Prepare Farm

In the morning, Mina woke up feeling a bit disconcerted due to the cool room.

She definitely knew her brother did not buy an air conditioner. 

Why is the room so cool ? 

She looked at the table fan. 

Nope.. there's nothing different. It's still the same old creaking table fan ! 

Her gaze traveled down. 

What in the world was that ? 

There's a transparent watery jelly underneath what's clearly a big block of ice. 

Where did her brother get this big block of ice ? 

It couldn't have cost little. 

The surprises did not end there. 

There's a pungent smell from the kitchen. Even if it's an open air kitchen, it's still a kitchen. 

Her brother had built an open air kitchen attached to the door. 

The plot itself is not small, but given he is building an almost paleolithic style cottage, they had to follow the designs of that time. 

The toilet is located far away, it's not the flush type but the pit in the ground type that the military used when on march. 

It is a notch down from the flush toilet they could use in the building, but Mina did not mind. In their small community, there are about twenty people waiting to use the same toilet in the morning. 

Just because she doesn't have to rush she is satisfied. 

Moreover, her brother had made everything smaller in size just for herself. Moreover, from what her brother said, he is going to improve this house. So, soon, their entire house would be upgraded.

When she came out, Mina took a detailed look at their home. 

She did not know what the plot looked like before at all. 

Mina loved her house's current look. 

The slopes on either side were cut steeply, like a knife trimming of sides of a potato. The perfectly vertical cliffs were covered with climbing roses from bottom to top. At the top, the climbing roses spawned into bushes, preserving the privacy of their house. 

On the back of the house, they faced the city wall. If people wanted to, they could stand on the city wall and throw something into their backyard, but that's alright. Entering this part of the city wall is hard, and no patrols ever ran on this little bridge, as it's too out of the way. 

Unbeknownst to her, these climbing roses are a wild thorny variety, especially deterring against thieves and small prey. 

These steep walls on three sides sank into a deep moat-like structure of one meter width. One could see sharp brown spears, ready to impale any who dared to jump in.

The only thing Mina regretted is that she could never touch any of the roses by extending her hand, the moat prevented her from approaching any of the flowers on any side. 

Perhaps there's water underneath, but the depth is so deep, or that the bottom is too dark, one could not see the bottom of it. It made the moat around their house seem all the more dangerous. 

Their own house is located on a raised square of perfectly leveled ground, which is higher than street level by two meters. 

Thus, despite having a two meters high fence, they have a perfect outlook of the street. 

At present, it's only a bamboo cottage, so there's plenty of space all around the cottage. 

Her brother did not plant anything in the front. 

He dug out holes for plants in the back, and had a few support fences ready, so Mina assumed it's some kind of creeper plant. Probably peas or beans. 

It is summer right now, so there's no need to change their house's outlook. 

Mina loved how it looked. 

If it's possible at all, she did not want to change it at all. 

Her brother had already started cooking in the open air kitchen in the back. 

Rowan was cleaning fish when Mina walked to him. 

She looked wide eyed at the fish. 

" Brother ! What is that ? " She asked in shock. 

" This, my dear sister, is a fish. " Rowan said, showing both sides of the fish to her. 

He came from a seaside town. He is most used to making and eating this fish. 

Rowan initially thought it would take more than five years before he could make his way to the ocean. Now, thanks to the shop, he already has fish available. 

" Want to learn how to make fish ? " he asked Mina. 

Mina nodded her head eagerly. 

She really wanted to learn. After all, even river fish have become a rarity these days. Fish is a delicacy that only the rich could afford. 

Rowan cut off the head first. 

Then, he gently ran his knife horizontally in the middle, gently separating the fish into two. 

" First, we need to remove the bones. " he taught Mina, as he shewed her the fish spine, and attached fishbones. 

He sliced from underneath the spine, separating it off along with the flesh attached to it. 

" Then, we remove the fins. '' Rowan showed the side ward protrusions on the fish to his sister. He proceeded to cut them off. 

