The pine forest looked sparse, but in reality, the ground was littered with treasures.

Mushrooms were hidden beside tree roots, in the grass, and beneath the pine needles covering the ground. Take a few steps, and you’d stumble upon fallen logs lying across the path; the rotting trunks were cracked, and clusters of mushrooms sprouted from the pitch-black fissures.

Sometimes, when he looked up, he’d unexpectedly come across a mushroom or two growing high up on a tree trunk.

Here, Nan Liuqing felt like a mouse that had fallen into a rice bin; mushroom picking even brought him a sense of happiness. He didn’t care at all that the dampness seeped through his quick-dry pants and soaked his knees or dirtied his pant legs, nor did he pay any attention to the little bugs crawling on him. To reach a cluster of mushrooms growing in a tree hollow, he lay flat on the ground, getting dirt and pine needles all over his face and head, looking a complete mess. But when he finally scooped a large cluster of mushrooms into his hands, that sense of accomplishment and satisfaction overshadowed all the inconveniences.

Until then, he had never understood why he loved watching those videos of “immersive mushroom picking on rainy days” on Earth so much.

The camera angle was clearly odd, the footage was shaky, and there was no dialogue. For most of the video, it was just a chaotic mess—all you could hear through the headphones was the sound of wind, rain, the steady breathing of the shaky cameraman, and the occasional soft snap of a mushroom stem breaking as it was picked.

A “click”—neither crisp nor muffled—but it just made my heart feel lighter, and I couldn’t help but want to hear it a few more times. It’s super stress-relieving.

The sense of accomplishment is unbeatable.

And Nan Liujing is currently experiencing a truly immersive mushroom-picking adventure.

Except for the fact that it wasn’t raining, the setting is almost exactly the same as in some short videos.

It’s just that, unlike those edited short videos, he can’t find a mushroom every three seconds or fill a basket in a minute.

Nan Liujing hugged the tree trunk and slowly worked his way up. The air was so humid that even the bark was damp; one wrong move and he’d slip. The pine trees stood straight and tall, often reaching twenty or thirty meters in height. He had to climb a section, then use his axe to chop a foothold into the trunk so he could continue upward.

After finally reaching the first branch, Nan Liujing wiped the sweat from his face, brushing off a bit of dirt in the process. He clung tightly to the trunk with one hand while stretching out the other, leaning his body as far as he could to reach the mushrooms growing on a long branch.

This cluster of mushrooms was pure white, with mycelium resembling animal fur; at first glance, it looked fuzzy, appearing like a white, fluffy ball growing on the tree.

At first, Nan Liujing was inexperienced and didn’t know that some mycelium was loose, so he accidentally broke a few. After that, he learned his lesson and started picking them off along with the bark underneath the mushrooms.

With a snap, he successfully collected the mushroom intact.

This one was as big as an adult’s fist, and seeing that it was completely intact, Nan Liujing finally let out a sigh of relief.

【Monkey Head Mushroom☆】

【Category: Edible】

【A wild mushroom growing on Mushroom Island; non-toxic and edible. Its flesh is tender and flavorful, and it’s rich in nutrients. It’s said to be a rare treasure of the mountains and forests!】

【Suggested Price: 360 Sol.】

【Condition: Fresh】

A single Monkey Head Mushroom weighs less than 100g, but the system still counts it as 1 unit. Nan Liujing still hasn’t figured out how this is calculated.

However, so far, among all the mushrooms he has picked, only the Monkey Head Mushroom and the Matsutake are counted as 1 unit each. Both are expensive, hard to find, and relatively large. Could it be a combination of factors like harvesting difficulty, price, size, and rarity?

Before scraping it off the tree, Nan Liujing took a quick look to see if this pine tree had any pinecones—the answer was no. He wasn’t sure if it was out of season or something else.

Come to think of it, does this game even have a seasonal system? He didn’t think so.

Nan Liujing clung to the tree trunk like a big green caterpillar, wriggling and sliding down until he was just one or two meters off the ground, then suddenly let go and jumped down.

The ground beneath him was soft, humus-rich soil. Nan Liujing landed steadily, though his calves felt a bit numb. He stretched his legs where he stood and continued searching for mushrooms.

When you’re completely absorbed in something, time flies by.

Two hours had slipped by unnoticed since Nan Liujing arrived on the island. Kneeling beneath a sturdy old pine tree, he gently parted the light brown pine needles with his hand, revealing the brown, round cap of a matsutake mushroom.

