The scroll unfurled across the counter, its aged parchment crackling faintly under Reese’s practiced hands. The fibers of the paper carried the faint scent of herbs, hinting at its origins—an apothecary’s careful work.

“This is one of our oldest commissions,” Reese began, her tone measured as her fingers hovered lightly over the text. “but, well... let’s just say it’s not the kind of job people line up to take.”

Zi-Cheng leaned in, his eyes narrowinzg as he scanned the meticulous handwriting on the parchment.

“Egg Peaches?” he muttered, half-convinced he had misread it. “Is that... even a real thing?”

“It is,” Reese replied, a wry smile tugging at her lips. “It’s a type of fruit that grows on trees, with a shell-like exterior.”

She tapped the scroll lightly as she continued. “When they ripen, they fall from the branches. The shells crack open on impact, spilling juice and pulp everywhere. Once the beasts catch the sweet peachy scent, the whole place becomes a frenzy feeding ground. I think you get the idea.”

“So... we need to kill all the monsters before harvesting these fruits?”

“Well, that’s one way of doing it,” Reese replied with a casual shrug. “Or you could wait until the monsters are done their little buffet and head in afterward to see what’s left.”

Ah, so that was why even elderly folks could take on this job.

“Leftovers from the monsters? I doubt anything left behind would be worth much,” Zi-Cheng sighed.

“Egg Peaches in pristine condition are perfect ingredients for cooking or potion-making,” Reese explained, leaning on the counter. “But most people don’t want to risk their lives fighting monsters. Scraping up what’s left is the safer bet, even if it’s less profitable.”

(Of course, the safest bet would be the leftovers... because why wouldn’t it be?)

Fighting monsters without combat skills wasn’t just risky, it was outright suicidal. Still, the mental image of being elbow-deep in monster scraps wasn’t exactly appealing.

““Hey, want to give this job a try?” Reese asked, tilting her head slightly. “I mean... the Egg Peach season’s almost over, so whatever you manage to snag from the monsters, I’ll buy it off you...uh....”

Honestly, it wasn’t even a question of whether Zi-Cheng wanted to take the job, it was the only option he had to scrape together enough for a meal.

“Ventus. The name’s Ventus Zi-Cheng,” he said after a brief pause.

“Zi... Zising?” Reese repeated, clearly struggling with the pronunciation.

“Y-yeah, sure. That works too,” Zi-Cheng said with an awkward chuckle.

“Well then, the job’s yours!” Reese said brightly, scribbling ‘Ventus’ into the logbook. And with that, Zi-Cheng’s first quest in this strange new world officially began.

“Uh... about these Egg Peaches,” he added, scratching his cheek. “Can you point me to where they are? I’d like to... you know, do a quick site visit or something.”

Reese nodded and gave him some quick directions, and before he knew it, he was outside Hazelton once again. It had been only half a day since he’d snuck into the city, and barely an hour since he left the guild, yet it felt like the entire world had shifted.

Sunlight filtered through the branches above, streaking the dirt path with shimmering rays so bright that he had to squint. The warmth felt as though it was melting away the heavy fog that had been weighing him down all this time—and he hadn’t even started the job yet.

Zi-Cheng followed the path southeast, keeping close to another branch of the flooded riverbank. It seemed the water had receded substantially, leaving behind a marshy expanse caked with mud and debris. Before long, a sweet scent reached him, light and fragrant, reminding him of fresh peaches—just as Reese had described.

Pressing forward, he spotted them. Among the ankle-deep mud stood several Egg Peach trees, their branches laden with fruit. But surrounding each tree were jelly-like slimes, wobbling lazily as they encircled the trunks. Their gelatinous bodies gleamed faintly in the sunlight, as though waiting for a feast to drop from above.

Glorp. Glorp.

(There’s no way anyone could fight those things with the mud this deep....)

Suddenly, one of the ripe Egg Peaches fell from a branch. Its shell shattered as it hit the muddy ground, sending pink juice and pulp flying in every direction.

