Interdimensional Gardening Master [Western Fantasy]

Summoned from the 22nd century to a magical otherworld as its supposed savior, An Lan knows he's just an ordinary person and refuses the role. He begins a life of seclusion in the great forest, and along the way picks up a handsome, amnesiac elf.

The deep forest is short on supplies and full of wild beasts. What are they supposed to do when they don't have enough food for the next meal?

Luckily, An Lan's personal System connects to an interdimensional seed shop stocked with all kinds of fruit and vegetable seeds.

To survive, An Lan clears fields, grows vegetables and plants trees, transforming a vast stretch of wasteland into his own botanical garden.

But who can tell him where these strange plants came from? Pea pods that shoot bullets, cabbages with teeth, sunflowers that can walk...

An Lan: "What else can I do? I'll just have to grit my teeth and grow them."

Before he knew it, he had gained plenty of companions thanks to the plants he cultivated, and even become the high priest of the elven temple?!

*

An Lan, founder of the magical botany discipline, the youngest department mentor in the history of the Academy of Truth, and former high priest of the elves. He is widely read and has published countless works. Among his many research achievements are Artificial Propagation Methods for Wild Elven Column Plants, Breeding Hybrid Varieties of Maternal and Filial Spirit Rice with Native Rice Strains, and Large-Scale Production of Combat Magic Plants Such as Lemon Bombs and Their Use in Warfare.

It's said that his botanical garden is full of countless rare treasures, too...

When the conservative faction at the academy made things difficult for him, a golden apple said to be the source of desire stirred up infighting among several elders.

For his beloved, who was troubled by the limit of their lifespan, he had a ginseng fruit that bears fruit once every ten thousand years, able to prolong life and preserve youth.

When countless enemy troops launched a surprise attack on the frontier, the sala tree blossomed with endless Buddha-light, protecting the lives of an entire city's civilians.

But more than his academic research, what students love to gossip about in private is the steamy rumor involving Mentor An Lan and Xieses, the dean of academic affairs.

They say the two fell in love at first sight in the Forest of Trials and moved in together on the very first day. The dean, notorious for his strictness, neglected his duties for his lover and vanished for months. It wasn't until the headmaster caught the two of them fooling around that they reluctantly returned to the academy.

But the students wouldn't dare say any of this to their faces. The last person who accidentally let something slip was sent to the botanical garden to do hard labor.

[TIPS]:

1. Half-elf top Xieses x future human bottom An Lan, 1v1, happy ending.

2. An advancement novel disguised as a farming story. Slow-burn, plot-focused. He advances in the forest early on, then goes to the academy to conduct research later.

3. The main text has a serious tone, not a pure power fantasy. The protagonist will face hardship and grow.

4. The interdimensional plants come from different planes and are not all original creations. Their inspirations will be noted in the author's notes.

[Upcoming novel: Cultivation Begins with a Substitute. Blurb follows]

After going from the son of the richest man to a person of the pleasure quarters, then choosing to die to preserve his dignity, Xie Qiong learns on the brink of death that the good-for-nothing he's been for most of his life is actually a reincarnated immortal.

All his hardships were part of a tribulation. As long as he returns to the immortal sect and completes his tribulation, he can reclaim his immortal form and live freely from then on.

To join the immortal sect, Xie Qiong has no choice but to set his sights on Shen Yujue, the foremost disciple of the immortal mountain. He abandons his useless dignity and lowers his standards step by step...

*

After he joins the sect, all the disciples believe Xie Qiong is so infatuated with Shen Yujue that he'd gladly give his life for him.

They scorn him for lacking shame, mock him for foolishly dreaming, and claim that his lowly status taints the sacred mountain.

Only Xie Qiong knows that he's merely using Shen Yujue.

But how could he not fall for that snow on the mountain, that moon among the clouds, smiling down at him?

Until he discovers the unspeakable desires hidden beneath Shen Yujue's seemingly detached exterior;

Until he learns the real reason Shen Yujue brought him to the mountain...

It turns out he and the sect leader, who has been in seclusion for years, have remarkably similar features.

Xie Qiong awakens as if from a dream and finally decides to leap into the cave filled with tribulation fire, completing the final step of his trial.

But he was deceived.

No one told him the tribulation fire would burn so painfully, or that becoming an immortal never meant freedom.

In the end, Xie Qiong, the man everyone laughed at, is left without so much as a body.

*

When he wakes again, he has almost forgotten who he is.

In a daze, he is led into a great hall. Through layers of gauzy curtains, he sees a familiar figure kneeling before him, a voice full of restrained emotion drifting from afar.

"Master, this disciple is guilty..."

[TIPS]:

1. Xie Qiong (a scheming villain bottom) x Shen Yujue (a taciturn, secretly passionate top and heaven's favored child).

2. A melodramatic story built around various substitute tropes.

Theme: Stay rooted in the present while looking to the future, and believe that hard work will eventually bring success