Season 4: Chapter 88. Perfect Farm (1)
At that very moment, the number one trending post in the Streamer Garden forum was about Almond. Without a doubt, he became the most talked-about figure.
[#1 Dragon Knight 1 vs 20 Battle LOL]
— Dracarys!
— Dragon Knight is so broken LOL
— The GOAT of being on fire
└ LMAO his popularity is on fire
└ Burning everything in-game and irl
The views skyrocketed within moments, and comments flooded in by the hundreds. The phenomenon of literally getting set on fire only further ignited his popularity.
— Goodbye to the nut haters LOL. How do you even win a 1v20?
└ No way this scene gets topped even when this content ends.
└ Honestly, they might’ve had a chance if they didn’t respawn mid-fight.
└ Chance? They were obviously holding back. You could tell they were acting. LOL Mad Dog delusion much?
└ Are those toxic haters still around? Pack it up LOL
└ Zelosers, leave before we roast you next~
At this rate, Almond’s only true hype rivals were Zelo and CutiePie.
[#2 Zelo’s Farm Exploded LOL]
[#3 Idol Mining Clip - A Must Watch]
[#4 Almond Becomes a Dragon Knight Live (GIF)]
Posts about Almond rose faster and spread further. He gave up second and third place, but the feed was all Almond from fourth down.
— EggPlant stirred the pot hard LOL
└ From being unjustly hated to overpraised overnight LOL
└ Guy turns haters into fans... He’s a real star... Our EggPlant!
— Dude was Premium EggPlant today
— That dragon kill timing was unreal. Like the gods themselves picked him to be a star LOL
└ His face alone proves divine selection
└ So true LOL
└ God literally gave us a sign through his face, and y’all still didn’t get it LOL
└ :(
Even the fifth-place post talked about Almond. His donation spirit bomb went just as viral as his dragon fight.
[#5 Almond’s Spirit Bomb LOL]
— That glowing sword was insane.
— How much was that?! WTF 10,000 won in 0.1 seconds LOL
└ Dude’s getting paid per frame LOL
— So the spirit bomb was literally just throwing money at him...
— Looks better than a national pension plan
Every scene Almond appeared in went viral. Ji-Ah scrolled through the posts with a satisfied grin.
“No need to worry about Walnut now.”
At this rate, Almond would truly become the star of the Cheese Village project.
“Let’s keep this momentum.”
He hadn’t completely dominated the popularity game just yet, but his potential outshone anyone else’s. After all, most viewers didn’t know yet that Almond had fought the Paprika players. Those residents had major roles to play, and Almond had found them first and even crushed them. Once the truth came out, the buzz would explode again.
‘Hmm?’
Things didn’t even have to wait that long as Almond exceeded Ji-Ah’s expectations. Before that revelation could surface, something even bigger went down.
[There’s no fertile soil in the server?]
==== ====
(Photo)
“Then we can just make it.”
==== ====
In the photo, Almond tilted his head at a block of fertile soil he had discovered. Everyone had been searching for it.
— Almond again?
— What is that doing there? LOL
— Is it you again, the NUT...
— WTF LOL
— Wait, that’s the stuff?! LOL
— No way LOLLL
— Just a nut.
— This guy is the chosen one, seriously.
— He used people as fertilizer and burned the land with dragon fire to make premium soil LOL
***
“I’ll just take everything~”
Clack. Clack. Clack!
Almond quickly packed everything he could grab. No one in Cheese Village could even dream of this steel gear and fertile soil.
‘I don’t know what this is, but it looks valuable.’
He didn’t understand soil systems, but it definitely looked useful. He swung his arms like a fan and swept everything into his bag.
[Inventory is full!]
Just like that, Almond maxed out his inventory in record time.
— Is there a quick-loot buff on him?
— He’s so damn fast LOL
— Can’t even see his arms LOL
— Dude was born to steal, not fish.
— Just change your class to thief, seriously.
Almond ignored the chat’s scolding and bolted.
“Time to run!”
His short legs moved surprisingly fast.
Boing, boing, boing.
With whimsical sound effects, he dashed out of Paprika Village.
