Chapter 79 Unlocking the Farmland

Wolf returned, bringing with him a large group of villagers.

But he also came bearing a stack of letters from them.

It turned out that a sizable portion of the villagers, upon hearing about the relocation to the Monster Beast Forest, found the idea utterly unacceptable. To them, moving to the Monster Beast Forest was tantamount to courting death; they would have rather started over elsewhere. So these villagers penned letters to their conscripted militiamen, urging them to hurry back and pack up together to leave. Meanwhile, the families of those militiamen who had perished chose to leave on their own, unwilling to join the group.

In the end, after subtracting those who refused to come and those called away, the population in this empty city increased by a total of 1,123—far fewer than anticipated!

Nevertheless, Jia Zhengjin was not disappointed; 1,123 was still a considerable number! From among them, he selected a respected elder, Gais Frankenstein, to serve as the community's manager. He would be responsible for registering villagers, allocating work, and handling other affairs—essentially, the role of a village chief.

He then summoned Wolf. "Accompany Buddy to the town guard barracks and persuade the town guards to surrender. While you’re at it, retrieve all of Captain Brent’s treasures."

"Understood!" Wolf responded respectfully.

"Take horses," Jia Zhengjin instructed, pointing to the open space near the beast stables, where several warhorses seized the previous day were tethered.

"Yes!" Wolf immediately took one horse, Buddy another, and together they set out from the southern gate, leaving for the Monster Beast Forest.

Once Wolf had departed, Jia Zhengjin inspected the area designated for the villagers' residences. Indeed, the stone bricks produced by the game system sped up construction at a rate leagues ahead of what the locals could achieve with their traditional methods. To build such a stone house with their own hands would take them months and squander much manpower and resources. Now, after less than a day, outlines of stone houses were everywhere.

The kobold craftsmen worked tirelessly to produce stone bricks, supplying materials for the villagers' new homes.

The adults were easily organized: robust young men set about building their own houses from the stone bricks; the older men took up hoes to clear farmland; women foraged wild fruit near the city walls.

The only challenge lay with the several hundred children. They couldn’t go to the residential area and disrupt their fathers’ construction, nor could they follow their grandfathers to till the land, and picking wild fruit was out of the question. So, hundreds of little ones gathered, wailing and crying—a scene that gave everyone a headache.

Whenever the children began to cry, the villagers’ enthusiasm for work waned. They would abandon their tasks and rush over to comfort their children. In single-parent families, where the father had died in battle, no one was there to console the sobbing child.

To put an end to this troublesome situation, an idea flashed through Jia Zhengjin’s mind and he sprang into action.

He had long wanted to build a playground for Tina, so she could enjoy herself during her free time and relax. But recent events had kept him so busy he’d forgotten! Upon seeing the children today, he immediately decided to use available materials to construct a recreational facility.

Although certain advanced equipment couldn’t be made until technology unlocked, many simple devices were feasible—slides, monkey bars, a small maze, seesaws, sand pits, and the like.

These playground structures were not complicated and could be completed quickly. Since they were made from stone, supervision would be necessary as the children played.

This problem was easily solved: he selected several women skilled at caring for children from among the wild fruit gatherers; their future role would be full-time childcare.

Children are the future driving force behind the city’s development; they must be well cared for!

With so many children, Jia Zhengjin chose a large open space and built numerous simple facilities, enough for all the kids to play together. He also found suitable women to oversee them.

With the playground in place, the children were immediately captivated by the novelty and stopped crying, instead playing happily with their companions.

At last, the adults could relax and return to their work in peace!

"Lord Kean!" When Jia Zhengjin walked to the open farmland area, he found the elders, along with the families of Tina and Amber, hard at work. Seeing him approach, they greeted him respectfully.

"Good. Carry on, everyone. This farmland will be the guarantee of our future food supply. Once you clear your plot, it will belong to your family!"

"Thank you, Lord Kean!" Upon hearing this, the elders smiled with genuine joy. They had just abandoned everything in their former village—especially their land. Now, being able to acquire new farmland, even expanding it as they wished, brought them great satisfaction.

"Ah, yes!" Jia Zhengjin suddenly remembered he still had an unused skill point. Seeing the villagers working the fields, another idea occurred to him.

Food is always the most fundamental need for human survival. Under normal circumstances, even the fastest-growing crops require at least ten days to a month. Meanwhile, these thousand-plus villagers would need to rely on their own supplies. Their escape had been so rushed that they’d brought only a little food, barely enough for a few days.

But if the farmland could be unlocked, everything would be much simpler.

Once Jia Zhengjin enabled this option, all land within the city, when cleared, would gain properties like those in the game. As long as villagers managed pests, weeds, and fertilization, every crop, regardless of its usual growth cycle, would mature in less than a week.

In other words, harvests would come every week! With just a week’s patience, the villagers would have enough homegrown food for themselves. Week by week, their stores would steadily increase!

Thinking this through, Jia Zhengjin called out to all the villagers working the fields, "Listen carefully! I'm about to cast a special spell on this area. Once it takes effect, your farmland will gain wondrous powers! No matter how slow a crop normally grows, it will mature in the shortest possible time and yield the best harvest!"

"Is that true?"

"Is there really such a spell?"

"Lord Kean, let us witness it!"

"If such magic exists, I’ll praise the Goddess of Harvest!"

"Why praise the Goddess of Harvest? We should praise Lord Kean!"

"Yes! Yes! Praise Lord Kean!"

Jia Zhengjin saw the villagers' faces—hopeful, yet skeptical. He promptly used a skill point to unlock the farmland option.

A refreshing green breeze swept outward, enveloping all the villagers. As they felt this wondrous power spread, a cheer erupted among them.