“Tongban, I think I’ve hit the jackpot!” Xia Chen stared at the pile of rewards before him, his eyes wide with disbelief.

If the gift packs were tiered, then the level 10 pack he had just opened was undoubtedly top-tier. His previous level 5 pack had held a single gold coin, a skill book, three unused aloe vera seeds, and a final chance to draw from the gem pool.

This Level 10 pack, however, boasted ten gleaming gold ingots, each representing a single gold coin. Instead of a skill book, as Xia Chen’s current abilities were deemed sufficient, the pack granted a coveted skill point. He immediately allocated it to his most valuable skill: the Gathering Technique.

The pack also included three exciting new seeds: tomato, pumpkin, and mint. The tomato seeds were particularly thrilling, as stir-fried tomato and eggs was one of his specialties.

But the true highlight of the level 10 pack lay in the ten drawing chances each for both the gold and gem pools!

Xia Chen laughed, his hands covering his face in a mixture of joy and disbelief. “Tongban, I finally understand! Leveling up is the key to unlocking the system’s potential. A decade of farming can’t compare to a single gift pack. I’m so excited!”

Xia Tongban allowed Xia Chen to revel in his happiness for a moment before gently reminding him: [Host, please take a look at your experience bar.]

“Huh? What’s wrong with the experience bar?” Xia Chen’s elation quickly turned to concern. He raised his head to check the bar, which he’d neglected since reaching Level 10.

“Holy shit! What’s going on? Tongban, are you glitching?” Xia Chen cried out in shock. The experience required to advance from Level 10 to 11 had increased tenfold!

Leveling up before Level 10 had been challenging enough, with each level demanding significantly more experience than the previous one. In his past life, Xia Chen could have reached the highest level in any game within three months. Yet in this life, even with relentless daily farming, he had only managed to reach Level 10.

The difficulty had been immense. And now it raised the bar even higher?!

[This experience requirement is reasonable. The early stages had reduced leveling demands to allow the host to quickly receive level-based gift packs. This was intended to familiarize the host with the system space and progress smoothly through the novice period. From now on, please follow the main storyline tasks and work diligently at farming.]

Xia Chen fell silent. He retrieved the bamboo tube firearm from his inventory and gestured towards the empty space, providing his own sound effects: “Bang! You’re dead.”

Xia Tongban, a seasoned veteran of the system, even had the audacity to tease Xia Chen: [Incorrect usage method. Be careful not to blow yourself up.]

‘I’ll blow YOU up, you little copper coin!’ Xia Chen fumed. Putting away the firearm, he said fiercely, “I’m going to draw prizes now. Don’t bother me.”

[Host, it is recommended that you first—]

“Stop. Don’t talk. I don’t want to talk to you right now,” Xia Chen interrupted.

He opened the prize gachapon and tensed up, recalling his lucky streak during the first draw. Since he had used the last of his water to irrigate the Magical Land seeds, he skipped washing his hands and launched straight into prayer, invoking every deity he could remember.

Xia Chen started with the gold pool, feeling more confident after his previous experience. One Magical Land seed, two, three… nine in total! His luck seemed to have run dry, and he dejectedly opened the last capsule to find a single box of instant noodles in the smallest packaging.

Great joy and great sorrow, such is life.

Stunned for a moment, Xia Chen then indignantly exclaimed, “Tongban, didn’t you say the probability of drawing Magical Land seeds in a ten-draw was seven or eight out of ten?!”

Xia Tongban fell silent, seemingly taken aback by Xia Chen’s terrible luck: [There is an extremely small probability of drawing eight or more seeds, so small that it’s practically non-existent.]

Am I really that unlucky? Xia Chen instantly fell into deep self-doubt. With trembling hands, he considered trying his luck with the gem pool to prove himself.

Fortunately, he came to his senses at the last moment. His left hand tightly grasped his right, fearing an uncontrollable urge to tap on the screen. He asked Tongban, “What did you want to tell me earlier, right before I started drawing prizes?”

Xia Tongban finally finished what it had been trying to say: [It’s recommended that the host first go wash their hands.]

“Why?” Xia Tongban’s words confused him. Was handwashing a mysterious ritual? Could it be that his good luck last time was due to washing his hands rather than praying to the deities?

Xia Tongban remained silent. Xia Chen carefully examined his hands, which were still slightly dirty from planting the Magical Land seed earlier. Realization dawned; something was wrong with that soil!

“Is there something wrong with that soil?” he tentatively asked.

Xia Tongban remained silent, confirming Xia Chen’s suspicions.

