Andrew was just about to head toward Penny's trailer home when he passed by the Stardrop Saloon and witnessed something that made him pause.
George, an elderly man confined to a wheelchair, was struggling to retrieve mail from the mailbox positioned awkwardly outside his door. Because his legs were permanently disabled, this simple task looked genuinely difficult and frustrating for him to accomplish.
At that moment, Penny walked over with her characteristic kindness and gently helped George extract the letter from the box.
Unexpectedly, George showed absolutely no appreciation whatsoever. His weathered face twisted with irritation.
"Hmph, do you think I need your help? I can do it myself! I was just about to get it!" George snapped with harsh bitterness, clearly unable to psychologically accept the reality of his disability and dependence.
Witnessing this ungrateful response, Andrew instantly felt his blood pressure rising. This cranky old man genuinely didn't know what was good for him.
He stepped forward with purpose, his imposing frame casting a shadow.
Penny noticed Andrew approaching and looked suddenly flustered, her cheeks flushing slightly. "Andrew? You saw all that?"
Andrew had always possessed a strong sense of justice. Seeing someone kind like Penny treated so unfairly instantly ignited his desire to protect her.
"That's absolutely right, Penny. I saw everything that just happened," he confirmed firmly.
"You did absolutely nothing wrong. Nothing at all."
"Thank you for saying that," Penny said quietly, visibly relieved.
Then Andrew turned his full attention to George with barely concealed disapproval. "Gramps, what's wrong with you? Someone helps you out of genuine kindness, and you don't even appreciate it? Fine, whatever. But why are you lashing out like that, huh?"
George seemed uncertain whether he was genuinely intimidated by Andrew's imposing presence or simply ashamed that others had witnessed his harsh, unreasonable behavior.
He lowered his grizzled head slightly, his aggressive posture deflating. "Sigh... no... Penny, I'm sorry. I completely lost my composure just now."
"Thank you very much for your help. I was out of line." With that mumbled apology, he slowly pushed his wheelchair away, looking thoroughly miserable and defeated.
Penny watched George's retreating form and sighed softly before turning back to Andrew with sad eyes.
"Grandma Evelyn told me once that Grandpa George used to be a professional miner when he was young and strong. There was a terrible mining accident years ago, and his legs were permanently crippled in the collapse."
"Ever since that tragedy, his entire personality changed, and he became cold and bitter."
"I just hope Grandpa George won't be so sad and angry anymore," Penny said with genuine compassion. "I only wanted to help him feel less lonely."
"So that's the story behind his behavior," Andrew murmured with newfound understanding.
After hearing the tragic context, Andrew felt that the bitter old man was actually quite pitiable despite his terrible attitude. Fate could be cruel, transforming someone into a cripple at the absolute peak of their physical strength and condemning them to spend the rest of their lifetime confined to a wheelchair.
No wonder his temperament had become so strange and prickly.
The event concluded, and Andrew received a satisfying system prompt notification: Penny's affection toward him had meaningfully increased.
This development made him secretly delighted inside. Taking advantage of the positive momentum, he immediately retrieved the carefully chosen dandelion from his backpack and presented it to Penny with genuine warmth.
"This is for me? Thank you so much, Andrew," Penny said, accepting the flower with a radiant smile that made his heart skip.
"Penny, what gift do you like the absolute most?" Andrew asked hopefully.
He only knew through painful trial and error that Penny liked dandelions as a safe option. He wanted to see if direct questioning might reveal her true favorite, so future gifts would generate even more substantial affection gains and progress their relationship faster.
"Andrew, I'm already incredibly happy that you thought to give me any gift at all," Penny replied sweetly but evasively. "I genuinely don't need anything more than your kindness."
As expected, somewhat disappointing. He had tried this direct approach many times before with various townspeople. Stardew Valley residents absolutely would not simply tell you outright what their favorite gifts were if you asked directly. The game forced organic discovery.
With no other viable choice, he reluctantly gave up that avenue of inquiry for now.
He returned to the mines for extended grinding, but quickly discovered a frustrating reality: the deeper underground he ventured, the exponentially stronger and more aggressive the monsters became.
His current equipment loadout was clearly falling dangerously behind the power curve. So he wisely decided to save up considerably more money and purchase a genuinely better weapon from the Adventurer's Guild instead of pushing recklessly forward.
He stopped attempting deeper progression and focused his efforts on efficiently farming the lower, safer floors for valuable materials and steady income.
By the time his stamina bar was completely and utterly exhausted, it was already extremely late at night in-game.
He returned home feeling satisfied, sold a substantial pile of accumulated materials to generate income, and went to sleep.
Friday morning arrived. When Andrew woke up and opened his eyes, he discovered with shock that the entire visible world had been inexplicably tinted an eerie, unnatural green color.
"What the hell?" he muttered in genuine confusion.
What was happening? Outside the farmhouse window, absolutely everything had transformed into various shades of deep, disturbing green.
He hurried to turn on the television, only to find there was no broadcast signal whatsoever, just crackling static and white noise.
Stepping cautiously outside the cabin, he finally grasped the full scope of what was occurring. Green rain was actively falling from the darkened sky in thick, heavy drops.
