Chapter 98 Planting Crop Magic can stimulate plant growth. ...
As for conspiracies and schemes, East doesn't have the keen sense to notice them until they're actually in front of him.
Ister is currently more focused on their plans for the Orc Plains. There are too many monsters on the main road, so many that without external intervention, death is the only outcome. In the face of life and death, everything else can be set aside.
When discussing the plan, no one anticipated that things would develop so uncontrollably. The original plan was to slowly infiltrate and gradually take over the Orc Plains. Unfortunately, plans can't keep up with changes. Before the players could actually make a move, the Orcs of the Orc Plains couldn't hold on any longer.
This winter is exceptionally cold. There were already quite a few monsters in the autumn. The orcs did not have enough supplies for the winter and had to spend a lot of money to ask players to eliminate monsters. The money available to buy supplies was further reduced. After the price of supplies rose, buying supplies became a difficult task.
The orcs' current situation is predictable; only a few large tribes are still holding on, while most orc tribes are seeking refuge with others.
It was both the most opportune and the most inopportune moment for East and his men to intervene. With such a large piece of meat in front of them, even if they couldn't spare the time to carve it up, they would never allow it to be taken away.
East lowered his eyes in thought. Quite a few letters of trust had been sent to him by the orcs. He still needed to carefully consider how to proceed.
"Host, the situation is chaotic, this is the perfect opportunity for us to seize power." The system rabbit sat on the desk, twitching its two ears.
East's gaze followed the swaying ears. "System, living beings need food to survive, and we don't have that much."
In the exchange of interests with various countries, East's first consideration was food. However, with the continent in dire straits, everyone knew the importance of food, and what they could offer was far from enough to cope with the current situation.
[Host, players aren't just for fighting monsters. Wood-type mages can also accelerate plant growth.]
From the very beginning, the players were summoned to fight monsters, leading Ister to assume that the players were only for fighting monsters. He never thought of developing more uses for them. After being reminded by the system, he realized that he had made a huge mistake. How could such useful helpers as players only be used to fight monsters?
[Host, this is because the number of players has increased now. Allocating some more resources to farming won't have a significant impact on the situation. Otherwise, I wouldn't have brought this up.]
For them, monsters are the real threat. If the entire continent were overrun by monsters, would they be expected to rule over them?
East hugged the system rabbit to his chest and gently rubbed its ears. "Then let's arrange it this way. Suppress the messages that agree to receive them for now. You'll only realize how precious hope is when you're truly in dire straits."
Easter has never been a kind person. His compassion is pitifully small, and he only shares it with a handful of people. How many people will die? How many people will be displaced? That is their own fate, and it cannot be changed by his intervention. He should do only what he is capable of. It is already very precious that he can protect himself and the people who are important to him.
…………
Wood and water element mages who already possessed certain abilities discovered a new daily quest they could accept: assisting in planting crops. Something ingrained in their bloodline stirred, and players flocked to accept the quest.
"Don't push, don't push, one at a time!" the coordinating player shouted at the top of his lungs.
"Everyone should learn from this, pay attention to cooperation, and not make any mistakes. Seeds are very precious."
...
Matsushita Yuki is also a wood-type mage, and she is considered the highest-level wood-type mage at level 30. However, she is not as good as Yun Mu, who spends all her time in the game grinding monsters. In fact, many newcomers are almost catching up with her, which is also related to the different ways people play the game.
Matsushita Yuki is a casual player who doesn't care much about level. She's willing to grind monsters with everyone because a higher magic level helps her research; otherwise, she wouldn't be willing to do something so strenuous and unrewarding.
Now it was finally time for her to see the results. She was far away from the other players who were doing the task. These plots of land were the experimental base that the king had promised her, saying that as long as she produced a research result, he would give her a generous reward. It has to be said that the existence of magic has a great role in experiments.
To put it simply, magic can stimulate plant growth. By cultivating them generation after generation, higher-quality seeds can be selected. Even if magic is no longer available, they can still grow very well, since only a minority can become magicians.
East's actions today undoubtedly signal that the country is facing a food shortage.
Matsushita Yuki stroked the seedling beside her. The seedling was growing very strong. It was less than half a meter tall, but its trunk was as thick as a small tree. Its long branches and leaves stretched out, and plump ears of grain emerged from the middle. Each grain was bigger than a thumb, and each ear was a heavy bunch.
Their time on the continent of Luomanjier was ultimately too short. They hadn't yet found a crop like rice, but they found another crop that could replace wheat—the one under her command. It had a higher yield, lower cultivation requirements, and produced flour with a better texture.
