Season 4: Chapter 90. Perfect Farm (3)
At its core, Survival Craft was a survival game, and nothing was more important than food in a survival game. Players naturally gravitated toward farming during the early stages of the server, but they would often encounter the trap of poor soil quality.
[Zelo: I’m quitting farming~ Someone deal with that scammer Big Farm~]
It turned out that farming wasn’t just a matter of planting seeds and watering them.
[Horn Ramen: Wait, why??]
[Zelo: That bastard was made by the devs to scam us. He told me to farm on sand.]
The kind of soil a player farmed on was crucial. Depending on the soil, farming efficiency could differ by more than tenfold.
[Bubblegum: Wait, Zelo, your soil was sand? LOL]
[AcornJelly: That’s like building a house on sand LOL]
Unfortunately for Zelo, he had bought a plot rich in sand, which was the worst soil possible.
[Zelo: I can’t tell if this is Haeundae Beach or Cheese Village anymore~ I genuinely can’t tell~]
[ChocoShroom: Haeundae LOL]
His public farming resignation echoed across the server chat. Most other farmers found it hilarious.
[Hotteok: Maybe take off your sunglasses, Zelo... You’d see the soil is a different color.]
[Miho: LOL it was the sunglasses?!]
[BlackTea: There was sand soil in the game? LMAO]
[CreamPuff: Zelo, be real, you bought that land for the YouTube drama clip, right?]
[Zelo: I did not!]
They accused him of setting himself up for content.
— CreamPuff is out of control LOL
— As if getting scammed wasn’t enough
— Zelo can’t even talk back to her LOL
— Honestly... sounds plausible though
— CreamPuff turns savage the moment Zelo shows up
“Who would intentionally get scammed for a YouTube clip!?”
Zelo could brush off being laughed at, but being accused of faking the loss? That was too much. Still, he couldn’t bring himself to push back against CreamPuff.
[Pickle: Don’t stress too much about YouTube, Zelo~ lol]
That was it. He snapped.
[Zelo: Pickle. YouTube?]
[Zelo: You have no idea what it’s like to be born with a sand spoon. A dirt spoon? That’s a luxury.]
[Pickle: ??? LOL]
[Bubblegum: Sand spoon LMAO]
He now claimed to be a sand spoon, which was below the dirt spoon hierarchy.
— Sand spoon he says LOL
— I’m crying
— In the Survival Craft world, being a dirt spoon is actually good LOL
[Zelo: You drop ten seeds on this land and you’ll be lucky if one grows. This is miracle farming, literally. You need divine intervention to get a single sprout.]
— LMAOOOO miracle farming
— “Miracle (required)” LOL
— Zelo’s pain is comedy gold
[Miho: Wow, I’ve never seen Zelo type this much in chat before.]
Miho chimed in, pleasantly surprised. Zelo, predictably, said nothing to her.
— LOL Miho is just admiring him
— Zelo really can’t argue with women
— He just froze up again
Pretending Miho hadn’t said a word, Zelo continued dunking on Pickle.
[Zelo: Farming on this trash land is gonna break my back! Who the hell farms like this for content, Pickle!? Huh!?]
— LMAO poor Pickle
— Pickle getting roasted out of nowhere
— Why is Pickle always the punching bag
— Pickle deserves better
[Zelo: Whatever! I’m done farming. I’m going mining. Anyone want to join me? Big money incoming!]
[CreamPuff: Ooh~ Big money~ LOL]
[BlackTea: Guys, Zelo is doing the shuffle!]
[Pickle: LOL like anyone is gonna join that]
— BlackTea LOL
— Poor Pickle again
— Everyone is just trolling him
— This loner is suffering
— Shuffle lmaooo
Despite his large following, Zelo wasn’t exactly popular with other streamers. He had the classic loner image.
“I’m not a loner! You saw me talking in chat! BlackTea replied! Miho too!”
— When the introvert gets one like from an extrovert
— “She talked to me...!”
— It’s giving loner energy
Zelo operated solo, unlike most streamers who boosted popularity through collabs.
Thunk.
[Recruiting Miners]
After some time passed, he set up a sign and waited. Only one person showed up.
[ChocoShroom]
Choco Shroom was a small streamer known for being a bomb-obsessed demolitionist. She wasn’t particularly skilled, just passionate.
“Uh... is it just you?” Zelo cleared his throat, mildly stunned.
“Umm... looks like it.” Choco Shroom glanced around.
“Seriously? Nobody wants to be a miner?”
“People say farming is safer and more profitable. Why risk mining?” She looked apologetic like it was her fault.
Zelo softened. “Why did you come then?”
“T-To be honest... I bought the wrong land too...”
“Ah...”
— LOL the scam victim club
— Only the fallen become miners
— Is being a miner that bad?
— Ah, another Sand Village soul
— Big Farm lawsuit incoming
“Ha... Choco Shroom.”
“Yes?”
Thunk.
Zelo slung his pickaxe over his shoulder and declared boldly, “Let’s show these farmer punks something. Right now, they’re just focused on eating. Soon, they’ll want power.”
Choco Shroom clenched her tiny fist and nodded. “Right! I agree! And to get strong, they’ll need iron.”
Miners gathered ores needed to craft weapons and armor. Early on, their role didn’t mean much, but it became essential in the mid-game. Zelo planned to, no, they planned to start early and monopolize everything.
