Farming Games are All About Grinding

"Splish, splash."

The ocean waves crashed against the shore, sending sprays of white foam into the air.

At the same time, two Deng's Fish, one large and one small, were carried ashore.

Or more accurately, a massive and a large Deng's Fish.

After days of scavenging, the smaller Deng's Fish had grown nearly to the size of the original mutated Big Deng's Fish, and it now swam with a mightier presence.

Seduced by the bait, the two Deng's Fish lunged forward in tandem, splitting the bait equally between them.

Standing on the reef, Han Qiwu enthusiastically waved his trusty Golden Sun rod and said, "Old Deng, I've got something good here that could grow your family. Care to give it a shot?"

This idea came from his previous experience fishing two Lava Eels—if he could use the Universal Bait to catch two small Deng's Fish, then releasing (or selling) them later might mean doubling the yield.

Surely Big Deng's Fish would be thrilled!

"Snap!"

Big Deng's Fish devoured the bait without any intention of expanding its family and immediately turned tail to flee.

"Hey, don't leave!"

Han Qiwu, growing anxious, vigorously swung the Golden Sun rod attached with Universal Bait, aiming directly at the smaller Deng's Fish's mouth.

But the smaller Deng's Fish, having suffered losses before, swiftly dove down into the deep sea, flicking the fishhook away with its tail.

Just then, a Sword Spitter Fish happened to be rinsing its mouth.

One spit, one gulp.

The fishhook ended up in its mouth.

Fishing game triggered.

"What a waste," Han Qiwu muttered, looking at the Sword Spitter Fish within the fishing game interface.

The downside of using Universal Bait outside was the inability to select specific fish species—you catch what comes.

Seconds later, the progress bar reached its peak.

[Universal Bait's special effect triggered!]

[You obtained [Sword Spitter Fish] ×2]

"Three Universal Baits left," Han Qiwu noted with a shake of his head. "Better save the rest for fishing specific fish in the mines."

For now, he'd rely on Deng's Fish bait.

Swapping the bait, Han Qiwu cast his fishhook back into the ocean.

Soon, distant white waves began to rise again.

Spotting the fishhook, Big Deng's Fish charged forward with an air of dominance, snapping up the bait in one bite.

Seeing its size, Han Qiwu frowned slightly.

Bigger than ever, thankfully the Golden Sun rod's float length was adequate—if not, it might've been impossible to reel it in.

Clearly, it hadn't been skimping on meals recently.

Such arrogance.

[Mutated Deng's Fish, Heavy Sink type, skill effect: Super Furious Swelling, Float Destroyer]

"Another skill? Super Furious Swelling?" Han Qiwu chuckled, utterly unfazed.

"As if a fisherman could be intimidated by a fish!"

Within the fishing game, the mutated Deng's Fish arrogantly flicked its tail, baring rows of sharp white teeth, and darted aggressively toward the float.

"Trying to bite my float again? Dream on." Han Qiwu swung his hand, unleashing a bolt of lightning straight at it.

[Stunned]

By the time the control effect wore off, the adjacent progress bar had already reached one-third in completion.

"Crack!"

Once free of the control effect, the mutated Deng's Fish immediately bit down hard on the float.

The float fractured once more.

Taking advantage of the disruption caused by biting the float, the mutated Deng's Fish quickly darted out of the float's range.

The progress bar began to fall.

"I feed you bait, and you still bite my gear? Looks like the sea doesn't just send waves but also thankless creatures like you!" Han Qiwu glared at the fishing game in anger, pointing at it as he sent another flash of golden light down.

[Stunned]

After dragging the progress bar to two-thirds completion, Han Qiwu noticed a surge of black energy swirling around the mutated Deng's Fish.

Super Furious Swelling!

After activating its skill, the already enormous body of the mutated Deng's Fish expanded even further. Its teeth grew sharper, and black mist began emitting from its body.

It had now grown even longer than the float itself.

Seeing this, Han Qiwu remained completely composed, smiling faintly.

This skill is decent.

But you picked the wrong opponent.

Last time I fished you, you weren't the only one who learned something new.

I did, too.

"Shrink for me!"

Han Qiwu shouted dramatically as a palpable ripple erupted from his body, surging into the fishing game and instantly reverting the mutated Deng's Fish to its original size.

[Intimidate]!

This was an achievement reward skill granted to him last time as a King of the Sea candidate, designed to nullify fish skills.

Status-based skills, of course, were fish skills too.

Without pause, Han Qiwu sent another golden streak, further reducing the size of the mutated Deng's Fish.

"The loneliness of mastery," Han Qiwu sighed, effortlessly reeling in the mutated Deng's Fish.

[Congratulations on successfully catching a mutated Deng's Fish in the one-star ☆ secret realm]

[Mutated Deng's Fish]

[Sale price: 9000 gold]

[Stamina +850]

[HP -400]

[Note: A mutated Deng's Fish that failed to exact revenge]

"Its price even went up? Encouraging me to become a fish-raising King of the Sea?" Han Qiwu remarked in surprise, staring at the system prompt in front of him.

If that's the case, has the smaller Deng's Fish also increased in value?

Wasting no time, Han Qiwu hooked up Deng's Fish bait again and scanned the reef's edge for the smaller Deng's Fish.

But unlike previous attempts, this time the smaller Deng's Fish appeared to have grown shrewder.

It had disappeared long ago.

"Sigh, it doesn't seem to share hardships with its elder," Han Qiwu lamented as he walked toward the secret realm's trading post to sell the mutated Deng's Fish.

After selling it, he sprinted back to the reef, standing on tiptoe to check the condition of the sea trench.

With one glance, he noticed the mutated Deng's Fish darting out of the trench at incredible speed, racing into the deeper ocean without a backwards glance.

"Forget it, let it grow more—next time it might be worth tens of thousands!" Han Qiwu shrugged, switching to Hammerhead Shark and Culinary Shark bait to continue fishing.

By the end of his session, Han Qiwu had earned an additional 17,750 gold from the Hammerhead Shark and Culinary Shark catches.

Not a bad haul overall.

Upon leaving the secret realm, Han Qiwu made a deliberate stop to check the area outside Mist Forest.

Unfortunately, the pink mist still filled the forest.

There'd be no lumberjacking inside Mist Forest today.

Luckily, he hadn't yet chopped down the miniature Forest of All Trees at home—he could handle that later.

Once home, Han Qiwu headed straight for the miniature Forest of All Trees.

To his delight, today's miniature forest had generated a new type of tree.

[Rubber Tree]

And it had spawned a total of fifty.

Towering rubber trees stretched twenty to thirty meters tall. They weren't thick, though; they were long and slender.

Time to chop!

Han Qiwu, full of enthusiasm, grabbed his axe and swung at the closest rubber tree.

After three chops, the tree fell with a satisfying crack.

[Wood] ×4

[Rubber Tree Sapling]

[Frozen Rubber]

The Forest of All Trees' lumberjack effect was as overbearing as ever.

Every tree produced three types of loot.

Wood, of course, needed no explanation. Rubber tree saplings resembled their parent trees, tall and thin at over ten meters.

As for Frozen Rubber, it looked like a giant eraser—white, rigid, and solid.

Han Qiwu could already guess the origin of this material.

The rubber tree's sap was, of course, rubber.