Chapter 178: Greenhouse Planting

The first batch of crops produced through greenhouse planting mainly included five types: cucumbers, tomatoes, chili peppers, cabbage, and sugar beets.

There was no special reason for choosing these five crops; it was mainly out of consideration for suitability.

And as of now, the growth status of these five crops was quite successful, at least in the initial stage of plant development, meeting the expectations of the few life-profession players present.

Looking at the plants bathed in emerald green light, an expression of disbelief was written on the Night Elf's face.

Although nature-type magic could make seeds germinate, it couldn't make wheat simply produce wheat ears, let alone make a tomato plant just planted immediately bear fruitful results.

In fact, the plants truly suitable for rapid growth were only a few categories; either grass or dandelions whose seeds could be seen everywhere, or soft and changeable green vines, or tenacious wooden vines, and so on.

These plants all had one characteristic: their life cycle was simple, and their traits were relatively distinct; they were the optimal solutions obtained by countless nature-type spellcasters in one attempt after another.

They would die quickly after rapid growth, just like the fireballs rubbed by elemental-type magicians.

And if one wanted to make plants complete a full life cycle, such as flowering, pollination, and fruiting, relying solely on the power of nature-type spells was not enough.

To do this, they also had to communicate with the plants and ask whether the plants themselves were willing...

However, these undead of the Necropolis seemed to have found a way to replace asking the plants for their own opinions.

That was what they called "bug-using."

For example, they first requested her to cast nature-type spells to accelerate the flowering of tomato vines, then promoted them to enter the next growth stage through artificial pollination, and then continued to let her use nature-type spells to accelerate the next life cycle of the tomato vines.

This method was something she hadn't imagined before.

Of course, this segmented spell-casting method to accelerate plant growth was not perfectly flawless.

As the tomato vines in the petri dishes continued to grow and climbed onto the climbing frame, and bloomed more and more flowers, finally, green fruits grew from the ends of the stems.

At first, it was like a green grape, condensed under the subtle little flower, and then gradually grew stronger.

However, problems soon appeared.

The tomato hadn't grown for long before it turned from green to orange; although the color became deeper and deeper, the size didn't grow anymore, until finally, the fruit ripened and fell into the mud.

Holding the staff, the Night Elf stopped casting, dissipated the emerald green light condensed at the tip of the staff, looked at the few skeletons, and shook her head, indicating that she had already done her best.

This player didn't blame her, just stared at that small, ripe tomato and whispered, discussing it.

Legendary Liver King: "This is too small."

Legendary Dry King: "Could it be a variety problem?"

"Impossible... I picked this seed from a big tomato; there can't be a problem with this, right?" 【Xie Bu Rou's Homie】 scratched the back of his head, saying in bewilderment.

Focused on Pig Farming in the Wild Area: "Strange, fertilizer was spread, and water was poured, but the fruit that grew out is like it has insufficient fertility."

【Beast Senior】, who had been silent, suddenly had a thought and proposed a hypothesis.

"Could it be because the root system is poorly developed?"

Seeing pairs of eyes looking at him, he continued to speak out the conjecture in his heart in an uncertain tone.

"I just wanted to say it; under the ripening of nature-type spells, it seems like only the branches, leaves, and stems are growing fiercely, but the soil doesn't see any movement at all; could it be that the root system underneath actually didn't grow much, or it grew but couldn't keep up with the growth speed of the surface part..."

He wasn't an agricultural expert; he was purely analyzing from a rational perspective.

In his view, this root system was like the mouth for plants to eat; if only the height grew but the appetite didn't, wouldn't the nutrition be unable to keep up?

A few skeletons exchanged glances, and the soul fire shaking in their skulls gradually became brighter.

"Possible."

【Xie Bu Rou's Homie】 simply stepped forward and pulled one of the tomato vines out of the soil; the root system underneath was indeed short and weak, just a thumb-sized section.

"Good guy, it really is!"

"But how to fix this?"

"I heard that pruning can promote plant rooting."

"Pruning branches and leaves while using nature-type spells to ripen? Can this work?"

A few skeletons were suddenly dumbfounded, scratching their heads, and some simply went offline to check information.

In fact, this was a problem that almost all nature-type mages would encounter, which was that plants accelerated to grow often grew faster in certain parts, and the final result was that they grew top-heavy.

Only plants that had conceived a "Nature Spirit" could achieve truly balanced growth by communicating with them, or concentrate more nutrition in the fruit part.

The Night Elf in charge of casting spells watched these undead quietly, curious about how these empty-headed guys would solve this problem.

However, what made her unexpected was that these skeletons gathered together and discussed for a while, and they really came up with some ideas.

"I don't think pruning branches and leaves is reliable; the stimulation speed of this thing is too slow and can't keep up with the rhythm of spellcasting."

"Indeed! If there are too many plants, they can't be pruned at all, unless another Necromancer is arranged to micro-operate the skeleton hands."

"Currently, there are two reliable ideas; one is to use nature-type spells to accelerate the life cycle of the rooting stage, and the other is to try soilless cultivation. I heard that if the soil is replaced with nutrient solution, the effect of the same root system absorbing water will be better."

