Xander took a knee, he felt the earth through his fingers.
He frowned. "That should not be possible." He thought out loud.
But then he trekked the distance to the tall corn fields.
There were huge stone markers, to separate property.
Xander had no plans to invade, only to confirm his suspicion.
He reached for the earth in the neighbor’s land, and squeezed it in between his fingers.
It was no different from that of the old man’s.
However, the corn in the old man’s territory did not thrive like that of his neighbor.
"This system is really not fair." Xander shook his head as he stood to his feet.
He looked at the old man’s cottage in the distance, and then he gave a light smile, "let’s begin work."
....
Gato opened his eyes. He remembered being overwhelmed with emotion and crying himself to sleep.
Thinking about it now felt embarrassing.
And then he remembered Xander.
He looked to his side, Levi was gone.
Gato panicked, "Levi!" He searched the house, calling the boy’s name.
Then he rushed out, slamming the door behind him. "LEVI!"
"Over here, Grandpa." A screaming voice replied.
Gato followed the sound to the field.
There, he saw Levi and Xander, muddy, working on the farm.
At one side, in a wheelbarrow was the crops he had planted, they had prematurely been harvested. Or rather, uprooted.
Then again, they had barely grown out of the ground, but they had been his hope.
Gato’s eyes widened. "What are you doing? STOP THAT! You will starve us."
He rushed to stop Xander, pulling him away from the ground, as he tried to replant the crops.
Xander stood up, looking at what the old man was doing, and replied. "It’s no use. Even if you manage to replant it, which is not possible, it will never become like theirs." He pointed to the corn fields of the old man’s neighbors.
This made Gato pause.
"You think I don’t know that?" He looked up to Xander. "I crushed my hand working in the factories. A Blacksmith with one hand is practically useless.
This is all we have."
There was brief silence between the two.
"I know." Xander leaned in, "and that’s why I am going to help you."
He pulled some of the earth from the ground and put it in the old man’s hand.
"Tell me, what do you feel?"
Gato turned to him, wondering if the question was rhetorical.
"Soil?" Gato answered.
Xander chuckled, "no, I mean, how does it feel?"
"Uhh, I don’t know...it’s dense?"
Xander nodded, "Exactly. It’s too dense. Meaning it has poor drainage. The earth here holds water badly and compacts under pressure.
But Corn needs loose, well-drained, nitrogen-rich soil with consistent moisture. This field is the opposite of everything corn requires."
And then Xander walked over to the wheelbarrow and packed two lumps of soil in each hand.
Just looking at it, Gato who had earnestly become a farmer could see the difference.
"Believe it or not, these two soil samples were gotten from the same place. Your neighbor’s farm.
However, the one on my left was gotten from the spacing in between the crops, and the one on my right is from the mound growing the crop.
Ideally, these two, from the same place should not be so different, but they are. Can you guess the reason?"
"Uhh..." Gato was as a loss for words, turning to Levi for assistance.
Luckily, the boy’s eyes shone in understanding. He raised his hand to answer, his excitement obvious.
"Yes, Levi." Xander smiled.
"It’s the system."
"Correct. The System. It’s the reason the natural laws are bent. When a person with a Farmer’s profession tills the ground in response to the missions and rewards of the system, the natural laws conform to it.
That does not mean that a normal person cannot become a farmer. It’s just that you can’t..."
"...Copy what they are doing?" Gato finished the statement.
Xander saw the old man had understood his flaws. He nodded at this.
"But if I don’t copy them, how do I even know what to do?"
Xander coughed, beating his chest, "that’s why you have me. I used to be a farmer, and I can tell you from experience. You are sitting on real gold here."
"We are!?" Levi dug into the dirt, eyes desperately searching for the gold.
This made both Xander and Gato chuckle.
Gato could not help but look at Xander in a different light.
He had no idea if Xander was telling the truth, but one did not become this old in such a world without having good instinct for judging people.
At least he knew Xander meant well.
And since he did, Gato did not mind giving it a try.
[Ding]
[ABSORPTION GAUGE: Target — 1]
[Emotional connection: Established]
[Connection Depth: ▓░░░░░░░░░ 10/100]
Xander was surprised at this. He was not expecting the System to give any alerts.
"Xander." Gato called.
"Yes," Xander’s attention was pulled from the notifications.
"You said that you used to be a farmer."
Xander nodded.
"Where is that?"
"Well... it’s a really far away place." Xander looked away slightly.
It was not like he could tell the old man that he was a farmer in another world, and now possessed the body of a former prince.
However Gato quickly noticed he had asked a personal question and changed the topic.
"So how do we ensure that we don’t starve?"
Xander took a knee. "First of all, we have to remove the rest of the planted corn, and then plant crops that enjoy this kind of soil.
But know that this is going to take time. A couple of weeks at least."
"Weeks?" Levi rolled his eyes. "But I’m tired of eating only goat milk and dried bread." The boy lamented, falling on his back.
Xander smiled at this. "Don’t worry, with the kind of work we will have on our hands, it will be a breeze.
Besides, I’ll need someone to do the Thinning of the Beets when they start growing."
"Thinning?" Levi asked.
"Don’t worry, when it’s time, you’ll see it." Xander added.
He raised his head, looking into the open field, feeling that foundational desire he always had to nuture.
It felt good.
One might say, a little too good to be true.
Xander had learned very young that the world did not give men like him good things to keep.
Only good things to lose. But this time around, he would try his very best.