The first week of "employment" for Elara and Mina was less of a job and more of a spiritual crisis.
By day three, Mina realized that the "weeds" she was pulling were actually [Void-Slaying Mandrakes]—rare plants that kings would go to war for a single leaf of. By day five, Elara discovered that the water she used to wash the dishes was [Liquid Mana of the Source], capable of granting immortality to a commoner with one sip.
"Don't scrub too hard on those plates, Elara!" Sakura shouted from the porch, where he was sharpening a rusty hoe that was secretly a [God-Slaying Divine Artifact]. "The soap is a bit acidic—I made it from the venom of a Great Basilisk. It's the only thing that gets the grease off these divine cabbage pots."
Elara looked at her hands. They weren't just clean; they were glowing with a holy light. "Basilisk venom... as dish soap. Of course. Why did I even ask?"
"Master Zeno!" Mina called out, sprinting from the orchard while being chased by a "butterfly" that had a wingspan of four feet and teeth. "The tomatoes! They're starting to... hum? And one of them tried to bite my finger!"
Sakura sighed, standing up and wiping his brow. "Ah, they're just reaching the 'Sentience Phase.' Just sing them a lullaby, Mina. It calms their bloodlust. Anyway, I need to head into the Aurelus Empire today."
The sisters froze. "The Empire? But... the Void Cult is still searching for us!"
"Don't worry," Sakura said, adjusting his straw hat. "I've got a standing deal with the Emperor. I give him a crate of 'Slightly-Above-Average' potatoes every few months, and he keeps the tax collectors and cultists away from my fence. Plus, I need to pick up some regular salt an some cash so we can buy stuff . The Dead Sea stuff is too spicy."
He looked toward the jagged, black peaks of the Mount Calamity range on the horizon. "But first, I need some garnish. Gaia says the dinner needs more flavor. I'm going to nip up to the mountain to pick some 'Wild Parsley'."
"Wild Parsley?" Gaia asked, walking out in her white sundress, her emerald eyes shimmering with amusement. "My Lord, the herbs on that mountain are [Nirvana-Grade Dragon Grass]. The last person who tried to pick them was a Level 90 Sage, and he was turned into a frozen statue by the mountain's guardian.
"I'll be fine, Gaia," Sakura waved a hand dismissively. "I'll be back in ten minutes. Reil, watch the perimeter. If a knight comes by, don't eat his horse—just scare him a bit."
"Fine," Reil huffed from her lounge chair, her silver tail flicking. "But if they're rude, I'm at least taking a leg."
To a mortal, climbing Mount Calamity required a year of preparation and a death wish. To Sakura, it was a light jog.
He reached the 30,000-foot summit in about three minutes. The air was so thin it would have collapsed a human's lungs, and the temperature was a soul-chilling negative 200 degrees.
"Where is that parsley..." Sakura muttered, looking around.
Suddenly, the ground erupted. A [Frost-Fire Ancient Dragon], a beast the size of a city block with scales made of eternal ice, rose from the crags. Its roar caused an avalanche that wiped out three climbing parties on the lower slopes.
"WHO DARES DISTURB THE SLEEP OF THE ETERNAL GUARDIAN?" the dragon bellowed, its breath freezing the very concept of time.
Sakura didn't even look up from the patch of glowing green grass near the dragon's claw. "Oh, hey there, big guy. Just taking some garnish. Don't mind me."
The dragon paused, its slit pupils widening as it looked at Sakura. Its "Dragon Sense" didn't just tingle—it screamed. In its eyes, the "Farmer" wasn't a man; he was a Black Hole of Infinite Power draped in a cheap tunic.
"I... I MEAN... WOULD YOU LIKE A BASKET TO PUT THOSE IN, SIRE?" the dragon stammered, its terrifying voice suddenly sounding like a helpful waiter.
"No thanks, I've got my pockets," Sakura said, snatching a handful of the "Dragon Grass" (Wild Parsley) and stuffing it into his apron. "By the way, you've got a bit of ice buildup on your left wing. It looks uncomfortable. Here."
Sakura reached out and gave the dragon's wing a "gentle" pat to clear the ice.
BOOM.
The force of his "gentle" pat sent a shockwave through the dragon's body, instantly shattering the three-ton ice chunks and sending the 50,000-ton dragon sliding 500 feet backward across the summit.
