Season 4: Chapter 132. Fishing (3)
By the time noon drew near, a few of the Nonghyup Union members began to log in. Donuts was among them.
[Donuts has logged in.]
— Whoa, streaming at this hour??
— lololol
— Hey old man, no economics stream today? lol
— Abandoned his main gig
— This game is his life...
He rarely appeared at this time.
“Yaaawn... I-I’m sleepy, but I can’t rest whenever I think of those damn Knights.”
Survival Craft really did drive people mad.
“For now, I won’t even look at the stock screen. Just forget it.”
He had even given up on stock trading, his real profession.
— Damn
— lolol
— Just how badly did the Knights hit them?
— I’d be pissed too lol
“Ugh... I still dream about that moment. Chikicha kicking us into the flames. PTSD, man.”
The memory of Horn Ramen getting booted and everyone else falling into the flames still haunted him.
“It’s simple if you want to win. Just keep grinding day and night! Grind them to dust!”
— Damn
— Ivy League mindset, huh?
— Elite mentality!
— Let’s go!
“And for the record, I never said I’d be the only one grinding. Hahaha.”
Right on cue, Horn Ramen and MiddleAgedDetective also logged in, looking dead tired.
“Ughhh... Dammit, I’m no CEO. Why am I in meetings all the time?”
“Hey now! You’re a CEO too, aren’t you?”
— lolol roasted the moment he logged in
— Horn Ramen is pissed lol
— The Nonghyup Union in Survival Craft at this hour? The Almond effect is insane
— Just how much did Almond provoke them?
The mention of Almond set Horn Ramen off. “Almond? Don’t mention Almond in the chat! He didn’t provoke me! Don’t even say his name!”
— lolololol
— He’s totally tilted
— Lmaoo
— Bring him back for another guest segment
“We already had that! Does this look like a joke to you? This isn’t a game anymore! I’m serious! Do I look like I’m playing when I’m logging in at this hour!?”
— Scary...
— His eyes flipped lol
— Dude is fuming lol
More than Donuts, Horn Ramen truly felt furious. He had been the one directly kicked by Almond and the one who spread the fire. Everyone scolded him the harshest at the Union’s hearing.
“Be honest. It’s too much. We’re the ones who burned to death, yet Almond is the hero? How does that make sense!?”
They had paid the price, yet they couldn’t even pretend to be the heroes.
“Rich bastards stealing even our poverty... I’ll kill them...”
— lololol
— omg this is hilarious
— Dude is about to snap lol
— Peak salt lol
Donuts patted his shoulder and nodded. “Good spirit, my friend. I’ve been drawing up a strategy. Something that will put us ahead of the Knights.”
“What is it?”
A strategy from Donuts wouldn’t be ordinary.
“Didn’t your last strategies always blow up in your face...”
“Jobs.”
Almond always foiled his plans, but his words still tickled their ears.
“Jobs...?”
It made sense.
“You know all the Knights are unemployed, right?”
“Yeah.”
“They don’t have time to farm job coins. Managing Fertile Soil keeps them too busy. Meanwhile, most of us have already advanced to first-class Farmers.”
“That’s true, but so what? Having more farmers doesn’t help against Fertile Soil.”
Donuts shook his head. “No, no. That’s not what I’m saying. I did some research on Lava Shamans.”
Horn Ramen and MiddleAgedDetective’s eyes went wide at the mention of the terrifying invader’s class.
“They’re a fourth-tier Miner class. What about the Union? You think we don’t have something like that too?”
Indeed, the Union also had a combat branch.
“The Druid.”
A magic class that communed with plants and animals, wielding them freely.
“But a fourth-tier job takes too long! The Knights are already recruiting...”
Reaching the fourth tier was no easy task.
“That’s where the strategy comes in, my friend.” Donuts grinned and tapped his temple. “Our advantage isn’t just jobs. It’s numbers. Numbers.”
“Uh... and?”
“What do you mean, ‘and?’ Once you hit the next tier, you just keep stacking coins. If we funnel all our coins into one or two people, they’ll skyrocket to third, then fourth tier!”
They had already seen the devastation a single Lava Sorcerer could unleash.
“Crazy... This Ivy Leaguer is insane. Insanely brilliant!”
“Even my deduction skills can’t match this.”
Horn Ramen and MiddleAgedDetective buzzed with excitement. It sounded plausible.
“If Druids are strong...”
“This might really work.”
No one even knew exactly what a Druid could do, but it sounded strong.
“Let’s go! High five!”
Smack!
“Nonghyup Union! Hurrah!”
“Hurrah!!”
***
“I’ll start planting Fertile Soil~”
Thud thud thud!
Almond ran off toward the fields.
‘Huh?’
Thunk!
Someone blocked his path.
“Whoa, hold on!”
Screech!
Almond skidded to a stop.
‘What the... an NPC?’
An unknown NPC suddenly appeared.
“Our village’s hero has returned!?”
Even the NPCs believed he was a hero?
‘Because of Bubblegum, huh?’
A mere rumor spread by random players was one thing, but the system itself shifted when a Storyteller did the same. NPCs absorbed it as the truth. That was a Storyteller’s power.
“I am Gokang, the Master Miner.” The man introduced himself with a pickaxe resting on his shoulder. “I hear you’re without a job?”
He smirked.
“Why not try being a Miner? You’ve got the look for it.”
So, this was about jobs.
— A job salesman lol
— What even is this?
— Even jobs do cold calls
“Ah, sorry.” Almond simply slipped past him.
‘Being a Miner? No thanks.’
“I’m going to be a Fisherman.”
He was meant to fish.
— ?
— ??
