Farming Games are All About Grinding-Chapter 147 - 141: Return Fully Loaded!

He decided to study it carefully.

But...

"You get seeds by defeating tentacle monsters? Is this storyline getting way too surreal?" Han Qiwu shook his head.

No way, no wild thoughts allowed. If I run into river crabs in the mine, that’d be a real headache.

After snapping one snake-scale-patterned branch, the mutated Little Prince flower seemingly went berserk. All its branches began flying wildly in the air, looking incredibly powerful.

"Smack smack smack."

The branches struck the rock walls, leaving streaks of red marks.

It swung furiously for three to four minutes before its movements slowly calmed down.

Once it quieted down, Han Qiwu cautiously calculated the distance between the seed and himself.

About 4.5 meters.

The seed was positioned right in the middle between Han Qiwu and the flower’s center.

"This is a bit tricky." Han Qiwu was in a dilemma. Honestly, he wasn’t confident he could win in a direct fight, but giving up was out of the question.

It was the first time he’d seen a plant seed capable of increasing farm revenue—it’d be a real shame not to bring it back.

No way he’d leave the 45th level of the mine empty-handed.

That’d be way too embarrassing.

Using the faint light from his body, Han Qiwu carefully observed the mutated Little Prince flower’s branches.

From his rough count, it seemed to have over twenty ordinary branches and five snake-scale-patterned branches.

"Xiao Lai, how many more spits of that venom can you manage? As many spits as jumps!" Han Qiwu turned to ask Xiao Lai, who was perched on his shoulder.

"Tap tap tap."

Xiao Lai jumped three times on his shoulder, its face showing signs of exhaustion.

It had sprayed way too much venom today.

After all, it was still just a kid.

"Three sprays, huh. Combined with the crossbow arrow, we could probably break two branches—with just three minutes needed. Worth a shot." Han Qiwu nodded and, while waiting for the mysterious crossbow arrow to cool down, crafted a ladder in his storage slot.

If something goes wrong, time to bail immediately.

Smash, retreat, sell, flee!

Three minutes later, Han Qiwu stared at the two black seeds four meters away, patiently waiting for the next outburst from the mutated Little Prince flower to pass.

Although he really wanted to break the remaining two snake-scale-patterned branches, Xiao Lai on his shoulder was entirely spent.

It needed to recuperate and regain its strength.

It was still too young, lacking endurance—its color even seemed to have faded somewhat.

As a reward, Han Qiwu specially fed it two emeralds to replenish its green hue.

You are what you eat, right?

After waiting two minutes, the mutated Little Prince flower finally calmed down. Han Qiwu took a deep breath, grabbed the remaining four torches, and tossed them forward to both sides.

Sensing objects flying through the air, the furious mutated Little Prince flower swung its branches to grab the objects on both sides, inadvertently exposing the middle path.

At the exact moment its branches were flailing, Han Qiwu kicked off the ground and darted straight to the spot where the two [mutated Little Prince flower seeds] rested, scooping them into his storage slot before quickly tossing a ladder underfoot and stepping into it!

The moment he entered the ladder, he could almost feel the violent snap of branches behind him.

[You have reached Mine Level 45]

[Cable car level recorded]

Success!

Back on Mine Level 45, the world before Han Qiwu’s eyes finally returned to normal.

Looking at his spoils, he noticed that the mutated Little Prince flower seeds were actually a ghastly pale color, with a slightly eerie vibe.

"This thing might be like the Prince flower—probably part of the saprophytic plant type." Han Qiwu stored it away again, planning to plant it later.

Scanning the area, Han Qiwu realized this level was unusually clean—large ice sheets covered the rock walls, and patches of frost blanketed the ground.

Other than that, there was nothing.

No diggable blocks, no underground rivers, no rewards.

"Strange." Han Qiwu cautiously approached a nearby rock wall and instinctively pressed his ear against it to listen.

Hmm, no sound.

But just then, a system notification flashed before his eyes.

[Using Earth Listening Technique, you discover items seemingly encased within the ice layer]

I discovered it?

