Chapter 1650: The Source of Hatred, Deep Plowing and Meticulous Cultivation

"No need to mind those worldly formalities. I have lived for hundreds of years; what haven't I seen? One's appearance is just something for others to look at. I am certainly not one of those 'nobles' who still refuse to let go of their airs to this day; I am just a very ordinary human."

Speaking of this, Master Eriwen smiled slyly again, "Of course, that's not to say humans can't have Elf bloodlines! Hahaha!"

Afterward, the Master gestured for Xia Duo and Zhenna to sit down.

……

Just from this first meeting, Master Eriwen left a deep impression on Xia Duo. Aside from his appearance, which was almost indistinguishable from an Elf, the fact that the Master always identified as a human also made a very favorable impression on Xia Duo.

The so-called "nobles" is how Elves refer to themselves, or more accurately, how they refer to themselves only in the presence of humans. Yet, the Elf Kingdom even has Druids who are nearly indentured servants; how could they possibly use such a term to describe themselves internally?

Among Druids, there are Gold Elves and Moon Elves, but the vast majority are Wood Elves. If all Elves were "nobles," how is it that most Wood Elves can only engage in "lowly trades" like being Druids?

In Master Eriwen's era, Elves in Netheril were absolutely the embodiment of nobility and beauty; Xia Duo had read the history of that period.

Elves have long lifespans; a union with a human might stem from true affection, but the short lifespan of a human dictates that such a marriage will not be happy until the end.

In fact, many Elves, after their human partners passed away, would almost immediately abandon their children and run back to the Elf Kingdom—though, of course, "Elf Kingdom" here could basically be written as "Yierlan."

Only Yierlan, which had close dealings with Netheril in the early days, had the majority of cases of Elves and humans uniting; in other countries, they were in the minority.

Of course, if the child had fewer human traits, there was a significant chance that the Elven parent would take the child along when returning to Yierlan.

Historically, there had been cases where children with more human traits were taken away, but those children, without exception, were almost all banished back to Netheril.

Only a very small number were lucky enough to have an Elven parent who belonged to an Upper Family in Yierlan; only then was it possible to raise them in secret, though it could not be made public.

Gustav Town, among the Seven Towns of Seventon, was once the main settlement for banished Half-Elves. Today, the members of Gustav Tower also largely possess Elven bloodlines.

The dissatisfaction and even hatred toward Elves throughout Gustav Tower stems from this!

At the same time, this has become a form of political correctness within Gustav Tower; even Great Arcanist Badijiaer finds it difficult to reverse.

Of course, perhaps he does not want to reverse it either.

And judging by Master Eriwen's appearance, which is almost identical to an Elf's, there was a high probability he could have been taken back to Yierlan by his Elven father or mother.

Perhaps he was already taken back, but Master Eriwen ultimately chose to return to Netheril.

Perhaps there is another legendary experience hidden within that!

And could the fact that the Master remains unknown to the outside world to this day have something to do with this Elven face of his?

……

Looking at the open-minded and generous Master Eriwen, for some reason, Xia Duo suddenly thought of a saying from his hometown: "A basket of rice, a ladle of water, living in a humble alley; others could not bear the misery, yet Hui did not change his joy."

Perhaps Master Eriwen still finds joy in it!

Thinking of this, a trace of respect for the Master rose in Xia Duo's heart once more, and his tone involuntarily became much softer and more respectful as he asked:

"I wonder what instruction you have for summoning Xia Duo here, Master?"

"Not instruction, not instruction!"

Master Eriwen waved his hands repeatedly, then pointed to the Agricultural Book on the tea table in front of him and explained: "It is because I read this book of yours and had some questions I couldn't understand. It just so happened that I heard Zhenna knew you, so I had her call you over. I am truly sorry to disturb you so late!"

"You are too kind, Master. It is Xia Duo's honor to resolve your doubts! Please feel free to ask whatever questions you have; I will tell you everything I know."

"Good."

Master Eriwen beamed with joy. He reached out, grabbed the Agricultural Book on the tea table, and flipped through it casually until he reached a folded page. He carefully opened the folded part, pointed to a line of text, and asked:

"It says here that the land needs to be deep-plowed after the crops are harvested. Of course, although this new type of Deep Plowing Plow hasn't been verified yet, based on my experience, it should be useful. My question is, why must one deep-plow?"

"Uh—"

Xia Duo had initially thought Eriwen was going to ask about the content regarding the Cooperative later on, but he hadn't expected him to start by asking a practical detail about farming.

This was a bit difficult to answer because he himself didn't understand it very well. Most of the content in his Agricultural Book was about organizational methods and some experience verified by his Territory.

A small portion was the planting wisdom from his hometown that Xia Duo had dug out of his memory.

Of course, if he really had to say something, he could still manage a thing or two; after all, his fellow countrymen were most skilled at farming, and even if he had little practical experience, he knew quite a bit from being immersed in it.

After a moment of thought, Xia Duo spoke up:

"Master, I heard from President Zhenna that you were a Druid before. As far as I know, there is a Divine Magic among Druid spells called 【Fertile Soil Spell】 that, even without extra forcing, can significantly shorten the maturation cycle of crops?"

"Yes, such a spell does exist, but my Holy Power has long since been reclaimed by that One. There are similar spells in Elven Magic, but the process of converting them to Netheril Magic has been very unsuccessful."

Speaking of this, Master Eriwen's expression dimmed for a moment, "I have studied this aspect for a lifetime, yet I have only determined one Fertile Soil Spell most suitable for Winter Wheat. Sigh—"

"By the way, does this have anything to do with the deep plowing you mentioned?"

"Master, most of the people of Netheril know that continuous planting on the same plot of land will reduce the harvest, so there is the Three-Field Rotation. But my Territory is a Pioneer Territory with little arable land, so I had my residents find a way."

"Let the residents find a way?" The Master widened his eyes, "They can come up with a way?"

"Of course!" Xia Duo said with absolute certainty.

Perhaps Master Eriwen had a noble personality, but the limitations of the era still made him look down on ordinary people somewhat. In reality, although what Xia Duo said wasn't entirely accomplished by the residents of the Territory, back in his hometown, they were all ordinary people too!

"Tell me quickly, what method did your residents come up with?"

"They speculated that there is a substance in the soil that allows crops to grow vigorously, and rotation is just to restore this substance. But what if we plow deeper? Turning up the soil from underneath that hasn't been planted with crops—wouldn't that save us from rotation?"

"But after deep-plowing this time, what about next time? Do you have to plow even deeper?"

"Master, you joke. The soil that was turned down will recover after a year or two! It is equivalent to turning the Three-Field Rotation on a plane into a three-dimensional Three-Field Rotation."

As he spoke, Xia Duo added a caveat to his words, "Of course, this deep-plowing method cannot completely abandon the Fertile Soil Spell; otherwise, with long-term planting, the soil fertility will inevitably decline, and one needs to find ways to replenish it."

"Hmm, indeed!"

Master Eriwen nodded seriously, "Even the Druid's Fertile Soil Spell is not omnipotent. I once saw with my own eyes in Yierlan barren land caused by the failure of Fertile Soil; it was too miserable!"

Not knowing if he thought of something unpleasant, Eriwen subconsciously frowned tightly, but immediately relaxed and looked at Xia Duo calmly:

"Now, let's talk about the Cooperative!"