" We have to keep both the fish flesh, which we will use, and the fish bones and head, which we use to make broth." Rowan said, extending his hand towards the fish pieces in two broadleaves. 

Yes, they are poor enough to not have extra prep bowls. 

Rowan did not intend to add them in future either. 

He had to somehow trim off these excess leaves of the plants to keep growth happening, or to use them as feed to his slimes. No point wasting them. 

However, he did invest in a good iron wok, for that one utensil is enough to handle all his cooking needs. 

Fortunately, household items are not decomposing. So many people died off before equipping their homes, appliances are the easiest to find out in the wild. 

So much so, except for the extremely good brands and knives, all the other kitchen utensils are tossed in to reproduce steel. 

It's both sad and funny in hindsight. 

If they were living in normal times, Rowan would never have allowed his little sister to come this close to fire. In this era of doom, it's better for his sister to know how to take care of herself. 

Thus, he let her hold the wok, as he showed her how to set the fish head on fire with cooking wine to make the broth… 

He let her toss the wok for as long as she could before taking over. He removed the fish parts, fed them directly to a slime that eats flesh. 

Ideally, he should put some beaten egg in the broth to make it more thick. Eggs are a delicacy, so, he had to make do with just tender filets he made earlier. Rowan scored the filets to make them cook faster. 

Mina went to have her bath before coming over in her school uniform. 

The white rice is ready on the table, as well as the fish soup. 

The freshly braised fish soup, and the fish that's right of the pan, tasted like heaven after the usual cardboard-like meal supplements they eat. 

Mina ate with relish. 

Even Rowan dug in with more enthusiasm than normal. 

After they were finished, Mina went to school, Rowan went out to check out his farm. 

He finished his mandatory community service of cleaning two acres of land in the first ring. Now, he has to clean up his own land of a hundred acres between the third and fourth ring. 

It seems following him, many people have opted for leasing land. 

However, one look at them was enough for Rowan to know most of them are just workers working for a guild or a team of hunters. 

Thus, he has given priority to fencing his land before cleaning it up. 

Also, this will help him hide the working of slimes to some extent. 

The land leased in the third ring is wide spread with a large interspersing gap, all the same, Rowan wanted to maintain secrecy for as long as possible. 

Thankfully, the smart phone's still working. 

Ofcourse, this is all thanks to base A, who were able to launch satellites tied to helium balloons into the protosphere. 

He marked the territory boundaries with twigs first to make sure it is indeed the rectangle he was promised with. 

He was given an extra ten acres of land as bonus, given some of his land is hard to map, with a mountain and pond. 

A furrow ran through in between the land, going to the pond. Thus, drainage of this land is good. 

Rowan is a science student, if not an civil engineer, so he knew enough to note down the terrain and form the drainage according to naturally formed structures. 

The entire land is divided into ten pieces, with a winding stream. 

First, he decided to fence off the land. 

He walked back to the twigs he left on the border. 

He left an earth slime, guiding it in the circle shape needed for the pit. Once the slime had dug about a hand's width of the pit, he gave standing instructions to the slime to eat soil in the pit, left for the next twig. 

By the time he finished the circuit, the first pit was ready. 

With all the manipulation he is doing, the stone slime leveled up. 

Rowan held the slime with his hands. Then, activated the soul connection that his system is always going on about. 

It's an entirely different experience, looking at the world from a slime's perspective. 

For the first time, he realized slimes are not simple animals. They are more like mana and organic matter constructs, belonging to neither living , nor dead. 

Being in slime's perspective, it's almost like being in a cultivator's mind. 

All around him, stone elements glistened. 

He tried moving them, to form the shape of a one foot by eight foot round pole. 

Once done, Rowan broke the connection. 

He held the stone slime the specified way, then rubbed it in a gray spot. 

The boulder fell straight down in the pit. He held the boulder standing with one hand. He filled the pit using rubble from the earth slime.