CHAPTER 202
🙞❤︎🙜
“Well, um, you know, it’s a mysterious door…Technically, it is a tree, right?” I circled it, but the other side was the same. “Check out the System info.”
[Mustard Tree Pocket Dimension:
A tree grown from a special mustard seed. The tiniest thing can grow into a mighty force of nature. Enter the door into space and time for a whole new adventure!]
We had expected a real plant to grow from the seeds, but what we got was a two-dimensional drawing of a tree with a wooden door on its trunk. It was flat like a piece of paper and the drawing was not realistic at all. It looked like a child's crayon drawing.
Furthermore, I knew that mustard seeds didn’t actually grow into stereotypical trees with woody trunks because the mustard plant was actually a shrub.
But hey, in a magical world, there are no rules!
“This looks strange but interesting,” said Kharli. She gingerly poked the paper-like substance with a finger. “It’s real!”
“Gimme a sec.” I mentally right-clicked on the item which brought up its settings and I made it three times bigger. Now the door was big enough to allow all of us together to walk through.
The others jumped back in alarm.
I gently stroked the material of the tree with my fingertips. It looked like paper but felt like plastic. “Let me try opening the door.”
The door swung open without a sound, and the three of us sighed in unison when we saw what was inside the door. It was a vast, open land, perfect for farming. Unlike Emberstone Farm where it was midnight, the sun was shining high in the sky in the pocket dimension. In the distance, hills stretched out under a clear blue sky. The ground was covered in many different kinds of grasses and wildflowers, but a few bare patches showed rich, dark soil. A river wound through the valley on the left side of the portal, and small groves of trees were scattered here and there. A gentle breeze carried a clean, earthy scent to us.
We stepped through and my field of view was immediately covered in so many System popups that only the first nine could even be read.
[Quest Available: Awaken the Spirits of the Land]
[Quest Available: Clear the Cursed Thicket]
[Quest Available: Totem of the Seasons]
[Quest Available: Rekindling the Emberstone]
[Quest Available: The Great Aviary Initiative]
[Quest Available: Let Food Be Thy Medicine, and Medicine Thy Food]
[Quest Available: Legends of the Living Earth]
[Quest Available: Paradise Earth Primordial Origin Dream Soul Path]
I closed all the popups and scrolled through the list of newly available quests. There were dozens, but they were all easy ones, except for [Paradise Earth Primordial Origin Dream Soul Path].
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Mo tugged on my sleeve, concern etched on her face. “Teacher, why is your expression so weird?”
I blinked twice and stopped reading all the quest descriptions. “Gosh, I forgot you guys don’t get quests. Kharli, maybe you should take out your notebook and write this down.”
She did as I asked. Brushes and ink were the usual writing tools in this world, but I had, of course, given them blank notebooks and pencils. Kharli wrote everything down as I read the System text aloud, which took a while. I had to stop when I got to the part where the System gave instructions about the golems.
“The golems cost how much?!” Lari sounded outraged, his eyes wide and his mouth hanging open in disbelief.
“This is making my head spin,” said Mo.
“Teacher, can we take a break? My hand is cramping,” said Kharli.
I laughed good-naturedly. “Sure. There’s actually no rush, and I think we should go to bed soon. Tomorrow is the first day of the spring planting season.”
The three of them nodded.
“But, let’s spend a little time exploring! It’s not every day that we discover a new mystical land to farm.” I gestured at the distant hills covered in dense forests. “Don’t try going that far. It’s late and we’re all too tired. Stay close for now, and we’ll meet back here in half an hour.”
All of us went our separate ways, Lari and Kharli to the river, while Mo and I walked to the nearest open field. Tall grasses brushed against my legs, and bees buzzed among the poppies, buttercups, daisies, star lilies, and other flowers whose names I didn’t know. The ground was quite level, and when I examined the soil, I was elated to find that it was [Black Soil].
This was huge progress!
[Black Soil] was a prerequisite for planting Immortal Herbs. I’d tried to make it on the farm, but in the back of my mind, I was always worried about how the clan would react when they saw I was growing priceless, legendary crops. Planting them here would eliminate that problem, since non-farmers wouldn’t be able to enter this space without my permission. I wouldn’t have to ask Shuye for more guards around the farm.
However, apart from the soil, there were no other special features I could see since all of the dimension's functions had to be unlocked by doing the quests the System listed. I met up with Mo, and we collected some of the prettier blooms to make ourselves bouquets of wildflowers that I tied with a white ribbon.
At the door, we met up with the other two and gave them flowers.
“This is such a lovely place,” said Mo.
“Did you guys find anything interesting?” I asked Lari and Kharli.
“Yes! Teacher, the river is full of wonderful spots for Fishing,” said Kharli.
“I think I saw a place where I can place bird traps on the other side of the river, but it was too far to check,” said Lari.
“We can explore more later. Today, we need to prioritize the exp we will get from the planting season,” I said.
“Yes, Teacher. But after the planting at dawn, we’ll go back here and start working on the new quests?” said Kharli.
“Naturally!” I said. “Let’s have a toast for the New Year and today’s discovery of a new farm! I shall name it… Grand View Garden.”
I had racked my brain the whole day thinking of a properly majestic but not too pretentious name for the new farm subspace. In the end, all I could think of was the name of the garden in the classic Chinese novel Dream of the Red Chamber.
Lari, Kharli, and Mo clapped politely, and I distributed glasses of lemonade.
“Looks like we’ve got our work cut out for us!” I lifted my glass. “A toast to working hard and playing hard!”
Kharli lifted hers and offered her toast. “To the magic of life!”
Lari gave us a mischievous smile. “To mastering the art of looking busy while doing absolutely nothing!”
We all laughed.
Mo whispered something in Kharli’s ear before turning to me and lifting her glass in my direction. “To love and romance!”
I playfully nudged her with my shoulder. “I’ll drink to that!”
They clinked their glasses with mine the way I had taught them, and we all drank our lemonade.
After that, we exited the pocket dimension and I closed the tree’s door behind us, making sure that all the security settings were set to the maximum.
I was in a great mood as I walked towards my [Ranch House] where I got a welcome surprise in the form of a certain prince.
“You said you had to spend the day with your parents!” I hugged him.
“The day is over and midnight has come and gone.” He kissed the top of my head. “Shall we spend the rest of the night together?”
“Do you even need to ask?”
Our eyes locked and my hands found their way to his face, gently guiding him closer to mine. The moment our mouths connected, I realized this was the ideal way to bid farewell to the old year and welcome the new.
THE CHRONICLES OF EMBERSTONE FARM BOOK 2
THE END
THE STORY CONTINUES IN BOOK 3