Chereads / Of Mechs and Magic / Chapter 24 - Planting Seeds

Chapter 24 - Planting Seeds

Feeling better than he had in many years, Roger sauntered over to where his neat stack of tools rested. Looking them over, he stopped when he locked onto the iron hoe the System had granted him.

'I wonder if there could be some subliminal messaging in the System saying I needed a bunch of hard labor tools?'

Deciding that the almighty overlord of this planet didn't deserve any more thought, he leaned over and picked the farming instrument up, admiring the cleanliness of the iron and wooden shaft. If he did not know better, he would've assumed a master craftsman had forged it.

Luckily he knew the System made it, so he happily crushed any and all praise he would've levied on the beautiful tool.

It felt balanced in his hands, and Roger tried not to think about what an onlooker would assume when seeing the raggedy-looking youth wielding a hoe with such glee. 

'I've gone from prisoner, to factory worker, to lumber fetcher, to novice farmer. Avar is a world of great upward mobility and job security, it would seem.'

He hefted it over his shoulder as he approached the bad of seeds with trepidation, an inkling of fear clouding his judgment. It was to be expected after learning the plants could cause explosions, so Roger didn't feel bad about his mounting terror at the innocuous plants.

'The System did give me both fire and water element seeds… Oh, gods damn that infernal creation! I bet it knew what it was doing!'

Reaching the bag without issue, he carefully picked it up, holding it as far from his body as possible, looking away when a stiff wind shook the contents of the bag.

'Damn it all! Damn the System, damn Avar, damn farming, damn the universe for all I care! The gods can burn it all for all I care!'

That thought reminded him that the gods seemed to be in a position that made intervening a little difficult, a fact Roger was still struggling to fully accept.

How do gods get shattered after all? They are supposed to be the ultimate position of judgment and authority in the galaxy, not something a mere mortal could just challenge and win against.

Roger tried to envision himself facing down the creators of reality and shuddered.

'You know what, maybe the life of a farmer would be nice. Just worrying about my crops, rain cycles, and the looming threat of a stiff breeze causing the equivalent of a reactor meltdown! So much more peaceful!'

Thinking about standing his ground against the gods did remind him he was not wearing his sword sheath, and made a quick stop to gather it. When reaching to grab it, he noticed Lila's blade resting not too far away and quickly decided to take both.

'It's not like she needs it after all, she has her artifact now.'

He failed at convincing himself that his two swords could compare to her incredible artifact.

'Hey System, why don't you reward me with an artifact next? Something cool and powerful, like a scythe called the God Reaper! A weapon like that would definitely strike fear into the hearts of my enemies!'

It took Roger a few seconds too many to realize that the System giving him a scythe would only serve the purpose of reinforcing his image as a farmer.

Strapping both sheaths to his belt, he took a quick walk around the glade before settling on the clear field furthest from the campsite. His logic was that if the plants did mix and explode for some reason, the further from where they slept the better.

Lifting the hoe, he brought it down on the brown dirt, digging the head of the tool deep into the soil. He then wrenched his arms back, pulling a small amount of dirt up. 

He did this a few times, before coming to a single conclusion.

'If I ever find whichever god invented grass and root systems, I'm going to make the Archon look like a fluffy bunny!'

Every time he tried to till the ground, the hoe would catch on deep and crisscrossing roots, most of them belonging to the grass in the field. This greatly slowed his progress, and made most of his strikes ineffective.

'I bet the government got rid of wild grass for this very reason! The first government had to be composed of farmers who were sick of their tools getting tangled in these infernal ground webs! Who would want to ever deal with this stuff?'

Initially thinking the project would take an hour or two, Roger ended up spending almost half a day swinging the hoe, deciding to brute force the job and cut through the roots.

His new body proved its value in this, having far more muscles than the emaciated Roger that first came to Avar. Every swing felt full of power and vigor, even when considering his lack of sleep. It was like he was a new, far stronger man.

With this newfound strength and commitment to his task, Roger did eventually finish tilling a few rows to plant his seeds into. 

During those few hours, he had decided to plant the Fire Root and Wind Fern seeds here, and then the Water Carrots by the river. He felt confident the fire and wind elements weren't contrary. They worked together too much to cause an explosion.

Or so he hoped.

Putting the once-pristine how to the side, he took out the bag of seeds and picked through the ones present. He had about sixty in total, with twenty being for the Fire Root and another twenty being for the Wind Ferns. He left the Water Carrot in the bag, happy to finally separate the fire and water elements.

He had tilled four rows and decided to plant the Fire Roots closest to the forest. Although he didn't know what the matured version looked like, if it glowed it would be useful closest to the dark and foreboding tree line. 

'The Wind Fern will do just fine being closer to its farmer. It should feel lucky, even.'

He went up and down the rows, placing one seed after the other, ending up with ten seeds per row. He then used the hoe to move the soil back, covering them all in what Roger hoped was nutrient and mana-dense dirt.

He leaned on his trusty tool once he finished, happy with a long day of hard, but rewarding, work.

'That's what life is all about, isn't it? Finding meaning in the small things?'

He gently lowered the hoe before rubbing his hands together.

'Time for the easy part, and the cool bit! Mana time!'

He crouched down beside the first Fire Root seed, placing his hands on the small pile of disturbed dirt. He hissed a little as his fresh calluses hit the dirt but held firm.

'Looks like my pain tolerance is growing. That's probably a good thing, if a little worrying.'

Calming himself, Roger took multiple deep breaths in a row before he started cycling his mana. It was weird how innate the ability was, but he felt he was able to do it ever since obtaining his element.

His mana felt cool and strangely malleable, but Roger didn't know why that was. One thing he noted was how different it felt from both the Spike-Tailed Tiger's water mana, and what he assumed was the Mind Wraith's mind mana.

'Is mind a mana? How does that work?'

Shaking his head to clear the unnecessary thoughts, he refocused on the task at hand, rerouting the mana from his body to his palm, feeling it slowly trickle out of him.

In a shocking turn of events, he felt the Fire Root greedily drink it in like a vacuum. It seemed to drink it up faster than Roger could produce it, leading him to feel a constant pull for more.

'Greedy little sucker, aren't you?'

He continued to cycle mana through his body and into his palm, but it never felt like he was offering enough. Minutes passed as Roger began to feel increasingly exhausted with the little seed's gluttony. 

After five minutes, he found himself breathing heavier, and put all his focus and energy into just the few inches of dirt beneath his hands.

After ten, he had to catch himself from falling face-first into the dirt, his body screaming in protest at the sudden lack of mana.

After fifteen, Roger struggled to stay awake.

It was strange to realize, but after days of constant fighting and very little sleep, Roger's body had sustained itself by drawing on some of his mana reserves. This had not been an issue as he naturally produced enough to offset the small drainage, but now that his body was suddenly lacking that secondary energy source, his muscles didn't know how else to fuel him.

After the seventeenth minute, Roger had to stop, collapsing into the dirt the moment he realized he could not feed the seed's endless hunger in one go.