Aimless Ascension

A week had passed since Gale's retirement and arrival in Wayshire. Nothing to take notice of had occurred in the last few days. Gale shifted to the farmland a couple of days ago simply because moving a couple of hundred Li every day was time-consuming and boring.

His mansion was far from complete. They had flattened the land and were preparing all the other stuff along with it. Gale reckoned it would take a month, give or take.

A month was quite some time to be wasted, thus Gale cleared all the hedges and undergrowths, and mowed the field for cultivation in the last two days. The fences needed work, but Gale reckoned he would have plenty of time to fix them after sowing the grain.

Most of the farms started harvesting crops. The season for wheat was coming. Gale got busy with cultivation as well. The farmland would look weird without crops growing, and if he left it as it was, the undergrowth and hedges would spread again.

Sadly, he wasn't that knowledgeable about farming. Thankfully, Xiaolin helped by telling him everything about how she and her father farmed.

Gale stood in a heap of ironwood, peering at the land as he considered where to start. Vale stood next to him in a contemplative mood.

The Sun rose about an hour ago, though the careless mist and fog enveloped the mountains, too obscuring to see properly.

"The first step is ploughing the land," Gale reminded Vale.

The soil must be properly prepared before starting wheat farming. It was a vital step. For this, he would have to plough the soil with a plougher. Unfortunately, this world had no strimmer, lawn mower or tractor to make things easier.

They still used bulls in self-propelled carts to plough the land. To cultivate this vast land, they must have needed a lot of bulls. Then Gale reconsidered. The bull of this land wasn't normal like most things, so he guessed the bulls could be efficient in ploughing, too.

But Vale was all he got. Just imagining how ridiculous the fluffy dog would look ploughing the soil kept Gale going. A smile crept to his lips, as he stooped down to face Vale. "Can you plough?"

The dog looked at him in derision. Vale snorted.

"Let's go get the mouldboard and everything else."

Even though Xiaolin lost and sold all the farm animals, all the farming instruments were well-kept inside the farmhouse. They found a couple of smaller ploughers and a large one along with all the other farming equipment.

The larger plougher needed at least two bulls to pull. Whereas the other two were more like a practitioner's instrument. Any copper ranker could use it, spending a little energy to strengthen himself.

"I'm taking the bigger one," Gale said, and sprinted to the larger plougher like he found a new toy to play with.

"Woof!" Not ready to be left out, Vale took one of the others, pulling with his teeth.

"Now, let's get some farming done."

"Woof!"

Ploughing turned out to be a simple task. The only hard thing about it was the strength required to pull the plougher. Any normal person would have trouble pulling even an inch, but Gale had no trouble with his gold body. In contrast, Vale was having trouble pulling just with his teeth.

In the end, Gale helped him, binding the tool. Now the hound is ploughing around, learning it by watching him.

Gale couldn't help but smile. He brought out a recording construct and filmed the cutest thing the world had offered since he was thrust into this world.

Gale spent about a couple of minutes adjusting to the amount of strength at which he needed to pull. Not too fast or slow, just a bit higher than walking pace.

Both of them worked relentlessly as the crew of the builders showed up at some point. They went on with their business, laughing at the man and beast at their foolishness. They had to admit, though, Gale and Vale weren't inefficient.

They probably would be done by midday if they worked relentlessly, which they could do effortlessly. Still, Gale thought a break would be more advisable. Although he had leftovers inside his void-lock, he would still like to prepare breakfast.

A couple of simple side dishes wouldn't even take half an hour.

Gale was ready to proceed with his intention when Xiaolin came back with boxes of breakfast and lunches. Weirdly, along with her came a couple of towering bulls. They were breathing over her head, dwarfing her by their size.

A kid of five was riding one of the bulls, yelling at them to move faster, though his commands were repealed by the man walking side by side with the bull.

"Senior Gale," Xiaolin said. She paused momentarily, finding Vale bound to a plougher. The adorable beast looked rather funny with all the dirt and dust staining his perfect fur. "You are. . .ploughing already?"

"Barely started," Gale said. He looked at the field, about a fifth had been ploughed, though they would need a second and third run. Gale wanted to be done with ploughing by today, which seemed possible so far. "Xiaolin, when did you come back?"

"About an hour ago," Xiaolin answered, addressing the man and the kid. "I went to Uncle Shen's house first. Grandma was worried you wouldn't have the means to manage the field. . . "

"So you brought the bulls?"

"Seems like Grandma underestimated him quite a bit," said the man with an affable smile. "Cultivators are capable of everything, only needed a broader perspective to get started."

"Senior," Xiaolin introduced, "this is Shen Xuan. Uncle Shen's eldest son."

Gale nodded as they exchanged bows.

"And this is my firstborn, Shen Qing." Shen Xuan moved the boy—who turned out to be a girl—from the back of the bull to the ground and let her bow. In return, Vale bowed, not waiting to be left out.

"The beast cultivates too?" Shen Xuan flabbergasted. Such a unique dog was a new perspective for him.

"He does more than that."

They continued the conversation after leaving the bulls. Gale didn't know what to do with the bulls, to be honest. He ploughed fine with Vale. The bulls would surely make it easier, but nothing substantial he couldn't do.

Instead, he would have to take care of them every day. He guessed he had no problem with that, but these freaking bulls didn't even produce milk.

It would've been better if they had bought a pair of cows.