He had just enough experience to level up. He could gain experience without killing his opponent, as long as he made them surrender. That left plenty of room for manipulation.
Maybe in the future, he could make entire armies surrender and harvest experience directly.
Yang Yu was not happy for long after learning this, especially after seeing his abysmal growth stats. He could not smile at all.
At this rate, even if everything went smoothly and he reached level 20, he might not even be able to beat a level 5 Slime.
"Just as expected of a commoner. Growing stronger is incredibly difficult."
Even at the same level, different races had different attributes. Even within the same race, some people were simply born gifted.
Still, there was a special satisfaction in defeating those who believed themselves naturally gifted through one's own hard work.
After that little episode, Yang Yu returned home. Lisa rushed out from behind the counter and fussed over him anxiously. Only after confirming that her son was unharmed did she finally breathe a sigh of relief.
"Thank goodness you weren't hurt. I told you long ago that you weren't cut out for this. Just come back obediently and inherit the family business."
The lean Kari stood ramrod straight behind the counter without saying a word, glancing at Yang Yu.
The argument from that morning was still fresh in Kari's mind. To keep the atmosphere from becoming even more awkward, he had proposed the condition of defeating a Slime, hoping Yang Yu would give up.
But seeing the unyielding look in Yang Yu's eyes now, he knew his son had meant every word he said before.
Failure was inevitable. Kari shook his head, just about to offer his son a few words of encouragement, when Yang Yu spoke first.
"Father, I hope you can give me a field."
To defeat a Slime, Four-leaf Clover was an essential item. Wild Four-leaf Clover was too scarce, and considering the risk of failing the strategy, he needed a large, stable supply.
With the passive skill Farming, Yang Yu naturally thought of cultivating large quantities of Four-leaf Clover himself.
Four-leaf Clover was a rare variant of Three-leaf Clover.
For most variants, their forms could be inherited. Just like black roses and white roses among roses, or white Bengal tigers among animals, the Four-leaf Clover trait could probably be inherited as well. With proper seedling selection and cultivation, he could grow an inexhaustible supply of Four-leaf Clover.
The problem was that, whether in this game or in his own world, Three-leaf Clover and Four-leaf Clover were weeds. Only someone out of their mind would use vast stretches of fertile land to grow Four-leaf Clover.
Planting Four-leaf Clover would undoubtedly earn him the scorn of others.
But as a true player, strategy came first. Yang Yu could not care less about what NPCs thought.
Although Kari did not know exactly what his son was thinking, he understood his son's determination.
Perhaps farming was merely a way for him to improve himself. Once he believed he was strong enough, that would be the time for him to leave. In the meantime, Kari could also work on Lisa. After all, that morning's events had been far too sudden.
Without much hesitation, Kari open-mindedly gave him a field.
From then on, Yang Yu left early and returned late every day. He searched the forest for Four-leaf Clover plants, transplanted them into his field, and diligently tilled the soil with his hoe.
He had played plenty of business simulation games and had naturally encountered many farming simulators. He knew the ins and outs of farming well.
To improve efficiency, he often worked for Kari in exchange for magical items that accelerated herb growth and boosted production.
Sometimes, Four-leaf Clover in the field would revert to Three-leaf Clover, or a single plant would grow both Three-leaf Clover and Four-leaf Clover. Whenever that happened, he showed no mercy, swinging his hoe to uproot them completely so those mixed-blood misfits would not lead the other little ones astray.
He even cleared away all the other Three-leaf Clover around the field, made insect nets, and kept a box of bees for pollination. He did it all to keep his little darlings from being seduced and ensure the Four-leaf Clover he cultivated had pure bloodlines.
And so, immersed in farming and unable to pull himself away, Yang Yu grew thinner by the day. Before he knew it, a year had passed.
The field that had once been overgrown with weeds was now covered in vast swaths of Four-leaf Clover.
The legendary Four-leaf Clover, supposedly found only once in every hundred thousand Three-leaf Clover, had long become easy to obtain.
Unfortunately, planting the luck-symbolizing Four-leaf Clover every day did not increase Yang Yu's Luck. Still, he had not come away empty-handed. Both his attributes and experience had undergone tremendous growth.
[Name: Yang Yu (Rolling Potato) Level: LV2 Experience: 48/50 HP: 54/54 MP: 40/40 Stamina: 40/40 Strength 12, Defense 8, Intelligence 11, Special Defense 7, Agility 15, Charisma 5, Endurance 7, Luck 1 Free Attribute Points: 10]
The attribute growth from farming continuously was equivalent to gaining an entire level, and his experience had also increased enormously. He was only one step away from level 3.
There were ways to gain experience without fighting, and he could raise certain attributes without leveling up. That meant max level was not the end. Perhaps there were ways in the game to become even stronger.
Maybe if he did one hundred push-ups, one hundred sit-ups, one hundred squats, and ran ten kilometers every day, he could go bald and become stronger, becoming an existence that could one-shot heaven and air alike.
After a year of farming, Yang Yu's passive skill [Farming] had leveled up into [Farming Suits Me Best], granting him a full 50% increase in yield.
Beyond that, his first active skill quietly blossomed in his hands, proving that hard work was worthwhile.
[Four-Leaf Clover Cultivation]: Consumes 1 MP. As long as you have a part of a Four-leaf Clover, you can cultivate Four-leaf Clover anytime, anywhere.
At first glance, it seemed like a thoroughly useless skill. In truth, it was indeed a thoroughly useless skill. Still, thanks to this goofy skill, he had managed to grow so much Four-leaf Clover in just one year.
"Hmm—come to think of it, why did I grow so much Four-leaf Clover?"
Looking around the Four-leaf Clover garden blooming with white flowers, Yang Yu sat atop the beehive and could not help falling into deep thought.
If he had not seen that there was still a quest to persuade his parents, he might really have forgotten that he had grown all this Four-leaf Clover to defeat a Slime.
Farming was terrifying.
He had more than enough Four-leaf Clover. Next, he needed to raise his combat power.
Like a tornado tearing through a parking lot, Yang Yu swept through the entire Novice Village. Whether it was a little girl who had just learned to babble or a tottering old man, everyone in the village fought him.
Of course, many of those fights were merely symbolic, with the two sides waving thin wooden sticks at each other. Since he could gain experience as long as the other side surrendered, there was no need to fight people who had no chance of beating him.
Even a mosquito was still meat. Even if the experience was only one point, Yang Yu gobbled it all up. He took every bit of experience he could get, and his level soared from lv2 to lv5.
[HP: 150/150 MP: 60/60 Stamina: 90 Strength 32, Defense 27, Intelligence 16, Special Defense 11, Agility 21, Charisma 8, Endurance 25, Luck 1 (Cannot allocate points) Free Attribute Points: 0]
Yang Yu evenly distributed the 40 free attribute points gained from leveling between Strength, which increased attack; Defense, which reduced physical damage; and Endurance, which increased HP, Stamina, and MP.
But even so, the attributes of a level 5 commoner were still painful to look at.
And Luck even displayed that points could not be allocated to it. It was practically telling Yang Yu outright that his life of escaping bad luck and becoming lucky did not exist.
Originally, once the game reached its later stages, he had wanted to pour a massive number of free attribute points into Luck, land critical hits with every strike, and experience the wonderful life of a lucky emperor.
Now, all he could feel was this game's malice toward unlucky people.
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