CHAPTER 297: CHAPTER 297 FISH POND

This is destined to be a mystery with no immediate answer because there is no customer service or dialogue function in the system.

Jiang Yuan can only guess, for example, the guy who appeared in Riverfront Village and was beaten to death by the villagers was obviously a "player" like him, and he also assumed that the living people were NPCs at first.

But different personalities lead to different behaviors. The other party probably didn’t lack money, so after spending lavishly in Riverfront Village, they wanted to act recklessly and enjoy the treatment of a local emperor, but ended up tragically.

According to the "game setting" when "players" leave, the system should be unique. Otherwise, if other "players" enter or exit, it would certainly affect the progress on Jiang Yuan’s side.

It is very likely that it first chose to bind that lucky person, and unexpectedly, he performed a reckless move that got him killed as soon as he entered the "game." Only then did the system look for a new host, entering his phone and prompting for a timed download?

If he had hesitated and not downloaded at that time, he would have missed the opportunity.

But the question is... before that brother died recklessly, had the system been bound to someone else? What happened to those people? Surely not everyone who mistook the Otherworld for a game met their demise, causing the system to flow back into the "market"?

Or perhaps, if you progress step by step and complete all the tasks issued by the system, reaching some kind of achievement, then you no longer need the system and can unbind?

"So it sounds like it’s an iron-clad system with flowing hosts!" The more Jiang Yuan thought about it, the more he felt he was on the right track, making up his mind not to falter halfway.

"Crack, crack!"

Hu Zhile waved colorful ribbons and cast magic, causing trees to topple; Wan Mingchuan went ahead with an axe to clear the tree roots;

Seeing this, Yun Shu mimicked the actions, flicking her slender hands and conjuring a blue arc in her palm, which flew out like a spinning, sharp blade to cut down knee-high wild grass, revealing stones hidden in the grass.

The elder brother of the Yun family, Yun Mo, went forward with a pickaxe to clear the stones. The four-person team worked seamlessly together and quickly pushed the clearing progress forward, while Jiang Yuan followed behind them cleaning up the mess—simply touching those woods, roots, wild grass, and stones, turned them into points of light that gathered into his Storage Bag.

After working for over an hour, the only unlocked areas left were a series of house ruins and an abandoned, dilapidated fish pond in the southwest corner.

Removing the ruins was a task Jiang Yuan had to do himself.

Others using shovels couldn’t budge the mounds of building debris. Only when Jiang Yuan himself got involved would the system show a progress bar, and with ten or so shovels, a large area of ruins would transform into recyclable basic materials like stones and wooden planks.

As expected, even when the last piece of ruin was cleared, he did not find a box containing a diary.

"Venerable Family, how should we deal with this muddy ground?" Hu Zhile looked at the pit full of sludge and the surrounding dilapidated wooden fences, unsure of what kind of building it once was.

Jiang Yuan clicked to check and found that the materials needed to repair the fish pond were not many, but the Fishing Skill needed to be raised to Level Five before there was a qualification to repair a Primary Fish Pond for breeding fish.

"Leave it for now, this is a Fish Pond. I will repair it later."

"Fish Pond?" Hu Zhile looked back at the wide river not far away, not understanding, "We have a river next to us and a lake in the forest. Do we still need a Fish Pond for fish farming?"

Yun Shu also came over, nodded seriously, and said, "I can help catch plenty of fish, no need to farm."

Wan Mingchuan was trying to scout the details of the undiscovered area with Yun Mo at the edge of the forest, and upon hearing these words, he turned his head to look at the not-so-big dilapidated Fish Pond and laughed, "Such a small pool, how many fish could it possibly hold? Master, let’s fill it up. If we really want to farm fish, it’s much simpler to enclose an area on the river surface."

"You don’t understand, do you? If it exists, it has its reason. The Fish Pond may look small on the surface, but it can actually accommodate quite a lot of fish. Moreover, you can mix different kinds of fish, whether they’re river fish or sea fish, and even those active in different seasons."

Jiang Yuan looked at the system’s details and said, "With such a Fish Pond at home, we can raise the rare fish we catch in the future and eat them whenever we like."

