Chương 44: A Field in the Dungeon

Ch. 44 - A Field in the Dungeon After a quick lunch, Wyatt packed up the tent and removed any sign of their presence inside the ruined farmhouse. By the time he was done, Thrais, Krista, Alvar, and Aslak had returned, ready to begin dismantling. Ronja was staying with the stacks of timber planks, using her Skills to finish drying them. Wyatt offered to help them move some of the larger pieces of rubble on the floor, but Thrais waved him off.

The Elves seemed eager to begin, already clambering up onto the second floor, so Wyatt left them to it.

Wyatt walked out onto the grass fields that stretched between the farmhouse and the stream, picturing what he wanted to do. It was harder than he thought, as he was trying to envisage how he wanted everything organised and laid out. Deciding he would start on the right side of the farm, Wyatt walked in that direction until he began to feel the edge of what he could perceive with [Demesne Sense]. Using that as the border of his land, Wyatt started to roughly pace out the size of what he wanted his first field to be.

He was aiming for an acre, or as close to it as he could get without measuring equipment. Wyatt kept it as a square field, just because the symmetry of it tickled his fancy. He had so much land to play with, he could afford a bit of whimsy. Wyatt staked out the corner of his first 'field' with some of the discarded timber from the farmhouse, driving them into the earth as markers. When he walked back to where Kit was waiting, he wondered for a moment if he was being a bit too ambitious.

It was a very large area, still slightly off to the side of the farmhouse. Wyatt pointed this out to Kit, tracing an invisible line through the sea of rippling grass from the front doors of the farmhouse all the way down to the stream.

"I think a road running down all the way to the water would look good, don't you think? I mean, it'll be a while until I can get around to it, but I want the fields to be on either side of it." Kit nodded slowly as she looked along where Wyatt was pointing. Then she turned to look at the area he had marked out.

'I like the idea of a road, Wyatt, but that field—are you really going to try and clear all that?' Wyatt laughed ruefully. He kind of agreed with her, although he felt like he was so full of energy, so ready to just get started, that it was hard to be daunted.

"You think it's too ambitious?" Kit looked at him carefully, gauging his mood.

'Not exactly. But you are aware that you are just one person, right? And after this morning all your Skills are on cooldown. And the sheer size of that field compared to what you planted earlier with your Skills …" Wyatt nodded easily, unfazed. He grinned.

"Yeah, it's a bit bigger. Those four plots that I planted before only come to four hundred square feet altogether. Compared to that, this field is about a hundred times larger. Well, one hundred and eleven times bigger if you want to be exact about it. But an acre isn't actually all that big of a field for a farm."

Indeed, if you took into account the sheer size of the land that lay between the farmhouse and the waterway that formed the edge of Wyatt's [Demesne Sense], the one acre field he had paced out was quite small. It was only a small plot in the expansive sea of grass. Wyatt reached into his bag of holding, and took out one of his new purchases, a scythe. He held it slightly awkwardly, unused to the heft and feel of the tool. Kit looked at him holding the unfamiliar tool with quiet amusement.

'You're not going to use the sickle?'

"I mean, I could—but it would take me forever! At least this will be quicker." Kit opened her jaw in a laugh.

'Theoretically, Wyatt. Have you ever used a scythe before?' Wyatt laughed as well, self-deprecatingly.

"Nope. If it's a disaster, I might have to go back to using the sickle. But this should be much faster. When I get the hang of it, I mean." Kit eyed the long handled tool with the wickedly sharp crescent blade dubiously.

'Maybe. But you have a lot of area to cover. Are you sure you want to do it by hand, without Skills?' Wyatt smiled.

"Don't worry, I have a plan." Wyatt hefted the scythe, and did a few practice swings with it. It took some getting used to, and he almost overbalanced a few times. He nodded to himself.

"Right! Time to get on with it. Don't laugh, Kit."