— Coming out as a fisherman, huh? lol
— So that was the plan? lol
Gokang tilted his head, flustered. “R-Really? But, hero, you’ve got zero talent for that.”
He swung his pickaxe through the air.
Whoosh. Whoosh.
“See? You’ve got talent for swinging like this. You know that, right?”
“Of course, I do!”
Thud!
Another NPC stepped up beside Gokang.
[Gaal Abbat]
“If you’re swinging like that to till a field, that makes you a Farmer.”
He was Abbat, the NPC in charge of Farmer advancement.
“Therefore, you’ve got great talent for farming.”
— Till the field lol
— Farming by bonking
— Farmer coin grind is brutal though...
Almond had considered being a Farmer once, but the chores turned him off.
“For our village’s hero, I’ll allow a class change for just one Farmer coin.”
“W-Well! One Miner coin is plenty for me, too!”
Normally, players needed five coins. They cut it down to one for him.
“Stop copying me, old man!”
“I’m not copying! I was about to say that myself!”
They weren’t the only ones. Drawn by the commotion, more major class NPCs gathered around.
“There he is! Over there!”
“Excuse me!”
“Sir Almond!”
‘What is this?’
Almond felt baffled. He understood that they thought he was a hero, but why cause a frenzy over jobs?
“He may be the town hero, but he’s actually unemployed? Is this real!?”
“The hero is jobless? We must bring him to our branch.”
“A hero... unemployed?”
Being a jobless hero was the crux of the issue. The adored Knight Commander of the village didn’t have a class, so every faction rushed to recruit him.
“Join me!”
“Come to us! You’ve got talent!”
“Here! Over here!”
The little lane swelled up like a plaza.
“No, I’m not buying.”
Almond refused them all and walked on toward Sweet Radish’s house. The NPCs followed him to his door.
“Don’t be hasty. Just think it over.”
“It’s now or never, huh?”
“I’ve waited my whole life for you, hero.”
They tailed him like zealots.
“Is this a bug or what?”
— Why are they acting like that? lol
— Low AI stats...
— What is this? lmao
He knew Survival Craft had amazing AI, but this seemed absurd. The village couldn’t function with every class NPC camped here. Anyone trying to change jobs would have to come to Almond’s doorstep.
“H-Hey! Gaal Abbat! You can’t just loiter here! I’m here to become a Farm...”
A streamer ran up with a Farmer coin in hand.
“Errrr!”
“I’m handling something important! Can’t you see? Don’t butt in!”
The streamer looked emotionally devastated.
“Waaahhhh!”
He ran off sobbing.
— Who was that? lol
— lololol
— What was that?
— Oh nooo lol
— I’m dying
Every NPC rejected the other streamers. Finally, a village operator elbowed through the crowd.
[Camebert]
He reached Almond with much difficulty.
“Ah, ah! Sir Al-Almond!! If you could just make a choice! The village can’t function like this!!”
However, Almond couldn’t. Ironically, among all these NPCs, no one was in charge of the Fisherman class.
“I want to be a Fisherman, but that doesn’t exist here.”
“Ah, r-right. You... said...”
“A Fisherman.”
“You, you still want that?” Even the operator couldn’t believe it.
The NPCs bristled at the word.
“Fisherman? That layabout’s hobby isn’t a real job.”
“He doesn’t even come to places like this. Claims he has no interest in the mundane world.”
“Who would pick that in this day and age!?”
Fishermen had a bad reputation here, which only backfired.
Almond turned to his viewers. “Wow, now I want to be a Fisherman even more.”
It seemed he liked that freedom most of all.
— Ah...
— I’m losing it lol
— Don’t lie lol
“Sir Almond? If you could just pick anything... The server is going to crash!” Camebert fidgeted in a panic at Almond’s constant refusal.
— The server’s fate is in this guy’s hands?!
— ??? Hero! Please!
— What do we do? lol
— He’s the very picture of a menace-hero
Regardless, Almond cleared his throat and refused. “Ahem. Anyway, I’m turning you all down. I’m going to be a Fish...”
“Oho, but you there!” Someone interjected with a quiet authority.
The crowd fell silent.
Shff.
That figure parted the ring of class NPCs and stepped forward. Everyone made way for the big shot. An old man with a long white beard, like an immortal hermit, emerged.
“You carry a Village Patron Coin, do you not?”
Even Camebert froze at his appearance.
“Gasp... A-Already?”
This new figure evidently held a high rank.
Almond asked politely, “Are you... a Fisherman?”
— As if lol
— lmaooo
— He really asked that
— Hermit, please bonk him with a gold axe
— I can’t breathe lol
“Heh-heh,” the hermit chuckled. “No. Fishing... is a fine pastime, but I see something greater in you. You have the Patron Coin, yes?”
“Uh, no? I don’t have that.”
He did, but had forgotten all about it. Sweet Radish had sold his field to Big Farm and received one.
— You do though
— What do you mean? lol
— Is this... flirting?
— Miracle memory loss
— his brain went smooth the moment he saw an external walnut lol
“You do. You simply do not recall.”
Ding.
The hermit snapped his fingers and drew it straight from Almond’s inventory.
“I’m just an ordinary old man who has lived in this village for a very long time. Longevity is all I possess.”
Almond had no idea what he was getting at. Neither did the viewers. Wild guesses flew around, but none landed.
“The longer I live, the more I love this land. So, I wished for a hero to appear and protect this village.”
Ping~!
The hermit snapped his fingers again and produced a massive coin. It was amber-bright like a gem, unlike any other class coin.
[Legendary Class Discovered!]
A message bloomed across the screen.
“You are the right one.”