Farmer Mage

Chapter 44: Planting

Second alternate [Advanced Pickaxe] has degraded to Average Quality.

Cal tossed the pickaxe aside with sweat covering his body. He didn’t think he could get this tired after increasing his [Tier] rank, but he should have expected this to be the case.

This land had many odd properties, so it shouldn’t be surprising that even an Apprentice-level [Farmer] would have trouble working continuously.

Still, this was on another level.

He reached behind him and pulled the last pickaxe he had taken out of the storage room. The other two had been tossed to the side after their quality had decreased to ‘Average.’

I should have put them back in the storage room, but I’m too annoyed to be reasonable. Not after I did all of this.

Cal’s goal had been to work continuously when the [Tier] boost was active. He didn’t stray from that goal, but that meant he ripped up nearly all of his field.

The ground was broken up, with the hard surface layer ready to be scooped up and piled on the side. He shuddered at the thought.

I would actually create a true hill... Miren said she would test whether it was useful. I’ll ask Tavia where to find her in Lumina.

You have gained [Uncommon Pickaxe] as equipment. It will be designated as your third alternate.

He dismissed that without a thought. He had done this twice already, and everything would remain the same with what he would do with the third. He was focused on breaking apart the surface of his field, only excluding a small area around his makeshift pond, his house, and the large hole Nibbles created.

Cal continued to work. He ignored the burn he could feel in his muscles. It was pleasant—and not—at the same time. It came with the hope that the burn would disappear after his [Tier] leveled up.

The fatigue made him far slower than usual. It would have taken him less than an hour to swing the pickaxe nine hundred times and get it to upgrade, but the fatigue slowed him to the point it took over two hours.

Still, it was better than nothing.

The swings of the pickaxe blurred into one. He was vaguely aware of the interface appearing, but he ignored it. It was probably the warning of the pickaxe degrading in quality. That happened to the last two spare pickaxes he used.

Cal didn’t bother to stop even when he felt the pickaxe change in his hands, and the interface appeared again. It felt stronger, more durable, and had that faint, pulsing blue aura.

It had upgraded into an Advanced-ranked tool, but he didn’t care. It would come with the same trait options, and he would choose the same one again.

Cal kept going until he reached the last part of his field. The pickaxe smashed into the ground and broke it apart. That was when he allowed himself to be pulled out of his single-minded focus.

The first thing he was greeted with was the interface.

Third alternate [Uncommon Pickaxe] has degraded to Good Quality.

Your third alternate equipment [Uncommon Pickaxe] has been upgraded to [Advanced Pickaxe].

Third alternate [Advanced Pickaxe] has degraded to Average Quality.

Your [Tier] has increased by 1 level.

Equipment upgrade has activated an ability of [Farmer (Special)].

Equipment trait choices available. Choose one

Self-Repair - After 24 continuous hours without use, the pickaxe will start to recover to its peak quality state. No matter what its state was at the start, it will take 7 days to regain its status as ‘Excellent Quality. '

Enhanced Penetration - This pickaxe can penetrate harder materials with less effort, allowing you to mine through tough ores and rocks that are otherwise too challenging.

Cal didn’t care about the trait choice but was beyond happy about his [Tier] increase. It had returned his body to a far better shape. He no longer felt like he was a few moves away from crumpling in exhaustion.

He casually tapped ‘Self-Repair,’ and the interface disappeared. He had seen those two trait options for every single pickaxe. With how similar he had used them, it was understandable.

Now I have four Advanced-rank pickaxes with the Self-Repair trait. This should leave me with a pickaxe available on most days. If I want to make that a sure thing, I’ll need three more pickaxes to rotate between them every day of the week.

Cal pulled up the alternate pickaxes on the interface to see how far they were into the tasks required for the Rare rank.

Alternate Equipment:

[Advanced Pickaxe: Average Quality] Upgrade: 833/4500 Tasks (1st Alternate)

- Self-Repair

[Advanced Pickaxe: Average Quality] Upgrade: 865/4500 Tasks (2nd Alternate)

- Self-Repair

[Advanced Pickaxe: Average Quality] Upgrade: 624/4500 Tasks (3rd Alternate)

- Self-Repair

He stretched, letting out a happy sigh when he felt a few pops. That feeling disappeared when he looked around his field and realized it was nearly impossible for any deliveries to be made with the ground this destroyed.

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I need to clear a path from the tree line to my house.

Cal pulled up the remaining time for the [Tier] boost.

[Tier Boost] - All actions that contribute to increasing your tier level will automatically be counted as double the normal increase. (4 hours remaining)

He blinked at seeing four hours and looked up at the sky. The sun was about to set.

He shook his head and dismissed the interface. If the boost had four hours left, he would use every second of it.

Cal gathered the pickaxes and returned them to the storage room, exiting with the wheelbarrow and the shovel.

I’ll be able to give a true test to this shovel’s trait, Geode Seeker.

He looked at the trait as he walked toward the tree line.

Alternate Equipment:

[Advanced Shovel: Excellent Quality] Upgrade: 1621/4500 Tasks

- Geode Seeker - The shovel can sense hidden geodes or precious minerals under the surface being dug. The shovel’s blade will glow softly on detection. The detection range depends on your [Tier], capping out at a maximum of five hundred feet.

Surely, there’s something to discover when I use it all over the field.

Cal let the interface fade away when he reached his spot and returned to work. He refused to start a new pile of debris, so when he had to force the wheelbarrow over the uneven, cracked chunks of the surface, he realized it would be better to clear a path to the pile of debris first.

That didn’t take long since the width was only as wide as the wheelbarrow instead of a beast-pulled cart or carriage.

