Chapter 291

[You have acquired the skill 'Basic Farming Mastery (Lv. 1)'.]

Hurent closed the system window. He stood at the edge of a massive, unplowed field just inside the outer walls of Stormbreak. The mid-morning sun was already hot. The soil beneath his boots was dry and packed hard.

He held a hoe in his right hand. It was a simple, heavy thing.

"Start from the eastern marker," Piaro said. The Head Farmer pointed toward a wooden stake a hundred yards away. "Till the soil deep. It must breathe before we plant the seeds."

Piaro didn't wait for a response. He walked away to inspect a patch of soil further down the line.

Hurent looked at the wooden tool. He took a breath.

[Aura Manifestation has been activated.]

Vibrant red light poured from his hands. Hurent didn't form a sword or even a weapon this time. Instead, he pictured the tools of a farmer.

The red aura split into five distinct shapes. Three plows and two hoes materialized in the air around him. They glowed with dense, concentrated mana.

Hurent took a stance. He swung the physical wooden hoe in his hands.

The five aura tools mirrored his intent. They shot forward and plunged into the dry earth.

Crackle.

The dirt turned over. The aura tools dug deep. Hurent controlled them simultaneously, pulling the red energy through the soil.

It was incredibly difficult.

Coordinating five different tools through pure mental focus while physically performing the same action strained his mind to the limit. The mana drain was steady. The mental fatigue was heavy.

An hour passed.

Hurent didn't complain. He treated this like a high-level endurance trial. He gritted his teeth, focused his eyes on the dirt, and pushed his limits. His silver armor became coated in dust. Sweat dripped down his nose.

Piaro returned quietly. The Farmer stood at the edge of the field and watched.

"Your Aura control is fascinating," Piaro said.

Hurent paused. He kept the five red aura tools hovering just above the dirt. He waited for the NPC to criticize his method.

Piaro didn't.

"The application is brilliant," Piaro continued. "You can manipulate the energy to perform multiple tasks. But your body is lagging behind your mind. Your posture is loose because you are relying entirely on the aura to do the heavy pulling."

Piaro stepped into the dirt. He tapped the back of Hurent's knee with the handle of a plow.

"Plant your heels," Piaro instructed calmly. "Keep your back straight. Drive the physical motion first. Let the aura follow the muscle, rather than pulling the muscle forward."

Hurent nodded slowly. He adjusted his stance. He drove his heels into the dirt.

He swung the wooden hoe again. This time, he forced his physical strength into the lead. The red aura tools slammed into the dirt a fraction of a second later, amplifying the work rather than just copying it.

The strain increased. Hurent's stamina bar began to drop faster.

But the earth turned over perfectly.

Two more hours vanished. Hurent's arms burned. His lungs heaved.

He finally reached the eastern marker. He dismissed the red aura.

Hurent leaned heavily on the wooden hoe. He gasped for air. He looked back at the field.

A perfectly straight, deeply tilled row of soil stretched out behind him. It was a full acre of manual labor. Hurent felt a sudden, strange sense of pride. He had done that. It was honest, grueling work.

A loud roar echoed across the field.

Hurent turned his head.

A massive lion with a black and golden mane was sprinting directly toward him. The beast wasn't attacking. It was joyfully chasing a small blue butterfly.

The lion bounded right into Hurent's newly plowed field.

Its massive paws tore up the neat rows. Dirt flew into the air. The heavy beast rolled in the loose soil, trying to catch the butterfly between its paws. It completely ruined hours of agonizing work in ten seconds.

Hurent's vision went red.

He raised his hand. His mana flared. He was going to blast the beast into orbit.

He quickly used a basic scanning skill on the animal.

[Imperial Light Lion, Kratos - Lv. 355]

Hurent froze. He looked at the system window, processing that a level 355 Named Boss was casually strolling through the fields. Then he looked at his own status bar. His stamina was flashing a bright, critical red. His mana was severely depleted.

The lion sneezed, looked at Hurent, and trotted away after the butterfly.

Hurent slowly lowered his hand. His left eye twitched uncontrollably.

He dropped the wooden hoe. He wanted to scream.

Several system messages suddenly flooded his vision.

[[Basic Farming Mastery] experience has increased.] 

[You have pushed your physical limits through grueling manual labor.] 

[Stamina has permanently increased by +1.] 

[Strength has permanently increased by +1.] 

[Perseverance has permanently increased by +2.]

Hurent stopped breathing.

He stared at the floating text.

After a player hit level 300 and achieved their third class awakening, every single stat point carried massive weight in the damage calculations. To gain permanent stats without leveling up or consuming an expensive elixir was absurd.

Hurent grabbed the hoe. He stood up straight. The exhaustion was still there, but the motivation returned in full force.

"I can plow another 10 acres," Hurent whispered.

By midday, Hurent took a break.

He walked to the edge of the field to drink from a wooden canteen. As he drank, he finally paid attention to the other plots of land.

He noticed the other laborers.

A few plots away, a heavily armored man was pulling a large plow by himself, treating the harness like a resistance-training tool. It was Galahad.

Further down, a man with a greatsword strapped to his back was carrying six heavy sacks of fertilizer at once. Colt.

Hurent frowned. He recognized these faces. They were rankers who had become famous recently, climbing the unified leaderboards at a terrifying pace over the last two weeks.

He saw a blur of motion near a patch of tall corn.

The air shimmered. A figure wrapped in dark leather appeared from high-tier stealth. It was Echo. The current 3rd-ranked assassin.

Snick. Snick.

Echo’s daggers flashed. She wasn't fighting a monster. She violently and silently eradicated a small swarm of agricultural pests. She sliced three locusts out of the air, sheathed her daggers, and vanished back into stealth.

"What is this place?" Hurent muttered.

Then, he saw him.