Free Web NovelChapter 43: Step 43 to Greatness: Farming Brings a Sense of Novelty
"Even with these muscles, it is still difficult," Adrian panted, wiping the sweat off his forehead.
Even though the sun was setting, he was still sweating because he had been digging a pit since Sera bought him a bone shovel.
She had spent a small amount on it, and Adrian also discovered something from it. People can only spend their ’excess’ exp to buy items.
By excess, it meant only the additional exp one had after reaching a level. For example, Sera was level 5 and was halfway through the next level, i.e., had 600 exp. It meant she could only spend that 600 exp at the marketplace.
It meant that even if someone was level 100, but didn’t have exp to spare, they couldn’t buy anything from the shop with exp.
As for bartering, Sera had tried to give them an armor set in exchange, but the seller was dead set on exp.
Adrian could understand the reason. The marketplace was the safest way to get exp and level up. However, there was an obvious issue with it.
"Sooner or later, one will run out of items to sell and would have to venture out. When that happens, the person will be too inexperienced and would most likely die."
The tactic of using the marketplace only worked in a group. One could operate the marketplace for good, and the other could venture out to get resources for them to sell.
"Master! We sold another armor piece!" Sera yelled over. "Only two more and I will reach level nine!"
Adrian just gave her a thumbs up and continued digging. While digging, he remembered about the others.
They were back, and after being briefly surprised by the new structures, Mika pulled them back to training, but not before Amiya asked Adrian why he was digging a grave.
It led to Adrian laughing as he waved them off. Besides, after seeing how desperately Mika wanted to teach the tribeswomen, Adrian decided to postpone the trip to the pit trap. It wasn’t like the slimes could escape the pit.
Besides, he also had a pit to dig. While he did that, his mind went back to what happened after the fight. Despite killing players, none of them had awakened a system like Mika did.
"It seems getting a system is not just about killing players," Adrian mumbled, tossing a shovelful of soil out of the pit. "Hm... now that I think about it, Mika had an affinity for combat, so after killing a player she got the combat system."
Everyone had an affinity for something. As long as Adrian figured out what, maybe they could awaken a system naturally?
"One thing at a time, Adrian. Focus on making the pit first," he mumbled and resumed digging.
At first, he thought the work would be easy, given his enhanced physique. However, reality hit him as usual.
Digging was one thing, and digging through untouched wilderness soil was another. Every few swings, the shovel struck something hard, forcing him to pry loose rocks before resuming. freewebnovёl.ƈom
Moreover, every time he hit something hard, the bone shovel’s durability, which wasn’t much to begin with, dropped even more.
If not for learning the building recipe, thanks to the crafting table, Sera would have lost most of her exp from continuously buying shovels.
Adrian pushed the shovel again, only for it to snap in half. However, this time he didn’t rush to create another. Instead, he checked the depth of the pit and nodded.
The hole wasn’t particularly deep, just barely above his waist, but since it was an experiment, he did not want to put too much energy into it.
"It should be deep enough," he said, climbing out.
The pit was in an unused corner of the settlement, opposite to the stream. Adrian dug it there because he didn’t want to subject the tribeswomen to the horrid smell of the rotten items.
<Adrian>: How’s the market looking? Got any good seeds yet?
He saw Sera shake her head from a distance.
"Still mostly herbs and low-quality stuff. But I’ll keep watching while I sell these armors," she replied.
Adrian nodded and brought out a crate from his inventory. The moment he opened the lid, the horrible stench burst out again. He quickly scrunched his face and turned his head away.
"Ugh... still awful," he groaned.
He hurriedly emptied the fruits outside the pit and kept the crate aside to use salvage on it.
[Scavenging successful!]
[Skill Yield: 8x rotten wood planks.]
[Ancestor’s 10x blessing in effect. Gained rotten wood planks x80.]
He did not use any more of the fruits because it was his first attempt at composting. Although he knew the theory from what he had studied in school, doing it was a different thing.
After dumping the wood inside, he crossed the fence to get some dry grass and leaves. He also got some ash from the fire pit and some chicken feathers, but didn’t dump them yet. After all, he was waiting for someone.
"Cawww!"
"Right on time," Adrian smiled and looked up.
Huginn landed beside him with over a dozen live worms clutched in her talons. She dropped them into the pit and puffed out her chest, expecting praise.
"Ever since you evolved, you’ve been wanting more and more affection, huh?" Adrian chuckled, stroking her head.
"Caw!" The large raven cawed happily and hopped aside, watching him work.
Adrian put a thin layer of ash on top of the rotting wood, which acted like a drainage layer. Then came the first layer of rotting fruits.
This way, the moisture from it would drain down rather than pooling in the hole, which would have made it all turn into a stinking swamp instead of composting.
Then came the feathers and dry grass. Since the feathers had a high nitrogen content and broke down slowly, they essentially acted as a nutrient reservoir for the compost.
"Alright, you creepy things, it’s your turn now," he said, kicking the worms into the pit.
After that, he put the remaining fruits there to ensure the worms had a lot of things to eat and wouldn’t dig through the pit to escape, and the last layer of dry grass.
With that, most of the work was over. The only thing remaining was to cover the pit with a soil cap. He dumped the soil he had dug back into the pit. Not all of it, just enough to fill the pit and keep the smell down.
"And now we wait," Adrian nodded. "As for how long... a couple of weeks should be enough, right?"
He stood up straight and stretched his aching back, staring at the freshly covered compost pit with a mix of pride and exhaustion.
Now the only thing smelling was his own self. As much as he wanted to bathe, there was one last thing he had to do.
Adrian opened his inventory and took out the purple wild potatoes he had harvested earlier. Many of them had multiple healthy eyes sprouting from their surfaces.
"Time to plant these bad boys."
He walked to the farmland and dug several holes in it with the broken shovel. One by one, he placed the tubers into the soil, making sure the eyes faced upward and that there was enough space to grow.
By the time he finished, nearly forty potato plants had been sown across a good portion of the field. Adrian stood back with his arms crossed and nodded satisfactorily.
"I get why you always planted random things in the garden, Mom," he said, smiling wanly. "Nothing can beat this feeling... other than this smell on me. Ugh... gotta bathe now before my nose dies."
