After carefully recalling all the various settings in the game, James Bolton felt a bit helpless. The fastest way to level up was undoubtedly by fighting monsters, especially taking on monsters above your level. But where in this world could you find those endless, respawning monsters like in the game? Even if you worked at a slaughterhouse—putting aside whether slaughtering counts as fighting monsters—even if it did, those chickens, ducks, geese, cattle, sheep, and pigs would all just be level-zero monsters at best. The experience gained from killing one of these animals might not even be as much as the experience earned from cooking a dish. Fierce beasts like tigers and lions might be a few levels higher, but how many of those could you possibly kill in the whole world?

Well, it seemed that the way to earn experience points would have to rely on a few side professions.

Physician? Although diagnosing, prescribing, acupuncture, and herbal baths all provided a decent amount of experience, and treating rare and difficult diseases or making high-level medicines could yield a lot more, how often would you encounter such serious illnesses? And as an unknown, young doctor, why would anyone trust you to cure them? In China, people believe that a doctor’s skill comes with years and experience, so all those famous doctors whom patients revere are at least elderly men and women with gray hair. Given James Bolton’s current age, earning experience through diagnosing and treating patients could only serve as a supplement; it was definitely not feasible as a main source of income.

Blacksmith? Relying on this to level up was even less reliable than being a physician or chef! Forging was exhausting, and who would buy what you made? You could work yourself to death forging a kitchen knife, but a machine could churn out thousands a day, even in a small workshop! Why would anyone choose yours? So this craft was basically a dead end.

Tailor? There was some potential, but just imagining himself in an apron, scissors in one hand and a sewing needle in the other, was chilling! Besides, the experience points in this line didn’t seem to be much, and even if you worked yourself to the bone, how many pieces of clothing could you make in a day? How much experience could you earn? Better to give up.

Mechanic, brewer, gardener... After comparing all his side professions and carefully weighing and planning, James Bolton helplessly realized that his city life might have to come to an end. Because he found that the only combination that could help him gain experience faster seemed to be focusing on three main professions: animal trainer, gardener, and brewer, with the others as supplements.

In the game, animal trainers could tame fierce beasts as pets, raise medicinal animals for physicians, and raise edible animals for chefs. Of course, in reality, James Bolton could only raise common livestock and poultry. Although his skills came from the game, which limited the scale of his operations and prevented unlimited expansion, this side profession was still, in terms of effort invested versus experience gained, one of the most cost-effective.

Gardeners grew medicinal herbs and vegetables, also a side profession in the game that provided raw materials for physicians and chefs. Its pros and cons were similar to those of animal trainers, and since the scale could be a bit larger, its cost-effectiveness was no less than that of animal trainers.

Brewers didn’t earn as much experience as animal trainers or gardeners, and their scale was also limited, but this side profession was really effortless. As long as you paid attention to the ingredient ratios, timing, and temperature control, you could easily gain a steady, if modest, stream of experience points!

It was precisely because of these three main side professions that James Bolton planned to focus on that he had no choice but to leave the city. Otherwise, was he supposed to raise livestock and farm in the city? After all, this kind of work could only truly thrive in the ‘countryside’!

Chapter 009: A Hidden Paradise

On one side was a sheer rock wall, on the other a deep cliff, and in between was a dirt road just over four meters wide. One end of the road connected to the national highway, the other to a small village called Haiwozi. This small village was the seventeenth one James Bolton had inspected in the past few days after deciding to move to the countryside.

At this moment, James Bolton was swaying drunkenly along this dirt road in the Land Rover he had borrowed from Frank Shelton. But James Bolton’s swaying wasn’t because he was drunk, but because the road beneath him was just that bad. Twisting and turning, with constant ups and downs, the yellow dirt road was as bumpy as a lumpy scalp. Luckily, the Land Rover was one of the more capable city SUVs; if James Bolton had been driving a lower-chassis business van, he might have already gotten stuck in a rut, unable to move forward or back.

This was a good reminder of the benefits of family background. Although Frank Shelton, who worked in the emergency room, didn’t make as much money as James Bolton in the pharmacy department, his father was wealthy. So the lower-earning Frank Shelton drove a 700,000–800,000 yuan Land Rover, while the better-paid James Bolton could only afford a 200,000-something Wrangler.