Chapter 69: Tree

After imitating Pearl and taking that first bite, the elves began to wolf down the food.

Ethan watched them and smiled, seeing them eat with such relish made him happy too.

"Meow, let’s have burgers for lunch today too, meow?" Pearl suggested.

"Sure!" Ethan readily agreed.

"Not bad, but it seems we don’t have enough meat left. Should I go catch some?" Zharok said.

"Hmm? Zharok, are you going right now?" Ethan asked.

"Yeah. If I don’t go now, I’m afraid I’ll be too lazy to go later," Zharok said with a smile.

"Be careful on the road. Are you coming back tonight?" Ethan reminded him.

"I probably will, why?" Zharok asked.

"It’s nothing — I just want to finish making the bookshelf today," Ethan explained.

"Oh, that’s great." Zharok smiled, patted Ethan on the shoulder, and ran off.

Ethan watched Zharok leave into the distance, seeing that the elves were almost finished eating, he said with a smile, "If it’s not enough, I’ll make you some more."

Leon sucked the sauce off his fingers, his face turning red, for a dignified noble to act so gluttonous was embarrassing, but the burgers Ethan made were simply too delicious; he couldn’t help wanting another one.

"Excuse me, could I have another one..." Leon asked, embarrassed.

"We want more too..." the other elves chimed in one after another.

Seeing how much they liked the food, Ethan was glad, he made a few more burgers.

"This is incredibly delicious." Leon sighed in satisfaction, he hadn’t tasted such wonderful food in a long time.

The bread, meat, vegetables, and sauce were all exceptionally flavorful.

"You flatter me," Ethan said.

"Haha... you are too modest, I had the chefs in my family try to make Candied Honey Sweet Potatoes, but the taste was completely different..." Leon shook his head.

"Perhaps it’s because the ingredients here are fresh," Ethan offered.

"Is that so? Well, anyway, thank you so much for today, when you come to the Elven Kingdom, I will treat you well," Leon said.

"Haha, I’ll be troubling you then," Ethan said with a smile.

"Then we will take our leave... Let’s go!" Having finished their business, Leon and his group departed.

Ethan watched them leave, then he brought Pearl to the area where the timber was stacked.

"I’ll make a bed for you first," Ethan said to Pearl.

Ethan found some suitable wood, animal skins, and other materials, he began using a hammer and nails to build a cat tree.

After an unknown amount of time—

[Well-Crafted Cat Tree]

[A cat tree made of animal skins and timber. Perfect for cats to rest on.]

[Well-Crafted Effect: Restores stamina when resting.]

[Well-Crafted Effect: Restores mana when resting.]

[Crafting Difficulty: ★★★]

"Meow-woo! I love this, meow~" Pearl couldn’t wait, it climbed up the cat tree Ethan had made, scratched the pillar with its claws, then started kneading on the top tier.

It jumped onto Ethan’s shoulder and said happily, "Thank you, meow~"

"You’re welcome. Come — let’s keep going!" Ethan rubbed Pearl’s head.

There was still a lot of furniture to make. Ethan picked up the Hammer of Gaia and brought over a pile of timber.

He worked steadily until noon and finally finished all the furniture: chairs, a dining table, and a large bookshelf.

Just then, he saw someone pulling a handcart approaching from a distance, it was Zharok.

The cart was filled with books, making Ethan worry that the bookshelf wouldn’t be big enough.

’Looks like I need to make another one...’

"Hey~! I’m back~!" Zharok called out.

Ethan waved, then he picked up a thick book, cracked it open, and saw pages covered in dense, dark text.

"Can you read it? It’s written in the ancient language," Zharok asked.

"Meow? Why do you have books written in the ancient language, meow?" Pearl asked curiously.

"History books are all like this, this one records the history of a perished kingdom... By the way, I also found a book you might be interested in." Zharok said as he handed Ethan a dusty book.

Ethan took it in confusion. "What is this?"

"This is a book written by the elves who planted the World Tree, although the tree they planted died, they did plant one after all, so it might be helpful to you," Zharok explained.

"Written in Elvish, right?" Ethan asked.

"Exactly."

Ethan handed the book to Pearl, it opened the cover and began to read aloud. "Let me see, meow~."

"Planting the World Tree is equivalent to nurturing a world. Balance and harmony are of the utmost importance, meow~"

"An incorrect method of growth will lead to the destruction of the world, and this destruction will become a compass for Chaos..."

Ethan recalled the mural he had seen before — the scene of humans fighting against Chaos.

"Chaos? Does it mean that Chaos?"

Zharok shrugged. "Who knows? This is just an elven legend, it’s the only passage that mentions Chaos, so I can’t say for sure."

"I see... Anyway, thanks for your hard work. We’ll look at it later." Ethan had no immediate plans to plant the World Tree.

He held the book. "Let’s tidy up the cabin first."

They moved all the furniture inside, with everything in place, the cabin finally felt like a home.

"What are you planning to do next?" Zharok asked, arranging his books on the shelf.

Ethan looked at him, wondering if he had something in mind.

Zharok shrugged and picked up a book. "If there’s nothing else, I’m going to read, need me for something, just call — I’ll help and go back to my book."

"No, it’s fine, Pearl and I can handle the rest," Ethan said.

"Meow-woo, do you want to try planting the Mana Grass, meow?" Pearl asked.

"Yeah, I want to give it a try." Ethan nodded.

He needed to go to the river to dig up some fine sand, only if the test planting succeeded would he plant it on a large scale.

Ethan picked up the Mana Grass seeds. Zharok smiled. "Looks like you won’t be needing me, I’ll go read my books then."

"Go ahead," Ethan said.

They finished tidying up the cabin and ate lunch, Zharok brought a chair outside and sat down to read.

Ethan glanced at the fully engrossed Zharok, then brought Pearl to the riverside.

"Is this enough sand?" Ethan asked.

"It’s enough, meow, we also need to prepare plenty of water, meow," Pearl reminded him.

"Oh? Can we just use water from the Purifying Wooden Bucket?" Ethan asked.

"Yes, we can, meow! Then, the Mana Grass needs to be placed in an area abundant in mana, meow," Pearl said.

There were many Sun Stones in the greenhouse, all of which had been injected with mana by Pearl and Zharok, he could use the mana from those Sun Stones to grow the Mana Grass.

Having prepared everything, Ethan headed toward the greenhouse.

He spread the fine sand in a corner, soaked it thoroughly with water, and placed the Mana Grass seeds on top, following Pearl’s instructions.

"Let’s wait and see, meow," Pearl said.

"I’ll try using Growth Acceleration first." Ethan activated his ability.

They watched the seeds. Perhaps due to the greenhouse’s growth effect combined with his ability, the Mana Grass seeds sprouted quickly.

"Huh?! They’ve already sprouted?" Ethan said.

"We have to wait a little longer, meow!" Pearl didn’t share his excitement; it spoke calmly.

"The book says we have to wait until the seeds completely absorb the moisture in the sand, meow~"

"Alright, then we’ll wait here..." Ethan nodded. He had other work in the greenhouse anyway.

He set the Mana Grass aside and began planting more Frost Fruit and Wind Banana seeds.

Just as he was finishing up, Pearl cried out. "Meow-meow! Look, meow!!"

"Where... has it grown leaves already?"