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The 'High-Grade' treasure map meticulously drawn by Leo was naturally much clearer and more geometrically accurate than the chaotic crayon scribbles drawn by the Little Fairies. With just a few simple, clean strokes of a pencil, he effortlessly captured the visual essence of the hidden treasure site.
That long, curving line was clearly the dark tunnel leading out to the Calico Desert, and the two-wheeled rectangle parked next to it was absolutely the ruined bus Leo had first agonizingly woken up in when he arrived in this dimension. Isn't it incredibly vivid, instantly geographically recognizable at a single glance?
Anyway, regardless of what the other critical Youkai thought of his art style, Leo was very proud and satisfied with his cartographic masterpiece. As for what Yukari Yakumo maliciously said earlier about him belonging at the same kindergarten art table as the Little Fairies, Leo simply took it as her being bitterly, childishly jealous of his superior drawing skills.
"Congratulations to Hong Meiling, the surprisingly competent contestant from the Scarlet Devil Mansion, for being the absolute first to successfully exchange for a High-Level Treasure Map! As the World Lord who personally placed the prize in the wooden treasure chest, could Mr. Leo please formally reveal what premium items this High-Level Treasure Map can potentially yield?"
Eirin Yagokoro wore a completely dead, exhausted expression exactly as if the Moon King had tragically died, yet flawlessly maintained a bright, professional TV host smile as she handed the microphone to Leo. Although she was violently forced into this humiliating role by the budget constraints, the ancient Sage of the Moon absolutely never slacks off on a job. She takes pride in whatever she does, and right now, she was flawlessly, energetically fulfilling her role as the stage host, hyping up the atmosphere for the crowd.
"Ah, this. Thank you, Eirin." Leo took the mic, stepping up to the wooden podium. "The premium items that can be successfully dug up with a High-Level Treasure Map are all brand-new, artisan products directly from our Stardew Valley Farm that absolutely haven't been officially released for public sale yet. Due to their incredibly limited, handcrafted quantity, currently only privileged people in our immediate household can eat them. We've generously taken out a massive portion this time specifically to use as event prizes. If everyone here today thinks they taste good, you can eagerly look forward to their official, expensive release on the app later!"
Leo confidently took out a few glowing, heavy glass items from his canvas backpack and placed them carefully on the display table, openly starting to aggressively advertise his future products.
"The absolute first premium prize is artisanal Strawberry Wine! It's technically not very high in raw alcohol content, officially falling into the light category of fruit wines. It has an incredibly rich, sweet, explosive strawberry flavor when drunk chilled, and the overall liquid is a beautiful, light pink color, very aesthetically pleasing for parties."
"The ordinary, base-quality Strawberry Wine will sell for exactly 500 gold per bottle, Silver Star quality is 600, Gold Star is 700. As for the absolute highest grade, the incredibly rare, monthly limited Iridium Star Strawberry Wine will be priced at 900 gold per bottle."
Leo popped the cork off a chilled bottle of Strawberry Wine. A faint, incredibly sweet, mouth-watering fruity fragrance immediately wafted out into the humid air. Although the raw alcohol aroma absolutely wasn't strong due to the cold, everyone present in the crowd was a Youkai with supernatural senses.
Upon hearing the magic word 'alcohol', they all simultaneously performed an epic, synchronized lungful inhale through their noses. The massive intake of air in the venue was so strong it suddenly created a violent gust of wind that rustled the trees!
"Perfect timing! Would anyone brave like a free taste test on stage? Tell the crowd, how does it honestly taste?"
Leo pulled out a few tiny, thumb-sized plastic tasting cups, carefully poured a few small glasses, and placed them neatly on the table. He quickly capped the remaining, more-than-half-full bottle and put it back down on the wood. Soon, a thick, white condensation mist formed on the freezing glass bottle in the tropical heat.
"I..." "Out of my way! Of course, it's me!"
