The Chronicles of Emberstone Farm [Cozy Fantasy] [Farming LitRPG]

The war camp sent word to us before sunrise that I was to stay put since they were not ready for me to join them.

“Is something wrong?” I asked the messenger.

I was still in my night robe, but, fortunately, the messenger was female.

“No, Lady Violet. The leaders have been up all night, and they want to be more rested before you join them,” she said.

That made sense. I sent her off with a nice basket of sticky rice balls wrapped in bamboo leaves and went back to sleep. There was still time to rest and spectate the battle from afar until it was time to abuse one of GodIAm’s favorite bugs.

***

Two days later, I, along with my apprentices and staff, was in a fine mood.

The battle was going great. We watched from the tower as the clan members beat up the demon boss without even suffering any injuries. Though individual warriors were too hard to see from this distance, it was impossible to miss the fact that they kept on blowing away bits of the demon with fire, earth, water, and air spells. It was better than a fireworks show!

My body had adjusted to the hot and humid weather. The secret to being comfortable in this tropical environment was to wear loose, light clothing that covered everything. This protected my skin from the sun and let the light breezes cool me off.

I also cheated by wearing my [Advanced Environmental Support System Regulation Suit], a spacesuit from the Cash Shop. Thankfully, I only needed to wear one piece from the set to activate its temperature control function. I put the boots on and used a cosmetic override to make them look like plain old leather boots. Thus, while everyone else was a sweaty, sticky mess, I stayed cool and looked pristine in my white silk robes.

Finally, it was time for me to set off and contribute my fair share of the damage to the demon.

In Adventure Incarnate, the World Event was meant for everyone to come together and enjoy one-sidedly beating up a giant, slow monster with tremendously high HP but extremely low defense. Using the convenient [Hide Players] button allowed people to avoid the worst of the lag and screenshot their biggest hits without others getting in the way.

As for the World Event bug GodIAm had uncovered, it was quite simple. When he saw that even low-level players were posting screenshots of impossibly high hits, he figured out that there was an unannounced “Mercy Mode” or “Pity System” that kicked in when a player did zero damage ninety-nine times. This mechanic boosted that player’s one-hundredth hit. This was meant to help out low-level players, but GodIAm exploited it by equipping stat-lowering joke items for the first ninety-nine hits and then equipping his best items for the one-hundredth hit.

That was exactly what I planned to do.

Since [Mercy Mode] was meant for low-level newbies, the lower one’s base levels were, the higher it was boosted. Hence, I was going to use Magic, my lowest combat stat for the last hit.

[Violet

Level 50

HP: 5,000/5,000

MP: 40/40

Strength: 50/99

Attack: 48/99

Archery: 46/99

Magic: 12/99]

“Don’t you think it’s strange that Teacher has to hit the demon with her flower bow ninety-nine times?” Lari asked Kharli.

We were waiting in front of our tent for my escort to arrive.

Kharli yawned, elegantly covering her mouth with her hand in a ladylike manner. I recognized the movement as something she had copied from Scholar Wu.

Kharli said, “I’m beginning to wonder if the System was made by a joker. Do you remember the clown-themed building?”

“And the way the doors made funny children’s doors for Lord Shuye,” said Mo.

“The System definitely has a sense of humor.” I held up the bow for them to admire. “But I think it’s nice to use this pretty thing.”

[Phosphorescent Floral Fury Bow:

A whimsical toy bow, adorned with vibrant blossoms, that launches harmless flower arrows.

Untradeable.

All stats -999.]

Made from a single piece of sand-colored wood and a green-painted flax bowstring, the longbow was decorated with cute pink, white, and orange flowers made of silk. The papier-mâché arrows were shaped and colored like different flowers like roses, lilies, peonies, tulips, etc. Despite the fact that they hardly looked aerodynamic, they flew from the bow as though they were real arrows.

The most important thing was that they lowered my stats.

Except for the boots from the [Advanced Environmental Support System Regulation Suit] which I wore for my comfort, my chosen outfit was the highest-level magical equipment I could use, a set of white robes made of [Spidersilk] embroidered with mystical symbols. Since the robes looked like witch’s clothes which was an unknown concept in this place, I used a cosmetic override to make them look like regular white silk robes and trousers.

