Chapter 10: Two Acres of Fertile Land

If there were any outsiders at this moment, the scene would look like this:

A field of pure white cotton. A long-haired woman in a light gray tracksuit, with a dazed, almost crazed expression, poking around an unfamiliar machine, occasionally bursting into maniacal laughter—“hahaha.”

Yes, this is our heroine, Miss Su Ning. After obtaining the spinning machine, she spent a full five minutes fiddling with it like a fool before gradually regaining her composure.

Su Ning opened her backpack to check the other two items. This time, the rewards didn’t appear as cards, so she couldn’t tell their quality—but having the spinning machine already satisfied her.

• Pack of Cotton Seeds: Enough to plant one acre of fertile land.
• Two-Acre Certificate: After settling down, allows purchase of two acres of fertile land locally.

Upon seeing the certificate, Su Ning immediately thought of buying land and houses, living peacefully, and establishing property. That would also imply new social rules—if the game’s end followed the system’s rules to form a new society, that wouldn’t be bad either. But the game had only just begun. Su Ning neither wanted to save the world nor explore ultimate secrets. She knew her own limits; overthinking was pointless.

She had claimed the Level 5 challenge reward. What lay ahead—Level 6 or even Level 10—remained unknown. Important matters like fertile land wouldn’t be missed. For now, upgrading and returning home took priority.

Harvesting 100 times only yielded 100 cotton bolls. Su Ning silently complained; the system was stingy.

Seeing it was still early, she moved to the nearby flax plantation.

“Beep! Player has entered Level 5 harvesting zone. Harvestable species: Flax. Guardian Warrior: Level 5 Mutant Cockroach. Upon successful challenge, harvesting begins. Start challenge?”

“Cockroach…” Su Ning muttered. A mutant cockroach—wasn’t that the Level 5 cockroach from the east side of the safe zone?

She reflected: although she hadn’t seen many monsters, there was no way a cockroach would be as foolish as a skeleton soldier, allowing itself to be kited.

After thinking it through, she chose to challenge. The reason was simple: if it didn’t work, she could retreat. A healer wouldn’t be one-shot killed by a cockroach, right?

“Beep! Player, prepare. Challenge begins.”

The challenge platform was the same, with the same exit button. The only change: the skeleton soldier was now a shoe-sized, dark mutant cockroach.

As the challenge started, the cockroach flew straight at Su Ning. Seeing she couldn’t outrun it, she drew her dagger. Left hand held the staff for casting, right hand the dagger for close-range defense.

A critical slash hit the charging cockroach, instantly reducing its HP by one-fifth. Before she could strike again, the cockroach bit her calf, draining half her HP instantly. Su Ning quickly cast a healing skill to stabilize her HP bar.

Her left hand struck the cockroach twice, but it refused to release, holding her calf tightly. At such close range, she feared injuring herself and could only slash lightly—each hit reduced only one-tenth of its HP.

Every so often, the cockroach moved its mandibles, taking nearly half of Su Ning’s HP. Its persistent bite darkened a quarter of her health bar, limiting healing.

Su Ning gritted her teeth and began slashing repeatedly, healing herself every two strikes. After a few rounds, the mutant cockroach finally died—still in mangled pieces.

“Beep! Challenge complete. Congratulations, player! You have gained today’s flax harvesting rights: 0/100.”
“Beep! Congratulations, player! Successfully defeated Level 5 Guardian Warrior. System rewards: Pack of flax seeds, one bolt of white cotton fabric, two bolts of light gray flax fabric. Wishing the player success!”

Seeing the fabric, suitable for summer wear, Su Ning felt the painful bites had been worth it.

She cast two Night Priest healing skills on herself before resting briefly in the field. The gray portion of her HP bar slowly recovered.

Looking at the lush green flax field, she started planning her harvest. Before the system prompt, she hadn’t even recognized the crop as flax.

After consideration, Su Ning used her dagger to harvest from the roots, continuing her flax-to-fabric process. Collecting more would only be useful.

After painstakingly gathering 100 flax plants, she decided not to continue in this Level 5 harvesting zone.

The two Level 5 battles had consumed most of her energy. But Su Ning also realized a flaw: while the challenge mode offered rich rewards, it gave no experience points.

On the way back, she picked some tomatoes and cucumbers—Level 1 guardian monsters, easily handled.

Meanwhile, in the teahouse, Duoduo had finally completed her day of knife practice.

Back at the inn, facing a completely exhausted Duoduo, Su Ning washed some cucumbers and tomatoes.

Though these foods added little in stats—only a small satiety boost—they were immensely satisfying after several days of eating buns and flower rolls.

During the meal, Su Ning explained the challenge mode in the harvesting zones and mentioned the two-acre certificate. Duoduo became immediately excited.

The two girls now had a little more hope for the future, beyond just returning home.

After their chat, Su Ning opened the crafting system and retrieved the pre-tanned rabbit pelts.

The smooth, soft rabbit pelts were irresistible. Compared with pelts dropped directly from hunted rabbits, these were far more supple.

Su Ning marveled at the crafting system’s power. Opening the crafting assistant, the rows of processing options almost dazzled her eyes.

Finally, she processed the flax plants into starch-treated flax thread, ready for weaving. From now on, she could weave directly or dye the fabric. The rest depended on future opportunities.

The remaining cotton she decided to leave untouched, planning to consult the master tomorrow on spinning techniques.

Night had fallen. The game didn’t force sleep, but lack of rest could lead to negative status effects, which is why few players were active at night.

Su Ning, however, didn’t want to sleep so early. She needed the time.

• To study the master’s illustrated manuals.
• To practice the skills taught by the master.
• To kill monsters and level up.

She had no choice but to cut down on sleep to learn her craft.

The rabbit pelts were ready. Su Ning, while referencing the apprentice sewing manual, began crafting rabbit wool wrist guards.

Since these were the simplest, and she already had finished rabbit pelts, she could compare results. Following the manual’s method produced wrist guards far superior to raw drops.

Su Ning realized the crafting system truly encouraged players to make their own gear.

Understanding this, her interest surged, and she began studying the manual carefully.