I Grow Crops with a System

Early the next morning, after Ethan finished breakfast, Zharok arrived as promised.

He looked at the handcart piled with Honey Sweet Potatoes and Sweet Beets in the yard and nodded approvingly. ”You work fast!”

”The earlier we leave, the earlier we can return,” Ethan said.

”That’s true... You must have worked hard yesterday.”

”I specifically picked the best ones.” Ethan patted the wooden crate beside him, Pearl poked its head out and let out a lazy meow.

”That’s good, we can definitely trade for a lot of good stuff this time.” Zharok rubbed his hands together, unable to hide his excitement.

”By the way, how do we trade?”

”Usually barter, let’s go — get on the cart.”

Ethan and Pearl climbed onto the cart, Zharok grabbed the handles, tried pushing a few times, and seemed satisfied, he immediately began pulling and broke into a sprint.

”Oh! This cart is really well made, can I borrow it in the future?”

”Sure, I won’t be using it much anyway,” Ethan said.

Hearing this, Zharok pulled with even more vigor.

One man and one cat rode the simple cart — crossing the clear river, passing through lush forest, and speeding across a vast, boundless plain.

As the hours wore on, the sky darkened.

”Is it over there?” Ethan pointed ahead.

”That’s right, that is the cursed land.”

The scene before them was nothing like anything they had seen so far.

The earth was pitch black, devoid of life, and deathly still, stepping onto that dead ground, a pungent stench hit Ethan in the face, he covered his nose and mouth.

”What is that smell?!”

”The smell of the undead, you’ll get used to it.” Zharok, on the other hand, looked completely unbothered.

Ethan squinted into the distance.

”Ah! Look!”

A group of white skeletons moved in a slow march across the barren ground, the undead — creatures abandoned by death.

”The Holy Nail’s effect is really good, meow!” Pearl poked its head out of the crate and whispered.

Perhaps because Ethan was carrying the Holy Nail, the undead did not approach, they merely cast a curious glance at the cart before walking away.

”The undead despise the living and will attack anything that breathes, low-level undead are suppressed by the Holy Nail, but you must be careful of high-level undead, they aren’t afraid of it,” Zharok warned.

”How do you distinguish between high-level and low-level?”

”By whether they have intelligence or not, vampires, for instance, are high-level undead.”

Ethan nodded, vampires were powerful monsters he had encountered in the Ascendant Tower.

”Look, over there!” Zharok pointed into the distance.

A group of elves was locked in fierce battle with the undead.

”Are those the elves?” Ethan asked.

”Yeah, they look very much like humans, but they have long ears and can use all sorts of magical spells.”

”They really are impressive...”

The combat power of those elves was staggering, some wielded longswords, shattering dozens of undead with a single slash, others waved staffs and summoned raging flames to burn the undead to ash, while others manipulated fierce winds to protect their companions.

The elves wiped out the surrounding undead in moments, after spotting Ethan’s group, they cleared the remaining enemies and hurried over.

”You’re late.” A long-eared elf with a scar on his face walked over.

”We were delayed on the road, we have a lot of goods this time.”

”Hmm... Who is that sitting on the cart? A human?” The scarred elf looked at Ethan with suspicion.

”Why is there a human here?”

Hearing the word human, the other elves gathered around, studying Ethan with naked curiosity.

”Hello, I am the Lord of the Night, Leon,” the scarred elf introduced himself.

”Hello, my name is Ethan.”

”A human...” Leon let out a slow sigh.

”It’s been a very long time since I’ve seen one of your kind.”

”Hm? Are there no humans outside the Great Forest?” Ethan asked.

”Yes, as far as I know, humans have disappeared from this world.”

”Humans are extinct?!”

Ethan had assumed there simply weren’t any humans in the Great Forest, he never expected them to be gone entirely, for a moment, he was too shocked to speak.

Leon looked at him in confusion. ”Is there a problem?”

”It’s nothing, I just didn’t expect humans to be extinct... How did they disappear?”

”I’m not too sure myself, I only know that they vanished one day.” Leon shifted his tone.

”Leaving that aside — let’s talk about the trade.”

”I brought Honey Sweet Potatoes and Sweet Beets.” Ethan pointed to the handcart behind him.

”Oh! You actually know how to farm! That’s wonderful! Let me see...” Leon went to inspect the goods, his expression shifted.

”This... these are all top-grade! And there are so many... ah?”

He looked both delighted and troubled. ”This... this is too much.”

”Is it?”

”I usually just purchase some gathered items, goods of this quality, and in such a large quantity... I’m afraid I can’t afford to take it all.”

Zharok smiled smugly from the sidelines, Leon glared at him, then turned and beckoned, an elf walked over holding several bags.

”I heard you needed spices and seasonings, here — pepper, chili powder, and our elves’ specially made seasoning, Elven Broth.”

”I didn’t expect you to bring so much, though, so I didn’t prepare enough.”

A bag of pepper, a bag of chili powder, and a bag of Elven Broth, compared to the Honey Sweet Potatoes and Sweet Beets Ethan had brought, these items were pitifully few, even though spices and seasonings were precious, a trade like this would be a terrible deal.

”Could I bring more spices and seasonings next time? Other items work too, let’s continue the rest of the trade next time,” Leon said.

Honey Sweet Potatoes and Sweet Beets could be stored for about a month after harvest without spoiling.

”Thank you, I’ll definitely bring more things next week,” Ethan agreed.

”It’s wonderful that our first trade went so smoothly.” Leon looked genuinely happy, being able to exchange for so many Honey Sweet Potatoes and Sweet Beets seemed to thrill him.

”Then we will come again next week, we definitely won’t disappoint you. Please — take this as a token of our cooperation.”

Leon unbuckled the sword from his waist and held it out, Ethan took the longsword in confusion, and his eyes went wide.

[Legendary Grade — Blade of the Holy Elf]

[A longsword forged from mithril and orichalcum, its power is amplified when wielded by an elf, imbued with holy power, it possesses immense lethality against the undead and monsters.]

”I swear upon this holy sword — I will definitely make you satisfied.”