Favorite of the Beast-world: I Got Rich Through Farming-Chapter 23: Exploration Coefficient and a Troublemaking Female
"It’s a natural oil. Simmering it in soup makes it exceptionally savory and whets the appetite."
"Oil?"
An Jin was using so many new terms that Xi was completely baffled. His blue eyes were filled with confusion. "What is oil?"
’How should I explain this?’
’I can’t very well tell him it’s biological fat.’
Xi’s curiosity was piqued, and he was determined to get to the bottom of it. An Jin racked her brain for a moment before managing an explanation. "There are many kinds of oil. The one I was talking about is common cooking oil. It looks like golden water, but it’s more viscous. Not only is it not water, but it’s also insoluble in it..."
"If it lands on the surface of the water, it will float there without mixing. The surface of the oil will even reflect many different colors when the light hits it..."
Xi’s heart skipped a beat, and he said with pleasant surprise, "I think I’ve seen that before."
?!?!
"Ah Jin, wait a second! I’ll go get it right now. You can see if it’s the thing you’re talking about!"
As soon as he finished speaking, he flicked his tail and dove back into the water, disappearing from sight.
’Every time Xi goes to find something, he dives into the water. Does he have a secret treasure trove hidden in this river or something?!’
A short while later, ripples spread across the water’s surface. A slender, beautiful blue figure leaped out, his stunning azure tail shimmering mesmerizingly in the gentle sunlight.
But the moment An Jin saw what he was holding, her face fell.
She had actually thought Xi was bringing her back some oil.
When she saw the large, coconut-like shell he was holding, she instantly felt like she’d been tricked.
Xi swam to the bank, placed the shell on a flat rock, and then lightly scored a line a quarter of the way from the top with a sharp fingernail, popping a piece of the shell off.
Looking inside, she saw that the shell was filled with a flowing, golden liquid!
[DING—Edible oil discovered. Exploration Coefficient +1] 𝓯𝓻𝓮𝙚𝙬𝓮𝙗𝒏𝙤𝒗𝙚𝙡.𝒄𝒐𝓶
’Oh my god, it really is oil.’
An Jin was utterly shocked. It seemed she really couldn’t judge the species of this other world by her old way of thinking.
She went forward, scooped up a little on a spoon, and tasted it. This oil wasn’t very similar to the highly processed oils she had used before. Instead, it had a hint of a fresh, fruity fragrance.
Its oil content wasn’t very high, so it wasn’t greasy. It would be perfect for stir-frying or making soup.
"Where did you get this oil and this fruit?" An Jin asked, suppressing the wild joy in her heart.
’Oil. The biggest problem was solved. This marked the official beginning of my culinary career!’
"It’s a type of fruit that grows on a tree."
Xi blinked. Seeing the young female beaming with joy, his own spirits soared. A smile touched his stunning features. "These fruits often fall into the river, and there are lots of them at the bottom. If Ah Jin wants more, I can..."
He paused, a flicker of worry crossing his brow. "But a lot of them have already rotted. The one you have in your hands, Ah Jin... it took me a long time to find one that was still mostly intact."
"There probably aren’t any good ones left in the river. If Ah Jin wants more, we’ll have to find the tree it comes from."
"The tree should be somewhere around here, and it’s the right season for its fruit. But Xi doesn’t know much about land plants, so I can’t tell which one it is. I can’t help Ah Jin with this..."
The Little Merfolk poked his fingers together guiltily, secretly resolving to brush up on his knowledge of the land.
’Ah Jin had finally asked him for help with something, and he hadn’t been able to perform well at all. What a failure I am.’
...
After bidding farewell to Xi, An Jin turned and entered her space. Mirror Mirror was initially overjoyed, but upon seeing her face, its expression immediately soured. "Master, we haven’t seen each other for days! How are you still so ugly? Waaaah!"
An Jin: "..."
’If you don’t have anything nice to say, don’t say anything at all.’
"What’s this Exploration Coefficient about?"
Mirror Mirror perked up and switched to its NPC explanation mode. "Because this world is an unknown territory for our newly arrived Master, the system has very graciously introduced the special unlockable mission: [Exploration Coefficient]!"
"When the [Exploration Coefficient] accumulates to a certain value, you can unlock the lottery system!"
