Chapter 9: The Next Day

Chapter 9: Chapter 9: The Next Day

Stepping back through the glowing marble gate, the soft breeze and radiant energy of the Primordial Garden dissolved around Rowan. He found himself standing back in his quiet bedroom, the faint hum of his desktop computer still buzzing softly in the background.

Rowan immediately glanced over at the digital clock on his nightstand.

11:17 PM.

He froze, staring at the glowing numbers.

"Wait..." Rowan muttered, pulling out his phone to double-check the time.

He had gone out into the backyard at 11:00 PM, spent a few minutes casting [Nourish], and then immediately activated his domain. Between walking the 3,250-step perimeter, exploring the tree, drinking from the spring, and sowing his remaining seeds, he had easily spent 50 minutes inside the Primordial Garden.

Yet in the real world, only 5 minutes had elapsed.

Rowan sat down on the edge of his bed, his mind racing as his Legendary Intelligence quickly calculated the implications.

A 10:1 time ratio.

A sharp, thrilled smile spread across his face as the math clicked into place. Time flowed ten times faster inside his domain relative to the outside world.

That meant a crop that normally required 100 days to mature on Earth would finish growing inside the Primordial Garden in just 10 real-world days. And that was before factoring in the accelerated growth effects from the island’s pure life energy, the cosmic soil, and his passive [Breath of Eden].

What would take ordinary farmers months to cultivate, Rowan could harvest in a matter of days—or even hours.

He leaned back against his pillows, staring up at the ceiling as his mind whirred with new possibilities for his class and the endless potential resting right at his fingertips.

***

Rowan woke to the soft golden light of early morning filtering through his blinds. Sucking in a deep breath, he sat up—and immediately noticed the difference.

His body felt lighter, steady, and noticeably more grounded. That subtle, lingering fatigue that used to cling to his limbs after a long day of physical work was completely gone. The +1 to All Base Attributes from the primordial spring water had settled permanently into his system, leaving his muscles feeling tighter, his posture firmer, and his mind remarkably sharp.

He swung his legs out of bed, washed up, and brushed his teeth at the bathroom sink, catching his reflection in the mirror. His eyes looked brighter, clearer, and a faint, healthy color had returned to his skin.

"Rowan! Breakfast is ready!" his mother’s voice called up from downstairs, accompanied by the sizzle of pan-fried eggs and the warm aroma of brewed tea.

"Coming, Mom!" Rowan called back.

As he pulled on a clean shirt and walked down the hallway, his thoughts spun through a flurry of ideas:

The Backyard: How far had the seeds grown overnight under the moonlight, powered by his late-night [Nourish] spell and the double-dug black loam?

The Domain Nursery: If the 10:1 time dilation held true, his tomato, pepper, squash, and wheat seeds inside the Primordial Garden had already experienced over eight hours of accelerated growth in the cosmic soil.

The Unknown Book: What ancient secrets or botanical formulas were hidden inside that soft parchment volume sitting on the wooden table inside the giant tree?

Stepping into the kitchen, Rowan smiled warmly as his mother set down a plate of hot food. He could hardly wait to finish breakfast and step out onto the back porch to see what awaited him.

As Rowan finished his last bite of eggs, his mother, Martha, poured herself a cup of tea and glanced out the kitchen window toward the yard. She paused, squinting slightly.

"Rowan... did your father move those old wooden planks in the back?" she asked, leaning closer to the glass. "It looks... darker out there."

Rowan set his fork down with a small smile. "Why don’t we go take a look, Mom?"

Martha gave him a curious look, wiping her hands on a dish towel as she followed him toward the back sliding door.

The moment Rowan slid the glass door open, the crisp morning air met them, carrying the rich, sweet scent of moist earth. Martha stepped out onto the patio—and froze dead in her tracks.

Where a cracked, stubborn patch of pale gray clay had sat empty for years, there was now a pristine, slightly elevated bed of jet-black loam, meticulously sectioned into four distinct grids. But it wasn’t just the inverted soil that made her breath catch.

Standing proud in the morning sunlight across the entire plot were scores of vibrant, sturdy green sprouts.

Along the central quadrant, small, leafy tomato and sweet pepper shoots pushed up four inches high, their stems thick and dark green. In the corner mounds, broad squash cotyledons flared open like tiny emerald hands catching the light. And running along the eastern fence line was a dense, uniform ribbon of bright wheat blades, swaying gently in the morning breeze.

"Rowan..." Martha whispered, bringing a hand to her mouth. She stepped off the concrete patio and sank to her knees right at the edge of the soil, completely unbothered by the damp earth pressing against her slippers.

She reached out with trembling fingers, lightly brushing the leaf of a tomato sprout as if afraid it might vanish. "How... how is this possible? Your father and I tried for three seasons to get anything to take root here. It was all dead clay."

"Dad and I double-dug the whole plot yesterday," Rowan said gently, kneeling beside her. "The top layer was just keeping the good stuff suffocated. The rich loam was sitting right beneath it, waiting."

He left out the part about his late-night cast of [Nourish] and the passive aura of [Breath of Eden] that had nursed the seeds through the dark hours, but the evidence spoke for itself.

Martha turned to him, her eyes glistening with unshed tears. For years, living in the outskirts under tight civilian rations, fresh produce had been a luxury they rarely enjoyed. To see a thriving, healthy garden springing to life right in their own backyard felt like nothing short of a miracle.

"Look at them," she breathed, a bright, glowing smile lighting up her face. "They’re so strong, Rowan. We’re actually going to have our own harvest."

Rowan placed a reassuring hand on her shoulder, feeling the deep, satisfying resonance of his class thrumming in his chest. "This is just the beginning, Mom."