Aimless Ascension

Ploughing? Done.

Irrigating the field? Done.

Repairing the fence? Done.

The entire mansion? Only the foundation was done. That was close to 10% at best, Gale reckoned. Thankfully, it was the slowest part as well.

The builders were bringing new stuff and instruments every day, working relentlessly during their working hours. After all, Gale already delivered a heavy sum of spirit marks. The workers weren't paid on a day-to-day basis, so there was no point in wasting time to get more money.

Now all Gale had to do was sow the wheat, and then he could proceed on making the defensive script formation for the mansion.

Apparently, he needed to irrigate the field another time after planting the seeds. Thankfully, he only stored the spirit coins and a few expensive stuff inside his void-lock, while most of the other stuff was in the farmhouse.

Most of the stuff there were things that he accumulated when he was low-ranked. Stuff like low-rank herbs, about a year of rations for emergencies, failed projects of his script practice, or simply common stuff that could be bought by spending a few marks easily.

Gale could bring out all the coins in a few minutes and go on in another round of irrigation. Well, he had to finish sowing by then though.

Sowing was even easier, to be honest. He had to spring all the seeds in the prepared field and spread them with a rake. Gale had purchased a thousand kilograms of iron-ranked wheat from the Shen Family, which cost him just a little over two thousand iron marks.

Though Old Shen couldn't convince the hell-bent Old Ran, he had been only helpful so far, advising him on farming as well as providing all the tools and ingredients.

According to Old Shen, if everything worked well, he could expect at least twenty times that of the invested wheat. Gale already calculated, after the taxation—which cut away a good one-third of the harvest—and all the investment in fertilisers, pesticides, workers and other expenditures, he would be left with somewhere between fourteen thousand and sixteen thousand iron marks in profit.

Honestly, that's quite a return even though the price of fertilisers and pesticides were rather high. Well, he was farming spirit crops. There needed to be some investment. Definitely big for some, but nothing to him.

Moreover, Gale reckoned he could cultivate silver-ranked crops and some low-ranked herbs to get a handsome return, which could be worthwhile even to him. Honestly, he had an urge to start with silver crops, but he quenched that urge without a second thought. Silver crops needed more than just silver-ranked seeds. Gale was not prepared to make that happen. Yet.

Well, not now, but he could try later. Also, he intended to cultivate cocoa at some point—not the general ones, but the high-grade ones that he stole from his sect. For that, he limited about four acres of land. He needed to build a greenhouse to start that. A plan for next year, perhaps.

Gale thought of proceeding with those ideas after his mansion was done.

Gale was done sowing by noon. He had a discussion on the matter of the mansion with Master Crafter Shi Jun for about half an hour after that. Shi Jun only needed to know if he was going with Gale's intention. After getting Gale's approval and clearance on most things, he proceeded with the work.

In the afternoon, Gale said goodbye to Xiaolin as she had to leave. Honestly, he had no need for her, though her presence did make things easier and kept him involved.

After reassuring her about the pure crystal he promised, he let her go only if she let Vale guard her on the trip back.

Honestly, there wasn't a chance of anything happening in broad daylight, but after the case with the bandits, Gale didn't want to take chances.

"Protest her well," he told Vale, caressing his head. He really didn't need to say that. It was what Vale did best. Gale would've been dead a couple of times already if not for Vale. "You don't have to travel back during the night. Stay at the inn for the night and come back tomorrow."

Honestly, there was probably nobody in the town that could hurt Vale. Vale could even run away safely from gold rankers, but like before, Gale didn't want to take chances. He had been rash enough times in his years of adventuring already.

Vale licked his face for several seconds with affection. Gale felt his spirit rejuvenated a little after the licking. It wasn't really that significant, but he remained embracing the big boy.

Eventually, they left and Gale proceeded to stock up water in his void-lock after he dropped all the spirit coins again. By the evening, when the workers were done for the day, Gale was still watering the field. It only took so long because he had to spray water on the field, not flood it with water. Twenty-five acres were still quite lengthy.

"That's a neat way of watering, young master," Kongmin, one of the senior builders, said as Gale's lips twitched.

Gale had no clue how these people had the impression that he was a young master. He hadn't gone after any women, nor treated others like his personal servants. The only thing that might give them the wrong idea was how he spent some money, but that's still within reach of many people who weren't young masters.

"If only we had such a large dimension storage at our disposal," Shang lamented, "our hard work would proceed a lot quicker."

"Quit bothering young master Gale, Shang," another one shouted from the back. He was carrying all the carpentering tools. "Help me carry all these tools."

Gale shook his head in dismay. He was in his thirties in earth years, but after all the metamorphosis and clean shaving, he appeared like someone in his early twenties. Tall, regal, and hunky.

Gale liked all of that, just not people calling him young master.

'Power changes people, that includes how you see the world and how the world sees you.'

Sneeze!

Gale wrinkled his nose and watched the workers leave. When he was done with watering, his void-lock was still filled with two-thirds of the water. He didn't release the water back into the river, as he would need to irrigate again after a few days. But he couldn't leave all the spirit coins laid on the house, either.

'Perhaps I should dig a pool or ask the workers to build a tank,' Gale wondered. True, he would have an outdoor bath, so a tank would be a better idea. He could use some modern water lines in the mansion as well.

Done with the work, Gale walked towards the house, wondering what delicious dish he would cook tonight. Something with meat and--

Gale halted abruptly, his right ear tingled.

Sneeze!

Gale spun and sprang into motion. His third fate-lock, Stormsong awoke, jolting Gale's entire body as he bolted, a knife appearing in his hands, glittering in blue light. Gale charged at nothing, swinging viciously as if an invisible enemy was standing right there.

His attack did nothing.

He stopped and muttered, "I can swear I felt someone shadowing me."

Abruptly, thunder sparked in his palm as Gale threw the knife to his right. The knife sprang into motion, carrying the charge of lightning. . .and seemed to strike something.

A figure that wasn't there before appeared, swaying a little.

"Who. . ." Gale reassessed his question. "What are you?"