(And the mud doesn’t do much to cushion the fall, huh.)

In an instant, the slimes sprang to life. The lazy, wobbling blobs morphed into voracious predators, surging forward like ravenous beasts to devour every last trace of the peach’s remains. The muddy clearing quickly turned into an absolute feeding frenzy.

Zi-Cheng stared at the chaotic scene, his eyes wide. A chill ran down his spine as he recalled passing out near slime monsters by the riverbank—and somehow surviving. He had even camped beside them for seventeen days, completely unaware of what they were capable of.

Perhaps luck was at work after all.

“But I’m going to need more than luck this time,” he muttered, taking a deep breath as his stomach churned. “Even if I somehow climbed the trees to pick the fruit, there’s no way I’d survive the trip back to safety...” He let out a frustrated sigh and threw up his hands. “No wonder this is one of those ‘leftover’ commissions.”

Leftovers. High risk. But those notions didn’t mean the task was impossible.

Zi-Cheng promptly gave up on the Egg Peach trees surrounded by slimes and headed further out toward the riverbank instead.

Did you know this text is from a different site? Read the official version to support the creator.

“Now, this is more like it,” he murmured.

The flooded area from last night’s storm still hadn’t fully receded, with some spots knee-deep in mud and half-submerged in water, resembling a swamp. Yet Zi-Cheng gazed at the Egg Peach trees with a faint smile on his face, like a child handed a blank sheet of paper to draw on.

An hour later, he returned to the Golden Clover Merchant Guild, caked in mud from head to toe, and asked for an unusual collection of items: a wooden cart, a shovel, several baskets, a few torches, and plenty of rope.

“What do you need these for?” Reese asked with a puzzled look crossing her face.

“Oh, you know... just to play a little game,” Zi-Cheng replied, flashing a mischievous grin.

“Wait, what...?”

Before Reese could ask for more details, Zi-Cheng was already out the door with the supplies. Left standing in the empty guild, she crossed her arms with a sigh, hoping she hadn’t just handed everything to a lunatic.

----------------------------------------

Night had fallen once more, with a wooden cart clattering along the muddy road outside Hazelton.

Zi-Cheng had passed through the city gates many times over the past few days, each trip burdened with a different set of emotions. But tonight, as he left the city with his cart full of supplies, there was something new in his heart – excitement.

It wasn’t just about the task ahead. It was the kind of excitement that brought long-buried memories back to the surface, like the first time he ever played a game.

“Zi-Cheng, did you get your game taken away at school again?”

Shen Yi-Ming opened the door, staring down at a fifth-grader standing at the doorstep.

“It wasn’t my fault! Those backstabbing classmates of mine ratted me out!”

Zi-Cheng stomped right pass the highschool graduate, threw his schoolbag onto the sofa, and puffed his cheeks like an angry pufferfish.

For many years, Zi-Cheng’s parents were constantly busy at work, so Shen Yi-Ming who lived next door, became the unofficial babysitter, and perhaps the first person to introduce Zi-Cheng to the world of game design.

“Hey, come now, why get so worked up over something trivial?” Yi-Ming laughed, casually leaning against the doorframe.

“Be...because you worked so hard to restore that game for me, and… and they just took it like that!”

Back then, young Zi-Cheng didn’t realize that the game devices Shen Yi-Ming gave him were broken cast-offs from second-hand stores, restored to working order. But at a time when handheld consoles were still a luxury for most kids, Yi-Ming’s ability to bring them back to life felt like wizardry, something Zi-Cheng deeply admires till this very day.

“We just have to accept that every place has its rules,” Yi-Ming said as he walked toward his computer, the afternoon sun casting a warm glow on his face. “And if you think of those rules like the ones in a game, then even the most mundane and boring ones can turn into a fun challenge.”

image [https://i.imgur.com/bjkFsr0.png]

Zi-Cheng knew a difficult problem wouldn’t solve itself just because it was fun.

