Mowing the grass? Xiao Buli furrowed his brows. He had not anticipated such a twist. To every gamer, it was common knowledge that having one higher-level skill was far more beneficial than two lower-level ones. He was quite reluctant to have his leveling process disrupted, but there was no helping it; that's just how the game was designed. As he moved his mouse to click 'Accept,' Xiao Buli paused. This game was unlike any he had played before; it didn't feature fixed quest rewards. Blindly accepting the quest might result in working for free. In that case, he should probably negotiate for a better deal. Yes, he definitely needed to get the details straightened out first. He figured he might even be able to set some terms himself.
"Excuse me, but mowing the grass isn't really part of feeding pigs, is it? What kind of compensation are you offering me?" Xie Tiankong didn't ask if there would be a reward; this was a negotiation tactic, forcing the choice of 'how much' instead of 'whether.' Why am I trying to outsmart a computer? Am I starting to treat the in-game NPCs like real people? At this thought, Xiao Buli couldn't help but find it somewhat amusing.
The farmer seemed somewhat annoyed as he rubbed his hands and replied, "Why bring up compensation at every turn? Young people these days... really, I don't know what to say."
No refusal? Xiao Buli thought there was an opening. Given the high degree of freedom in the game, the use of negotiation tactics must surely have its place.
After the farmer finished speaking and saw that Xiao Buli had no reaction, realizing he hadn't bluffed him, he gave Xiao Buli a sidelong glance and reluctantly said, "Since you've worked so hard for such a long time, here's what I'll do: for every hundred jin of grass you mow, I'll give you two copper coins. Don't set any more terms now; if you ask for more, I might as well do it myself."
That really worked. Xiao Buli decisively chose to accept. Although it was just two copper coins, it gave him a further insight into the level of freedom in the game. Being able to bargain freely with NPCs put it ahead of renowned games like "Ancient Scroll" in terms of freedom. Just who developed this game?
He didn't linger on the subject and instinctively prepared to set off.
"Hold on a second. What's the hurry? You haven't even taken the tools you need for mowing." As he spoke, the farmer turned and went into the house to retrieve a rusty scythe which he handed over to Xiao Buli, while explaining some mowing techniques to him.
System Prompt: You have learned the 'harvesting' skill, current level LV1.
System Prompt: You have obtained an item — Rusty Scythe.
Rusty Scythe (One-handed Sword): Attack 1—7 (Gray Quality).
Weapon Special Effect: Tetanus — After injuring the target, there is a very slight chance to cause a tetanus effect, dealing 14 points of disease damage over ten seconds.
After equipping the scythe, Xiao Buli headed straight to the grassy fields behind the village. Upon arrival, he indeed found a vast meadow, filled with tall grass over a meter high. It seemed like another task of repetitive labor. Xiao Buli took a deep breath and began his character's harvesting efforts.
After a tedious half-hour, when the harvesting skill reached LV2, Xiao Buli couldn't help but curse under his breath. If feeding pigs could still be considered somewhat interesting and challenging, then mowing was nothing short of torture—pure, repetitive labor. Watching the skill experience bar crawl up like a snail climbing a tree, even he, with countless all-night leveling sessions under his belt, was left speechless.
Given the way levelling up and quests work in this game, it's no wonder it would never catch on. If it weren't for the fact that he was playing as a job for someone else, Xiao Buli would've been ready to quit a long time ago. No matter how good the graphics or how amazing the NPC dialogue system is, how can a game without any fun attract players? Did the designers of this game have their brains filled with shit?
At this moment, Xiao Buli actually felt an urge to kill the game designers. Who would play this crappy game, with its dazzling effects but such a shitty way of levelling up? It's infuriating. The little appreciation he had for the game had completely vanished, plummeting like the stock market in a bearish trend. When the repetitive task of harvesting made his finger joints feel numb, the market had truly crashed.
However, Xiao Buli's mindset slowly calmed down. As a professional gamer, enduring the drudgery was essential. His face was expressionless as his fingers flew across the keyboard.
His carry weight was 45 pounds, and the amount he harvested each trip was just shy of earning him one copper coin. On average, it took five minutes to fill up his carry weight, and harvesting consumed stamina points as well. After about half an hour, he'd need to take a break, drink some water, eat some food, and recover some physical strength before continuing. In one hour, he earned a mere ten copper coins, and that was it. This amount of money was laughable in other games—where even a new player could defeat a couple of trash minor monsters and get the same drop—but in this game, it would take an hour of work to earn. The economic system of this game was ridiculously exaggerated. However, despite the pitiful amount, the increase in copper coins was currently the only motivation for Xiao Buli to feel he wasn't bustling about in vain.
By around four in the afternoon, after the thirtieth delivery of harvested pig grass, the harvesting skill finally rose to level three. Accompanied by a flash of golden light, a line of text appeared on the screen.
System prompt: After a long time of harvesting experience, you have gained an insight into the "One-handed Sword Mastery" skill, currently at LV1.
One-handed Sword Mastery!? The busy day finally yielded some reward, which sounded like a very practical skill. Xiao Buli quickly commanded his tired fingers to open the skill bar and glanced at the skill description.
One-handed Sword Mastery: You have a bit of understanding of using one-handed swords, allowing you to operate such weapons better in combat. Learning skills related to these weapons comes more naturally to you. This skill is also a prerequisite for Swordsmanship skills.
Hmm, it seems like this skill is somewhat more beneficial than Taming Skills, at least it's useful in battle. After giving it some thought, Xiao Buli decided to level up the "harvesting" skill to Max Level regardless of the boring process. Amidst the repetitive and monotonous tasks, it took him a full three days, but he finally levelled up harvesting to LV10. He also mastered One-handed Sword Mastery to LV3, and at LV5, learned an active skill called "Chain Sword Strike".
Chain Sword Strike: Strike the target repeatedly with your weapon, inflicting multiple instances of weapon damage. Each subsequent hit reduces in power due to diminishing strength. Using this skill consumes 5 Stamina Points, with a cooldown time of 10 seconds.
Additionally, by maxing out the harvesting skill, he also gained 2 agility and 2 strength attribute points. His strength was now at 11 points, and his carry weight had increased to 55 pounds. He wasn't quite sure how the increase in attributes was calculated.
Looking at the numbers on the screen, Xiao Buli shook his stiff neck, feeling like he was finally returning to reality. He turned his head to look at the other three players, who were completely focused on their computer screens. Their expressions suggested that even blinking seemed like a major loss.
The game seemed difficult, yet many aspects demanded less technical prowess and more a capacity for hard work and endurance. Xiao Buli turned his head back; it appeared these past few days involved absolutely no communication between them. Besides gaming, their daily lives seemed to slip away into obscurity, including his own. Day and night, it felt as if his life had nothing else but the game. Had he eaten these past few days? Had he exercised? Thinking carefully, even Xiao Buli was somewhat unclear—his life outside the game seemed like a dream. Looking at the busy NPCs and newbies in the village, Xiao Buli wondered why such a crappy game was so compelling. Everyone was desperately levelling up as if trying to prove something to the most important person in their lives—to show their capability.
When he finally returned to the farmer to feed the pigs again, as opposed to harvesting, Xiao Buli was somehow looking forward to the not-so-interesting task of feeding pigs. Thinking back to his initial disgust for the swineherd role, Xiao Buli laughed to himself at life's ironies.