Chapter 26: Ordinary Person Cards

“Dad, what are you standing there for? Let’s hurry up and go hunt some Berserk Beasts. I just saw a nest of Berserk Cows on the way here.”

“Ai, I’m coming, I’m coming. You little brat, walking so fast—what’s the rush, trying to reincarnate or something? You never think about your poor old dad, who’s getting on in years. Raising you all these years was really a waste.”

The father and son, one in front and one behind, marched out full of fighting spirit.

Yun Xiaoyu also clenched his little fists, his face serious. “I want to go fight monsters and support the family too.”

His dad was a fool, his sister was sickly—if anyone was going to support the family, it had to be him. He needed to earn spirit coins to buy medicine for his real dad and sister.

“We want to go too! We want to go too!”

The little ones, who had just been lost in the joy of the bad guys being caught and made into slaves, snapped back to attention and started chattering excitedly.

Now that the big bad guys who threatened them were gone, but so were their parents, they’d have to rely on themselves from now on. They had to work hard, strive for the best, and support themselves—fists up!

Seeing all these tiny kids so eager and motivated, Yun Qimu, the ultimate slacker, felt deeply embarrassed.

“Wait, take a few cucumbers with you. After fighting monsters, you can eat some to regain your strength.”

“Oh.” The obedient little ones nodded instinctively, then each tilted their little heads and blinked at her, asking, “What’s a cucumber?”

“Are cucumbers tasty?”

“Uh, it’s a kind of melon you can eat raw. Just try it and you’ll see.” Yun Qimu, not wanting to get into technical details about size, length, or growing conditions, gave a vague answer.

In her heart, she was thinking about when she could get the library up and running. All the ancient Earth knowledge she knew came from reading in the library.

That included mythology, magical beast encyclopedias, plant guides, recipe books, and so on—all closely related to this game. Some seemingly insignificant weeds might turn out to be important medicinal herbs. She couldn’t handle it all alone.

So, everyone else needed to read more and discover more too.

With that thought, Yun Qimu sighed inwardly, deeply aware that building Earth Village was going to be a long, tough road!

“Is it that one?” Yun Xiaoyu, a clever little guy with sharp eyes, spotted a few long, green cucumbers among the big patch of leaves in the yard.

“That’s right.” Yun Qimu followed his pointing finger, smiled, and patted his little head. “Go pick them yourselves. Just wash them and you can eat them right away.”

“We can pick them too?” The little ones looked up at her with wide, surprised eyes.

“Of course. As long as it’s not growing in someone else’s yard, you can pick it.”

“Wow, that’s awesome!”

The little ones immediately ran excitedly toward the half-ruined cucumber patch.

“There’s one here! There’s one here! Pi Dan, come help me, I found a really big one!”

“I’ve got some too! I found a whole nest of cucumbers!”

The little ones ran around the patch like busy little bees, butts in the air as they gathered cucumbers.

But as soon as these busy bees took a bite, tears started streaming down their faces.

“Wuwuwu, cucumbers are so yummy! I stepped on a bunch while fighting monsters earlier—I feel so bad!”

“Me too.”

Even little Yun was teary-eyed, heartbroken.

These cucumbers were even tastier than the baby greens, and he’d ruined them.

The cucumber patch was soon filled with the sound of sniffling and crying, making Yun Qimu’s head ache. She patiently explained that cucumbers would grow back quickly, and they wouldn’t run out. Only then did she manage to calm them down.

“Ai, what a bunch of little ancestors.” Yun Qimu watched as the “little warriors,” each with two cucumbers tucked away, happily set off to hunt monsters again, and she wiped the sweat from her brow, exhausted.

But when she looked at the neat pile of freshly washed cucumbers in the house, she couldn’t help but smile wryly.

At least these little ancestors were polite and willing to work.

Earth Village felt purified, the sky bright and clear, and even the surroundings seemed lighter.

Yun Qimu simply dragged a chair to the gate and sat down comfortably, not in a hurry to exchange rewards with the main system. She’d wait until it absorbed the energy from the new residents—things would go smoother when it was in a good mood.

She crossed her legs and casually took out two cards from her storage.

One had a dazzling silver-white face with a golden iron fist on it; the other, the same card face, but with a golden battle boot.

These were the Strength Card and Agility Card she’d just drawn from the treasure chest.

Having always chosen the peaceful farming life, she’d never really looked into combat skills, so she’d only heard bits and pieces about card skills—just the basics.

In the game, skill cards were ranked like abilities: F, E, D, C, B, A, S, SS, SSS.

There were two main categories of skill cards: 1) Ability User Cards; 2) Ordinary Person Cards.

Ability User Cards were moves used by ability users—basically, the more fantastical cards. For example, the Peach Blossom Spring card Zhu Zhu drew earlier was similar to a spatial ability card.

Ordinary Person Cards, on the other hand, affected the user’s physical attributes. For example, a Strength Card increased strength, and an Agility Card increased speed.

Ordinary Person Cards had another feature: they could be fused into your body, but the effect would be reduced to one-tenth.

For example, Yun Qimu’s F-rank Strength Card had 10 points of strength. If you held it and used it, your strength would increase by 10 points.

But if you fused it into your body, your strength would only increase by 1 point.

The advantage, though, was that this 1 point became a permanent part of your own strength—you didn’t need to hold the card to get the boost.

So, most people chose the second option: fusing the power into themselves. Being strong yourself was true strength.

Yun Qimu was no exception.

She didn’t want to be in a fight and have to dramatically whip out a handful of strength or agility cards—sure, it might look cool, but if she fumbled and dropped them everywhere, it’d be ridiculous.

[Confirm fusing Strength Card and Agility Card into your body?]

Yun Qimu: “Yes.”

[Ding—Fusion successful.]

Yun Qimu felt two warm currents rush through her body, but the sensation faded quickly.

She checked her player info, and sure enough, her Strength and Agility stats had each increased by 1. She could even feel her fists getting a bit stronger.

Looks like it worked pretty well."