Landlord in the Arctic-Chapter 62: Change

The Carnation circled above the Glacial River Beach, searching for a suitable place to land.

It had to be said, bush planes were born to handle complex terrain.

The Glacial River Beach was covered in rocks of all sizes and gullies of unfathomable depth—a nightmare for most aircraft.

However, piloted by Feng Mountain, the Carnation leveraged its powerful engine, sturdy landing gear, and excellent stability.

It touched down steadily after a run of just over ten meters.

He jumped out of the cockpit and walked toward the fire pit.

Things hadn’t looked clear from the air.

When he reached the fire pit, Feng Mountain’s eyes widened. Within the radius of the tribe’s Fire Seed, a patch of tundra vegetation was growing on the once hopelessly barren, gravelly river beach.

Short moss spread out like a green velvet carpet, and slender Arctic willows stretched their branches, their tender green buds shimmering with the light of life in the fire’s glow. Lichen clung tightly to the soil’s surface like ears.

’Impossible!!!’

Feng Mountain was dumbfounded. ’How is this different from the ancestors’ dream?’

His gaze fell upon the wisp of flame in the center of the fire pit.

’It’s true the Houtu Tribe’s Fire Seed has the effect of bringing life to all things on earth, but that was when the ancestors used vast amounts of Soul Power as fuel for the Fire Seed.’

’I only have a tiny bit of Soul Power myself, barely enough to perform Witchcraft. Where would I get any extra to feed the Fire Seed?’

’Strange!’

He bent down, picked a black berry from the moss, and popped it into his mouth.

It tasted good, slightly sour with the characteristic sweetness of fruit.

’It’s late autumn, heading into winter. The vegetation on the Tundra should already be going dormant, not bearing fruit.’

Just as he was pondering this, the faint sound of barking came from the distance.

Feng Mountain stood up and looked. In the distance, on the river beach, Prince was sprinting toward the fire pit. Behind him, Nash was carrying something on his shoulder.

A moment later, Prince reached the fire pit. Seeing Feng Mountain, he wagged his tail furiously and pawed at his pant leg.

"Alright, alright, I know you’re just trying to sweet-talk me." Feng Mountain picked up Prince, dodging his eager snout, and walked toward Nash.

When they met, Feng Mountain finally understood where the mossy plants around the fire pit had come from. It turned out Nash had dug up sod from the Tundra.

"Khilla!" Nash lowered his head uneasily. On his back was a wicker basket woven from willow branches, filled with stacked squares of mossy sod. 𝘧𝓇ℯ𝑒𝓌𝑒𝑏𝓃𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘭.𝒸ℴ𝓂

"You’ve worked hard."

Feeling a little ashamed, Feng Mountain put Prince down, took the heavy wicker basket, and walked back to the grassy area by the fire pit, intending to lay the sod on the gravel.

"No." Nash hurried forward to stop him. He picked up a flat stone and drew a line in the gravel along the edge of the fire pit’s light. Then he pointed to the line and said with a serious expression, "Outside, it dies. Inside, it lives."

Feng Mountain froze for a moment, as if he had realized something.

He quickly communicated with the tribe’s Fire Seed. A faint wisp of flame appeared in his mind, and the boundary of its light was exactly where Nash had drawn the line.

’No wonder Nash said the sod would die outside the line. Without the protection of the tribe’s Fire Seed, planting anything on this desolate river beach was a dead end.’

Feng Mountain flushed with shame. He was far less responsible than Nash when it came to valuing the Fire Seed.

At this thought, he turned and walked to the fire pit. Standing before the Fire Seed, he pressed his hand to the ground.

He reserved only ten percent of the Soul Power in his Witchcraft Bone Ring for emergencies, pouring the rest into the Fire Seed.

At first, only a slender wisp of flame flickered in his mind, as if it could be extinguished at any moment.

As Feng Mountain fed it his Soul Power like fuel, the flame began to greedily lick at the new energy.

The wisp of flame gradually grew stronger, turning from faint to bright, from slender to thick.

Yellow tongues of fire danced merrily, releasing a warm glow. The once-faint light became bright and scorching, radiating in all directions.

The range of the light also expanded outward, like a giant, invisible hand gently pushing back the surrounding darkness.

He saw the fire’s light expand until it covered an area half the size of a basketball court.

