Almanac of the Gods
While Alfred is desperate to find the missing Elaina, Elaina on the other hand is fiddling with the book that appeared before her. Based on the one who calls themselves one of the "gods", this was the blessing she was granted with.
From the looks of the contents, she can tell that it is an almanac based on some pages containing the local flora and fauna, where to find them, and how to handle and find them in the area. There is even a map that shows the areas where to find them, making this very detailed and useful for her use later. After all, she can't rely on her crops the first time she has to plant them. She has to wait, let the crops grow, and let them bear fruit and mature before she can earn anything. While waiting, what can she even use to gain money in the meantime? That's right, she needed to forage and hunt if she wanted to sustain her life during her early days.
"Wow, this is surprisingly detailed indeed. I don't know what to say but this pretty much will help me in my everyday life," Elaina can't help herself to be impressed by it. "However, why an almanac? I thought the gods had those powers like granting the one they are blessing with some sort of magic to grow crops in a flash or something more "magical", you know what I mean?"
The god talking to her again appeared and answered her question. "[We do have that kind of blessing but why would we give that to you? Doesn't that defeat the purpose of cultivating the land with your own hands? Although we are granting you a blessing, we don't want to grant powers that can break the balance of the world to people even if it is someone trustworthy. What we granted to you is a necessary tool that you will need if you want to grow the crops that we will deliver for you as that will be the only way for you to have a good chance to cultivate them to grow. It might not be as magical as you thought it would be, but this is a good way for you to grow as an outstanding farmer.]"
Elaina scratches her head for a bit before nodding in agreement. "I do agree that it does not help me grow as a farmer if I can just grow them with magic. Their quality is not something you would like as they grow in magic, not in natural reasons and constant care. The harvest that was grown with magic is not very good in quality compared to those that are grown with patience. I guess you have a point there.]"
"[I am glad you get my point. Using magic to grow something has no quality which is why we are entrusting this task to a human like you. If we tried to grow them ourselves, there is a chance we would grow impatient and use magic to grow them instead. We already know how the result of the crops when grown with magic so we would like to also know how different they are if grown by human hands. And to assist that, the Almanac that we have given to you is something that would make your time growing our crops a lot more convenient. And while we are at it, we also added many things you needed to aid your farming as well.]"
"That is indeed convenient but how do I even remove this book right now from my sight? I don't think I would like a book floating in front of me forever would be an ideal sight for farming or my everyday life." Elaina inquired as she tried to remove the book from her sight which just kept on floating in front of her.
"[Just mentally recall it from your consciousness and say "Keep" to put it away. If you want to reread it, you will need to do the same thing but this time, to take it out, and you will have to say "Show" and that will make the book reappear again.]"
Elaina followed their instructions and the moment she said "Keep", the almanac disappeared. She did the same thing the other way around and said "Show" which then the Almanac reappeared before her.
'[Oh, and before you keep it away, we have added some missions for you as well. There is no penalty for not completing them but some are time-limited so if you want to snag a mission and earn rewards from us, then better do the missions! There is even a tutorial mission in which if you finish it, you will get a reward from us once you have finished the entire set of missions prepared, step by step!]"
"Missions? Tutorial?" Elaina flipped the Almanac a few more times and just like what the god was saying to her, however, since the Almanac is quite thick, she would take a few hours flipping the book and she would not find it. She could just flip the books fast but she might miss it while doing so, making it a bit inconvenient. It would have been fine if the book was not that big and not that thick as she can just flip it fast but a magical book that seems thicker than an average encyclopedia with multiple volumes stacked together and a dictionary? That is just annoying and a chore to do.
"Hey, can I give a suggestion? It would be great if you could put bookmarks on this in specific areas like those daily quests you are saying. Flipping through thousands of pages to find it is a time waster."
"[You know what? That's a good idea.]"
She hears a snapping sound and the book glows a bit. It only lasted a few seconds before it transformed into a new look and now the book has multiple small bookmarks that have marks on them on what topic is in these pages and whatnot. Due to this new feature, she found what she was looking for and quickly turned the pages very easily.
The Quests that appeared are all printed neatly and are divided into multiple segments the Daily Quests, Weekly Quests, and Permanent. And then there is also the tutorial quest that the "god" was talking about behind the last page of the Permanent quests. Elaina checked the dailies and was surprised by how mundane most of them were. There are only 3 quests for the daily quest.
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1. Till the soil 30 times
Reward: 50 Farm Points
2. Water 9 crops or plants(watering using sprinklers is valid)
Reward: 50 Farm Points
3. Harvest a Crop or Gather Forageables
Reward: 20 Farm Points
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"These quests are pretty straightforward but what are these Farm Points and why are the daily quests so lackluster?" Elaina frowned.
"[Because you haven't started with farming yet. Once you begin and you are starting to have a decent amount of work from day to day, the quests present will increase. Right now, all of the missions we decided to give to you are easy to do and not so taxing for your body. We don't want to strain you and your future baby after all. As for the Farm Points, it will be explained later in the tutorial quest so do that first before you can learn what these farm points are.]"
"Hmm, how considerate. But is it necessary for me to complete them?"
"[No, not really. Whether you complete it or not, it doesn't matter since we don't punish those who ignore them. But the daily rewards will be gone if you don't do it. You can say that it is your loss if you just decide to ignore them. Just look inside the book and you will see a list of the present that changes every time you complete them or the time runs out.]"
"Ah, that is good to know. It would be troublesome to have punishments if I don't complete it aside from missed rewards. After all, I can't complete them right now without any tools to use. Unless you give me some tools for me to use then?"
"[Unfortunately, we only provide you with the almanac and the rewards, the tools...well, you need to find one for you to get started.]"
"Figures." Elaina nodded in understanding.
"[Since you are still pretty busy, I will stop bothering you. You can just call us again if you have questions. Bye!]"
And with that, the "god" that was talking to her stopped communicating with her. The magical energy that was surging from earlier has also disappeared as well.
Elaina glanced at the Almanac floating in front of her and she squeezed her left arm to see if she was dreaming or not.
"Ow...yep...this is not a dream."
Seeing this new "power" given to her, she smiled at herself. She might be a single mother now and her funds are limited, but that doesn't mean she is no longer able to sustain her child-to-be in the future.
"Alright, time to get working. While I can still do some work, I should start preparing for things I need so that once I start going to the stages where it is hard to do anything due to my pregnancy and I am going into labor, even if I don't have to work for a few days, I can still earn money passively."
With a solid plan, Elaina is now ready to begin her new work and her new life as a single mother.