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

"...Rick has really had a tough time."

"Hey, Marcus, do you also consider Jay a sister?" Karen asked, tilting her head. I suspected she was trying to use this opportunity to beat me up like she beat Rick.

"That's part of it. Although she's just a guest at the ranch, she's still young, and we felt bad refusing her requests. As a result, we became more and more attentive, wishing we could move the whole town to her place."

"You're just too soft-hearted, aren't you? You can't resist little girls?" Karen put her arm around my shoulder with ill intent. "If I hadn't run into you at the bar last night, where would you have settled her? I heard your ranch has nothing there? You're not going to have her share a bed with someone, are you?"

"...You misunderstand. I believe it's more likely that the jay built its own treehouse."

"Pshaw, what you're saying is completely unconvincing."

"Fine, don't believe me then. Miss Karen, did Jay say anything else to you?"

"Anything else?" Karen thought for a moment and said, "She said she left you a small gift, which is in a corner of the ranch, and you can find it yourself. Also, she said she hopes to come here to find you again next time."

"……Really?"

Once the jay returned, it would be a long time of wilderness life. How must she feel, having to say goodbye to delicious food, a soft bed, and a safe environment, and returning to that planet where she had to fight against nature?

In short, none of them will be very good.

"By the way, how did the jays come to visit your ranch? And why did you say you wanted to go back from the mountains instead of taking a boat from the port? Do we have a shipping route here?"

"Ah... that... a helicopter, a helicopter, it landed on Mount Mades to pick her up."

"Is that really true?"

"Yes, please trust me!"

"...It's still very suspicious."

…………

After saying goodbye to Karen, I returned to my ranch, wanting to see what gift the jay had left me. My ranch was equipped with a wooden fence produced by the system, and no one except those authorized by the system could enter before the fence was broken.

So I checked the seed bags in the house and found that the portion that was supposed to be given to the jays was indeed missing. I searched the whole house but couldn't find the gift she mentioned.

"Is he not inside the house?"

The pasture was unusually deserted at this time. In the middle of the field was the campfire that the jays had lit yesterday. I remember that little girl pretended to be an adult to fool me, and I didn't even notice anything amiss.

The riverbank had a makeshift well she had built, using a crude filtration system... It seemed a little different over there.

Looking over, I noticed that besides the simple well, there was something else that looked different, placed side by side on the riverbank. It was a bend in the river where the current was gentler, and the water flowed noticeably softer there.

Right here on the riverbank, many thick branches were inserted deep into the riverbank and densely arranged in the shape of an "M". However, a small opening was left in the middle of the "M" in the recessed part.

The water flows along the riverbank here, then flows inwards. I realized this is a maze trap designed to ensnare fish. A maze was created using branches, and because the entrance is designed like a funnel, the fish are only meant to go in and not come out.

I didn't expect the jays to still not give up. They insisted on making a complete set of wilderness survival equipment on my ranch.

I took a look at the fishing trap and found that there were indeed many medium-sized fish swimming around inside. Because the jays had scattered aquatic plants and possibly ants in the water beforehand, many fish were attracted by the smell and foolishly scuttled into the trap.

Small fish, thrashing and struggling, often manage to escape through the M-shaped opening, while medium-sized fish, due to their size, get stuck in the trap's opening when they flick their tails, and can only continue to thrash around aimlessly. As for the large fish that would damage the trap, they get stuck in the trap's opening and are excluded from the fishing list.

From morning to noon, eleven or twelve medium-sized fish have already been caught inside.

"It really works... This young lady has gone to a lot of trouble."

I can almost picture this morning, a little girl running back from the ranch with a bunch of stuff, but then, worried that I wouldn't be able to survive in the wild and would starve, she foolishly turned back and started setting up this trap by the river—the one she thought was the most useful.

A sudden heaviness settled in my heart. I studied the structure of the fishing trap, memorized it, and then discovered another trace.

There was something hanging from a large tree in the middle of the pasture, which I had left as a shady resting place, swaying in the wind.

"A leather bag?"

A leather bag, yellowed and faded due to the tanning process and time, but clearly well-cared for and preserved, is hanging on a tree branch.

The jay left behind the animal skin bag she always carried with her...

I believe she didn't stay for any reward, but just hoped that I wouldn't forget her, a guest who only stayed for one day, and that seeing her would remind me of her.

I took off the animal skin bag and carried it on my back.

"Huh? What's this?"

I saw a strange pattern on the tree trunk that was covered by the animal skin bag.

Is it a hexagonal flower?

I could almost picture a young girl standing in the same spot as me, carefully removing her animal skin bag and hanging it on a tree. After a moment's thought, she began carving the tribal totem, a six-sided flower, onto the tree, stroke by stroke.

He was muttering to himself all the while.

"If we carve this, we're allies!"

"Don't forget me, okay..."

Chapter 106 Potato Harvest! (Bonus chapter for 300 favorites!)

"System notification: The visitor from the Gentle Clan - Brownpool Clan has returned safely. They rated the visit 100 and left some technology/items as a thank you gift. This visit will also increase the Gentle Clan - Brownpool Clan's faction friendship by 32, bringing their current faction friendship to +81."

"Allies: The relationship between the colony and the Brownpool tribe has become very close, and they will now regard you as an ally."

"Allies will sometimes come to your aid when you are under attack and fighting your enemies. You can also call on them to send visitors, caravans, and warriors through the communication technology, but this will reduce your favorability."