He no longer cared about drawing prizes and immediately went to find Pit Uncle’s nephew. The two kids were still happily sucking on the candy he had given them.

“Nan’er,” Xia Chen grabbed Nan’er’s arm and asked, “where did you get that soil?”

“Near the manure pit,” Nan’er replied innocently. “Big Brother said you wanted the soil for planting, so he took me there to dig it up. The soil there is fertile.”

Xia Chen’s vision went black as he nearly fainted. Without bothering to settle the score with Nan’er, he dashed straight to the kitchen to find water and scrub his hands over and over again.

Xia Chen was filled with grief and indignation. No wonder he had such terrible luck today. Who could he blame for his stinky hands (T/N: This is a double pun. Stinky hands is an idiom for bad luck.) but himself?

For the rest of the day, Xia Chen remained depressed. He didn’t dare draw more prizes and lost anticipation for the Magical Land seeds. He even wished he could dig them up and replant them.

At dinner, his family presented a stewed chicken, slaughtered specially to reward Xia Chen for his teacher’s praise during the ten-day examination. He shared with everyone as usual, except for his two nephews.

He picked up a chicken leg, showed it to the two brothers, and took a large bite. “It’s so delicious! You two better stay away from me, or I’ll eat this whole thing right in front of you.”

Dong’er and Nan’er exchanged bewildered glances. What had they done wrong?

The next day, it was time for school again. Xia Chen got up a little earlier and entered the space to try out the one-click harvesting and one-click planting functions. In less than five minutes, he completed his planting task for the day, though the labor cost was expensive.

These two actions cost him fifty wen, and the experience gained was reduced by a tenth. With the scale of planting sure to expand in the future, labor costs would only increase. Fortunately, his output had also increased. Even if he planted only the cheapest radishes, a single harvest could sell for more than two hundred wen.

However, Xia Chen no longer lacked money. He had always loved hoarding resources, equipment, and materials in games. Unless they were utterly useless, he would store everything. If his inventory ran out of space, he’d even spend real money to expand it.

Now, with his massive warehouse capacity, Xia Chen viewed his crops as valuable goods. Selling them back to the system felt like a rip-off, so he had yet to sell any of his harvests.

The convenient automation system brightened Xia Chen’s mood somewhat. He decided to wait for his luck to improve before drawing the remaining prizes. Only then would he properly plan out his crops for the space.

However, during his daytime class, Tongban suddenly notified him that the Magical Land seed had matured and was ready for harvesting.

Xia Chen was momentarily surprised but then recalled Tongban mentioning that the more powerful the magical plant, the slower its maturation. He realized this was likely an ordinary species; after all, the mutation probability was less than one percent. 

Despite his lowered expectations, Xia Chen couldn’t suppress his curiosity. He briefly excused himself mentally and communicated with Tongban, asking what had grown.

Xia Tongban fell eerily silent, its voice tinged with disbelief: [Mutated plant. According to the system’s calculations, the current probability of the host growing a mutated plant is 2.333%.]

“What?” Xia Chen nearly shouted aloud in the classroom. Scholar Meng’s fierce glare held his excitement in check. He fervently pressed Tongban, “What kind of mutated plant?”

[The system cannot determine. It can only be harvested by the host. Afterward, you can use your skills to obtain information about the mutated plant.]

Xia Chen endured the rest of his classes with unmatched impatience. Never had he so eagerly anticipated the day’s end.

His impulsive decision to give that soil a try had been unexpectedly fortuitous. Good bamboo shoots truly could spring from bad ones. Thankfully, his annoyance had prevented him from discarding the remaining soil on the assumption that his first attempt had failed.  

As soon as he entered the house, Xia Chen grabbed a pouch of snacks and handed it to Dong’er. “Here, share these with your younger brother.”

After thanking his nephews, Xia Chen locked the door and hurried into the space, heading straight for the Magical Land.

Moments later, Xia Chen squatted beside the field, his face creased with puzzlement. Before him grew a plant unlike any he’d ever seen. A half-meter tall stem, devoid of leaves, sported numerous blackish-brown fruits. Each had the size and smooth surface of a longan.

After some time, Xia Chen was certain he didn’t recognize this strange plant. He carefully plucked one of the fruits.

Holding it in his palm, he used an Appraisal Technique and waited as the information appeared:

[Mutated Plant Fruit: Unnamed. 

Description: The fruit of a plant grown in soil traversed by dung beetles. Upon consumption, it can cause the body to emit the scent of a corpse for a duration of one shichen^[1]Shichen: A traditional Chinese time unit, equal to two modern hours..]

Xia Chen: “…”

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