Originally, a massive, chaotic group of Youkai were about to violently rush forward to the stage for the free alcohol, but they were all brutally, physically pushed back into the mud by a mysterious, incredibly muscular woman. They could only watch helplessly as the tall, imposing figure swaggered confidently up the wooden stairs to the stage.
Golden, messy long hair, piercing red eyes, a massive, jagged single red horn protruding from her forehead, heavy, broken iron shackles tied firmly around her thick wrists and ankles, a dark blue, traditional kimono worn half-open, her ample chest wrapped tightly with several rounds of white bandages, already holding a massive, red sake cup in her calloused hand. If she simply had a Yakuza tattoo on her treacherously bare, muscular shoulder, she'd be the absolute, perfect picture of a terrifying, underworld gangster big sister.
The mysterious, muscular woman, one of the legendary, terrifying Four Heavenly Kings of the Oni Tribe: Weird, Power, Chaos, God.
Yuugi Hoshiguma, representing absolute Power, makes her imposing appearance!
Yuugi Hoshiguma
Race: Oni
Ability: Possesses physical power to the terrifying degree of manipulating the weird and chaotic gods.
Residence: Former Hell (The Underworld)
Occupation: Oni Tribe Heavenly King, Sake connoisseur
Unlock Condition: The farm must successfully produce exactly 100 bottles of artisanal alcohol using a wooden wine barrel. (Completed)
Looking disdainfully at the tiny, pathetic thumb-sized plastic cups placed neatly on the table, Yuugi Hoshiguma unusually, gracefully put away her signature, magical Hoshiguma Cup. She rubbed her massive hands together, completely ignored the tasting cups, aggressively grabbed the heavy, remaining more-than-half bottle of wine directly by the neck, popped the cork off with her thumb, tilted her head back, and started violently, rapidly chugging the freezing liquid straight from the bottle.
Leo was completely stunned for a moment, his jaw dropping, but he didn't verbally say anything to stop her.
This specific bottle was originally generously brought out for absolutely everyone in the crowd to get a tiny taste test. However, the heavy-drinking Oni Tribe would absolutely be the biggest, most lucrative consumers of the farm's massive alcohol output later anyway. It's perfectly fine from a marketing standpoint if she drinks it all; there's officially only this one promo bottle out here anyway. Suika Ibuki is also aggressively waiting in the crowd to compete. If a violent, bloody bar fight breaks out later because someone didn't get to drink the promo wine, it absolutely won't be his legal problem as the host!
Besides, his artisanal, Stardew-brewed wine absolutely isn't as physically easy to casually drink as she arrogantly thinks. Did she really, foolishly think he used those tiny, thumb-sized plastic cups just because he was a stingy capitalist?!
"So? How does it actually taste to an Oni?"
Leo quickly moved the few remaining poured tasting cups safely to the side. He absolutely couldn't safely let Yuugi Hoshiguma greedily drink these last few drops anymore, otherwise he was genuinely afraid the giant Oni would get violently jumped and beaten up in a burlap sack by unknown, angry, sober persons as soon as she teleported back to Gensokyo.
"Good! Very good!" Yuugi wiped her mouth with the back of her hand, grinning. "The wine is incredibly clear, perfectly smooth on the throat, entirely without any gritty impurities, ice-cold, and very, very easy to quickly drink! It's just that the raw alcohol burn taste absolutely isn't strong at all; it honestly tastes exactly more like sweet fruit juice than actual wine. It would probably be even better if securely stored in a dark cellar for a while to let it properly settle and age."
With a loud 'pop' sound, Yuugi Hoshiguma finally pulled the empty glass bottle from her mouth and loudly gave her professional, post-drinking review to the mic. She looked at the empty bottle with some genuine, thirsty regret. This sweet wine honestly tasted much better and purer than any cheap stuff she had drunkenly bought before, it was just a bit far too light on the alcohol kick for an Oni. It would probably be incredible after some oak aging.
"The alcohol taste... isn't strong?"
Leo looked at the thick, dripping condensation mist formed by the low temperature on the glass bottle and revealed a dark, highly mischievous smile.
