Time passed like sand in an hourglass on Simon’s island, and the sun was once again beginning to rise above the boundless skies.

At this moment in time, the man himself was inspecting his crop fields with immense satisfaction.

‘Good, it should just be a few more minutes until I can harvest these’ Simon thought excitedly.

His crops looked about as healthy and bountiful as crops could look, and were the results of the constant care and attention of a farming genius!

The golden wheatfields were almost blinding under the rising sun, emitting a warm glow, while the corn stalks stood proud and tall under the cloudy skies; the rice paddies were orderly and verdant, lining the stretch of land, and when the three sections of crops were combined, it truly looked like a paradise...

Such a sight was enough to move the hearts of those who had once thought that they cared not of agriculture, as it was simply too divine to be ignored. One would be unable to stop themselves from gazing at the sight, enamored.

As it turned out, crops in this world only took a few hours to fully mature, rather than the months that he had expected. Simon had surmised that this was due to the system’s influence. But whatever the case, such a reality was not unwelcomed.

Thus, he had already filled half his field with crops by now.

From what he had observed, corn and rice took roughly 3 hours to mature, while wheat took roughly 4 hours. At about this time, it just so happened that his corn and rice crops were about to mature.

And so, he patiently waited.

…

By now, Simon had grown fully accustomed to life on the island. After all, the pattern was pretty simple: collect resources, farm, mine, eat, and repeat. As a mage, sleep was not exactly needed - so his productivity was currently at its peak!

Thus, within the last couple of hours, he had amassed a total of 60 cubic meters of wood, 115 cubic meters of stone, two barrels of berries, 4 essence crystals, and even some small ingots of various metals and minerals, such as iron and copper. Along with these resources, he had inevitably gotten plenty of xp, which had filled his xp bar until only a sliver was left until the next island level!

On top of that, Simon had also reached Mining Level 2 and Gathering Level 1 in this period of time, which increased his strength and speed stats by 5 points respectively, per level. Unfortunately, this meager quantity of stat points was practically negligible.

Thankfully, along with the stat points, he had also gained two new skills from these professions.

One was [Pickaxe Burst], which allows one to swing a pickaxe once with double the strength, with a cooldown of 30 seconds. He had gotten this skill upon reaching Mining Level 1. Though unfortunately, it was basically useless for him.

The other was [Forager’s Instinct], which allows one to have a 10% speed boost while gathering materials. He had gotten this skill upon reaching Gathering Level 1. And while it wasn’t all that strong, it at least was convenient...

After resting for a few minutes, the corn and rice fields were ready for harvesting.

And so, Simon went up to the crop fields, and started harvesting within his fields contentedly. At the same time, his island xp rapidly rose.

[+1.2 xp]

[+1.2 farming xp]

[+1.2 xp]

[+1.2 farming xp]

[+1.3 xp]

[+1.3 farming xp]

[+1.2 xp]

[+1.2 farming xp]

....

‘This sure is relaxing!’ Simon let out a carefree laugh while farming.

This game was simple and fulfilling, leaving him temporarily devoid of worries; it even reminded him of his life when he was young and innocent, invoking a sense of nostalgia in him.

However, despite his good mood, he still felt like the game lacked some action in the early stages, which was quite unfortunate; though it was relaxing, it was not exciting at all.

But just as he was lamenting on the lack of action, the sound of several system notifications greeted him.

[Island leveled up to Lv. 2, island rose by 10,000 meters]

[Unlocked: Shop Lv 2]

[Unlocked: Raids]

[Warning: Raid imminent. Please prepare]

“...”

He was rendered speechless for a moment. ‘What the hell?! I guess there’s some action now!’

Afterwards, Simon immediately surveyed the skies around him with a cautious gaze.

He, of course, already knew that he was close to leveling up. But after leveling up, he didn’t expect to immediately get raided!

According to what he had read, raids were events in Island Ascension Online where other players or NPCs attacked one’s island. Naturally, such a situation was one worthy of caution; if one failed to respond appropriately, their island could very well succumb in the face of the attack.

While looking around, he also noted that his island expanded by roughly 15 meters on every side, making his island total at a diameter of 75 meters. However, he didn’t spare a second thought for the growth of his island as he continued surveying the skies.

Soon enough, a purple portal with hazy edges appeared out of nowhere, roughly 100 meters from the edge of the island. Just a moment later, a rickety looking and tiny flying ship emerged from the portal, which was rapidly shrinking behind it.