"Try both together!"

"It's best to set up three groups of experiments to compare which method is more reliable, and how much gain can be superimposed when used together."

"Not setting up a control group anymore?"

One of the skeletons looked at the small, hard tomato that fell into the soil nearby.

"Isn't this already there?"

Another skeleton smiled embarrassedly, reaching out to scratch the back of his head.

"Also."

The Night Elf standing on the side was secretly amazed; she had never seen undead so much like living people.

Realizing this point, she couldn't help but have a few more expectations for these skeletons to solve this problem.

She coughed lightly and said in a serious tone.

"If you have any needs, just ask me; as long as it is something I can do, I will do my best to assist you."

Beast Senior smiled and said: "Rest assured! When we need your help, we won't be polite."

Just as his voice fell, 【Xie Bu Rou's Homie】, who had just finished checking the information, raised his hand.

"Will the light intensity and carbon dioxide concentration also need to keep up? I remember that the root system mainly affects the absorption of water and nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium; sugar still has to rely on photosynthesis to fix carbon."

"..."

"Seems so too."

"Whatever, arrange it too, try it first!"

A few skeletons racked their brains and discussed for a long time, finally deciding to arrange thirty-two groups of experiments for each crop, controlling different variables and combination variables, in order to find the best growth environment for different crops respectively.

This was, after all, a game world, and various crops had subtle differences, and experience in reality might not necessarily work.

The Night Elf standing on the side watched the exchange of those skeletons in a daze.

If she was only surprised before, then at this moment, her heart was already shocked beyond measure.

Although the translation crystal almost translated every word they said, she couldn't understand a few of them.

At this time, the skeleton who had talked to her before looked at her and opened his mouth again.

"By the way, how do you solve the problem that berries ripened by spells are too small?"

The experience in reality had been exchanged, and 【Beast Senior】 wanted to consult the opinions of the locals again.

Containing the shocked expression, the Night Elf pondered for a moment and said.

"We generally don't encounter this problem; usually, we only use spells to catalyze growth on berry bushes or fruit trees that have grown to a certain age and have already fruited..."

【Legendary Liver King】 touched his chin and said.

"The various organs of this type of plant are generally relatively mature, so it's indeed unlikely to encounter this problem."

【Legendary Dry King】 complained.

"Simply put, it's that the older ones can withstand the tossing."

【Beast Senior】 didn't stop and continued to pursue the question.

"What is the specific age? 1 year? 5 years? Or 10 years?"

If it was too long, they couldn't afford to wait.

The Night Elf shook her head and answered truthfully.

"Not necessarily; this has no direct relationship with time; it mainly depends on whether it has conceived a Nature Spirit." Hearing another term he hadn't heard before, 【Beast Senior】 was stunned and said.

"What is a Nature Spirit?"

That Night Elf young lady explained.

"You can understand it as a soul; plants growing near the Life Mother Tree, as the rings grow, have a certain possibility of conceiving a soul every spring."

After hearing this sentence, the surrounding players revealed expressions of disbelief one after another.

"Soul?"

"Plants actually have souls too?!"

"Is it so magical?"

Magical?

The expression on the Night Elf's face was somewhat subtle.

She actually felt that what was happening in front of her was more magical.

Additionally, she also discovered from the discussions of those undead that it turned out that life could be divided into many different stages.

=9+Shu_ba

Before this, although she also vaguely felt that plants, like Elves, existed in different stages of childhood, adulthood, and old age, she hadn't conducted research by classifying them according to different stages of different plants like them.

Actually, this was also normal.

After all, this world didn't form a trend of scientific thinking, and production activities in the vast majority of regions were dominated by empiricism.

The Night Elf tribe was no exception.

Plus, their nature also determined that they were more likely to become artists rather than scholars.

Compared to thinking about why apples would fall from trees, they were more willing to spend time pondering what plants were thinking.

After some discussion, the life-profession players present redesigned the experiment.

【Beast Senior】 first summoned a cave spider construction team through the acolyte to dig more branch caves on the basis of the original greenhouse cave.

The height of these caves was just slightly lower than the main cave, like ditches, arranged outward along the sides of the main cave.

The top of every branch cave was equipped with crystals carved with glowing Nether-runes, and these crystals were connected to the Nether-rune circuit of the entire greenhouse cave.

Immediately afterward, they raised the carbon dioxide concentration in the cave by burning coal and used the principle that carbon dioxide was heavier than air to let carbon dioxide enter the branch caves.

By controlling the input of magic power, the type of petri dish, and the amount of coal, they could simply control several variables in the experiment.

Although they couldn't achieve precise control, controlling it roughly wasn't a problem.

After doing all these things, they put the newly made petri dishes into the branch caves and entrusted the Night Elf mage to chant magic to catalyze growth.

As that Night Elf chanted the spell, a ghostly green light was released from the tip of the staff, blending into those petri dishes silently.

Some of these petri dishes were soil mixed with fertilizer, and some were nutrient solutions prepared according to online tutorials.

