“No more crops,” I confird. The video continued to show more pictures of fields of corn, wheat, tea, and other crops, which were all marked with an X. “No more [Rice]. No more [Wheat]. No more [Corn].”
Scholar Wu’s hand that was holding the sandwich had stopped moving halfway from the plate to her mouth. She was watching with rapt attention.
Prince Baiyu and my apprentices, on the other hand, already knew what I was going to say, so they continued eating with a good appetite. In fact, they had helped make the video.
“The seeds and cuttings I had sold were successfully grown by other farms using qi-gathering formations.” I gestured at Scholar Wu. “And I’m sure there will be more breakthroughs by scholars and historians soon. Pretty soon, I gather there will be a stable supply of spirit crops by dozens of farms.”
As the video showed a [Rice Mill], I said, “When that happens, I won’t need to grow the sa crops. I also have machines that can process many of the things my household uses.”
The video then showed a bunch of herbs from my inventory, with sparkle and glow effects added to them. “This will free to produce the rarest and most valuable crops of all: Immortal Herbs.”
Shuye leaned back in his chair and looked relieved, and Scholar Wu resud eating her sandwich.
The video switched to images of bottles of [Ageless Beauty Essence], a pile of basic nourishing qi pills, and a box of [Five Elents Pills]. “And the herbs will be turned into pills and potions. The end.”
I turned the projector off and sat down to eat my lunch. “What do you think?”
“No crops at all?” asked Shuye.
“We might still grow a small field of tea since that is a luxury product, and we’ll probably grow fresh vegetables, too.”
“A magnificent vision.” Scholar Wu gave a look of great respect. “Farming Immortal Herbs is a hundred tis, no, ten thousand tis more difficult than growing spirit rice. I don’t think this is sothing other people can do.”
I smiled. “Right? Why waste my bloodline inheritance on ordinary spirit plants when I can make Immortal Herbs?”
Lari used his fork to point at the screen where the video had played. “People will want the pills a lot more than [Rice].”
“And the beauty potion. Don’t forget that!” Kharli giggled. “It’s one of our most popular products. Only people who cultivate want the pills, but the potion is in demand with everyone who cares about their appearance.”
"I use one whole bottle every day,” said Lari.
“So do I,” said Prince Baiyu.
The two of them exchanged smiles.
“You should try it.” I took out a small box from my inventory and gave it to Scholar Wu. “The first box is free!”
Scholar Wu laughed. “I haven’t tried it because I know how much this potion costs!”
“Totally worth it,” said Prince Baiyu.
We chatted a bit more about the details until we finished eating.
After the al, Shuye left for his office, while my apprentices had their afternoon classes with Scholar Wu. I went to my [Ranch House] with Prince Baiyu where my private portals were.
“This is a door into a small pocket garden with a nice view.”
In the ga, portals were normally an oval-shaped hole in the air with swirling lights in them. However, that was too weird and scary, so I modified mine to look like ordinary wooden doors. I opened the right one and my boyfriend and I stepped into the place I had prepared beforehand, a small garden with fake scenery I had bought from the Cash Shop.
[West Lake Garden:
A pocket garden with soft grass and a cloud tree. Two chairs look out into the Lake of Clear Ripples, a scenic place fad in classical poetry, song, and paintings. Its imnse, serene waters which mirror the surrounding landscape with perfect clarity, are interspersed with several prominent islands, each thickly covered in trees and interconnected by exquisitely crafted bridges of various designs. The lake's periter is softly defined by a continuous ribbon of verdant land, where slender willows with long, flowing branches dip towards the water, and traditional garden structures with sweeping roofs are nestled amongst the greenery.]
We were in a lovely garden on a high promontory with a spectacular view of the Lake of Clear Ripples. This was the west side, hence the na “West Lake.”
"Don't try to go beyond this line.” I pointed to the edge of the precipice. Thankfully, there was an iron railing there.
“Why? What’s there?”
