Greed God chapter 97 (Patreon)

February 3rd 2016 Gemworld 10:00 AM EDT

I  didn't get up at sunrise to start working, because I wasn't a fucking  actual farmer. While I was pretty pumped about the whole kingdom  building aspect of the village I also had zero interest in becoming a  responsible leader. I'd leave the politics and shit to Cherry and  Barbie, the guarding to Waylon and Sally, and the magic to Zee and  Strega. I had a pretty solid lineup to take care of any annoying  responsibility things while I designed cool shit and lorded my power  over everyone...and maybe fucked some farm girls with big tits, because  really, some things shouldn't be missed out on.

Still, by  the time I got up Barbie had finished prepping the land for the big  undertaking, so I didn't even have to wait, and I specifically laid out  all my ingredients to check over what I was working with. I turned to  Zee. "Alright, so as per usual we have trees for the base, but I don't  think I'll be having you enchant these. I think I'm going to try merging  some of the materials with plots of land, then merging the trees  together into a hut, then merging the hut and land together into a  farm." We'd even tracked down a few I ranked ingredients last night  before bed.

I also made up some bullshit about resting  between tries, because I wanted Barbie to think my whole power limit  thing was legit. I wanted the whole points thing to be a secret from  everyone. It was one more ace in the hole that people couldn't exploit  to fuck with me. If they didn't know about the points they were free to  either assume I could merge shit when I couldn't, or assume I was out of  tries for the day when I still had points left to use. Either way  information was a commodity that should be strictly controlled.  Regardless, first up was the land plots, so I wanted to check what I had  available.

[Appraisal function activated.  Treasure detected. Life Apple- I rank. An apple filled with life energy,  grown from a life apple tree these delicious fruits are hardy and  resilient and can often be found miles from their point of origin after  being carried by birds or forest creature. A single bite will replenish  the energy expended after mild exercise, and life apples have a  harmonious effect on lifespan and quality of life.]

It  was perfect for growing things. I was kind of hoping for an orchard,  but honestly I figured even a tree would be a bit too much for an H  rank. I was content to merge it with the plot of land we sectioned off  for this farm and hopefully get some kind of special soil or something.  Though admittedly the soil here was already pretty amazing, and while it  wasn't exactly I ranked on its own, the plot definitely was.

[Appraisal function activated. Treasure detected. Hearthsoil  plot- I rank. A plot of well tilled magic soil containing the native  mystical energy of the land of Gemworld. Nutrient rich and excellent for  growing crops of all types.]

It wasn't exactly  super soil, but it was a good solid base, and once I merged the apple  and the soil I could hopefully get something that would enhance growth  speed. It certainly fit with the life and vitality thing. I'd considered  just merging it with my blood, but I felt like chaos was a bad element  to introduce to magic plant growth. The last thing we needed was crops  that blew up or turned people into ferrets or something. I tossed the  apple into the dirt, triggering the merge and smiling as it dissolved  into a wave of light that rolled over the soil. A quick appraisal after  told me what I had.

[Appraisal function activated. Treasure detected. Lifehearth  soil plot- H rank. A life infused plot of soil that enhances the growth  speed and heartiness of all crops that it yields. All harvested crops  are also exactly 32.45% more delicious and provide double the  nutrients.]

That brought me up short. Thirty two  point four five percent more delicious? That was...weird. How did you  even quantify that? I shook the thought away. It wasn't important, for  not I had the plot of land cordoned off, so now I needed to create a  shack to merge into it so I could make a farm. I had Waylon drag out two  of the trees and set them next to each other. I figured I should have  enough influence over the merge to decide on a basic shape, and a really  barebones wooden shack should be fine.

[Appraisal function activated. Treasure detected. Gemsap shack- H rank. A small shack made from sturdy reliable wood. Small and unfurnished but functional.]

The  thing showed up built right in the spot I merged the trees, and despite  being pretty ramshackle (most of the ranking came from the material I  was pretty sure) it was close enough to the plot of soil for me to be  able to trigger the final merge. In total the whole thing was going to  be twelve hundred points. I'd had twenty five thousand one hundred fifty  points before after collecting the I ranks last night which put me at  twenty three thousand nine hundred and fifty points. The light from the  merge blanketed the whole area until it finally cleared to reveal what  I'd been hoping for.

[Appraisal function activated. Treasure detected. Lifehearth  farmstead- G rank. A small farmhouse on a plot of nutrient rich land.  Increased crop yield, growth times, and nutrition. All crops are 50%  more hearty and delicious, and spoil half as fast when kept in storage  in the farmhouse.]

The house was small and homey,  not much tinier than the cottage but a bit less impressive. It was  clear the rank of the place was mainly from the farm aspect, but still,  it was perfect. I had enough plots for eleven more of these, and despite  having to wait for a bit before the next one I was positive that the  village was going to be perfect for farming. I also had several other  buildings in mind for the new town, things like a forge, a town hall, a  butcher shop, and at least four or five other things that would make the  town infinitely more appealing to newcomers.

