To Get Rich, Start by Stripping Trees

That afternoon, Bilbo directly bustled to the storeroom and pulled out a long string of sausages in various flavors, declaring that as a local of the Shire, he absolutely had to give Li Wei, a friend who had traveled from afar, a warm welcome.

Li Wei naturally didn't refuse.

The two of them shared a hearty "afternoon tea."

While savoring the food he had cooked himself, Li Wei's mind was heavy with thoughts.

Even though he had watched The Lord of the Rings many times and was very familiar with the story.

Now that he had truly come to this world, aside from those prophecy-like key plot points and the general storyline, he had no idea about the specifics of places not detailed in the tale.

He needed time to integrate, and also to gather some information.

After the meal, he declined Bilbo's offer of Shire-specialty tobacco, and the two sat on chairs in the small yard, staring into the distance in a daze.

For a moment, the air grew quiet.

"Li Wei, do you have anything urgent to do in the next few days?"

Suddenly, Bilbo asked this.

Li Wei glanced at Bilbo and raised an eyebrow.

Bilbo stood up, took a breath, and said, "Of course, don't misunderstand—I'm not trying to pry into your privacy. I mean, if you don't have anything pressing, maybe you could stay here for a few more days."

"Look, the scenery of the Shire isn't bad, is it? I think you could take a walk around, treat it as a chance to rest."

"Uh... you know, we Hobbits never like to leave our homeland, and we don't like adventures, but personally, I do have some interest in the sights beyond. If you're willing, you could tell me about them, and I'd be happy to play the host and look after you."

Having said that, Bilbo put his hands on his hips, blinked, and waited for Li Wei's reply.

At that moment, in his eyes, Li Wei had become a top-tier chef from distant lands, perhaps even a royal cook for some human kingdom.

With cooking skills like that, every extra bite was a gain.

The air fell silent again.

Li Wei only needed a brief thought to see through this little scheme.

Indeed, a man with skills never had to worry wherever he went.

Bilbo was a bit nervous, and just as he opened his mouth to say something more, Li Wei laughed.

"Haha, since you've put it that way, I'll have to shamelessly impose on you for a few more days."

"Thank you for your generosity, Mr. Bilbo."

"Oh, good, good!" Bilbo nodded repeatedly.

Only after Li Wei got up and went back into the house did he let out a breath.

This was the first time Bilbo had invited a stranger he'd just met to stay at his home, so he couldn't help but feel a little tense.

Leisurely time always passed quickly. The gap between afternoon tea and dinner slipped by in just a few words.

Under the guise of learning, Li Wei picked up several more recipes that evening. The result was that Bilbo's cooking all went to Li Wei, while the system-grade food Li Wei made all went to Bilbo.

This left the Hobbit feeling a bit ashamed—he was eating high-quality food while Li Wei had to put up with his rough cooking.

For a chef of this caliber, having to eat such crudely made food must be a real struggle...

Bilbo thought that if he had to eat a burnt pan-fried fish made by a kitchen novice, he definitely wouldn't be able to stand it.

At the table, the two of them, having just finished dinner, both wore satisfied expressions.

There was no denying that a Hobbit's stomach could hold a lot.

By Li Wei's usual appetite, this meal alone could have lasted him a whole day.

Li Wei had thought he might not be able to eat it all, since in Minecraft, once the hunger bar was full, you couldn't eat anymore.

But to his surprise, he found that after his hunger bar was full, he could still keep eating.

The extra food turned into a second hunger bar with a brighter color, overlaying the original one.

AppleSkin?

The so-called AppleSkin was a mod that displayed "saturation."

In Minecraft, whether it was health regeneration or stamina consumption, saturation was deducted first, then hunger.

And saturation and hunger weren't always in sync—most foods added less saturation than hunger, which meant the second bar was almost never full.

But now, after the hunger bar was full, Li Wei could keep eating to fill up the saturation too.

Once the second bar—the saturation bar—was full, eating more didn't cause any new changes, and at that point, he would naturally feel full in his stomach.

Very reasonable.

After the meal, Li Wei said goodbye to Bilbo, quietly slipped away, and ran to a forest far off.

This was something Li Wei had wanted to do for a long time.

He looked around, making sure the area was uninhabited and that no one would disturb him.

Then he raised his hand and gave the big tree in front of him a hard knock.

Thump.

A slightly muffled sound came through.

A barely visible crack appeared on the tree trunk.

And his hand was completely unharmed.

Thump thump thump thump thump...

The muffled sounds came in rapid succession. After a few heavy punches left the tree with considerable psychological trauma, a "crack" rang out—a chunk was missing from the middle of the trunk, and the whole tree crashed to the ground, startling a flock of birds and beasts.

In response, a miniature piece of wood fell to the ground, floating slowly.

When he sucked it into his backpack, the name displayed: Oak Log.

Unlike in the game, this piece of wood looked exactly the same as when it was broken off.

Li Wei tried breaking another chunk of wood, only to find that this log took up another slot in his backpack—there was no way to stack them.

Because the two pieces of wood were different.

And the solution was...

"Unlocked crafting recipe: Standard Oak."

After a short while, the fallen tree on the ground vanished, replaced in his backpack by several stacked pieces of "Standard Oak," along with a pile of sticks and leaves.

[Achievement Unlocked: "Standardization!"]

"So that's how it is."

Watching the achievement pop up, Li Wei grasped a few things.

Just as no two snowflakes are exactly alike, items knocked directly off had different shapes, sizes, and specific structures, so they couldn't be stacked in the backpack directly.

But after processing them through crafting, they could be turned into identical raw materials, allowing them to be stacked and stored in the backpack.

For example, with the logs he'd knocked down, Li Wei only needed to place them in the backpack's built-in four-slot crafting grid for a moment to "standardize" them into the "logs" he was familiar with.

With that understanding, Li Wei immediately got back to work, knocking on trees everywhere and gathering materials.

As more materials filled his backpack, more crafting recipes unlocked.

First came the Crafting Table, then the Wooden Pickaxe.

Clatter. Li Wei struck the ground beneath his feet and started the true man's mining method—digging straight down on the spot.

A long time later, when Li Wei crawled out from underground, his backpack was already stocked with a full set of Stone Tools, earning him the "Stone Age" achievement. Along the way, he'd also made a few furnaces and burned some charcoal for torches.

There was no helping it—reality wasn't like Minecraft, where you could just dig anywhere and find ore. He had to burn some charcoal first to use.

After all that fuss, with a ding, Li Wei's level reached one.

Nothing obvious changed.

If he found diamonds and obsidian later, he could try crafting an Enchanting Table to see what happened...

By now, the sky had darkened.

He looked up—his eyes were filled with stars, with a crescent moon hanging among them.

"So beautiful."

It was about time to head back. Bilbo was still waiting for him to make a late-night snack.