As the saying goes, every cloud has a silver lining. Just as [ Ever-Changing Master Ye ] was about to return to his little cabin to rest for a while, he suddenly saw several players pointing and whispering around the notice board near the Adventurers' Guild.
He was very sensitive to such things, so he joined in. Anyway, he was going home to lie down, so he didn't care about a little while longer.
So he approached the notice board and saw a very brief message:
[Looking to buy:]
Live Thorn Rat, five copper coins each, no limit.
[Limited time offer: Redeem at the Greenhouse for three days only.]
Five copper coins, which is equivalent to five dollars for a rat, makes this commission a thankless task, considering how difficult it is to catch this creature.
Just as [ Ever-Changing Master Ye ] had predicted, the request unsurprisingly went unnoticed in front of the bustling notice board.
Although this job seemed difficult, just like every gambler who loses everything goes to a factory to recuperate, [ Ever-Changing Master Ye ] felt that he should work hard to earn some money, at least to pay back the resurrection fee he owed the system...
After his gaze wandered around a few times, he looked at the bounty poster again.
The buy-more ads on the notice board show the remaining validity period to the players, but this particular ad, with a three-day limit, has... 65 hours remaining?
In other words, as long as you can catch enough live Thorn Rat in two and a half days, you can exchange each one for shiny money!
Such an announcement is valid in the game, meaning he doesn't need to worry about the person in the Greenhouse reneging on their promise after he caught the Thorn Rat.
After carefully weighing the pros and cons, a flame reignited in [ Ever-Changing Master Ye ]'s heart, and his dead fish-like eyes regained their sharpness.
A player who looked somewhat disheveled walked past him, glanced at [ Ever-Changing Master Ye ], and suddenly patted him on the shoulder:
"Dude, you're not planning to go catch mice, are you?"
[ Ever-Changing Master Ye ] nodded:
"Yes, I don't think the unit price is that unacceptable."
The player raised several dead Thorn Rat in his hand and said:
"You're not the only one thinking this way. I've seen you several times in Fir City these past few days. You've gone bankrupt, haven't you? You're not the only bankrupt player; everyone's had their eyes on this deal for a while, but you can tell..."
He shook the dead rat in his hand twice more:
"This thing is hard to catch, and its body is fragile. Even if you manage to catch it, it's difficult not to kill it..."
After saying this, the player left the notice board area with an air of experience.
But Master Ye, the Ever-Changing Master Ye, simply refused to believe in superstition.
He turned to look at the vast white wilderness beyond Valhalla, and a smile involuntarily crept onto his lips.
Hmph, if you can't beat a tree spirit, you can't beat a rat?!
Let's go, brothers!
Two hours later, [ Ever-Changing Master Ye ] exhausted himself and threw himself into a pile of snow, his right hand still clutching two live Thorn Rat and the severed tail of a Thorn Rat.
Clearly, [ Ever-Changing Master Ye ]'s results were not ideal.
This is not because Thorn Rat are rare creatures.
In fact, these mammals naturally live in the wilderness surrounding Valhalla. The fact that leftovers from players' meals disappear overnight in the summer is thanks to these little creatures.
However, in winter, the activity level of the Thorn Rat, which has stored up enough food, also begins to decrease significantly.
Although they still come out of their burrows to forage, their grayish-white fur blends easily into the snow, making them difficult to catch except for leaving some marks.
Following those tracks, players might need to walk for more than ten minutes to actually see a hole hidden in the snow.
Earning this kind of money doesn't seem to be easy...
As it turns out, even with the Alienation boost from the Demonic Tide, small mammals are no match for the terrifying upright apes that can grasp and throw.
But here's the problem: when faced with an enemy they can't defeat, a mere Thorn Rat can't do anything other than run around aimlessly.
But... I'm so tired!
Why is catching mice so tiring?
[ Ever-Changing Master Ye ] checked the time and saw that there were still 63 hours left before the deadline for the purchase notice. After working for two hours, he had only managed to catch three, no, two live Thorn Rat.
