novelraw Chapter 14: What Are You Doing?
Chapter 14: What Are You Doing?
At this moment, Leon missed the crafting menu from the game more than ever. If he had that, he could make some chests, set them outside, and store things in them instead of stuffing them in his backpack and wasting valuable slots.
Unfortunately, the System interface only had the personal panel—no other pages. It felt like it had been stripped down, which made Leon more than a little frustrated.
The items stuffed in his backpack weren’t easy to take out either. His wooden cabin was so small that if he moved everything inside, half the space would be filled with clutter.
Complaints aside, the farming tools provided by the System were excellent. They weren’t as automated as certain high-end black-colored ones from elsewhere, but they still worked remarkably well.
Carrying the parsnip seeds and the bag of fertilizer that Lewis had given him, Leon set out once more to begin his farming work.
The extra plowed land from yesterday finally came in handy. First, he sprinkled fertilizer over the soil. Pale yellow-white speckles appeared on the dark earth. Then, on those fertilized plots, he planted the parsnip seeds, pulled out his watering can, and gave them all a thorough soak.
Ten or so minutes later, the planting was done.
He checked the seeds he’d planted earlier, but there were still no signs of sprouting. Not that he was in any rush. After pacing around the little field a few times to confirm there were no problems, Leon glanced at the sky, then at his farm, and quietly pulled out his axe.
“Eighty, eighty, eighty!”
Shouting this meaningless chant, Leon transformed into a logging maniac, chopping down the trees that had grown unchecked across the farm.One by one, neatly cut logs piled into his backpack, and the more he worked, the more energetic he felt.
Some trees even dropped seeds, which Leon promptly buried in small holes in the dirt.
Tree seeds were different from crop seeds—they only needed to be buried in soil, with no care required, and they would grow on their own.
Before evening came, Leon put away his axe. Not by choice—his stamina was gone. The neat stack of wood he’d harvested had sent waves of dopamine through his brain, but the physical drain was catching up fast.
Near the cabin, the land was now almost completely cleared of trees—Leon’s handiwork for the afternoon. The cost, however, was that his hands now felt like they no longer belonged to him.
With no strength left for logging, he didn’t just stand idle. Instead, he wandered around his farm.
Red Star Farm was huge. After half an hour of walking, Leon finally had a clearer sense of its size.
Aside from the abandoned greenhouse in the center, most of the farm was still wild and overgrown. The best part was that the land was quite flat. The whole place seemed perfect for large-scale agriculture.
Scattered across the farm were small ponds. They weren’t large, but the water was clean, clearly fed by underground springs. These ponds were probably not naturally formed—they were most likely left behind by his grandfather when he ran the farm, and they were crucial to its operation.
Whether for watering crops close by or providing drinking water for livestock, these ponds made farm work much more convenient. Combined with the vast, level fields, Leon could easily envision the entire area being converted into farmland with enough effort.
But the sheer size of it made his scalp tingle. Taking care of his small starter plot was easy. Expanding that to cover the entire farm, however, was another matter entirely.
It wasn’t something one person could manage. If he planted crops across the whole farm, he’d have to start watering at dawn and keep going until midnight—and still might not finish.
This world needs sprinklers. It absolutely needs sprinklers.
Leon silently prayed. Large-scale farming without automation wasn’t something he could handle alone.
Hiring workers was out of the question. Not only could he not risk revealing the System, but he also didn’t want outsiders meddling in his farm’s affairs. Strangers brought trouble. Better to rely on automation than gamble on unknown people.
For now, though, none of that was within his reach. He needed to focus on building his initial capital. From experience, he knew that leveling up his abilities in the System would eventually give him the tools to solve these problems.
For now, it was all about surviving the early grind. Once his assets and skills were up, he could think about bigger plans.
Returning to the cabin, Leon opened a sack of rice, grabbed two handfuls, rinsed them clean, and tossed them into a pot. From the fridge, he took out a rock-hard piece of frozen pork, sliced off a small portion, cleaned and shredded it, and added it to the pot along with salt and oil. Carrying the pot outside, he set it on a makeshift clay stove he had built.
From his backpack, he took out some hay and lit it, then chopped some of his neatly cut logs into small pieces and fed them into the fire pit. Sitting on the ground, he watched the wood crackle and burn, waiting for his meat porridge to finish cooking.
By now, the sun had set. Twilight draped over the land. Frogs croaked and insects chirped in the distance, and Leon felt his whole body relax. The quiet atmosphere was comforting. No car horns, no noisy streets—just the peace of a farm close to nature. He felt a long-lost calm settle over his heart.
Here, there was no need to worry about navigating office politics or counting down the days to the next holiday. Here, Leon only had to live for himself.
“What are you doing?”
The sudden voice of a young woman behind him made Leon jump. He quickly recovered and turned his head to see a beautiful girl with long purple hair looking at him.
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