[Farmer] Mage

It was early the next morning, and Cal was surrounded by a variety of tools on the empty field. The harvest yesterday had been completed without a hitch, but given the restriction on his mana reserves, he needed to test what was possible in his state.

With his Initiate hires not set to arrive until hours later, this had been a perfect time to test how his tools reacted to being used. Thankfully, it was more than he hoped.

All equipment that are already added to the interface function normally. But I can't add the spares. I'll have something to occupy myself for the next two weeks if nothing else.

Cal glanced at the motionless golem and thought of his wheelbarrow. He had been using the golem to move a large number of debris whenever possible, and that stagnated the progression of his wheelbarrow, something he could resume in this two week period.

I'll try to get six equipment to the Rare-rank before I get my mana reserves back. That's a reasonable goal to work towards.

He chuckled at the thought as he returned the spare tools to the storage room. Just one Rare-rank tool would be enough to cause a fervor, but six belonging to one person would cause most to lose their morals in an attempt to acquire them.

Cal stored the spare tools and chose a unused spot to empty everything unnecessary from his storage pouch, wanting to free up inventory spots. He needed quick access to the tools he intended to upgrade to the Rare-rank, and once they were upgraded, storing them where they could be easily accessed was foolish.

He emptied everything from the storage pouch, except for the coins, rare-ranked rake, and voidiron shovel. They lay in an unorganized pile taking up more space than he had imagined, with most of the pile comprising of the materials he had taken from the sinkhole.

On top of the pile was the Voidiron Cube artifact Overseer Marek handed him before the mission to the sinkhole, and for reasons that were beyond him, didn't bother to even ask about it when he returned.

It could be that the Overseer assumed it was lost, but Cal still expected a mention of the Rare-ranked artifact at the least. He was tempted to experiment with it to find what it could do, but he had enough of adventures, and didn't want to be inadvertently be sucked into another, even if it was unlikely.

Cal looked around and noted that it was getting too packed, and with new seeds about to be ordered, it would get to a point where he had to watch his step.

I need another storage room built. Maybe a few so the hires have a separate place to store their things.

He resolved to speak to Miren whenever she returned to deliver the quotes for the smithy. That would be another added expense, even though he didn't foresee it being much in the grand scheme.

Still, he should get to work and earn more guildmarks so he wouldn't be left destitute. There was a distressing correlation with large expenses followed by many smaller ones, even if they weren't directly related.

Cal left the storage room and went to the stables. He eyed the oversupply of soil repair materials with appreciation. He hadn't been great in keeping track of what was necessary, and the hires were well worth the expense even if the only thing they did was make his work simpler.

He moved the necessary loam to the field for quicker access.

Nibbles had completed the tunnels where he had extended the field, and the only thing left was to connect them to the second pond. That will have to wait until it was ready, but that didn't mean he couldn't prepare the entire field for planting beforehand.

Cal foresaw a long day of peaceful work, quite similar to yesterday. He almost forgot how much it helped him settle, even though it hadn't triggered any [Class] advancements. Not that he expected it, but he was hopeful [Farmer] would make some progress in the next few weeks.

Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

***

"Cal!"

Cal snapped out of the peaceful haze at Tavia's call. He was almost done covering the field with loam, after which he'd have to wait for several hours before the powdered crystal and water mix could be spread on top.

He emptied the tub in his hands and walked over to Tavia with a grin. "Morning. I expected you to sleep for much longer."

Tavia's eyes narrowed as her checks flushed red. "I'm going to ignore that. I'm heading to Lumina to get some spellbooks and resupply my potions. Do you need something from there?"

"Skip the potions and just let me know what you need. The alchemist that made the potions at the healing ward gave me a promise that he would make what I need at cost."

"The Apprentice Alchemist?" Tavia asked with a raised brow, smiling when Cal nodded. "Well, that could come in handy. I'm still going to go to the city. Seris has been bored out of her mind and buying some spellbooks for her could be a little reward."

"Thank you," Cal said, finding the frank appreciation worked best to shown what he felt.

"It isn't a chore for no need for that." Tavia hesitated, glancing at the field behind him. "If I ask you to focus on making the farm better and leave the problem of a clean escape from the territory to me, would you listen?"

Cal had wondered what she wanted to discuss last night, but kept changing her mind. He didn't think the question deserved such indecision on her part, but since she thought it so important, he considered it seriously.

He shook his head after several seconds. "I would be lying if I say I'll completely ignore the issue, but as long as you keep me up to date on what you're planning, I would be happy to leave it in your hands."

The bright smile she gave him felt undeserved. This wasn't a gift, but a burden.

"Are you sure? All this comes from my concerns, and it feels like I'm dragging you into it."

Tavia shot him a glare. "We're in this together. And tell me that you have some sort of plan on what to do if everything goes wrong. I'll back off if that's the case."

Cal pursed his lips and stayed silent. They both knew there was no such plan.

"Then it's decided," Tavia said, grin back on her face. "You have fun building paradise, and I'll do the disaster planning!"

Cal's lips twitched. She didn't have to sound so overly cheerful about it. In the end, he couldn't help but return the cheer with a wry smile. "Thank you again, Tavia."

Several minutes later, Cal waved at the disappearing carriage, with Tavia sticking her arm out and returning his wave. He chuckled after it finally passed the tree line and returned to the field.

As soon as he was done covering the field with loam, he intended to start a new expansion of the field while he waited for the time to pass.

***

Cal felt a strange thrill when his arms, shoulders, and back screamed from the strain of swinging the pickaxe. He hadn't felt this since the earliest days on the farm, and it seemed that the loss of mana soothing his muscles allowed it to return.

It didn't stop him. Instead, Cal was more than happy to fight through and continue swinging the pickaxe, knowing this was a true workout to train his body.

The surface layer cracked with another swing, completing a square area around an acre that extended the back of his farm. It was a rough estimate that he no longer tracked as closely as he could, but that was a detail he didn't need to know the exact number of since he estimated the area he could use as a farm with two of his miracle ponds far exceeded what was cleared.

[Advanced Pickaxe] has degraded to Average Quality.

Cal sighed as he read the interface. He expected the degradation soon, but he hoped that it could last until the task requirements were completed.

[Advanced Pickaxe: Average Quality] Upgrade: 3611/4000 Tasks

- 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.'

That's a shame, but not a big deal. I can get back to working on it after it recovers a little.

Cal stored the pickaxe in his pouch and ambled to the storage room. He gave the motionless golem an apologetic look—for reasons he didn't know—and returned to his expansion project with a wheelbarrow and shovel.

Unfortunately, he couldn't use the Voidiron shovel or his primary shovel, both which didn't have the [Self-Repair] trait. Given they were currently at average quality, and any future use would contribute to their degradation, he wasn't willing to use them until Orrin was capable of restoring them.

It would be easy for Cal to upgrade them to the Rare-rank, but with how degraded they would be, they would mostly act as ornaments or trophies, both of which were useless to him.

Cal set the wheelbarrow down and plunged the shovel into the first of the debris he would clear. There was so much that the wheelbarrow would be able to reach the Rare-rank by the time it's done, and the shovel was a given since its tasks were quicker to complete.

He returned to almost-meditative haze and mechanically shoveled the debris into the wheelbarrow until full, dumped it beside the range of small hills that formed from the past debris, and repeated without pause.

Cal sank into the work and lost track of time.