Julianna Garland frowned as she withdrew her consciousness from Earth Star’s global topographic map, her gaze landing on the rice in front of her.
“Never mind, I’ll worry about this later.”
The quest issued by the system didn’t have a time limit.
Having been busy for so long, she was already starving.
She had been surviving on ready-made nutritional supplements for over a month.
Seeing the snow-white rice now immediately triggered her cravings, making her mouth water.
The Earth Recovery System had been incredibly thorough.
Delivered alongside the rice processing machine that day was a set of kitchenware, and this set would come in handy right about now.
Taking advantage of the moment, Julianna immediately unpacked the parcel Travis Lowell had sent her that day.
Inside was a complete set of pots and pans for frying, boiling, stewing, and stir-frying, along with a cutting board, various knives, spatulas, soup spoons, and rice bowls.
Novus severely lacked food variety, which had consequently caused much kitchenware to lose its original purpose, relegating it to mere decoration.
These decorative items were labeled “vintage” and sold for staggering prices.
In the past, Julianna naturally lacked the financial means to purchase such impractical luxuries.
Unpacking the parcel now brought her a joy that rivaled the moment she received the threshing machine.
She sorted and arranged the items one by one, then carried the freshly husked rice back into the wooden cabin.
Once everything was set, she couldn’t wait to fire up the stove and cook.
Before cooking the rice, Julianna hesitated for a moment, recalling Quest Five issued by the system:
Widely Known—Promote rice on Novus.
Currently living on Earth Star, she was almost completely cut off from the main planet of Novus.
Furthermore, she was just an ordinary person with limited promotional means.
Her only way to connect with the outside world was through the Astral Domain Net.
The system quest required her to make at least 500,000 people on Novus aware of the existence of rice.
She wondered if filming the cooking process and uploading it to the Astral Domain Net—allowing people to see it via video clicks—would count toward the quest.
Thinking of the oil-pressing equipment and technology rewarded by the system, Julianna decided that action was better than hesitation.
She didn’t have specialized filming equipment, but her communicator could handle basic recording.
She took off the device, switched it to camera mode, adjusted the angle to face the kitchen, and began filming.
The water in the boiling pot came to a rolling boil, bubbling with a BLUB BLUB sound.
She washed the rice on the side and poured it into the pot, trying her best to stay out of the frame.
The milky-white rice-washing water was poured down the sink.
The cleaned rice grains were crystal clear, and the moment they hit the boiling water, white steam gently billowed up.
As Julianna stirred with a spoon, the steam carried the unique fragrance of rice right to her face.
Smelling the aroma, her stomach immediately let out a loud GRUMBLE.
Under the high heat, the rice grains began to change color, and the rich scent of cooked food wafted out.
Ever since her rebirth, Julianna had exclusively eaten the nutritional supplements produced on Novus.
Now, the long-lost, appetizing smell of rice triggered her primal instincts, causing her stomach to let out another GROWL. Get faster updates on g.com.
This scene was perfectly captured in the video.
She scooped up some rice grains with a spoon, letting the camera catch the moment in full detail.
Because of the type of pot she was using, she planned to steam the rice until it was fully cooked.
Scooping out the half-cooked grains and draining them, Julianna set up the steamer, poured the half-cooked rice inside, covered it with the lid, and turned the heat back on.
About twenty minutes later, the rice was done.
The wooden cabin was filled with its fragrance.
The aroma, carried by the hot steam, brought immense comfort while simultaneously stimulating her taste buds, making her swallow hard.
Just as the Earth Recovery System had said: rice was the essence of agricultural heritage.
In the traditions of Earthlings, the existence of rice was both commonplace and irreplaceable.
When inhaling this fragrant scent, a profound sense of satisfaction welled up from within.
A bowl of rice was served and placed in front of the camera.
Every grain was crystal clear, plump, round, and glossy.
Already famished, Julianna immediately picked up the bowl and took a massive bite.
