Hay There!

His quest was simple.

[Quest: Hay Day

Requirements: Grow 9 wheat and craft a haybale.

0/9 wheat

0/1 Haybale

Reward: Bucket

Note: This reward can only be claimed once. For Farming Tutorial, refer to the detailed guidebook.]

Yes, the detailed guidebook. Technoblade remembered a section in there about farming. It was very different from the regular Minecraft farming method where the hoe was almighty. Any type of dirt could be tilled in Minecraft, but there was a ritual that must be completed in Aftercraft before seeds could start growing.

Although it wasn't truly farmer mechanics, the system admins did their research well. Technoblade referred to the guidebook and agreed that berries cannot be grown in the ground simply by sticking them in the dirt. Wild berries differed from farmed berries, and Technoblade gave them the rule exception. He was glad he did not destroy them on a whim when he found them earlier. Every single wild berry bush has to be treated like an existential treasure. They are the reason why he has managed to survive thus far.

The process of creating a farm was simple. Technoblade could do most of these things, although it would not be the most efficient farming method without a bucket. Thankfully, the quest reward would help him make a better bread farm.

"The water source mechanic is similar to Minecraft," he mused.

For each water source block on the same level of the dirt to be tilled, it will allow four dirt blocks around it to be tilled into a farmland block. However, unlike the game, the tilled farmland is considered "untreated", and nothing can grow on it yet. To grow any seeds, sugar cane or berries in Aftercraft, Technoblade had to add bonemeal onto the tilled and wet soil to transform them into "fertile farmland".

"I guess that's where the bonemeal will come in handy," he studied.

Although he did not have much bone meal, Aftercraft will magically accept any type of biodegradable compost material as bone meal. Using the magic of a compost bin crafted from wood, Technoblade could add biodegradables like saplings, berries, or fish and turn them into useful bonemeal.

The only problem was how he had none of those resources in excess yet.

"The game only wanted nine pieces of wheat to craft a single hay bale block. I should have just enough bone meal to speed up the growing process."

The new farming process was a massive pay-to-win system where the farmer with the most bone meal would receive a better harvest. Technoblade was too poor to afford the luxury but wanted the bucket. Hence, he had to work with the natural resources he had.

"Trees!"

These leafy giants dropped a ton of saplings, and everyone loved spruce trees because they can grow into a tree as big as the Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree. Technoblade knew it would be easy to farm enough saplings depending on the type of tree that grows. Besides, he had enough saplings lying around after his deforestation efforts. It was finally time to put them to better use.

Technoblade collected the saplings and crafted his first item of the day - a compost bin. Then, he stabbed four spruce saplings onto the hard dirt that the hoe could not till and spaced each group of saplings about eight blocks apart. It could be more, but Technoblade wasn't limited by space options, so he didn't keep count. The more room for leaves to grow, the better for him.

Alas, there weren't enough saplings to fill his compost bin by the time he started the shabby tree plantation, but that wasn't too important. He could fill the compost bin later.

"Now to find that dingy pond and till one piece of farmland."

Yes, only one. He wasn't going to waste bone meal creating so many temporary farmlands when he was going to eventually relocate. Moreover, less treatment bone meal meant more pay-to-harvest wheat. It was a win-win situation, and Technoblade liked the sound of it.

With his stone hoe, the ground nearest to the small pond was tilled in one light tap. If farming back on Earth was as easy as it was in Aftercraft, people would never starve again.

The newly tilled untreated farmland turned a darker brown as it 'absorbed' water from the source block. The transformation made it tempting to simply stick a seed in until Technoblade realised he tossed them out after collecting dirt due to limited inventory space. Thankfully, there were plenty of breakable grass blocks in the vicinity.

"I have the seeds now," Technoblade looked at the three generic seeds sitting in his inventory obtained from punching grass. Hopefully, this was what he needed.

After treating the tilled farmland with bone meal, Technoblade watched as the farmland automatically transformed into loosened soil on that block that was treated. He looked at the seed in his hand and chucked it into the loosened dirt before dusting his newly planted crop with bone meal.

There were three major growth stages of wheat seed in Aftercraft, and Technoblade spent four bone meals to grow one piece of wheat. If he included the cost of treating the farmland into his pay-to-win strategy, he would need forty-five pieces of bone meal to grow a hay bale.

He only had one bone meal left.

"Nooo!!!"

Falling onto his knees in despair, Technoblade wondered how he could make his riches quickly.

Looking through the quest list, he realised that some quests were aligned with his most recent change in plans.

"That's it," he changed the hoe for the pickaxe. "We're going mining, boys!"

Why would he be at the mercy of the system rewards to obtain a bucket? Aftercraft wasn't the traditional one-block Skyblock! He could easily go mining for iron and coal. Now that he had all the wood he could possibly need for a mining trip, it was time to craft some charcoal, make some torches and never see the light of day for a while.