"There! All fixed!" Sakura beamed. "See ya later, lizard-man!"
As Sakura disappeared back down the mountain in a blur, the Frost-Fire Dragon sat in the snow, trembling. Its wing wasn't just cleared of ice—it had been accidentally leveled up to [Divine Celestial Grade].
"A farmer..." the dragon whispered, its mind breaking. "The Creator is a farmer... and I'm just a lizard in his backyard."
As Sakura strolled down the mountain, humming a tune from his old world, he was completely oblivious to the shadow looming over him.
High above, soaring on wings of dark flame, was the [Abyssal Earth-Crushing Bull]. At Level 249, he was a legend in the Demon Realms, a creature that had devoured entire sects. His eyes, glowing with a malevolent red light, locked onto Sakura's back.
'What is this?!' the Demon Bull roared in his mind. 'That body... it radiates the Primordial Dao! His soul is like a sun trapped in a mortal vessel! If I eat him, I won't just reach Level 250—I'll become a God!'
The Bull gripped his massive, soul-drinking battle axe. He let out a silent, bloodthirsty grin and dived. He was a streak of black lightning, a force of nature designed to end lives.
He was ten feet away from Sakura's head. Five feet. Three—
[SYSTEM NOTIFICATION]
[HOSTILITY DETECTED: TERMINATING NARRATIVE THREAT]
[ACTIVATING: ANTI-MANA SANCTUARY]
[ACTIVATING: DEMONIC EXISTENCE ERASURE FIELD]
In the blink of an eye, the law of the world changed. The "Abyssal Power" fueling the Demon Bull didn't just vanish—it was deleted from the source code of reality.
POOF.
A cloud of white, glittery smoke exploded in the air.
The massive, soul-drinking battle axe clattered to the ground with a pathetic tink. The black, flaming wings evaporated. The towering, muscular demon frame shrivelled and softened.
Sakura stopped walking and blinked, looking down at his feet.
"Huh?"
There, standing in the middle of the path, was a regular, brown farm bull. It was about four feet tall, had a slightly wet nose, and was wearing a look of absolute, soul-shattering confusion. It tried to let out a roar of defiance, but all that came out was a soft, high-pitched:
"Mooo?"
Sakura's eyes lit up. "Oh! Hey there, big guy! Where did you come from? You look a bit lost."
The bull looked at its own hooves. It tried to summon its hellfire, but instead, it accidentally let out a small puff of gas. Its mind was screaming: 'MY DIVINE SOUL! MY DOMAIN! I WAS A CALAMITY! WHY DO I SUDDENLY HAVE THE URGE TO LICK A SALT BLOCK?!'
"You know," Sakura said, patting the bull on its now-fuzzy head. "I was actually thinking about getting a ox to help pull the wagon to the capital. You look sturdy! Want a job? I pay in high-grade clover."
The bull—formerly the Terror of the Abyss—looked at Sakura's hand. It could feel the infinite power vibrating in Sakura's skin. It realized that if it didn't nod, it would probably be turned into a steak.
The bull let out a defeated sigh and nudged Sakura's hand with its nose.
"Great!" Sakura beamed, picking up the discarded 'axe' (which now looked like a rusty, broken garden trowel). "Let's get you back to the farm. Reil is going to love you."
The Demon Bull didn't wait for a second invitation. The moment it felt the Anti-Mana Field flicker as it scrambled out of range, it tapped into its Forbidden Bloodline. It tripled in size, its muscles bulging with purple Abyssal veins.
"YOU DARE MOCK ME, MORTAL?!" the Bull roared, its voice shaking the tectonic plates. It unleashed its ultimate move: [Void-Collapse: Extinction Beam]. A pillar of pure darkness, meant to erase the concept of light, surged toward Sakura
Sakura didn't even stop walking. He just felt a "draft" coming from his left. "Shoo! I told you, I'm busy!"
He swatted the darkness away with the back of his hand—the same way you'd swat a fly.
BOOM.
The "Extinction Beam" was physically redirected. It bypassed the atmosphere and slammed into a distant, uninhabited mountain peak. The mountain didn't just explode; it was deleted. One second there was a 20,000-foot peak; the next, there was a perfectly circular hole in the map of the continent.
The Bull froze. Its "World-Ending" spell had just been used as a tennis ball.
