“Wait, guys!” I read the System notification to them out loud.

I remembered this from Adventure Incarnate. Immortal Herbs had a small chance, around one in ten thousand, of emitting toxic gas. That sounded like a rare event, but given that endgame players routinely had huge fields of crops, it turned out to be pretty common. I just hadn’t expected I would have to deal with it since we had only planted a few dozen seeds.

“Teacher, shall I put on the [Hazmat Suit] from my toolkit?” Lari’s chin was tilted up a fraction and his eyes were almost sparkling with eagerness.

I shook my head. “Although the suit would protect you, I don’t think we should risk it. You only live once, you know!”

Of course, in the game, the gas only reduced the player’s HP bar by a very small amount as long as they used the [Hazmat Suit], but I imagined it would be much scarier to experience in real life.

“Why is there deadly gas?” asked Mo.

“Some of the herbs are dangerous, so it’s not that strange, is it?” I gestured for us to move away from the field. “Let’s wait a few days for the gas to subside. It’s not like we’re in a rush.”

“And we have plenty to do.” Kharli took out her farm diary and wrote down today’s event in it. “We scheduled fruit tree planting tomorrow. Should we do that today, Teacher?”

“I would like to plant more [Fragrant Evergreen Walkway Seed Mix] since we have an extra day’s worth of energy.” Mo didn’t consult her notes the way Lari and Kharli did, but she didn’t need it since she was sharp as a tack and her memory was the best out of us four. “It’s much better to walk on spirit grass rather than mud.”

[Fragrant Evergreen Walkway Seed Mix:

A mixture of seeds that include chamomile, creeping thyme, and resilient, low-growing grasses that give a small boost to soil health. Once planted, it thrives effortlessly, drawing from the earth's energies to sustain itself even with minimal rainfall and no fertilizers. It’s perfect for creating green paths that are delightful to walk on. With every step, a sweet fragrance will fill the air around you. These seeds will grow into plants that will suppress weeds by outgrowing them and will also help keep the soil from washing away.]

“Sounds good to me, shall we do that?” I asked the others.

We settled on a plan to use half of our energy on planting [Lemon Trees] and the other half on beautifying the orchard by greening its paths.

We exited the mustard tree portal and emerged on Emberstone Farm. I locked the portal to stop people from using it and left a note on a piece of cardboard telling my staff about the problem.

Once we were done with that, we went to the empty field we had cleared for the part of the orchard we had earmarked for our next planting session. It was right on the border of the [Insectary Garden] that was full of spring blossoms and buzzing with insects.

Along the way, we passed neat rows of knee-high fruit trees. The young saplings stood like obedient children in their straight lines. I loved to think about how they would look when they were fully grown, with a luxurious green canopy and branches drooping from the weight of all the fruit I was going to harvest next year.

We couldn’t resist checking out the garden and marveling at all the flowers before starting work. Clusters of hellebores spread their spotted petals in the morning sunlight, while muscari created a river of cobalt blue along the garden's edge. Behind them, bleeding hearts dangled their pink and white blooms like tiny ornaments, and creeping phlox spilled over the garden's border in a lacy purple waterfall. Delicate epimediums created a fairy-tale ground cover in dappled shade. I wouldn’t have known all the flower names if the System hadn’t helpfully identified them.

Past the garden was the empty field and the bare path.

The first thing we did was to rope off the walkways to let people know they shouldn’t use them until the grass was well-established. Then we plowed the area. Through trial-and-error, we knew that fertilizers and watering weren’t needed. Therefore, the next and final step was to use the seeder.

I hummed merrily as the seeds shot out from the end of the System tool and embedded themselves in the soil. It was always fun to see the seeds planting themselves.

We finished that quickly, and then it was time to plant the fruit trees.

“This is going to be great. I love lemons!” I said as I distributed the seeds.

Back on Earth, this climate wouldn’t be good for growing lemon trees, but spirit trees were much more hardy in this world. They could grow almost anywhere except in the most extreme weather conditions. However, it was true that tropical trees planted somewhere warm were more productive and had higher-quality fruit.

“I like lemonade with lots of honey and ice,” said Kharli.

“Lemon cake is amazing,” said Mo.

Lari only said two words. “Lemon chicken.”

We all sighed when we remembered the lemon chicken the chef had cooked for us two days ago.

“That was great. Now let’s start growing our own wonderful lemons.” I put my hat on and took my place at the far end of the field.

They all scattered to their designated corner of the area and we began our work.

After I plowed the ground, I knelt and scooped up a handful of soil with a trowel. It was dark loam, moist and crumbly. I stood and looked east of me, where young trees were swaying in a gentle spring breeze. The day couldn’t have been lovelier. Wisps of white clouds drifted in a brilliantly blue sky, the sun was warm on my shoulders as I worked, and the air was fresh and sweet with the scent of newly turned earth and the fragrance of the blossoms from the nearby [Insectary Garden]. When I finished planting, it was with great satisfaction that I surveyed the neat rows of freshly disturbed earth where life would soon emerge.

“Another day, another field,” I said to the others when they joined me after finishing their work. I took off my hat and wiped the sweat from my forehead with a white cotton handkerchief. “Back to the house for a shower and a cool glass of lemonade?”

“Teacher, shouldn't we go straight to the kitchen to prepare?” said Lari.

“Yes, but we should shower first!” I grinned. “Meet me in the demo kitchen after you’ve cleaned yourselves up.”

I headed to my [Ranch House] while the kids went to their own quarters in the courtyard house, but I made a stop to visit Cutie. I spent some time playing with her before I returned to my house to freshen up. After a long, hot shower, I put on a set of simple white cotton robes and trousers because I figured the people who were going to eat my food would like a cook who looked very clean.

The new kitchen in the inner courtyard was my idea. Ever since I used the camera and video display to view the Demon Boss fight, the staff had become very interested in my “magical viewing tools.” Unfortunately, there was nothing interesting to watch at the farm except for the famous Demon Chef’s skill. However, he and his assistants regarded the main kitchen as his domain. Therefore, I installed the cameras and monitors in a new room that I called the “demo kitchen” where I could record and play cooking videos.

Deming and Fengying were amenable to my idea of recording a cooking demonstration, and today’s task was for me to show them how it was done since they didn’t quite understand the idea of a cooking show.

The kitchen was outfitted with a large marble-topped kitchen island in the middle with stoves and an oven. Above it was a mirror and lights. Numerous cameras, which had built-in microphones, were deployed above and on all sides of the island.

“Aw, everyone looks so good!” I said when I entered and saw my apprentices likewise attired in white clothes. I put on a hairnet and a chef’s hat. “I see you’ve already prepared the ingredients.”

Lari, Kharli, and Mo fanned out behind me, ready to step in when needed. All of the staff were also there, dressed in their best robes, and seated on the plain wooden chairs I had provided for them.

“Welcome everybody,” I said with a big smile on my face as though I was a spokesperson for a TV shopping channel. “Lettuce Cook!”