There can't be a Harvest Moon in the RimWorld.

But the lack of a unified currency on both sides is a major problem.

The Edge World is accustomed to using precious metals as a general equivalent, while Mineral Town only uses the Federation's credit currency. This can lead to serious disagreements when the value of goods is unequal and change is needed.

Therefore, I need to borrow funds from the town to act as an intermediary for the circulation of goods, so that the Brown Pool Tribe caravan can exchange their goods for paper money with me before the transaction is completed, based on the estimated value.

Of course, these banknotes do not represent the value of goods in circulation; they are merely like arcade vouchers, guaranteed by the credit of "me," namely the organizer, the Mineral Town system.

What's even better is that once the trade is over, the people of the Brownpool tribe will exchange their surplus banknotes for goods on their ranches with me! In this way, the overall value generated by the trade remains unchanged, yet I can quietly, as an intermediary, reclaim the banknotes.

Under such a brilliant operation, the town's funds not only maintain their principal but also increase in value. On the surface, I seem to be at a disadvantage, but once this system is established and stable, I can use the over-issuance of currency to buy up large quantities of goods and hoard the surplus value… Anyone who disobeys me can just have a Plaza Accord, maximizing the exchange rate… Hehehe…

"Marcus, why are you smiling so lewdly?"

A voice suddenly rang out, interrupting my pleasant reverie.

It was Jay sitting on the swing in front of the grocery store, lost in thought, who said this to me.

"Uh... what are you doing here?"

Before I knew it, I had walked back to Karen's house.

Just now, because of my secret delight, I completely revealed my dark thoughts with my expression—luckily, it was a jay I saw, otherwise it would have been hard to explain.

The jays, seemingly bored, kicked at the roadside stones and hopped along to keep up with me.

"Karen got scolded by her father, so they went to find a carpenter to fix the house. Staying inside was too boring, so I ran out!"

I couldn't help but laugh and said, "You've become a snow cow shaman, how come you're still so playful? When I first met you, you looked worried about the tribe."

Compared to when we first met, Jay is now more like a little girl, always laughing, playing, and full of fun, though her style is becoming increasingly unconventional. Or perhaps this is what youth is all about?

Jay put on the cow bone mask and said in a feigned angry voice, "It's all your fault! Ever since Grandpa Bertholdt came, I haven't had to worry about anything in the tribe. Even the tribes that were hostile to me have come to make good, and the tribe's caravans have started to travel to the other side of the grassland to conduct trade. All I have to do every day is study and daydream!"

The jay kept complaining, seemingly unaccustomed to the sudden peace, with a bellyful of ambitions that had no way to be realized.

As we chatted, I learned that the Brown Pool tribe now firmly occupies the prime location at the foot of Mount Corilo, steadily accumulating wealth through textiles and handicrafts, which has greatly alleviated the predicament of the tribe having only women and children left in the population.

It's not that they can't absorb and expand, but sudden expansion would destroy the already fragile population structure of the Brownpool tribe, turning it into a Ship of Theseus.

Then the new immigrants can say with impunity, "This is the Brownpool Tribe, and it's you tribesmen who should get out!"

In light of this, Berthold also worked diligently during his time there, leveraging the tribe's previous reputation to establish a large base of influence. He was just waiting for the Brownpool tribe to fully recover its strength before entering a phase of rapid development.

As for the reputation of the Brown Pool Tribe, it's said that someone, in a fit of rage for a woman, crossed the river like a dragon stirring up trouble, shattering the hands of all the forces that tried to get involved, and the unlucky ones even got their hands smeared with mud.

Faced with this precedent, all forces chose to temporarily avoid confrontation and agreed to Bertholdt's Nine-Tails chakra-sharing plan—the so-called Nine-Tails chakra-sharing plan meant that one part of the One-Tails' chakra would be mine, one part of the Two-Tails' chakra would be mine, and one part of the Three-Tails' chakra would be mine...

"By the way, how's the group of people I left behind doing?"

I suddenly became a little curious.

Although these were all guys I recruited by chance, I still want to know how they fared afterward. They should have all inherited my legacy as Caesar and become regional overlords, right?

Jay pondered for a moment, then shook his head and said, "I don't really remember either. I heard that the Sharp Vision Alliance later split up, with the six legions going their own way and slowly retreating to the border of the grasslands. Occasionally, caravans would cross the sea from the Oasis Trade Zone. But as for the specifics... after all, the tribe's activity area is still only in the Lake Blue Hermit Crab Plain! It's reasonable that I don't know!"

The unremarkable jay puffed out its chest and said.

"Oh, it's normal that the bald man can't control the alliance since it's just a hastily put-together alliance."

Anyway, it was all the work of the evil Lord Shaflin, what does it have to do with me, the brave and upright Marcus!

I didn't think much of it and walked back to the pasture entrance with the jays along the stone path.

…………

"Wow, it's a pony!"

The jay spotted the strolling, meme-filled pony from afar and rushed forward to try and grab its reins.

But in Xiao Ma's eyes, a monster wearing a green robe and with horns on its head appeared in the distance, letting out a loud roar as it charged towards him!

So the final scene became like this:

???ミ?+_______?oeo''?!

...What a peaceful day.

"Boss, is it about time I can go back now...?"

A gaunt human emerged from the warehouse, his face radiating death, and leaned against the doorframe as he spoke to me.

[Research Project: Fundamentals of Microelectronics]

Current research progress: 1021/1500

I glanced at the research progress and exclaimed in surprise, "Gray, are you some kind of one-in-a-million physics genius? You managed to learn two-thirds of the material in just one day?!"

Gray said listlessly, "What... Sharon Shiraishi was giving a lesson earlier, so I took the opportunity to ask him about the questions I didn't understand... After analyzing the knowledge bit by bit, I started to understand a little..."

