Farmer Mage

He exited the house while scratching his cheek. He had slept well the night before, better than almost any other night in the past month.

Cal attributed this to many things falling into place. He had only one significant worry left. Well, technically two, but he considered them one and the same: Overseer Marek and the Celestial Order.

He expected news on that very soon, not only because of his help exposing the smuggling ringleader in Silverpine but also because of Maelor's appearance at the farm.

Cal expected both to be heavily scrutinized in the Celestial Order. If not them, then Overseer Marek would definitely know. The man had been far too interested in him not to closely track his actions.

He stretched, pushed aside the worrisome thoughts, and started his work for the day. The crops planted in the five-thousand-square-foot area were ready for harvest.

Cal clapped his hands as he approached the soon-to-be-harvested crops. He would’ve gone right to it if not for the golem.

He hadn’t done much with it lately, and most of it was his own fault. It wasn’t difficult to correctly order the golem and place well-defined guardrails, but he had to admit that he depended on his intent to do most of the work.

Still, it was strange that the golem found unreasonable loopholes to avoid doing precisely what he wanted.

Cal never owned a golem in his past life, but he knew that they generally followed the path of least resistance. His golem somehow found the option of lobbing balls of rock across his farm instead of following his orders, which was more than a little strange.

He sighed and abandoned the crops for now. He stood before the golem and wondered what to do with it.

After a few minutes, Cal came to a decision. He had the pond acting as a supercharged hearthstone. The first test would be on this golem.

“Move one pile of rocks on the southern edge of the pond. Stack it far away enough that none of it can fall into the pond. When you move the rocks from here to your target, you must only carry them in a manageable load. You cannot throw them, ball them up, or do anything except my orders. You’re also barred from stepping onto the field where I have planted my crops.”

The golem immediately went into action. It gathered an armful of rocks before rumbling to the other side of the pile and traveling outside the field's bounds.

Cal felt he could do no better in giving it more exact orders. If it somehow found a loophole now, he would just have to pat it on its back and accept defeat.

He watched it carry a load of rocks a few times before feeling comfortable that everything would be handled smoothly. He then returned to the crops he was about to harvest and pulled up his sleeves.

At a glance, the yield looked promising. But he would only know for sure once he counted it as he harvested Sunfire Grains.

***

Amazing.

He laid out the Sunfire grains to dry in a different spot than usual. He didn’t want to risk the golem crushing the crops, so he made the trip to the opposite side of the field to lay out the harvested crops on the hard surface layer outside his farm.

It took him much longer than usual, but keeping his crops safe from the possibly-malfunctioning golem was well worth the time investment.

Cal placed the last few Sunfire grains on the ground, causing the interface to appear.

Your skill [Green Thumb] has increased by 4 levels.

Your skill [Green Thumb] has upgraded to the next rank.

[Green Thumb: Apprentice 1] - Your crops grow 15% faster and are more resistant to diseases and pests. Your harvest will always yield 5% more than normal.

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Your [Primary Tier] has increased by 1 level.

It had been ages since his [Primary Class] had received an upgrade. This was understandable since he could no longer receive regular notifications from the interface that he had leveled up due to having a low level, but it still left a void.

More importantly, [Green Thumb] finally specified how much more yield he could expect from his harvest. Of course, the speed at which his crops grew also increased by five percent. None of this would apply to his current planted seeds, but it would help significantly accelerate his [Primary Tier] growth and future planted seeds.

Cal was already happy when he realized his harvest yield matched his previous one. Around seventy-five percent of the planted seeds had matured, and fifty percent of those had grown into red grain variants. Adding [Green Thumb] and [Farmer] upgrading was a cherry on top.

He smiled as he took in the laid-out crops before heading to the pond, where the golem was waiting. It had completed its task and moved an entire pile of rocks to be next to the pond.

It had taken almost an entire day, but Cal hadn’t been in any rush since the harvest had taken even longer.

He almost felt guilty about recalling the golem when it stared at him, but he reminded himself that it wasn’t a true life. It was just rocks held together by his spell.

The golem crumbled instantly into fine sand.

Cal closed his eyes and connected to the well of mana deep in the pond. It thrummed with acceptance when he linked his mana pathways to it.

He had to stop himself from losing all sense when he felt the vast reserves now available to him. He had to remember that while the mana he was connected to in the pond was remarkably similar to his own, it was not a part of his body. Overuse can and will cause severe side effects, with exhaustion being the least of the concerns.

I have to keep that in mind when I supply the golem with the mana it needs. Even if it comes short, I must cut it off for safety.

[Harvest Guardian] activated.

Cal was prepared for the absolute gushing of mana flooding through him. His body was just a link that connected the forming golem to the pond.

His nonessential reserves were constantly full as the pond replenished his mana core the moment anything was drawn out. It still felt like he was undergoing a starvation of mana since his pathways were strained to the limit with what it could handle.

Cal already sensed that the transferred mana exceeded what the previous golem had required to form. Still, the pond felt as full as ever. The hearthstone had emptied at this point, which forced the golem to form without an elemental affinity. This time, he knew it would be different.

Sweat dripped down Cal’s face as he barely noticed the changes happening to the rock pile. His focus had to be on ensuring the mana was supplied smoothly without any hiccups whatsoever.

At this point, his efforts weren’t for the golem's benefit but for his own.

Cal knew that if there was even a brief second of a break in the connection to the pond, the golem’s hunger for mana would consume everything his mana core had and possibly dip into his essential reserves. That was not acceptable.

Nearly a minute passed when the draw of mana suddenly dropped. The interface appeared.

This golem is forming without an elemental affinity.

Do you wish to apply one of your affinities to this golem?

The answer was obvious. The element he wanted was a little less obvious. He wanted the golem to have an affinity for water.

Applying Water affinity to the golem.

Cal winced when the draw became even more demanding than before. He could feel his mana core depleting slowly since he couldn’t draw fast enough from the pond to refill what was being used.

He estimated there was less than a minute before his mana core was emptied, and it would be necessary to dip into essential reserves. More importantly, he estimated there were only several seconds left before he reached his body’s limits of how much mana it could handle traveling through it.

The golem had to finish soon, or he would have to cancel for his own safety.

Cal was ready to clamp down on the draw on his reserves when it suddenly stopped by itself.

He finally noticed the rock pile and saw it was gone. In its place stood a golem about the same height as the previous one he had created, but this one had a heavy bluish tint.

Cal stumbled when he tried to take a step towards it and barely stopped himself from falling. He quickly looked around and relaxed when he saw that the wolf pack was more interested in looking at the golem than his stumbling.

He didn’t need to go near it to command it to do what he created it for.

“Golem, cast Rainfall over the pond.”

Cal watched with anticipation when the golem raised its palm, similar to what he would do when he cast [Rainfall].

Your Water Golem requests access to your mana core to cast [Rainfall].

Do you accept?

He deflated before quickly denying access. He needed to recover before any more mana was drawn from his mana core.

Cal had hoped the golem would have its own mana core to supply the water spells, but the lack of it didn’t mean the golem was useless. Filling and expanding the pond had taken up far too much of his time, and not having to laze around beside it and delegate the task to the golem would be of enough help.

“I want you to stay in that spot. Do not move for any reason, and do not try to do anything from the spot.” Cal was still a little paranoid about what the goal might do while he was gone.

He made sure everything was set and gave the pack leader a slight nod before he left the farm. He needed to go to Mariner’s Rest to get the carts… and he wanted to see Tavia.