With two hours left before six in the evening, and the Fishing Skill just a short stretch away from leveling up, he decided to follow the main quest given by the system—to repair the Fish Pond and see what the next task would be.

Opening up wilderness for farming wasn’t urgent now without Xiaobai to water for them, carrying a watering can around all day would be too much of a waste of time.

He got straight to it, letting everyone carry on with their tasks, while he took a fishing rod and sat by the river, patiently fishing to farm experience.

[Fishing Skill upgraded to Level Five, Physical Strength +25]

"It seems I can’t slack off in the future. I can’t neglect these basic skills just because I can assign them to others, or being limited by skill levels during tasks would be too troublesome." Thankfully, the gap wasn’t too big, and he caught up in over an hour. He put away the fishing rod and hurried off to repair the Fish Pond.

With the familiar operation, after clicking to repair and consuming stored materials, the gray mist dissipated, and the once muddy, dilapidated pit looked new.

A new wooden fence now frames a two-meter by two-meter square water area, leaving a small platform for fishing or feeding on one side.

The original putrid mud vanished, replaced by clear water reflecting the blue sky, white clouds, and green trees, with stones and swaying aquatic plants faintly visible below.

Jiang Yuan eagerly retrieved five different species of fish from storage and clicked to place them for breeding.

[Mission 1: Repair the Fish Pond and breed at least five fish species completed. Reward: Random Special Fish Seedlings +2 issued]

[Mission 2: Build no less than 49 plots of Level Two farmland. Reward: Unlock Intermediate Seed Area in Shop]

A flash of golden light, and a red and a yellow small fish seedling swam into the Fish Pond’s aquatic plants with their tails wagging.

"Level Two farmland? Does that mean after the homestead upgrades to Level Four, farmland can also be upgraded?" Jiang Yuan focused on the new task without checking the details of the fish bred in the pond.

He took out a hoe and dug a few times, sure enough, a gear upgrade symbol appeared when clicking on the cultivated plot.

To upgrade Primary Farmland to Level Two, each plot required a bag of efficient fertilizer.

The efficient fertilizer needs to be made by combining ordinary fertilizer processed by the system in the poultry house and barn with Spirit Medicine picked from the Wilderness in the Bait Workshop.

The process is not that difficult step by step, only the issue of time consumption and the depletion of many medicinal materials accumulated over time is problematic.

Considering the system usually provides more returns than the input, it’s highly likely the crops that Level Two farmland can grow differ from everyday fruits and vegetables and contain Spiritual Power.

Following this direction, his little courtyard really was increasingly resembling the Shennong Sect. Jiang Yuan was looking forward to the new crops and planned to still plant conventional crops on the other side of the river; upgrade all newly cultivated farmland on this side of the river to plant new seeds.

Of course, he’d also have to gather enough materials to make more Automatic Harvesters in time, so as not to waste too much time on farming.

After dinner, as per the usual routine, a team led by Hu Zhile set out to find Spirit Medicine and spices around the area. Jiang Yuan, taking advantage of the Poison Resistance effect from the Second Grade Antitoxic Pill he had taken, rode a paper crane to challenge the Snow Mountain Ice Cave.

Previously, multiple challenges were held to farm rewards, the profound intention held by the mysterious Taoist swung a duster to construct an ice wall, which must be broken to challenge him again.

He took the upgraded Whistle Stick from his Storage Bag, swinging it with a gust of wind through its hollow end to produce a wooing sound. The Whistle Stick, with an Attack Power +200 after the upgrade, was heavier than a date wood stick but still handy to use.

There was also the option to equip a backup blade, and equipping it transformed it into a long-handled weapon with the Blade, Attack Power +300.

After ensuring all equipment was properly worn, Jiang Yuan, not knowing any Martial Arts moves, simply swung the Whistle Stick directly at the ice wall.

"Crack!"

A small white spot formed at the point where it struck, then countless cracks expanded outward, and within a few seconds accompanied by the fine crackling sound, the entire ice wall shattered.

"Crash!"

The ice wall eventually disintegrated into a pile of crushed ice shards, transforming into sparkling golden light and vanishing without a trace.

"Who dares approach?"

At the end of the Ice Cave, the Taoist dressed in a Hundred-Patch Robe finally opened his eyes and uttered the familiar question.