Chapter 86: Hiring Part-Timers, Deathwood Guardian’s Ability
They passed by several curious onlookers.
A few pointed at Isaac, whispering behind their hands. Others were less subtle, openly trying to catch his attention.
One woman even stepped out of line, holding a recruitment brochure.
"Excuse me—are you Isaac? The one who defeated a Champion-rank?"
Isaac gave a polite nod but didn’t slow down.
"We’d love for you to join the Dragoncrest Guild. If you’re interested—"
Before she could finish, a sharp whistle cut through the air. Freya was already walking toward them with a stern face.
"Please stop," she said, eyes locked on the woman. "You can’t do this in the market. Make an appointment with him if you want to do the recruitment, and do it in an appropriate place."
The woman reluctantly stepped back.
Freya gave Isaac a side-glance. "You’re becoming quite the celebrity."
"I would’ve preferred it to be the other way," Isaac said. "I just want to farm."
Kael laughed. "Well, farming made you famous too."
They made their way to the shop.
As expected, people had been lining up outside the ’Family’ shop since morning.
Thankfully, Professor Catherine had already assigned some students to hold the crowd off until Isaac arrived.
He got to work.
Tyr helped unload and stack crates while Leora gave a quick inspection of the inventory.
Even with no grains to sell yet, many people were eager just to talk, ask questions, or try to build connections.
Some even asked if he was Celia’s boyfriend since she posted about him on her account twice.
By early evening, things had finally settled down.
Isaac stepped away from the counter and checked his balance again.
[Credited (Last four hours): 483,200,000 Obols]
He was making steady progress toward the goals he had laid out.
His own strength was about to increase exponentially, and with land expanded and two powerful companions close to evolution, he would gain another type of strength that came from others – Authority.
If things kept going at this pace, he wouldn’t just survive in the stronghold. He would rule it.
But then he shook his head, chuckling.
"What am I even thinking?" he murmured under his breath. "Ruling over others sounds like too much work. I’d rather spend my time with Emily and Alice, and farm on the side."
Just as he began closing the shop for the day, a message from Professor Catherine pinged on his device.
Landlord: I’ve talked to some people to help you with the shop. They will sit on the counter in your place. You’ll need to pay them, though.
Isaac looked at the message. He had asked Professor Catherine to look for people for the shop.
After all, Isaac and Emily were busy with classes, and Alice would be too after she awakens her Talent.
Because no matter what rank of Talent Alice awakened, her Apex Bloodline would make her a coveted student.
With all three of them busy, they had no one to sell the grain at the shop.
You: How much would that be?
Landlord: You’ll have to negotiate. But around 2,000 Obols per hour.
Isaac rubbed his chin.
That was steep, but considering the location and traffic, it was reasonable.
Especially since he had expanded his land today. Hiring someone to hold the front wouldn’t impact his goal of hitting ten billion too much.
You: Thank you, Professor.
Landlord: No problem
Landlord: CoolThumbsUpEmoji
Isaac stared at the cool emoji for a moment before chuckling.
"For someone who acts like a seductive fox half the time, your texting style is oddly adorable," he muttered.
Just then, he heard footsteps.
Freya walked up to him, followed by Kael, and Nero.
"Isaac!" Freya waved cheerfully. "And Tyr! Hello again."
Tyr gave her a small nod but seemed uneasy.
His eyes darted away from her, clearly remembering the combat training incident. The one where Freya had fallen from the height and got injured because of him.
Freya noticed his expression. She smiled awkwardly. For now it was best to act she didn’t care about it, so that Tyr slowly stopped caring about it too.
Freya turned her attention to Isaac.
"We’re here about the part-time job. I believe Professor Catherine mentioned it?"
"So, you’re taking it? I thought you’d be out hunting monsters."
"We can only enter the Ruins three times a week. On off-days, the Sanctum assigns us duties—sometimes defense work, sometimes manual labor."
She continued, " Professor Catherine pulled a few strings. If we help at your shop, it’ll count as one of those jobs. But Sanctum won’t pay us, so... we’ll have to work out a deal with you directly."
Isaac raised a brow. "You guys get paid for other jobs?"
Freya nodded. "Yes, but not much."
Before she could say more, Kael clicked his tongue, and Nero let out a quiet sigh.
Freya blinked. "What?"
Isaac was already smiling.
He could see the trap she’d walked into, and clearly, so did Kael and Nero.
She had accidentally revealed that other jobs paid barely anything.
That meant working at Isaac’s shop—even for modest pay—would be a better deal for them.
