Chapter 15

After learning Qin Lang had sneaked off, Xia Xifeng immediately felt his enthusiasm deflate.

He’d thought Qin Lang had been cheering him on too… Okay, fine, that was unlikely.

After the farm work, Xia Xifeng was drenched in sweat and his arms were stiff.

Their newly built house had a full suite of Magic Conduit Device shower and bath systems. Xia Xifeng enjoyed a wonderful shower, changed his clothes, and went to the study to draft his plan.

When playing farming and city-building games, tackling the highest difficulty or aiming for the fastest completion always required a mountain of math problems.

No matter what they called it—Stamina, Energy, Vigor, yellow, blue, or green bars—plus all the various resources collected, everything needed meticulous calculation and allocation. Xia Xifeng’s primary application for higher math knowledge was crafting game guides.

Farmland cultivated via skills received a buff similar to a “Druid’s Blessing,” boosting yield, quality, and resistance to pests and disease.

But Xia Xifeng’s time and Mana Bar were limited. He couldn’t devote all his resources to farming.

He needed to calculate the Stamina allocated to farming, efficiently grind his farming experience in the early game, and later, use his self-cultivated fields only for urgently needed high-grade materials.

The System didn’t specify whether seeds harvested from skill-grown crops differed from common ones. Following standard farming game logic, harvested seeds should be a tier higher than those planted.

If this worked the same way, he needed to reserve a portion of his fields for cultivating high-grade seeds to hand over to future agricultural R&D specialists.

A steady supply of high-yield crops would undoubtedly become the bedrock of his and Qin Lang’s Knight’s Domain.

He didn’t know how other lords in this world built cities, but for someone from the old Zhong family tradition, the root of all infrastructure was “amass grain and build high walls.”

He’d read fewer Western fantasy lord management novels, but historical isekai farming and war novels? He’d read plenty.

Xia Xifeng: [Don’t just focus on combat for your own satisfaction. You need to share some of the annoying stuff too.]

Xia Xifeng initially planned to give Qin Lang the cold shoulder again, but he couldn’t hold out even an hour before messaging him.

Ah, he really couldn’t help it. Who told this world to leave only the two of them dependent on each other?

Qin Lang: [Just plan your Life-Skill leveling route. Leave the town development proposal to me; I’ll write it when I get back. Did you get the experience?]

At the forest’s edge, Qin Lang checked the chat box every few rounds of monster slaying.

Still digging? Had Xia Xifeng’s Mana Bar not run out yet?

After waiting so long, just as Qin Lang was about to head back early to see if Xia Xifeng had collapsed from exhaustion, Xia Xifeng’s message finally arrived.

Sitting on a rock and resting, Perila noticed the subtle, fleeting expression of relief on Qin Lang’s face and almost couldn’t hold back a laugh.

This world had Magic Conduit Devices capable of long-distance communication. Though they were expensive, someone nearing the Legendary realm like Perila could certainly afford one.

Only, most of their devices were physical objects or semi-transparent, unable to become fully invisible. If one wanted to completely hide them, concealment runes were needed.

That Qin Lang and Xia Xifeng received such generous gifts and courtesy from the City Lord and Mr. Suer meant their backgrounds were clearly special. Having unique Magic Conduit Devices made sense.

These two often chatted obliviously in front of everyone, then pretended they hadn’t exchanged a word. Everyone had tactfully chosen not to expose their peculiar awkwardness.

So, seeing Qin Lang periodically stare blankly into empty space, Perila knew he was waiting for Xia Xifeng’s message.

If you were worried about Xia Xifeng, couldn’t you just contact him first? Why did you have to wait?

So awkward. He wanted to laugh so bad.

Perila pulled out his own communication Magic Conduit Device and messaged Leo.

Leo had long since sent a barrage of messages condemning him for sneaking off.

Leo: [Hahahaha, they’re not contacting each other, are they in a cold war? How childish!]

Perila secretly nodded.

To think there were people even more childish than Leo. He’d gained insight.

Qin Lang had no idea Perila and Leo were secretly gossiping about him. He thought his cool, icy-guy image was holding up well.

While grinding levels, Qin Lang was also splitting his focus to run calculations.

Without Xia Xifeng around, no one was collecting materials from the prey. But Qin Lang could simply store the whole carcasses in his Backpack and bring them back for Xia Xifeng to process.

The difference between “materials” and “carcasses” was that materials could stack, while prey carcasses—even of the same species—each took up one slot in the Backpack and weighed significantly more.

Qin Lang’s Backpack had a weight limit; being overburdened would affect his combat agility. Xia Xifeng’s farming Backpack, however, was designed to be unlimited. Since they’d merged System panels, Qin Lang essentially “exploited a glitch,” gaining an infinite Backpack too, allowing him to collect materials without worry.

Qin Lang was calculating leveling efficiency.

Unlike the game, where you could clear an area and wait for monsters to respawn, in reality, even if demonic beasts spawned rapidly from the chaotic Devil Power, they couldn’t instantly respawn in the same spot. Qin Lang spent more time finding monsters than fighting them.

In the early levels, when the experience needed was low, he could still get by grinding random wild monsters. But for the astronomical experience required at higher levels, he’d need to find if such a thing as “Historical Echo” infinite dungeons existed in reality, like in the game.

Especially since god-slaying materials were in high demand later. Without a “Historical Echo,” Qin Lang would have to hunt down minor deities hidden better than burrowing rabbits in the real world. Even gathering materials for a single hoe for Xia Xifeng would be a nightmare.

Xia Xifeng saw Qin Lang’s wall of text responses and rubbed his eyes.

Had Qin the Dog changed his nature?

