I Just Want Players to Save Money, They Insist on Giving Me!
Chapter 226 - 97: Money! I Need More Money Now!_2

Chapter 226: Chapter 97: Money! I Need More Money Now!_2

The current income of 25,000 Gold Coins a month seems not too shabby.

After all, fishing and Farming in the entire spring only netted a little over 30,000 Gold Coins, and summer planting alone can bring in 25,000 Gold Coins. Including other miscellaneous incomes, it feels like breaking 50,000 Gold Coins would be a breeze.

However, after understanding the various costs required for livestock buildings, she suddenly felt financially stretched.

A small chicken coop costs 4,000 Gold Coins and can accommodate 4 poultry.

The cheapest chicks cost a hefty 800 Gold Coins each.

In other words, just the cost to set up a chicken coop would run up to 7,200 Gold Coins.

Barns are even more exaggerated, with a construction fee of 6,000 Gold Coins, also accommodating 4 animals.

The cheapest calf costs 1,500 Gold Coins.

The total cost amounts to 12,000 Gold Coins.

That is to say, just building a barn + a chicken coop could spend almost 20,000 Gold Coins, practically her entire hard-earned month’s income from Farming.

Furthermore, the subsequent upgrades for these chicken coops and barns, including the introduction of higher-quality animals, represented another significant expenditure.

Besides that, there were tool upgrades.

Currently, she was at the steel-grade stage of her tools.

Upgrading to the gold-quality stage for just one tool would cost 10,000 Gold Coins, not to mention additional materials.

And upgrading to the ultimate "Iridium level" quality in the game would require 25,000 Gold Coins.

There were also upgrades like the backpack, milk pail, shears, heaters, automatic collectors, automatic petters, and other areas that demanded massive spending.

"I’m really feeling the hardship of the farmers now. In the game, I already own eighty plots of good land, and there’s no need for irrigation, pest control, or pesticide use. I have only to sow and harvest, and yet earning money is still so difficult, while spending it is like water flowing away," Nu Liu couldn’t help sighing.

I thought I would settle the first quarter steadily, with plenty of reserves to enjoy a comfortable rural life in the summer.

Who would have thought the game’s gold-sinking ability had only just begun...

She had also considered expanding the area of her farmland.

The larger the field, the more crops.

The more crops, the more money.

In any case, the game’s farm size was very large. A rough estimate suggested that at full capacity, she could cultivate two to three thousand plots.

But after calculating her 270 Stamina points, if the field was too large, she wouldn’t keep up with the Stamina required every time she needed to plow and sow, leaving no time to do anything else.

Maintaining eighty plots seems to be the current limit.

"I must say, the balance system in this game is really well done."

"It provides a lot of freedom, but it won’t overly indulge the players. It subtly hints that maybe you shouldn’t be doing this because it would be counterproductive, although you can still give it a try if you really want to. It doesn’t command players like other games, dictating that this is the only way to play—I designed it, and you just play along."

With mild admiration, Nu Liu turned her attention back to the screen, "Looks like I need to think of more ways to earn money."

No sooner had she spoken, than the comments started to flow in.

"Are there any other ways to make money?"

"Probably not, right? Farming, fishing, and livestock are the three major sources of income. What else is there?"

"You can rule out livestock; 66 hasn’t even built a chicken coop yet."

"Most of the minerals mined have to be used, they’re not good for selling."

"Then there are various miscellaneous NPC tasks, but they don’t give much each time, just a few hundred Gold Coins or some seeds. It’s negligible."

"Just sleep in peace, guys. On my new file, I’ve already slept until the third year. All I do every day is plant crops, water, and then go to sleep. I don’t mine, fish, or interact—just embracing a rebellious, indulgent love of freedom! /joy"

Just when everyone assumed there were no other ways to make money.

Suddenly, there was a loud shout of Zhuangzhuang’s voice in her ear.

"Sis, look what this is!"

For the past few days, Zhuangzhuang’s main task had been greeting the NPCs in the village, completing their help-wanted tasks, and visiting the bar each evening to give gifts.

At that moment, Zhuangzhuang held a wooden barrel high above his head and dashed towards her.

He then set the barrel down on the ground.

