I Live on the Land in Global Games

Mu Ying returned home and began studying the spellbook written in Druid Language.

Although her profession had equipped her with the knowledge of Druid Language, she had never spent time learning it extensively nor used it often. So, when she actually read books in Druid Language, it wasn't smooth.

It was as if there was a Druid Language dictionary in her mind. While reading, she had to flip through this mental dictionary to understand the words and even determine their true meanings from the context, which was a slow process.

She had just managed to finish reading the basic introduction to the spell.

It was called "Identify Plants," similar in name and a bit in effect to the level 1 Druid spell "Detect Plants," serving as an advanced version of it.

Detect Plants could only identify the type of plant, for example, if used on a rice plant, you would only conclude that it's a rice plant.

But with Identify Plants, you would also learn some of its specific characteristics, which is how Grandpa Shom realized that hybrid rice could not stably inherit its traits.

It was a useful spell, but truly challenging to learn, the cost being to thoroughly understand this book that contained vast knowledge about plants.

Mu Ying found herself both loving and hating this spell; what she lacked the most right now was time, and there were many spells in the Player Manual she hadn't learned yet, not to mention this rare and even harder spell.

Its learning had to be postponed, as enhancing her survival ability was the top priority.

Now, the first on her list of spells to learn was the entanglement technique, followed by Healing Truth, then Thorny Whip and Fire Burning Skill.

Mu Ying put down the book, picked up a piece of Pocket Soft Bamboo, chopped it, and cooked a large pot of bamboo shoot porridge, which of course, included water from Recovery Spring.

While the porridge was simmering, she held the Player Manual and studied the entanglement technique.

By now, it had gotten completely dark outside, and the handle of a hoe enhanced with the Light Brightness Skill emitted a soft glow, quietly standing by the wall, illuminating her small house.

The entanglement technique was a spell Mu Ying chose to combine with the Oak Stick Technique for use within a specified range, emanating from a selected point and spreading out to a 20-foot square area of weeds and vines to entangle enemies, gaining amplification in naturally lush vegetation.

This was very suitable for use in forests to control enemies, making it much easier to attack with a weapon enhanced by Oak Stick Technique.

With it, Mu Ying could stand a chance against multiple enemies.

"Mu Ying—, Mu Ying—"

The shout from outside startled Mu Ying, who had been engrossed in studying the spell. She walked to the window, leaned out, and saw that a large bonfire had been set up on the open area outside the Oak Grocery, where people from the camp were sitting around. It was Cheng Wei from the mountain climbing club who was calling her.

"Mu Ying, we've got a pig roasted, come down and join us. It's so boring to stay inside alone so early!"

Mu Ying noticed the pig wasn't small and must be a domestically raised porker; half of the pig was placed over the fire. Wuyaya even came out, standing on the railing at the store's entrance with a leaf in front that held seared, greasy roasted meat. She didn't see Grandpa Shom, who was probably busy researching hybrid rice.

The atmosphere was wonderful, as if they had never argued before. She was happy to join such harmonious festivities, especially since her porridge was ready.

She carried out the big pot of porridge, first scooping out a small bowl for Yuan Gungun.

No sooner had she placed the bowl on the ground than Yuan Gungun scuttled down from her and hurried to the bowl, eagerly lapping up its long-awaited dinner.

Mu Ying had studied the spell for as long as Yuan Gungun had been tormented by the tantalizing aroma of the bamboo shoot porridge, unable to resist any longer.

"Mu Ying, the porridge you made smells so good!" Cheng Wei, sitting closest, smelled it most clearly.

"Hmm, I added bamboo shoots, do you want some?" Mu Ying generously offered, although she had added Recovery Spring, the amount was minimal. Moreover, the effect of Recovery Spring was very slow; with just this little bit, nothing abnormal could be noticed, at most it just tasted more aromatic and satisfying.

She brought out a bucket of disposable cups that she had found in that tent earlier.

It had been only a day, and the plastic bag on the outside showed signs of degradation. The cups inside probably wouldn't last much longer, so Mu Ying decided to distribute the porridge among them, as maintaining good relations with the residents was also very important.

Cheng Wei cradled her small cup of porridge, impressed from the first sip.

A few people from the mountain climbing club, strongly recommended by Cheng Wei, also got themselves a cup; they were all about the same age.

The others were older, mostly middle-aged people who came to Forest Park for hiking on weekends, totaling twenty, fifteen of whom were men. Compared to porridge, they felt meat provided more energy.

Also, that pot of porridge, if divided among everyone, would give each person at most half a cup, so they didn't ask for any. Only a woman with a child came over to get two cups for her kid.

Wuyaya, too, was drawn by the smell, "These are Pocket Soft Bamboo shoots, right? Nice!"

"Pocket what?" Xu Shan asked in confusion, wondering if these were not ordinary bamboo shoots.

"Er, this is a snack Grandpa Shom gives to Yuan Gungun, called Pocket Soft Bamboo. It's basically a type of bamboo shoot with a softer texture," Mu Ying guiltily touched her nose.

"Ah? Aren't we then snatching a national treasure's food?" Luoluo grasped the key point. She glanced at the tiny Yuan Gungun, hesitated for just a second, and then decided to continue eating.

"Did you succeed in selling seeds today?" Li Wei obsessed with finding quests.

"Hmm, today I went to a farmer's house and found some crop seeds to sell. We had quite a variety," Mu Ying did not hide.

"No wonder when we went later, they wouldn't take them," Li Wei lamented, they were just a step too late!

Because of Mu Ying's reminder, their conflict had been interrupted, and although they had argued fiercely to make a point at the time, they didn't intend on drawing in a horde of monsters to kill them.

Without the shortcut, they could only seek places where zombies were sparse. Thus, they had chosen those scattered farmers' homes, and incidentally discovered quite a few seeds, even getting a pig as well.

Now, without a refrigerator and lacking in salt, meat was hard to preserve; they simply roasted it and shared it with everyone, which helped ease some of the tension from the day.

Unexpectedly, when they went to sell the seeds, they were turned away, as Oak Grocery only accepted uncultivated seeds or saplings.

"Hey, young man, you just called that girl Mu Ying, right? Which 'Mu', which 'Ying'?" An uncle next to Liu Cheng patted his shoulder.

"Don't know, why do you ask?" Liu Cheng looked puzzled.

"Look at the level board's number one, seems to be called Mu Ying! Could it be her?"

Liu Cheng and his group had been busy all day, who had time to check the World Forum? Upon hearing this, they hurriedly opened it and found it to be true.

He excitedly leaned towards Mu Ying, "I have a question, is your name Mu as in wood, Ying as in firefly?"

Mu Ying nodded, "Yes, that's right. What about it?"