"System notification: You became allies with them because your friendship level (+80) rose above +75. If your friendship level drops below 0, the relationship will revert to neutral."

When I came to my senses and saw the accumulated system notifications, I confirmed once again that the jay had returned to her planet.

The Colonizer System icon is located in the corner of the field of vision. If you don't pay attention when you open it, you won't see the prompts inside at all, which caused me to miss these prompts during my hangover.

Fortunately, according to the description in the colonist system, I have become an ally of the Brownpool tribe. As long as I have this thing called a communication station, I can re-establish contact with the tribe.

If the visitor call function works smoothly, will I be able to contact Jay again and invite her back to Mineral Town for a visit?

I searched through all the functions of the colonist system carefully, but I couldn't find any description of this communication station.

It seems that this is still a feature that needs to be unlocked gradually, just like the visitor system, right?

However, there's no rush at the moment.

Now that the jay has returned safely, we should first consider putting what I gave her to use.

Of these seeds, potato seeds grow the fastest, even in such a barren environment. The other seeds, even in suitable climates, take three to four months to mature.

Therefore, even if we were to call again, we would have to wait three or four months until these seeds had matured before we could know whether my support had been effective. Contacting them too early could disrupt their plans and cause unforeseen circumstances.

I have no doubt that I can unlock the communicator within three months. After all, I've only been on the ranch for eight days and have already unlocked a lot of things. In ten times the time, surely I can build a communicator?

Hmph, I hope the jays discover my surprise soon. I'm really looking forward to seeing their surprised expressions...

Speaking of potatoes and the eighth day...

Today seems to be the sixth day since I planted the potatoes?

Are my potatoes cooked through?!

…………

In a corner of the pasture, a patch of lush and delightful plants had been quietly growing for several days without my noticing.

Since being domesticated by humans more than 5000 years ago, potatoes have gradually swept the globe, transforming from a bitter and poisonous wild plant into a food that humans cannot easily give up, thanks to their reliable yield and amazing resistance to diseases and pests.

The Super Potato, upgraded by the Colonizer System, has undergone a complete transformation!

The ultra-short cycle, shortened from eighty days to six days, allows this plant to grow rapidly, sometimes even doing somersaults every day.

Now it seems that the green main plant of the potato has grown to its limit, becoming a plant with an odd number of pinnate compound leaves. The leaflets are usually of varying sizes, 10-20 cm long; the petioles are about 2.5-5 cm long; there are 6-8 pairs of leaflets, the leaf blades are ovate, with an acute apex, slightly unequal bases, entire margins, and sparse white soft hairs on both sides, with 6-7 lateral veins on each side, slightly curved at the apex, and the petiolules are about 1-8 mm long.

If you look closely at potato leaves, you'll find that both sides are covered with soft white hairs. Touching these hairs, you'll find they feel slightly sticky. These dense, fine hairs are often used by potatoes to catch small insects that nibble at the leaves.

When insects are trapped on leaves, bacteria in the leaves can absorb nutrients through their excrement; once the insects eventually fall into the soil and are decomposed by microorganisms, the potato roots can then replenish their nutrients.

Thanks to these nutrients, the potato's small white flowers had finished blooming and withered. I pulled hard on the plant, and a long bunch of potatoes were uprooted.

Wow! Quite a harvest!

I did some calculations, and if this plant only produces this much, then my land of about 25 square meters is going to have a bumper harvest.

After some hard work, I finally finished harvesting all the potatoes! Since I didn't have any weight-bearing equipment, I roughly estimated the yield: each plant weighed an average of five or six pounds. It's clear from the outside that it was a very high yield.

Moreover, the potatoes dug up were indeed large and well-shaped, with 4-10 potatoes per plant, each weighing over a pound. The minimum weight per plant was four or five pounds, and the maximum was 10 pounds and 3 ounces. The average weight per plant should be five or six pounds.

In other words, that small plot of land produced approximately 450 jin (225 catties) of potatoes, enough to fill an entire field. Based on this data, the approximate yield per acre is...

12000 pounds!

"This is amazing! It completely exceeded my expectations!"

I shook my head to clear my head, then picked up the potato and examined it closely. But instead of seeing the potato's shape, I saw a detailed description of its properties:

Item Name: Potato.

"Plant description: A simple yet nutrient-rich tuberous plant. It grows well even in relatively poor soil and can be harvested in a short time. It is a powerful and versatile crop that was created for colonies. As a raw potato, it tastes very bad when eaten raw."

Basic attributes:

Light requirement: 51%

Lifespan: 64 days

Minimum growth temperature: 0.0 degrees Celsius

Maximum growth temperature: 58.0 degrees Celsius

Harvest time: 6 days

Fertilization sensitivity: 100%

Fertilization requirement: 70%

Nutritional content: 0.20"

Just as I suspected! Crops produced by the system are considered system items and have an attribute interface. Non-system items, no matter how similar they are in appearance, materials, or uses, will not have this attribute information.

Zack! Come out and see God!

…………

I dragged Zach, who was originally scheduled to come to harvest in the evening, from the harbor.

Actually, he, who comes to the ranch to check every day, doesn't believe what I say at all.

He had long been used to me treating the ranch like wasteland, having returned empty-handed from the ranch every day, and never even considered that I had actually grown any crops.