It took Charlie half an hour to read through the quest descriptions.
Then it hit him.
“Holy crap!
Farming is a quest too!”
“Damn it, no.
I have to get back and plant those seeds!”
“What if completing all the quests lets me go home?”
With that thought, he hurried back toward the farm.
It was already almost 6:00 p.m.
Just as Charlie crossed the bridge and reached the dark mansion, ready to head north and make his way home, a voice suddenly called out to him.
“Hey!
Isn’t this the new farmer we’ve all been waiting for?
Why the rush?”
“Something urgent?”
Charlie stopped and turned around.
On another bridge nearby, a long-haired man was leaning against the railing, greeting him.
He wore formal clothes, and silver earrings swayed lightly in the breeze.
He had a noble, elegant air about him, and his waist-length hair made Charlie think he was pretty handsome.
Charlie stopped in his tracks and walked over.
The man was quite a bit taller than him.
“That’s me.
My name is Charlie.
I’m the new farmer here.”
The man smiled at his introduction.
“Hello.
My name is Elliott.
I live in a little cabin by the sea.
Come visit sometime.”
“Oh, okay!
By the sea?”
After thanking him, Charlie felt a little confused.
So there was an ocean here too?
Seeing the question on Charlie’s face, Elliott smiled with easy warmth.
“Just follow this bridge all the way down, and you’ll get there.”
As he spoke, he glanced at the watch on his right wrist.
“Oh, it’s six o’clock.
Looks like I should head back.”
“Goodbye.
See you next time.”
“Dear farmer boy.”
After saying goodbye, Elliott followed the bridge south and soon disappeared from sight.
“Mm…
bye!”
Charlie waved after him.
He was genuinely grateful.
Without Elliott, he wouldn’t have known there was a beach here.
Then he stopped thinking about it and rushed straight home.
7:00 p.m.
After all the running around and visiting different parts of town, he did not get home until seven.
On the way, Charlie had also met an elderly woman.
They had only exchanged a quick greeting, but as long as they had spoken, her name showed up, so that counted as meeting her.
Then he checked the quest called Getting Started.
“Farming, right?”
“My Grandpa and Grandma were farmers too.
I learned a few things from them.”
As he spoke, Charlie opened his backpack and found the Scythe.
First, he needed to clear the weeds near the front door.
Clearing those alone took another half hour.
After that, he summoned the Axe and cut down the three trees in front of the house.
“Next, I till the ground with the Hoe, right?”
Charlie had fifteen packets of seeds, so he tilled fifteen spots in the soil.
After planting them, he checked the quest, but it still was not complete.
“I already planted them!
Why isn’t the quest finished?”
Then he looked more closely.
“Water daily until the crops mature…”
“What?
I have to water them every day?” Charlie was shocked.
Back when he farmed with his grandparents, they only watered things every few days.
But there was nothing he could do about it.
It was already 9:30 p.m.
He went to the little pond at the edge of the farm, filled the Watering Can from his backpack, then watered each planted spot one by one.
After watering the last one, Charlie felt a huge weight lift off him and collapsed straight onto the ground.
“Done.
Finally done.”
He practically crawled into the cabin.
Lying on the bed, he finally relaxed.
Then he started adding up the day’s progress.
One quest was called Introductions.
It was currently at 10/28, which meant there were twenty-eight people in town.
He had met ten of them.
Lewis, Robin, Shane, Penny, Caroline, Jodi, Vincent, Maru, Elliott, and Evelyn.
Then Charlie suddenly realized something.
“Wait.
That’s one short.”
“What about Gunther?”
He discovered that Gunther, the Museum curator, had not been counted at all.
“Is the interface bugged?”
“Or does it only count important people, and Gunther isn’t important?”
But before he could think any more about it, two o’clock arrived.
A wave of sleepiness swept over him, and his thoughts came to a stop.
…
Tuesday, Day 2
Charlie found that he had woken up at six again.
That made him understand.
He would probably wake up on his own at six every morning now.
He stretched, got dressed, and hurried out the door.
The moment he pushed it open, he was startled.
A bearded man was standing outside, just about to knock.
When the man saw Charlie come out, he looked a little shy.
Charlie wasn’t sure that was quite the right word, but that was the feeling.
Still, the man greeted him.
“Hi.
Hello.
My name is Clint.”
“I’m the blacksmith here in Pelican Town.”
“Um…
lately, I noticed you’ve been breaking rocks and looking for ore.
That’s good.”
“Ore?” Charlie looked confused.
Only then did he remember.
When he was clearing the farm yesterday, he had dug up an orange piece of ore while dealing with the worms.
He hadn’t had time to look at it closely before stuffing it into his backpack.
He remembered it was called Copper Ore.
Seeing his confusion, Clint continued.
“If you’re interested in ore, then you’ll need something to smelt it with.”
“I happen to have a blueprint for one.
You can have it.”
Clint took out a rolled-up sheet of paper and handed it to him.
Charlie accepted it and instinctively nodded in thanks.
“Oh, thanks.
This should be really helpful.”
Clint seemed a little pleased to be thanked.
Then he went on.
“You can use it to smelt metal bars.
Those bars can be used for forging and upgrading tools.”
“When you have some, come see me.
I can help upgrade your tools.”
“Upgrade tools?”
Now Charlie was interested.
“Okay.
I’ll be counting on you later, then,” he said, thanking him again.
Clint smiled.
“All right, I’ll head back.
Take it slow.
No need to rush.”
With that, he left the farm.
After Clint was gone, Charlie looked down at the blueprint.
Then, without warning, it began to dissolve in his hands.
The paper broke apart into countless tiny blue particles and rushed into his body all at once.
At the same time, a notification chimed in his mind, followed by a voice.
You have learned how to craft a Furnace!
Charlie was surprised.
He had learned it just like that?
Honestly, if Clint hadn’t said anything, he still wouldn’t know what a Furnace looked like.
He opened the interface.
Sure enough, the crafting tab now had a Furnace recipe.
Two other recipes had appeared there too: Wild Seeds (Sp) and Field Snack.
“Oh, right.
Those two came with that level-up.
I saw them flash through my mind when I was falling asleep last night.”
He remembered the images that had suddenly appeared in his head the night before.
But Charlie decided not to worry about that for now.
First, he needed to water the crops.
After working for a little over ten minutes, he finished watering the field and wiped his hands.
Then he got ready to go see Penny.
But thinking of Penny made him think of Maru.
“Uh, hehe…
she probably isn’t the type to hold grudges, right?”
“When I get the chance, I’ll ask what she likes and give her a gift to apologize properly.”
Charlie muttered the thought to himself.
With that in mind, he was about to leave.
Then he suddenly noticed the mailbox beside the cabin.
There was a letter inside.
“A letter?” Charlie froze.
“Who sent this?”
He went over and opened it.
[ Hi there,
I just got back from a fishing trip.
You should come down to the beach sometime.
I’ve got something for you.
– Willy ]
After reading the letter, Charlie was even more confused.
“Willy?”
Who was that?
He didn’t know him at all.
He checked the address.
“The beach.”
Then Charlie remembered.
“That’s over by Elliott’s place.
Perfect, I can visit Elliott too.”
With that thought, he quickly set out.