“Let’s go full monopoly mode!!”
“Let’s gooo!!”
They set out toward the mines with dreams of reversing their fortunes.
“Ah! Almond!”
Choco Shroom bounced in place and spotted him in the distance as they left the village.
Boing, boing, boing...
Almond jogged toward the village at a snail’s pace.
‘Hm?’
Almond didn’t recognize her at first.
— It’s Choco Shroom! The mid-laner from the LIL match LOL
Reading the chat and reacting instantly saved him.
“Ah, Choco Shroom.”
He made the effort. After all, part of this content was about making connections.
— His eyes scanned the chat like crazy LOL
— Mods, this is brain outsourcing. Ban this guy
— Reads chat only when it benefits him LOL
His viewers knew he didn’t remember her.
“Wow, Almond! We’re finally the same height now~! Haha!”
Her bright smile made up for it.
“Where were you, by the way? People were looking for you.”
“Oh, uh... I had some things going on.”
“Things?”
Almond scratched his head. He found it hard to explain that he’d just torched an entire village with a dragon.
Thankfully, Zelo cut in. “Oh, it’s the Almond! The famous one!”
“Huh?”
“I’m Zelo.”
“Ah!” Almond bowed his oversized head politely and extended a hand. “Nice to meet you, Zelo.”
“O-Oh my gosh... This is such an honor. To meet the MVP of the National Tournament in person! I-I don’t even know what to do with myself! Eheheh?!”
Zelo was a notorious patriot. His content often revolved around national pride, so his excitement was unmistakable.
— He’s absolutely fanboying LOL
— Zelo's national pride going through the roof!
— Patriot Zelo! Patriot Zelo! Patriot Zelo!
— He’s stunned meeting a national player LOL
— Zelo is lovin’ it!
Even the chat joined in, chanting and cheering for Zelo’s patriotism. It was almost funny, considering how fiercely their fan bases had clashed in the past.
“I watched that match, you know. I cried my eyes out...” Zelo rambled on emotionally for a while before finally bowing again. “Well then, we’ll be heading off.”
“See you again, Almond! Hehe!” The bouncy and cheerful Choco Shroom walked off alongside a clearly flustered Zelo.
Despite meeting as stubby chibi avatars in a virtual world, their first interaction wasn’t bad at all. No, if anything, it had been very pleasant.
‘Hehe.’
Almond smiled as he made his way into the village.
‘Guess I’m kinda famous now.’
Being recognized by regular players was one thing, but it hit different when big-name streamers started noticing him.
***
Dun dun.
[Cheese Village]
The text splashed across the screen as he crossed the border.
— Finally
— That took forever LOL
— The foreign species has arrived!
— Here comes trouble~
Cheese Village looked just like he remembered. Its soft, blurry edges gave it a dreamy feel. The warm sun and lush trees made it feel more like a relaxing vacation spot than a survival village.
Whoosh...
A salty breeze blew through and leaves scattered as if cheering for his arrival.
‘Wow... this is way better than the last place.’
That other village had tons of iron, but it felt gloomy like a shady back alley crawling with criminals. This place suited his vibes more.
“Huh?”
“Ah! It’s Almond!”
“Almond!? Where have you been?!”
Everyone he passed stopped and stared at him. It made sense. After all, they had looked everywhere for him since the game began and even made official announcements. Finally, he had appeared.
“Oppa! Where were you?” A chibi Miho ran over, holding regular potatoes and sweet potatoes in both hands.
“Oh? M-Miho?”
“Pfft! Almond oppa’s avatar is so cute.”
Bubblegum also came over. “Yo, what’s this? Almond, you look kinda... weird in this chibi body.”
He poked Almond’s head repeatedly with a giant green onion.
“Hey? Gum... how did you get here with your main avatar? Isn’t this a Survival Craft character-only server?”
— LMAOOOO
— The purest evil, innocent shade LOL
— I swear Gum’s avatar looks the same, just with a bigger head LOL
— He’s not wrong tho
— OMG LOL
“Hey! You’re messing with me, right? That was a joke, right? I can never tell when this guy is joking, wahaha!”
Bubblegum grabbed onto Almond’s head and dangled from it.
Boing. Boing.
“C’mon, tell me it was a joke!”
Almond said nothing, his lips tightly sealed.
— He’s doing the silent treatment LOL
— Please just say it’s a joke T_T
— Probably is... I think... right?
— LOL why the cliffhanger?!
“Ahahaha!”
“He really brought his main. Pfft!”
The villagers around burst out laughing.
“By the way...”
None of them could’ve expected how much Almond’s next words would change everything.
“I got something good. How do I sell stuff here?”
“Oh, there’s an NPC merchant in the village. Depending on what it is, you might want to...”
Then, Almond dropped the bomb.
“It’s Fertile Soil.”
The moment the words left his mouth, everyone’s eyes went wide.
“Whaaaaat!?”
Someone sprang out of nowhere and screamed at the top of their lungs.
BANG!
“I told you! Fertile Soil exists! Perfect Farm is REAL!!!”
— LOOOOOOL
— Acorn Jelly again LOL
— Bro still on that Perfect Farm grind
— Did he win the world championship too or what??
— Still not over Perfect Farm, I see LOL
— FYI: Almond found both Perfect Shot and Fertile Soil