“Y-You! Stop right there!!” Someone, probably the first to die, shouted after him.
Of course, he didn’t stop.
— Run run run
— Like hell I’d stop LOL
— This is gold LOL
— HAHAHA this is too good
— Feels like skipping night study back in school LOL
Almond’s lips twitched in amusement. A glance at his inventory sent a shiver down his spine.
‘Holy crap.’
Looting had never felt this thrilling. The unexpected jackpot sent adrenaline through his veins.
Thump. Thump. Thump.
His heart didn’t pound from the sprint, but from the treasures in his inventory.
Boing boing boing!
He ran even harder.
Boing boing boing boing boing boing!
***
“Phew.” A few moments later, Almond collapsed behind a large boulder and finally caught his breath.
At this distance, those weird villagers wouldn’t be able to chase him down.
“Let me organize my inventory real quick.”
He opened his inventory and grabbed everything out of the chaotic mess without thinking.
“I should probably move the most important stuff to the top...”
Right at the top was the soil.
[Fertile Soil ×50]
[Fertile Soil ×50]
[Fertile Soil ×23]
He had gathered a total of one hundred twenty-three blocks of Fertile Soil. Given that one block was about two character steps in size, it wasn’t enough to cover a huge area. Still, it was an insane haul considering that the server just opened. Not that Almond knew that. To him, it just looked like way too many duplicates of the same item.
“Maybe I should just keep fifty and drop the rest? This is way too much. And it’s heavy too. It’s just dirt.” He genuinely considered tossing some.
[Overweight]
A debuff had been applied from carrying more than his character’s stats could handle, which wore him down.
— Uh...
— That looks like a good item though?
— Don’t drop it.
— Just walk slowly.
— Even fifty seems more than enough.
— You’re fishing, why do you even need soil? Just dump it LOL
— WHY would you drop that?!
Fertile Soil was a unique system element in Cheese Village, and this was the first day of launch. Even seasoned server players didn’t know what it was for yet. Of course, opinions were split between dumping it or keeping it.
“Better to toss it, right? I mean, it’s just dirt.”
That was the final blow. Almond began insisting on throwing it away without even knowing what it did.
— LOL okay it’s technically dirt
— I don’t even know what to say anymore
— Just throw it away LOL drama queens
The chat was in chaos.
Ding.
[Frustration has donated 5000 won.]
[Bro, did you even read the item description? It clearly looks super good LOL]
Ding.
[MarketPrice has donated 30,000 won.]
[Think about how it was made! People sacrificed for that! It was scorched with dragon fire! How could that NOT be good?! Fuming.]
— That crafting cost is insane LOL
— Stop being dramatic, just toss it
— Market Price really living up to the name LOL
— Dude’s way too emotionally invested in dirt
‘Hmm.’
Almond scanned through the donations for a moment and reached for a cookie.
“I’m gonna eat something first.”
His hunger and thirst levels had climbed dangerously high.
[Hunger: 51]
[Thirst: 73]
Things would get serious if either stat reached one hundred. He'd better eat now and stay ahead of it.
Crunch, crunch.
He munched on a cookie and headed to the river for a drink.
[Hunger: 5]
[Thirst: 13]
Even as he replenished himself, the chat went on about the soil.
— Just drop it before you get caught
— You can’t even walk properly LOL
— Who’s catching him though??
— Isn’t the gear more important?
— Just take it and walk slower, it’s fine
“Don’t fight, everyone. I’ve already made up my mind. As Almondoyle, I say it’s better to toss it.”
— ?
— ??
— He said Almondoyle. Decision accepted.
— Respect.
Then, it happened. Not in his chat this time, but in the server chat itself.
Ding.
[Bubblegum: Anyone seen Fertile Soil?]
Ding ding ding.
[CutiePie: If you love freebies so much, you’ll turn into Takoyaki~]
[Miho: Oppa, you have to earn it with hard work.]
[Zelo: Let’s just chill, man.]
Almond blinked at the flurry of messages. He knew Bubblegum well after watching his streams for ages. Sure, Bubblegum wasn’t great at combat, but that guy was practically a legend when it came to sniffing out items and exploits.
