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nNing dug his hoe into the soft wet ground, right where a large weed was growing, pulling it away with the root. He pulled it out entirely and tossed it to the side where it would be later moved by other people.

nBefore sowing the rice seeds, they had to prepare the land for it, so the first part of the job was to get rid of all the weeds.

nThe group of people had been separated into those who would get rid of the wee and those who would spread the seed. The ones in the second group were in the minority.

nNing worked hard, mostly just because there wasn’t much to do around her. It appeared he was going to stay in this village for a while, so he might as well help the old woman while he was at it.

nAlthough, from the looks of it, he was helping more than just the old woman. The land he had to cover today was so large that Ning genuinely found it hard to believe that the village with less than 100 houses in total owned all of this place.

nBut they did.

nThe sun was high in the sky, making him sweat a lot more than usual. He wiped his brows and looked all around him. Dozens of people went about their work, either using a hoe, a space, or even a pickaxe to get rid of the weeds.

nNing looked toward the hill that led to parts of the ruined walls of the city being seen in the distance. To his right would be the long-winded path he had to take yesterday to get to this village.

nBehind him was a large mountain range in the distance as well, and from what he had heard, there was a river that ran toward the left, which was where most of the water for irrigation came into the village.

n“Tired already?” a woman who had been working right next to him asked.

n“Oh no,” Ning said. “I’m just not used to working so hard in the heat.” It had been a long time since he had even worked so hard.

n“You can stop if you want to. No one will say anything,” the kindly woman said. “We know how hard it is to work in the heat. I can’t imagine what it’s like for a first-timer.”

n“It’s alright, I can continue,” Ning said.

n“Sure, but don’t overwork yourself. And remember to drink tons of water, or you’ll get heat stroke.”

nNing thanked the woman and got back to work. It was a blessing that the ground was very moist, which made hoeing it rather easy. Had it been dry land, he wouldn’t have been nearly as quick with it.

nHe continued his work for a while before taking a small break to have some lunch. After an hour of break, he went back to continue the work again.

nBy the time the sun went down the mountains to the west, they had only completed half the work for the day. The rest, they would have to do tomorrow.

nEveryone washed up and went back to their home. When Ning washed up too, it was already late evening and the sky was getting dark. He wanted to just have some dinner and go to sleep, but it appeared the old woman had some other plan.

n“Farah has been gathering everyone we know to have a Spirit following them, so everyone was hoping you could help them.”

nNing wanted to refuse on account of being very tired, but there was no reason for him to. In the end, it was work that could help him.

nAnd he wanted points.

nHe sat down after dinner and met every person that came into the room. Every single person he met, talked to the Spirit and was given a quest each time.

nHe helped a man talk to his mother, who wanted to make sure the family recipe she acquired from her mother was passed along.

nHe helped a young girl, whose grandfather wanted her to forgive him for leaving him at such a young age.

nHe helped an old man, whose wife wanted to go back to the shop in the city where they first met nearly half a century ago.

nSuch cases came one after another, and Ning explained just what it was that the Spirits wanted from them. With nearly 11 Spirits in total that he helped throughout the day, Ning was looking forward to quite the amount of energy as well as points.

nIt would take some time for the points to come, so there wasn’t much to do for Ning except wait. He was as tired as he had been for a very long time and decided to go to sleep after everyone was done.

nHe got a point here and there, but there was no significant improvement exactly. So, all he could do was go to sleep and hopefully get something good tomorrow.

nThe next morning, Ning woke up with some muscle aches. He hadn’t expected it to be a thing, but here it was. His calves were a little sore and so were his shoulder plates and arms.

nSwinging a hoe all day long puts a lot of stress on those areas.

nHe opened his eyes and paused.

nThere were just so many notifications for him to read through that he was surprised by the entire thing.

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n S~eaʀᴄh the NôᴠeFire.ηet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

nThe list was somewhat long, at least compared to what he had received until now, so he was more than excited to see it all. He went through the list, noticing about 13 of those. Some gave him 1 point and some 2. There was one that gave him 3 points too.

nIn total, he got 19 points before he even properly woke up.

nNing was fascinated and wondered how much more he could get throughout the day.

nSearch the nôvelFire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

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