At the jobs given by Sanctum of Masters, they got almost negligible pay and had to do back-breaking labor.
But in Isaac’s shop? There was no heavy lifting, no patrols. Just standing behind a counter and talking to people.
It was a heaven-sent job that would make any student drool.
Isaac could easily find other students for the role, which meant the negotiation power shifted entirely to him.
Kael stepped forward, trying to salvage the situation. "So, how much are you going to pay us?"
Isaac gave him a slow look. "What do you think is fair?"
Kael narrowed his eyes. "Two thousand. That’s what the professor said."
"That’s too high since the job’s easy. Don’t forget that the grains sell like hotcakes. So you’ll have rush hours during which the storage will be emptied, and for the rest of the day, you will be free. That’s why I’m offering 1,500 per hour."
"What are the work conditions?" Kael questioned.
"One of you handles the shop with Tyr. There will be two seven-hour shifts, from 6 am to 8 om. Lunch breaks are, of course, allowed.
"Even if the grain stock runs out, you will stay in the shop and take orders for when the next stock comes. I’ll handle the grain transport myself," Isaac explained.
Kael stared at him.
Nero quietly sighed again.
Freya looked confused. "That’s still not too bad..."
Kael gave Freya a look that screamed stop talking .
But the deal had already been made.
The three of them accepted Isaac’s offer, though Kael looked visibly defeated.
It wasn’t about the money.
His pride had taken a hit. He fancied himself a tactician, good at reading people and winning negotiations.
"I usually win these," he muttered under his breath.
Isaac just smiled as he shook hands with him. "Better luck next time."
Once the rotation schedule was finalized, the students dispersed.
Isaac left the marketplace alongside Leora and Tyr.
The streets were receiving more customers as evening approached, and awakeners returned from ruin exploration.
He could see students near food stalls and corners of the road, chatting or frolicking around.
As they reached home, the rhythmic sounds of movement caught Isaac’s attention before he even stepped through the door.
In the backyard training field, Emily was mid-spar with Professor Catherine.
She was summoning spirits rapidly, and probably giving commands through mental link.
The spirits zipped through the air, launching small but concentrated attacks toward Catherine, who dodged and blocked them with ease.
Then Emily vanished.
A moment later, she reappeared behind Catherine with a feint strike aimed at her midsection.
Catherine sidestepped and countered, sweeping her foot.
Emily was forced to phase out again.
Tirra, Emily’s ghost-bird spirit, dove in from above and disrupted Catherine’s posture for a brief second and allowed Emily to escape.
Emily’s breathing was rough, but her focus was sharp.
Her clothes were covered in dust. Bits of grass clung to her shoulders and hair, clear signs that she’d been thrown to the ground more than once.
But she didn’t look like she was going to give up anytime soon.
Isaac stayed silent, not wanting to interrupt. He simply nodded at Leora and Tyr, then turned toward the house.
That’s when his eyes drifted toward the farm.
The crops had matured.
He stopped walking.
"Already?" he muttered. "That’s... earlier than expected."
There was still time left on the timer he usually tracked for his fields. The grains shouldn’t have been ready yet. Then it hit him.
Deathwood Guardian.
He looked toward the center of the farm.
The scarecrow stood tall, arms spread out like always. A faint flicker of unnatural energy pulsed beneath its frame.
Isaac recalled it’s ability, and understood how it was affecting his farm.
Yesterday, the Deathwood Guardian had absorbed the life force of the dead assassins.
That was one of its key traits: to channel death into growth. Life force, once taken in, could be converted to nourish the soil within its domain.
And yesterday’s battle had left no shortage of corpses. They had three Champion ranks, multiple Master ranks, and dozens of elite-level assassins.
The scarecrow had clearly absorbed all life force.
Isaac stepped into the field and knelt beside a patch of fully matured grain.
He activated Sovereign of Land and pushed his senses deep into the soil.
The nourishment was rich, potent, and without side-effects.
"Good," he said softly. "With this much nourishment, the next batch can also grow in half the time."
He quickly harvested the crops.
1000 Tier 1 Vitality Grain Crops harvested. Mana +500. Constitution +500.
You have obtained 5000 Tier 1 Vitality Grains.
5040 Tier 0 Vitality Grain Crops harvested. Mana +448. Constitution +448.
You have obtained 25,200 Tier 0 Vitality Grains.
Seeing the number of grain satisfied Isaac.
Right now, he had 20 hectare of land. One for shop, and nineteen for farming.
"Since the customers are mostly awakeners now, I should grow more Tier 1 grains. It would a good boost the income."