Satisfied, Feng Mountain stood up. He walked to the edge of the grass, picked up a stone, and strode to the new edge of the light. He drew a line on the ground and looked at Nash’s excited face.

"It can live inside this line." Feng Mountain remembered the pile of vegetable seeds on the Carnation and quickly added, "Wait, I’ll go get the seeds."

He ran back to the plane. By the time he returned to the fire pit with a large bag of vegetable seeds, Nash had already started laying the sod.

’The vegetable seeds were a random assortment. I didn’t bother picking and choosing at the supermarket; I just bought everything on the shelf. There were many varieties I’d never seen, even with my experience as a chef.’

’For example, Brussels sprouts. The package made them look like thumb-sized cabbages. How do you even eat this stuff? How would you make a hand-torn cabbage stir-fry with them?’

’And kale... it looks like a Chinese cockscomb flower. Is this edible too?’

Fennel bulb, winter squash, basil, chard, leeks, parsnips...

’What is all this stuff??’

Feng Mountain picked out the seeds for the vegetables he didn’t recognize or hadn’t heard of and set them aside.

What remained were seeds for common domestic vegetables like lettuce, tomatoes, eggplants, cucumbers, and squash.

"Nash, do you know how to plant vegetables?" Feng Mountain asked sheepishly.

"???" Nash’s eyes went wide, a blank look on his face.

’Alright then!’

Feng Mountain shook his head and tried hard to recall the steps the old folks back home used when they planted vegetables. First, you had to dig a furrow, then bury the seeds in the soil.

’The Fire Seed’s range has expanded, so it’s a good time to try planting.’

He called Nash over. The two of them first used the mossy sod to divide the extra land into long strips. Then they used a shovel to turn the soil and sprinkle in the vegetable seeds, gauging how much to use entirely by feel.

After a whole lot of fumbling, they finally got the seeds planted.

Feng Mountain was hungry too. He had been so busy saving people the day before that he hadn’t had a drop of water, let alone a meal. He was exhausted when he got off the plane, then that son of a bitch Frank forgot him in the car where he slept all night, only to be dragged off to an interview in the morning.

Only now did he feel how empty his stomach was. He sat on the grass and looked at Nash.

"Got anything to eat?"

Nash immediately pulled something wrapped in animal hide from his bearskin coat.

Feng Mountain took it and unwrapped the hide. Inside was a patty made of minced meat, pressed very tightly. There were berries mixed in with the meat, and its surface glistened with oil. It smelled pretty good.

The smell only made him hungrier.

Feng Mountain didn’t stand on ceremony with Nash. He grabbed the patty, brought it to his mouth, and took a big bite, chewing.

It was made from fish, he realized. The flavor was a bit bland, but the sweet and sour berries cut through the richness. It wasn’t as greasy as he expected and had a unique taste.

"What is this? It’s pretty good."

"Dried meat patty," Nash said with a grin.

As the two were chatting, a White Feathered Eagle descended from the sky and landed on a stone by the fire pit. Noticing the strange creatures nearby, it tilted its head and stared at the two of them.

Feng Mountain had seen this eagle before. It had appeared by the fire pit on the first night he lit the Fire Seed.

Prince, who had been squatting by Feng Mountain and eating scraps, got excited the moment he saw the eagle. He lunged toward it, barking loudly as if driving away an intruder.

The startled White Feathered Eagle flapped its wings and took flight, circling a few times above the fire pit before leaving.

Prince returned to Feng Mountain’s side triumphantly, his jaunty little tail held high.

"What are you good for besides putting on a show!" Feng Mountain irritably broke off a piece of the dried meat patty and threw it to Prince. The dog pretended not to understand and eagerly flopped down to eat it.

A moment later, the ear-piercing shriek of an eagle came from the sky.

Immediately after, THUD! A plump rabbit landed on the moss, startling Feng Mountain. He quickly looked up.

It was the same White Feathered Eagle that Prince had scared away. After dropping the rabbit, it circled once in the air and then slowly landed on the ground.

Prince glanced at the eagle, then at the rabbit.

With his tail held high, he ran forward and pinned the rabbit with his paws. He barked twice at the eagle, but this time he didn’t try to drive it away. Instead, he dragged the rabbit back to Feng Mountain’s side.

"Good boy, you even know how to collect a protection fee!" Feng Mountain chuckled, dumbfounded.

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