Chapter 23 Minor miracle

A statistical anomaly happens when something is so far out of the norm that it would skew any attempt to graph the results for data collection. That night, while everyone slept, a statistical anomaly was happening. Magified crops were not only to grow but had a much higher barrier to reaching the next rank in quality. The bonuses provided seemed to almost always be on the lesser end of the scale when calculating for magified crops.

Inside the chest of a scarecrow golem, a strawberry grew that shouldn’t exist by any standard. In the history of the entire country, the amount of magified crops that reached legendary could be counted on a single hand. Hundreds of years of farmers and alchemists growing their special food and ingredients, and none of them had reached the level to produce them.

That was why the legendary magified strawberry growing in the scarecrow was so special, it shouldn’t have happened. The person had a one-in-a-million chance to produce epic quality magified crops, so how was a legendary created instead? Luck, astronomical luck for things to play out as they did. The seeds were rated lower than they should have been, allowing a singular seed of a much higher quality to be mixed in.

The soil used was of the highest quality that the person used on the scarecrows; on top of that, the fertilizer used had a hidden bonus where it could provide a one-in-a-million chance to boost the rarity. The water was used at the exact perfect time, and the crop grew under a rare blue harvest moon. Everything worked in tandem to make the impossible happen.

Even if the temperature was a degree higher or lower, the fruit would have only produced an epic variation. It was truly a miracle. That morning, when everyone woke up and the man saw the strawberry bigger than a watermelon, he froze. It looked like a fake to him. How could a fruit grow so big? He tentatively pulled it out of the straw golem with his eyes going wide in shock.

Everything about the fruit was special, from the feeling of holding it to the smell. He knew that this fruit was something higher than he had ever produced before. For a brief moment, he didn’t know what to do with it. He just stood there holding the impossible fruit before he shook his head to break the distraction and ran toward town.

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Cherry’s Point of View

My brain stopped functioning. The boy I had a crush on just showed up on my doorstep with a strawberry he had to hold like a baby. At first, I thought it was a joke, but there was no faking the smell. That was a genuine, legendary version of my favorite fruit. “Is-.” I cleared my throat. “Is that a legendary strawberry?”

He looked scared as he spoke in a whisper. “No… This is a magified legendary strawberry.” I began to heave for breath as I remembered what he told me the bonus attributes were. Increase in taste and size. It was so far beyond the taste of a normal legendary strawberry that it could be considered a relic of the kingdom if it wouldn’t expire.

Hyperventilating, I asked. “W-w-w-w-what do you want to do with it?” He spoke still in a whisper, but now with some excitement behind it. “I’ve got no idea what to do with it. I figured since you’re a preserver, you might be able to make some jam out of it. I felt like puking, this should be given to someone more experienced than me, someone who could, if not guarantee it stayed the same rank, at least make sure it wouldn’t drop below epic quality.

I tried my best to talk him out of it, but he said that going anywhere else would let it degrade any amount; having it made here would save. It was an event that the entire village showed up for, many using classes and skills to boost my chances of retaining the rarity.

Adding the entire thing to a giant pot, I began to take extra special care not to burn it. Yelling out orders when the consistency changed, adding in sugar and acid to make it more jammy. One of my dreams growing up was to be a fancy chef for the royal castle, and ordering people around made me feel that connection again at a dream that could never come true. “Remove it from the heat!”

My father quickly removed it as we waited for it to cool and ladled it into twenty-six half-pint jars. Several people from the village with inspection skills came forward to check and see, but only the head salesman of the village was given permission to speak what their rarity. He quickly assessed the products before he began speaking calmly. The crowd waited with bated breath.

“Out of these twenty-six jars. We have four uncommon… Sixteen rare… Four epic… And two legendary!” The crowd remained silent for a few seconds before all of them began to cheer. An explosion of noise came out as it went from dead silent to cheering louder than the village ever cheered before. I couldn’t help but cry, the chances of the jam retaining its rank were slim to none with my common preserver class. My level had all but stagnated until Danial appeared.

His higher-ranking products allowed me to level once again, and in the process of processing this legendary magified strawberry, I went up the remaining twenty-two levels to hit one hundred. I assumed I’d have gone up even more if it didn’t hit the limit. I had bought every skill up from level one to fifty, so now it was just what I’d be offered for one hundred. Whether I’d choose an extremely valuable skill or upgrade my class rarity, perhaps gain a subclass was left to the side for now as I handed over the two jars of legendary jam.

He looked at me with a smile as he pulled out four rolls to put the jam on. Each legendary and epic jar would provide a permanent stat boost. Two people could permanently boost their endurance by .01 for the epic, while four people could permanently boost their endurance by .1 for the legendary. Danial slathered the legendary jam onto four rolls with shaky hands before passing two to his wives.

I sat in stunned silence again as he held the third out to me. “Do you know how much that sandwich is worth?” I couldn’t help but ask him. “Who cares? You’re the one who made it. You deserve to taste it.” I took the sandwich in my hands and just stared at it. This had to have been a dream, it made far more sense that this was a dream instead of reality.

Taking a bite, I’m flooded with a flavor I was familiar with, except not. It was more in every way. I had eaten so many strawberries to the point that it altered which class I ended up with, thousands of jars of strawberry jam. This beats all of those put together. Tears began to fall from my eyes as I chewed and looked at the other three who were also crying from the taste. It was impossibly good, something that shouldn’t exist and might ruin strawberries for me for the rest of my life because it was just that good. The experience of eating the legendary jam that was even more delicious than other legendary jams altered my life plans.