Nan Liujing’s face lit up with joy—this was the second matsutake he’d found. Whether in terms of how often they were found or their suggested price, these were the highest-grade and most precious mushrooms on Mushroom Island.

Nan Liujing patted the round cap of the matsutake, continued to part the pine needles, and carefully lifted the mushroom out from the base.

This matsutake was quite large, about as long as his finger.

【Matsutake☆】

【Category: Ingredients】

【A wild mushroom native to Mushroom Island; non-toxic and edible. A top-tier mountain delicacy and a staple in high-end restaurants.】

【Suggested Price: 800 Sol.】

【Condition: Fresh】

Holding the matsutake reverently in my hands, my movements mirror the scene from The Lion King where the character stands on a cliff and raises it high; he can almost hear the movie’s iconic soundtrack playing in his ears, as the imagined light of wealth breaks through the gloomy clouds, casting a radiant glow.

If only he could pick one matsutake mushroom every minute, Nan Liujing would become a tycoon.

They’re so rare it’s infuriating—not only are there so few of them, but they’re barely visible to the naked eye, making them even harder to find.

He immediately stuffed the matsutake into his backpack, which already contained 7 yellow mushrooms, 4 monkey head mushrooms, 2 matsutake, 12 hazelnut mushrooms, and 11 red mushrooms.

There were more than that, but only these five were non-toxic and edible. The others were either highly poisonous, stank to high heaven, or would explode at the slightest touch, spraying a massive amount of gray-blue spores.

Nan Liujing’s goal was to stack 99 of each of the three relatively common mushrooms—yellow mushrooms, hazelnut mushrooms, and red mushrooms—within the exploration time limit. If he managed to do so, he’d still have nearly 20 jin. If he took them back to dry, they’d be enough to last him a long time.

As for monkey head mushrooms and matsutake, Nan Liujing didn’t dare to get his hopes up too high; he just hoped to find some. These two types of mushrooms were too expensive; he wasn’t planning to keep them for himself, but rather to wait for the next traveling merchant to come by and make a nice little profit.

“Hm?”

After searching about 20 meters ahead, Nan Liujing suddenly spotted a new type of mushroom not far to his left.

Compared to other varieties, this mushroom was absurdly large—the part visible above ground alone was over ten centimeters tall. It was plump and white, with a hemispherical cap. The cap and stem were a pale yellowish-brown, covered in cracks, resembling the charred skin of a fruit roasted over a charcoal fire.

Until then, Nan Liujing had no idea that mushrooms this large even existed in the world.

【Delicious Porcini Mushroom☆】 

【Category: Ingredients】

【Wild mushrooms grown on Mushroom Island; non-toxic and edible. True to their name, they are delicious and plentiful enough to fill you up.】

【Suggested Price: 180 Sol.】

【Condition: Fresh】

Before picking the mushrooms, Nan Liujing patted the plump caps. He’d seen people do this in short videos, and the comments said it was to scatter the spores so that mushrooms would grow here again next year.

Just like a lumberjack who scatters seeds in the forest after cutting down trees. It’s the same principle.

Although it’s almost impossible to return to Mushroom Island again, Nan Liujing doesn’t mind following the old tradition.

It was just a quick tap—nothing more than a passing gesture.

With a delicious porcini mushroom in hand, Nan Liujing’s backpack was full. He looked around and decided to list two matsutake mushrooms at a high price in the trading area. Other mushrooms drop frequently and could appear at any time, which would mean he’d have to keep listing and delisting them—too much of a hassle.

Matsutake have a low drop rate, so it’s best to save himself the trouble.

Over the next half hour, Nan Liujing discovered a fallen log covered in yellow mushrooms and combed through a patch of grass where hazelnut mushrooms grew sporadically. As he was picking the last hazelnut mushroom, Nan Liujing felt a sharp pain in his fingertip.

“Ouch.” He instinctively pulled his hand back and discovered that the pad of his ring finger was actually bleeding. He was instantly baffled: “Do mushrooms have thorns?”

His first thought was that he might have been stung by a small insect. However, at a glance, he could only spot a few harmless little black ants, hurriedly carrying away bits of mushroom debris.

After looking for a while, he spotted one that stood out among the pile of fallen pine needles.

This pine needle looked exactly like the others. Unlike the vibrant green needles still growing on the pine tree, it had taken on a yellowish-brown hue, as if it were on its last legs. But upon closer inspection, one would notice that, for some reason, this particular needle was standing straight up out of the ground, its pointed tip jutting upward—a rather sinister sight.

