Jinyo regained consciousness at 2 PM. He slept for 4 hours but felt like he'd slept a full 12 hours. When he got up, no one was there anymore. Rina sent a text message saying she'd take Ryse and Gretel to survey the school. As for Naho, friends invited her to play cards.
Jinyo walked out of the hut. Earth-Dwelling Divine Fertilizer was stored and stuffed into sacks. All the ingredients shrank to just one hundred kilograms. As specified in the system, 1 kilogram of Earth-Dwelling Divine Fertilizer could be used for 1 rai every 3 months. The capital and sweat of physical labor invested—if it didn't give returns, Jinyo would despair enough to want to bash his head on tofu and die for sure.
Earth-Dwelling Divine Fertilizer was weighed and scattered on 10 rai of land in uniform amounts. Happy Carrot seeds were pushed into soil about ten centimeters apart for two rai. Exploding Potatoes were cut into pieces by knife, planted into soil for one rai.
Jinyo held a watering can and ran to the nearby river. He dipped it into water and absorbed water from the mountain.
[Copper Watering Can of the Nameless God: Attack Power 100, Durability 100. Stores maximum 1000 liters of water. Pay 1 spirit coin (/1 minute) to enter combat mode +100 Attack Power +200 Durability. Use 100 milliliters of water and 1 unit of planar to fire 1 magic bullet. Damage bonus: planar Quality + Response X Water Element]
"A small watering can stores 250 times more water than its size. What scientific principle is this? Really interesting. What if I changed from 1000 liters of water to something else?" Jinyo watched the watering can absorb a large amount of water. Water didn't flow to the back at all. Only fish that the copper watering can ignored swam past. Until when the number displayed on the handle changed to 1000, Jinyo tried lifting it. The weight was the same, not heavier at all.
Jinyo ran back to the garden. Poured water from the watering can until the basin was full. The rice planting method Jinyo chose to use was transplanting.
There were two rice planting methods: transplanting and broadcasting.
Transplanting was bringing rice seeds to make seedlings before bringing seedlings to the real paddy. This method saved a lot of seeds. While broadcasting was scattering many seeds to let rice plants grow on their own without having to bring seedlings to the paddy later. This method wasted seeds but saved a lot of labor. Just one person could take care of dozens of rai of paddies.
But Jinyo only had one bag of Immortal Rice seeds. From calculations, Jinyo could use one bag of seeds to plant only 4 rai of rice. And could only use 1 rai if using broadcasting method.
Transplanting would make rice plants receive sunlight evenly. Not competing for nutrients with each other. It was the most efficient rice farming method giving the most produce. But also the most tiring. However, every seed had enormous value. Jinyo ran to unpack seedling trays from plastic bags. Scooped soil scattered with Earth-Dwelling Divine Fertilizer and smoothed it flat. Dropped seeds in one by one. When he came to his senses again, he'd used up all the seeds in the bag.
"I... maybe I'm suited for this work." Jinyo liked flora since childhood. Don't know if it was because he had no friends as a child—being with plants made him relax. After losing power until becoming trash that couldn't cultivate, he focused on studying. Took entrance exams for the Botany Faculty, Plant Science major until completing a PhD abroad.
Being a botanist was Jinyo's dream. But he failed completely in academic circles abroad. Finally came back to his hometown with no suitable work. Could only be a tutor at a cram school. He never thought he'd fall so low as to become a farmer. However, even though a farmer, getting to work closely with plants he loved made him relax.
No need to stress about research. No need to get into institutional power struggles. No need to interact with unfamiliar students. Only warm sunlight, breezes with scents of flowers and seeds. Jinyo sat immersed in wonderful moments where no one came to disturb the perfect world he created.
[Seeds have flourished. You have achieved the conditions of the Garden and Sword God system. Delivering class upgrade mission from Class 0 to enter Class 1]
[Class 1 Upgrade Mission]
[Condition: Protect the land from invasion for 24 hours. If the land is seized, the system will disappear and this timeline will be erased]
[Reward: Upgrade land 1 class, Spirit +3, All plants accelerate growth 100 days, Plant cultivation ticket 100 days +1 sheet, All status values +20, Chance to obtain skill [S-SS] 1 time, Random servant spirit 2 times]
Here it comes. Thought correctly that if planting flora at the Garden of the Nameless God, it would trigger conditions for the system to develop itself. If this system was like a vegetable growing, gardening game, it must develop through growing vegetables. Jinyo himself didn't expect it would trigger conditions before even transplanting seedlings. Just scattering carrot and potato seeds, the system worked.
The number 1 hour counting down was a signal telling Jinyo to prepare. He picked up his phone to call his younger sister immediately.
