Wizard Farming Guide

Chapter 79 Traces of Magic

Following Marion's directions.

Riding his snow steed, Rod arrived at a high slope and looked down.

At the same time, ravens flew in all directions, revealing the complete terrain of the area to him.

The Hanshui River flows across the middle of the rolling hills.

At this time of year, the river is covered with a thick layer of ice, and heavy snow blankets the surface.

On the west side of the river lies a vast, low-lying plain.

Ravens circled overhead, and by visual estimation, the area of ​​this low-lying plain exceeded 60,000 mu.

It was there that the Linmu Guild discovered a swamp.

Over the next few days, more and more residents arrived at the site.

With the help of maned horses and black yak, residents cleared the snow and explored the distribution of nearby swamps and peat layers.

After shoveling away the top layer of snow, you'll find a layer of buried grass roots, about twenty centimeters thick.

Digging further down, you'll find what Rhodes needs: vast expanses of peat and silt.

Peat, as the initial form of coal, is rich in organic matter.

After simple processing, it can be used as fuel and as an excellent soil conditioner, equivalent to a natural high-quality fertilizer.

This swamp is rich in peat resources.

After several days of digging by residents, the peat layer is at least four meters thick, and further down, lignite deposits have been discovered.

This is good news. In theory, with the abundant peat resources here, Rhodes could cultivate at least 50,000 acres of farmland in this low-lying plain.

But this is only in theory.

After his initial joy, Rhodes couldn't help but feel a headache coming on when he thought about the current state of his territory.

Given the harsh, cold climate of the northern border, he would need to send at least two thousand able-bodied men to work on 50,000 mu of farmland here.

And this process will last for more than three years, during which it will be difficult to gain anything.

Two thousand young adults?

What a joke! The labor force in the territory has already been exploited to the extreme.

In other words, women in the North are equally capable; the women of Rivermouth and Moletown are able to do a lot of physical labor.

In addition, the elderly population accounts for a very small percentage, while young and middle-aged people aged twelve to forty-five account for more than 80%.

Only then was the territory able to support more than nine hundred professional soldiers and maintain normal operations.

However, if people are diverted to develop farmland, the territory's current operating system will immediately collapse unless the army is significantly downsized!

There's a prerequisite: Rodder must first cultivate a cold-resistant hybrid barley.

There were no crops, that kind of barren land.

But in any case, the discovery of large peat resources is indeed good news.

Even if farmland cannot be developed for the time being, peat is still a good fuel.

Although peat and lignite cannot be used for iron smelting due to their quality limitations, they can replace coal to provide heating for residents.

Peat mining requires a lot of manpower. By canceling some coal purchases, a lot of money can be saved, enough for Rhodes to free up this labor force.

"The problem of farmland can be divided into two aspects: lack of crops and labor shortage. There may be solutions."

Rhodes was not discouraged. He returned to Pingdingshan and then went to the Demon Field area.

He plans to address the issue of hybrid highland barley first.

Rhodes looked ahead.

Next to the magic field, he also had ten acres of ordinary farmland cleared out to be used as experimental fields for hybrid crops.

Ten days ago, seeds were planted in this ten-acre experimental field; they were first-generation hybrid barley seeds.

Rod observed carefully and found that many of them had already sprouted and grown into tender seedlings.

But sprouting is far from enough; it also needs to withstand the severe cold and grow strong.

And we must ensure yield and achieve a bumper harvest of wheat.

Otherwise, if he grows a bunch of foxtail grass, it would make Rhodes faint with anger.

Normally, he needs time to raise the hybrid barley to maturity.

Through generations of selection, plants with superior traits are chosen.

By allowing them to crossbreed and pass on their genes to the offspring, and repeating this process countless times, it is possible to eventually obtain a crop that meets the requirements.

This is a long and massive undertaking.

Fortunately, the experienced wizards in the wizarding manual had already shown him how to shorten the process.

Rod went to the window of the room.

There was a flowerpot there, with a pale yellow flower blooming inside.

After a night, a single, glistening drop of water condensed at the center of the flower.

Even under the cold winds of the North, the water droplets remained crystal clear and did not freeze.

This flower is not a magical plant, but an ordinary plant called evening primrose.

The difference is that after Rhodes's [Magic Harmony], the evening primrose and the moonlight at night become connected.

It became a temporary container for gathering the magic of moonlight.

"Moonlight Essence can temporarily enhance the effect of True Sight, making the spirituality of plants clearer to lower-level wizards."

Rhodes recalled the knowledge from the wizard's manual and dripped a drop of moonlight into his eye.

Similar to eye drops, a cooling sensation came from the eye socket.

Rhode reopened his eyes and could sense a slight change in the effect of the [Eye of True Sight].

He returned to the Demon Field area and looked at the high-quality barley planted there.

Above those seedlings, he saw shimmering green orbs of light, the very essence of high-quality barley.

But unlike before, Rhodes now sees things much more clearly.

Three distinct, bright streaks could be observed within the cluster of light.

He used his spiritual connection to try to understand the three marks using the knowledge of a wizard.

This is not difficult, because these three marks were left by him.

It was Rhodes who, through countless attempts and with the help of luck, created the magical traces using [Seed Modification].

[Cold resistance (slight)]

[Slightly nourishing]

[High yield (slightly low)]

The meanings represented by these three magical traces surfaced in Rhodes' mind.

He then got up and went to the high-quality black goji berry planting area to observe the spirituality of this crop.

[Nourishment (for those with weak constitution)]

[Blood replenishment (weak)]

High-grade black goji berries have only two magical marks.

However, as a first-tier intermediate-level magical plant, its nourishing effect is much stronger than that of high-grade barley, rising from weak to weak.

After observing the two magical plants, Rod returned to the experimental field of hybrid highland barley.

At first glance, the seedlings here seem as fragile as candles flickering in the wind, trembling and shivering in the cold.

Every now and then a few streaks would disappear, which meant that the seedlings below had died.

Rod observed carefully and successfully found a special seedling.

A trace of magic is being nurtured within its spirituality.

High yield (undeveloped)

Rhodes carefully dug it out of the experimental field and transplanted it to another acre of empty experimental field.

He then continued his search and found more than a dozen seedlings with cold resistance (undeveloped), which he transplanted to the experimental field.

In the subsequent hybridization breeding, he only needed to keep searching for hybrid highland barley that showed signs of magical growth.

They were then crossbred with higher barley.

This stabilizes the magical traces that they inherently possess.

Over several generations, there is hope of cultivating hybrid barley with a "weak cold resistance" trait.

(End of this chapter)