Is there such a shortcut?

What obstacles are still in my path?

If I work overtime tonight, does that mean I'm starting to run into the space age?!

I excitedly opened the book, but my feverish brain instantly cooled down in the face of the complex formulas and models.

……wrong.

If you can learn knowledge simply by listening attentively in class, then what is the point of after-school tutoring?

Furthermore, as a research-aid AI, Sharon Whitestone is unlikely to be an expert in pedagogy or capable of providing individualized instruction. At best, its answers will simply be reading out definitions from encyclopedias!

But the progress of the research doesn't lie...

Hmm... I mean, is it possible that Gray, who is learning microelectronics from scratch, is the kind of student with very poor basic skills but is exceptionally bright and quick to grasp concepts?

Previously, they were at a loss due to a lack of knowledge, but now, by patching together basic knowledge, they can understand profound formulas and models and directly pass the colonizer system's assessment...

On the contrary, as a liberal arts student from a dazzling city, it took me a whole week to learn the basic electrical knowledge on my own and reach the required level!

Starting from the same point, yet the difference is so huge... Could this guy really be a genius?!

I looked at Gray with surprise, this time without any hint of a joke.

"Boss, what's with that look? I really tried my best to study, I definitely didn't slack off! But if I recover, I can speed up the process a little bit..."

As I looked at the tool-like figure, Gilfred, a flood of thoughts washed over me, and a memory resurfaced.

When I was a child, my family was poor. Apart from the lock on the front door, we didn't have anything of value, but every time it rained, I could only think about it in my heart.

"Please, don't let it rust."

Chapter 672 Harvest Festival in Mineral Town (1)

After carefully choosing the date, the day of the Mineral Town Harvest Festival was a clear, cloudless autumn day. The tides ebbed and flowed between the desolate sea and sky, and tranquility and peace became the main theme of the autumn day by the sea.

A yellow flag with green trim fluttered above Rose Square. It was embroidered with a wise old man, whose wisdom was evident even in the top of his head, as he rested his chin on his hand and gazed into the distance.

On one side of Rose Square, residents of Mineral Town had already set up their stalls the night before. From east to west, there were Mr. Dick, Old Sebala, and Mr. Jeff. On the other two sides, there were also spaces reserved for Old Man Mookie and Poppy's chicken farm. Since animals were not suitable to be brought, no special stalls were set up for them.

Opposite the residents was the merchant caravan sent by the Brown Pool tribe.

To paraphrase Bertholdt's words, this time they brought the tribe's "top-notch merchants" and "best-selling goods in large quantities at great prices."

The alpacas and yaks that transported the goods have already arrived at my ranch. The goods were brought here by manpower and lined up in rows. The tribal merchants have already skillfully displayed the goods.

The slightly awkward atmosphere between the two sides lasted only a moment before it was broken. After all, people came here to exchange goods, not to make friends. Surely they wouldn't need an icebreaker before they felt comfortable haggling—if humans were this socially awkward when it came to haggling, Pinduoduo would have gone bankrupt long ago.

The first wave of interaction began with Cliff, who was watching over Dick's stall. Because he arrived too early, before the other townspeople had arrived, Cliff first wandered over to the tribal merchants.

The most eye-catching item on the shelf is the agave pod, which I am very familiar with. But just like its rough appearance, agave pods are edible but can make your throat feel dry. They become slightly sweet when roasted, and laymen would definitely not put them on the menu.

"Is this meat fresh?" Cliff asked, his eyes drawn to the meat displayed on the other side.

I had already met the merchants from the tribe. The man in charge of the food stall in front of me was named Bauer, a middle-aged man with a blank expression. Bertholdt said he was known for being a man of few words and responsible.

Bauer: "I'm a butcher, would I give you stale meat?"

Cliff, always one to get to the bottom of things, said, "That's not necessarily true. What kind of meat is this?"

Bauer was getting a little impatient. Experience probably told him that this customer wasn't very sincere. "Why are you asking so many questions? Are you going to buy or not?"

Cliff still smiled and asked, "If it's good meat, I'll definitely buy it..."

The more I listened, the more uneasy I felt, so I quickly separated the two of them before the prelude to "Sarilang" started.

I first scolded Cliff for causing trouble, then said to Bauer, "Old Bei didn't tell me you had such a bad temper. Cliff just asked about the type of meat, why did you get so worked up?"

Bauer quickly lowered his voice: "That's not it... As you instructed, we went to purchase a large amount of food, mainly because this type of meat is relatively uncommon..."

"How niche? Is it some kind of desperate meat? The meat looks so fragmented, it's obviously not."

I casually flipped through the items, and the product information appeared before my eyes.

【Item Name: Bird Meat】

[Item Description: The meat from small birds is no different from regular meat; the taste is basically the same, and it has no special medicinal value.]

【Durability: 49/60】

Nutritional value: 0.05

Physical weight: 0.03 kg

[Source species: small birds]

[Chance of food poisoning from raw food: 2%]

Aging rate: 6.00/day

"...Bird meat? The stuff you're buying is really a bit off the mark."

The meat was fairly fresh, but to be able to carve so much meat off a scrawny bird, did the Brown Pool tribe mess with the birds? With so many large animals in the tribe, killing just one would be far better than this!

Wearing a brown headscarf, Bauer said apologetically, "On the way back, the tribe's wholesale trade had just shipped out the other meats; this is waterfowl meat bought from the harbor trade area. The coast is abundant in this..."

I said helplessly, "Waterfowl is fine, as long as it doesn't have bird flu. But what are these pieces of meat over there? They look even more mushy than bird meat."

I picked up these meat-like things, and the system information reappeared.

【Item Name: Rat Meat】

[Item Description: Meat from a small rodent, no different from regular meat...]

No difference what?!