Chapter 146

Why the Land of Slumber disappeared and why the Palace of Rest shrank were far beyond their understanding. If Luo Ge hadn't said anything, Negris would have even thought that the Palace of Rest had always been like this.

After discussing for a long time without reaching any conclusion, they could only disperse with their questions. Without realizing it, three months passed.

On the island in the center of Dragonfall Lake, a black dragon flew over, and several figures jumped down like dumplings, splashing into the water with a thud.

The little angel jumped up from the wetland mud, howling, and chased after the wild ducks by the water in the distance.

When the little zombie was about to reach the ground, it nimbly flipped over and landed lightly on the water surface, then started running wildly. Its shoes deformed into wide palms, increasing the contact area like duck feet, and with rapid foot movements, it started running directly on the water.

Arriving first, the little zombie quickly approached the wild ducks, startling them into flying away desperately.

The little angel let out a howl, swung its hand to unleash a long whip—a whip condensed from holy light—and wrapped it around the little zombie's feet.

The little zombie tapped its toes lightly on the holy light whip, its speed increased sharply, and it lunged at the wild ducks in mid-air.

A silver figure flew past like lightning, bit onto a wild duck, and then flew away with a lightning-fast tail flick. Everyone only saw the white scales on its throat.

Bai Hou was worthy of being a silver dragon; only three months out of the dragon egg, it had already shown amazing talent in speed.

The little angel was so angry it howled, its wingtips itching to open, but it decided against it. It caught up to the little zombie and punched it in the eye socket.

The little zombie refused to accept it and started fighting with the little angel.

The black dragon was naturally the bone dragon Ang had dug up at Dragonfall Lake before. After more than ten days of effort, Ang had forcibly restored all its skin, creating a brand-new undead creature distinct from bone dragons and corpse dragons.

Using the bone dragon as a frame, covered with skin and scales, it possessed the dragon's flight ability but lacked organs and muscles, essentially still being a bone dragon.

However, because it had skin, it looked like a real dragon on the outside, fooling quite a few people.

Negris and Luo Ge floated down slowly, followed by a goblin carrying a parachute.

The inventor of the Magic Egg Cannon, the goblin engineer Waligu.

Waligu looked at the desolate island in the center of the lake and couldn't help but mutter, "Where are the farmlands here? You aren't going to use these water weeds for the competition, are you?"

While muttering, he adjusted the direction of his parachute and drifted toward the dry ground, unlike the little angel and little zombie who landed in the water.

Ang, who had landed earlier, had already started leveling the ground. Carrying a hoe in both hands, he backed up, using the Earth Crack Art to loosen the ground, and the hoe turned it over.

Waligu sneered: "Just this? Just this? With this efficiency, even dwarves who don't know how to farm can't compare. You still want to compete with our goblin engineer's construct machine?"

Waligu leisurely opened his toolbox and said to Negris, who had flown over: "But it's agreed, okay? If my engineer team wins against your manual team, you have to invest in me to build the Magic Egg Cannon."

Negris nodded: "No problem, no problem. Just as we agreed before: if you win, the blueprints for the all-purpose automatic seeding and harvesting machine belong to us, and we will invest in your research and development of the Magic Egg Cannon. If you lose, you either accept employment by the Silver Coin Society or pay a ransom to exchange for your freedom."

"Sigh..." Waligu sighed: "I feel like these conditions you set are as insidious as goblin merchants. Why is it that if I win, the blueprints for the seeding and harvesting machine belong to you? Shouldn't it be that if I win, you invest, and if I lose, the blueprints belong to you?"

Negris said as a matter of course: "You've already lost, so what would we want your harvester for? Isn't it because the harvester is useless that you lost?"

"Then why do I have to pay a ransom? If I don't pay the ransom, I have to accept employment. What is this Silver Coin Society situation?" Waligu asked. He, a dignified Gear Award master, actually has to accept employment by a commercial society? This is a disgrace!

Negris asked, puzzled: "Otherwise? Although you weren't captured by us, we saved you, and we caused such a huge loss. You can't let good people bear the loss, right? Then who would dare to save people in the future?"

"Don't change the concept. It was clearly the sand bandits attacking the oasis who were driven away by you; saving me was just incidental."

"Never mind if it was incidental. We saved you; do you admit it?"

"... I admit it."

"We spent money to find materials for you to research the automatic harvester to compete with us; is that true?"

"Yes."

"The ransom or employment is because you lost. If you win, not only do we want your blueprints, but we also continue to invest in your research on the Magic Egg Cannon. We are helping you, right?"

