Gardener of Eden

Chapter 6: Chapter 6: Status

The quiet hum of the house settled around Rowan as he retreated upstairs to his bedroom after lunch. Closing the door behind him, he leaned his back against the wood, took a deep breath, and willed his awakened interface to appear.

A pale green, semi-translucent screen materialised smoothly before his eyes.

[Status Window]

Name: Rowan Vance

Age: 15

Class: [Tier 1] Gardener of Eden (Transcendent)

Title: Blessed by Polaris

Affiliation: Imperial Suburbs (Civilian)

Attributes & Base Stats

Vitality (VIT) 12 F+

Strength (STR) 10 F

Agility (AGI) 11 F

Intelligence (INT) 15 L (Legendary)

Wisdom (WIS) 15 L (Legendary)

Mana (MNA) 15 L (Dynamic)1

Class Perks & Passive Traits

[Passive Class Trait] Green Thumb (Grade I)

Increases seed germination success rate by 15% and reduces minor environmental stress (moderate drought, slight soil acidity) on cultivated crops.

[Civilian Trait]Resilience Slightly reduces fatigue accumulation during prolonged physical labor under poor conditions.

[Hidden Potential] Dormant Genius (Mind & Nature)

Due to Legendary (L) growth affinity in Intelligence and Wisdom, skill learning speed for mental, ecological, and botanical concepts is exponentially heightened.

[Primordial Renovation]:

Cleansed and rebuilt by cosmic life energy.

All chronic infirmities are permanently cured.

[Breath of Eden - Lv. 1]:

Passively accelerates growth, vitality, and

evolutionary potential of surrounding life.

[Domain: The Virgin Soil]:

Unlocks access to the Primordial Garden.

Equipment & Inventory

Pouch of Heirloom Seeds (12x Tomato Seeds, 15x Sweet Pepper Seeds, 8x Winter Squash Seeds, 20x Wheat Seeds)

Standard Suburban Clothing

Identification & Awakening Registration Tag (Civilian Class)

***

Dismissing the interface with a soft tap of his hand, Rowan walked over to his desk, pulled out his chair, and booted up his desktop terminal. The familiar glow of the screen illuminated his face as he opened a web browser and navigated straight to the regional civilian boards: Imperial Suburban Ag-Forums.

With his Legendary Intelligence and Wisdom, reading through dense forum threads felt remarkably smooth. Where others had to re-read soil management threads multiple times, Rowan’s mind absorbed and mapped the concepts almost instantaneously.

Browsing through top-rated beginner threads like ”Outskirt Suburban Plots: companion planting 101” and ”Maximising Yields on 10x10 Plots without High-Tier Mana Fertilizer”, he quickly extracted key insights:

Grid Layout Strategy: Instead of traditional straight rows, square-foot gardening grid layouts maximised light distribution and prevented overcrowding in small suburban yards.

Companion Planting Mechanics:

Tomatoes & Peppers: Thrived together in high-sunlight central blocks; both benefited from consistent deep soil watering.

Squash: Best positioned along the outer edges or corners; its large canopy leaves shaded the soil, keeping ground moisture high and suppressing weeds naturally.

Wheat: Best sown in dense, uniform mini-strips near well-drained soil edges to encourage strong root entanglement and stem stability.

Soil Preparation Tips: Forum veterans repeatedly emphasized tilling the top six inches of compacted suburban dirt and blending in organic compost before sowing any seeds.

Rowan grabbed a notebook and pencil, sketching out a precise 4-quadrant layout tailored to the dimensions of his family’s backyard plot. Every crop was placed intentionally to synergise with the others.

He tapped his pencil against the desk, looking down at his freshly drawn layout, feeling the quiet pulse of [Breath of Eden] resting within his mana pathways.

Rowan stepped out into the crisp afternoon air of the backyard. The modest dirt plot behind the house sat quiet and undisturbed, framed by a weathered wooden fence along the east side and a small patch of grass near the back porch.

He walked around the perimeter first, doing a preliminary evaluation of the layout. The yard got solid overhead sunlight, though he made a mental note that the eastern edge near the fence looked slightly more compacted—likely where rainwater pooled during heavy storms, just as his mother had mentioned.

Walking toward the edge of the property where the nearby woods met their fence line, Rowan picked up a sturdy, fallen tree branch. Stripping away a few dead leaves, he gripped it like an oversized stylus and knelt down at the edge of the soil.

With firm, deliberate strokes, he began drawing a rough blueprint directly onto the dirt:

Central Block: He scratched out two large grid squares right where the sunlight hit strongest, marking them for the Tomatoes and Sweet Peppers.

Eastern Border: Along the compacted soil near the fence, he carved long, shallow channels to mark out the mini-strips for the Wheat, giving them room to anchor deep roots and stabilize the earth.

Outer Corners: In the back corners where the ground had slightly more space to spread, he drew large sweeping circles for the Winter Squash, ensuring their broad vines could extend without choking out the smaller crops.

Standing back up, Rowan leaned on the branch and looked over his hand-drawn layout carved into the earth. The soil was ready to be tilled, and with his plan mapped out, he could feel the quiet pulse of [Breath of Eden] thrumming softly beneath his skin.

Setting the fallen branch aside, Rowan crouched down in the center of the newly outlined grid. The raw earth beneath his boots felt cool, gray, and stubbornly dense—a dry, crusty layer that had kept his family from growing so much as a single healthy vegetable for as long as they had lived here.

He unclipped his gloves and rested his bare right palm directly onto the topsoil.

”Soil Analysis,” he murmured.

A subtle, pale blue pulse rippled outward from his hand, sending faint threads of luminous mana weaving down through the earth like glowing roots. Thanks to his Legendary Wisdom, the sensory data separated into a crystal-clear, three-dimensional cross-section of the ground beneath him.

A translucent system notification hovered before his eyes, detailing the reading:

[ SOIL ANALYSIS - READING COMPLETE ]

Location: Suburban Backyard Plot (Central Grid)

Depth Stratification:

Surface Layer (0–8 inches): Dead Topsoil / Inert Clay Blend

Nutrient Profile: Severely Depleted (Near-zero NPK balance)

Moisture Content: 18% (Severely Compacted / Hydrophobic)

Status: Infertile Barrier. Suppresses root penetration and prevents seed germination.

Sub-Surface Layer (8+ inches): Deep Black Alluvial Loam

Nutrient Profile: Extremely High (Rich natural Nitrogen, Phosphorus, and trace mineral reserves)

Moisture Content: 52% (Ideal deep-soil moisture retention)

Status: Prime Virgin Soil. High agricultural potential once uncovered or blended.

Rowan pulled his hand back, a sudden realization dawning on him.

His parents hadn’t lacked a green thumb—they had simply been fighting a dead surface layer that suffocated anything planted in the top few inches. Deep down, the land was bursting with untapped nutrients.

A slow smile spread across his face as he looked back down at the branch outline. All he needed to do was double-dig the plot—inverting the dead top layer to bury it underneath, bringing the rich, dark subsoil to the surface where his heirloom seeds could actually reach it.