Two Thorn Rat are worth ten copper coins. If you can stay online 24/7, you can catch 63 more Thorn Rat in the remaining 63 hours and exchange them for 315 copper coins, which is a little over three silver coins. That's just enough to buy the new standard short knife from the blacksmith and the cheapest small Vine Bandage Pack...
This is a complete waste of time!
Enraged after figuring out the accounts, Master Ye, the Ever-Changing Master Ye, reached out to throw the two mice he had finally managed to catch back into nature.
Are you kidding me?
With this kind of efficiency, I might as well just pick up my fishing rod again and go back to the river to join the ranks of the anglers.
Although saving money is slower there, at least you don't have to worry about selling your fish, and you don't have to be chased around like a mouse...
etc...
fishing?
Lying on the snow, [ Ever-Changing Master Ye ] suddenly realized something; two completely different things were slowly merging in his mind.
Fishing is a form of hunting, as is catching Thorn Rat.
The prey caught by fishing is alive, Thorn Rat also need to be alive.
Fishing requires patience, and so does catching Thorn Rat...
The more [ Ever-Changing Master Ye ] thinks, the brighter his eyes become.
Isn't this just one thing?!
Realizing that his experience in another field might be flexibly applied to this new one, the excited [ Ever-Changing Master Ye ] leaped up from the ground, casually stuffed the two Thorn Rat into a pre-prepared bag, and began running towards his cabin.
A few minutes later, [ Ever-Changing Master Ye ] returned to the vicinity of his hut, where a new house was being built next to it.
He casually inquired and learned that it was supposedly prepared for the family member of an important NPC.
It's not uncommon for NPCs and players to live together in Valhalla. They interact with each other every day, and over time, the distinction between them becomes less clear.
[ Ever-Changing Master Ye ] didn't think there was anything wrong with this, or perhaps he simply didn't care about anything other than "fishing for rats" right now.
He took two fishing rods from his house and, while pondering, began his journey back to the wilderness.
Fishing requires a hook, but due to their physical structure, this tool might not be effective against mice...
To make my plan go smoothly, I need to find a new way to catch those agile mice, and not only the hook, but also the bait needs to be changed.
Um...
[ Ever-Changing Master Ye ] pondered the Thorn Rat's weaknesses and favorite foods, and soon an image of a hamster stuffing its cheeks full of fruit appeared in his mind.
He suddenly had an idea.
[ Ever-Changing Master Ye ] immediately changed direction and headed to the Greenhouse, but did not find the player [ Vanilla Ice Cream Scoop ] (who was talking to Ed ) who usually spawned in the business area. So he bought some Scarlet Millet Seeds according to the self-service shopping method that had been tested earlier, put these things that mice like to eat into his pocket, and headed to the wilderness.
The Soul Returner's hand trembled slightly, and a fine bead of sweat appeared on his forehead despite the cold winter.
Under the skillful control of [ Ever-Changing Master Ye ], a wooden needle with a barb replaced the original fishhook and was hung at the front of the fishing rod.
This new type of fishhook was inspired by a death of [ Ever-Changing Master Ye ], when a tree-man pierced him with a barbed spike and pulled his body back.
Because of the barbs, [ Ever-Changing Master Ye ] was unable to even pull them out and ultimately could only regretfully become a prisoner of the tree spirit.
But things are different now. The methods the tree people used to deal with him are now being used on those rats.
The only change he needed to make was... reduce the size of the barbs.
[ Ever-Changing Master Ye ] sat cross-legged on a snowy ground, burying a Scarlet Millet seed in his arm and using his own nutrients to encourage it to germinate and grow quickly.
This was actually a dangerous thing, but because he used a Scarlet Millet Seed, [ Ever-Changing Master Ye ] felt that he could still suppress the Aberration plant's desire to expand infinitely and turn him into nutrients.
He threaded a blood-stained Scarlet Millet seed through a small barb, then flicked it away, and the Scarlet Millet and the barb vanished into the snowstorm.