"Hello, Brother. I'm very busy right now. That's all for now."
"Naho, hurry home. Right now. On the way back, buy common medicine used when entering dungeons. However much there is, buy it all."
"Huh? Right now? Okay, okay." Naho hung up. Jinyo's voice sounded like he was preparing for war. Definitely not a joke. She apologized profusely to friends and ran to get on her vehicle. Twisted the motorcycle to the nearest pharmacy. The large sum of money Jinyo borrowed from Rina was transferred to her account to buy planar recovery medicine, pain medicine, blood-stopping medicine.
Jinyo ran back into the hut. Picked up all agricultural equipment to check through the system. If the copper watering can could be used as a weapon, it was possible other agricultural equipment could also be weapons.
[Copper Hoe of the Nameless God: Attack Power 150, Durability 100. Turn soil easily like peeling a banana. Pay 1 spirit coin (/1 minute) to enter combat mode +125 Attack Power +200 Durability. Transform into copper spear. Use 100 planar. Throw copper spear to attack enemies, creating armor-piercing damage +20%. Use 20 planar to pull spear back. Damage bonus: planar Quality + Response X Fire Element]
[Copper Sickle of the Nameless God: Attack Power 125, Durability 100. Harvest conveniently, eliminate weeds easily with one thought. Pay 1 spirit coin (/1 minute) to enter combat mode +115 Attack Power +200 Durability. Attack range increased 10 meters. Use 150 planar. Next attack creates damage to all enemies within 20 meters range. Damage bonus: planar Quality + Response X Wind Element]
The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.
[Copper Axe of the Nameless God: Attack Power 200, Durability 100. Chop everything in the way to pieces, whether rocks or trees. Pay 1 spirit coin (/1 minute) to enter combat mode +200 Attack Power +200 Durability. Use 200 planar. Next attack creates severe damage to target. Damage bonus: planar Quality + Strength X Earth Element]
Jinyo carried all agricultural equipment pieces. Ran to collect 40 copper coins from the money box. There were many things he could still do.
Phantom Night Forest occupied more than fifty square kilometers in the rural area of Erichester City. Located near an ancient village with a population of only a few hundred households. It was a dangerous forest where monsters occurred naturally. They mutated from ordinary animals that evolved through survival mechanisms amid fiercely competitive environments.
Places that gave birth to monsters but weren't in dungeons or hollows were called field dungeons. Could be forests, mountains, deserts, or oceans. Phantom Night Forest was famous for dangerous beasts since hundreds or thousands of years ago. Before humanity knew what hollows were.
Villagers back then fell victim to monsters, whether from Phantom Night Forest or migrants. But they still survived safely to descendant generations. Because this was the governing territory of an ancient family. Monsters that rudely disturbed human habitats would be driven away by Southerncross.
Currently Southerncross had fallen. But the government created a hunter system to control monster populations. Levels of naturally occurring monsters weren't very high. Suitable for low-rank hunters to come practice skills before entering real dungeons. In ordinary people's eyes, they were monsters of no value worth caring about. Living naturally, not disturbing humans first. Low level. Not worth the expense.
But locals knew well that monsters in Phantom Night Forest weren't weak. They were strong, intelligent, and couldn't be underestimated. Though levels were low, there were many. Seeking to compete for forest lord position and expand territory. Jinyo grew up here since childhood. His home was only one mountain away from Phantom Night Forest. Once, Grandmother left Jinyo abandoned in the middle of Phantom Night Forest late at night. Only one wooden sword and water canteen to survive.
Monsters strong from birth in dungeons couldn't fight wild beasts that learned survival from birth until strong. If natural monsters had levels and power equal to dungeon monsters, it was a nightmare ordinary hunters couldn't fight. New hunters who chose this as a training point threw away their lives—who knows how many hundreds of corpses.
They were driven by motivation to become stronger. In the blink of an eye when they perceived the being of great power that was attractive, countless gazes locked onto the same direction. Some remained still in place. Some moved. Wild animal instincts told them to fight over that clump of power. The only way they would possess that power source was to destroy everything on that land flat.
Hundreds of demonic bodies moved out from the forest. Crossed mountains heading straight for one hill.
A young man in white clothes holding a wooden sword and small watering can. In the blink of an eye when they stepped into the Garden of the Sword's territory, Jinyo perceived the number of enemies and all their strength. Bodies standing on two legs nearly as tall as humans. Skin covered with brown fur. Muscular, strong physique. Some wore clothes, some were naked. Orange eyes like flames. Long arms. Flat hands and feet convenient for grasping with both limbs.
They rushed out together from the forest by the hundreds. Roaring sounds calling for courage echoed throughout the forest. Approaching the human with a weak aura.
