NOVEL WEB Chapter 3 – I did not cut down any demonic trees!
Chapter 3 – I did not cut down any demonic trees!
🙞❤︎🙜
The next morning, after dreaming of a dragon's egg, I awoke to the sunlight streaming through the curtains. The sounds of the forest - the chirping of birds, the rustling of leaves, the buzzing of insects, and the gentle murmur of water from the nearby river - accompanied me. The air was filled with the fresh, intoxicating smell of spring. I leapt to my feet, walking to the window to take a deep breath, smiling inwardly as I felt the joy of having a place of my own, a place that had become my home.
Outside, the forest floor was covered with a sea of green moss and dead leaves that crunched under my feet. Delicate wildflowers peeked out from between the trees and bushes, their colorful petals contrasting harmoniously with the brown and green hues of the forest. The sun was still low on the horizon, bathing the forest in a golden glow and enveloping everything in a magical golden light. The air was fresh and invigorating, stimulating all my senses. I felt like I was in a fairy tale, and it was hard to believe that this place was really mine.
After a long, restful night of sleep, I decided that the toilet situation wasn’t really that bad.
I mean, humans lived for hundreds of thousands of years without flush toilets, right? I would survive. At least, it was better than doing it in the bushes. Every time I did that, I was worried that one of the plants I couldn’t recognize was this world’s version of poison ivy. So after just one night, I reconciled myself to the thought of using the outhouse.
Nonetheless, I put “make a much bigger house” at the top of my list. To level up my building skill, I needed to level up farming, since that was the basic requirement needed to unlock all the farming-related skills. Once I had leveled up to at least ten, I would be able to build a ranch house, a much bigger dwelling that most likely had better facilities.
The usual progression for houses was: Cottage > Ranch > Mansion > Palace > Castle > Fortress. There were various options for each level, like the current choice of log cabin, cottage, or courtyard house. Regarding the courtyard house option, the progression was modular: one courtyard house > two courtyards > three courtyards > four courtyards > five courtyards, and so forth.
The log cabin proved to be comfortable enough, but the accommodations were rather basic. The bed was cozy, and I could cook food in the cauldron that was hanging over the fire in the fireplace, but I wouldn’t be truly at ease until I had all the modern conveniences in my house — a flush toilet, hot and cold running water, refrigerator, air conditioner, heater, and a modern kitchen.
With this in mind, I spent the next nine days cutting down as many trees as I could. I also dug a well because a nearby source of water was absolutely essential for farms. I thought that I would be able to place a pump well, but it was the more primitive rope and bucket type. Hauling up buckets of water for my use was definitely my least favorite activity of the day.
Five days before the end of the planting season, I decided I needed to start tilling the soil.
The pathetic level 1 hoe could only till one grid square big enough to plant three seeds. All I had to do was use a little bit of force to strike the ground in front of me with the hoe, and the System would do the rest. Though it seemed easy, every time I did it I felt myself growing weaker until, at last, the energy bar in the System menu was almost empty.
Farming using the system used up my energy. This mysterious “energy” was something almost every culture on Earth had a name for like “chi,” “qi”, “mana,” “orenda,” and so forth, but in Adventure Incarnate it was just called energy. When a player leveled up, they naturally got more energy to use.
As I tilled the soil, energy flowed from my body down to the soil, so it was quite tiring. Using my sleeve, I wiped the sweat away from my forehead. I had only managed to till twelve squares, meaning I would only be able to plant thirty-six seeds. Browsing the inventory for plant seeds only told me what I already knew. The best spring crops that I could plant right now were: cucumber, tomatoes, carrots, onions, and potatoes. All of them took roughly two months to grow before they were ready for harvest.
The reason why they were so weird was because they weren’t the usual cucumber, tomatoes, carrots, onions, and potatoes from Earth that I was familiar with. These crops were all “spiritual plants.” In other words, they were special, magical crops.
I had already decided to plant potatoes.
