Chapter 140: Building The Windmill
The next day upon waking, Xilutiya felt she had slept very well that night, and her mood was accordingly lighthearted.
By now the sun had long risen, shining into the window. Checking the time, it should be a bit past nine-thirty in the morning.
Washing her face simply with clear water, Xilutiya became a bit more awake. After combing and freshening up, she changed into the goose-yellow dress Madam Fran had custom-made for her last year, then went out.
The alfalfa in the field was still lush. The small house where the toads lived across from it had opened, with a few toads sporadically coming out to work, while most were still sleeping.
Considering there were no particularly important matters these two days, Xilutiya didn’t go to wake them, instead giving them all the day off.
“Rest well today.” She instructed the few toads that had woken up.
“Ribbit, we can sleep ribbit.”
“Thanks, boss.”
Several toads happily hopped around, then some ran toward the pool, planning to stay there all day.
On the other side, Xilutiya went to the cellar on the lower floor of the stone house, where she kept the large quantity of seeds she had previously purchased. The alfalfa needed before had also been taken from here.
Because Emerald Honey had reached Second Order, she could now easily ripen crops. If not considering quality issues, she could make some crops flower and bear fruit in two or three days.
“What should I eat?” Xilutiya looked at the rows of seeds, then selected those with short growth times that were relatively tasty.
“Strawberry and blueberry it is.” She picked out two small packets of seeds, then walked out of the cellar.
Behind the small house was her exclusive small garden, which was mostly empty at present, with only three white camellia trees planted.
Recently she had been busy with wheat and alfalfa matters and had no time to tend to it. Now she could spare some attention to plant things here.
She simply turned over the loose soil once, scattered two rows of strawberry seeds, planted two rows of blueberries, watered them with clear water, and sprinkled some emerald dew water.
Then she stood in the middle of the garden, focusing her attention on the strawberries. Invisible emerald honey power emitted a glow, beginning to observe and intervene. Soon they sprouted new buds, then unfurled tender leaves.
About an hour later, the strawberry patch here had taken initial shape, beginning to bear youthful fruit.
To improve the taste, Xilutiya decided to slightly reduce the speed when bearing fruit, allowing it to accumulate more nutrients and sweetness.
The blueberries on the other side were handled the same way. After one morning like this, both sides bore youthful fruit.
They could be harvested tomorrow, the maiden thought, then strolled through the valley with light footsteps, appreciating the rare summer scenery.
……
The next day, freshly picked strawberries were washed clean, and the maiden put them in her mouth to taste.
Slightly sour with refreshing sweetness, it brought a touch of refreshment in the summer, making Xilutiya’s mood jubilant.
The benefit of choosing【Emerald Honey】 is that when you want to eat some fruit, no need to consider the season—you can quickly cultivate it yourself.
Though the rapidly grown fruit had no condensed nature and no extra extraordinary effects, it alone provided an excellent experience in taste and freshness.
That evening, she tried making bread for the first time. After some trials and improvements, she finally brought out rows of baked blueberry bread.
【Blueberry Bread】（Excellent）: Baked with high-quality wheat flour, with blueberry pieces added, giving it a tart-sweet taste that’s not cloying.
After eating alfalfa buns last night, the toads had thought it was a special reward after the harvest, only once. They hadn’t expected to eat entirely new delicious food tonight.
“Ribbit, we’re going to cry ribbit.”
“So good, ribbit.”
Compared to alfalfa buns, the bread with blueberries added indeed had a better taste, making these toads eat it reluctantly.
“Can we eat it again in the future, ribbit?”
“There will be. If there’s a harvest in the future, I’ll make tasty things for you too.” Xilutiya smilingly promised.
The process of fattening with alfalfa was about to complete. Now the fertility of the field was even stronger than in her previous life with chemical fertilizers. Xilutiya felt it was about enough and it was time to prepare for planting the next batch of wheat.
But this time she had experience. She planned to go to the fortress to buy some farm tools, and along the way ask the association to send people to build a windmill in the valley. With a windmill, whether threshing or grinding powder would be much more convenient.
Before going, Xilutiya had the toads harvest the alfalfa in the field, then store it as fodder for the animals. Though the alfalfa was no longer visible on the surface, Xilutiya could still sense the underground root system. If she wanted, she could catalyze it anytime to make the alfalfa in the field grow lush again.
But for now, it was better to harvest and clear it first, because afterward people would be invited to build the windmill. If there was so much alfalfa with condensed nature in the field, she wouldn’t know how to explain it—after all, such an achievement was too astonishing.
After preparations were complete, she set off with ten toads, heading again to White Stone Fortress.
The tall draft horse walked ahead pulling the cart. Because it had completed the condensation of First Order Blood Law, its stamina and speed were clearly stronger than before. Maintaining a trot, it surprisingly went all the way without stopping to rest.
Around nine-something, Xilutiya and the others arrived at White Stone Fortress. The time spent on the road was nearly half less than before.
Leaving the sturdy draft horse and the toads at the post station to rest, Xilutiya pulled up her hood and walked alone to the Woodland Association to inquire about advancement matters.
It was still that same staff member receiving her. She was leisurely sitting behind the counter, thinking it would be a peaceful morning.
“Hello, I’d like to consult about matters after a student advances.” Xilutiya sat down, revealing a bit of her silver-snow hair under the hood.
“You are?” The other was somewhat surprised, then recalled only after Xilutiya’s prompt.
“I remember you came to the woodland less than 4 months ago, right?” She flipped through the roster in her hand, showing surprise.
“Yes.” Xilutiya nodded.
“You advanced so quickly?” The other’s gaze scanned up and down, incredulous.
“Are you sure you didn’t use any shortcut methods? What I want to remind you is that in the apprentice stage, there’s no need to forcibly boost strength with methods that give high short-term gains but have major side effects.”
“It shouldn’t count as a shortcut.” The maiden lightly pressed her finger to her chin, gaze turning to the side in thought.
“Actually, I didn’t expect the advancement to be this fast either.”
Normally, after First Order students enter the woodland, they first familiarize themselves with work tasks, then spend money on classes to learn various new abilities, relying on meditation method or breathing technique to gradually improve their qualities, then step by step advance each new ability.
Finally, until a critical point arrives, under the support and clustering of various abilities, their own fate rank also changes, completing the advancement.
Even for students with excellent talent, this process takes nearly two years, while most students might need to stay in the woodland for five years to step into Second Order.
“I can’t decide this for now. Please wait two days, Tiya. A specialized teacher will come to check your situation.” The other informed her thus.
“Alright, then I’ll buy some things in the city these two days.” She had other matters to handle anyway and wasn’t in a hurry to return today.
Afterward, Xilutiya began consulting about building the windmill. Compared to advancement, arranging the windmill construction was much simpler. The other quickly helped her complete the application and collected 15 gold coins from the maiden.
“The various fees were originally 20 gold coins, but considering that building the windmill also serves the woodland and enhances regional strength, one-quarter is borne by the woodland.” She explained.
“I’ll contact the stonemason guild in the city tomorrow. They’ll handle this matter well.”
“Thank you.”
It seemed she had to stay a few more days.
