[Cozy Fantasy] [Farming LitRPG] The Chronicles of Emberstone Farm

Chapter 104 - Prosperous Boss-terous Start

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[System Announcement: World Boss Event

Prepare for the coming of the Demon Monarch

Countdown: 300 Days]

How annoying!

I was woken up from my dream of playing with a dragon child by the loud blaring of the System’s emergency announcement. Yawning, I stretched my arms over my head and sat up. Then I read the System text before closing the popup screen.

Wasn’t the event a bit early? I should have had the entire year to prepare for it. Well, it’s not like it was a big deal.

Last year, I, a normal human from planet Earth, transmigrated to the world of Adventure Incarnate, a farming/cultivation-themed massively multiplayer online role-playing game. I still have no idea how that happened. All I know is that this world is quite similar to the world of Adventure Incarnate and I could use the game’s System.

Because I’m a “player,” people call me the Healer of Worlds, Bringer of Life, Child of Fate, and Harbinger of the Dawn. I’m the prophesied savior who lifted the ancient curse that blighted the White Tiger clan’s once-fertile lands.

Though I wouldn’t go around calling myself “Supreme Protector of the Five Continents” or anything like that, I was nonetheless fairly confident that I could handle myself in a Boss fight. After all, I’d leveled up a bit since I came to this world, and my inventory was full of legendary items.

The upcoming battle against the Demon Monarch, despite the awesome name, was nothing more than a simple World Event in Adventure Incarnate in which all of the players came together to one-sidedly beat up the Boss.

Seeing as I had 2,147,483,647 each of almost every useful item in the game, I should be fine, right?

I threw back the covers and got up from my bed. My brain was still sluggish because I hadn’t had my breakfast and coffee yet.

Yawning again, I padded across my bedroom to my small kitchen, enjoying the feeling of the plush carpet under my bare feet. I had decorated my house in a rustic country style, with warm earth tones and royal blue accents. The best part of the house was the large wooden bed covered with crisp white cotton bedding and a colorful quilt. The headboard was carved with an intricate dragon design, and the mattress was supremely comfortable.

My house wasn’t very big, but it had everything I needed: a cozy sitting area with a cushy armchair and small table, a tiny kitchen with a bit of counter space, and a dining area with a small farmhouse-style table. Not to mention, I had a lovely modern flush toilet and bath. Luckily, the System’s Cash Shop had everything I needed.

Three days ago when we were in the desert, we celebrated the New Year with a big party that lasted for such a long time that we needed another day just to recover. Yesterday, we had flown back to the Ancient Hill Forest, and I had rebuilt the [Courtyard House], [Ranch House], and [Mill]. The other members of my household were currently at the [Courtyard House] while I stayed at the [Ranch House]. I liked having my own place, even if it was smaller than the [Courtyard House] since I felt more at ease living alone.

Using a coffee maker from the Cash Shop, I brewed myself a cup, added lots of milk and sugar, and then thought about the World Boss.

First of all, I only knew the info from the game, which may or may not be accurate since this was the real world.

Secondly, the event was easy in Adventure Incarnate because there were always thousands of players attacking the Boss at any given time. However, I was the only “player” here.

Thirdly, the Boss was the Demon Monarch, who was something of a glass cannon in the game. He had a healing skill, very high HP, low defense, and slow but powerful attacks.

Fourthly, there was no permadeath in the game. That was not true of this world.

Lastly, the best way to win was definitely through zerging. This was normally achieved by the game devs giving the players a nice reward for joining the fight to encourage everyone to attend the event. Would this be a good strategy to use now?

By the time I finished my coffee, I thought of a few ways to ensure victory in the coming event. I checked the System’s Event Calendar to verify the important dates to confirm that I had plenty of time and that it wasn’t the right moment for me to make a move.

Yet.

Things were bound to get intense in a few months, but for now, I had to focus on my current task, the spring planting.

Humming merrily, I showered and dressed in practical brown and black boots, trousers, and a short robe before going out. My destination was the [Courtyard House] which looked exactly like a traditional Chinese dwelling, with rectangular buildings arranged around two central courtyards. The sloping roof was adorned with vibrant ceramic tiles, and the imposing height of the surrounding walls was meant to give the residents a sense of security and seclusion. The house was divided into two parts, the outer courtyard where my apprentices and staff lived and worked, and the inner courtyard which was the space reserved for the house owner, i.e. me.

Everything was arranged in perfect geometrical symmetry, from the orderly way the red stone tiles lined the courtyard floor, to the flower baskets that hung in neat rows on the western and eastern roof eaves. With the help of my housekeeper, Fengying, I had furnished the house with simple and comfortable traditional furniture, most of it made of Fragrant Rosewood.

When I walked inside, the heavenly scent of freshly cooked food made me smile. I saw that breakfast had already been set up in the outer courtyard.

"Good morning," I said to my apprentices who greeted me in return.

Lari, Kharli, and Mo were likewise dressed in working clothes and looked bright-eyed and bushy-tailed.

Lari filled my water glass. Kharli served me the hot, sweet tea that I liked for breakfast while Mo filled my bowl with rice. They knew me well enough by now to guess which dishes I preferred, and they used their chopsticks to place choice pieces of ham and mushrooms in my bowl.

We were mostly silent while we ate. The ham was tender and had a complex flavor that thrilled my taste buds. The stir-fried dish was made using the mushrooms I had foraged myself from the underground cave system in the Southerlands. I’d specifically requested that the Demon Chef make this for me today since I was in the mood for eating something I had gotten after a lot of hard work. It was absolutely divine. Dessert was sweet red bean soup, one of my favorites.

