Amy walked to the nearest sugar maple tree and looked up.
The sugar maple stood tall and upright, this one before her rising several meters high, its tender green leaves spread out like hands, their edges finely serrated.
Just from its appearance, it was a beautiful tree. What was more precious, its trunk produced a faintly sweet sap—the very raw material used to make maple syrup.
But there was a problem: Amy didn’t know how to make maple syrup.
It wasn’t her fault. No one in the real world had ever taught her how to extract sap from a sugar maple tree, nor how to turn that sap into syrup. Before coming to Hot Spring Town, she hadn’t even seen a sugar maple.
Asking questions was the first step toward progress. Amy decided to find someone who could tell her.
She soon thought of the perfect candidate—Leslie, who had once said when bringing her lemon madeleines: “What I’m best at is making all kinds of desserts.”
So Amy, full of curiosity and doubt, went to Leslie’s home.
Though she was the mayor of Hot Spring Town, Leslie’s house was no different from the others—except for the unusually large number of sunflowers in her yard.
As soon as Amy entered, she was surrounded by blossoms brimming with warmth and vitality. Their fragrance drifted around her nose, making her feel as though she had stepped into a garden.
This was Amy’s first visit to Leslie’s home. Just as Leslie had gifted her madeleines when they first met, Amy brought a basket of freshly harvested lettuce as a gift in return.
Lettuce wasn’t worth much, but it was the best Amy could offer at the moment.
“Oh, Amy!” Leslie opened the door, surprised and delighted. “Good morning! What brings you here?”
“Today was harvest day for my lettuce. I picked some and wanted to give them to you. Leslie, thank you for all your help these past days.”
“Amy, you’re far too polite. These are things I should do as mayor—and even if I weren’t mayor, they’re what a friend should do for another friend.”
Leslie accepted the basket with a smile. “Look at them! Not even Charlie’s big grocery store has lettuce this fresh. I bet they’re wonderfully crisp.”
Remembering the taste she’d tried recently, Amy replied honestly: “They are. Especially with vinaigrette, they’re fresh and delicious.”
“You’re making my mouth water… You know, I’ve always been a meat-lover. Never thought lettuce could tempt me like this.” Leslie chuckled. “Alright, Amy, don’t just stand there at the door. Come in.”
Amy didn’t refuse and followed Leslie inside.
The interior was larger than Amy expected—a two-story home, decorated in a vintage style. The deep green wallpaper was tasteful, giving the place both warmth and elegance.
Taking the green tea Leslie handed her, Amy said “thank you,” then asked, “Aurelia and Clara aren’t home?”
“Aurelia’s at school. It’s Thursday, her least favorite day… I hope she’s alright there.” Leslie sat across from her. “As for Clara… I have no idea where she’s gone. But she’s nineteen now, an adult. She can go wherever she likes, as long as she remembers to come home at night.”
“I think I know where she is,” Amy thought. “Most likely working at the Seagull Restaurant again.”
Leslie sighed as she sipped her tea. “Clara’s nineteen… she’s an adult. I can’t control her too much.”
Amy just smiled and said nothing.
“By the way, Amy, did you come here for something in particular?” Leslie asked warmly. “If anything comes up, don’t be afraid to ask. I’ll definitely help you.”
Amy answered honestly: “Leslie, you’ve seen my farm—there are lots of sugar maples. I’d like to make maple syrup, but I don’t know how. That’s why I came to you.”
“I see. Then you’ve asked the right person! Making maple syrup is actually very simple…”
For the next ten minutes or so, Leslie carefully explained each step to Amy.
And it really was as she said: simple. Just four main steps—collect the sap, filter the impurities, evaporate and concentrate, then bottle it up.
“It’s as simple as putting an elephant in a refrigerator,” Leslie said with a laugh.
But Amy wasn’t smiling.
The drill bits, tubes, and other tools Leslie mentioned—she had none of them.
Couldn’t the starter pack have included a few more things? Amy was very dissatisfied.
Sensing her dilemma, Leslie offered, “You don’t have those tools, do you? That’s fine. I’ll lend them to you.”
“Then I’ll trouble you for that, Leslie.” Amy didn’t act coy—she agreed readily. “When my tomatoes ripen, I’ll bring you a basket.”
Leslie’s eyes curved with a smile. “Is that so? Then I’ll be waiting for your tomatoes.”
In the end, Amy left with an armful of tools.
Her visit only confirmed what she already felt: Leslie was a good mayor.
