Spring 28th of the first year

I woke up this morning feeling dizzy and lightheaded, as if something had changed.

But you couldn't quite put your finger on what it was. You sat on the sofa in front of the fireplace for a while, lost in thought, before finally rethinking what you needed to do that day.

Hmm... Summer is coming soon, so we need to plant some fruit trees, preferably varieties that ripen in the fall. The others won't bear fruit this year anyway, so we can wait until winter when the farm layout is clearer before making any plans.

Furthermore, to cope with rainy weather, it's best to build silos in advance. Otherwise, you'll have to manually add hay for the animals every time it rains. While you can easily put a few bundles of hay in an empty barn, you can't leave a single trough empty in a full chicken coop, or some animals will go hungry. These animals, big and small, love to stop wherever they want, blocking you from putting in hay or letting them out. They won't budge for ages, and you have to squeeze through with great effort. It's a real pain for every livestock farmer.

Thunderstorms are frequent in summer and autumn, so it's necessary to collect materials for making lightning rods and select suitable placement locations for them.

You, like a simple farmer, finish your initial plan and suddenly remember that you haven't watched the live stream this morning, so you casually click on it.

Huh? The live stream has ended?

It's only been about 6 hours since the broadcast started, and I don't know when I'll be able to go back. What if I don't have time to make up for the missed weekly broadcast time... Oh well, that's not important.

The live stream has temporarily ended, but the game continues. You go into the field to harvest the last batch of green beans and strawberries, then pet the chickens, ducks, rabbits, cows, and goats. This simple labor brings you a long-lost sense of relaxation and joy.

This is what a real day off should be like! Being watched by the live streamer means you have to work hard. Even chatting with everyone is quite fun, but sometimes I feel that the game has lost its original fun and has been transformed into a pile of work tasks.

You stand in front of the pond, lost in thought, when you suddenly notice two bubbles above the crab trap indicating what has been caught. You wonder if those two corn snails have been trapped in the trap for most of spring, and if they're still alive. Are they still edible?

It feels a bit disgusting, I don't want to collect it, I'll just leave it there. Maybe I can try using a super bomb to blow it up in winter. Anyway, you just don't like collecting crab traps unless you have an automation mod installed.

You go back inside and call Robin to confirm the silo's construction materials. Before hanging up, you suddenly have a thought and decide to try chatting, so you interject, "Robin, want some spaghetti for breakfast? I'll get you some!"

"Our store is open from 9 AM to 5 PM... um... I don't usually eat there in the morning, but thank you... If... oh my god, close the door quickly, Miguel! Please come during business hours if you need to shop! (beep beep)"

Turns out they can actually have a good chat. Speaking of which, Kugizaki Nobara and Natsuyu Jie are both Asian, Miguel is Black, and Robin is White. If we ignore the fact that we don't need to consider genetics in the images, could they both be adopted?

You gather all the materials from the wooden crate and go to Robin to build the silo for you. As soon as you enter, you see Miguel's lab filled with a sticky, blue semi-fluid that makes a strange but inexplicably relaxing gurgling sound when it slides off the lab table onto the floor.

It seems that Miguel's research direction has deviated to an unknown degree, which is hard to say that a proper scientist would produce.

But Robin remained quite calm, and even after you finished giving her the order to build the silo, she estimated that it would take Miguel about 50 minutes to clean up his lab before you could go in.

You don't really want to know what kind of experiment Miguel is conducting, but to prevent the peaceful rural life from heading towards some unfortunate end, you have to find out.

Miguel used a sharp axe to cut open the sticky stuff, picked it up, and threw it into the recycling bin.

"Don't let Robin know how I dealt with these slimes, okay?" Miguel stopped what he was doing when he saw you approaching and explained, "I haven't figured out why this is happening yet, but the direction should be right..."

You might not understand his academic theories, but you roughly know that he's trying to absorb residual cursed power with slimes. However, blue slimes aren't very durable and will explode after absorbing a certain amount. Since the slime has transformed into its current state, the absorbed cursed power won't dissipate, so Miguel believes this research topic is still valuable.

That sounds impressive, let's wait and see the results—wait, what is he writing? A slime reproduction experiment?

As Miguel wrote, he added, "I need some slime eggs to continue my research, preferably red ones, but you can get even more powerful materials from the Skull Mine, right?"

How dare you ask such a question? Are slime eggs so easy to obtain?

But you're quite curious to see what he'll achieve. So, you really need to figure out a way to get him slime eggs.

The most reliable way to obtain slime eggs is by using the Slime Egg Press, which unlocks at Combat Level 6. This means you can complete this quest while farming for Slime Rings, and so on—

"It's possible, but can't we just issue a task first, or make it appear as an order or special order? If I help you get a slime egg, will there be any favorability or other rewards..." You try to fight for some legitimate rights.