Nan Liujing reached out to pull it up, but to his surprise, it didn’t budge on the first try: “Huh?”

Now Nan Liujing was truly intrigued. He pushed the surrounding pine needles aside, gripped the needle once more, and pulled upward with about seventy percent of his strength. This time, he finally managed to pull it out.

The pine needle he pulled out was about the length of his index finger and slightly thinner than a knitting needle. The end that had been buried in the soil was flat, and several twisted roots were still attached to the bottom.

【Pine Needle Grass☆】

【Category: Magical Plant】

【A magical plant that resembles a pine needle. It is rare and grows only near pine trees. It is an essential ingredient for crafting high-grade magical potions and serves to increase the probability of ingredients fusing together.】

【Suggested Price: 1,500 Sol.】

【Condition: Fresh】

“……?!” Nan Liujing gasped, choking on the spot. He crouched there, coughing for a long while, still carefully cradling a particularly scruffy-looking pine needle in his hands.

In his eyes, this thing now shimmered with a golden glow. Matsutake? What matsutake?

The days of matsutake mushrooms are long gone—who would dare even think about them at 800 sol? Pine Needle Grass is the best in the world! 

Nan Liujing, in particular, took a closer look and saw several rare pine-needle grasses growing right there on the ground in front of him; he couldn’t help but smile.

“Lucky, lucky,” he muttered under his breath as he pulled the grass; before long, he had gathered a small handful.

He was now certain that the units in this game were directly related to price. A single Pine Needle Grass plant weighed no more than 2g, yet it sold for a high price of 1,500 Sol, taking up 1 inventory slot and costing 0.5 stamina.

Nan Liujing hurriedly listed the monkey head mushrooms in the trading area to free up a backpack slot for the pine needles. His backpack immediately showed 9 pine needles.

This single bunch could fetch 10,000!

In less than two minutes, he had turned that patch of grass upside down. After confirming there really were no more pine needle grasses left, he reluctantly stood up and brushed the dirt off his legs.

Just then, he heard a rustling sound coming from behind him.

Turning around, he saw the unfaithful cat—the very one that had bolted the moment they set foot on the island—emerging from the bushes with a chicken in its mouth.

Huh?

What’s it carrying?

Nan Liujing couldn’t help but rub his eyes and look again.

That’s right—it was indeed the black cat he knew, walking toward him with its tail held high and a chicken clenched in its mouth.

The cat was a young kitten, weighing no more than 5 jin. It was slender and agile, its long fur all ruffled from rolling around, caked with bits of dirt and leaves, and clinging to its body because of the damp air.

The chicken was a full-grown bird with white feathers all over its body and three red feathers of varying lengths on its head. It had been chased into submission by the cat and was now being carried away with its head hanging limply, letting out pitiful, soft clucks.

“……” Nan Liujing looked at the cat, then at the chicken, then back at the cat.

A question mark was written all over his face.

A thousand thoughts boiled down to a single word: “Huh?”

The chicken was much larger than the cat. The black cat strained to open its mouth wide as it half-dragged, half-carried the chicken, finally dropping it at Nan Liujing’s feet. The chicken’s eyes darted about, and it flapped its wings in an attempt to escape, only to be pinned down by the cat’s paw.

The black cat stretched its stiff jaw, stuck out its tongue to lick its lips, then tilted its head up at Nan Liujing and let out a long, drawn-out “Meow-woo~.”

Translated, that meant: “I’ve brought back my prey.”

“Meow.”

This is the prey Mimi brought you. Eat up—it’s fresh. “Meow-meow-woo.”

Mimi will show you how to eat it. First, bite through the neck, then rip open the belly and eat the innards. The innards are tender and nutritious—so delicious.

“Meow-woo.”

The fur doesn’t taste good. That’s okay—just eat some grass, and it’ll come right out.

After sharing all that wisdom, the black cat proudly lifted its chin, its tail standing straight up behind it like an exclamation point. Mimi is definitely not some good-for-nothing cat who just eats and drinks for free. Treat Mimi to fish, and Mimi will treat you to chicken.

You’re welcome!

I don’t know if you understood, but the chicken should have.

The chicken let out a despairing grunt. Facing life or death, its instinct to reproduce took over, causing it to shudder and lay an egg.

