Chapter 13: Way to become stronger

Rowen leaned back in his chair and opened the drawer again. After selling the potatoes, he’d gotten ten low-grade mana crystals from Darian—this time, the exact price he’d set. Last time, Darian had tossed over fifteen without even asking, not knowing the going rate. He counted the new ten quickly, stacking them in neat rows on the counter. Adding them to the three he still had left from earlier, that brought his total to thirteen. Not bad. He picked up the pouch he kept tucked behind the register and slid the crystals inside. Thirteen low-grade crystals—not enough to expand the land just yet, but more than enough to keep things stable for a while. Rowen did a quick mental check of how long the mana should last. A week, maybe a little more if they didn’t push the field too hard. He looked over at Fern, who was still floating half-asleep on the counter. "Are you good for now?" Rowen asked. Fern gave a small hum, eyes still closed. "Mmh. The farm’s stable. Won’t need more mana until the next batch of planting, unless you expand the plot." Rowen nodded. That was good enough for now. Rowen paused, still seated behind the counter, and glanced at Fern. "How much time till the next batch is ready to harvest?" Fern didn’t open his eyes and just gave a lazy stretch. "Tomatoes need about two more hours. As for the potatoes—maybe an hour and a half. Rowen nodded, already doing the math in his head. Now was a good time to check M-Net for any new information. "Alright. Let me know if anything changes," he said. Fern gave a small thumbs-up without lifting his head. "Got it." Rowen pulled his mobile out from his pocket and tapped the screen. The M-Net interface flickered to life, loading the main hub—clean, white text on a dark background, with updates scrolling across the sidebar. Now that he was awakened as a farmer, he figured it was a good time to check more than just the headlines. What he really wanted to know was whether there were any known upgrades for farmers—something like advancement paths, special tools, or techniques like the ones knights and mages had access to. Even tamers had tier-based progression systems. But for farmers? It always felt like their path just... stopped after the adept level. A few titles caught his eye: : "Observations on Passive Skills from Mana-Enriched Farming" : "Typical Growth Patterns for Farmers" : "Farmer Advancement Limits After Adept Tier—What to Expect" He clicked the last one and leaned in. The thread was straightforward, written by someone who had worked in agricultural zones for over a decade. No flashy titles, no fake breakthroughs—just honest experience. Rowen scrolled through the post. It confirmed what he already suspected: farmers didn’t level past Adept. That was the soft ceiling. Past that point, all you could do was refine your technique and hope to unlock a few passive abilities—nothing flashy. Things like better stamina during planting, resistance to weather effects, and an improved sense for soil health. Good, practical stuff, but not anything that made someone stronger. Not like knights, who gained combat styles with each rank. Not like mages, who learned spells and formed cores. For farmers, it was just enough to get by. Rowen leaned back in his chair, staring at the screen for a moment. That was it. No advanced path. No real power scaling. Rowen stared at the blank M-Net screen for a while, then slowly closed the tab. That was the limit—for most farmers. But then he remembered something Fern had said before. "If you expand the land, your growth won’t stop there. You can go further." Rowen frowned slightly, thinking it over. If what Fern said was true, then maybe there was a path forward—but not through the usual systems. Not the forums. Not the academy records. Something different. Something tied to his farm. He raised his hand and quietly whispered the command. "Status." A soft glow flickered in the air in front of him. No one else could see it—this window was soul-bound, visible only to him. Lines of text appeared, crisp and simple: Name: Rowen Race: Human Path: Farmer Class Rank: Apprentice Farmer (Unranked) Soul Link: Active Contracted Sprite: Fern (Spirit of Growth) Energy Type: Mana Mana Capacity: Unknown Rowen studied the screen. Still an apprentice. Still unranked. But the "Soul Link" line stood out—most farmers didn’t have that. And the mana capacity being listed as unknown... that wasn’t normal either. Maybe Fern was right. Maybe there was a way forward—but it wouldn’t come through guides or training manuals. It would come from the land itself. And from what he built on it. Then he remembered something else Fern had told him a while back. It hadn’t seemed important at the time—but now it echoed in his mind. "I am bonded to you now. That means you’ll eventually be able to use magic—even cast spells—after you learn it." At the time, Rowen had shrugged it off. Farmers didn’t cast spells. That was for mages, healers, and maybe tamers with the right elemental partner. But Fern hadn’t been joking. Rowen looked back at the screen, eyes narrowing slightly at the line: Energy Type: Mana Mana Capacity: Unknown If Fern was right, then his path wasn’t just about farming anymore. It might lead somewhere else—if he kept going, expanding the land, feeding mana into the soil, and staying linked to Fern. Maybe that was the key to moving beyond Adept. Maybe that was what made him different. Rowen closed the status window, the glowing text fading quietly from the air. No one else would understand it. But he didn’t need them to. He just needed to keep going. Rowen wasn’t in a rush to start learning spells. That could wait. Right now, he was more curious about something else—what was out there, beyond this quiet little border town. He had lived his whole life in this region, tucked away in a low-level area where nothing big ever happened. No major guild activity. No real conflict. No strong awakened individuals. Just farmers, shopkeepers, and a few low-tier adventurers passing through. Rowen pulled out his phone and tapped the screen, connecting back to M-Net. The signal was a bit slower out here, but stable enough. He opened the regional directory, switched the filter from "Local" to "National," and started browsing through listings of the major cities across the country.