Morning, 9:00 AM.
"Good morning, Mr. Farmer♪~"
Having spent a peaceful night and finished her morning routine, Elysia waved a greeting to Suke as he stepped out of the farmhouse.
After laying down the heavy burden of fighting the Honkai, this was the first time in her life she had slept so soundly.
Suke, however, did not respond to her.
Instead, he sprinted toward the farm's exit without looking back. In the blink of an eye, he was nothing but a distant silhouette, moving much faster than Elysia could hope to catch.
"Eh? Wait, wait~?"
Racing past the bus stop and the town square, Suke headed straight for the Blacksmith's shop.
Without a word, he spent a small fortune purchasing a massive hoard of Iron Ore and Coal. With a flick of his mind, he synthesized them into over a thousand bombs, each the size of a basketball.
"Heh, so you want to play at sneak attacks, do you?"
"I refuse to believe that after dropping a thousand of these, I still won't be able to flip the table on you!"
That's right—the current Suke had just respawned from his bed.
Though he didn't know what kind of thing had ambushed and insta-killed him last night, as the proud Owner of a Stardew Valley farm, it was impossible for him to give up on saving someone just because of a minor setback.
Since he had nothing better to do every day besides tilling the earth, if the opponent wanted to play, he would take them on until the bitter end!
"Right, those ten boxes I got from Elysia yesterday."
Recalling something, Suke pulled ten rectangular golden boxes engraved with question marks from his backpack.
Since he had come all this way to the Blacksmith, he might as well crack them open to see what treasures they held.
He pulled out two pouches of gold coins and tossed them into the Blacksmith's collection bin. The pouches vanished instantly, replaced by the rhythmic clanging of an anvil nearby.
A hammer glowing with a purple aura levitated into the air, seemingly gesturing for Suke to place a Golden Mystery Box upon the anvil.
CRACK!
[Congratulations, Farmer! You have obtained: Auto-Petter *1]
Suke: "!"
Staring at the golden box that had shattered under the hammer, and the device now sitting in his backpack—consisting of two small white gloves on a base—Suke would have been ecstatic if he hadn't just returned from Salem.
This was a legendary artifact considered a 'game-ender.' The drop rate from a Golden Mystery Box was less than 0.5%. Combined with an Auto-Grabber, it could fully automate a farm's livestock industry.
Back when he played the game, he had delved into the Skull Cavern countless times on the Community Center route just hoping to find one of these in a treasure chest.
Living alone, this was one of the items he had desired most to liberate his hands from daily chores.
But now, with a map as massive as Salem having opened up, he didn't find himself caring all that much.
"Next."
Pushing aside stray thoughts, Suke continued opening the boxes.
[Congratulations, Farmer! You have obtained: Quality Fertilizer *20]
[Congratulations, Farmer! You have obtained: Deluxe Speed-Gro *20]
[Congratulations, Farmer! You have obtained...]
It seemed most of his luck had been drained by the Auto-Petter. After opening five boxes in a row, Suke received nothing but seeds or fertilizer.
Well, he had originally thought there might be something special about the Golden Mystery Boxes obtained from Elysia, but the results were somewhat underwhelming.
"Last four boxes. I won't be greedy; just give me a Prismatic Shard..."
Suke muttered to himself, preparing to let the hammer strike again.
"Haah... huff..."
"Mr. Farmer... ignoring a lady is hardly the behavior of a gentleman... running off without even looking back..."
Just then, the sound of rhythmic, indignant panting came from behind him.
Miss Pink Elf was leaning against the wall, out of breath, a layer of fine, glistening sweat covering her fair skin. Her impressive white 'slimes' heaved violently with her chest as she breathed, her beautiful face full of grievance.
Is Elysia really this weak for a Herrscher? The thought flashed through Suke's mind.
It was barely a kilometer from the farm to the Blacksmith; why was she acting like she was half-dead?
"By the way, Mr. Farmer, have you seen little Abi? I noticed she wasn't in the main house, so I thought she was with you."
"Abigail... her situation is a bit complicated. I'll tell you when we get back to the farm."
Seeing Elysia ask about Abigail, Suke hesitated.
"By the way, Elysia, I wanted to ask you something."
"Hmm?"
"You mentioned that in your world, you were one of the Thirteen Flame-Chasers who saved the world. Can you still use those supernatural powers now?"
Suke voiced his question, which carried a sliver of hope.
If Elysia retained her combat power as a Herrscher—or even just as a Flame-Chaser—the success rate of going to Salem to bring Abigail back would skyrocket.
"Eh? Did you not realize, Mr. Farmer? I'm just an ordinary girl now~"
Facing Suke's question, Elysia shook her head.
"In my world, the foundation of all supernatural power stems from an existence called 'Honkai.' But in your world, Mr. Farmer..."
"I don't know if it's because I died once, but at least here, Elysia is just a perfectly ordinary girl. Does that disappoint you, Mr. Farmer~?"
Elysia put on a pitiful, delicate expression, leaving Suke momentarily speechless.
Stardew Valley was not a world devoid of magic. From the snippets of lore in the game, both magic and technology held a place here, and there were even entities suspected to be Creator Gods witnessing the world's rise and fall.
In the game, the key NPC representing this world-view was the Wizard, who lived in the Wizard's Tower at the edge of Cindersap Forest. He was a major plot driver and the guide for the player to touch magic.
But the problem now was that Suke had confirmed multiple times before Elysia and the others arrived: there was no other sentient life in this Stardew Valley besides himself.
The Wizard's Tower, much like the Junimo-infested Community Center and the JojaMart office, was permanently locked and inaccessible.
As a result, Suke hadn't even had a chance to enter the Tower to flip through the books recording magic, let alone set foot upon the supernatural system of this world.
Sigh, I can't count on Elysia. It looks like I'll have to explore Salem on my own...
[Congratulations, Farmer! You have obtained: Eden's Ruby Ring *1]
[Special Item: Eden's Ruby Ring]
[One of the many jewelry collections of the world-class superstar Eden, owner of the Golden Courtyard. It has manifested in Stardew Valley through the power of the stars, possessing a degree of light manipulation.]
[Defense +4]
[Crit +4]
[Attack +10%]
"Huh?"
The sudden prompt interrupted Suke's train of thought.
He snapped his gaze toward Elysia, who had curiously picked up the floating hammer and lightly tapped it against the Golden Mystery Box he had left on the anvil. The box had shattered instantly. Suke's pupils dilated in shock.
"Uh... I didn't mess anything up, did I, Mr. Farmer?"
___
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