Made of rotten wood and only a few meters in length, it looked about as shabby as an airship could get. It seemed to be held together by duct tape and glue, and the rotten wood of it’s hull looked like it could cave in at any moment...

It was truly a wonder that such a puny looking thing could fly!

Witnessing this scene, Simon couldn’t help himself and laughed out loud.

‘Pffft the system scared me for no reason... This is no problem at all!’

The pirate standing atop the airship looked rather young, like a man in his early twenties, and could only be described as scrawny and weak; so weak in fact, that it would be hard to picture even a teenager equipped with any form of weapon losing to him.

Woosh!

Simon waved a hand, and the airship was suddenly grabbed by an invisible force and launched right to him.

Soon enough, the airship stopped several meters from the island, hovering in the air unnaturally.

“To think that I would come across a mage on this raid, how laughable!” the pirate exclaimed with a resigned expression when he saw what Simon had done. He then sighed and jumped off the airship and into the void - like a majestic soaring dragon!

At this moment of time, the solemn voice of the system congratulated him.

[Successfully defended against a raid. Rewarding 25 xp and 1x [Golden Ticket]]

“Woah, woah, wait a second!” Simon said, as he grabbed up the pirate using the surrounding air, lifting him back up to place him on the island.

‘Isn’t this fellow a little too dramatic?’ he couldn’t help but think as he shook his head.

Upon realizing that he was getting grabbed up, the pirate started wailing uncontrollably. “Esteemed Mage, I was forced by the Flamelight Organization! Please spare me from your methods! I swear, I don’t have anything more to offer!”

Despite the pirate’s complaints, Simon ignored him, inspecting the man with great interest.

‘What a nice catch! To think that I would come across one of these in this world...’ he thought upon inspecting the man, his eyes sparkling excitedly.

The pirate was rather special, after all...

Seeing Simon’s strange grin and piercing gaze, the man paled, staring at him with a horrified expression.

With great trepidation, he managed to force out a series of words. “D-Don’t tell me… You’re gay?”

Simon let out a hearty chuckle upon hearing the pirate’s guess. Could the man possibly be intoxicated?! What was he jumping to conclusions for?

“No! I just need more manpower on my island. Don’t worry, I’m not into gay stuff.” he replied reassuringly, finding it hard to suppress his laugh.

The pirate let out a sigh of relief, but was still somewhat worried. At the very least, a lifetime of work was better than being a toy for a mage.

“Esteemed Mage, but are you sure you need me? With your skills, you can just take in refugees to work for you, right?”

Simon scratched his head upon hearing the pirate’s words. He didn’t even know anything about refugees, but whatever the case... it seemed that the pirate could tell him.

Boom!

Simon’s aura suddenly underwent an earth-shattering change, as his demeanor became fierce and solemn, completely void of any sense of his previous carefreeness. It was like he transformed from a docile sheep to a fierce tiger!

Now, he was exuding the distinguished aura of an expert.

“If Heaven made someone, earth can find some use for them. Why shouldn’t I take you in? What do you even know of yourself, for you to be so sure that you are useless?” he said sternly, shaking his head. The man was laughably mistaken about his value.

“Whatever the case, I have a need for knowledge of this world. How does this world operate? If you tell me, I can reward you handsomely, and if you can’t, I’ll make sure you die a slow death.” Simon said in a convincingly solemn tone.

Actually, he was not a malicious dude, despite his years of having to deal with cutthroat bandits and despicable organizations. To simply torture the pirate on a whim? Simon was not even considering it.

Just like how he maintained a will of steel despite being constantly toyed with by fate, this was an irrefutable part of him that could not be changed; whatever his circumstances, he would never cross a certain line.

However, Simon had not gained nothing from his years of living in the wild. He had a very convincing aura of intimidation and superb acting skills. And even if he was not malicious, he was still ruthless; it was the bare minimum to survive during his past life.

He could not have simply suppressed organizations with brute strength, after all.

After hearing Simon’s words, the pirate’s eyes lit up.

After all, if he could prove himself to be useful to Simon, his life would likely be much better. In fact, this suicide mission might have been a blessing in disguise for him. Being an assistant of a mage did not sound bad at all.

“I will try my best, Esteemed Mage.” he quickly said, bowing down in subservience.

He then began introducing the world of Island Ascension Online to Simon.

...

A couple minutes later…

Simon nodded patiently, as the pirate who was named Jake finished briefing him of the world of Island Ascension Online.

From what Jake said, he could already make sense of the lore of this terrifying game!