And what surprised everyone was that as time passed, they could very clearly observe that the root system of the tomato vines in soilless cultivation grew significantly faster than those in soil cultivation under the influence of the "catalyze growth" magic!

The rapidly growing vine hadn't bloomed yet, but the roots soaked in the nutrient solution had already grown to the size of an adult's palm!

Seeing this unbelievable scene, the Night Elf in charge of casting spells couldn't help but have a few more points of confidence in her heart.

Soon it was the pollination stage.

The Night Elf stopped casting.

A few skeletons jumped into the branch cave one after another, scattering the prepared pollen onto the small flowers blooming on the tomato vines.

After doing these things, the Night Elf raised the magic wand in her hand again, chanted the spell, and released emerald green light, letting the life cycle of those tomato vines enter the next stage.

An unbelievable scene happened!

I saw that in one of the branch caves, on those tomato vines climbing all over the support frame, fruitful results actually grew!

That was exactly the tomato cultivated with nutrient solution!

The Night Elf in charge of casting spells widened her eyes, simply unable to believe what was happening in front of her.

At first, she also felt that planting tomatoes in water was an absurd thing, but she didn't expect that these undead had actually done it!

"Unbelievable..." she muttered in a low voice, her eyes filled with disbelief.

The skeletons standing beside her were also excitedly high-fiving each other.

However, they soon calmed down and immediately prepared for the next set of experiments.

Looking at the skeletons who couldn't stay idle, the Night Elf revealed an expression of confusion.

"Isn't such a result good enough?"

In her view, being able to turn tomato seeds into mature tomatoes with the magic of catalyzing growth was already very remarkable.

These crops that had just germinated not long ago obviously had neither souls nor developed root systems. With their current research results, even their ancestor Gray Wind would probably click her tongue in wonder.

【Beast Senior】 smiled when he heard this, and said without hesitation.

"This is just the beginning; the experiment has just started! Next, we plan to adjust the carbon dioxide concentration to find the most suitable air ratio."

"Carbon dioxide? Concentration? Air ratio?" The Night Elf looked at him in a daze, completely confused.

【Beast Senior】 soon changed the way of saying it.

"Simply put, it's to figure out how much carbon needs to be burned in each cave! Now conceiving healthy fruits is no longer a problem, but it's not perfect yet! We want to let the crops we cultivate grow in the best environment, striving to bear larger and sweeter vegetables and fruits!"

As long as he could find the best air ratio, he could completely copy and paste it and dig more caves around Beifeng Mountain.

Anyway, the cost of cave spider digging was very low; as long as the mountain body wasn't dug into a collapse, this was almost a business without cost!

By then, he would dig hundreds of greenhouse caves, adopt soilless cultivation and magic crystal lighting technology, and hire ten or so Night Elf mages to help him ripen the crops.

By then, not to mention that the agricultural market of Beifeng City could be wrapped up by him, even reverse dumping to the neighboring Lei Ming City wouldn't be a dream!

Becoming a farm tycoon was just around the corner!

Looking at the skeleton who was grinning from ear to ear, although the Night Elf couldn't understand what he was talking about at all, she was still moved by his persistent spirit of exploration.

Clearly an undead, yet he still possessed such intense enthusiasm for exploring the mysteries of life!

What a scorching soul!

A hint of emotion rose in her eyes, and she changed to a tone of unprecedented seriousness and said.

"Although I don't understand the experiment you are doing very well, I believe you must have your own plan... if you have any needs, just order me; I will definitely accompany you to the end!"

Didn't expect that planting land could be so sentimental; 【Beast Senior】 was moved for a while and was about to hold the NPC's little hand.

However, before he could reach out, 【Legendary Dry King】 on the side swallowed his saliva and interjected inappropriately.

"Any needs are okay?"

That Night Elf was stunned and hadn't recovered from what this meant, when she saw the skeleton beside him slap that guy's forehead.

"Se-se-se, only know se-se all day, can you do something serious!"

Legendary Liver King: "Indeed! Want to die, don't drag us!"

Legendary Dry King: "Damn! Did I say se-se? Can't it be for science??"

Xie Bu Rou's Homie: "Bah! I still don't understand you!"

"What are you saying..."

That Night Elf was about to ask, when she suddenly felt her vision spin, and her body felt as heavy as if it were filled with lead.

Immediately afterward, she rolled her eyes and fell to the ground, losing consciousness.

Looking at the NPC who suddenly fainted, the noisy skeletons around were startled and immediately ended the argument.

"Damn! Is this carbon dioxide poisoning!?"

"No, not necessarily, it might also be carbon monoxide..."

"Quick! Quick, artificial respiration!"

"Fart! Do you have lungs as a skeleton?! Hurry up and take the person out!"

Looking at a group of skeletons in a mess, ultimately it was 【Beast Senior】 who reacted first, shouldered the suddenly fainted NPC, and ran toward the direction outside the cave.

If a Night Elf died, his plan to make the Beast Farm bigger and stronger would be completely ruined!

But having said that, didn't expect that a Bronze-tier mage would actually faint because of hypoxia...

This game is too realistic!

(End of Chapter) ===== CHAPTER 179 =====