“Just a sort of invisible shield.” I walked over to the edge, leaning against the railing, and ran my hands over a soft, slightly yielding surface that felt a little like plastic. “It has a little bit of give, but I wouldn’t force myself through it. Who knows what would happen!”
He poked it with a finger. “Yes, let’s not tempt fate.”
We stood facing the view. I took both his hands in mine and looked deep into his eyes, but he got confused and thought we were here for so romance. I drew away a little. “I’m here to tell you sothing. Have you ever wondered where I ca from?”
He raised an eyebrow. “You said that you’re an orphan from Mai-i island.”
That was indeed the background setting for the player character in Adventure Incarnate.
When I didn’t say anything, he kissed my forehead. “It’s okay. You can tell .”
I’d thought a lot about what exactly to tell him to make him understand, but now that it was the right ti, I was finding it harder than I thought. I let go of his hands and turned to the view with a sigh.
“Okay… That story is true, in a way. Let start from the beginning.” I scratched my cheek. “You know the videos I’ve been showing almost every week?”
The kids had gotten quite adept at recording videos with the System’s cara function, and we showed homade movies every now and then, mostly showing us doing everyday stuff like farming, fishing, cooking, etc.
“What about them?” he asked.
“Well, you know how I can turn people into drawings?” I’d turned people into chibi drawings a lot of tis. “Imagine a video full of moving drawings.”
“I can imagine that.”
“Good. Now imagine you can control those drawings on the screen.”
He reeled back in shock, his eyes wide. “You can control people using their images in your videos?!”
“What? No.” I paused to think of how to explain it to him better. “Um. Imagine a bunch of dolls. Not humans or clan mbers! Dolls that you can play with, but they are in a video and you control their actions on that video.”
His expression cleared and he nodded.
I continued the explanation. “And it’s not just you. Other people can also play with dolls of their own. You play together like in a ga. That is called a video ga.”
“Interesting. You can do that?”
“Now we’re getting to the heart of what I want to talk about.” I put a hand on my chest and took a deep breath. Though I was pretty sure he wouldn’t react badly, it was still nerve-wracking. “I could play video gas… in my forr world.”
“Ah.” Sensing my trepidation, he put an arm around my shoulders and said, “I’ve always assud you’re not from this world.”
“Huh?” I tilted my head and looked up at him, silently asking him to elaborate.
He smiled and shrugged his shoulders. “You often speak in an unknown language about unknown things. And your bloodline inheritance has things I’ve never seen or heard of.”
“Right.”
That made sense, I an I was basically like an alien from outer space. It would be stranger if I fit perfectly into this world’s culture.
His arm tightened around . “You’re ready to tell where you ca from?”
“Yes, I’m both from this world, but also from another one. In that world, there’s this ga called Adventure Incarnate…”
I tried to explain it all to him in a way that he could understand, but since there were no computers, video gas, and hacking in this world, it was quite difficult.
At the end of it, he frowned and sumd up what he understood. “You’ve co from a different world, not a heavenly paradise or a god’s world, but a mundane mortal world with only humans and no qi or cultivation.”
“Yes.”
“And you were playing a ga of sorts with a story and setting similar to this world.”
“Yes, you got it.”
“With your friend called ‘God I Am’ but you only communicate from a distance and have never t in person.”
“Correct again.” I was very pleased that he seed to have understood at least the basics of what I had said.
“And one day he let you play with his doll character that had a lot of ga items in its interspatial storage.”
“Yes!”
“Then you suddenly found yourself in this world with a bloodline inheritance whose skills and other functions are similar to that of the ga you were playing, including the items.’
“Phew, yes you got it all!” I gave him an admiring look. “You’re correct on all points.”
His eyes narrowed in thought. “But how? Why?”
“That is indeed the question. Listen to this, I’ll read the text of the new quest out loud. I plan to build the bell tower right after the planting season.”
[Paradise Earth Primordial Origin Dream Soul Path:
An epic quest that will answer all your questions about the aning behind your life in Adventure Incarnate.
Build a three-story Bell Tower and ring the bells 108 tis every morning and night for 108 days.
Ti Remaining: 108 days]
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