Magic Farm 92

Chapter 92: The Magic of the Fishing Rod

Qi Yu looked at the wooden lounge chair beneath the parasol.

The chair looked so comfortable, as if it carried a certain charm that made one want to sit down without thinking.

He thought so, and naturally, he did just that.

Once he lay down, Qi Yu realized it was actually a rocking chair. With a gentle push of his feet, his whole body began to sway slightly with the chair.

How pleasant.

[Today’s catch has been collected. Please check your rewards.]

With the prompt from the survival panel, a splashing sound came from the bucket beside him.

So, you have to sit on the lounge chair to receive blue-quality fish?

Qi Yu lifted himself slightly and poked his head out from the chair to peer into the bucket on his left.

Inside, he saw two pale golden fish.

Each fish was a bit longer than his palm, looking plump, with tails as light and flowing as gauze.

[Golden Gauze Fish: Blue quality, delicious flavor, eating it grants a random attribute point.]

What he had thought was just a pretty little fish instantly made him sit up straight.

Delicious, and it increased attributes.

A real treasure.

Qi Yu hesitated for a moment. For a split second, he had the idea: should I just cook these with some water and eat them myself?

But Shen Ben Wuxiang had given him those powerful and beautiful wings.

And even called him “big brother.”

[Your friend “I Love Survival Games” has sent you a gift.]

[Shen Ben Wuxiang: ?]

[I Love Survival Games: Today’s catch from the small lake. One for each of us.]

[Shen Ben Wuxiang: It increases attributes, and you’re not eating both yourself?]

[I Love Survival Games: If there was only one, I’d eat it. Since there are two, one for each of us.]

The communication orb lit up.

Qi Yu answered. This time, he could hear background noise on Dan Xingyu’s end: the screaming lily-of-the-valley he had sent over.

It was just after dawn, so he was clearly still in his shelter.

“You’re so good to me,” the other said, amusement in his tone.

Qi Yu replied, “Mm, you’re good to me too.”

He meant it as reciprocity—Dan Xingyu was kind to him, so he returned it in equal measure.

Dan Xingyu, perhaps misunderstanding, replied with a laugh, “Alright, I’ll be good to you too.”

He asked, “What do you want for breakfast this morning?”

Qi Yu didn’t answer, but asked back, “Did you spend all night killing earthfire dragons?”

Dan Xingyu understood what he meant and didn’t mind. “I’m a martial artist. Not sleeping for a night is nothing.”

Qi Yu said, “Staying up all night is one thing, but staying up and still making me breakfast isn’t right.”

He added, “I’ve got plenty of good food in my backpack. I’ll eat on my own today.”

Dan Xingyu: “Why? Afraid I’ll secretly eat both your fish?”

By now, Qi Yu could easily tell the difference between a joke and a serious remark. He replied lightly, “Then go ahead and sneak them. I get fish every day—next time, I just won’t give you any.”

Dan Xingyu burst out laughing. “Oh no, you’ve got me there.”

“In order to keep eating soft rice for the long haul, I guess I’ll have to be a good person.” He said solemnly, “So, honored Mr. Qi Yu, how would you like these two fish prepared?”

“We can offer you three suggestions: steamed, in soup, or pan-fried.”

Qi Yu played along just as seriously. “I don’t know. My chef, Shen Ben Wuxiang, is an expert at these things. You can ask him directly.”

“As you command!”

After ending the call, Qi Yu was in high spirits.

He took a pancake from his backpack. Not wanting to go back inside, he simply held it in his hand and ate as he stood.

His eyes lingered on the fishing rod beside him.

It was truly strange.

The fishing rod looked utterly ordinary, yet seemed to possess a magical allure. It made him want to grab it and cast the hook into the water.

Qi Yu recalled the rod’s description: Using it, you may obtain any kind of reward.

Today, he had seen the pink petal of the seven-colored flower—his luck should be good.

So, why not try it?

For the first time, he multitasked while eating, casting the hook into the small lake.

Qi Yu was actually quite curious: the water in this little lake was crystal clear—he could see the white sand at the bottom at a glance.

When he had walked around the lake earlier, he’d noticed that apart from the exquisite aquatic flowers and plants on the surface, there were no other creatures in the water.

So what could he possibly catch?

Sand?

About ten minutes later, after he finished his pancake, the fishing rod finally moved.

He pulled on the rod—it was heavy.

He gripped it tightly and swung it toward the shore, a silver arc flying onto the bank.

[Congratulations, player, you have obtained Refined Iron Treasure Chest x1.]

Qi Yu: ?

He stared in surprise at the treasure chest, unable to resist walking to the shore to study the lake closely. No matter how he looked at it, this water didn’t seem like the kind of place where treasure chests would be hidden.

Where exactly had it been fished up from?

But, as always, the survival game never lied—anything was possible.

He opened the treasure chest.

[Obtained: Embroidered Carpet x1, Standard Bedding Set x1, Down Jacket Blueprint x1.]

All were daily necessities, and all seemed quite practical.

Especially the down jacket blueprint. The weather was getting colder, and with the swiftlet event, everyone had stockpiled plenty of feathers.

His luck really was good today.

Thank you, seven-colored flower.

Qi Yu’s curiosity about the fishing rod was now at its peak.