Waligu was confused by Negris: "Do I still have to thank you?"

"Of course you have to thank me. We saved you, right?"

"Yes..." Waligu had to admit it, but he always felt something was wrong.

Negris sneered in his heart: Dare to say I'm changing the concept? Let me show you what changing the concept is.

After being confused for a while, Waligu reacted and shouted loudly: "But the competition was forced by you."

"What do you mean I forced you? Are you admitting that your automatic harvester is inferior to our manual team? If you admit it, we will cancel the competition immediately," Negris asked righteously.

"No, I want to compete, I want to compete, it cannot be canceled," Waligu was about to cry.

It turns out he is the one begging the other party to compete now; only if he wins will they want his harvester blueprints and invest in his next project.

If he loses, he has to pay a ransom or sell himself. This is simply more heartless than being sold by someone else and still helping them count the money. Needless to say, it must have been set by those black-hearted goblin merchants.

Thousands of miles away, Silver Coin sneezed.

"The first competition: plowing the land. The engineering team is represented by Gear Award winner Waligu and his all-purpose seeding and harvesting machine. The manual team is represented by the little zombie."

Seeing the little zombie in soul armor, mysterious and majestic, Waligu hurriedly said: "The advantage of engineering constructs is automation and durability. As agreed, we each plow one hundred acres."

"Good, good, good, one hundred acres. Do you want a bit more? How about two hundred acres?" Negris said generously.

"Fine, two hundred acres." Waligu agreed while pulling his engineering construct out of his toolbox—a strange machine with two large wheels and a large plow blade dragging behind it.

At the command, the little zombie started digging like a dog, soil flying everywhere, with astonishing momentum.

Waligu started it slowly, set the engineering construct, and it moved forward slowly and straight, dragging the plow blade to turn the soil deeply.

And Waligu leisurely pulled out a recliner and a parasol, and started brewing milk tea.

A day and a night passed. Waligu, who had fallen asleep from boredom, was woken up. Negris announced: "The little zombie has finished plowing the two hundred acres. First round, the manual team wins."

"Impossible!" Waligu shouted in disbelief. He ran to the field the little zombie had dug and took a look. It was indeed all plowed, and it was clearly manual plowing—uneven in depth and jagged, like a dog had chewed it, but it certainly counted as plowed.

And his engineering construct had only plowed ninety-something acres, not even half.

"The second round is seeding. For the manual team, Ang will compete. For the engineering team, it's still Waligu and his engineering construct. Use the land you each plowed, and each seed one hundred acres. Start now."

Waligu hurriedly changed the rear drag frame of the construct, replacing the plow with a seeder. After he finished changing and started it, letting the construct seed by itself, he ran to Ang's place to observe. But at one glance, he fell into despair.

He saw Ang casually sprinkling seeds into the sky, as if an invisible hand was rolling these seeds, falling neatly at fixed intervals and rows, then covering them with soil, followed by water droplets falling down.

Ang not only seeded but also watered them along the way. In the blink of an eye, ten acres were finished, while Waligu's side had barely finished the first row. Although it could seed six furrows at once, the speed couldn't compare to Ang's.

Losing two rounds in a row, Waligu was deeply hit. He had always believed that the advantage of engineering constructs was unsolvable. No matter how powerful a mage or swordsman was, they couldn't compare to engineering constructs because they didn't get tired; add magic crystals and they could walk, day and night without stopping.

Mages and swordsmen couldn't come to farm, but even if they did, Waligu wasn't afraid. But he didn't expect that Ang and the little zombie wouldn't get tired either, and could also go day and night without stopping.

Ang not only finished seeding the one hundred acres but also finished the remaining one hundred acres. There was no need to compete to know who lost, because the engineering construct had just seeded twenty acres, which was actually a very fast speed, but compared to Ang, it was as slow as a snail.

"Fine, I lost. The last item, harvesting, doesn't need to be competed. Do whatever you want with me; I have no money to pay the ransom," Waligu said, giving up.

"Compete, compete, compete! How can we not compete? If we don't finish, how will we know where the pros and cons of your engineering construct are? What if its harvesting ability is particularly strong?" Negris said.

"How to compete? Wait until next year when the crops grow?" Waligu said angrily.

"Go further away, Ang!" After Waligu walked out of the range of the aura, Negris notified Ang.

Ang stepped down, and the planted seeds started growing wildly.

A familiar process: three hours later, the crops entered the mature harvest period.