He made steady yet quick progress and was almost finished clearing the path when he got an unexpected alert.

Your alternate [Advanced Shovel] is now designated as your primary.

Cal stuck the shovel into the ground and glanced at the interface.

Primary Equipment:

[Advanced Shovel: Excellent Quality] Upgrade: 2039/4500 Tasks

- Geode Seeker

It had pipped his other shovel in the number of tasks completed.

It’ll finally contribute to [Perfect Match] now that it’s my primary.

He couldn’t say this added to his motivation since it was already high, from his desire to take full advantage of the [Tier]boost, but it was another incentive on top.

Cal quickly finished clearing the path within several minutes. He looked around, mentally prepared to make the plan to start removing the rest of the mess. His priority would have been the area around his house, but those plans were thrown away when he noticed the change in the dirt patch.

It wasn’t glowing as intensely as before.

I think it’s ready for planting!

Cal’s determined wariness about cleaning up the field disappeared. It was replaced with pure, unfiltered excitement.

He left the wheelbarrow and shovel where they were and rushed to the storage room. He picked up the plow and a barrel of Sunfire Grain seeds before returning to the dirt patch.

I keep calling to a dirt patch as an insult, but if this can actually grow Sunfire Grains, I’ll have to stop.

Cal tilled the patch with the plow. He created ten evenly spaced rows to give the Sunfire Grains sufficient growth space. Drex said he could fit five hundred of them in the patch, and he would aim precisely for that.

He was about to open the barrel when he remembered the reward he had been disappointed to pick. It would be useful here.

[Blessing of the Time-Warped Seed] - You may apply this reward to one type of crop seed (Limit 1 barrel). They will grow and mature at a 10x accelerated rate, allowing you to harvest crops in a fraction of the usual time. After 3 uses, this reward will expire.

I still need to pay Drex for the barrels of seeds. Assuming every seed I plant can be harvested, I will get five hundred silver from it. That only covers twenty percent of what I will pay Drex, but at least it’ll replenish my funds so it won’t be nearly empty after I pay him.

Cal repeated the same action he did to activate [Lightning Aura]. He simply thought of the skill as he touched the barrel.

[Blessing of the Time-Warped Seed] activated. Two uses left.

He stared in fascination as his palm pulsed with a green glow that transferred to the barrel. The glow quickly sank to the interior, but he could see it through the tiny gaps in the barrel.

This didn’t use any of his mana. Whatever that green glow was, it still came out of his mana core, but it wasn’t something that belonged there naturally. He didn’t know how he knew that, but he was confident it was true.

Cal waited a few seconds for the glow to die before pulling off the top of the barrel.

The inside was packed to the brim with spherical, mostly-brown brown seeds that were an inch in diameter. The [Blessing of the Time-Warped Seed] still left behind evidence that these were no longer standard seeds with the faint green tint that appeared in certain angles.

There has to be thousands in here. This barrel by itself is worth more than the two and a half guildmarks I will give Drex… assuming all of it can be harvested.

He took two handfuls and started to plant the seeds individually. He formed a small depression in the soil with his foot before placing a single see inside, then moved a foot away in the row and did the same.

Cal repeated the process, returning to get more seeds whenever he ran out. Fifty seeds would be placed in each row, and with ten rows available, that would give him the five hundred he wanted.

Each Sunfire Grain seed has a foot of space on all sides. It seems excessive, but there must be a reason Drex said five hundred should be the max.

He placed the last seed in the soil before leaving the patch. It felt good to see everything neatly finished.

It feels like I’m missing something.

Cal stared at the patch for a long minute, reviewing the steps that Drex told him in his mind. He followed everything to the letter, but it still looked wrong.

… I don’t think the seeds should be exposed.

He was hesitant to do something that wasn’t in the steps, but it seemed silly to leave the seeds uncovered like this. Plus, he was confident that Drex would have never thought he would already be planting the Sunfire Grains this early.

Cal decided to go with his gut. He got the rake from the storage room and used it lightly on the patch. He didn’t let the tines go too deep and touch the seeds. He only did enough to move the soil he had displaced with the plow until the seeds were covered.

He stepped out of the patch again after he was done and instantly noticed something was wrong.

The soil was rapidly drying, and it was beyond obvious what was causing it. Five hundred distinct points in the patch were the driest, with the soil surrounding quickly losing moisture.

Cal immediately cast [Rainfall]. The mana left his palm, formed stormy clouds, and poured down rain.

He didn’t overdo it even though the situation seemed dire. He used half of his mana like normal. If necessary, he would use the rest.

Cal observed the patch, noting that the water was absorbed just as quickly as it fell onto the soil. He hoped this was only needed at the start, or this would quickly become a failure. He could not constantly supply the Sunfire Grains with this much water.

He waited anxiously for the absorption rate to change. It wasn’t till the spell's duration was near its end that it happened.

The soil started to retain water.

The spell dissipated, and the interface appeared.

Your [Tier] has increased by 1 level.

[Tier] increase has activated an ability of [Farmer (Special)].

Your skill [Perfect Match] has increased by 1 level.

Skill choices available. Choose one.

Green Thumb - Your crops grow 10% faster and are more resistant to diseases and pests. Your harvest will always yield more than expected. As your mastery increases, the faster your crops grow.

Seed Preservation - You can recover 10% more of the seeds from the crops you plant. Higher levels of this skill will allow for a greater percentage of recovery.

Efficient Irrigation - Your watering methods are 10% more effective, conserving water while ensuring crops receive adequate hydration. Higher levels of this skill unlock increased effectiveness.

ERROR

You have a previous unpicked option. Only one option can be furloughed. Select your skill choice or the water element trait within the next minute. Failure to do so will cause one to be lost permanently.