Summer of the first year, December 12-13

Open the letter and receive "a mountain of gold coins"—10,000g.

Well, it's not even enough to upgrade the Iridium Axe today. Luckily, as an Nth playthrough player, you didn't have any hope for the bonus from reaching level 25 of the Desert Mine.

But the letter also included praise from Mr. Qi, who said he was impressed with me, and that was the real reward.

That's going down into the mine at the risk of being bitten by flying snakes and having fire breathed by dinosaurs, it's not easy!

You happily admire the letter for a few seconds, then continue checking other letters, only to find that they are all recipes sent after your favorability rating has reached the required level. There are stir-fried mushrooms and sashimi, delicacies from land and sea, not bad.

The tomatoes in the field are ripe, and after countless raspberries and grapes sprouted from the fruit bat cave, a pomegranate that can be used for sacrifice finally appeared. This seems to be an indication that today is a good day to advance the sacrifice.

And today is Friday! The day the traveling merchant comes to Stardew Valley!! Will he bring you what you want?

You remembered you hadn't petted the rabbit yet, so you ran into the chicken coop and quickly petted all the animals before opening the door. There were no new rabbit feet that had fallen, but you still had four colorful shards in your backpack that you hadn't given away yet, so you weren't in a hurry.

Leaving aside the fact that the pigs haven't grown up yet, the only cow and the only sheep on Lucky Star Farm will already be very obedient to you and will rub against you the moment you reach out your hand. You don't even need to look to know that they have the kind of affection that can produce a lot of milk.

So after glancing at the traveling merchant and finding it to be just another pile of useless items, you decisively went into the ranch to buy a milking bucket.

[Milkmaids are now available!]

[I couldn't wait until I could afford an automatic data collector, haha]

"You can only buy that thing when you're level 10 in farming, folks!" You held the milking bucket in your hand, rolled your eyes, and examined the bottom of the bucket, telling the audience, "I'll prioritize opening the greenhouse before winter. Anyway, I only need to milk a few times, so I won't be lazy. I'll finish it today."

Before that, Friday is the penultimate day of the week, and it's time to give everyone gifts again.

You follow the path below the ranch into Pelican Town, skillfully rummaging through the trash cans, and then head to Jody's house to see if anyone is home.

As soon as the door opened, the world spun around them, and thunderous applause erupted all around.

All that could be seen was snow-white. The followers of the Star Cult wore fanatical and twisted smiles as they collectively applauded and celebrated the passing of the Star Essence Girl.

You feel a strong sense of unreality, as if you are separated from everything else by a veil of mist, and only the black-haired boy who suddenly broke in is vivid and real, appearing here as a guide from another world.

"Should we kill them?"

You turn your head and see Gojo Satoru, his clothes stained with blood. At this moment, the qualities of a "human" have almost been stripped away from him, and there is a kind of divinity that transcends the mortal world in his empty, sky-blue eyes.

The boy whispered, "I don't feel anything right now."

Xia Youjie's pupils trembled violently. He spoke slowly, making the same judgment as always in the face of human life and death, but something inside him had clearly crumbled, about to drag his entire being into the abyss: "Never mind, no..."

You intuitively feel that you can do something to change the future at this crucial moment, and the opportunity is fleeting. Once Xia Youjie finishes speaking, everything will be settled.

Your backpack is full of random things. In a moment of panic, you grab one of them and throw it, trying to stop the story from progressing as usual.

With a dangerous hissing sound, you can see clearly what's falling to the ground—a super bomb.

Wait a minute, isn't it a bit dangerous to start the explosion under these circumstances?

"Bang!!!"

After a loud bang, Gojo Satoru was unharmed despite his lack of restraint, and Xia Youjie was also not killed by the explosion, even with the protection of his cursed power and spirit. However, the Panxing Cult members present were in a terrible state, with fragments scattered everywhere, like torn garbage bags.

Your expression went blank, and after a while, you bent over and started vomiting.

At times like this, you don't even have time to think about whether these incredibly ignorant followers deserve to die; all you know is that you want to die.

