CHAPTER 106 - SLIME-LY DILL-LIGHTED TO MEET YOUR PET

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My apprentices’ eyes grew wide.

“Immortal Herbs!” said Kharli. “You mean like the herbs that cultivators use for making Immortal Pills?”

In this world, "cultivators" didn't refer to farmers who cultivated crops, but rather to people who practice various forms of martial or mystical arts to become stronger and extend their lifespan.

“Exactly.” I smiled proudly at the three of them. “So far, we’ve only grown food, but now that we are in our second year, the System has unlocked Immortal Herbs.”

Lari and Kharli hurriedly opened their notebooks and started taking down notes when I wrote the names of some herbs on the whiteboard - [Immortal Essence Lingzhi], [Golden Elixir Ginseng], [Five-flavor Spirit Fruit], [Thousand Leaves Void Vine], [Awakening Clarity Dew Lily], [Insightful Invocation Peony], [Ruby Whisper Spirit Blossom], and [Treasure Jade Plant].

“Of course, as you can imagine, it won’t be easy.” Underneath the list, I wrote down the word “Permaculture,” and underlined it. “Our regular crops die out at the end of the harvest season. These Immortal Herbs, on the other hand, live for years or even decades, and we can harvest them several times a year.”

“Teacher, does this mean that they aren’t actually immortal?” asked Lari.

“Correct.” I was talking a lot more than I normally did, and my mouth was feeling dry, so I took a sip from a glass of water that I got from my inventory. “They aren’t literally immortal, but before a mature plant dies off, it propagates itself. I mean, it leaves behind its offspring. When we plant our garden of Immortal Herbs, we won’t need to replant it unless we want different herbs.”

The three of them exchanged puzzled looks.

“But doesn’t that mean we’ll get less exp?” Mo looked less than pleased at that.

“Yes,” I said.

“But I am very interested in Immortal Herbs,” said Lari. “It might give less exp, but they’re much more valuable than vegetables or rice, right?”

“Yes, they are. This second year of our farming expansion, we will still focus on planting and harvesting the usual plants because it gives the most exp,” I said. “However, during the time when the crops are growing and we have a lot of free time, we can focus on other things.”

“Oh.” Mo nodded her head. “That makes sense.”

“As I said before, apart from planting Immortal Herbs, we can also raise animals. We have enough space now, though we need to clear the land first,” I said.

My farm was in the middle of the Ancient Hill Forest, which was in the southern part of the Westerlands. We always had to cut down a lot of trees in order to have more space to use.

I erased the list of words and drew a large square once again. In the upper right corner, I drew a house, and then a few squiggly lines for the river. At the center, I drew a circle and labeled it “Immortal Herbs.” Then I drew another circle on the right side above the river and labeled it “Farm Animals.”

“Well, it looks like we're going to be busy!” said Kharli. She and Lari copied my drawing in their notebooks.

I chuckled. “I’m not finished yet.”

Smiling, I covered the perimeter of the square with lots of dots.

“What are those?” asked Mo.

“Trees, of course! We didn’t plant them before because I was expecting to expand the farm, and I want them to surround the house and the farm.” With that, I put down my marker since the lecture was now finished. “That’s the plan. I’ll give you more detailed instructions about the requirements for planting the Immortal Herbs later. Any questions?”

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Mo coughed and Lari scratched his head while giving Kharli a meaningful look. Kharli sighed and said, “Teacher, we don’t have any questions, but we did ask Lord Shuye to visit this afternoon.”

“Huh? What for?” These days, Shuye, my Farm Guide, had a pregnant wife to look after, so he had been sending letters through a messenger instead of meeting me himself.

My three apprentices looked everywhere but at me.

“What is it?” I asked.

“Er, um, you see…” Kharli seemed unable to reply properly.

“Just spit it out,” I said.

“We asked him to talk to you about your demon pet!” Mo burst out, then covered her mouth with both her hands.

“Ah, what she means is that, um, we… Maybe Lord Shuye should talk to you about it…?” said Kharli.

