He gave the living room a last, disgusted look before reversing course. There was no chance he could sleep peacefully knowing what was just outside his room.

I was too passive with this matter. In my defense, I never knew it was possible to feel such visceral hatred for color combinations.

Cal reentered the storage room, picked out one of the four spare shovels on the rack, and dumped it into the wheelbarrow. He wheeled them outside, heading right to the area with all the newly shattered stones.

The sun had nearly disappeared. He would give it a few more minutes before it was gone completely. Thankfully, it wouldn’t affect his eyesight much.

That wasn’t to say he suddenly had super-vision. Everyone with their interface active had increased capabilities over regular mortals. While there would be a further qualitative change, it wouldn’t happen until he was a [Tier] rank higher.

I was never told much about the position above Apprentice—Journeyman. Still, it was made clear to me that I was expected to be one in a decade or so.

A Journeyman—or Journeywoman—was never seen within the guild territory. At least, not to Cal’s knowledge.

After vocalizing his rare curiosity, a Master had casually replied that they were deployed outside the territory to oversee the guild’s interests. It didn’t answer much in his past life, but now that his eyes were opened, it was more revealing than the simple statement had any right to be.

It was easy to conclude that the Celestial Order kept anyone with the position of Apprentice and below in their tight control. Whether it was for safety reasons or for indoctrination, he didn’t know.

If Cal had to guess, it was both.

He let go of the wheelbarrow’s handles and took the shovel out of its bucket. He plunged the shovel into the hole filled with shattered rocks, scooped out as much as possible, and dumped it into the wheelbarrow.

You have gained [Uncommon Shovel] as equipment. It will be designated as your alternate.

My primary shovel has the ‘Self-Repair’ trait. I want this one to be different. I must avoid all contact with the ground and only let the shovel touch the rocks.

Cal didn’t let that slow his pace too much. He had become so used to shoveling rocks that it was second nature—for better or worse. This was something he could easily fall into a trance doing.

And he did. Shovel. Wheelbarrow. To the rock pile. And repeat.

Cal relaxed and zoned out, his irritation disappearing as he put himself into the manual labor.

It usually took three scoops of the shovel—sometimes less, sometimes more—but it all averaged out. That meant he was only a third of the way through in clearing the area when the interface interrupted his happy, monotonous work.

Your alternate equipment [Uncommon Shovel] has been upgraded to [Advanced Shovel].

Equipment upgrade has activated an ability of [Farmer (Special)].

You will have two options for the alternate [Advanced Shovel]’s trait.

Equipment trait choices available. Choose one.

Stone Master - The shovel not only scoops up broken rock at twice the efficiency, but it also fuses them together. The size of the fused rock is only limited by the size of the shovel’s blade.

Geode Seeker - The shovel can sense hidden geodes or precious minerals under the surface being dug. The shovel’s blade will glow softly on detection. The detection range depends on your [Tier], capping out at a maximum of five hundred feet.

Avoiding the ground has paid off. However, this trait rules out selling this shovel for money.

Cal wasn’t sure what he would do with the ability of ‘Stone Master’ to fuse stones, mainly since it was limited to the shovel’s blade size. Obviously, it could have some utility for building, but after seeing Miren’s crew, he had no genuine desire to learn.

Even if there came a time when he would need to leave the Northern Wastes, he had no doubt he could find others of similar or greater skill.

The other ability of ‘Stone Master’ was straightforward. Scooping up broken rock at twice the efficiency would make his work that much faster. There would be a never-ending amount of that to clear in the Northern Wastes, and even if he had managed to clear everything, the trait would still be useful.

‘Stone Master’ is an easy choice for me—it really is—but I don’t want to choose it.

Cal had been staring at ‘Geode Seeker’ most of the time the interface had appeared before him. Geodes were rare, naturally forming minerals that were worth a small fortune. It was a material used in alchemy, for what he wasn’t sure, but he heard of their tremendous cost in passing.

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The simple fact that this trait was an option hinted that there were geodes to be found under in the Northern Wastes. Even if that wasn’t the case, the trait still mentioned precious minerals. It was a vague term that encompassed enough to elevate the trait to another level.

He reached out and tapped ‘Geode Seeker,’ ignoring the disappearing interface in favor of the newly upgraded shovel. He wanted to see if it would start glowing.

It did not.

That was too optimistic of me. That’s fine. I have plenty more to clean up. There’s still a chance.

Cal returned to shoveling the broken rocks into the wheelbarrow.

Shovel. Wheelbarrow. To the rock pile. And repeat.

He wished he could have fallen into the trance where everything was peaceful, but the interface interrupted him all too soon. This time, it was about the wheelbarrow.

Your equipment [Uncommon Wheelbarrow] has been upgraded to [Advanced Wheelbarrow].

Equipment upgrade has activated an ability of [Farmer (Special)].

You will have two options for the alternate [Advanced Wheelbarrow]’s trait.

