Published: July 4, 2025
Somehow, Ryo made it back home.
He froze the corpse of the kaitosnake and stored it in the storage room.
He didn’t have any desire to eat the snake.
Even if his university friend, who returned from Southeast Asia, said, "It’s pretty bland but quite tasty!" he still didn't want to eat it.
However, there might be some materials he could use... Yes, he had seen snake leather wallets and bags even on Earth...
"A bag... Well, a burlap sack wouldn’t be too much of a problem... but more than anything, I don't have any thread or string. I could use vines instead, but using vines for clothes is a bit..."
When it comes to 'clothing', living a slow life in the Forest of Rondo is still quite challenging.
As for 'food', not only did he obtain figs, but he also got 'Rindo', which resembles an apple, during this expedition.
It was the long-awaited new fruit.
Having a variety of food is essential for enjoying a slow life!
"Still, to encounter a kaitosnake... that was intense."
It was Ryo's first time encountering a monster that used poison.
The 'Monsters Encyclopedia - Beginner Edition' only stated, "It spits venom," but he never expected it to spew such a wide range of what could be called poison mist.
"The [Downpour] I created for irrigation came in handy during the battle... Really, you never know what will be useful where."
The water attribute magic [Downpour], which washed away the kaitosnake's poison that was spread in the air, originally came to mind for watering with a watering can.
Well, the force and amount of water were a bit excessive, and the range was wide, though.
The targets of that irrigation were the transplanted figs he had collected earlier.
The fruit would grow if he ventured into the forest, but it would be nice to have some in the garden for when he suddenly craved it at night... It was just a light-hearted thought when he planted them.
Of course, he used no pesticides, chemical fertilizers, or even organic fertilizers; it was all natural cultivation!
Because that way, they taste better.
It’s not that he couldn’t get any of those—it’s just that he didn’t want to!
If he were pursuing production volume, large amounts of fertilization might be a good method.
However, for a slow life... such measures aren’t necessary.
Yet, there was one area of 'food' that was progressing very slowly.
Rice, specifically.
He had quite a large stock of rice in the 'paddy rice' state for sowing or eating.
All of it was obtained from the wetlands of the Northern Forest.
However, what Ryo wanted was to improve the rice.
For that, he needed to create a rice field.
It was necessary, but... for instance, if he could use earth attribute magic, perhaps he could use magic to 'till' the land.
Even without that, he could make a hoe and till the land by himself.
However, Ryo only had water attribute magic.
"Without earth attribute magic, without tools like a hoe, and without farming horses, starting the reclamation from scratch..."
He couldn't imagine a successful scenario at all.
For now, he decided to shoot an icicle lance at the candidate site for the rice field.
"[Icicle Lance 2]"
It was a bit uncertain.
"Let’s drop it from above. [Icicle Lance 128]"
He generated 128 icicle lances twenty meters above and let them fall freely onto the candidate site for the rice field.
Thud! Thud! Thud!
They pierced into the ground.
“Oh, well... they just pierce... right...? I wonder if they’ll burst after piercing…”
He envisioned one of the lances piercing and exploding...
“First, I need to guard against that.”
Since it was, so to speak, his garden within the barrier, he wasn’t even wearing ice armor.
"[Ice Wall Level 5]"
The most robust wall would separate him from the explosive (planned) objects.
Originally, the ice wall was transparent, so it wouldn’t interfere with his work.
Once again... he conjured the image of one of the pierced icicle lances exploding in his mind.
Crack!
It was more like the ice shattered and flew everywhere rather than an explosion.
"This won’t allow any tilling..."