Back on the farm, Amy followed Leslie’s instructions—drilling holes into the trunks of the sugar maples, inserting tubes, hanging tin buckets to catch the sap dripping slowly from the trees.
There were many sugar maples on the farm. She hung more than twenty buckets—those too borrowed from Leslie.
She walked the farm several times afterward, making sure every maple had its bucket and none were missed.
It would take a while for the buckets to fill. In the meantime, Amy decided to go chop wood in the forest.
Her starter wooden box was already packed full of hay, and she needed another to store other items. But building a wooden box required lumber—Eric had told her so.
To make sure she had the energy for the trip, Amy stuffed her backpack with lettuce and two boiled eggs. It wasn’t convenient to carry, but it was all she had.
Half an hour later, she reached the forest.
The forest was lush, the air cooler than town. Sometimes as she passed beneath a tree, droplets fell from the leaves, sprinkling her like a small rain shower.
She’d already been “rained on” several times, but didn’t mind. She immediately set to chopping wood.
Thunk—Thunk—Thunk—
The forest echoed with the sound of chopping.
Before long, piles of logs in different sizes had accumulated at her feet.
In reality, Amy could never have done such heavy work. But this was the game world—anything was possible.
Her stamina had already bottomed out twice, and she was nearing the third time. Panting, she tossed the axe aside, pulled a boiled egg from her bag, peeled it, and ate it in a few bites.
Her arm muscles ached faintly—proof she was growing stronger.
With most of her food gone, Amy hesitated about chopping more trees. Just then, her game panel began to flash rapidly.
【Your “Farming” skill level has increased!】【You have obtained the recipe for “Glass Jar”】【You have learned how to make “Glass Jars”!】
The string of prompts left Amy stunned.
So fast… or maybe not that fast.
Her arms had nearly given out from chopping. If she hadn’t leveled up soon, she would’ve reported a bug—if that were even possible.
So the “Glass Jar” was her reward for leveling up? She thought she didn’t know how to make them…
Wait.
Somehow, even though she hadn’t known before, her mind suddenly filled with detailed first-person steps for making a glass jar, clearer than any tutorial.
Now she really did know how to make glass jars!
Amy once again marveled at how magical the game was.
Deciding she had enough wood for a box, she stopped chopping and went to the carpenter’s cabin.
This time, Ryan opened the door.
“Oh, it’s you! Hi, Amy, good afternoon!” Ryan beamed, showing eight perfect white teeth. “Haven’t seen you in days. How have you been?”
“I’ve been fine.” Amy smiled. “How about you? Driven any tractors lately?”
Ryan scratched his head sheepishly. “Eric found out… he banned me from touching the tractor for a whole month. Don’t mention it.”
Amy held back a laugh. “I didn’t snitch.”
“I know. I believe you wouldn’t do that,” Ryan said. “So, what brings you here?”
“I chopped some trees and wanted to make a box.”
Ryan’s eyes widened. “So all that chopping sound in the forest was you?!”
Amy looked puzzled. “Yes. Why?”
“No reason. Just… that kind of chopping, I thought it had to be some muscle-bound guy.”
Amy: “…” Looks like the brute strength joke wasn’t going away anytime soon.
Ryan chuckled awkwardly and steered back to the point. “Come on, let’s check out your wood.”
As they walked, Ryan pointed out the different trees. “These oaks and pines are common in Hot Spring Town. Plenty of them. When chopped, they drop seeds, which fall into the soil and grow into new trees.”
“But you chopped so much wood, one box is more than covered.”
Amy thought for a moment. “What about making a big box?”
“That too would be more than enough.” Ryan nodded. “By the way, doesn’t your farm still not have a mailbox? I can make you one with this wood. That way I can just mail things to you directly—you won’t have to come in person.”
Amy’s eyes lit up. “That would be wonderful!” She hadn’t known that was even possible.
“Yep,” Ryan grinned.
Amy almost mentioned upgrading her axe, but since she had no money and wouldn’t need to chop again soon, she decided to leave that for later.
Building the box would take a day or two, Ryan said. He’d mail it once finished.
After saying goodbye, Amy returned to her farm.
By then, the tin buckets were full of sap, giving off a sweet fragrance tinged with wood.
Now came the next step: filtering out the wood chips and other impurities, then evaporating and concentrating the sap until it reached the right consistency.
Since Amy only had a small pot, this took even longer than collecting the sap.
She leaned over the pot, stirring constantly, drowsy from the rising steam. Half-asleep, she thought: When I have money, I’m definitely buying a huge pot…
By late at night, only after concentrating the sap from the very last bucket, Amy finally felt at ease and went to bed.