The next morning came heavy with anticipation. A dull mist clung to the valley, veiling the crops in a ghostly hue. Birds didn't sing. Even the wind seemed to tiptoe around the paddies.
The calm before the storm.
Ikenna stood at the heart of the farm, feeling the pulse of the soil beneath his boots. His fingers traced the grooves of the carved stones he'd placed at each boundary—sigils glowed faintly under his qi, forming a lattice that shimmered just beneath the surface.
System Notification:
Beast Wave Countdown: 1 Day, 7 Hours
Defensive Readiness: 63%
Next Unlock: Tactical Agriculture – Tier 2 (at 70%)
Spirit Crop Readiness:
• Golden Rice – 78% mature
• Flame Bean Vines – 94% mature
• Stun Bulbs – 100% mature
Recommend: Harvest Flame Beans. Set trigger traps.
Beside him, Amara inspected the rows of Stun Bulbs, their pale blue husks glowing faintly. She crouched and plucked one, cradling it like a grenade.
"These really gonna work?" she asked.
"They release a burst of qi-charged pollen on impact," Ikenna replied. "Temporarily paralyzes muscle control in beasts under Stage 3."
She grinned. "You're one strange farmer."
"I'm a teacher," he corrected. "I study patterns. I adapt. Even if my class is made of plants."
They got to work immediately.
The Flame Bean Vines, grown near the edge of the inner paddies, were harvested in clusters and bundled into traps crafted from bamboo cages. These beans, once mature, combusted violently when exposed to air and qi simultaneously. Ikenna carefully wired each trap to pressure triggers laid into the soft soil of the main path.
He labeled this defense line Scorch Path Alpha.
Meanwhile, Amara supervised the planting of Stun Bulbs along a tight bottleneck corridor between the terrace walls. It was here that she'd funnel the enemy beasts if the warding roots failed.
"Every predator has a rhythm," she said, brushing her hand over the husks. "You disrupt that rhythm, they hesitate. And in that hesitation, you strike."
Ikenna filed that away. Teaching and hunting weren't so different after all.
Professor was in charge of the decoys.
With the help of the Crescent Wood Sect boy—who'd finally introduced himself as Jalun—they placed fake bundles of golden rice at three outer locations, each soaked in a pungent mix of honey and bitter spirit mint. This would draw the beasts' attention and possibly split them up.
"Will they really fall for it?" Jalun asked, adjusting his glasses as he eyed one of the decoy sites.
"They're spirit beasts," Ikenna said. "Instinct-driven. They smell qi and go mad with hunger. If we can trick their instincts, we buy time."
"Still feels crazy to me. Like farming and war got mixed up in a stew."
"That's the world we live in," Ikenna said. "Adapt or be devoured."
As night crept in again, the final phase began: fortification.
With energy running low, Ikenna sat cross-legged at the center of the field and summoned the Farming Scroll. Golden light rose from his palm, and the scroll unfurled mid-air, revealing newer layers of diagrams—crop formations, elemental defense grids, advanced soil cultivation maps.
He focused on the new unlock:
Tactical Agriculture – Tier 2 Unlocked!
New Techniques:
• Terrain Shift (Minor): Adjust land elevation within 5m radius
• Seed Burst Trap: Plant seeds that explode in area when triggered
• Nutrient Siphon: Draw qi from mature plants to fuel defense wards
Resource Gained: +3 Spirit Crop Points
Use to boost defensive crop properties or mutate new strains.
He was grinning now.
"I can shift terrain. Set traps. Siphon qi like a beast core. This isn't a farm anymore—it's a living battlefield."
He immediately activated Terrain Shift to deepen a trench near the left wall, turning it into a pit trap. He placed sharpened bamboo stakes at the base, laced with fire pepper sap.
Then, using Nutrient Siphon, he channeled excess qi from the mature Golden Rice to reinforce the warding roots at the northern edge.
Each pulse of energy fed into the latticework around the farm's perimeter, tightening the sigils and giving them a bluish gleam. Like a shield made of whispers and light.
By the time the final rays of sun dipped below the hills, the farm was transformed.
The once-peaceful land now looked like a sacred stronghold:
Fields lined with tactical crops
Walls reinforced with spiritual wood and earth sigils
Traps embedded like runes waiting to speak
Light flowing like water through channels of carved stone
And at its center stood Ikenna, no longer just a teacher with a scroll—but a cultivator of war and growth alike.
Amara stood beside him, hands on her hips. "You know what this reminds me of?"
"What?"
"A story my grandmother used to tell. About a boy who planted flowers in a monster's path so beautiful the creature wept instead of killing."
He smiled faintly. "I'm not sure these beasts will stop to smell the roses."
"Then we make sure the roses explode."
System Notification:
Beast Wave Countdown: 14 Hours
Defensive Readiness: 81%
Recommended Action: Rest. Regain stamina. Prepare spiritual focus for battle.
Ikenna glanced at the message, then at the moon rising full in the sky.
"I'll rest when they're safe," he said.
He pulled his coat tighter, settled against a bale of straw, and let the hum of the warding sigils lull him into a meditative trance.
Tomorrow, the beasts would come.
And tomorrow, they'd learn—
This was no ordinary field.
This was the Scholar's Garden of War.