After hanging up with Django, Leon took out his bicycle again and rode straight to the Pelican Town library.
Although Django had promised to bring him a brewing guide, that didn’t mean Leon couldn’t learn more on his own. After all, it was always good to draw on the strengths of many.
When Leon arrived at the library, he greeted Gunther and explained his purpose. Gunther enthusiastically helped him find two books on brewing.
One was titled “Fruit and Wine,” and the other “Fermentation and Distillation.”
Both were instructional books on brewing techniques, highly recommended by Gunther, who assured him that reading them would give Leon a solid foundation in winemaking.
With the two brewing books in hand, Leon bid farewell to Gunther, rode back to the farm, and sat by the bed to open “Fruit and Wine” and begin studying.
Time always flew when reading. By the time Leon came back to his senses, the sky outside was already dim.
Setting the book aside and rubbing his slightly dry eyes, Leon stepped outside. He gazed toward the distant foothills for a while, letting his eyes rest.
An afternoon of reading had given him a basic understanding of winemaking. The general process was: clean the ingredients, crush or directly juice them, add yeast for fermentation, filter out impurities while sterilizing, and finally bottle and store the result.
Because it was fruit wine, the process was relatively simple. If it were strong distilled liquor, the method would be different.
But Leon didn’t plan to, nor did he know how to, brew high-proof distilled liquor. Mastering the simpler method and following the steps to make fruit wine was enough.
Once his eyes felt better, Leon went back inside to prepare dinner—only for the phone to suddenly ring.
Answering, he heard Django greet him and inform him that the small casks he’d ordered had been delivered and the workers were waiting outside the farm for him to sign.
Thanking Django, Leon quickly left the farmhouse and spotted a pickup truck on the dirt road outside.
“Mr. Leon?” The worker called when he saw him.
“That’s me.” Leon nodded, then glanced at the truck bed, where two small casks, just as he remembered them, lay quietly.
Aside from the round casks, there was also a one-meter-high curved stand. The bent groove was just the right shape to hold the casks in place, keeping them off the ground.
“These are the casks you ordered. Here’s the invoice. Please check the goods and sign before paying.” The worker handed him the order slip, then pre-assembled the two casks before unloading them for Leon to inspect.
Leon first checked the price on the invoice. Once he confirmed it was correct, he circled the casks, making sure there were no damages. Satisfied, he signed his name and paid 1,400G.
That was exactly the amount listed, with no transportation fee. Leon wasn’t sure if the Traveling Merchant’s Guild simply didn’t bother with such fees, or if Django had waived them for him.
After counting the payment, the worker went back to the truck and returned with a book wrapped in brown paper. “Mr. Django asked me to deliver this to you as well.”
Taking the book, Leon heard the worker ask, “Do you need me to help carry these into the farm?”
“No need. I’ll take care of it. Thanks for the trouble.” Leon declined politely, put the book away, and went to the casks. Gripping one support leg of the stand in each hand, he lifted both casks at once.
The pose looked like Xiang Yu lifting a great bronze cauldron—though in truth, the combined weight of the two casks and the stand was only about fifty jin, far less than a bronze cauldron. Not heavy at all.
Carrying them back into the farm, Leon placed both casks in the kitchen before checking the System Prompt.
“Ordinary Brewing Cask (Crude) and Special Brewing Cask (Strange) detected. These can be combined. Combine now?”
“Combine?” Leon stared at the casks, puzzled at why the system would prompt him like this.
But since the system rarely spoke up, he decided to humor it. “Combine.”
At his word, the two casks in front of him slid toward each other. The moment they touched, one disappeared entirely, leaving behind a single cask with a slightly darker wood grain.
Its size and appearance hadn’t changed much—it looked the same as before. Leon couldn’t help but feel like the system had tricked him.
But the system wasn’t going to let him dismiss it so lightly. To make sure Leon appreciated it, it gave the newly fused cask a note.
“Combination Cask: Place fruits or vegetables inside to produce beverages. (Not as efficient as a regular cask, but a good substitute. Brewing takes longer.)”
“Oh?” Leon raised an eyebrow and hurried back into the cabin. He took a coconut he’d picked in the Calico Desert and returned to the cask, opened the top lid, and dropped it inside.
He didn’t peel or crack it open—just tossed the whole coconut in.
Instead of swelling and shrinking like in the game, the cask simply lit up a faint red light at the spout.
“High-tech, huh? So when it turns green, it’s done?”
It sounded like Leon was muttering to himself, but he was really asking the system.
The system, as usual, remained silent. But Leon took that as a tacit yes.
Looking at the brewing cask in action, Leon had mixed feelings.
On one hand, he was thrilled he’d found a way to get plenty of casks without upgrading his farming skill to level eight.
On the other hand, all the reading he’d done that afternoon now felt pointless. He’d been preparing to brew wine step-by-step, but the system had just made all that effort obsolete.
The Combination Cask, a system-exclusive tool like the treasure chest, worked almost the same as in the game. It was convenient—but only usable by Leon.
Still, it was meant for making drinks on the farm. And with something this handy, who would bother going through every brewing step manually?
Juicing, yeast fermentation, sterilizing—none of that mattered anymore. Just toss in the fruit or vegetable and wait. Out came vegetable juice or fruit wine, no questions asked.
It was all about saving effort, defying scientific principles, and offering truly foolproof winemaking.
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