CHAPTER 76 - ELK-COMING THE MIGRATING HERD OF SPIRIT BEASTS
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I wasn’t sure if this was a good thing or not. On the one hand, migrating elk passing through Blossom Valley would leave a lot of droppings, which was good for the soil. On the other hand, they would definitely eat the grass, which was bad for the soil.
Wait a minute, do elk even migrate?
This was weird…
It’s true that there was grass, but this was hardly prime grazing ground for the [Prairie Elk]. Was there water here for them to drink?
I had so many questions, and the five members of the White Tiger clan who were waiting for us at the site answered them all for me after the carriage driver said his goodbyes and flew off in a rush since he had to make another trip for Fengying and Deming.
“We have no idea where they came from. They just appeared from nowhere,” said the shortest one who seemed to be their leader or at least their spokesman.
I remembered a little about the elk from the game. “Aren’t they from Wolf Mountain? Did something happen to their normal habitat?”
“Which Wolf Mountain? Little Wolf Mountain? Stone Wolf Hill? Wolf Peak?”
“I have absolutely no idea.” It was just called “Wolf Mountain” in the game.
“In any case, they are not aggressive. Don’t get too close to them, though.”
“That would be wise. What are you planning to do?”
“These are extremely valuable spirit animals. We’ve sent word to the clan head.”
Oh, right. I hadn’t realized that these were spirit animals. “I would like to hunt a few of them. We need the meat.”
“How many?”
“Just three.”
“That shouldn’t be a problem. I’ll get three of them for you.”
“Thank you, but I would like to hunt them myself. I have a trap that I would like to test,” I said.
The five of them then huddled together and whispered stuff that I couldn’t hear. At the end of their discussion, the leader turned to me and said, “That should be fine.”
“Thank you. I’ll prepare the house now, and set the traps later.”
“Please let us know if you need anything. We’re here to help you.”
We bowed to each other courteously, then I went to the designated spot with my apprentices. As we walked there, the clan members pointed out the improvements that they had done to the place. The question of how the elk could find water was answered when I saw that they had dug a shallow pond that was currently full of water.
“There’s water in it right now, because it rained yesterday, but I fear it’s not enough for the animals,” said one of the White Tiger clan members.
“It’s okay, I can help with that!”
When we reached the right place, I simply used the System menu to build the largest [Two Courtyard House] option available, adding the [Elegant Chinese Garden] to the west side. The clan members were thunderstruck when they saw a magic circle appear on the ground. Moments later, the house appeared, but I wasn’t done yet. All around the perimeter of the house, I added as many [Nirvana Lotus Ponds] as I could.
“Wow! The house is so big!” Lari tried to run to the house, but I grabbed him by the back of his robe.
“Wait, I’m not finished,” I said.
Next, I added the furniture packs for the various rooms inside the house. This took quite a while, and I let my apprentices wander around while I was working on it. There were a lot more rooms compared to the house at the farm, and I took the time to carefully and thoughtfully add the furniture.
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Since we were going to be working with extremely smelly animals, I once again put a shower room right outside the main gate. I also added some guest bedrooms for the clan members who would be staying with us. Most importantly, I added four workshop rooms around the inner courtyard, one for each of us.
By the time I was done, I noticed that the [Prairie Elk] had been attracted by the smell of the water and were already at the [Nirvana Lotus Ponds]. Good.
“Lari, I want to place a [Pit Trap]. Where do you think I should put it?” I asked him because he had the highest Hunting level among the four of us.
“Hmm.” He looked around thoughtfully and pointed at a place near the ponds.
“Okay. Thank you.”
The [Pit Trap] was simply a big hole that was dug in the ground for the [Prairie Elk] to fall into. I selected it from the Hunting toolbelt and placed it in the spot Lari had chosen. Then I left it alone. Animals would not go near a trap when there was a human there.
“Teacher! Can I place a [Pit Trap], too?” asked Lari.
