Farming Games are All About Grinding

This is the technique he devised for catching the charging-type fish.

These charging-type fish are very impatient; as long as the floater is placed in the middle, they will rush over on their own.

Sure enough, in less than half a second, a mutant carp, 1.5 times the size of a regular carp, rushed straight to the floater's position.

Ha, you young little carp.

Watching as the progress bar began to rise, Han Qiwu struck while the iron was hot and immediately cast a mid-level Lightning Spell.

Golden lightning shot out from the fishing frame toward the mutant carp.

But at that very moment—

A green glow flickered over the mutant carp, instantly turning the golden lightning green before redirecting it toward the floater.

[Your floater was hit by a polluted mid-level Lightning Spell and will remain stationary for 2 seconds]

What's going on?

Only then did Han Qiwu realize: its pollution skill can transform his own skills into polluted versions?

That's so disgusting!

Luckily, he had placed the floater in the center of the fishing frame earlier; otherwise, he'd be headed straight for failure.

After enduring the 2 seconds of inactivity, Han Qiwu gave up on using skills altogether and focused entirely on manipulating the floater closer to the mutant carp.

As he continued to fish, he felt as if he was returning to the days of catching tiny yellow fish — relying entirely on memory and technique without using any skills.

This feeling was pretty nice.

After battling for a full five minutes, Han Qiwu finally filled the progress bar. Taking a deep breath, he pulled the mutant carp out of the water and placed it into his storage bin.

[Mutant Carp]

[Stamina: -500]

[Health: -500]

[Note: The polluted mutant carp carries pollution source fragments. Purifying it with a gemstone will yield 200 purification points.]

The mutant carp's stats were even worse than the ancient fish from the mangrove sanctuary.

But Han Qiwu wasn't fishing it for consumption, so its stats didn't matter.

"200 purification points? This thing is pretty valuable. Catching just two and a half of these will get me an Iridium Sprinkler."

Han Qiwu reminisced about when he first saw those fish and somewhat pieced the situation together.

Without these fish flipping their tails around, there might not be as many pollution worms here.

Turning around, Han Qiwu saw that most of the polluted moths within the blast radius were already dead. At the same time, the Poison Liquid Radio was leading dozens of pollution worms in circles.

Han Qiwu noticed that Little Electric was almost out of stamina. He quickly placed the final time bomb on the ground and called out to Little Electric to lure the pollution worms over, triggering their hatching state one by one.

A minute later, another explosion echoed, and the newly emerged polluted moths were all converted into Han Qiwu's purification points.

Little Electric was stunned the first time it witnessed the bomb's power.

Such a powerful bomb!

Slacking off will be even easier now!!

Master rocks!!

Han Qiwu ignored it, grabbed the remaining five throwable Flame Bombs, and continued searching for pollution worms.

Twenty minutes later, all five bombs were used up, and Han Qiwu's ears were close to going deaf.

"In addition to waterproof shoes, I need to get earplugs as well. I can't end up with hearing loss later." Han Qiwu's head buzzed faintly.

That's it for today. Time to check the results!

Should've earned enough for an Iridium Sprinkler!

He hopped on his Windfire Wheels and headed to the purification gemstone, pulling out the mutant carp and placing it under the sculpture.

The mutant carp, carrying pollution source fragments, squirmed energetically, desperately trying to escape.

But just then, a transparent beam shot out from the purification gemstone, instantly shattering the pollution source fragments on the mutant carp.

Having lost its pollution source fragments, the mutant carp turned into white light and disappeared.

Purification complete.

Only after the transparent beam faded did Han Qiwu step forward and touch the purification gemstone sculpture to check its status.

[Current Purification Points: 1290]

[Currently Exchangeable Rare Resources: Iridium Sprinkler (500), Solar Essence (100), Custom Building Blueprint (10000)]

1290 points already!

Aside from the mutant carp's 200 points and the 70 points from last time, he had taken care of more than two hundred polluted moths this time, most of which were bombed.

Flame Bombs! Forever the MVP!

Without a second thought, Han Qiwu exchanged his points for two Iridium Sprinklers and one Solar Essence. After grabbing them, he dashed out on his Windfire Wheels.

If he didn't run now, those shameless pollution worms would catch up again.

Disgusting little creatures!

Once out of the polluted zone, Han Qiwu instantly tore open a Teleportation Scroll to return home. After releasing his two pets, he headed straight to the bathroom to enjoy a refreshing shower.

He hadn't expected the most consumed resource in the polluted zone not to be supplies.

But water.

With his hair dried, he lay back on his reclining chair and happily pulled out an Iridium Sprinkler for inspection.

The Iridium Sprinkler glowed with a rainbow-colored shimmer under the sunlight, just like Iridium Elixirs. Its appearance was incredibly pleasing to look at. It was only slightly larger than a basic sprinkler, with a detailed ring-shaped spout in the middle, suggesting it probably had a large watering range.

[Iridium Sprinkler]

[Materials: Recipe not yet acquired]

[Effect: The Iridium Sprinkler will water 24 tiles of land adjacent to its 5×5 area every morning, excluding its own location.]

[Note: Arrange placement thoughtfully.]

After reviewing its details, Han Qiwu was thrilled.

Watering coverage for 24 tiles!

One Iridium Sprinkler matches the power of six basic sprinklers.

One versus six — no contest!

With enough Iridium Sprinklers, the farm's planting range could be expanded once again!

Moreover, the sprinkler's description hinted that the recipe was still obtainable.

Imagine being able to craft Iridium Sprinklers himself.

The other exchange item, Solar Essence, had much simpler details.

[Solar Essence]

[Use: Crafting material]

[Note: Solar Essence contains energy derived from the sun.]

Upon reading the note, Han Qiwu immediately wondered whether this material could be used to make bombs.

Could solar energy mean nuclear fusion?

Exciting idea.

He needed to spend more time hammering away in the mines and upgrading his mining skill.

Explosions were always exhilarating.

After wrapping up the inspection, Han Qiwu installed both Iridium Sprinklers in his vegetable patch, saving the Solar Essence in his storage chest for use when he obtained the recipe.

Standing next to the storage chest, he quickly crafted five timed Flame Bombs and five throwable Flame Bombs. Thinking ahead about the necessity of timed bombs, he also pulled out extra materials to craft two charcoal kilns to increase daily production of premium charcoal.

After a short break, Han Qiwu called over his two pets, tossing handfuls of pine nuts to each of them.

Xiao Lai happily munched on his pine nuts. Now that he had hands—albeit short ones—he was capable of cracking open the shells.

Meanwhile, Little Electric stared warily at Han Qiwu, waiting to hear what his owner had planned next.

"Eat up, fill your bellies, then come with me to explore the mines for a while. It's super fun."

Xiao Lai: "...Suddenly, these pine nuts don't taste as good anymore."