"A brewing barrel! You can turn crops into alcoholic drinks or beverages! I heard from an NPC this can make a good profit, want to try it?"

"Okay, let’s try it with hops," Nu Liu responded with skepticism, but since trying it wouldn’t hurt.

Besides, of the four types of crops she planted in the summer, the other three were for selling.

Hops were purely chosen by Nu Liu to add some variety to her crops, buying them when she saw them available at the general store.

After maturing, the variously colored crops blooming alongside each other would at least enhance the viewing experience for the audience a little bit.

Now that she had a brewing barrel, she decided to give it a go!

Soon, a few days of game time flew by.

From the maturation of the hops to their introduction into the brewing barrel.

When Nu Liu held up the freshly brewed "Light Beer" from the barrel, proudly marching all the way to the general store to sell it, she was stunned after making the sale.

She clearly saw the gold coins in the upper-right corner jump by 300!

"If I remember correctly, it took two days to brew this barrel, which means an average of 150 gold/day?"

The audience in the live stream was also astounded.

"Holy moly, brewing is this lucrative?"

"There’s such a way to make money?"

They had just seen Nu Liu do the calculations.

Currently, the highest-earning crop was blueberries, but even that averaged only 20.8 gold/day per plant.

But this brewing yielded a profit margin of seven to eight times that!

If she could scale this up...

Wouldn’t that be something?

Unfortunately, after checking the crafting menu, Nu Liu was slightly disappointed and pursed her lips regretfully.

To unlock the recipe for the small keg, she needed to reach level 8 in Farming.

Zhuangzhuang was only level 5 right now, and she, fishing more often, had gained all her Skill proficiency in fishing.

Getting to level 8 in Farming would require planting crops for a while longer.

However, she could take note of this newly discovered moneymaking method.

She could start preparing the materials in advance.

She checked the necessary materials for crafting a "small keg."

Wood*30, Copper Ingot*1, Iron Ingot*1, Oak Resin*1 = Small Keg*1

And for the Oak Resin, she would need a Resin Collector.

Its crafting materials were: Wood*40, Copper Ingot*2

Since it took about seven to eight days to collect a piece of resin, it meant that to make a large number of small kegs, she must first make a large number of Resin Collectors.

"Ahh, how can materials be in such short supply..." Watching the money-making method within grasp yet so elusive, Nu Liu felt almost desperate.

In spring, the siblings had saved up plenty, stockpiling more than 500 portions of basic resources like wood and stone alone.

Yet, making just one small keg would consume 70 portions of wood.

Copper ingots were even bigger material hogs.

Just to make small kegs, at least three copper ingots were needed, meaning 15 pieces of copper ore.

Buying it from the blacksmith shop would cost 75 gold per piece of copper ore, totaling an expense of over 1000 gold coins.

And that was just for one keg.

This unexpected expenditure was like adding insult to injury for a family that wasn’t wealthy to begin with.

"No way, we must go mining today! We can’t keep wasting money at the blacksmith shop." Nu Liu did some quick mental math and made a decisive call.

About that mine next to the Explorer’s Guild...

Nu Liu had entered it once before when she was out for a walk.

But it was too dark inside, almost too hard to see clearly, and it seemed like there were bats screeching, along with various dark and twisted monster sound effects. She was unarmed, too.

She barely made it several floors down before being attacked by monsters and running out of health, only to be carried back by Dr. Harvey.

Not to mention the treatment cost 10% of her gold coins, but it also left a shadow hanging over Nu Liu.

She swore as long as she played this game, she’d never enter that mine again!

Besides...

I play this game without mining, just fine!

I play standing, sitting, lying down.

Do you see even the slightest bit of resistance from me?

Expect me to mine? No way!

But now...

As the demand for various materials and ores kept growing later on...

Nu Liu flipped through her small wooden chest with difficulty, where she had carefully saved a dozen or so copper ingots,

She suddenly realized that it seemed like mining was unavoidable...

What family can afford to buy ores every day?

"Let’s go! Set out! Today we’re reaching at least 20 levels down," Nu Liu led the way with Zhuangzhuang following. Armored with pickaxes, the siblings charged towards the mine with fierce determination!