I Grow Crops with a System

Dinner was simple, roasted meat and roasted fish, with butter and spices, both tasted incredible, Zharok and Pearl ate until they couldn’t move.

”Meow~! I’m so full, meow~” Pearl rubbed its round belly.

”Oh man, I ate way too much.” Zharok groaned and leaned back, he had put away half a Sawtooth Deer by himself.

Ethan looked at the two of them and smiled. ”I was planning to make fried Honey Sweet Potatoes for dessert, but it seems like you don’t need them.”

”Don’t do that, who said we don’t need them!” Zharok sat bolt upright.

”Yeah, yeah! I want fried Honey Sweet Potatoes too!” Pearl raised a paw.

Ethan shook his head, he brought out a bowl, mixed flour, salt, and water into a batter, coated the sliced Honey Sweet Potatoes, and dropped them into the heated oil.

The slices tumbled in the pan, filling the air with a warm, sweet aroma, full as they were, Zharok and Pearl couldn’t stop staring, drool was not in short supply.

[Delicious Fried Honey Sweet Potatoes]

[A delicious snack made by frying Honey Sweet Potatoes, sweet, fragrant, and crispy.]

[Delicious Effect: Agility +1 for 24 hours upon consumption.]

[Crafting Difficulty: ★★]

Crunch!

Ethan picked up a piece and took a bite, crispy on the outside, sweet and soft within, with just enough salt to sharpen the flavor.

”Delicious, meow~”

”This is a completely different kind of delicious from the candied ones!”

”If you like it, eat more,” Ethan said.

”Meow~! I’m so stuffed, but it’s so good I can’t stop, meow~”

”I have to eat back all the stamina I burned today!”

Full or not, their hands didn’t slow down, Ethan fried five whole sweet potatoes before the two gluttons finally surrendered.

”Meow... I can’t take it anymore, I really can’t eat another bite, meow...” Pearl collapsed on the ground, refusing to move.

”Oh man, my stomach...” Zharok clutched his belly and groaned.

”Then let’s go, we can walk it off,” Ethan said.

While those two had been eating, he had already washed the dishes, he gathered the leftover oil, planning to fry more sweet potatoes in the morning.

”Let’s go.”

Ethan grabbed his weapons and pack, Zharok hauled himself up, Pearl wobbled over on unsteady legs.

”Follow me.”

Zharok led them deep into the forest, after a short walk, they arrived at a massive rock, in its shadow, a cave entrance lay hidden behind dense weeds.

Zharok pushed the overgrowth aside, revealing an opening similar to ruins they had explored before.

”This entrance used to be blocked by the rock, I don’t know if it shifted over time, but it exposed the way in, I would have walked right past it otherwise,” Zharok said.

”Good eye,” Ethan said.

”I hunted that Sawtooth Deer right here earlier, come on, let’s go in.”

Zharok took the lead, inside, he raised a hand and released a glowing orb that lit up the passage around them.

”What’s that?” Ethan asked.

”Light magic, obviously,” Zharok said, as though the question barely deserved an answer.

”You know magic too?”

”Basic stuff, nothing worth mentioning.” Zharok smiled and kept walking, then he stopped.

Ethan halted behind him, puzzled.

An excited grin was spreading across Zharok’s face.

”Looks like we’re going to strike it rich...”

Before them opened a massive cavern, the walls were covered in ancient murals depicting a group of humans, radiating faint golden light, blessed by Goddess Gaia, locked in battle with a horde of dark creatures.

”What... is this?”

An inexplicable unease settled over Ethan, he knew nothing about art, but something about this painting put his nerves on edge.

”Meow...”

Pearl pressed close to Ethan’s side, sensing his discomfort.

Zharok, on the other hand, lit up, his usual playfulness had vanished, replaced by something sharp and serious.

”This is... the kin of the God of Chaos!”

Ethan studied the mural more closely.

”The kin of the God of Chaos?”

”The world is divided into light and darkness, meow, under the light, there are many gods, but under the darkness there is only one, meow,” Pearl explained.

”The God of Chaos?”

”That’s right, meow, chaos, disorder, destruction, fear — all things negative are symbols of the God of Chaos, it is also the master of all monsters, meow.”

Pearl pointed at a blurry mass of shadow on the mural, the God of Chaos, its form too terrible to depict, it could only be rendered as a smear of darkness.

Zharok nodded and pointed at another figure. ”This painting doesn’t show the God of Chaos itself, but a Child of Chaos.”

Beneath the shadow, a small sphere, Zharok tapped it with a sharp claw.

”This thing is called a Child of Chaos, known since ancient times as the prototype of monsters, the origin of all monsters, the progenitor of all monsters, the denier of all existence.”

”Similar to the undead?” Ethan asked.

”Undead are creatures that don’t die, like Walter, plenty of undead bear goodwill or neutrality toward this world, a Child of Chaos is different, it denies everything, it wants to destroy everything.”

Zharok went on, knowledge pouring out as though a dam had broken, he paced along the mural, explaining one detail after another, until he noticed the glazed look in Ethan’s and Pearl’s eyes.

”Sorry, I’m quite interested in this subject...” He cleared his throat.

”Anyway, to think this painting would appear in a Temple of Gaia...”

His tone carried a thread of worry, he crossed his arms and studied the mural, Ethan took a step back.

”It’s just a painting, isn’t it? Why so nervous?”

”Why would an ordinary painting appear in a temple? Let alone this kind of painting.”

’Why would a battle between the God of Chaos and Goddess Gaia be depicted in a temple dedicated to Gaia?’

Zharok’s gaze fell on a stone statue in the corner, and he snapped his fingers.

”This must be a Record Temple, that means this painting records an event that truly happened... Could it be that humans and monsters fought a war? And the God of Chaos won — which is why humanity went extinct?”

He muttered to himself, arms still crossed.

Pearl spoke up. ”But if that were true, the world should be crawling with monsters, meow, at the very least, the other races shouldn’t exist anymore, meow~”

If the God of Chaos had won, the Children of Chaos and their monsters would have dominated, beastmen, elves, and every other race should have been wiped out alongside humanity.

Why did only humanity disappear?