Oh, wait, no. He was always serious about gaming; their areas of focus just differed. To calculate optimal gear setups, Qin Lang—a non-computer-science major—had even self-taught programming and built a gear optimizer before every game.

Xia Xifeng put down his clunky quill pen and leaned back in his chair, carefully reading Qin Lang’s calculations.

Xia Xifeng: [Experience received. No penalty. It’s possible we share each other’s experience without range restrictions, even across different Subspaces.]

Qin Lang: [Possible. The System pairing us as a team was meant for one to stay home and one to hunt.]

Xia Xifeng: [It’s a lot like survival-crafting games: some teammates go out hunting, mining, gathering, and one stays behind to farm, breed livestock, and build up the home base.]

Both fell silent for a moment.

The System’s design clearly guided them toward a division of labor: one focused on base-building at home, the other traveling outside to amass resources.

If the Apocalypse truly approached as fast as Xia Xifeng suspected, this would indeed be the most efficient method.

But an indescribable discomfort settled in both their hearts.

This discomfort wasn’t suspicion of ill intent from the being behind the System. The entity behind it had practically shed all its disguises; it just hadn’t outright stated it.

The Primal Deity of Chaos, the “Heavenly Father.”

He was the One, He was the All, He was the Beginning of Everything, the Supreme Creator God whose possession of a “Personality” was unknown.

Xia Xifeng: [His setting combines God, Pangu, and the Heavenly Dao commonly seen in fantasy novels?]

Qin Lang’s lips twitched.

Every time the game established some profoundly mysterious lore, once the lore enthusiasts like Xia Xifeng started explaining, all the mystique just evaporated.

Xia Xifeng: [Even if Old Father planned our path like this, it’s… uh… well, I’m actually pretty free. Farming only gives experience at harvest. After tilling and sowing, watering can be left to others or sprinklers. Mining and gathering already require going out, and I can use a portable Workbench for crafting… right?]

Qin Lang: [New Skill Points go into unlocking the teleportation item tech tree first. I’m very weak in the early game; I can’t protect you if sudden danger hits. Let’s map the areas first, then teleport you over for gathering. Once Assassin is single-class maxed, we’ll explore together.]

Knowing the path the “Heavenly Father” had mapped out for them, Qin Lang hadn’t planned on following it.

Perhaps “Heavenly Father” had thrown them directly to Green Sand City precisely so Amuruo and Suer could be their shelter, allowing Qin Lang to leave Xia Xifeng safely behind while he journeyed abroad. Xia Xifeng could just stay in the safest place and happily soak up experience.

But Qin Lang wouldn’t fully trust strangers.

Pinning his entire safety on someone else’s goodwill was simply too stupid.

Xia Xifeng’s brows curved into crescents: [Alright! Actually, once my level is high, I might not be without survivability. The game says wearing mismatched gear disables combat skills, but I have no combat class! So I can wear whatever has the highest defense. Later, I stack HP and defense, hoard a ton of defensive and escape scrolls. Who could touch me?!]

Qin Lang: [After unlocking all possible teleportation tech, prioritize life-saving support skills. Other items come later.]

Xia Xifeng: [Understood! You need to survive to deal damage! When are you coming back? The Halflings are already setting up the banquet.]

Qin Lang was speechless. Another banquet? Ugh.

Qin Lang: [Three hours. I’m going to check out a Singularity Point.]

Xia Xifeng: [Singularity Point? How did we suddenly jump to FGO?! That’s a Divine-Tainted Secret Realm! Be careful.]

Qin Lang: [I’m staying behind Perila the whole time.]

Xia Xifeng: [HAHAHAHAHA.]

Xia Xifeng stretched, his break over. Time to continue his guide-making.

Sharpening the axe wouldn’t delay the wood-cutting. Today, he’d finalize the allocation plan for his early Stamina and resource usage.

Do your best!

“Done chatting?” Perila asked, holding back a smile.

Qin Lang froze for a moment, then remembered that NPCs in the game also had long-range Magic Conduit Devices.

He and Xia Xifeng had been careless.

They were both university students who hadn’t even left the ivory tower. Their acting being subpar was understandable. Qin Lang took note for self-reflection.

“Yeah. I want to check out the nearest Divine-Tainted Secret Realm. If the danger level near the contamination source is manageable, I’ll bring Xia Xifeng tomorrow. He wants to gather materials,” Qin Lang said. “Sorry for the trouble.”

“No trouble at all,” Perila hopped down from his rock. “It’s indeed better to gather your own materials. After resting for a while, I’ll be going out to travel again. Leo will accompany me. Want to come along? Leo wanted to invite you, but worried you had other plans and felt too embarrassed to ask.”

Qin Lang found this doubtful. “Leo? Too embarrassed to ask?”

Perila’s lips curved upwards before he quickly flattened them. “He gets strangely hung up on unnecessary things sometimes.”

“Let’s go,” Qin Lang said, crisp and decisive. “Xia Xifeng and I will join.”

Having strong teammates to carry them before reaching max level? He was more than willing.

Perila said, “That will have to wait until you’ve hired trustworthy people to house-sit. But I’m not in a rush either; my path forward is still completely unclear.”

Perila spread his hands.

Qin Lang replied, “You’ll find it soon enough.”

If the “Doomsday Era” arrives in five years, you’ll have to ascend within three at most.

Even if the ascension is into a mad Evil God.

Perila smiled. “I hope so. Now, let’s finish investigating quickly and head back for a feast. Leo says the banquet preparations are already underway.”

Qin Lang’s brow furrowed.

Perila burst into hearty laughter, looking remarkably similar to Leo.

Though usually appearing gloomy and solitary, deep down, he was still a Halfling who loved a good party—and loved watching others be the entertainment.

Qin Lang’s obvious loathing of banquets, paired with his inability to refuse them, was just too amusing!