He cast the hook into the lake again. Not wasting any time while waiting, he lay back on the lounge chair, which had a calming effect, and used the opportunity to meditate and cultivate.

This time, the wait was even longer.

The rod twitched again.

This time, it felt light—he easily reeled it in.

[Obtained: A copy of the Royal Capital Times, Orra Empire.]

What kind of oddity was this?

Qi Yu took it off the hook. The newspaper had no wrapping, simply hanging on the hook, and miraculously, it wasn’t even wet.

He took it down and unfolded it.

[Latest announcement from the Mage Association: An honorary elder of the association has successfully advanced to Saint Mage. As this individual dislikes fanfare, the celebration has been canceled.]

[The Royal Family has announced that preparations for the upcoming Star Trade Fair, to be held at the end of this spring, are complete. Distinguished guests planning to visit the capital may contact us at any time.]

[Confirmed news: Prince Sola successfully advanced to Second-Tier Mage last month. His Majesty personally praised him as a magical genius rarely seen in a century.]

…

There were also scattered bits of content—ads for certain brands, news of visiting diplomatic missions from various kingdoms, and so on. Qi Yu skimmed through and forgot most of it.

But on the back, there were two short stories.

Qi Yu read them with great interest.

After finishing the newspaper, he was startled to realize he had unknowingly spent over half an hour by the small lake.

He had only meant to come check out the resource point.

His gaze fixed on the fishing rod. He probed it with magic, trying to see if there really was some sort of enchantment on it.

Otherwise, how could it be so alluring?

Qi Yu forced himself to stand up.

Fishing was fun, but he had more important things to do today.

He planned to head back to the black forest and dig up as many of the ancient black trees as possible.

Since the one he’d planted on his territory could recover its vitality, surely the others could as well.

Just from its appearance, the black ancient tree was clearly extraordinary. If he managed to revive it, perhaps it would be a purple-quality lifeform, something he had never seen before.

Unfortunately, he had searched the magical plant compendium for a long time last night, but hadn’t found any species matching its appearance.

Back at the shelter, Qi Yu changed into warmer clothes, then layered on his Guardian Mage Robe.

Before leaving, he quickly crafted twenty energy towers and listed them on his trading page.

[Standard Energy Tower x1, exchange for 100 units of blue-quality wood or stone. Note: Shelter requires magic crystal stones to power the tower.]

Energy towers were an absolute necessity at this stage.

He had checked the trading section—shelter defense items were all selling at exorbitant prices.

Most of those items were consumables; none could compare to the energy tower.

And with the current swiftlet points event, the importance of the energy tower had risen to an entirely new level.

He listed the items and set out immediately. He had a long way to go and a lot of trees to dig up. Before he could even start digging, he might have to face attacks from swiftlets.

He needed to hurry.

He paid no attention to the storm that erupted in the regional channel over the appearance of “energy towers.”

[Cockroach Flavor Is Weird: Holy crap, energy towers? Am I dreaming? My kid is still fighting swiftlets with cold weapons, and the game master is already playing tower defense?]

[Grumpy Bro: …No wonder his points are so high. How can anyone compete with this?]

[Dusk Song: I guessed the game master had shelter defense items, but I didn’t expect he’d be rich enough to sell energy towers directly.]

[Grind King: How are you all so fast? I only managed to grab two!]

[Roadside Stray: Stop whining if you got two. The master’s resource requirements are too strict—if only we could trade emerald crystals or something else. I don’t have blue-quality wood or stone, so I could only watch them sell out instantly.]

[Little Old Me: So this is why the game master’s points rise so fast. With enough energy towers and enough mutant-attracting potions, you can just automate point farming.]

[Seed and Soda Vendor: You’re all so rich… I have neither blue-quality wood or stone, nor magic crystal stones.]

[Hundred Ghosts in Reverse: This thing is only for the leaderboard players. Ha, they never even considered us ordinary folks.]

[Grumpy Bro: What, are ordinary people supposed to be gods? Should the master take a loss for your sake?]

Little Old Me saw the energy towers and felt his heart sink halfway.

To him, “My Fate Is Mine, Not Heaven’s” was just a blood bag—once his value was squeezed dry, he’d be of no use.

His real target had always been “I Love Survival Games”—supposedly just a life profession, yet always firmly holding first place on all three leaderboards in District 01.

Don’t be fooled by people in the channel who sneer, “It’s just a life profession,” or “He’ll run out of steam sooner or later.” The only ones who truly believed that nonsense were idiots like “My Fate Is Mine, Not Heaven’s.”

He had already given “I Love Survival Games” enough credit.

But he’d never been number one himself, so he didn’t know what it meant to be at the top of the shelter leaderboard.

The fact that he could so easily put up twenty energy towers for sale—what did that mean?

It meant he definitely had more than twenty towers himself, and that energy towers were far from being his trump card.

No one would be foolish enough to sell the very thing their life depended on—not even “My Fate Is Mine, Not Heaven’s” would be that stupid.

Little Old Me took a deep breath: with these twenty energy towers up for sale, anyone harboring ill intentions toward “I Love Survival Games” would have to think twice.

If you wanted to cause trouble, you’d have to consider whether you could withstand a barrage from dozens, or even hundreds, of energy towers.