When  I was done I laid around for a few hours pretending to be exhausted.  I'd told Barbie I could only use my power to that extent once a day, but  I figured a few hours would be enough. She would just assume I  exaggerated, which was fine as long as she still believed there was a  time component. After a few hours of boredom and wishing I could nap I  finally got up and started sifting through my I ranked materials again  to look for what I'd use one the next plot.

I'd already used up the only life apple I'd found but honestly I didn't  mind. As good as the results were I wanted to try a few other things.  The farms would be more useful if I didn't have just one effect on them.  More varied plots of land would be a bigger draw. Increased growing  time was good but I was sure I could mix in a specific crop and maybe  get better results. Something a bit more focused. I appraised all the  crops I found, looking for something that would be worth trying.

[Appraisal function activated. Treasure detected. Moon  berry- I rank. A delicious fruit native to the emerald forest, and a  delicacy throughout all of gemworld. Known for making exquisite pies and  juices, the moon berry is one the the emerald forests main exports.]

I'd  actually tried one of these. I'd found a bush with a few of them left.  Hands down one of the best things I'd ever tasted. Kind of like a mix of  blackberry and sweet cream all in one fruit. I merged this one with  another plot, but where before I'd focused on soil quality, this time I  focused on creating an actual berry orchard. Unlike the fruit tree, the  bush itself had been H rank, so I was able to start the growing process  at least.

[Appraisal function activated. Treasure detected. Immature  Moon Berry Orchard- H rank. An orchard of delicious berries at the  beginning of their life. Slightly increased speed of moon berry growth,  and a one hundred percent increase in deliciousness.]

I  followed the same procedure as before. Merging the two trees into the  shack and then the shack into the orchard plot, bringing down to twenty  two thousand seven hundred and fifty. The bright glow once again  swallowed the sight of the plot of land and blocked out everything  before slowly fading, revealing a similar but different farm to before.  The actual house was bigger, and the bushes were already grown and  bearing fruit, which we would absolutely need to pick.

[Appraisal function activated. Treasure detected. Moon  Berry Orchard Farmstead- G rank. A dedicated farm where moon berries  are raised. Moon berries from this farm always grow to optimal ripeness  and stop as well as improving their deliciousness by a hundred and fifty  percent. The moon berry's normal one month growth cycle is shortened to  a week, and the storage inside the farmstead can keep moon berries at  perfect ripeness indefinitely with no spoiling.]

I  whooped with joy. "Hey guys come over here!" I made my way to the  nearest bush and plucked one of the moon berries, popping it in my mouth  and moaning in happiness. The explosion of sweet flavor on my tongue  was absolutely fantastic. The original moon berries had been good, but  the best parts of this one had been perfectly highlighted. It wasn't  like a new food or anything, more like I'd found a one in a million  berry that was the perfect example of what one of these should taste  like. Popping another one I enjoyed exactly the same sensation.

Barbie  came over, whistling as she saw the orchard. I passed her a berry and  she popped it in her mouth, moaning slightly as she bit down. "Oh gods,  that is good. What is that?" She grabbed another handful off the bush,  starting to pop them in her mouth consistently, obviously hoping for  more of the things and enjoying every second. She stared at the rest of  the orchard hungrily. "How many of these can we grow? Because I want to  eat a few more and I don't want to put a dent in our supply."

I  rolled my eyes. "The yield time for the moon berry is normally a month,  but our orchard grows them to maturity once a week. They're fairly  scarce on bushes as berries go, about a hundred per bush, and we have  twenty of them on the plot. We can also store them in the farm and they  wont go bad or start to wilt. I'd prefer if you didn't single handedly  demolish our entire crop though, since we should probably try to  actually SELL these at some point. They're a local delicacy. We just  need someone to live here and actually harvest them."

I  hadn't considered that the orchard might be too effective. No actual  farmer would have anything to do here. It was literally just a nice  house where you had to pick berries sometimes. I figured I could give it  to some sexy local girl and then come over and fuck her all the time.  Maybe a nice busty milf if I could find one. My dreams were shattered  however when Barbie bolted to the door, opened it, shouted "Dibs!" And  then slammed it behind her.

I  rolled my eyes at her nonsense, but she WAS going to be running the damn  village. Having a low stress farming gig would make her seem like more  of an authority to the locals and also not get in the way of the actual  day to day. I narrowed my eyes at the door but eventually sighed and  left, but not before yelling. "You better make sure those all go into  the storage room so there's room for more! And don't eat them all!" I  grabbed another handful myself as I left, they were really good. Still,  two down ten to go, and then I had more buildings to start on.