A Single Mother's Farm of the Gods
Chapter 240: Strange Seeds

Chapter 240: Strange Seeds

Elaina finally reached floor 15 and the usual elevator "ding" sound echoed as soon as she stepped foot on the floor. Elaina expected another new area that would suddenly make her feel amazed as she reached the 15th floor...but it seemed that her expectations were not what it seemed.

"Oh...this place is...unique...indeed," Elaina muttered as she looked around the empty floor with only the path to the next floor present, the old elevator door and the ladder that returns to the next floor being the only things that would make the place the same.

"[It seems those two places from previous floors are the only things on that place. Perhaps this mine doesn’t have all those unique stuff present altogether.]"

Elaina was a bit excited at first to reach the next floor as she wanted to see what would change but it seemed she needed to feel disappointed sometimes.

As she thinks that there’s nothing on the 15th floor, she decides to head to the next floor to continue gathering her mana stones when all of a sudden, a loud thud echoes behind Elaina.

Quickly, Elaina readied herself as she prepared to fight back against an enemy...that wasn’t present.

"No enemy?" Elaina frowned.

Her eyes wandered around the room and soon landed on another new thing that appeared before her.

"A box?"

A regular crate box appeared before Elaina. It wasn’t any particular unique crate box or anything... it’s just a regular but old crate box that is usually found on the pier containing some tools and stuff that sailors and dock workers use to store some stuff they use over the pier.

"How did this get here? Gods? Have you seen how this box appeared?" Elaina asked.

"[It just popped out of nowhere. It seemed to have appeared when you were about to descend to the next floor.]" the God of Farming said as he was the one who was fully watching the situation.

"[Like God of Farming, that’s what I have seen as well. It pops up like it existed there from the very beginning.]" the Goddess of Taming said.

Hearing the replies of the two gods, Elaina examines the crate. Upon further inspection, she realized that the crate was sealed shut and its opening was sealed with nails, shutting whatever was inside from being exposed outside.

"It’s a sealed crate. What’s inside it though?"

Elaina poked the crate using her sword. No response. She proceeded to poke it to move the whole crate around, but there was still no response or anything.

"Looks like there’s nothing dangerous inside...though I heard something was moving whenever I tried to topple the crate. It must be what it was currently sealed inside."

After examining it repeatedly without any signs that the crate has anything dangerous inside, Elaina draws her sword out.

"Let’s see what is inside then."

With a quick slash to the side, she opened the crate’s seal, lifting it over. She slowly peeked inside to ensure that if something came out, she could immediately dodge away. Inside...are a few small pouches. It is identical to the seed pouches that the seed vendors have.

"Seed pouches?" Elaina reached her hand to the pouch and examined the pouch. There are some contents inside and from the sound of it, it sounds like they are seeds.

Once she had confirmed they were indeed seed pouches, she quickly opened the seed pouches and saw a few seeds that were unfamiliar to her.

"White seeds?" Elaina frowned.

A seed with a shell that is color white. It has the same shape as the rice grain...but they are not a rice grain but a seed that has the color and shape of a rice grain.

"[A new seed that I have no idea about?!]" The God of Farming was surprised as Elaina examined the seed closely.

"What? You don’t know this seed?" Elaina frowned.

"Unfortunately, I don’t have any inkling on what this seed was in the first place," the God of Farming frowned as he also examined the seed.

"Elaina, can you give me one once you go outside the mines? I needed to examine the seed a lot further and see what these seeds are in the first place."

She nodded and looked inside the crate as there are more in there. Two more pouches. All of them contain seeds as well but they have different seeds.

"This one has black seeds...while this one has red seeds."

All three of them are foreign seeds in Elaina’s eyes. She have not seen these seeds ever before and she is not sure how these seeds appeared out of nowhere.

"[Hey, you sure those seeds are not part of your creation? I doubt there’s anyone else aside from you who can create seeds and make them work. I only know how to create seeds due to how I have seen your work in front of me so many times.]" the Goddess of Taming looked at the God of Farming with a strange look in her eyes.

"Not sure either. I am quite sure those seeds are something I didn’t make and those seeds should not be part of the existing seeds either.]"

Elaina heard enough of their bickering. She checked the amount of Mana stones she collected so far and decided to stop collecting them for now. She also felt a bit tired from killing monsters for a while so returning home and resting is what she should do next.

Postponing her descent to the next floor, Elaina headed to the elevator and returned to the top floor.

...

...

...

Like what the God of Farming said, a green bird that resembles a parrot landed on Elaina’s head.

"[Give the seeds to that little bird on your head, Elaina. I sent that bird to fetch the seeds for me.]"

Elaina nodded and gave the three seeds to the bird and after the bird gobbled the three seeds, it immediately flew away from Elaina.

"Should I go back home and wait for the results? I don’t think I would like to go back in there for the time being."

"[Yeah. Go ahead and have some rest. I will tell you what these seeds would be once I finished examining them.]"

Elaina sighed. It would be weird to return immediately so instead of going back to the farmhouse, Elaina decided to forage around the forest and look for something under the snow or on the shrubs to see if she could find anything great even in winter.

"There should be some berries available even in winter. Might find a few if I take my time looking for them."

...

...

...

After spending some time in the forest, Elaina managed to gather a few berries that should be edible and a few mushrooms that are available in winter thanks to the almanac’s ability to search for the area’s forageables available.

Feeling cold in her hands for foraging for some time now, Elaina decided that it was time for her to return home when the God of Farming started to contact Elaina.

"[Elaina, my dear. Why are you still outside?" he asked.

"I decided to look for forageables outside to pass a bit of time. It would be awkward for me to go back after leaving a few minutes in their eyes even though I felt like I had spent the whole day already," Elaina gave her reasoning and it is very valid. After all, when she reached the mines, only a few minutes had passed since the mines were not that far from home. Returning after her recent work in the mines would make it look like she just went outside for a bit and then returned because it was cold.

"[Makes sense. Anyways, it seems these seeds that you found inside the mines are something valuable.]"

"Valuable? Are they something that I can grow safely?"

"[Indeed. Although it is strange and suspicious, I examined and made sure the seed was nothing but a regular seed and would not grow into something else like monsters and the like, so it is safe.]"

"So what are they to begin with?" Elaina asked.

"[It might shock you a bit, but these seeds are seeds that only grow during winter.]"

"Winter seeds?" Elaina frowned. She knows some seeds for farming grow during winter but most of them are either berries or root crops so what kind of seeds are they?

"[Yes. To be precise, they are winter radishes, winter carrots, and winter potatoes.]"

"Winter...what?"

"[They are winter versions of regular crops in short. However, they only grow in winter and they are distinct from other seeds either. However, they don’t exist as regular seeds, so they are something that shouldn’t exist before this.]"

"Then...can I plant, grow, and sell these stuff?" Elaina asked.

"[Yes. However, I needed to examine these seeds. And for that, this will be your assignment for winter. The experimental seeds that I should be preparing for you, should be these seeds. Grow these seeds and record what they are]."