Since her rebirth, she had been facing a brand-new, futuristic, and utterly unfamiliar era.
There were no familiar people or sights here.
Everything was, paradoxically, highly advanced yet incredibly backward to her.
For the people of Novus, food served only the basic function of filling their stomachs to maintain their physical energy and vitality; the enjoyment of eating was entirely secondary.
However, for Julianna—who had lived on Earth and grown up hearing the idiom that food is the staff of life—the moment she smelled the aroma of this rice, she felt an extraordinary sense of groundedness from the inside out.
As she chewed, she marveled at its quality.
The rice variety gifted by the system was top-tier, irrigated by the core spring.
Furthermore, during its cultivation, it had been blessed by the power of the Planting Master, allowing the harvested crops to reach an extraordinary tier of quality.
The rice was soft, glutinous, and pleasantly chewy, carrying the rich, distinct fragrance unique to the grain.
After swallowing, a sweet aftertaste lingered in her mouth.
Julianna’s taste buds and stomach were instantly satisfied, and she couldn’t help but let out a long sigh of contentment.
After just two bites, the system reacted.
DING.
A crisp chime, similar to the sound of a coin dropping, rang in Julianna’s ears.
Earth Recovery System Notification: The Joy of Harvest is complete.
After arduous labor, doesn’t enjoying the fruits of your own work bring double the satisfaction?
Quest Three: “Harvest the rice and eat the first meal of rice on Earth Star” has been completed.
The sweet aroma of rice bloomed between Julianna’s lips and teeth.
Soothed and satisfied alongside her palate were her soul and stomach.
This blissful feeling prevented her from immediately checking the reward; instead, she focused entirely on enjoying the food in her bowl.
The bowl of rice was quickly devoured.
Although the scarcity of supplies meant there were no side dishes to accompany it, to Julianna—who had eaten enough basic nutritional supplements to last a lifetime over the past week—this plain bowl of rice was already an exquisite delicacy.
She had steamed a small pot, and she swiftly polished off every last grain herself.
Her appetite was thoroughly satiated.
Because this rice was the fruit of her own labor, planted with her very own hands, the sense of fulfillment was naturally self-evident.
Julianna let out a small BURP.
Just as she was about to slump back into her chair to relax, the corner of her eye caught sight of the communicator still recording on the side.
She immediately got up and turned off the camera.
She wasn’t in a hurry to review the footage.
Instead, she leaned back in her chair, quietly enjoying a moment of post-meal leisure.
It wasn’t until she finished washing the dishes that she finalized her decision.
She needed to ask Cedric Sutton for help with a loan!
A processing workshop definitely had to be built on Earth Star!
It wasn’t just to make planting and processing rice more convenient in the future, but also for the sorghum seeds she would receive once the workshop was built, as well as to progress along this questline.
The reappearance of rice carried monumental significance.
Eating this meal had cemented her determination to farm properly.
This directly impacted her future quality of life on this planet.
At the same time, witnessing the species from her former home planet revive one by one in this unfamiliar era served as a hidden connection to her past, making her feel secure and grounded.
She would get a loan to build the workshop first; as for repaying it, she would worry about that later.
After all, when you had too much debt, you stopped worrying about it.
Having made up her mind, Julianna felt as though a massive boulder had been lifted off her chest.
She began to seriously plan the layout of her Earth Star.
Earth Star was surrounded by water on three sides, meaning the workshop’s location couldn’t be decided as casually as when she cleared her first plot of wasteland.
Since there was going to be a first processing workshop, there would likely be a second and a third in the future.
Keeping Earth Star’s geography in mind, she tentatively marked a specific spot on the island for the workshop.
With a clear goal set, Julianna didn’t rush onto the Interstellar Net to look for Cedric Sutton.
After all, the renowned lawyer was a busy and highly sought-after man who might not be online during the day.
Her chances of catching him online would be much higher if she waited until evening when he was resting.