Chapter 19 : Skill shopping

In a way, it was an advance for me.

If I were a Farming World streamer broadcasting this, the chat might have exploded with rage.

Looking only at the results, I looked like an idiot who lazily planted over 50 seeds of various kinds in the garden, didn’t clean the sewer, and asked for the garden to be cleared without even putting up a simple fence.

Well, it’s not wrong.

It was my choice, and I created this situation.

But even if I hadn’t done that, nothing would have changed.

In Farming World, which has been open for 10 years, many people interested in this genre have played the game, and they share various research and experiences through the community, gathering knowledge and information to create the most efficient route—this is one of the fundamental interactions in such games.

Especially for the early part, the repetitive grinding elements have already been thoroughly researched on how to avoid wasting even a second or a little resource.

There are still various options, and comparing them, no choice makes a big difference, so you can just choose according to your preference.

But the farming from the start to the sewer cleaning, in a way, is an inevitable advance for Farming World users that requires a perfect conclusion.

Farming must be done to complete the tutorial.

Even if you skip the tutorial, since the game is farming-centered, you must earn farms at least through farming as a side activity.

There is a playstyle where you just rush the exploration route from the start, but that’s only for veterans who know monster patterns perfectly and can dodge every hit.

Otherwise, charging monsters without armor will get you killed, causing game over and forcing a server reset.

So, there are a few choices.

At the crafting station, you use wood to make a basic fence, surround the garden, and place bells at the entrance or at intervals to sound alarms when touched.

This is the basic strategy.

If big rats climb over or break the fence, the bell rings, and I wake up to minimize damage—this is the best early-game play for users.

The problem is the bell.

I don’t have the materials to make even a small bell.

I do, but I need a furnace, and in reality, I lack the common ‘thread’ needed to tie the bell.

I could weave branches to make a string, but the biggest problem is—

Can I wake up when I hear that sound?

And waking up has quite a penalty.

Only 50% of the slept time counts, so to avoid penalties, I have to sleep more.

Above all, just because I chased rats once doesn’t mean they won’t come again.

There were even community posts about unlucky people getting attacked three times in one night.

The best play is just a temporary fix.

You could set rat traps, but those who have advanced this far are perverts who don’t clean the sewer anyway, so they are excluded from this debate.

I admit I was a bit careless.

After 10 years, making fences takes time, and installing them means dismantling later when expanding the yard, so I just skipped it.

I had a mindset of “It’s okay if there’s some damage,” but when it actually happens, it’s frustrating.

In the end, in the advance state, I played as I had been doing, and unluckily took damage.

It was worse than I thought.

Though not necessary crops, they are good to have.

I needed somewhere to vent this anger.

“Damn… all those rat bastards are dead. I’ll sell their leather and meat.”

Actually, that was the biggest reason.

If I catch the rats, I can at least cover some losses.

Wouldn’t it be best to protect the crops and clear out the rats?

I probably scratched this in the chat, but I’m not a streamer, and in this dimension, only Lulu and I are watching what’s happening now.

“Hmm… I don’t remember exactly, but I think it was about 3KM southwest.”

“That far? They’re dragging themselves here?”

“This must be the rats’ territory.”

3KM is quite a distance.

Even if they move fast, it takes over 30 minutes.

Why do big rats come all the way here from their home to wreak havoc?

As Lulu said, if this is their territory, they might be annoyed by my presence in a hut spanning the territory and come here.

Anyway, today I was going to kill the rats, so I planned to run a little faster.

I can clear the path later when I have time.

So before leaving, I opened the [Farming Point Shop].

“I need to buy some movement skills.”

Right now, the Farming Points I have are a total of 10, which I got from leveling up and completing the tutorial.

Farming Points are a kind of currency used in the Farming World to level up in various ways.

If “Farm” is the money used in the real world, then “Farming Points” are used to increase stats, buy abilities, or level up those abilities.

Because there are so many uses for them, one of the biggest mistakes newbies make is spending Farming Points wherever they feel like.

But that’s exactly the charm of this kind of game.

The so-called “freedom” to invest points in whatever area you want and grow in the direction you choose.

Once you’ve played a while like me, honestly, it doesn’t really matter even if you invest them randomly.

In the end, there are key elements that matter for growth, and as long as you meet the required numbers, veterans won’t have any trouble.

Still, it feels a bit off to keep mentioning veterans, but like Lulu’s previous owner who picked Magic (SSS+) and then tried to save every single point early on instead of planning to survive the early game—

—while investing in construction or something like orchards, they’ll eventually hit a wall wondering, “Was this always this hard?”

That’s exactly why I’ve been hoarding my 10 Farming Points and not using them.

I wanted to use them only where they’re truly needed.

And now seemed like the right time.

“The map is too big.”

There’s a reason why Farming World players recommend choosing maps of moderate size.

Even in PC games, if the map is too big, you waste a lot of time just moving around, increasing your overall playtime—so imagine how much worse it is in virtual reality.

Of course, later on, you can enjoy the progression of civilization—laying down rails for movement, making mounts, or riding monsters.

But early game? It’s hell. Pure hell.

Even I remember when I played an SS+-ranked map previously, the map was ridiculously huge, and I spent over half my time just getting around.

That’s why, except for vanilla users like me, most players install mods that let them build some form of vehicle early on, even if it’s shabby.

Anyway, in this dimension that boasts an SSS+-level map size, I need some mobility-related skills or a mount if I don’t want to waste time walking.

So I opened the [Farming Point Shop] to get that.

If there’s a related skill, I’ll buy it—otherwise, I’ll grab an active skill related to swordsmanship to use during hunts.

“Hmm.”

Out of the various categories in the Farming Point Shop, I opened the [Skills] tab.

The abilities I had were categorized as [Melee Weapons (SSS+)], [Farming (F)], [Butchering (F)], and when I clicked each tab, a skill tree opened up below.

[Melee Weapons (SSS+)]

[Active] – [Double Slash (SSS+)]

• [Leap Slash (SSS+)]

[Passive] – [Master of Melee Weapons (SSS+)]

All the active skills were grayed out, and only the passive one I had learned was bolded and active.

There were a lot of skills, and they were all SSS+-ranked, so just browsing them was exciting.

For now, the ones I could afford were [Double Slash] and [Leap Slash] at the front of the list.

The names sounded basic, almost like some trash-tier F-rank skills, but the SSS+ label next to them gave a lot of credibility.

“It’s not the name that matters. The rank is what’s important.”

Besides, looking at the description, they didn’t seem like trash at all.

[Leap Slash]

• Rank: SSS+
• Active Skill (Melee Weapons)
• Mana Cost: 5
• Instantly leap up to 100 meters and quickly slash the target.
• The number of attacks during the ‘leap’ increases depending on your Agility grade. (Current grade: S, 5 attacks)
• Attack power during the ‘leap’ increases depending on your Strength grade. (Current grade: S, 100%)

It was exactly the kind of “mobility” skill I needed.