When did I discover that?

Han Qiwu glanced at the system notification, finally realizing that it was the goodwill reward from Mr. Tang: [Earth Listening Technique] had been triggered.

After having it for so long, it finally activated once.

Turns out you really need to press up close to hear something.

Han Qiwu tapped the ice layer with his pickaxe.

The ice layer didn’t react.

"Looks like I’ll have to melt the ice before I can uncover its secrets." Han Qiwu stowed away his pickaxe.

Given the current situation, the two major obstacles to mining deeper are the cold and poison.

For the cold problem, Han Qiwu already had some ideas.

The bathroom heater—wait, no, the lava back at home—it might be worth a try to tinker with it for crafting anti-cold gear.

For the poison issue, he had roughly guessed the source.

Most likely, the poisonous source is the mutated Little Prince flower’s pollen.

Getting a mask might help.

Could check with the clinic later.

After sorting out his ideas, Han Qiwu took the cable car back out of the mine.

Without tackling the cold and poison issues, mining efficiency would stay low.

And besides, this trip down yielded quite a good haul.

[Iron Ore]×37, [Slime Mud]×23, [Snow Lotus Fruit]×9, [Ice Essence]×5, [Emerald]×6, [Mutated Little Prince Flower Seeds]×2.

Let’s not talk about anything else—the 37 iron ores alone were enough to smelt 7 iron ingots!

Seven ingots!

Enough to make two trash compactors and beehives!

And sprinklers could be ramped up, too!

The automation level of the farm could scale new heights!

Back on Mine Level 1, Han Qiwu picked up a few pieces of coal and stowed them in the storage slot.

Heading home!

Current time: 16:41

Once home, Han Qiwu immediately indulged in a hot shower, warming up his body while savoring the sauna-like experience.

After his bath, Han Qiwu reluctantly dismantled the [lava] in his bathroom.

Goodbye, my beloved sauna. I’ll miss you.

If I ever get the chance, I’ll rebuild you someday!

Getting dressed, Han Qiwu sorted his inventory and brought out 15 iron ingots and 3 pieces of coal, heading over to the furnace.

He took out three copper ingots from the furnace and placed the iron ores inside one by one.

[Smelting Iron Ingots: Iron Ore (15/5), Coal (3/1)]

[Proceed with smelting?]

"Yes"

[Smelting will take ten hours]

"That’s so long—guess I’ll go chop some trees in the meantime," Han Qiwu sighed, heading into the yard and taking out the two [mutated Little Prince flower seeds].

Before planting, Han Qiwu paused to think for a moment.

Given the current situation, at least some of the ten mixed seeds were definitely flowers. So, the upcoming beehive would need to be placed near the mixed seeds for easier honey collection.

To prevent the bees from collecting potentially toxic pollen from the [mutated Little Prince flowers], the seeds needed to be planted separately.

Since he wasn’t sure of the beehive’s collection range yet, he opted to plant the [mutated Little Prince flower seeds] on the lower wind side of the yard.

The planting blocks were 40 tiles away in a straight line from the mixed seed planting blocks.

The beehive’s range shouldn’t reach that far, right?

After planting, Han Qiwu clapped his hands and went off to chop down trees.

Time to build the cow barn.

When he saw the special effects of the [Seafloor Driftwood], he knew these precious materials had to be used for this.

Building a basic cow barn required 400 pieces of wood, but if he wanted the [Seafloor Driftwood] effect applied to the barn, he needed to use at least 200 pieces.

How convenient—he had just unlocked 200 pieces of [Seafloor Driftwood] from a treasure chest.

Plus, when sorting materials earlier, he checked and saw that he still had 69 pieces of wood left after spending 160 on crab cages.

Little Prince should be back soon, likely bringing another 40 pieces of wood.

Counting the 200 pieces of driftwood, the barn was just 91 pieces of wood short!

A bit more effort, and he could get the barn tomorrow!

Then he could get a calf!

Eggs are sorted, and now it’s time for milk, too.

Life like this is seriously awesome.