I caught my breath and my heart pounded wildly in my chest.

A pocket dimension?

That was a proposed Adventure Incarnate expansion that went into beta testing but was never released!

Years ago, the developers made a “farm within a farm” which was supposed to be a much more “high fantasy” land where farmers made an army of earth golems to work on the land for them. There, one could also cast magic spells with the help of… I couldn’t remember if they were called fairies or spirits, but they were summoned creatures. It even included a training portal!

The idea had been scrapped due to the player community’s vocal disapproval of the bright, cartoony graphics which they hated because they thought they looked too childish.

How come I had access to this piece of scrapped content?

Thinking of all the possibilities made me feel giddy, and I had to calm myself down a little before I mentally clicked on the “appropriate time” part of the item description. According to the System text, I needed to use the Astrology skill to find an auspicious date, hour, and minute for planting the seed. I took note of all the details and went outside that night to check.

“I hope it’s not years from now,” I said to Prince Baiyu.

“There might be more than one auspicious day,” he said. “Astrology normally works like that.”

We were stargazing at the fishing platform, as far away from the lights of the villa as we could be. The sea breeze was warm and the night sky was cloudy, which made it harder to use my telescope since we had to wait for the section of the sky I was charting to clear.

Thankfully, this type of Astrology was easy enough. All I had to do was to use the [Telescope] to find the stars indicated in the [Star Map] and note down their coordinates which I then entered into the [Cosmic Fortune Finder Machine’s] numerical keyboard.

[Cosmic Fortune Finder Machine:

A mystical machine used to find both auspicious and calamitous dates for important events. Type in a question and the machine will output a star map. Find the coordinates of the stars on the map and input them into the machine to reveal the answer you desire.]

If you had asked me back on Earth, I’d have said that Astrology was all mumbo-jumbo, but it seemed to be a legitimate skill in this world.

I typed in the question "When is the best time to plant the Mustard Seed?" and pressed the enter button. Then I collected the [Star Map] from the output chute.

The telescope was a digital one with a control panel. I fed the [Star Map] into a slot and the telescope rotated until it was facing the right area of the sky, but I did have to maually adjust the angle. I peered into the telescope's eye piece and kept adjusting it up and down until the System pinged me that I found the right star. Prince Baiyu wrote down the numbers for me. We continued working like this until I located all the stars I needed.

“Okay, here goes nothing…” I punched the last set of numbers on the Cosmic Fortune Finder Machine] which spit out a card with the information I wanted. “Wow, I’m so lucky! The next auspicious date is thirty minutes after midnight on New Year’s Day.”

“I’m happy for you. So you’re done with astrology tonight?”

“Yes.” I put the equipment away.

"Can you ask this machine any question?"

"What? No, not really. I can only ask the questions that my bloodline inheritance asks."

"Pity, but never mind that." Prince Baiyu took my hand in his. “Shall we go to your villa or mine?”

I turned to face him, my heart quickening at his proximity. Placing my hands on his shoulders, I felt the warmth of his body through the silk of his robes. I went on tiptoe, my lips brushing against his ear as I whispered, “Oh my, what a saucy question. You're becoming really bold.”

He blushed and stammered, “Well, y-you, I-”

I put a finger on his lips to silence him. “No, no, don’t explain. Let’s go to your villa.”

He took me in his arms and bent down until our foreheads touched. His breath was warm on my face as he said, “Now who’s the saucy one?”

This time I stopped him talking by covering his lips with mine.

***

Two days after that we harvested the last of the fruits and I removed the [Crystal Waters Resort], leaving the islands as pristine as we had found them. Since Prince Muyang and his people were staying here, we said our goodbyes and I gifted them with a large box of Emberstone Farm [Tea]. The rest of us got on the [Solarium] and flew off. I stopped to drop off Prince Baiyu, his parents, and Scholar Wu at Anwei City before returning to my house. New Year’s Day was tomorrow, and it was a major holiday for clan members. Due to their long lifespan, clan members could forget even important memories if they weren’t revisited every now and then. Therefore, at the end of each year, they came together as a family to talk and record the significant events in their lives and that of their community in the past few years.

Though I was sad that we couldn’t be together, I didn’t whine because, after all, we had spent the entire winter season in each other’s company.

Travel via the [Solarium] was fast, so we arrived at Emberstone Farm in under an hour.

“It’s a cliche, but there’s truly no place like home!” I flung my arms around my apprentices. “I can’t wait for tomorrow.”

“I’m glad to be back,” said Kharli. “The islands were nice, but it was so hot.”

Mo nodded her agreement. “I’ve been looking forward to the spring planting season all week long.”

“Teacher, do you think the [Ginseng] is ready yet?” asked Lari.

I shook my head. “I doubt it grew much in winter. Do you want to go and check it now?”

“No, Teacher. I don’t want to miss the magic!”

“Alright.”

Everyone loved it whenever I made the buildings appear out of thin air, so I waited until the staff finished disembarking with all of our luggage before going to the System’s [Build] tab and summoning the [Three-Courtyard House], [Greenhouse], [Ranch House], and the two [Rice Mills]. They all clapped.