When I finished eating, I sat back and sighed. “Are we all done? Let’s go.”

As we walked to the field that I had designated for today’s activity, I gave them the rice seeds and fertilizer that they would be using later.

"Teacher, how much of the [Purple Orchid Rice] will we plant this time?" asked Kharli. The oldest of the three, she had grown by two inches in the last year and was filling out quite nicely. When I had hired the girls from the orphanage last year, they had been quite thin and short for their age. Like the others, she had brown hair and brown eyes, but with roses blooming in her cheeks and a healthy glow around her, she was becoming quite pretty.

"I hope it's not a lot. I still don't like black rice," said Lari. The boy was starting to look more mature now. The fat was starting to melt into muscles, and he'd also grown around two inches, but he was still shorter than the other two.

"It's not really for us to eat," I said. "I made a mistake last time and caused a diplomatic incident. When we planted the rice varieties, I didn't know that the Fox Clan regarded the [Purple Orchid Rice] as a sacred crop for their goddess. But it's all sorted out. I just talked to Prince Baiyu. This time, I'll send them the unmilled rice which they can use as seeds."

"It's not your fault, Teacher!" said Mo. She hadn't changed much in the past year. She grew a little taller and was now normal weight, but the biggest change was her attitude. Though she was still a bit shy with strangers, she no longer looked down on the ground when she spoke to people.

"Of course, it's not my fault! Ha!" I rolled my eyes. "Anyway, I offered to sell fifty percent of the [Purple Orchid Rice] harvest to the Fox Clan at a premium price. That way, they can plant their own crops, too, and not bother us about it after this spring."

The desert quest had shown me that the clans were able to grow spirit plants and raise spirit animals, though not as well as I could. Most of the spirit animals and plants had died off during the demon invasion generations ago, but it was different now that I was here. The important part was that I had made an effort to help the Fox clan with the sacred rice and wouldn't be blamed if they failed.

“They’re not still claiming that all of the rice belongs to them, right?” asked Lari.

I smiled. “I believe that the incident with the teleportation stone put a lot of pressure on them, so they were forced to compromise.”

“It’s not a bad thing though, is it? This puts them in our debt,” said Kharli.

I nodded, and the three of them looked delighted. When we got to the field, we moved to our designated piece of land and got to work.

I took out the hoe from the System toolbelt and, with one downward swing, tilled nine tiles in the shape of a square. Each tile was around three feet square. I continued tilling the soil, keeping a close eye on my energy bar. When it was three-quarters empty, I took out a sack of fertilizer from my inventory. I only had to wave the sack towards the tilled ground, and the contents flew out to cover nine tiles at a time.

With that, I was ready to plant the seeds. Of course, most farmers did not plant rice seeds. They planted seedlings. The System, however, always used seeds for crops instead of seedlings, cuttings, or grafts. I filled my seed dispenser with rice seeds and then held it over the tilled soil. The seeds flew out of the tool and embedded themselves in the ground in neat rows. When I had used up all the seeds for the day, I took out my watering can and watered the tiles.

It didn’t take long before I completed my task, but Lari, Kharli, and Mo were already waiting for me. They had less energy, so they always finished before I did.

“Oh, that was great! I always enjoy planting time,” I said to them as we started walking back to the main house.

Lari put a hand on his left shoulder and rotated it. “Am I the only one whose arms feel tired?”

“I feel fine,” said Kharli.

“My arms do feel a bit sore,” said Mo.

“It’s normal to feel tired after using up all your energy. I feel like tilling the soil is hard work,” I said.

“I’m gonna soak longer in the hot spring this time,” said Lari.

“Me, too!” Mo turned around to face us. Now she was walking backwards. “Teacher, are you going to join us?”

Yesterday I had used the bathtub in my Ranch House instead of the Hot Spring facility in the Courtyard House. Unfortunately, the bathtub did not have the same energy restoration feature as the spring.

“I’ll join you girls this time,” I said.

I made a detour to check on my pet before going back to the house.

“Who’s a good little slime baby?” I cooed as I lifted my slime pet up in the air and hugged her.

Cutie, as I had named her, was a golden angel slime. I’d built a cute little [Slime House] for her, but her water bowl needed to be refilled every day. I emptied it and filled it with fresh water. Golden Slimes ate flowers and I inspected the flowerpots to see if she had eaten any. Everything seemed to be in order, so I just petted her for a few minutes before saying goodbye.

For some reason, my three apprentices always had weird looks on their faces whenever they saw my pet, but no matter how many times I asked them what was wrong, they always said that everything was fine.

Was it because Cutie was technically a “demon”?

This time, I decided to try to make them see that she was quite tame. Still holding her in my arms, I gestured towards Lari, who was always the best at dealing with animals, and said, “Come here and say hello to her.”

Lari shot Kharli a pleading look, as though asking her to intervene, but she just shrugged. Dragging his feet, and with a look of horrible reluctance on his face, Lari came closer and mumbled a nervous, “Hello.”

“There’s nothing to be afraid of.” I took his hand and moved it close enough for Cutie to touch.

The slime strand on top of Cutie’s head formed the shape of a question mark. “Chu!”

“This is Lari. He’ll take care of you when I’m away,” I said to my pet.

“Chuuuuu,” said the slime.

I waited to see if Cutie would try to touch him, but she didn’t so I put her down after a while and we left her in the [Slime House].

“You’ll see, there’s really nothing to be afraid of,” I said to my apprentices.

It was only three days later when I found out why the three of them were acting that way, and boy did I feel silly when I realized it was all my fault!