Summer of the first year, 4-6 days
Thanks to the Infinite Coins MOD that makes it feel like you're not making any money selling anything, all the seaweed and algae you've caught so far are still safely stored in the wooden crate, and you can even faintly smell their fresh fishy odor when you put them in your backpack.
With the materials for building the fishpond in hand, you went up the mountain to find Robin, and also to deliver this week's gifts to his family.
After a spring of effort, you and Xia Youjie, who always locks himself in the basement, have finally accumulated enough goodwill points to become friends and can now directly enter his room.
Like Zenin Maki and Fushiguro Megumi, his storyline in 2 Hearts takes place very early in the series. However, unlike them, this time you can only watch from the sidelines like watching an old movie, unable to change anything with your own power.
You see young Xia Youjie fighting against the curse, covered in wounds but pretending nothing's wrong, otherwise he'll be ostracized by his classmates, criticized by his teachers... and most unbearably, being watched by his mother with a worried and suspicious look, telling him not to mention this to his father, and not to cause trouble for others outside.
Xia Youjie could never ignore the monsters that harmed people. He wanted to protect these ordinary people who lived unknowingly under the shadow of the curse; this was the justice he upheld.
Even though... his family couldn't understand what he was doing, and his friends lacked respect for it.
Exorcising curses is dangerous, and the smell of the cursed orb is utterly disgusting. He could study hard, go to university, find a job, get married and have children, and finally go to his grave with the secret, just like his parents hoped, but that kind of life is not what he wants.
With his rebellious phase and invitations to the Spellcasting Academy arriving one after another, Xia Youjie seems to have made up his mind to break away from the fate of ordinary people and go to a place more suitable for him.
You feel powerless against this plot. Xia Youjie is an epitome of the tragedies of countless sorcerers' lives. Standing at countless junctures of fate, you'll find that no matter which path he takes, he rarely ends well.
In fan fiction, Xia Youjie always manages to find peace through compromise and concession; however, in the original work, he never looks back and dies at the hands of his best friend at the end of his final madness.
“If Miguel’s research yields results… never mind.” You sighed and went into the basement to bring Xia Youjie coffee.
The black-haired youth stood by the bookshelf, holding a steaming cup of coffee, and smiled at you, saying, "I've been to all those places outside, they're not very interesting. But if you need a new scythe, you can check out the cave next to the quarry."
[Thanks for the invitation, but the bridge hasn't been repaired, so I can't go.]
【Jay——】
He's actually a pretty nice person.
I always felt he wasn't entirely kind...
A few viewers suddenly popped up in the long-silent live stream room, but you didn't pay much attention and just glanced at them before moving on.
You stand by the lake, facing the shimmering water, casting your line while savoring the seafood dish you just ate.
This dish is similar to fish and chips, but it's surprisingly delicious. The moment you eat it, the texture is crispy on the outside and tender on the inside. Only after swallowing can you taste the aroma of the fried food and the freshness of the fish. It truly deserves to be called a dish that can warm you up in the cold sea wind.
Unfortunately, your luck ran out after you caught two sturgeon, so you decided to go on an adventure in the mine instead.
Today's practice exercise is—slaying the Dust Sprite.
These small coal balls are very weak and harmless. They only bravely step forward to gang up on each other when they gather together, trying to win by numbers. Then, soon only one or two are left, and they are chased away by miners who want coal.
The practice against the dust sprites is going relatively smoothly. Getting pricked by them is similar to getting a static shock from touching a metal doorknob in winter—it hurts, but it's still within the tolerable range. I'll probably get used to it after killing 500 of them.
However, the mine couldn't be filled only with dust sprites; there were also many slimes mixed in with them and bats that suddenly took flight. The former's bouncing attacks were impossible to defend against, and the latter were terrifying flying rats. One could only keep a watchful eye on everything around them, remain constantly vigilant, and chug coffee to maintain speed. If you can't fight them, you can always run away.
The audience in the live stream is very confused by your evasive behavior.
"Hey kid, it's just a little blue-nosed kid, why are you hiding?"
[You hide from slimes, you hide from fragile bats, but all you do is come down and bully dust sprites?]