Miguel declined, saying, "I cannot pay you any compensation for this. Providing these experimental materials is your selfless dedication to scientific research, Mr. Iridium Rabbit Foot."

Isn't that just a lack of funding, forcing players to do all the work for free? Dude, you're even worse than Joja!

Despite the complaints, this, like rescuing Kokichi, is the kind of thing you can hardly refuse to do. Perhaps this is the spirit of dedication of veteran anime fans, and it has nothing to do with scientific research or anything like that.

You rushed to Robin's house early in the morning to check on the situation, then went into the mine to cut some bat wings and collect a few quartz stones, not descending the mountain until 3 PM. After leaving the carpenter's shop, head to Pierre's general store to do the first item on your to-do list that you skipped today: plant fruit trees.

You clearly forgot that your affection level with Zenin Maki had increased to 4 stars after you gave her your birthday gift yesterday, so when you reappeared at Zenin's house the moment you entered the town, you were a little taken aback.

In the woodshed, a blood-stained straw mat was laid out, and a black-haired girl wearing a tattered kimono that was almost completely torn to shreds was kneeling on it, struggling to bandage herself.

After struggling for a while, she managed to wrap her broken arm with yellowed old bandages and pieces of wood, then collapsed onto the straw mat, exhausted, waiting for her body to heal and create a miracle.

Feeling distressed, you quickly took out a bottle of energy tonic and placed it next to her.

Zenin Maki turned her head, her eyes somewhat dazed from the lingering pain in her wound. After a long while, she said, "It's you, Ghost. That broken sword from last time is completely ruined."

She murmured, "I thought it was something special... Oh well, what is this? A drink? I'm a little thirsty..."

Zenin Maki gripped the white bottle. Although her right hand wasn't seriously injured, it had been cut in several places, and she couldn't even manage to unscrew the cap with one hand.

You walked over to Zenjima Maki, unscrewed the bottle cap for her, carefully helped her up, and gave her a few sips.

The effect was remarkable; Zenin Maki's severed arm was restored instantly, and her body, which had just been in so much pain that she was exhausted, was once again full of strength.

"Wow, amazing!" Zenji Maki exclaimed. "What is this?! I've never heard of such a medicine before, and it tastes pretty good!"

“Uh…” You thought for a moment and then introduced, “This is a specially formulated energy tonic water from the Pelican Town Clinic. I don’t know the exact ingredients.”

Zenin Maki stared at the half-full bottle of energy tonic water in your hand, carefully noting its appearance and origin, and then said, "Thank you very much, Mr. Ghost. Please don't hesitate to ask if you ever need my help in the future."

You screwed the cap back on the energy drink bottle and handed it back to Zenin Maki, smiling and saying, "Don't be so serious. I'm not giving you this for anything in return. Keep up the good work, future head of the family~"

Seeing the surprised expression on Zenin Maki's face, you suddenly realize that she probably hasn't yet made her bold statement about becoming the head of the Zenin family.

However... it's okay if it's a little earlier, after all, she's a very ambitious person.

That makes sense, but it's still a bit awkward. It's almost time, so you get up and walk out, saying goodbye as you go: "I'll come see you again next time. Take care, Maki."

"Wait!" Zenin Maki wanted you to explain what was going on with the head of the family, but she couldn't keep up with the speed at which you, this visitor from another world, disappeared. She could only stare blankly at the empty woodshed.

"I'll become... the head of the family?" Zenin Maki clenched her fists, a slight smile playing on her lips, and muttered to herself, "Really? That's fantastic! I really want to see what kind of expressions those people will have!"

————

You return to the farm with a bunch of fruit tree seedlings and plant a row of pomegranate trees next to your grandfather's tombstone.

Grandpa left a message saying he'd come back to see you in the third year; that's when the real ghost will appear...

Hopefully, I won't have to get Grandpa's approval with four candles to return to the real world. Otherwise, if I really spend two years as a farmer in Stardew Valley, I might not even want to be a game streamer anymore and would have to find a farm job to get used to it.

However, in the real world, there are probably no magical saplings that can take root and grow. Once you, this cyber farmer, come out of the game, you'll be exposed as nothing more than a clueless anime otaku.

After planting the fruit trees, it was already late, so you strolled over to the town's bar and continued to hand out gifts to everyone you met, just like someone handing out flyers at the mall entrance. The difference was that no one refused you, because it was Sunday, and everyone was happy to accept gifts.

Nanami Kento's favorability rating has reached 6 hearts. You recalled the conditions that triggered the event and decided to hold off for now and watch it again when the show resumes. You can't let the audience down. What if someone is really waiting?