"Okay, now you're just being annoying," Sakura sighed, his cosmic violet eyes flashing. "System, merge the Dragon skills. Let's wrap this up."
[SYSTEM NOTIFICATION]
[FUSING SKILLS: DRAGON GOD'S JUDGMENT + DARK ABYSS LIGHTNING]
[NEW SKILL GENERATED: CHAOS THUNDER (AUTHOR'S VERDICT)]
Sakura raised a single, bored index finger. At the tip, a spark of Crimson-Black Lightning flickered. It didn't look like much—until the sky over the entire planet turned blood-red.
"Wait! STOP!" the Bull shrieked, dropping its axe and falling to its knees. "I SURRENDER! I'LL BE YOUR OX! I'LL—"
ZAP.
The bolt didn't "travel." It simply existed where the Bull was standing. The Crimson-Black dragon of lightning tore through the Bull's Level 199 Absolute Barrier like it was wet tissue paper.
The scream was cut short. The bolt continued upward, piercing the clouds, shattering the ozone layer, and passing the Moon with such force that it left a new crater on the lunar surface. It streaked past the sun, leaving the solar system and vanished into the deep void of the galaxy, a permanent scar on the stars.
Sakura stood over the smoking remnants of the Bull. Amidst the seared prime ribs lay a pulsing, pitch-black orb—the [Abyssal Mana Core]—and a jagged, obsidian battle-axe. The items radiated a foul, suffocating energy that would have corrupted a normal person just by looking at them.
"This is a bit messy," Sakura muttered. He raised a hand, his 0.00001% rings glowing with a soft, white radiance.
[Skill: Absolute Sanctification — The Author's Eraser]
A wave of pure Holy Magic washed over the clearing. The oily black mist clinging to the core didn't just fade; it was rewritten. The obsidian axe turned into a shimmering, platinum-grade tool, and the mana core transformed from a dark orb into a [Divine Sun-Gem], clear as crystal and vibrating with life-force.
Back on the mountain path, there was no more Demon Bull. Just a few smoking, perfectly seared, A5-rank Prime Rib cuts laying neatly on the grass.
Sakura walked over, picked up a slab of the meat, and sniffed it. "Huh. Smells like... wagyu? Well, I lost a potential ox, but I definitely gained a barbecue."
He tossed the "Demon Lord Ribs" into his inventory and kept walking. "Gaia is going to love this. It's pre-marinated in Abyssal energy. Very tender."
Sakura landed softly on the porch,not even out of breath. tossing the "Wild Parsley" (Dragon Grass) to a stunned Elara. "Got the garnish! And look what else I found." He held out the glowing, mana-bleeding herbs to a stunned Elara.
He dropped a fifty-pound slab of the seared "Bull Meat" onto the kitchen table. It was perfectly marbled, smelling of charcoal and celestial spices.
"Gaia, think you can work your magic on this?" Sakura asked, wiping a smudge of "Chaos Thunder" soot from his cheek. "It's pre-marinated in... well, a lot of energy. Should be tender."
Gaia glided over, her white sundress swaying as she inspected the meat. She let out a soft, humming laugh, her emerald eyes twinkling. "My Lord, you've hunted a [Demon Duke of the Seventh Layer] for breakfast. I shall prepare it with the World-Tree Truffles. It will be... adequate."
Elara and Mina stared at the meat. They could feel their own mana veins humming just from the smell. One bite of that was going to propel them past Level 400.
"Also," Sakura said, pulling the purified Sun-Gem and the Platinum Axe from his inventory. "I'm thinking of selling these when we get to the Capital. We need more cash for that new irrigation system, and these look like they might be worth a few gold pieces, right?"
The Elven sisters nearly fainted.
"A few gold pieces...?" Elara choked out. "Master, that core could buy three kingdoms. And that axe... that's a [Holy Relic] that could end a thousand-year war!"
"Really? Huh. I thought it was just a fancy paperweight," Sakura said, scratching his head. "Well, let's get eating. We've got a long drive to the Empire, and I don't want the cabbages to wilt!"
"Got the parsley! Now, get the wagon ready. We're going to the capital. And remember," Sakura leaned in close, his face turning serious. "No 'God' talk. We're just selling vegetables. If anyone asks, the herbs are just... very fresh."
Elara looked at the herbs, which were literally singing a hymn of creation. "Fresh. Right. Totally normal, Boss."