

Amy devoured the first one in just two bites. Once the gnawing hunger in her stomach eased, she slowed down for the second.

She swore she had never tasted such a delicious croissant in her life.

Oh God, if real-life croissants were this good, getting up for work in the morning wouldn’t be so hard.

Even faced with “croissants that make waking up early worthwhile,” Amy stuck to her plan. She stopped after two, feeling her strength return.

If this world had stamina points… Wait.

It actually did.

The moment she thought of it, a game interface appeared in her mind.

A pale yellow bar displayed the text: [Stamina: 49/100 | Level: 1]

And not just stamina. The panel listed all her stats:

[Farmer: Amy
Planting: Level 1
Cooking: Level 1
Foraging: Level 1
Fishing: Level 1
Farming: Level 1
Animal Husbandry: Level 1
Farm Overall Level: 1]

Amy squinted at the endless row of ones.

Level 1—basic starting stats. Not impressive, but perfectly normal for a newcomer.

Without a second thought, she set her goal: level up every skill, expand her farm, and turn it into the most outstanding one in Hot Spring Town.

That had always been her way in farming games.

Just imagining it set her farmer’s soul ablaze.

But that was a long-term plan. For now, she had to decide what to do next.

Cutting more trees was out of the question. If she did, her stamina bar would probably hit the red, and the remaining four croissants wouldn’t last until tomorrow.

So what now?

As she racked her brain, a cheerful voice suddenly called from outside the door:

“Good morning, new neighbor! Nice to meet you. I’m Leslie, mayor of Hot Spring Town—are you home right now?”