There are three other types of crops like this. One type is root-based, which is somewhat like an upgraded version of sweet potato. It is larger, has a sweeter and softer taste, and is easier to grow.
The other two are not exactly food crops, but rather cash crops: one can be used to make sugar, and the other can be used to weave cloth.
These four alone were carefully selected. The continent is so vast, and countless players venture out to explore it. There are also many players who are willing to try various plants. Even so, only these four could be selected, which shows how valuable they are. Moreover, they have been carefully cultivated by Song Shangxue and are already mature crops that can be planted in large quantities.
Matsuue Yuki chose to submit the task, and the task reward was issued quickly.
Matsushita Yuki was unusually surprised, as the reward was three times higher than expected. Before she could think much about it, a new task was released. The task was to lead the players to plant the four types of crops she had cultivated. It was a series of tasks, and later she would need to teach other species how to plant them.
Matsushita Yuki had no reason to refuse the task, so she accepted it without hesitation.
Soon, the players who had accepted the quest arrived, and under Matsushita Yuki's leadership, they embarked on a vigorous planting endeavor.
…………
Seeing that everything was going well, Easter felt a little relieved. It was great to have his players, who had helped him solve countless problems.
"System, I'm suddenly a little reluctant to part with it."
He blurted out a question out of the blue, and the system couldn't analyze the reason at all: "[Host, what are you reluctant to part with?]"
“Players,” Easter said.
This was a question they had discussed before. East never intended for the players to stay in this world indefinitely. Ultimately, this world is real and has to follow its own path of development. Players can help for a while, but not forever. Over-reliance will only lead to lifelong resentment.
"If you can't bear to part with it, then keep it," the system said. "Keep it until the day the host gets tired of it."
Easter laughed, "System, you're so naive. If you slack off too much, you'll get used to it. How could you possibly get tired of it? You'll only become greedy."
[Host, you are not that kind of person.]
“Let’s wait a little longer,” Ister said, not continuing. “Monsters can’t be dealt with in a short time.”
Even after the monsters are dealt with, it's impossible to let all the players leave at once. We need to give them some time to recover. Besides, they're attacking the game itself, so we can't just shut it down like that. We need to come up with a concrete solution.
With the basic outlines for the most important matters settled in a short period of time, Easter finally had time to write to Areper, briefly explaining that he possessed a valuable forbidden technique that could protect people's lives to a certain extent, and hoping that Areper could come and meet him if he had the time, as the forbidden technique could only be effective when performed in person.
The letter contained roughly these words. The situation on the mainland has been quite bad recently. The reason why things seem calm here in East is because players are carrying out the heavy burden. Other places are not in such good condition. To say that they are in dire straits is an understatement. Powerful figures like Arebo are busy putting out fires in various places. East cannot possibly be having a romantic relationship at this time. Even if he wanted to, he would be powerless to do so.
Over the next two weeks, players made great strides in planting, with their food reserves doubling. Moreover, reminded by this quest, players adventuring outside paid more attention to edible plants, and some even managed to find good seeds.
On the Orc Plains, besides the involvement of the Kingdom of Felix, Ister also discovered the plans of many other nations that had spared no effort. However, with the presence of the players, the orcs were more inclined to side with Ister and his forces.
The continent has seen many more miracles performed by gods, which has alleviated the rampant monsters. This has also promoted the emergence of more faiths, which is inevitable. A glimmer of hope in times of despair, no matter how faint or ethereal, will attract people like moths to a flame.
Overall, Esther and his group's progress has been relatively smooth. Even the gods are busy dealing with the monsters on the continent and haven't paid attention to Esther's existence. It's also possible that they've made a move that Esther and his group haven't noticed. They can only be on high alert and can't do anything else.
The only setback was that Arebo remained completely out of contact.
Although their communication had been intermittent before, and it was normal for them not to exchange letters for ten days or half a month, as time went on, East's unease grew deeper and deeper.
At that moment, the bard's rambling words suddenly surfaced in his mind.
"System, do you have a way to contact Arebo?" Easter asked anxiously, barely able to contain his emotions. "I remember you mentioned before that we could video chat?"
[Host, it was fine before the server opened, but now that it's open, I have to use most of my abilities to manage players.] The system is also in a tough spot. It should be able to do this small function with just a few clicks, but it just so happens to have come at this time. The players are still very enthusiastic and might suddenly want to cause trouble, so it has to keep a closer eye on them. It wouldn't be good if something unexpected happened.
East didn't rely entirely on the system and planned to wait another week. If there was still no news after a week, he would have to think of other ways.
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