Another dizzying sensation, and your knees buckled, causing you to collapse forward onto Gojo Satoru's guitar.

Stardew Valley version of Gojo Satoru exclaimed in surprise, "Wow, you don't have to be so smitten with our music! I was just about to ask you which kind you like, does this mean you like all the etudes?"

Xia Youjie was more reliable. Seeing this, he quickly came over to help you up and asked with concern, "Are you alright, Yixing Rabbit? Your complexion suddenly looks terrible. Is something wrong?"

If it weren't for the heartwarming event, you would definitely have a string of debuffs hanging in the upper right corner of your game interface. The extremely realistic feeling is a good thing when enjoying delicious bigmouth sea bass, but now it has become a burden.

Beneath the deliberately presented passion, humor, and absurdity in anime lies a turbulent undercurrent of darkness.

A few seconds later, the discomfort suddenly disappeared, and you saw four options appear in front of you, this time the original content was normal—"Pleasant Pop Music", "Experimental Hard Rock", "Highly Energetic Dance Music" and "Lively Country Music".

You randomly selected a scene to complete the story and returned to Jody's house.

Take a deep breath, open the live stream interface, and try to distract yourself from thinking about what killing a group of strange paper figures really means.

Several messages flooded the live stream just now, all discussing how, after you came in, you fell onto Gojo Satoru's guitar like Kikyo did when she lost her balance and fell towards Inuyasha, or like you were caught by your lover's pole. Then Natsumi Yuuki immediately came over to check on you...

[Wow, she's throwing herself into my arms!]

Is the streamer wtw Dream Man? I'm swearing, I'm leaving now.

[I feel like I've missed some plot points, how did it suddenly turn into a five-year cycle of five summers... I don't want to be sandwiched like this! !!!]

[Think of Elliot by the sea, Rabbit Foot, you must uphold male virtues!]

My son isn't like that; there must be some misunderstanding!

[Waaaaah, my poor feet! My reputation has been ruined! Mom's here—you mobsters, stop your slander!!!]

You feel utterly powerless looking at the chaotic live stream. They can't see what's happening in the world of sorcery, yet their imaginations are so vivid that they've easily steered things astray.

I'm so angry. I want to emphasize that I'm straight, but I'm afraid they'll get even more worked up. And then there are those two mom fans who suddenly appeared out of nowhere... Ugh... I'll just ignore them and not bother them anymore. You stop paying attention to what's being said in the live stream, casually send Gojo Satoru a coffee as a gift, and then decisively leave.

I'm not in the mood to wander around anymore. I'll go to the blacksmith to upgrade my iridium axe, then go back to the farm to sleep.

Oh right, and milking too.

You easily approach the tall, docile brown cow on the farm, pull out the milking bucket, and your hands involuntarily squeeze a certain balloon-like spot. Fresh milk then pours out like water from a dam. It's no more difficult than tearing open a fresh cowhouse to pour milk out; it's just that the squeezing motion is a bit... um...

Anyway, a jug of milk appeared smoothly in your backpack. Next up was the playful smiling goat, who also collected a jug of Venus milk in a very short time.

You head to the community center with a large jug of milk and other offerings, and use the cheese press—a reward for completing the animal collection pack—to make a piece of goat cheese, which is also an offering.

It seems the craftsman's collection pack will be completed soon. Next, all you need to do is diligently plant the summer and autumn sacrificial crops, and then Zhunimo will help you repair the greenhouse.

Go down into the mines... I still need to go down into the mines more often. Going down into the mines is good, at least I don't have to feel guilty about killing those monsters.

However, you suddenly remember something: the slimes would say "hello" to the villagers.

Sorcerers are all madmen, and you are acutely aware that you are on the cusp of calm and madness.

Summer 13 is a rainy day. You have just woken up from a deep sleep and you can hear the rain outside. It is a bit noisy.

The first thing you see when you wake up is your big dog sleeping at the head of your bed. After so many days together, you're no longer afraid of it, and sometimes you even develop a fondness for it that you shouldn't have for a cat lover. After all, it's a lively, harmless, and always clean cybernetic dog, and even if it doesn't meow, is too big, and has a rather stiff coat, it's still a good pet.