“We’re back!” Kharli ran off to the main house with the other two trailing behind her.

The staff followed behind them at a more sedate pace while I stopped to inspect the fields before heading to my house.

The air was cold but not freezing on the last day of winter. I pulled my thin cotton jacket closed, shivering. The plants from the [Winter Seed Mix] we’d planted at the start of the season had grown shoulder-high. They were brown and dry-looking. By midnight, they would have fully wilted and by morning the kids and I would plow them into the soil where they would further decompose into nutrients that the crops could use in the future. I knelt and picked up a few fallen leaves which I crumbled in my hands. They released a pleasantly earthy, damp scent.

After my walk, I went to the [Herb Garden] which was in quite a messy state since we’d left it alone for so long. My apprentices and I got busy tending to the plots and sweeping the paths clear. We finished at lunchtime and went to the main house where the staff were all busy preparing for the feast tonight.

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“Don’t eat a lot now, reserve your stomach space for the New Year’s Eve party!” I said.

“Except for Lari, he has plenty of space,” said Kharli.

Lari just smirked and continued shoveling rice and meat into his mouth.

“Today I’m gonna soak in the hot spring for an hour at least,” said Mo. “My bathroom in the [Crystal Waters Resort] was good, but nothing beats the hot spring at home.”

“Are we going to dress up for tonight?” asked Kharli.

I yawned and said, “A nap is my first priority. I’ll put a bit of effort into dressing up later, but you don’t have to if you don’t want to.”

“Teacher, I think we should wear matching clothes next year. I remembered that too late this year,” said Mo.

“Oh yeah, that’s a thing, isn’t it?” Back in Singapore, families liked to wear new matching clothes for the Chinese New Year. My parents and I always wore red. The thought made me feel a little melancholic, so I finished eating as quickly as I could and left.

At the [Ranch House] I slept until late afternoon and put on a comfortable but elegant set of red robes with tiny white snowflakes painted on them. A simple green jade hairpin in an abstract wavy shape completed the look. With a spring in my step, I went to the courtyard house where Fengying and the others had set up the main hall with festive decorations made of pinecones, pine needles, bamboo cuttings, and plum blossoms. Pine, bamboo, and plum were called the Three Friends of Winter because they were evergreen plants that thrive even in the coldest season.

“My lady, please sit here.” Fengying directed me to the seat of honor at the center of the hall.

The maids then brought in a wooden chest containing the traditional New Year’s gift of lucky money. Last year, I didn't know enough about local customs to arrange this, but this year, Scholar Wu’s books had educated me on what a good employer should do for her staff.

Everyone lined up and I handed each of them a string of one hundred copper coins strung with red thread. The coins were round, with a square hole in the middle, and weren’t worth much, but since they were given as a gift on New Year's they were said to be lucky. Tonight we would wear them on our necks while we feasted and put them under our pillows before we slept.

I exchanged pleasantries and good wishes with everyone.

“Happy New Year!”

“May this year be filled with peace and harmony.”

“Wishing you a year filled with joy and happiness.”

When I handed out the last of the coins, Fengying, as the oldest person around, gave me my share.

“Thank you,” I said. “Let’s eat and drink our fill to welcome the New Year!”

As I requested beforehand, we all dined together at one long table in the outer courtyard, so it was very festive. The house’s climate control was turned on, so it wasn’t too cold, and there were lots of pretty fairy lights and winter-themed decor. Above us, the sky was a glorious blaze of stars and a gibbous moon.

For this New Year dinner, the chef and his assistants had prepared a whole steamed fish, crispy pork belly with pickled vegetables, roast duck, double-boiled ginseng with pork ribs, and vegetables in abalone sauce. Since the celebration was for everyone, the maids served all the dishes and drinks in one go instead of having separate courses. In the middle of the table, they put a large Eight Treasure Auspicious Bowl full of nuts, seeds, and fruits whose names were homophones for nice things. For example, this world’s word for “apple” sounded similar to the word for “peace.”

I sampled every dish and drank sweet peach juice. The steamed fish’s delicate flesh seemed to melt on my tongue and the roast duck, with its crisp, caramelized skin and juicy meat was incredibly flavorful and delightfully textured. In my opinion, the pork belly was the star of the show. I loved the taste of the succulent meat and the way the crackling skin sounded when I bit into it. By the time I got to the vegetables, I was stuffed and only had a few bites of it before finishing off my meal with the double-boiled ginseng soup which was perfect for fortifying me against the cold winter wind outside.

“Another excellent feast!” I said to my apprentices.

Mo and Kharli were to my right, while Lari was to my left.

“I can’t eat too much or I won’t be able to go out later,” said Mo.

“Don’t stuff yourself silly,” said Kharli. “Planting the [Mustard Seed] seems very important.”

I wasn’t sure if farm hands were allowed in the pocket dimension, but I’d told the kids about it because I didn’t want them to worry if I suddenly disappeared from the farm tonight.

“The System probably has a huge surprise for us,” said Lari.

Mo placed a choice morsel of fish on my plate. “Teacher, you should eat more since you’re getting married soon.”