'Wouldn't dream of it.' Wyatt started slow, trying to get a feel for the motion of the scythe. He moved down the edge of the acre he had marked out, smiling as each swing took far more of the grass and wild wheat than should have been possible; [Lesser Reaping] was being activated with each pass of the scythe, cutting perhaps a third more than Wyatt would have otherwise reached. And it wasn't like he was simply cutting the grass and it was falling at his feet either.

Wyatt's other new skill, [Bundled Harvest] was taking effect, and it caused everything that he cut to vanish as if by magic—appearing behind him in triangular bundles once he had reaped enough. One of regular grass stems, and one consisting of sheafs of wild wheat. The stems and sheafs were leaning in on one another, perfectly placed so that Wyatt could easily pick everything up at once. It didn't just stop there.

[Not Just the Root, but the Seed] also kicked in, adding small piles of different grains next to the bundles, effectively doubling his harvest. Wyatt paused, just staring back behind him at what he had cut. Then he grinned.

"Okay, now that is really cool." Even though Wyatt wasn't doing this to harvest any of the wild wheat, and certainly not the grass, it showed him just what his Skills could do. He was already itching to harvest a proper field of crops, already planning what he wanted to do in the future. But first he had to clear the land before he could plant anything. And that was the hard part. The author's content has been appropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

Wyatt kept reaping, gradually working his way down the line between two of the marker posts. He thought he was getting a bit quicker, but he was trying to be economical, not fast. Trying to keep every pass of the scythe smooth. He occasionally swept it too low to the ground or angled it wrong, the blade catching the earth, but it didn't happen too often. Wyatt's shoulder started to burn with the repetitive motion, but it also felt good to him.

The sun was beating down, mild at first, but he really started to feel the heat by the time he was making his way back up the line towards the farmhouse. Wyatt paused, wiping the sweat off his brow. Then he brightened up, remembering something he had forgotten. He opened up his bag of holding, and took out the straw hat—placing it on his head with a quiet laugh. It instantly provided relief, shade enveloping his face and neck. A sound in the distance, good-natured laughter, made Wyatt look up.

On the roof of the farmhouse some of the Elves had paused in their work, noticing his new apparel. Wyatt waved cheerfully up at the Elves, then continued reaping his way up the line of his field. Wyatt lost himself in the repetitive motion, finding it almost soothing. His mind wandered, and he marvelled at where he was, and at what he was doing. It seemed impossible that only a few weeks ago he had been lost in that accursed forest with no way out. He'd lost so much, but had gained as well.

Wyatt just wished that his Grandparents could see him now, see what he had found. He only paused in his work to occasionally put a new edge on the scythe. He could tell when he needed to sharpen it, as the blade started to catch on the grass stems instead of slicing right through. Even so, he finished in good time. With [Lesser Reaping] Wyatt was done cutting the entire acre in a little over an hour and a half. Wyatt was tempted to take a break at this point, but he couldn't just leave what he had done.

Spaced out all over the field where the bundled products of his labours. So, after rolling his shoulders and letting out a small groan, Wyatt got to it. Taking out a ball of twine from his bag of holding, Wyatt walked back down the rows he had cut, wrapping the twine around each bundle of wheat or grass, tying it tight so that it wouldn't blow away in the wind. It was so easy, as his Skill had placed everything in the perfect position to tie together.

The wheat wasn't quite as dry or as golden as it should be—even with [I Procure only the Very Best]—but Wyatt didn't mind as he was only clearing the field. That said, he had gathered far more than he should have, with [Nature's Bounty] increasing the yield of everything he had cut with the scythe. As for the piles of seed and grain, Wyatt took out a number of simple cloth bags that he had purchased in the market. At first he tried to pick up every grain, but he soon got tired of that.

Instead, he just settled for scooping up most of it, not worrying about any that he missed. Wyatt was only picking up the grass seeds in order to prevent them from spreading again even more than they would naturally. He figured he could put the grass stalks and seeds all in a pile together and then use [Till the Earth] the next day to get rid of them all. It was late afternoon by the time he had finished.