“No, not this time. I need the exp.” I had only asked permission to hunt three of the elk, and I wasn’t sure if my apprentice’s success would count as far as the quest was concerned. “Let’s go take a look at the [Lizardwings].”
The three of them held their noses and groaned.
I turned to the leader of the clan observers and asked him, “Would the clan like to buy the [Lizardwings]?”
“You’re selling them? I thought you needed them to improve the soil,” he said.
“I have more eggs,” I said.
Though everything had gone well so far, I thought it would be good to sell some animals, since it seemed inadvisable for me to be the only owner of [Lizardwings]. If more people raised them, my desert base wouldn’t be unique or especially noteworthy. This was the same philosophy behind my sharing information about the tree boxes and swales.
“We would love to buy them,” he said.
“Um, can you build cages for transporting the animals?”
“We’ll take care of it.”
“Great!”
I went off with my apprentices who started running like crazy. By the time I arrived at the [Lizardwing] pen, they had already replenished the water and animal feed.
“The grass does look a little bit greener,” I said.
The ground was half-covered in excrement and somewhat torn up by the animals’ claws, but I thought the grass looked healthier and not as brown as it used to be.
“Look how big they are now!” said Kharli.
When I had left them, the animals had been so small they could have fit in the palm of my hand. Now, weeks later, they had doubled in size.
“Teacher, how much will they sell for?” asked Lari.
“I’m sure Shuye will negotiate a good price for them,” I said.
The three of them exchanged looks, and Lari rolled his eyes.
“We’re done here, so let’s head to the hill.” It had rained yesterday, and I wanted to see what had happened to the swales.
“Yes, Teacher,” they chorused before they started running to Skyfang Hill.
When we got there, I saw that the swales still had a bit of water in them. I stepped into one to clean off some of the stinky poop on my boots and the others followed suit.
“The ground here seems less dry,” said Mo.
“Of course it’s less dry, they said it just rained yesterday,” said Kharli.
“I thought it didn’t rain here, that’s why it’s a desert,” said Lari.
“It rains, just not a lot,” said Kharli.
“Everything seems to be fine. Did you see any signs of the soil being loosened by the rain and washed out?” I asked them.
“It seems fine!” said Lari.
“Let’s look around. Go up the hill a little in different directions. Meet me at the house in an hour.”
I walked straight up, and the others scattered.
The swale and berm method worked best when there were trees, too. I looked around for the best place to plant trees. Obviously, we would be planting trees all over the hill, but I thought it would be best to start with the top and then work our way down. My inspection of the earthworks took more than an hour, but at the end of it, I was satisfied that the swales had been built well and were working effectively.
The kids were waiting for me at the house and told me that everything looked good to them, too.
“Okay, just one last thing before we rest. Let’s take a look at our trees!” This was my favorite part of the project. The swales were just muddy puddles, and the [Lizardwings] were a menace to my olfactory organs, but the trees were a pure delight.
I beamed with joy as the observers from the White Tiger clan complimented me on the healthy condition of the trees. The [Dendrological Cultivation Chambers] were full of water because of the rain, and the saplings were green and healthy despite the barren condition of the land around them.
“Just imagine these trees filling the entire hill and valley,” I said to everyone.
“Teacher, how long will it take for the trees to grow as tall as me?” asked Lari.
“Years. Probably at least two years,” I said.
“That’s not as long as I thought it would take. I thought it would be like ten years,” said Lari.
Trees in Adventure Incarnate grew to adult size in one year and started producing fruit in their second year. I wasn’t quite sure that that would be true in this world though.
“It could be longer…” I said.
We were talking about the trees and the project in general when one of the clan members noticed that the carriage was approaching, so we walked to the landing area to meet with the rest of our household.
Just when I was about to greet my housekeeper and Demon Chef, I got a notification from the System.
[Side Quest: Hunt Prairie Elk
Prairie Elk: 1/3
Reward: Hunting Exp]
Yes!