The Crescent Lake under the moonlight presents a beautiful deep blue-green, reflecting the snow-capped mountains and scattered starlight, beautiful beyond compare.
However, Jiang Yuan immediately noticed something slowly moving in the center of the lake; a dark silhouette that was very clear, with an exceptionally large body, which was not completely visible.
"Splash!"
Coincidentally, at this time, a cloud in the sky blocks the bright moonlight; as the light dims, the sound of water arises, and the black silhouette in the center of the lake appears to be slowly turning its body, yet isn't clearly seen.
He holds his breath and crouches, trying to minimize his presence while watching quietly.
A moment later, as the clouds drift past and the full moon once again sheds its bright light, the enormous creature in the lake stirs the water into ripples. Immediately, a flash of golden light reveals a huge, colorful tail sweeping across the surface before diving back into the water; a few breaths later, the creature swimming into the depths gets smaller and eventually disappears from sight.
"Was it a big fish or a dragon?" The scene happened too quickly and was so shocking that Jiang Yuan only sensed the brilliance but couldn't clearly see what it was.
After a while the lake calmed down, he finally breathed a sigh of relief; watching the serene lake gently ripple, confirmed there was no sign of monsters, even taking out the fishing rod his actions became more gentle.
The wilderness has many interesting new things waiting to be explored, too bad the game doesn't have a recording function to capture memories. But as his level increases, he'll interact with more advanced bosses, maybe in the future he'll have a chance to explore Crescent Lake!
The little incident didn't make him relax vigilance, instead he became more cautious, fearing attracting some terrifying big boss; he cast his fish hook, sat quietly by the lake waiting, striving to blend with the environment to avoid detection.
In the wilderness game, fishing bait can be purchased in the marketplace or crafted in the workshop, but if you don't have bait you can fish with an empty hook, the downside being a higher chance of getting nothing.
Jiang Yuan has never fished in reality; growing up in the Central Plains without seeing a decent river, then during university watched roommates tinkering with fishing rods, but after asking the price he gave up.
Now holding a fishing rod, lacking experience, he didn't buy bait, opting instead to cast empty hooks to get a feel.
"Biu!"
Unexpectedly, without any bait, after just half a minute the float was sharply tugged underwater, something caught!
Jiang Yuan was overjoyed, hurriedly pulled the rod to ashore; the broken fishing rod he bought for 50 gold coins from the marketplace was quite basic, just a bamboo rod with a line without even a reel, relying solely on strength to pull when a catch is made.
"Swish! Clap!"
[Treasure Chest +1]
[Trash: Rotting Water Grass +1]
A bundle of dark green water grass wrapped around something heavy was pulled ashore, automatically picked up into the storage bag, the large movements of casting the hook scared a few Moon Pearl Birds on the meadow, causing them to flap wings and flee.
After winning this first battle, he ignored the birds and urgently fetched a box discovered while hoeing, drying water off it smashed the rusty padlock with a stone, and upon opening found a roll of complete parchment inside!
[July 3rd, Heavy Rain]
Coming during summer to the island was the worst decision I've made.
Legends say there's a Heaven-Reaching Wood here that when climbed reaches the Kunlun Void, yet I found nothing. Instead, continuous heavy rains drenched me like a soaked chicken, finally understanding why they named this place Shuiyun Lake; when it rains, it's as if clouds merge with water resembling an Immortal Realm!
Fortunately, not all in vain, heavy rain flushed many wrecks from upstream, so I sorted and copied them into half the Earth Mirror Book, burying it in the northeast corner of the courtyard for anyone lucky enough to find it, leaving a "treasure" for the successors as a surprise!
Hopefully, the successors appreciate this surprise; however, dealing with predecessors' "treasure" is too bothersome…
Unlike last page's slightly damaged parchment, this page is very complete, featuring the character "Ya" at the lower right corner.
Jiang Yuan suppressed the urge to immediately go home and dig treasure, storing the parchment into his storage bag, casually tossing the trash far away then cast his rod again.
Strive to gather the needed Moonlight Pearl and Moon in the Water by tonight, then return home to dig in the northeast courtyard, hopefully, truly finding an Earth Mirror Book buried there; newbies are never afraid of too many skills!
[Water Grass +1]
[Common aquatic grass, can be crafted into feed]
[Trash: Rotting Water Grass +1]
"Swish, swish, swish!"
Averaging two bites per minute, mostly water grass which get collected into storage bags, whilst rotting water grass emitting a pungent fishy smell, Jiang Yuan tossed them far away continuing to fish for Moon in the Water unsure of when it'll be caught.
Uncertain whether Moon in the Water is a fish or an item from treasure chest, the system details didn't explain, so he kept casting by the lake hoping for better luck soon.
[Jade Fish +1]
[Common aquatic creature, found in most water areas during spring, summer, and autumn. Can be used in alchemy; can be crafted into food, consuming increases energy and blood nourishment]
[Water Grass]
[Rotting Water Grass]
[Jade Fish +1]
...
Jiang Yuan quickly drew a conclusion - there's always a harvest when casting, but without bait, the higher chance is snagging trash.
Unexpectedly, those discarded rotting water grass attracted a flock of Moon Pearl Birds to peck and eat; weary from casting rods, he opted for work-rest balance, congruently his skill cooldown ended after ten minutes, stealthily approached and unleashed a flame, taking advantage to beat randomly with a jujube wood stick.
[Moonlight Pearl +1]
+1
...
"Haha, finally gathered them!" After defeating a cluster of small creatures and accumulating 33 Moonlight Pearls in the storage bag, Jiang Yuan was in high spirits.
This indeed is the correct way to play exploration farming games.
Newbies should focus on opening land farming, exploration collection, fishing, chopping trees, scavenging to build their estate, occasionally battling small creatures to slowly accumulate skill bars, progressing gradually. Once developed open new maps to fight tougher creatures, unlike the unreasonable small boss encounter right after stepping out like yesterday night.
Fortunately, everything returned to normal tonight.
No signs of Ice-winged Eagles again; possibly they didn't need to mine, left the place for food after killing Flame Rats, which is rather good! The demand for slime and stones must be large, spare time to fight creatures and try mining, extracting ore that becomes solid currency!
Cheerful thoughts occupied his mind, taking a glance saw a flock of Moon Pearl Birds near the jungle sharing something; harboring a free-to-collect mentality he stealthily approached, guarding against being dazed whilst performing "Jiang's Random Stick Technique", pounding vigorously regardless.
"Goo-goo!"
"Flap!"
Moon Pearl Birds died, were wounded or fled, lucky few escaped the stick leaving some feathers gliding towards the jungle.
After they dispersed Jiang Yuan dared open his eyes, seeing the grassland previously encircled trampled into chaos, hearing a slight "thud", the moonlit bushes revealed a pale human hand!
"Oh My!" Enjoying the serene atmosphere of exploration farming game, Jiang Yuan's mood flipped; startled stepping backward uttering expletives in surprise.
[Trigger Side Quest: Legacy]
[A corpse beset by Moon Pearl Birds, having no original appearance due to being partially eaten, leaving an Ironwood Ring as legacy; deliver it to deceased's family for special reward]