I pinched her waist. “You’re the one who needs to eat more. You need to build some of that good fat!”

Mo leaned towards me and whispered, “Teacher, did you notice Yinuo is getting plump? Could she be….?”

“She is a newlywed,” said Kharli.

“Hush, you. We don’t know anything yet,” I said.

Could it be that this time next year we would have a baby on the farm?

We finished eating well before midnight, of course. The staff put the leftover food away. It was traditional to leave a lot of food uneaten until the next day since having a surplus was a symbol of plenty. Tables were pushed to the side and Fengying, Deming, and the older staff started drinking in earnest. The younger ones like me and the kids took out a few musical instruments. Lari, ever outgoing, regaled us with a short tune on his flute that he had been practicing. Yinuo and the maids taught us some folk songs, but mostly we chatted and enjoyed the break from work.

As the night wore on, I felt sleepy and retired to my bedroom in the main house, with the kids keeping watch over me. They were given strict instructions to wake me up ten minutes after midnight.

“Teacher, will you really meet the New Year’s ghost in your sleep?” Mo tucked her string of coins under my pillow. “Maybe this will help.”

“Good thinking. I’ll put mine, too.” I took the necklace of coins from my neck and shoved it under my pillow for good luck.

The others did the same with their coins and I washed my face, put on my pajamas, and went to bed. No sooner did I lie down that I fell into a deep sleep and dreamed of my little dragon boy. He was wearing a red onesie with the character for good fortune embroidered on gold thread on its front and "Happy New Year" on the back. I couldn't help but kiss his cute face dozens of times.

When I woke up from my dream of a dragon child, I was in my bed, but I realized it was a false awakening because the dream continued with me receiving the evaluation that the player received at the end of every year in Adventure Incarnate.

However, instead of seeing an actual ghost, a bearded old man with blue eyes and hair,

what I saw was something very different. There was no personal visit from a scary apparition. Rather, what I saw was a scrolling screen filled with text, presumably written by the ghost.

[My dear girl, we haven’t seen each other in such a long time! Though my body may have vanished from this world, my heart and spirit will always be with you. You’ve been here two years now, and you haven’t made much progress, but that’s okay. I’m happy as long as you’re enjoying yourself.]

Then there was a short pause before another screen popped up with the actual evaluation.

[You haven’t accomplished much. Couldn’t you have tried harder to improve the farm?

Maybe I should have given the farm to someone else.

It’s a pity, but there’s nothing I can do. The future of Emberstone Farm is in your hands now.]

Lastly, the “screen” in my dream showed my current stats. The only interesting thing was that there were some hidden values that couldn’t normally be seen in the System.

[Grade: D]

[Fighter Reputation: 5/99]

[Magical Reputation: 55/99]

[Social Reputation: 92/99]

It made sense that my fighter reputation was low because people hardly ever saw me fight, and my social reputation must be high because I helped fix the desert. However, what had made my magical reputation rise this much?

The System, it seemed, couldn’t handle GodIAm’s shenanigans with the inventory, which made the Achievements part of the screen flicker crazily. One moment the “Crops Shipped” showed 2,147,483,647 but the next it became -2,147,483,647. The same thing happened with the other stats.

I had assumed that GodIAm had simply duplicated the items, but based on what the System screen showed, he had actually changed the player’s data so that it showed that the items had been bought, gathered, crafted, harvested, fished, etc.

“Teacher, wake up!”

“Teacher, it’s time!”

“Time to wake up, Teacher!”

I woke up to the sound of my apprentices' voices. “Oh, that was such a weird, weird dream.”

Kharli and Mo helped me put on thick robes over my pajamas and we went outside for the most important thing we had to do today.

Now that it was past midnight, it was the first day of the spring planting season. The actual crops could wait until after dawn tomorrow, but the [Mustard Seed] had to be planted now.

Lari plowed one tile of land a few steps away from the main house’s door and Kharli spread the [Mysterious Goo] over the plowed soil. I waited until it was exactly thirty minutes after midnight to plant the [Mustard Seed], then Mo watered it.

I shivered a little in the cold night air. “Is anything happening?”

Mo frowned down at the patch of land we were all staring at. “I think it’s wiggling!”

“What?” Heedless of the fine set of red silk robes he was wearing, Lari knelt and put his head closer to the ground to peer at the seed more closely. “It’s already sprouted!”

“Oh my gosh, it’s so exciting!” I held the girls’ hands and squeezed them. “Lari, step back a little and give it room.”

He obeyed and we watched as the tiny seed grew into a seedling that rapidly shot upward. The plant grew with frenzied urgency, trunk thickening and branches multiplying before our disbelieving eyes. Branches unfurled and leaves sprouted at an astonishing pace. In mere moments, an enormous mustard tree towered above us, its yellow flowers already beginning to bloom.

There was only one thing wrong with it.

I blinked rapidly three times and rubbed my eyes. Was I seeing things wrong because of lack of sleep? I’d only napped a few minutes and it was after midnight right now, way past my usual bedtime.

Lari, Kharli, and Mo were bewildered.

“...Teacher, why does it look like that?” asked Kharli.