“Should I put flowers in my hair, too?” I asked my apprentices, who giggled at the thought of me going to battle wearing a flower crown.

“They’re almost here,” said Scholar Wu, who was dressed in a brown cotton top and trousers. On her back was a huge rucksack full of measuring devices. She was also going to the front lines, but her role today was that of an observer.

I put my bow back into my inventory.

Moments later, I saw Prince Baiyu in the distance, flying very fast, with a small group of people behind him. When he landed, I saw that his long white hair was tied in a high ponytail, and he was wearing the famous five-colored star-scale armor of the White Tiger clan made of brightly colored silk and brocade reinforced with gilded steel lamellae. It was lined with a special cloth painted with numerous protection spells. Such armor was light and flexible which suited the clan members’ hit-and-run style of fighting.

“My dear, this is Prince Vikarna of the Vermillion Bird clan. This is Lady Lanying of the Black Tortoise clan and her men,” said Prince Baiyu.

I had already been briefed about my companions by one of the camp’s messengers.

Lady Lanying of the Black Tortoise clan was a middle-aged, slim, elfin-looking woman with short black hair and brown eyes wearing a plain green cotton tunic and trousers. According to what I had been told by the messenger, she was the captain of the royal guards, nicknamed the Unbreakable Lanying for her incredibly strong shield skills.

Prince Vikarna of the Vermillion Bird clan, on the other hand, was one of Arjun’s half-brothers. He had crimson hair and eyes. According to camp gossip, King Surya’s offspring had fought so much over who was to accompany us that he had decreed they would draw lots for the position. Someone else won, but Prince Vikarna had bought the winning ticket from him.

“How do you do? Nice to meet you,” I said, cupping my hands and returning their bows.

Introductions and the resulting chitchat would normally take a rather long time, but, since this was a war, Prince Baiyu immediately gave me a hearing protection charm to put in my pocket before picking me up and flying off. Out of consideration for my fear of heights, we flew slowly and no higher than the tops of the trees around us.

Though I couldn’t see it, there was a shield formation covering the entire front lines that lessened the sounds and dust of the battle. I could see why it was needed, and I mentally praised the clan elders for preparing it.

“Wow! Amazing!” I said when we were near enough for me to see the battlefield without my binoculars.

The demon was enormous, but not really that frightening except for its size. It looked like a crude sculpture made of black clay that was roughly the shape of a human. Hundreds of clan members were flying around it. The ones in front of the demon were the Azure Dragon and White Tiger clan members, while the Vermillion Bird clan warriors were behind it standing on the backs of the Black Tortoise clan members who had transformed into their beast forms.

My eyes darted here and there over the battlefield as I tried to take it all in once we were inside the shield formation.

Some of the fighters were dressed plainly, but many wore their ancestral armor and wielded historic weapons. There were the usual swords and spears, but also more uncommon ones like the wind and fire wheels, flying guillotines, dagger-axes, eagle claws, fire lances, hook swords, monk’s spades, hand cannons, and a myriad of different kinds of bows, wands, magic staffs, and so forth. A few human cultivators riding flying swords were also present.

Every few seconds there was the booming sound of an explosion as one of the Vermillion Bird clan members cast an explosion spell using a [War Fan]. The other fighters were no slouches either, and there was the constant noise of lesser blasts as people used their skills or cast their spells. This must be why Prince Baiyu had given me a charm to muffle the sounds of the battlefield as I would’ve been deafened without it.

We drew closer and closer to the combat zone until I could almost see the faces of the individual combatants. Prince Baiyu flew down to a Black Tortoise clan member who was waiting for us. He was in tortoise form and his shell was large enough for all of us to stand on it with room to spare. I knew he was the one we were going to fight with since he had a half-moon-shaped railing on the top of his shell that had been installed for my comfort.

Prince Baiyu put me down in front of the railing, and I was greeting the clan member politely when the System’s Combat screen overlay appeared in my field of vision, showing the Boss’ HP and MP as well as my Action Bar that I needed to use to trigger my skills. Two things that were not normally there caught my eye.

Incredible! I had to take advantage of this!

Grinning widely, I turned to my boyfriend and said, “Baiyu, wait! Can you put me down on the ground first? There’s something that I need to do.”