There are four big air holes in the wall of this cavern. I called them big but only in comparison to the hundred other air holes here. The average size of the air holes are five to ten centimeters in diameter, while the four bigger ones are at forty to fifty centimeters. The positions of the bigger ones, starting with the one near the makeshift toilet, are at three o’clock, six o’clock, nine o’clock, and twelve o’clock.

First, I tried to use the modified radar spell in the three o’clock hole. Apart from being narrow the further the mana wave went, the air path of that hole is winded, branched, and long. It took me half-a-day, and almost all of my mana just to reach the end of the path. The resulting distance from the hole to the outside connection is about ten kilometers, and that proves I’m definitely trapped deep, deep underground.

These past couple of days, I’ve been thinking about something. I didn’t write it out because I think what I think of is not such a good idea, but considering the current situation, I decided to plant the assorted nuts in the ground.

I know that the rate of germination of many nuts is pretty low with a slow growth rate, but what else can I do? My ration is running low, and I need a way to secure renewable food for my survival. Sacrificing half-a-day worth of nuts in exchange for that seems like a good trade to me.

If you encounter this tale on Amazon, note that it's taken without the author's consent. Report it.

The nuts that I planted in the ground consisted of several blue nuts, yellow nuts, and red nuts. All of them are part of the root fruit family, and according to what I remember from when I was in the magic academy, they grow for about one to three months into maturity in the right soil. If I get lucky, it will take about one week for most of the seeds to take roots, and at that point, I could survive for another month by eating the roots while leaving some planted seeds left to grow into maturity.

I planted them in groups based on their type, and gave some distance (approx. 30 cm) between each patch. The field is spreading to the nine o’clock direction, starting from the well. After planting, I tied the water pouch with a rope, took some water from the well with it, and showered the nuts with water.

In total, with two nut seeds per patch, I planted 50 blue nut patches, 35 yellow nut patches, and 15 red nut patches.

O Petani, God of Farming and Agriculture, if you are there and not drunk on cheap rice wines, please answer my prayer and bless this field in front of me.