"The way to obtain [Exploration Coefficient] points is through random daily life triggers."
"Because the civilization in this world is too primitive, the degree of exploration is also very low. Most resources are still in an untapped state."
"When Master discovers and develops unknown resources in an area, it will be counted towards the Exploration Coefficient. The greater the degree of development, the greater the increase in the coefficient."
"If Master doesn’t understand, let’s use the edible oil from just now as an example!"
Seeing that An Jin was a bit confused, Mirror Mirror, in a rare display of kindness and attentiveness, continued with its analogy.
"To the native inhabitants here, this oil fruit is just an ordinary fruit from a tree. It provides no substantial help to their lives, so it’s considered an untapped resource. Master’s recent discovery has changed this situation, so the system has specially awarded a certain amount of [Exploration Coefficient] points~"
The little system cheered her on. "So, for more rewards, Master must keep up the good work and unlock more things! Mirror Mirror will always be with you!"
...
After leaving the space, An Jin walked around the riverbank a few times and found the oil fruit tree.
The tree was too tall for her to reach, so after picking up a few intact oil fruits from the ground, she quickly hurried back to the tribe before dark.
The Hunting Team had run into some trouble, and their return was expected to be delayed by a few days.
Two days passed, and the food stores at home were nearly empty.
Although An Jin wasn’t well-liked in the tribe, she was still a female, and that came with certain special benefits.
—Every so often, she could collect stored food from the tribe. The amount of food was determined by the number of male partners a female had.
An Jin had no partner, so she could only collect a single person’s portion.
It probably wouldn’t be much, but it should be enough to last until Ling Hong returned.
The Clan Leader had given her a wooden token.
The wood was of a very ordinary material, carved with a few beast-tongue characters that looked as mysterious as a totem. It was probably used for identification.
Following her memory, An Jin took the wooden token to a large thatched hut in the center of the tribe. This hut was the protected enclosure where the tribe’s females lived.
Next to the large hut was another thatched hut where the tribe’s food was stored. An Old Beastman named Ani lived there as a guardian, distributing food to other Beastmen who came with tokens.
"Ani Yungong, are you there?" An Jin called out tentatively.
No sooner had her voice faded than the decaying wooden door creaked open, and a withered Old Beastman pushed it aside.
His voice was dry, hoarse, and weathered. "Here for food? Come in with me."
The old man looked to be in his seventies or eighties.
Of course, this was the Beast World, so age was difficult to guess. After all, most Beastmen only lived for fifty or sixty years.
But the Old Beastman before her was indeed ancient.
His sallow, wrinkled skin sagged, dotted with scattered age spots. His body was frail and stooped, and the few sparse white hairs on his head made him look like a piece of deadwood on the verge of collapsing.
The Old Beastman’s expression was kindly enough. He ruffled the ’bird’s nest’ on his head, which looked like it hadn’t been groomed in years. After his old, cloudy eyes made out who his visitor was, he sighed softly. "Give me the token. Come in and get your food."
An Jin nodded quickly, handed over the wooden token, and followed the old man’s steps into the thatched hut.
From the outside, the small hut didn’t look very big, but the space inside was surprisingly spacious and bright.
The interior was rather simple, with just a wooden bed and a few animal hides. Most of the floor space was taken up by the tribe’s food stores.
This hut had been deliberately placed near the females’ living quarters, mainly for the convenience of the females who couldn’t hunt.
Most of the food stored inside was also allocated to the females and their partners.
The Old Beastman gave An Jin some of the usual wild boar meat and fresh fruits, as well as a few dry-looking clumps of wild vegetables.
The raw meat, fresh fruit, and vegetable clumps were wrapped in a piece of animal hide. The portion wasn’t large and was somewhat disappointing.
But resources were scarce in the Beast World to begin with. Many Beastmen starved to death every day. The fact that the tribe could spare this much food showed that it was doing quite well.
An Jin picked up the food, but before she could even leave, a sharp, piercing voice rang out as someone shoved her hard.
She nearly dropped the wild fruit and boar meat on the ground.
"Hey, that’s my food! Put it down! Do you hear me?!"
The sharp voice, characteristic of a female, filled her ears like a clap of thunder, making her head buzz. It was grating and unpleasant.