But if a problem is fun, at least it would make someone want to face it head-on and conquer it.

“That’s why I’m making this into a game tonight, Yi-Ming.” Zi-Cheng said, a rare glint of determination flickering in his eyes.

Last night’s torrential rain had left the roads outside Hazelton in a pretty bad state. Fortunately, the silver moon hanging high above cast enough light to guide Zi-Cheng around most of the obstacles. Before long, he arrived at the riverbank, where countless slimes sat motionless, their gelatinous bodies scattered across the muddy ground, glistening like dew drops.

(Just as I thought.)

If there was one thing Zi-Cheng had learned from his days camping by the riverbank, it was that monsters have their daily routine as well, and slimes fortunately, were deeper sleepers.

Carefully skirting around the slimes, Zi-Cheng parked his wooden cart near a cluster of Egg Peach trees, and pulled out a torch.

“Remake!”

The [Developer Mode] ability activated, and the torch flared to life, its brilliant light illuminating the area as if it were broad daylight.

“Next, [Terraform]!”

With his hands pressed to the ground, the third ability from [Developer Mode] activated with a faint hum. As the earth softened and melted like butter, Zi-Cheng effortlessly carved deep trenches with a shovel, much like digging into pudding with a spoon.

(Egg Peaches shatter when they hit the ground, but they’re far less likely to break if they fall into water.)

Zi-Cheng smiled as water from the flooded riverbank poured into the freshly dug channels, transforming and shaping the terrain into the game level he had envisioned — a level inspired by a game that was once confiscated by his teacher long ago.

Back then, when Zi-Cheng first learned that the game units Shen Yi-Ming restored were called Game & Watch, he also learned they were created by Nintendo’s legendary designer Gunpei Yokoi. The games were deceptively simple, using just a few buttons to catch falling objects or dodge obstacles, but their clever design, addictive challenge, and unmatched portability captivated kids everywhere.

“In fact, the Game & Watch series became so popular it saved Nintendo,” Yi-Ming had once said, his tone filled with admiration. “It pulled the company out of financial crisis and paved the way for everything it would become.”

“Well, Mr. Yokoi, may I present, a new Game & Watch in an alternate world!”

Zi-Cheng took a deep breath, steadied himself, and delivered a powerful kick straight at the Egg Peach tree.

Wham!

For a moment, panic flashed across his face. Did I overdo it? What if the whole thing collapses?! But instead of crashing down, the tree stood firm, so firm it might as well have been made of steel.

"...Seriously?" Zi-Cheng muttered, awkwardly pulling his foot back, his pride bruised more than anything else. With a frustrated sigh, he kicked the trunk again. And again. By the third attempt, a faint rustling sound came from above.

“Finally!”

Plop. Plop. Plop. Plop. Plop.

One after another, ripe Egg Peaches rained down from the branches, landing in the water-filled trenches Zi-Cheng had dug earlier. Other than a few unfortunate ones that hit the edges and shattered, most fruits landed perfectly intact, their shells gleaming under the moonlight.

“Yes!” Zi-Cheng’s face lit up with excitement. Without wasting a second, he grabbed his basket and dashed toward the water’s edge, scooping up the glistening fruits one by one like a kid scrambling for candy at a festival.

He tossed the peaches into his wooden cart with a practiced rhythm, then sprinted to the next tree and repeated the process, his movements quick and efficient.

Simple. Direct. Effective. Just like a classic Game & Watch game.

“If only I had a score counter floating above my head right now,” Zi-Cheng chuckled, his grin widening as he worked.

The slimes finally stirred from their slumber, the sweet scent of Egg Peaches dragging them awake. They bounced and wobbled toward the trench, their gelatinous bodies jiggling with urgency, only to stop dead at the edge, trapped on the other side of the water-filled channels.

All they could do was helplessly jiggle in place, watching their beloved Egg Peaches disappear into Zi-Cheng’s cart one by one.

image [https://i.imgur.com/rJ0tcO5.jpeg]