[WhiteChicken: There’s no fertile soil right now LOL]
[SweetPotato: LOL just make farmland or something, bro!]
Everyone sounded like they were using an inferior version of Fertile Soil.
[Acorn Jelly: No, there’s definitely Fertile Soil out there. It’s not something you can just grind for.]
Even Acorn Jelly, a mid-tier Kingdom Age streamer Almond had collaborated with before, chimed in. Famous not for being a pro, he was the only streamer in that tier who dabbled in that game. Acorn Jelly had also hyped up the perfect shot for ages until Almond proved that it really existed.
[White Chicken: Oh god, here he goes again. What’s next, another Perfect Shot?]
[Acorn Jelly: It was real, you idiot! I told you!]
Apparently, Acorn Jelly’s blind faith extended to Fertile Soil too. Meanwhile, Almond kept looking between his inventory and the server chat.
[Bubblegum: Man, even just five blocks of Fertile Soil would be insane right now.]
Just five blocks? Almond had one hundred twenty-three in his bag.
— Dang
— WTF it’s literally in his inventory LOL
— Wait, this stuff is actually cracked?!
— $&&@#@
— LMAO
— $&&$@!!
The chat went haywire. AI filters began censoring potential spoilers, evidence that Almond's stream had revealed information not yet seen elsewhere.
Click.
Almond moved his Fertile Soil blocks to the top row of his inventory.
“Fertile Soil... Anyone can see that it’s an incredible item, right?”
— LOL instant 180
— That pivot though
— You totally changed your mind because of the chat, didn’t you? LOL
— We need to purge everyone who told him to drop it
— Didn’t you just say you were gonna toss it? LOL
Now came the hard part. Almond had to choose what to carry and what to ditch. He kept the soil at the top and checked the rest of his items.
[Iron Gauntlets ×3]
[Iron Swords ×12]
[Iron Armor ×16]
[Iron Boots ×16]
...
He had a ridiculous number of mostly iron gear, everything but helmets.
“No fishing rod?”
— ?
— No way LOL
— Seriously? Now??
— You were planning to fish this whole time?
— Still doesn’t have it LOL
— We’ve come full circle. No rod.
Out of everything he’d looted, no one had a fishing rod.
“Wow, this is so unfair.” Almond pouted, thoroughly offended by the injustice.
The chat was stunned.
— ?
— Dragon: ???
— Fact: the unfairness happened to the people you slaughtered LOL
— You just wiped out a whole village and you’re crying about fairness??
— Time to re-farm
— Eggplant: ???
— How many people had to die for this rod?
— Let’s go hunting again
Almond shook his head at the chat’s bloodlust.
“What? Why are we killing people? This is a cozy healing game...”
He suddenly advocated for peace and tried to shift the tone.
Ding.
[Factos has donated 20,000 won!]
[Fact: He literally burned twenty people alive just now.]
— LOLLLLL
— Oh...
— Factos spitting facts
— Are you a war correspondent?
— He’s gonna get banned at this rate
“That was the dragon’s fault, okay? I was a victim too.”
— LOLLLLLL
— True tho
— Can’t argue with that
— Fair point LOL
— Unbreakable logic
Almond clapped and switched topics.
“Anyway, I’ve decided.”
He finally chose what to keep.
“I’m taking everything.”
— ?
— ??
— Dude, what was the point of all that?
— He literally went in circles
— Tried to drop the soil and failed LOL
In the end, everything stayed.
“I haven’t even been to a town yet. I’ll walk slowly, sell all of this, and get myself a fishing rod.”
His passion for fishing hadn’t wavered in the slightest.
— You could probably buy a house with all that, and you’re going for a rod?? LOL
— Won’t this crash the town economy??
— That damn rod again LOL
— Ali-Mond LOL
— Brace yourselves, Cheese Village! eCommerce is coming!
[Movement Speed -50%]
His speed took a massive hit. Still, he took his first step toward the bustling Cheese Village where everyone awaited.
Boing... boing... boing...!