Discounting the grass seeds and stalks—which he had piled near to where he had planted his first plot of wheat and dungeon fruit—Wyatt had multiple bags of wheat grain, perhaps a little over fifty pounds in total weight. It was far, far less than the amount he would have harvested from a full acre of wheat, but it was approaching the amount of seed he'd need if he wanted to plant an acre of wheat. With everything collected, the field really stood out from everything around it.

An acre of cut grass and wheat, the sparse ends of the stalks sticking up half a foot from the ground. Wyatt was tired and sore, but happy. Kit trotted up beside him, wrinkling her nose slightly at how sweaty Wyatt was.

'I have to say well done, but …' Wyatt nodded tiredly, but with a smile on his face.

"Yeah, there's a long way to go. But I have to start somewhere."

'What's next?' Wyatt sat down with a small grunt. It felt amazing to be off his feet. He dug into his bag of holding, and pulled out some jerky. He started to chew after offering Kit a piece.

"Ideally I'd like a plow, but I'd need an animal for that. Like an ox or something. Maybe one day." Kit blinked.

'I meant what's next with all the seed that you gathered. But surely you don't mean to …' Kit trailed off, looking at the field Wyatt had cleared. Wyatt laughed. He slowly heaved himself to his feet.

"I'm afraid so."

'Wyatt. You can't do that by hand.' Wyatt winced as he dug his fingers into the muscles of his shoulder, trying to knead a tight spot away.

"You're probably right, Kit. No, you are right. I can't do it by hand. But I can make a good start. It's all part of my plan." The silver fox sighed.

'I am filled with confidence. A 'plan'.' Wyatt grinned at her.

"And as for the wheat seed … I don't really need it. I mean, would there even be a market for it? It's not like I have the ability to grind it into flour myself. Maybe further down the line, but not now."

'So you're just going to get rid of it?' Wyatt felt slightly guilty, but he shrugged, rubbing at his chin.

"I don't want to go through the hassle of threshing the wheat bundles. That would be really hard work, trying to separate the grains from the heads of wheat. I don't have the tools or equipment for it anyway. Besides, I already have enough loose seed courtesy of [Not Just the Root, But the Seed] if I want to plant wheat in the future. But I suppose I better ask Thrais if he could build a storage area for me while he's here. Something simple and watertight where I can store goods."

Wyatt looked up at the sky thoughtfully, thinking it over.

"Or maybe I could have a go at building something like that myself. I do have [Crafter] after all, and I don't need anything fancy." Kit shook her head emphatically.

'Or just ask Thrais.' Wyatt laughed.

"Yeah, you're probably right." Wyatt knuckled at the small of his back, stretching. Then he took out a simple mattock out of his bag of holding. It had a pick on one side, with a flat blade on the other. Kit stared as Wyatt lifted and raised the took experimentally.

'Wyatt, you aren't really going to use that on the field, are you? That would take forever!' Wyatt did eye the acre of land he had cleared with some trepidation, but he just squared his shoulders.

"I told you, Kit, I have a plan." By the end of the day, Wyatt had only managed to 'plow' an area of his field that was roughly forty times the size of what [Till the Earth] could do in seconds. It had taken him hours, and he'd done less than one tenth of the acre. He was exhausted, and had popped blisters on his hands that he had to sort out with a few drops of healing potion. The area that he had prepared was rough, not even close to the perfection of what his Skill could do, but Wyatt felt proud all the same.

He'd made a start on his own field. Wyatt wanted nothing more than to eat something and then crawl into bed, but Kit had been rather insistent that he wash himself first. A sniff of his sweat-soaked shirt convinced Wyatt that she had a point. The Elves were in good humour by the time that Wyatt joined them for dinner. They welcomed him warmly, seeming like they were half amused, half impressed by the amount of work he had done that day.

Thrais started to tell him about their plans for the morrow, but he ruefully stopped when he realised that Wyatt was barely able to keep his eyes open. After a meal that he barely remembered, Wyatt crawled into his bedroll with a groan of relief, falling asleep as soon as his head hit the pillow. [Harvester Level 13!] [Skill — Targeted Harvest] [Skill — Clearing the Land] [Grower Level 8!] [Skill — Attract Pollinators]