Under Fang Bie's brief instruction, the two men, who had only just arrived in this world and still had no idea what was going on, got straight to work.
They weren't exactly helpless around the house or ignorant of farming, but they certainly weren't familiar with this kind of work.
Fang Bie didn't need them to know much about farming in the real world. This wasn't the real world anyway. All he needed was for them to share the work of clearing land and filling in gaps with dirt and stone.
Tony had only just learned how to use this ability, and he eagerly showed his friend Yinsen how to use it too. The two high-ranking materialist scholars had an absolute blast playing around with an ability that seemed almost like magic.
"Quit messing around and come help with the fields. Unless you want to go hungry tomorrow!" Fang Bie said, half urging and half threatening them. The two men, absorbed in studying their new ability, came back to their senses, blushed, and hurried over.
With a flourish, Fang Bie produced two stone hoes. "Take these and use them on the dirt blocks. Just hoe the dirt a little, and it'll turn into dry farmland that you can plant crops in!"
He had spent the morning mining some iron and planting Sugar Cane at the foot of a nearby mountain. Then he had put his stored Stone and the dirt he had just dug up to use, digging into the surrounding rocks and filling in the gaps.
With his new stone tools, his speed had improved by leaps and bounds. In just one morning, he had laid out four 9×9 plots, neatly smoothed over with dirt. He had left one block empty in the center of each plot to hold water.
In MC, crops needed a water source nearby to grow, because only water could keep farmland moist enough for planting.
Water reached four blocks in every direction, or four meters. That meant the largest plot one block of water could reach was 9×9, with the water in the center.
Fang Bie had the two men hoe the fields so they could open up these four plots. With the extra seeds he'd gathered yesterday, he would have enough food for at least the next two weeks.
Both men were brilliant, and they quickly understood what Fang Bie wanted. Neither seemed to realize they were doing manual labor; instead, they found it fascinating and worked without complaint.
Fang Bie followed behind them, carrying a bucket of water and setting it in the center of each 9×9 plot. Then he began to scatter seeds.
Almost the instant he planted them, the newly watered field sprouted seedlings half a palm tall.
Tony and Yinsen soon finished working on all four plots. Leaning on their hoes, they gazed at the scene before them in wonder and discussed it with each other.
"What a marvelous world, isn't it?"
"Yeah... If only we had some tools, I'd love to take some of this world's stuff apart and see how it works. This is turning my whole life upside down!"
Fang Bie heard their conversation, but it didn't make him feel anything in particular. This was how ordinary people would react. They weren't his puppets; they weren't going to silently work without saying a word.
He looked up and smiled at them. "The rules of this world are pretty simple. Once you understand them, I'll show you some other things."
He paused briefly, then continued, "For now, let's expand the house. Otherwise, you two won't have anywhere to sleep tonight."
"It's fine. The weather's clear, and this place isn't much worse than the cave we slept in before. Sleeping outside won't hurt us," Yinsen said considerately, but Fang Bie quickly disagreed.
Fang Bie shook his head, his expression grave. "Since you've decided to stay here, you're my companions for now. I won't let my companions be put in danger."
"The mountains are perfectly safe during the day, but once night falls, every safe place turns into hell!" His expression remained unchanged, but his words sent a chill down their spines.
"Monsters will appear at random around you. Some are Zombies that will turn you into one of their kind. Some are Skeleton Archers, whose arrows can bury themselves half a meter into the ground. And some are terrifying Creepers, which can unleash powerful explosions and blow up everything within more than ten meters!"
"If you don't want to get killed as soon as night falls, you'd better stay inside!" Fang Bie finished in one breath, casting a shadow over both men.
They were mentally sound adults with normal judgment, so of course they could understand his warning. Still, they probably wouldn't fully believe him until they saw the monsters for themselves. For now, they likely believed half of what he'd said.
Fang Bie took two stacks of Wooden Planks and handed one to each of them. He also gave them an Axe. "You can tear down the wall with the door in it, then use these planks to build a house. It'll be just like playing with building blocks when you were kids. I'm sure you two are smart enough to figure it out."
Tony toyed with the stone Axe in his hand as he watched Fang Bie pull a sword from his Backpack and head down the mountain. "Where are you going now?"
Fang Bie waved. "I'm going down the mountain to find you something to eat. I'll also look for some Wool so I can make you two beds."
By now, the two men had a basic understanding of how this world differed from the real one. Neither bothered to ask the silly question of how Wool could be used to make a bed. Instead, they examined their tools with interest.
Fang Bie made his way down the mountain with ease. With their help, he had already exceeded his goal for the day. Although he had stored plenty of food in a chest, he still needed to rely on his own hands to gather as much food as possible until the crops in the fields were ready.
He remembered that there should be a flock of sheep in the grassland on the other side of the mountain. He had even occasionally heard cattle lowing there. He set off at a brisk pace. There should still be two or three hours before sunset, so he had plenty of time.
He broke into a quick run. The abundant oxygen seemed to have boosted his physical fitness by another level, while the rules of the MC world gave him abilities far beyond those of ordinary people.
He spotted a herd of cows grazing in the distance and grinned. "Beef and leather, here I come!"
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