S City.
Harsh, strange lights cast a beam across a bustling and clamorous scene.
Zhang Cheng, 26, looked away from the scene. He was an insignificant worker, barely surviving in this multinational metropolis.
His situation was a common tale, shared by many others.
His salary was less than 6,000 yuan a month, just enough to keep him off the streets.
Rent alone was 2,300 yuan per month. Of course, this was a decent place that he had rented with his girlfriend before.
Although they had since broken up, Zhang Cheng did not plan to move. On one hand, it was troublesome. On the other hand, he was used to living in this place. Moreover, the landlord was not bad. If there was any damage to his room, he would immediately come and fix it, as long as it was not caused by its tenant, he would not charge Zhang Cheng for it.
Because of this, Zhang Cheng had been living here for four years.
Four years.
As he thought of this, a beautiful figure flashed through Zhang Cheng's mind. His ex-girlfriend, Nan Nan.
Zhang Cheng shook his head. He did not intend to continue reminiscing about the past. He walked into the subway, found a seat, and took out his cell phone.
He flicked his way to a certain novel and read one of the best novels he had ever found on the internet.
The protagonist in the novel had obtained a "system" and was gaining so much from it. Zhang Cheng's exhaustion from the day's work ebbed away as he read.
After about 40 minutes, Zhang Cheng walked out of the subway and headed home. He spotted a fruit stand by the roadside. He thought for a moment and bought two bags of oranges. Buying them was actually not necessary, for he had a "system" of his own. He had the potential to produce fruit in the space of about half an acre of land, which was about 300 square meters, or approximately 18 by 18 meters. But it was not yet time. Zhang Cheng still spent money to buy regular fruits.
Fruits produced in the space could be sold into points, and then the space's level could be raised from those points.
Three years ago, Zhang Cheng had suddenly obtained a pocket dimension that only existed in his consciousness.
Just when he thought he was about to become the main character of a god-tier literary hero, reality smacked him in the face.
Even if this pocket dimension worked to the whims of his consciousness with a single thought, completing various procedures such as farming, planting, harvesting, and simple processing were exactly the same as they were in the real world.
Other than being able to be controlled by Zhang Cheng's consciousness, this dimension was only half an acre in size, with a length and width of about 18 meters. It could simply be regarded as an ordinary piece of land.
The various plants produced were all ordinary, and there was nothing special about the various animals within. Moreover, the time needed for them to grow was about the same as the time needed in reality. On top of that, there was the matter of fertilizer.
In short, it was just an ordinary half an acre of land that existed within his mind.
Items could be taken out from the space, and items that the space needed could be taken in, but it did not qualify as an "item bag" or "inventory" either.
Zhang Cheng's first impulse was to start investing to get things rolling, but he did not have the means.
Onlookers would cry in sympathy.
After all, such "systems" gave their protagonists blazing head starts, but he was a beggar among such protagonists.
Fortunately, Zhang Cheng found out by chance that the various items nurtured within the dimension itself could be exchanged for spatial points.
Those spatial points seemed to be able to increase the level of the pocket dimension.
Although he didn't know what benefits would come from leveling it up, from then on, apart from experimenting with the exchange points for various crops and animals, Zhang Cheng basically left the dimension to itself.
He only took out some items occasionally to check on them.
What if there was something special? He did not need something groundbreaking or Nobel-worthy like curing AIDs, even treating cold and fever was good.
If he could improve his living conditions just by a little...
What was worse was that the points exchanged seemed to be fixed.
For example, wheat could be harvested twice a year. It yielded about 1,000 kilograms, which could be exchanged for 100 space points. Potatoes could be harvested four to five times a year, and each harvest would yield about 3,000 kilograms. In other words, one could harvest 12,000 to 15,000 kilograms a year, but the space points that could be exchanged were still 100 points!
Not to mention other things, wheat did not require a lot of fertilizer in a year. In a year, it would total up to about 400 kilograms, which was about 1,000 to 2,000 yuan. But potatoes needed a lot of organic fertilizer. Each batch required at least 200 kilograms. After four or five batches, it added up to 1,000 kilograms, and the cost would have doubled by then.
When he discovered that the exchange rate was constant, which meant that no matter how well he cultivated his crops, he would only get so many points, Zhang Cheng decided that it was not worth his time mulling over it. He directly planted some fruit trees to deal with it.
Fortunately, the upgrade did not require many points, only 300 points.
As he saw his efforts blossoming to fruition, Zhang Cheng could not help but look forward to it.
In about ten days, he would be able to accumulate a total of 300 points.
More than ten days passed in the blink of an eye.
When Zhang Cheng willed the harvest in the dimension into points, 300 points sprung into his mental space.
"Would you like to upgrade the dimension?" A translucent notification appeared in front of Zhang Cheng.
"Of course!" Zhang Cheng said with a little excitement.
"Upgrading, please wait... please wait..."
About two to three minutes later.
"Upgrade completed, you have obtained a Heavenly Dimension."
Then it was gone.
Zhang Cheng was stunned when he saw this. That's it? You're messing with me!
Zhang Cheng's heart was close to weeping. His previous state of calm had vanished. It was similar to being drafted into a completely worthless team in a multiplayer game.
However, nothing could be changed about it. As the old saying went, the greater the expectation, the greater the disappointment.
Zhang Cheng sighed and looked around in his mind. He discovered that the space seemed to have folded. It was like looking at two computer monitors at the same time.
He grew a little more interested. He looked at the fresh bare space. It was the same size as the previous plot, about half an acre.
It called this a Heavenly Dimension?
Where were the shooting stars and endless open night skies? Where were the other planets from other galaxies in the universe?
Was this just a pocket of space being given a glamorous name?
Zhang Cheng couldn't figure it out, so he simply stopped thinking.
Should he just continue planting?
He looked at the 0/3000 notification at the top. In other words, the points required for the next upgrade would increase by 10 times, requiring 3,000 points. If he were to calculate it according to the previous upgrade process, Zhang Cheng would need 30 years to level up again. Of course, he now had twice the space. He could work twice as efficiently and halve the time to 15 years.
However, it was still another fifteen years of waiting. When it's finally leveled up, what was the point of having another plot of land?
Zhang Cheng sighed. However, he had been brought up thrifty and frugal. He decided to plant fruit trees in this newly acquired space.
It was better than doing nothing. Who wouldn't?
Moreover, if things seemed pointless, he could start working on this plot as it were. The fruits produced in a full acre of land would still be rather substantial.
At least it wouldn't be difficult to break even with rent alone.
Zhang Cheng felt a little better.