You've changed. You're no longer the rabbit-footed creature who could conquer a hundred floors without eating or drinking...
You ignore the audience's comments and focus solely on practicing how to deal with the dust sprites. You only slash at other things when you absolutely have to dodge, acting as if you're holding an ordinary scythe instead of a galactic sword.
But this kind of practice is actually very effective. Your progress bar for getting used to the "Superior Cursed Artifact" Galaxy Sword has increased significantly, and you should be able to challenge killing bats tomorrow.
The next morning, you set off into the mountains to fight monsters, equipped with ample supplies comparable to those of a late-game player.
There are a lot of monsters in the mine, almost three times as many as yesterday. We encountered bat fog and monster layers. You gritted your teeth and didn't retreat. After most of the day, you actually mastered the rhythm of killing bats. Even when surrounded by three, you can't lose any health.
Therefore, the most difficult monster to deal with right now is the slime. As long as you don't panic when facing flying monsters, you can actually suppress them steadily with the help of your equipment.
At 7 p.m., you take a mining cart into the city.
It's Friday again, and as you scroll through your list, you realize there are still a few people you haven't given gifts to this week. You decide to make up for it tonight when the bar is crowded.
After you entered, you went to Gus and ordered a fish roll. The dish was described as "smelling delicious," so even though its +2 fishing buff was a bit of a waste for you right now (Willie had already reminded you this morning to buy a fishing rod that could be equipped with a float), you decided to give it a try.
Mmm, it's really delicious. It really healed the psychological trauma you suffered from seeing the Mingming siblings holding wine glasses and being all lovey-dovey, Miguel dancing with the giant slime, and Elliot chatting happily with the Angege.
Wait, did something strange slip in there just now?
You suddenly turn around and look at the giant blue slime bouncing to Miguel's rhythm, and can't help but wonder if you're hallucinating after waking up early for more than thirty days in a row.
The live stream chat was in an uproar.
What is that? A slime?
Robin is working hard on the farm, while the black man is enjoying Friday with slimes in a bar. It's so cruel to the family!
[Shocking! Husband does this to a slime while wife is away! Click to see now...]
[The streamer should go up and try to hack and slash; maybe he can get a Robin statue (just kidding)]
[When Robin is working overtime, the black guy dances with thin air, but the appearance of the slime here makes up for that perfectly.]
After observing it carefully for a while and giving gifts to the other people in the bar, you finally approached the blue slime to try and figure out what it was.
Unexpectedly, the Galaxy Sword seemed to sense something, suddenly jumped out of the backpack, and began slashing and hacking at the giant slime, carving it into a shape resembling a lollipop.
System notification: You have obtained "Ao Bing's Sea Salt Lollipop"
"Although it doesn't have dragons, it can even freeze volcanoes!"
You open your backpack, completely bewildered, and find that this thing, with its attribute of "emitting cold air every 3 seconds, freezing for 5 seconds," has been embedded in an accessory frame that appeared out of nowhere.
【？？？】
[Panlong Ice Hammer: Are you being polite?]
[Just asking, is this thing that looks like an epic buff to the Frost Staff originally there?]
[It's alright, not as pretty as our Bingbing's big hammer, and there's only one... So what's the last four digits of the Nnet serial number?]
[Hilarious! How many hidden agendas are tucked into this mod that we don't even know about?]
You leave the bar, feeling both confused and impressed, and decide to try it out in the mine. It seems to work really well!
Upon entering the elevator, I randomly descended to the 65th floor of a mine. As soon as a ghost appeared in my field of vision, a wave of icy cold engulfed most of the mine, freezing the ghost instantly into a block of ice!
You exclaimed in shock, "This coverage area is almost comparable to that of a super bomb, isn't it?"
[What if such a powerful lollipop entered the mine?]
[Perfect pairing with super explosive and monster perfumes!]
[I really want this mod, streamer, please tell me how to download it!]
Upon noticing that another viewer had brought up the topic, you immediately chimed in, "I don't know either. It happened when I was so out of it from staying up all night. Can someone please help me find it? Please, please!"