“You told on me?” If I was still on Earth, I would probably say something like “Snitches get stitches” or “Nobody likes a squealer,” but I refrained because I didn’t want them to get the idea that I was doing something wrong. I had already told Shuye about my pet.

“Lord Shuye said that he would explain everything,” said Kharli.

I shook my head and said, “If you have some concerns about my having a demon as a pet, you should have just told me instead of Shuye.”

“Well…” Kharli looked guilty.

“Never mind, it’s fine.” I sighed. “Let’s go and see if lunch is ready.”

***

After lunch, Shuye appeared.

My Farm Guide was a big, shaggy-haired person who had a bearish look about him, but he was a member of the White Tiger clan, not the Bear clan.

We exchanged the customary greetings, and I inquired about the health of his wife. She was thriving and in good spirits, according to Shuye. I thanked him profusely for joining the search party that had gone looking for me when I went missing, and I gave him the gifts that my housekeeper had prepared, a few dozen bolts of fine silk and cotton.

Once the pleasantries were finished, he got straight to the point. “I heard you have a new pet. Can I see it?”

“For sure! She’s really cute, and I think you’ll like her.” I led the way to the [Slime House].

Thankfully, based on his blasé attitude, it seemed that he wasn’t overly concerned about my keeping a demon on the farm.

When we got there, I opened the door with a flourish and said, “Here you go! A cute pet living in a cute house.”

Shuye’s eyes swept the interior of the [Slime House]. “I see the problem. Your pet must have a very advanced stealth skill. I can’t see it.”

“What do you mean you can’t see it? It’s right there.” I pointed at my pet who was bouncing around excitedly.

“I mean exactly what I say. I can’t hear or see anything that looks like a pet,” said Shuye.

“What?! But that’s impossible. My apprentices can see it.”

“No, they can’t. That’s why they asked me to talk to you,” said Shuye.

I held up a hand to ask him to stop. “Wait, how can that be? They acted like they could see it, and they never said anything to me.”

“They didn’t say anything to you, because you were acting… strange. They thought that your recent adventure might have been more stressful than the healers realized.”

I was speechless.

Shuye continued to explain. “They’re just kids, and they weren’t sure what to do, so they sent word to me that you were playing with something that they couldn’t see.”

In other words, they thought I was crazy?

“But you believe me? There really is a pet inside the house,” I said.

“I’m sure there is. Why don’t you try to see if you can turn off its stealth skill?” Shuye suggested.

“Okay, give me a bit of time. I’ll have to figure this out.” I got two chairs from my inventory and put them down near the entrance of my pet’s house. “Can you please not look at me while I’m thinking?”

I wasn’t sure what sort of expression I made when I was interacting with the System, and I didn’t want Shuye to think that I was actually insane.

“Certainly.” Shuye turned the chair away from me and sat down.

The Adventure Incarnate User Interface was extremely cluttered. There were dozens of main tabs that had tabs on their own. I checked the pet tab and everything under it, but I couldn’t find anything regarding stealth, invisibility, or camouflage.

I was almost at my wits when I remembered that GodIAm was very strict when it came to game optimization. Had he done something to the visual settings? I checked the various add-ons he had installed, but came up with nothing. Then I checked the display settings.

Oh my gosh! There it was.

I hadn’t even known that there was a toggle for “Hide Followers.” The moment I turned it off, Shuye sprang up from his chair and stared wide-eyed at my pet.

“That’s a demon!” he said.

“Nooooooooo,” I said, placing my body between him and the door. “Let me explain. You went to the mines, right? You know that the bottom levels are sacred spaces that were dedicated to the god of the place?”

“This is the first that I’ve heard of it,” said Shuye.

“You can take my word for it. The god of that place had a golden slime as a pet, and this is one of its descendants,” I said. “I know that technically people regard it as a demon, but really it’s a sacred beast.”

Shuye said nothing more and simply continued to observe my pet. I went inside the [Slime House] and picked Cutie up to show that she was quite tame.

“Okay?” I gave Shuye an anxious look.

He nodded. “All right, I trust you.”

Phew!