"A quest? We gladly accept it!" - Juan and Dex

Chapter 4 - Planting

Alice, Cynthia, and the other lambanas helped Juan and Dex to the outside the house. When their feet touched the ground, they suddenly grew to their normal size.

Status Update Size-reduction lifted

After some moments, Alice and her friends flew into our hands. They left the seeds to be planted. These seeds were the same as the seeds in the real world. However, Juan thought he is still missing something.

"Ahm, Alice do you have gardening tools?" - Juan

"Gardening tools? What are those? " - Alice

"How are you going to plant the seed?" - Dex

"We just put the seed in the ground, cover it soil, then pray to Bathala and use our powers." - Alice

"Powers? What are your powers?" - Juan

"We lambanas are creatures of the forest. Bathala blesses us. We can use our energy to germinate the seed and let it grow big" - Alice

"Can I see your power" - Dex

"Sure, let us go. There is a free spot outside the village" - Cynthia

Outside the village, the lambanas dug a small hole, put the seed inside, and throw in some soil. Finally, they prayed

"Oh Almighty Bathala, Creator of this land, God of the gods, hear our wish. Hear our call. Let our energy transform this seed into a tree." - All lambanas with them synchronously chanted

Suddenly, a bright blinding light appeared on all the lambanas praying. The light coming from their bodies converged on to the seed. Seconds later, the seed germinated then it grew into a plant into a young tree then into a tall plant.

"Wow" - Juan

"Wow. it was fast."- Dex

"But I want to do it in the other way. Science. Science and Magic combination. All those videos, articles I watched, and read on gardening. Even my dream to restore a forest seems possible here. Huhuhu. It is achievable here." Juan said

Juan remembered that they were inside the town's park. And during his high school years, he volunteered to work here. He still knew where the tools and the compost. At the corner of the park, a small garden shed where the tools were kept and beside the shed was the compost area he set up years ago. Thankfully, with his idea years ago, using the leaves fallen and collected in the park, he set up a small compost area to load the leaves and let it degrade and compost. He also taught the park gardener how to tend to the compost bin - turning it inside out every two days. The result of his idea was a big stack of compost in the park that some villagers bought for a cheap price. Since then, more funds were circulating for the park's management.

Using the hoe he found, Juan and Dex loosened up the soil. They mixed some compost with the loosened soil and put the seeds in the loosened mixture and watered them. He positioned each seed with a proper distance from one another and no same seeds planted near one another. He also took account if the tree will be tall, wide, or short. He made sure to adequately designed the growth of this forest by making sure these plants received proper nutrition from the soil and sunlight.

Status Update

+1 Stamina

After planting, Juan kneeled in front of the cultivated park and prayed.

"Oh Lakapati, the goddess of fertility and cultivated lands. With your gift to man, please hear my prayer. Give this lowly man his food. Bless this field with your grace" - Juan chanted

A green glow appeared on Juan's body then it spread to the field.

"You knew Goddess Lakapati?" - Alice asked

"I read about her in some books years ago. And I learned this chant from that book" - Jüan answered

While chatting with Alice, the field was still bathed in a green glow. The seeds became trees in a matter of seconds.

~Ting!~

New Skills Acquired

Agriculture skill - Planting (Lv 5)

Religion Skill - Lakapati (Lv 1)

The successful planting and prayer lead to the acquisition of the skills.

Juan clicked on the skills to learn what are they.

Agriculture skill - Planting Lv5

Passive skill

You knew how to plant trees. With your knowledge and skill, you can plant and grow any normal-type plants with a faster growth rate.

Upgrading this skill can help you grow spiritual and magical plants.

Religion skill - Lakapati Lv 1

Passive skill

You have successfully prayed to a god. She responded to your piety.

With this skill, praying to Goddess Lakapati, have a high success rate.

Effect gain using the skill depends on the power of the god. Be wary that not all gods like mortals. Some required sacrifices or gifts. If the god is not in favor of you, you can be cursed.

Upgrading this skill can lead you to a much higher success rate and possible conversation with a god.

Looking at Dex, Juan thought he also received the agriculture skill. However, he does not know what level Dex's skill acquired. He also respected his best friend's privacy.

"Goddess Lakapati is truly kind to humankind. She was the most understanding of all the gods and goddesses under Bathala. She heard and answered your call" - Cynthia the other lambana said

"Let us continue planting the seeds, we only have a small batch left" - Alice said

"Let us rest a little, I feel a little tired" - Juan said.

-to be continued-