It looked disturbingly like some kind of apocalypse had suddenly arrived overnight. Massive, overgrown bushes had spontaneously sprouted all over the farm property, and every tree was now completely covered in thick, vibrant moss.
In previously open areas, towering prehistoric-looking ferns had suddenly grown to enormous heights as if accelerated by supernatural forces.
The normally active chickens stayed nervously inside their coop and absolutely refused to come out into the strange weather.
He checked the mailbox and discovered a letter waiting inside with urgent information.
I checked the weather forecast last night and saw something deeply concerning.
I don't know exactly what's going to happen, so I'll be keeping the saloon open all day tomorrow for safety. Everyone is welcome to take shelter here.
-Gus
It was a community warning from Gus, the dependable saloon owner.
Following the prudent advice, Andrew immediately headed to the Stardrop Saloon to see what was happening.
He found that many townspeople had already gathered there seeking refuge and reassurance, making the saloon unusually lively and crowded with anxious conversation.
"I saw the weather forecast last night too, and it scared the absolute hell out of me!" one patron exclaimed nervously.
"Are there dangerous monsters appearing outside? What's actually happening?" another worried voice asked.
Andrew felt equally puzzled and concerned. Aside from the dramatically overgrown vegetation and moss-covered trees, nothing genuinely dangerous seemed to be actively occurring.
Most of the town's residents had prudently gathered here for safety, and Penny was among them, looking worried.
He immediately went over to greet her and provide reassurance.
Penny's expression showed genuine concern. "Are you okay, Andrew? None of us has any idea what's causing this..."
Andrew was equally clueless and confused. He genuinely had no idea what mysterious force was generating this bizarre weather phenomenon either.
Since there was absolutely nothing productive to do while trapped inside the saloon, he decided to venture outside alone and investigate the situation firsthand.
He wandered around the transformed town for quite a while, examining everything carefully. Other than the moss-covered trees and some unusual plant species he'd never seen before, he discovered nothing actively dangerous or threatening.
He experimentally chopped down a few moss-covered trees, successfully collecting quantities of the strange moss material.
He had absolutely no idea what practical purpose the moss served or what it could be crafted into, so he just gathered a reasonable amount and decided to leave further experimentation for later.
Just as he was preparing to head back toward the mines for more productive grinding, he suddenly felt an inexplicable pulling force acting on his entire body.
Then, completely without any control or warning whatsoever, he was forcibly ejected and logged out of Stardew Valley against his will.
This disorienting experience didn't just happen to him individually. Every single Dreamscape player across the entire network was forcibly disconnected simultaneously at the exact same moment.
What on earth was going on? Had the system crashed?
In the Dreamscape's main realm hub, countless confused elves began materializing above the ethereal Moonlight Forest central plaza.
Everyone wore identical expressions of utter confusion and disorientation, murmuring questions to each other.
They didn't have to wait very long for an explanation. A system-wide Dreamscape announcement suddenly rang out across the entire network with crystal clarity!
"Dreamscape rule update currently in progress. Please stand by."
"New feature successfully added: DreamNet Forum. Please explore and familiarize yourself!"
"Forum?" people echoed in confusion. "What's that supposed to be? Never heard of it before."
At that precise moment, a beam of shimmering light wrapped itself around everyone's left arm simultaneously.
After several seconds, the mysterious light gradually faded away completely. A sleek watch-like device had materialized on their wrists, appearing from nowhere.
With an experimental tap on the smooth surface, a translucent virtual screen popped up and hovered in the air, its interface style deliberately resembling the familiar system menus from Stardew Valley for intuitive recognition.
Everyone marveled at the technological sight with genuine amazement and excitement.
Meanwhile, Alto was working intensively in the administrative backend, methodically debugging the final technical issues and making last-minute adjustments.
The initial test run was successful beyond expectations. Everything was functioning smoothly and ready for full public deployment.
Behind the deceptively simple forum interface was a sophisticated, complete algorithm system he'd painstakingly designed.
Each individual post could be liked by users, and posts would be algorithmically promoted in visibility based on accumulated likes and reply engagement metrics.
Users could also utilize the search functionto find specific topics they were personally interested in discussing.
The temple administration was designated as responsible for the forum's overall operation, moderation, and governance.
After all, Alto couldn't directly control the entire Dreamscape infrastructure himself. The entire network fundamentally relied on the Dreamscape's magical framework for connectivity, so he only possessed partial administrative authority rather than total control.
But that limited access was honestly more than enough for his purposes.
The very first thing he did was register an official account for himself on the new platform.
He immediately applied for the verified status with the special blue checkmark designation.
Approved instantly without question. Perfect.
He didn't bother choosing some strange, clever username. He just used his actual real name for maximum transparency and recognition.
Bio: Professional Designer
Published Works: Plants vs. Zombies, Stardew Valley
Below that clean introduction were embedded the two games' detailed descriptions, download information, and user ratings.
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Hey, so I recently came across someone saying that the chapters feel unnecessarily bloated and rather bad. I personally really like the current style of the chapters, but if you prefer the old style, then feel free to leave me a comment with your opinion. I will gladly accept any criticism and try to change things up accordingly to the best of my ability.