The specific bottle he had taken out for the promo wasn't ordinary quality; it was a massive, Gold Star quality Strawberry Wine that had been intentionally, deeply fermenting and chilling in the freezing refrigerator for several long days. He had always been intensely curious, from watching funny internet videos back on Earth, if the urban legends about the notoriously deceptive, sweet-tasting "briefcase liquor" from Guangxi in those short clips were really that magically potent.
So, after the absolute first batch of wine was finally brewed on the farm, he had personally, bravely experimented by drinking it both heated and freezing cold. The terrifying result was that after casually drinking just one bottle of the chilled version, he felt perfectly, completely sober and fine while sitting down, but the absolute, exact millisecond he stood up, his head would suddenly violently spin like a top, his entire vision would instantly go pitch black, and when he painfully opened his eyes again on the floor, it was magically already the next day!
This potent, magical brew absolutely wasn't like the cheap, watery canned beer he used to depressingly drink in small bottles on Earth. The Stardew farm aggressively produces massive, concentrated 1.5-liter glass bottles of wine. Even drinking low-alcohol beer in that quantity could make you physically feel bloated and sick, let alone the concentrated, magically-grown Strawberry wine inside, which absolutely wasn't low in its actual, hidden alcohol content!
Time to violently show the arrogant, rice-wine country bumpkins of Gensokyo what a true, high-proof, deceptive liquor is! What they usually drank back in their dimension was just the most ordinary, low-proof fermented rice wine. In the miserable past on Earth, Leo used to literally cook that cheap, sweet stuff in a rice cooker, crack an egg into it, sprinkle some white sugar, and be completely done, casually drinking it exactly like breakfast porridge without getting a buzz.
"Yeah, it's absolutely not strong at all," Yuugi laughed, waving her hand. "But the sweet taste is quite incredibly good, especially after aggressively chilling it like this! That was an absolute stroke of brewing genius, human. If it could magically stay chilled forever, that would be great. You have absolutely no idea how suffocatingly hot the Former Hell is, with boiling hot springs absolutely everywhere. It's constantly hot and humid down there. Come visit the Hot Spring Street sometime when you're free; I'll personally take you to safely soak in the best hot springs."
On the surface, Yuugi Hoshiguma still looked completely, perfectly normal, not a single blush on her face, even casually, politely inviting Leo to visit the Hot Spring Street in the Former Hell when he had free time.
But internally, behind her confident eyes, she was suddenly starting to feel something was incredibly, violently off. Her massive head suddenly felt a bit terrifyingly heavy and dizzy. However, to proudly, stubbornly protect her legendary reputation as Gensokyo's absolute, unshakeable drinking champion who never, ever gets drunk, Yuugi forced herself to stand perfectly straight, exchange a few polite pleasantries with Leo, and then turn to confidently walk towards the stage exit stairs.
Leo counted down in his head.
"Three." "Two." "One." "Fall, fall... Damn, she can physically do this too?!"
In the end, Yuugi Hoshiguma tragically still didn't make it off the wooden stage. Just a few confident steps out, her massive body violently swayed sideways.
The potent, hidden alcohol—whose sharp scent and taste were completely masked by the freezing low temperature and the massive sugar content—rapidly, violently warmed up in her hot stomach and intestines, instantly, brutally numbing Yuugi's motor nerves.
But after all, she was a legendary drinking champion, even if it was a championship proudly built entirely on weak rice wine, and she was a super-powerful, terrifying Oni Tribe Heavenly King with insane physical stats.
The exact, critical moment she completely lost her balance and began to pitch forward into the dirt, Yuugi's foot, clad in a heavy wooden geta sandal, stamped violently, aggressively hard onto the ground to catch herself. Her immense, earth-shattering physical strength allowed her to instantly, brutally shatter the thick wooden stage platform completely through with that one desperate step. Her whole leg got tightly stuck deep in the splintered wood, acting exactly like an anchor, and in the end, she amazingly never actually fell down to the floor, passing out standing up!