The egg rolled out from under the hen’s rear end, rolled around twice right under the cat’s nose, and came to rest motionless in the soft pine needles. After his initial surprise, Nan Liujing immediately cheered up: “It’s a hen!”

He immediately crouched down and took over from the black cat, holding the hen down with both hands, afraid he might run away. The moment his hands touched the hen, a description flashed before his eyes.

【White-Feathered Chicken】 

【Category: Animal】

【One of the most common birds in the Impermanent Sea, known for its delicious meat. An adult hen can lay 1 egg per day. Careful rearing can improve the quality.】

【Can be tamed and raised. (Requires relevant structures.)】

“This can be raised…” Nan Liujing immediately thought of his class change quest.

One of the mission requirements is to raise at least two types of animals, so he worked nonstop to build a slime farm and an ocean farm to raise slimes and a bunch of fish fry. However, as of now, this requirement has not been marked as complete.

Nan Liujing suspects this is because slimes are classified as “magical creatures” and therefore do not meet the criteria.

It’s also unclear whether some of the fish fry count toward the requirement. Nan Liujing suspects that they might not be counted as animals he’s raising, since he simply dropped the fry into the water and waited—they require no feeding or care.

Right now, however, there’s a White-Feathered Chicken right in front of him that perfectly meets the requirements.

Nan Liujing looked at the black cat, which was crouched on the ground, its eyes shining brightly as it gazed at him, seemingly expecting something.

Nan Liujing quickly offered some emotional reinforcement: “Mimi, you’re amazing! You managed to catch a chicken this big—you’re the best little kitty I’ve ever seen!”

Of course.

The black cat twitched its ears and narrowed its eyes with an air of dignity.

“Now, I have a favor to ask.” Seeing that the black cat seemed in a good mood, Nan Liujing clutched the hen tightly and got straight to the point: “This chicken is very useful to me. Would you mind letting me have it? As compensation, I’ll treat you to a delicious grilled fish tail as soon as I get back—how about that?”

The black cat tilted its head: “Meow?”

I was going to give it to you anyway.

But grilled fish tails? What’s that? It sounds really delicious. The black cat licked its lips and unconsciously chewed the air a couple of times.

A cat chewing with an empty mouth is just being greedy! 

“So, is it a deal?”

Nan Liujing took this as a clear sign of agreement, and picked up the white-feathered chicken by its wing. The black cat withdrew its paw and yawned widely.

Seeing that it showed no signs of resistance, Nan Liujing—as if afraid it might change its mind—quickly went through the motions to list the white-feathered chicken at a high price in the trading area.

Nan Liujing didn’t miss the egg the white-feathered chicken had laid on the ground either; he picked it up.

The egg had just been laid and still felt warm to the touch.

【Egg☆】

【Category: Ingredients】

【An egg laid by a White-Feathered Chicken, rich in nutrients.】

【Suggested Price: 58 Sol.】

【Condition: Fresh】

For the next little while, Nan Liujing spent his time picking mushrooms while trying to persuade Black Cat to go catch a few more White-Feathered Chickens.

A single White-Feathered Chicken was hardly enough to satisfy Nan Liujing’s appetite; since he’d found one on this island, there was bound to be an entire flock. As far as Nan Liujing was concerned, he should at least round out the flock—otherwise, they wouldn’t be able to breed.

After pestering him for half an hour, he finally managed to get the black cat to go.

He wasn’t sure if the cat had understood his request and decided to grant it, or if it was simply fed up with being pestered.

Nan Liujing, blindly optimistic, was convinced it was the former. He squinted as he waved goodbye to the black cat, then turned and spotted a fallen log not far away. Something seemed to be growing on it.

He ran over to take a closer look and found it was actually clusters of plump wood ear mushrooms.

That’s a nice find, too.

Nan Liujing pulled out his oyster knife and harvested all the edible wood ear mushrooms he could find, collecting 4 wood ear mushrooms in one go. After harvesting, he naturally headed straight to the trading area.

His linen backpack was already too full; these mushrooms were too fragile, and he was afraid of crushing them.

It would be great to have a back basket—he could just toss everything into it as he goes, then sort it out later when he gets home. It would be so much easier and more convenient.

He spent a full four hours just in this section of the island, and in the end, he harvested 32 yellow mushrooms, 47 hazelnut mushrooms, 18 red mushrooms, 20 delicious porcini mushrooms, 11 monkey head mushrooms, 4 matsutake, 14 pine needle mushrooms, and 12 wood ear mushrooms.