"It's really you guys." Jinyo's nerves tensed. When using Bloodline Deduction to check, he saw their information.
Martial Ape, Wild Beast Tribe, Level 7-10
Monsters born from evolution of mountain apes. They liked secretly watching humans who entered Phantom Night Forest. Secretly watched movements and collected martial technique manuals from people who died in the forest to study themselves. They imitated human weapon use and combat techniques almost perfectly.
They were the most intelligent monsters in Phantom Night Forest. Had intelligence for learning skills. Liked ambushing in groups to increase hunting success chances. Regularly came down mountains to steal villagers' belongings but didn't leave evidence to track to their stronghold. Because they were monsters that could use human techniques, their cleverness and cunning had killed new hunters—who knows how many corpses.
The outer area around the Garden of the Nameless God was wide and open. No trees or anything for them to use for climbing. Fists pounded the ground, helping bodies surge forward. Hundreds of bloodthirsty creatures uniformly advanced to tear apart the human in white clothes. To feast. Jinyo's heart trembled because he'd never encountered this many monsters together at once. The army horde of Martial Apes approached every moment. Until—
BOOM!
An explosion sound along with one Martial Ape's body blown to meat pieces. Martial Apes nearby convulsed until dust stained brown fur gray. Chestnut eyes opened as wide as goose eggs. Every one in the horde stopped still, not daring to move recklessly.
"Better not move." Jinyo spoke to them as if knowing they understood human language.
"I buried 1000 bombs underground around the garden. Only I know where the bombs are. If you come in without thinking carefully, you'll explode. Even though bombs violate the law, apes that can't speak human language probably don't have the brains to complain to the government to arrest me, right?"
"SCREECH!!" The Martial Apes were furious.
"Or if you think you're not dying fast enough, come in. But even if you don't come in, I'll kill you anyway."
"Pay 6 coins, activate combat mode." Jinyo picked up the watering can, aiming at the Martial Ape horde. The copper watering can transformed into a strangely shaped gun unlike any gun barrel Jinyo knew in the world. In the blink of an eye when his finger touched the trigger, it connected directly with meridians.
[Copper Watering Can has entered combat mode [Water amount 1000/1000] Attack Power 200, Durability 300, Usage duration 6 minutes, Fire rate 90 rounds per minute -1 planar -0.1 durability per shot]
[When you use agricultural equipment within the territory of the Garden of the Nameless God, damage bonus increased 150%, critical chance +10%, combat mode duration increased 100%]
The gaze Jinyo used to look at Martial Apes changed. The gun barrel turned toward prey caught in confusion. In the blink of an eye when he pulled the trigger, water bullets surged at high speed. Water bullets shot at targets. Even though water, water shot at high pressure had enough power to cut steel like cutting paper.
Water bullets created wounds until blood flowed profusely. Whichever unlucky one got shot in the forehead lay perfectly still, fainting in a few seconds like a cut scene. The destructive power of the watering can gun was more than Jinyo imagined. Both speed and attack power equaled magic bullets from mages who specifically studied water magic. Importantly, Jinyo had no water element at all. If this gun was in the hands of someone with high water element, who knows how much the destructive power would increase.
Durability decreased every second until the number displayed on the system decreased to 0. The gun returned to watering can state.
[You eliminated invaders. Martial Ape Level 7 X 41. Received plant cultivation ticket 574 hours. Please select the plot of land to accelerate growth]
[You eliminated invaders. Martial Ape Level 8 X 31. Received plant cultivation ticket 496 hours. Please select the plot of land to accelerate growth]
[You eliminated invaders. Martial Ape Level 9 X 16. Received plant cultivation ticket 288 hours. Please select the plot of land to accelerate growth]
[You eliminated invaders. Martial Ape Level 10 X 9. Received plant cultivation ticket 180 hours. Please select the plot of land to accelerate growth]
"Select 960 hours. Accelerate two rai of seedlings."
[You used plant cultivation ticket on plots numbers 9 and 10. 480 hours each, totaling 960 hours.] After Jinyo issued the command, seedling seeds on cultivation bowls sprouted, growing into green seedlings ready for transplanting. The young man dropped the copper watering can with so little durability left it wasn't worth using again. Martial Apes that hid into the forest in time slowly stepped forward, looking at corpses of herd companions lying scattered. Their bodies shriveled into dry mummies within a few minutes.
Resentful gazes swore to use the blood of the human in white to sacrifice the souls of dead friends. Until Jinyo picked up a wooden sword to hold in his right hand. Left hand held a black sickle. Sharp planar waves surged forth to weapons in both hands.
Come on. If you don't hurry in, you won't have a chance to beat me anymore.