Equipment trait choices available. Choose one.

Enlarged Bucket - The bucket of the wheelbarrow can hold more than it appears, allowing it to carry larger quantities without increasing in size. The capacity depends on your [Tier], with the minimum being two times the capacity and the maximum being ten times.

Self-Propelled - The wheelbarrow can move independently, making it much easier to transport heavy loads over long distances.

I forgot how close this was to upgrading.

Cal didn’t waste time and tapped ‘Enlarged Bucket.’ It was a no-brainer.

I’ll save far too much time with ‘Enlarged Bucket’ to even think about not choosing it. Besides, ‘Self-Propelled’ might sound useful, but what need do I have to have it wheeled by itself? However, this would be beyond useful with the plow.

He shook his head and went right to testing the wheelbarrow. He was able to shovel twice as much as usual before it looked like the bucket was about to overflow.

“Disappointing, but not unexpected,” Cal muttered out loud.

He grabbed the wheelbarrow's handles and pushed it to the pile of rocks to empty the bucket, but the added weight surprised him. Not that it was heavy, but it was more than he expected.

I should have assumed it didn’t come with reducing the weight of the wheelbarrow’s contents. It won’t be an issue at only twice the weight, but I worry about what would happen at ten times. The durability will most likely take a hit at that level.

Cal continued to clear the area after he dumped the wheelbarrow's contents onto the growing pile.

Shovel. Wheelbarrow. To the rock pile. And repeat.

This time, Cal wasn’t taken out of the zone. He methodically cleaned up the area of broken rocks.

He came out of the trance when he wheeled the last load to the rock pile. He glanced at the dark sky to see the moon out in full brightness.

The shovel didn’t glow… I was at this for a few hours. And Tavia still hadn’t returned.

Cal pushed the wheelbarrow up and emptied the bucket onto the rock pile. He looked at his house and found it still. It hadn’t been disturbed.

His irritation at what was in his living room tried to spark back to life, but he quickly looked away.

I refuse to enter the house.

Cal returned the wheelbarrow to the storage room. He glanced at the powdered crystals for a cursory check before exiting the room.

He looked over his field as he debated what to do next.

Other than using one of the spare pickaxes to dig up the area I just cleared, I have to wait till the morning to do anything significant… I can test my new [Trait].

Cal pulled up the interface to reread what he had gained after going through the torture from the lightning simulacrum.

[Lightning Aura] - You are surrounded by an aura of lightning that matches the strength of your [Tier] level. It is possible to manipulate the aura within five feet of your body. Limit 1 use per day. Duration of the trait is 30 minutes.

… I don’t know how to activate this. I never had a [Trait] in my first life.

He scratched his chin as he stared at the interface. His initial thought was to treat it as a spell, but the problem was he had zero affinity with lightning. He didn’t even know how to go about trying to access it.

Would you like to use [Lightning Aura]?

Cal stared at the interface… again. He knew something was watching him, but since it seemed benign—not to mention far beyond him—he chose to pretend it didn’t exist.

The question in the interface implied it was watching him more closely than he could have ever imagined.

I’m not sure if I should be slightly concerned or terrified out of my mind.

“Is someone listening?” Cal asked quietly, feeling silly talking to an interface. Some fell into the delusion that there was a real being behind the interface, but in his case, it might actually be true.

There was no reply.

He tried something more direct. “How do I use my traits?”

Still nothing.

Alright. I was an idiot, apparently. I guess I just need mental commands to accept—

[Lightning Aura] activated.

Cal sucked in a deep breath when his mana core was drained, leaving just enough mana for him not to fall into exhaustion. His mana flooded out uncontrollably—or it appeared to until it exited his body and spread in a shockingly coordinated manner.

He stared at his body, observing the faint white streaks of light swirling around him. It was more wisps than anything similar to lightning.

Weak.

Cal could only think of that word. Weak.

When casting lightning spells, white was the color that signified the weakest form. He had experienced it at the very start in his first life. The better he had gotten at the element, the more blue his lightning appeared. That was obviously gone along with his lightning affinity.

I can still manipulate it. That may erase the disappointment.

Cal could feel the connection to the lightning aura. It was the same as his mana, except outside his body.

He held his palm out and pointed it at the ground. He concentrated it to shoot out of his palm, attempting something similar to the spell he knew in his first life.

There was a weak crackle as a tiny spark struck the ground. There was no damage.

Cal stared at the spot he targeted before looking at his hand like it betrayed him.

Do I need to have a much higher [Tier] to have this be effective? I might have made a blunder with my choice of [Trait].

His ears picked up the faint sound of a carriage heading toward his field. He turned to face the dirt path before sighing in resignation.

Cal made the mental command to stop [Lightning Aura].

[Lightning Aura] deactivated. It will be unavailable for 24 hours.

He didn’t care about the time limitation. It was a uselessly weak [Trait] for him… at least for now.

Cal pushed aside the disappointment and waited for Tavia.