[Potato:
Typically planted in the spring, potatoes grow best in areas with full sunlight and moist but well-drained soil. The potato plant is a herbaceous perennial with small, white flowers, and it grows to around two feet height. A single potato plant produces two to five tubers, the edible part of the plant.
Potatoes are easy to grow even for beginners.]
The System offered a basic description of each crop, and the one about the potatoes sounded good to me. I figured they were the best crop to plant right now because they were easy to cook, and they could be used in a variety of recipes.
When I took out the seeds, I noticed that they were quite peculiar. They had a strange luster to them like that of a pearl. Besides, weren’t potatoes usually cultivated using seed potatoes that have buds? I guessed that the seeds from the game weren’t the usual ones.
With my energy running dangerously low, I hurriedly planted the potato seeds. I poured the potato seeds in a seed dispenser, and when I placed it near the tilled soil, three seeds flew out from the tip and embedded themselves in the soil. Once again, I felt the strange sensation of energy flowing outwards from my body.
The next time I moved my arm towards the ground, I tried to mentally stop the energy from leaving me. Nothing happened. The seeds did not fly out. I was somewhat reassured to know that the mysterious energy I was using was under my control. Whistling happily, I continued to plant more potato seeds until I ran out of space.
Sprinklers were beyond my level, so I manually watered the plants using a watering can, refilling it at the well twice before I was finished.
It was only after I examined my newly-planted potato crops that I realized I had skipped an important step.
[This farming patch contains a potato seed. It has been watered. The soil has not been fertilized.]
Oh no! It’s true that using fertilizer was optional, but I had plenty in my inventory, so I should’ve done it.
“I was in too much of a rush…” I had gotten into the habit of talking to myself because I was all alone. “I’ll remember that tomorrow.”
On the other hand, it wasn’t all that bad. Though it was unintentional, the fact that I had twelve plants that hadn’t been fertilized meant that I could compare the growth of fertilized versus unfertilized crops. I could just think of this as the control group.
Cheered up by the thought of the upside of my forgetfulness, I went back inside the house to prepare my lunch.
The log cabin didn’t have a dedicated kitchen. The only place that I could cook was the fireplace, which had a shelf of pots, pans, and other kitchen utensils above it. I hung a cauldron on the hook above the fire and filled it with water. A simple vegetable stew was my goal for today.
I sat down on the cabin’s only chair and took out a kitchen knife, cutting board, and two pieces each of turnips, parsnips, leeks, onions, and cabbage which I placed on the only table in the house. The vegetables were perfectly formed and blemish-free. I believe this was because these were also “spirit plants” which meant that they were much better than normal vegetables. In fact, whenever I cut one into bite sized pieces, they released a soft, gentle glow. Was it a sign of spiritual energy being released?
Back on Earth, my parents had taught me how to cook basic stuff like rice, fried eggs, mashed potatoes, mac & cheese, and prepare sandwiches and salads. Here, however, my cooking skills went for naught as I was only level 1, and it seemed as though I burned everything I cooked.
Once the water in the cauldron was boiling, I added the vegetables. I was supposed to add oats in later, but, alas, I once again burned the stew. One would think that it was difficult to burn stew, however, burning food was almost all I did because of my low cooking level.
Glumly, I once again put the burnt food, along with the cauldron, in my inventory with the other failures. Thank goodness, I already had cooked food in my inventory. Otherwise, I might have starved to death.
GIA had only bothered to dupe valuable items, which meant the food that I could eat was either food ingredients like raw vegetables and fruits or the most expensive food item in the game, the Five-Star Luxury Bento. The bento was a three-layered one filled with three dozen different types of food, only some of which I could identify. There were sweet rolled omelets, vegetable tempura, pickled lotus root, onigiri, red bean mochi, rice balls, and many other delicious foods. The problem was that I had been eating this for weeks, so I was already bored with it. Not to mention, it was vegetarian.
I want meat! Lots and lots of juicy meat!
My mouth watered at the thought of steaks and hamburgers, but my puny cooking level meant that it was impossible for me to cook those, even though I had plenty of raw meat.
I mentally put “fix the food situation” as my number two priority after building a better house.