[However, Rabbit Foot, wasn't this supposed to be a Pyromancy Return to Village mod? There are a lot of random elements; it doesn't seem like a mod at all.]
"Anything is fine!" you quickly replied. Although you couldn't remember exactly how many mods you had downloaded, you definitely had never downloaded a mod like this one that added features only available in the base 1.6 version of the game to version 1.5, along with enhancements and texture changes. Maybe it would provide a clue?
The live stream chattered excitedly, and while you listened to what they were saying, you went on a killing spree in the now-icy mine, trying to catch up on the monster-killing progress you had fallen behind.
At 1:30 a.m., you reluctantly emerged from the mine, and unsurprisingly, you collapsed on the way back to the farm, but that didn't matter.
With such powerful accessories, your combat level must be maxed out quickly, right? You thought to yourself with a smug satisfaction as you saw your combat level increase in your dream.
However, immediately afterward, a slender dragon appeared in the pitch-black dream, advancing one Ω at a time. It snatched the bare ice hammer and coiled itself around it with a look of complete comfort, as if they were one.
When you wake up the next day, you find that the "Sea Salt Lollipop" and the accessory bar have disappeared, as if they had never existed.
Orz
What else can I do? I watched TV and realized it was another unlucky day, so I guess I'll just have to go down into the mines and practice killing monsters.
Frustrated, you harvest the newly ripened wheat in the field. There's nothing useful in the live stream either, so you pack plenty of gear, but it's not as safe as that chilling air, and prepare to continue farming Dust Spirits.
Before that, you need to throw the sturgeon into the fishpond and then give Robin a new task after he finishes the fishpond project.
This time, let's build a mill. We happen to have wheat, so we can grind some flour.
Anyway, you don't want to spend more time catching rabbits every day for the time being; going down the mine is the priority.
After visiting the carpenter's shop, you went into the mine, but suddenly remembered that you didn't seem to have had time to give this week's gifts to Yuta and the others who weren't at the bar yesterday, and the deadline is approaching!
So you quickly boarded a minecart and entered the city, only to stumble into the 7 Hearts storyline of the Seven Seas Builders.
You've been transported to a world of magic again, but perhaps because you've skipped a few parts of the story, you're a little confused about what's going on with this bizarre advertising shooting scene!
Several old men sat in front of the monitor with stern faces, occasionally shouting to make the actors reciting the advertisements on set speak more sincerely!
Nanami Kento stood with his arms crossed outside the arena, watching this absurd scene with a blank expression.
You walk over and quietly ask what's going on?
When Nanami Kento turned his head and saw it was you, his expression softened slightly, and he gestured for you to come with him to a secluded place to talk.
“They’re filming an ad for Blue Joja,” Nanami Kento explained. “About two weeks ago, the higher-ups in the jutsu world were collectively afflicted by a curse that even Gojo Satoru couldn’t exorcise. If they don’t create an excellent ad that makes everyone drink at least one can of this cola every day, they can’t drink water normally, and even the bitterest tea will taste as sweet as syrup after they drink it.”
You can't help but laugh out loud. What kind of ridiculous Joja curse is this, getting a bunch of rotten oranges to promote Coca-Cola?
"Why don't they just give people money to drink Coke?" you laughed, then asked curiously, "Or announce in the ads that you get 10,000 yen for drinking a can of Joja every day or something."
Nanami Kento also curled his lips and laughed sarcastically, "The curse only requires advertising, and it doesn't acknowledge using those methods to increase the effectiveness of the advertising. Maybe it's because of cost considerations... Heh."
“Since they are actually drinking water, it seems reasonable to make them lose their sense of taste,” you said.
“It’s not just their sense of taste; they’ve all developed health problems caused by excessive sugar intake… Someone died three days ago because of it, and the high-ranking official who replaced him was also cursed,” Nanami Kento explained.
"Even Lord Tianyuan sent word that Joja is corrupting his spell. Everyone is helpless and can only film the commercials for now to see if they can expose a flaw in the curse."
"It seems you should go back." Nanami Kento looked down at you and said solemnly, "I will make good use of the changes you have brought. Don't worry."
As he predicted, almost the next second, you are transported back to Stardew Valley by some mysterious force.
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