Simon readily headed outside of the cabin before turning off the resource gathering setting.

His next step was to make space for his farm - more specifically, he would clear out the northern half of his island!

And so, he began the arduous process of clearing the land without hesitation.

Riiiip! Boom!

Brrrrr!

Soon, the sounds of vegetation getting ripped out of the ground and mass destruction permeated through the island.

-----

Meanwhile, on a certain island, far away from Simon…

A compound built like a prison could be seen atop the island, with towering towers made of stone and overbearing walls that very nearly cut off the sky from the land.

There were many holes in the ground of this land, and the surface of the island was covered with carts full of raw stone and ore. Meanwhile, the occasional airship flew in and out of the island, transferring stone and supplies.

Below the surface of the island, malnourished and almost lifeless figures littered a series of gloomy caves like ants. They mindlessly mined out stone, only pausing to deposit the various ores, crystals and stones that they mined out. Occasionally, one would even collapse to the ground.

The mood here was unbearably solemn and depressing.

Meanwhile, a few individuals were monitoring the mining sites. These individuals treated the workers with indifference, if not hostility.

“Hurry your *ss up! If you can’t fill the quota then your family will be the ones to pay!”

One such administrator was currently berating a young man mining at a certain section of the wall, unsatisfied with his working speed.

In response, the man only looked down and continued to mine as well as he could, just like the rest of the figures.

Smack!

The man was promptly slapped on the face, which made him grit his teeth and overwork his already aching and burning muscles to strike the stone walls harder.

However, if one looked into his eyes that were hidden from sight, one would see that they were nothing like the people surrounding him, who had eyes as lifeless as their demeanors.

Instead, they were full of rage, life and vigor.

-----

Time quickly passed back on Simon’s island.

By now, Simon was happily gazing at the half of the island that was now completely devoid of trees, bushes, and grass.

‘Good! This should be sufficient for my needs.’ he thought as he laid down on the empty plot of land to rest for a moment.

Not even a bug could be seen in this desolate and brown area; it seemed like a storm of locusts had ravaged this half of his island, leaving the other half untouched.

Then, he sat up and began the next step.

‘Right. I’ll need fertilizer too!’

He made his way into the cabin and took a deep breath, readying himself for what was to come.

What he was about to do was to synthesize fertilization out of the various organic materials that he had no use of, such as roots, leaves, and twigs.

After all, those once useless materials contain the raw ingredients needed to create an effective fertilizer once processed by magic.

‘I believe that people in this world call the three core ingredients of this basic fertilizer ‘Nitrogen’, ‘Phosphorus’, and ‘Potassium’. Well, it's always interesting to see parallels between worlds…’ he thought offhandedly as he mustered mana.

Suddenly, Simon moved his entire body through a series of complex motions, while directing the mana flow inside of him in accordance with his movements.

At this moment, his actions looked both otherworldly and mysterious, yet ethereal and profound - like some sort of heavenly ritual!

His actions felt like they were meant to be, containing within it a truth so divine that even the loftiest would be moved with awe and respect.

When he moved, the world seemed to follow him. When he stopped, the world stopped along with him all the same.

At the same time, his cabin seemed to come alive as materials flew all over the place.

It was truly a scene befitting for the abode of a mage. After all, it looked like a scene straight out of a cartoon; materials were moving about and chopping themselves, while ash and sawdust constantly formed and were organized into piles.

Very soon, the entire process was complete...

Now, inside the hut sat several neat piles of newly processed fertilizers!

However, shortly after Simon finished creating the fertilizers, he was hit with a wave of dizziness and nausea, forcing him to lean against the cabin wall.

‘Man, it sucks having such little mana capacity’ he complained inwardly, while gingerly rubbing his forehead.

His complaints were not unfounded, as he was used to being able to lift buildings and alter the flows of rivers in his past life. Naturally, tiring from merely chopping, heating, and moving a few things too fast was certainly a new experience for him.

But it was only to be expected with his low magical strength.

Suddenly-

Grumble…

‘Well it also doesn’t help that I’m hungry…’ he thought upon hearing his stomach grumble pitifully.

He then turned to a corner of the cabin and glanced at his collection of berries.

Due to his level of attunement with nature, he could instinctually sense that the berries were not exactly safe to eat, so he didn’t dare eat them yet. But it wasn’t impossible to turn them edible either - he even had an idea of how he could do it.

However, he first checked the system’s appraisal of the berries to confirm his thoughts.

-----

[Elderberry]

A wild berry, Its biological age is 4 months 11 days. If eaten raw, it causes nausea. A mediocre source of nutrients. Apply heat to detoxify.

-----

Simon nodded after seeing the description. ‘Sure enough, heat is the solution!’

He lifted the elderberries onto the only table with a wave of his hand, quickly forming a small pile of the berries.

