Farming Games are All About Grinding

"No wonder it's a rare wood-harvesting day after forty-plus days! The results are amazing, and the drop rate is insane." Han Qiwu nodded contentedly, then stashed away the remaining materials and opened the [Amber Wrapped Around Wood] to inspect.

[Amber Wrapped Around Wood]

[Function: Material]

[Usage: Can be opened after eight hours of sunlight exposure]

[Note: Contains treasures]

This piece of amber is noticeably larger than the snake venom amber he had obtained earlier by two entire sizes. Its color is opaque, making it impossible to discern what's inside for the moment.

"Eight hours of sunlight exposure?" Han Qiwu put it away, planning to take it home and leave it on the rooftop.

Time to continue chopping.

Soon, Han Qiwu managed to clear out this patch of white poplar forest right before the mist began to gather again.

Total harvest: [Wood] ×75, [Amber Wrapped Around Wood] ×4, [Lunar Meteoric Iron] ×8, [Mist Fruits] ×3.

Jackpot!

As he watched the surrounding mist begin to slowly close in, Han Qiwu called on Poison Liquid Radio to head toward the unexplored area and collect Mist Caterpillars.

"Chirp chirp!"

Xiao Dian had absolutely no objections.

It's quite smart.

Earlier, it had watched its master pick up three Mist Fruits right in front of its eyes!

Three fruits—no matter how you split them, surely one of them is mine?

Feeling blissful.

Following the path parallel to the cobblestone road, Han Qiwu gradually located the mist flowers in this small area.

Just like the last area on the left side, he could hear the sound of splashing water upon arrival.

It must be coming from that lake.

"If I get to the lakeside later, I might as well fish for a bit and figure out what kind of fish that yellow one was last time." Han Qiwu thought while directing Xiao Dian to toss Mist Caterpillars to feed the mist flowers.

For some reason, the mist flowers here had a significantly larger appetite. Xiao Dian had to feed over fifty Mist Caterpillars to succeed.

Thankfully, this creature works fast—just a few bites and it absorbed all the mist in the vicinity.

Consulting the map to check his progress, Han Qiwu noticed there was only one remaining area to explore before he could reach the lakeside.

Scanning his surroundings, he was delighted to find that this area had plenty of harvestable trees.

Birches, poplars, weeping willows, and at the edges, a few pines that didn't yield pine nuts.

Feeling thrilled.

Chop away!

"Bang bang bang."

After chopping for half an hour, Han Qiwu noticed the mist flowers slowly begin to open their mouths, preparing to release mist.

That won't do; the trees aren't fully chopped yet.

"Poison Liquid Radio, go collect fifty more Mist Caterpillars."

"Chirp bzz."

Upon hearing the command, Xiao Dian carried Xiao Lai on its back and flew around the area. Not finding many Mist Caterpillars here, it headed toward the adjacent unexplored region to search.

As soon as it flew into the new area, golden flashes of light darted before its eyes, dazzlingly bright.

Blinding bird eyes!

Fortunately, Xiao Lai reacted quickly, shutting its tiny black bean eyes tightly as it spewed a large mouthful of viscous stunning poison toward the golden flashes ahead.

"Splat!"

The stunning poison rapidly spread in the dense mist, expanding into a dark purple poisonous net within two or three meters.

The poisonous net met the golden light with a sharp corrosive sound that made teeth ache, accompanied by the clatter of objects falling to the ground.

With stinging eyes, Xiao Dian grew frantic and shot out bursts of high-voltage electricity.

Much like last time, the dense mist environment granted it conductive properties, making its high-voltage strikes faster and more potent.

The ground quickly resembled a mini rainstorm, crackling and snapping all around.

After two rounds of attacks, the blinding light ahead dimmed significantly.

"Chirp chirp."

Braving the pain, Xiao Dian squinted to spot the Mist Caterpillars on the ground and swiftly grabbed them with its talons, flying back toward its master.

Relying entirely on Xiao Lai to guide the way.

Once near Han Qiwu, Xiao Dian couldn't hold back anymore, dropping the Mist Caterpillars onto the ground and collapsing beside Han Qiwu, wailing loudly.

So painful!

Han Qiwu, having been joyfully chopping trees, stopped his work upon hearing Xiao Dian's cries and quickly went to check on the situation.

"What's going on? Why is it crying?"

Upon closer inspection, Han Qiwu noticed that the area around Xiao Dian's eyes was reddened, seemingly irritated by something. Glancing at Xiao Lai, it looked similar, though its tiny eyes minimized the damage.

"Poof poof."

Xiao Lai leapt off Xiao Dian's back and gestured earnestly, roughly explaining how they had encountered a flash of light, attacked it, and then returned with the Mist Caterpillars after the light dimmed.

"Encountered light?" Han Qiwu murmured while pulling out pine nuts and two portions of frozen birch sap—pine nuts for recovery and frozen sap for a soothing cold compress.

After tending to the two little creatures, Han Qiwu picked up the Mist Caterpillars Xiao Dian had just brought back to examine them.

These Mist Caterpillars were markedly different from the ones he had encountered before.

Golden stripes adorned their bodies, which were significantly larger and plumper than usual. Though dead, faint golden light continued to shimmer from them.

It seems like that light might've come from them.

"When I was on the left side earlier, I didn't find a pathway to the lake, and I didn't encounter this type of Mist Caterpillar near the lakeside either. Could these Golden-striped Mist Caterpillars be related to the passage to the next area?" Han Qiwu speculated while studying the creatures.

As the surrounding mist thickened, Han Qiwu decided to toss a Golden-striped Mist Caterpillar into the mist flower.

Sure enough, the results were impressive.

The mist flower's rate of mist emission immediately slowed down.

"Interesting." Han Qiwu mused, then continued feeding seven more Golden-striped Mist Caterpillars to the mist flower.

The mist flower, now satisfied, began inhaling the surrounding mist in big gulps.

Time to chop trees again.

"You two rest here; I'll finish the chopping and check things out later." Han Qiwu comforted his two pet companions before resuming his tree-chopping endeavor.

"Bang bang bang."

The world is vast, but tree-chopping is paramount!

An hour later, Han Qiwu leaned against a tree root, wiped his sweat with his sleeve, and pulled out two big strawberries to snack on.

Exhausted.

If only I had Baldy Strong's electric chainsaw.

Just a swipe along the tree base would get the job done.

This little axe is way too labor-intensive.

These golden-striped Mist Caterpillars are potent—the mist flower still hasn't emitted mist after an hour!

Glancing at his storage, he found that in just over two hours, his harvest included [Wood] ×754, [Amber Wrapped Around Wood] ×19, [Lunar Meteoric Iron] ×24, [Mist Fruits] ×19, [Frozen Tree Sap] ×23, [Various Tree Saplings] ×26.

What a haul!