Stamina consumed: 79.

He’d set out today with the “Full Of Energy” buff, and now he still had 71/150 stamina remaining.

He’s gone out to explore the sea several times, but this is the first time he’s run into a situation where he couldn’t use up all his stamina.

Although he really wanted to keep searching for mushrooms in the woods, he only had two hours left, and there were still large areas of Mushroom Island unexplored. Nan Liujing had no choice but to reluctantly leave the pine forest and continue exploring deeper into the island.

Deep within the pine forest was a stream, no deeper than Nan Liujing’s ankles; he waded across it with ease and entered another grove.

The trees here were sparser than in the pine forest, but every birch tree soared high into the sky. The variety wasn’t limited to just one type of tree either; as far as the eye could see, Nan Liujing spotted pines, birches, elms, maples, and even two hazelnut trees heavy with fruit.

Without hesitation, he moved in and swept up all the hazelnuts, easily obtaining 80 units of hazelnuts.

He still had some sugar in his inventory, so he planned to return and turn these hazelnuts into caramel hazelnut spread—enough to last at least until next year.

Between two white birch trees, Nan Liujing discovered two plum-blossom-shaped footprints and a pile of long-dried animal droppings.

Judging by the size and shape of the footprints, the animal that left them was either a dog or a wolf; a dog was more likely, since the footprints themselves weren’t very large.

Nan Liujing thought it looked more like a medium-sized dog, possibly a stray.

Although he found the footprints, Nan Liujing wasn’t too worried. Judging by the condition of the droppings, the stray dog had been in this area several days ago, and since it hadn’t been back recently, it was unlikely he’d run into it.

Even if he did run into one, Nan Liujing was confident he could, within a few minutes… befriend it with some delicious roasted dried octopus. He found an open spot away from the droppings, sat down, took out the roasted dried octopus, and began tearing into it. His stamina hadn’t yet dropped below the warning threshold, but he was hungry and had to eat something.

This time, he’d brought dried octopus made from the massive octopus leg he’d just traded for—it increased his Spirit attribute by 1. Nan Liujing gnawed on a piece with nothing to wash it down, chewing until his jaw ached, and suddenly realized that this 1 point of Spirit attribute wasn’t easy to come by.

Slow chewing increased his satiety, and the 500g of dried octopus was quite substantial. After finishing, Nan Liujing even felt a bit stuffed and needed to let the food settle.

After eating, he wasted no time and continued his exploration.

With half an hour left before the exploration period ended, Nan Liujing returned to where he had come ashore.

In addition to the supplies he’d gathered earlier, his backpack now contained 12 dew grass, which he’d found in the meadow deep within the island.

On his way back along the same path, he passed through the pine forest again. A sudden idea struck Nan Liujing: he decided to move four fallen logs—once covered in mushrooms—to the trading area, figuring he’d take them home to see if they could grow new mushrooms in different environments.

If he succeeded, he’d have a steady supply of mushrooms to eat.

After waiting twenty minutes on shore, the black cat ran back as well. It was very smart—Nan Liujing only had to tell it twice to meet here, and it remembered.

It was now laboriously dragging a chicken—even fatter than the previous one—toward them. Nan Liujing hurried forward to help it.

The black cat was completely exhausted.

Don’t get it wrong—catching just one or two white-feathered chickens was a piece of cake for it. The real challenge was how to catch and drag away an adult chicken—one even heavier than itself—and drag it away without harming a single feather.

Why not just kill it? Prey is, of course, best when it’s alive and fresh; a dead one just wouldn’t make for a present worth showing off.

Seeing Nan Liujing approach, the black cat immediately put on a nonchalant air and let out a soft “meow.”

“Good work, good work. Wow, this one’s nice and plump!” Nan Liujing scooped up the white-feathered chicken with one hand, only to discover, somewhat disappointedly, that it was a hen—unsuitable for breeding.

But then he realized he’d have a steady supply of two eggs every day! His mood brightened.

While his attention was elsewhere, the black cat quickly stuck out its tongue and panted heavily twice; as soon as his gaze turned back, it quickly retracted its tongue and closed its little mouth tightly as if nothing had happened.

“Thank you, Mimi.” Nan Liujing gently stroked the black cat’s forehead and held out his arm. “Come on, let’s go home.”

“Meow~” The black cat immediately darted onto his shoulder, then flopped down as if it had no bones.