Then, he stepped outside and condensed some water before running the water through the berries...

Swish!

After the berries were cleaned, he threw the remaining water away before promptly applying pressure and heat onto the small pile of berries through magic.

Sizzle...

Soon enough, under both pressure and heat, the berries started turning into a jam, giving off a pleasant smell as it slowly simmered down.

‘Nice!’ he thought as he inspected the berries. He could sense the toxins being nullified with every passing moment.

Soon enough, Simon was satisfied with the condition of the jam and grabbed a handful of it to sample.

As he stuffed the slightly smoking jam into his mouth, he was pleasantly surprised.

It was slightly tangy, bitter, and sweet - overall, a not entirely unpleasant combination.

‘It doesn’t taste great for sure, but it’s definitely edible.’ he thought as he swallowed expressionlessly.

Without hesitation, he then continued to shove handfuls of jam into his mouth.

Gobble gobble...

But before he knew it, he had already finished it all!

Simon stared at the now jamless table and sighed, wiping his messy mouth clean with a wave of mana.

‘Man, I need more food…’ he couldn’t help but think.

Even though he wasn’t the one supplying the energy for the spells, it still took plenty of energy to execute magic. It was like this in his previous life as well, so he wasn’t exactly surprised.

Not to mention, the physical labor that he was doing was no joke either.

Thankfully, even if he didn’t have ‘enough’ energy, he at least had enough to continue with the farm.

‘Right, onto the next step!’

Simon waved a hand, bringing the three seeds that he had previously bought into his outstretched hand.

His next step was to research the crops that he had. And so, he took a good look at the seeds, his gaze sharpening. At this moment, he was exuding the aura of a professional.

‘Hmm, these seem pretty simple. However, I’ll have to use real appraisal magic for this.’ he eventually concluded.

With his current capabilities, he was unable to gauge everything that there was to know about the crops with just a glance. But even so, it was not completely impossible, so long as he expended some more effort.

Simon promptly sent an intricate mix of nature magic and appraisal magic into the seeds. This particular combination would allow him to grasp at the true nature of them.

This time, he didn’t bother to use the appraisal skill, as it simply didn’t suit his needs.

Comparing skills derived from magic with real magic is like comparing a factory machine to a human, even if the comparison is somewhat dramaticized. In this case, the [Appraisal Skill] would be the factory machine, while real appraisal magic would be the human.

Although basic factory machines were faster and more efficient than humans for doing simple tasks, humans nonetheless had an edge when it came to things that were more difficult to build, such as intricate machinery and specialized products.

Indeed, humans were much more flexible than machines, and were the ones who paved the way. After all, humans had to understand the manufactured product in the first place, in order to program the machines to make said products.

Similarly, real appraisal magic was more flexible than the [Appraisal] skill, and paved the way for the skill to show its true effectiveness. Without first being able to appraise something with true appraisal magic, it was impossible for the [Appraisal] skill to appraise what even real magic couldn’t.

On the other hand, real appraisal magic could give the user hints of truth on objects that the [Appraisal] skill would give no results for.

This is the big difference between using system skills derived from magic, and using real magic!

This particular mix of appraisal magic and nature magic was actually quite similar to what he used in his previous life, but on a much lower level. However, despite his low level of magic, Simon was confident that his level of appraisal magic was enough to understand these trivial crops.

Unfortunately, his low level of magic also prevented him from changing the physiology of the crops, so he could only focus on appraising them for the time being.

Soon enough, a stream of faint information flowed into his mind, prompting him to close his eyes and sit down.

…

Minutes flowed by like draining water, as Simon continuously gained a deeper understanding of crops.

Soon enough, he opened his eyes with a new luster as he stood up.

Now, he was equipped with sufficient knowledge of the three crops!

After all, though he had spent under an hour in studying them, his knowledge of these three crops was already on par with that of the leading scientists of this age.

This was quite impressive when one considered the hundreds, if not thousands of years of history in which humankind had experimented and learned about these crops. However, it made sense; the secrets that he had obtained from the seeds originated from their very nature. Thus, the divulged information was both invaluable, and hidden rather deeply.

Such a fact truly highlighted the difference between people who were disconnected to affinities with nature and magic, and those who weren’t.

‘Good, now I can finally begin making the actual farm!’ he thought with a grin while heading out of the cabin.

But upon stepping out of the doorway, he suddenly realized that the sun was already beginning to set.

The violet, orange glow of the steadily darkening sky made for a beautiful sight, and whilst staring at the vast skies overhead, he could almost imagine the countless stars that would soon emerge.

‘This world never ceases to amaze me…’ he couldn’t help but think, upon seeing the breathtaking evening view.

However, he quickly snapped back to attention before making his way to the plot of farmland.