Waligu was dumbfounded, his gaze moving back and forth between Ang and Negris.

"Stop looking, let's do it. You harvest the one hundred acres on this side, and Ang harvests the two hundred acres on the other side. Let's see whose speed is faster."

"Alright!" Waligu suddenly responded with great spirit.

The result didn't need to be seen. Ang ran back and forth with a sickle in his hand, and in no time, he had finished cutting all two hundred acres, while Waligu's engineering construct had only run ten acres.

However, at this moment, there was no longer that depressed expression on his face; instead, it was replaced by excitement and suppressed agitation.

Negris said to him: "Alright, the three competitions are finished. You lost all three to zero. Do you want to pay the ransom or accept employment?"

"Employment, employment, I have no money, I accept employment," Waligu said hurriedly.

"Eh, you've changed. You've become proactive?" Negris said strangely.

"A big shot who can make crops mature quickly just by stepping on them wants to employ me—I'd have to be crazy to refuse. My lord, you should have shown this hand long ago; what need was there for any competition?"

Negris said: "You misunderstood. The competition was mainly to see what level your engineering construct had reached. Although it can't compare to Ang's efficiency, the fully automatic aspect is quite good. Build a few dozen more, and the efficiency will catch up. Since you accept employment, the harvester blueprints belong to the job invention and belong to the Silver Coin Society."

"Ah? I accept employment, and the blueprints still have to be given to you? Didn't you say that if I lost, the harvester would be useless?" Waligu was confused again.

"It's not that it's useless; it's still a little useful, just a little bit useful."

Negris was workplace-bullying the simple goblin engineer there, while Ang started plowing the land again, then dug a trench to lead the lake water from afar.

The lake water is saltwater. For the previous batch of crops, Ang watered them directly with magic. Now, leading in saltwater—could it be?

Negris flew over and asked excitedly: "Ang, has the saltwater magic rice breeding been successful?"

Ten thousand times, ten thousand times! In these three months, Negris accompanied Ang to fly over all the wetlands and saline-alkali lands of Dragonfall Lake, finally completing ten thousand experiments. If it weren't successful, Ang would definitely have done another ten thousand times. God, just thinking about it makes me want to go crazy.

After three months and over ten thousand experiments, Ang successfully cultivated more than a dozen types of rice seeds that could grow in saline-alkali land, all based on magic rice, crossbred with saltwater herbaceous plants.

But Ang couldn't determine for the time being which one could count as true saltwater magic rice; he would only know after planting them.

If it could only grow in saltwater, that couldn't be called a success; it had to be at least as high-yielding as magic rice, salt-alkali resistant, and able to be watered with saltwater.

If it is salt-alkali resistant and can be planted in saline-alkali land but must be watered with freshwater, that's also fine; it can be planted in those saline-alkali lands with freshwater sources, such as the estuary area of the two rivers in the northwest.

Habitually dividing the rice fields into a dozen pieces, introducing lake water, sowing rice seeds, and stepping down, the crops grew one after another.

After repeated experiments and comparisons, Ang obtained three types of rice seeds. First is the highest-yielding Saltwater Magic Rice No. 1, with a yield chasing normal magic rice, reaching a level of seven hundred jin per acre.

Saltwater Magic Rice No. 2 has the lowest yield, only five hundred jin per acre, but it is salt-alkali resistant, saltwater resistant, lodging resistant, flood and drought resistant, and has the most tenacious vitality.

Saltwater Magic Rice No. 3 has a yield of six hundred jin per acre, with medium characteristics in everything—not bad and not good—but it has a characteristic that is hard to say is good or bad: its seeds can only germinate after being 'blessed' by the little sapling, and the seeds harvested from it cannot germinate again.

These are the rice seeds with obvious characteristics that have been screened out, but other rice seeds also have their own advantages, and Ang plans to continue in-depth research.

To research these things, the notes left by that Spring Breeze Great Druid were worn out by Ang, and he learned several more druid secret arts.

Just as Ang was happily farming, a communication meeting of the highest standard for the main material plane's teleportation array was unfolding. The attendees included the Human Truth Mage, the Dragon Clan Chief, the Elf Queen, the Pope, two diocesan archbishops, the Dwarf War God....

Just looking at these attendees, one knows how high the standard of the meeting is. However, the meeting actually mentioned a force that suddenly appeared in the desert oasis, calling them Abyss Nomads.

At the meeting, someone proposed to expel or eliminate this force that had wandered over from the abyss.