Chapter 16: The Bath

The awakening of the following day was just as hard, if not harder, than the one before. Fortunately, Foin prepared beforehand and put his bottle of tea right next to him so that he could start the day more efficiently. While he was enjoying the now even denser and stronger tea, Foin stared at his garden.

He thought that the previously nit matured plants would have changed, but they seemed exactly the same. However, he did notice that the previously plated two separate pepper plants grew much slower. One of them just barely started growing, while the other only had flowers, nothing else.

The Élion plants he had planted, although had greatly grown, and even the previous to larger ones had regrown their flowers, so they were harvestable again. But the strange seed he was rewarded was still barely even groaning. Although it had grown, the change was so small. It seemed as if it was a single larger leave, nothing more.

Once the effect of the tea kicked in, Foin even went over to that new, unknown plant and took a closer look at it. He gently touched it and lifted that one leaf it had. The texture of the plant was quite rough, and its side was somewhat sharp. He could feel its edge on his fingertips. Although it would not be able to cut him, he was still astonished to see such a unique plant.

"These last few plants seem to grow at a much slower rate... Especially this one... Maybe I should really focus on composting!"

He mumbled as he walked back to his large number of peppers and started eating; just like the day before, his appetite was quite large, and since he had his plans, he quickly planted the seeds he had acquired, and then his next stop was his pool.

The pool was greatly filled over the night. Although it was not full, it was perfectly fine for Foin. He quickly used some of the dirt he had piled up previously to stop the pool from being filled. And then he looked down into the water. It was coloured slightly reddish by the flowers in it, which were nowhere to be seen, presumable they have sunken down to its bottom.

Foin quickly filled his bottle with water and prepared his usual tea before he forgot about it and then slightly stretched his hands and legs. After sitting down on the side of the pool, he looked at his injured leg. Much to his surprise, it was in a much better condition than he would have imagined. With a content sigh, he put his finger into the water. Although it was cold, it was not too cold.

He quickly took off most of his clothes, leaving only his white underwear on and was about to jump into his pool, but he was frozen as soon as he saw his reflection.

Although he was a slim and fit boy back in his original world, now, as he looked at the water, he couldn't believe what he saw. He had a much better physical appearance than before. Just to make sure that it was not just some illusion, he quickly looked at his own body.

His muscles seemed to be tense, but thanks to his tea, he didn't feel anything from that, so once he was finished admiring his body, he jumped into the pool. The water was so high that he couldn't sit down, but it was perfectly fine. He just enjoyed bathing for the first time in the last few days.

The water mixed with the flowers was quite relaxing m, but the pool was quite small. He needed to lower himself so that only his head would be out of the water, and all he could do was lean against the wall, but still, it was perfectly fine. However, in this relaxing moment, Foin was already planning his next project.

He decided that he would need to dig another hole, which he would use as the composting area, but for that, he would need some sort of tool, and currently, his best choice of action was to use one of his larger logs t carry out a shovel or a spade which would increase his digging speed. And in the meantime, he would get more sawdust to start his fire.

The reason he was determined to dig another hole was simple. Putting all of the biodegradable material, which he didn't need, would mean that they would no longer pile up on the surface; also, he knew that before rotting begins, the smell would be quite bad, so that would also be evaded.

Also, he had been in this world for quite some time, and he had yet to establish any sort of structure in which he could stay should some kind of bad weather appear. He would be able to utilise the dirt from the composting pit to start doing some basic planning. He would need to use mud there as well, but at least making some kind of bricks from mud would be a bit sturdier and also would be less likely to break, and even if they cracked, he could just mend them with more mud.

Foin stayed in the water for about an hour. During that period, he felt so relaxed; although he felt no pain thanks to his tea, he felt a wave of calmness wash over him every so often. Even after an hour, he could barely get out as he was so fond of that sensation.

Since he had nothing to use as a towel, he stayed wet, but that didn't mean he would stay put. He quickly grabbed his shirt and started washing it in the water. He wanted to get the mud out of it, as it started to bother him quite a bit. Although he knew that it would be dirty again soon, now he could take a bath every day if he wanted to.

One thing he noticed after the bath was that his body took up the sweet scent of the mixture. No matter where he went, he could smell his own great scent, which was a great addition to the benefits of that bath.

Once he was done washing his shirt and pants, he put them onto the pile of grass so that they wouldn't touch the dirt. He'd rather have some grass on them than even more dirt. Then he quickly fetched a larger and the smallest piece of stone and then walked over to the smaller piece of wood. Although even the largest one was quite small, that is what he had and could use to work with.