Especially on a gloomy morning, seeing a big dog get up with its ears perked up, and then petting its head makes you laugh out loud, is quite therapeutic.

You went to the fireplace, sat quietly on the sofa for a while, and then went out to deliver a gift to Robin's family in the mountains.

On this day, you were supposed to witness the most controversial 2-heart storyline in Stardew Valley, but what actually happened was that you were sent into the Spellworld once again, to the side of Nobari Kugizaki.

Inside a rural house, an elderly female sorcerer with white hair styled in a bun is teaching a girl how to use spells.

But the girl was clearly distracted. After practicing her newly learned skills a few times, she couldn't wait to announce that she was going out. She quickly grabbed her small handbag from the door and skipped away.

The old woman walked to the door, watching her granddaughter's figure disappear at the end of the winding, narrow country road. She glanced at where you were, as if sensing something, and a sharp hammer appeared in her hand from nowhere. She said coldly, "Come out."

You appeared in her line of sight as instructed and greeted her politely, "Good day, madam."

"It's rare to see someone speak so clearly... You've been watching this side the whole time, haven't you?" The old woman's gaze sharpened, and she pulled out a handful of nails from somewhere, skillfully activating a spell: "No matter what, if you want to harm my precious granddaughter, you'll have to get past me first!"

This is your first real battle in the world of sorcery. While Kugizaki Nobara's grandmother may not have the same outstanding sorcery talent as Natsume and others, she is still a seasoned sorcerer who is more than capable of dealing with you, a level 3 sorcerer and PVE player.

If Kugizaki Nobara hadn't suddenly returned, your health bar definitely wouldn't have lasted.

"Hey, what's that sound, Grandma?" The orange-haired girl, holding a rather plain-looking parasol, asked curiously as she walked towards the main entrance, "A guest?"

"If you haven't left yet, come and entertain the guests. It's your Aunt Matsui who brought her homemade pickles!" The old woman knew her granddaughter well. If she told her the truth about the cursed spirit attack, she would rush over to help. But if she heard that it was that annoying aunt who brought awful pickles, she would definitely run away faster than a rabbit.

An options box appears between you and the old woman.

Am I right, Mrs. Matsui?

(Say nothing)

Actually, your grandmother was being quite mysterious just now.

As a player who has played through the game many times, you usually don't say anything and are too lazy to expose Demeter's tricks. But things are different now. If you don't let Kugizaki Nobara do something, she might really get nailed to death by this old lady!

So you subconsciously chose the second option, and a girl's voice involuntarily escaped your throat: "Wild Rose, it's me! I was just talking to my grandmother about you!"

"Saori!" Nobara Kugisaki rushed into the living room with her eyes shining, exclaiming in surprise, "You came all this way to see me? I'm so touched!"

The old woman couldn't stop her in time. Her granddaughter rushed over recklessly and crashed into the escaped cursed spirit.

You suddenly felt everything go black, and you were suddenly lying on a clinic bed, gushing blood. You also lost two things—888 super bombs and 795 bottles of energy tonic water!

After being "jointly" killed by the Kugizaki family and their grandson and sent back to the town clinic, you see the live stream is full of question marks. Everyone is quite surprised that such a dramatic event as the domineering father killing the blond-haired guy actually happened in the 2-heart story of Kugizaki Nobara.

[Miguel, take off your sunglasses and look closely. This daughter isn't your biological child. Why are you so agitated?]

[This audacious villager dared to poison a player! Vote for him!]

[It's one thing to stab someone, but to also take things with you? Taking so much is clearly a pretext for robbery. We should report them to the mayor!]

[Waaaaah, Rabbit's Foot, we've been set up! The black guy wants to use a bomb to blast the mine and collect samples, while the clinic wants to take the order and resell the products. This is outrageous!]

You ignore their conspiracy theories, return to the farm exhausted, eat a sweet and crisp melon, and then fall asleep immediately.