The worse you are, the stronger you become: My summoned beast is a photographer.

Standing at 1.6 meters tall, Ming Luochen looked exceptionally small among the centaurs, whose average height was 2.5 meters, like a puppy that had wandered into the herd. He looked up at his elder centaurs, whose coats were glossy and whose limbs were long, until his neck ached from looking up.

After dinner, he chatted with his wife's family in the living room. Although the special fruit wine was out of stock, refreshing apple cider and rye wine were still available, and the butler brought up a few more jars. Unipar and his men had a carefree and uninhibited air about them, chugging their drinks and occasionally uttering a few swear words. Coupled with their burly physiques and "I've been to war" attitude, they exuded the ruggedness unique to men from the battlefield.

Ming Luochen was drinking from a child's cup—it was pitifully small, looking like a toy in his chubby hands. Compared to the large wine cups of Valerius and the others, which could hold several kilograms of wine, he really should have sat at the children's table.

After a few drinks, Charlie looked at Valerius with a serious expression, his eyes behind his glasses full of worry: "Brother, in recent years, the barren demons of our territory have been constantly invading, and with the previous drought, it will probably be increasingly difficult to maintain tax revenue."

"Barren Wasteland Demon? What's that?" Ming Luochen was quite drunk, his cheeks flushed and his eyes glazed over. Compared to the centaur's drinking capacity, he was far inferior. While the centaur drank one cup, he only took a sip; while the centaur drank three cups, he was still drinking the first. He lay on Aura's back like a puddle of mud, asking in a daze.

"It's a kind of demon, very small, but once it appears, it comes in hordes, overwhelming everything and devouring all the plants. And before they even appear, the land turns to sand, becomes barren, and no grass grows." Ares patiently explained to him, holding a wine glass in his hand. His brows furrowed as he spoke of the demons, clearly having suffered quite a bit himself.

"Demons? Swarming everywhere?" Ming Luochen searched his wife's memories in a hazy state—the scene was a dark mass, the sound of flapping wings like rain, leaving nothing but desolation in their wake. It seemed to be locusts, and desertification too?

Based on Ming Luochen's understanding, when he looked at Aura's relatives and elders, he always felt that the locust plague had nothing to do with the barren land. He thought it was probably because the land was barren from eating too much grass—those centaurs had an amazing appetite, and they would go bald after grazing on a piece of grassland for just a few days.

"Ming Luochen, do you have any way to solve this?" Charlie couldn't help but ask. If he were truly a sage descended from heaven, he should have a solution; the expectation in his eyes was almost overflowing.

"Do you usually maintain the lawn?" Ming Luochen didn't dare to make a definitive answer, nor did he know the specifics, so he asked lazily while lying on Aura's back.

"The meadow needs maintenance?" Valerius asked, puzzled. He had already brought his wine glass to his lips but then put it down. "It just grows grass on its own. What's there to maintain?"

"Sigh." Ming Luochen sighed, somewhat speechless, feeling like he was teaching kindergarten children. The vast grasslands of Blue Star had almost turned into deserts due to overgrazing. This herd of centaurs had an astonishing appetite; in a severe drought, the people would probably dig up even the grass roots to eat. "Then you certainly haven't cultivated any grass seeds?"

"We do grow hatch rice in our territory, which serves as a substitute for winter food and is also an important source of tax revenue," Charlie explained in detail about the territory, gesturing with his finger on the table.

Hachimi Mingluochen knew it was extra-large corn, as long as a thigh. A few days ago, he had used it to make popcorn, but it didn't taste good—the kernels were too big, and making popcorn was like eating dry sponges; it took him a long time to chew and swallow.

Aura had almost no memory of this kind of knowledge; she only remembered how to fight. Ming Luochen shrugged helplessly, leaning on Aura's back: "I don't know either. Generally, when land becomes barren, the first problem is water supply, and the second is the destruction of the ecological environment. As for the demons you mentioned, those are locusts, which usually only appear during severe droughts; they are natural disasters, and there's no solution to that. Even if you raise chickens and ducks to control them, if locust plagues occur in other territories, those things fly very fast and very far, so migrating over is useless unless you cover the farmland with greenhouses."

His voice grew softer and softer, as if he were talking in his sleep.

"What is the ecological environment?" Charlie became serious, leaning forward as if Ming Luochen really had a solution, his eyes shining brightly behind his glasses.

"It's about ecology. When plants grow on the land, they absorb nutrients from the soil; when the plants wither, they replenish the soil, making it fertile. If you only absorb nutrients from the soil without fertilizing, the land will become barren."

Charlie frowned, understanding the implication, but it was a contradictory problem. He tapped his fingers on his knee, pondering for a moment: "But without plants, the people will starve."

"It's not just plants that can provide nutrients. Manure, fallen leaves, food scraps, and even corpses can all ferment into organic fertilizer. Just pile wood ash, manure, and bones together to ferment, and that becomes soil nutrients, guaranteeing a rapid increase in food production. In my world, we often used this as fertilizer. There's also industrial fertilizer, which extracts nutrients from other land, but that's extremely difficult and requires a very high level of technology." Ming Luochen explained patiently, but as he spoke, his eyelids grew heavy, and his voice became increasingly indistinct, like a tape recorder running out of power. He lay on his wife's soft body, burying his face in the crook of her neck, wanting to sleep.

"I can't believe there are so many rules about the land. Centaurs just go wherever there's grass, there's no need to go through all this trouble, is there?" Ares scratched his head, looking completely bewildered.

Valerius looked at Charlie and Ares, his gaze sweeping back and forth between the two: "Why don't you two try it when you get back?"

"Okay, I'll arrange for someone to try it when I get back. But how do we ferment it?" Ares looked at Ming Luochen, who was almost asleep, his round head already sliding off Aura's shoulder.

Aura pulled the drowsy Ming Luochen closer, adjusting his position to make him more comfortable. She had seen Ming Luochen's old videos of planting crops and flowers for online celebrities; those scenes were vivid in her memory. She explained to her second uncle on behalf of her husband, her voice soft but clear: "It's about collecting manure and piling it in a pit. But you have to let it sit for a few months. The water that separates out is manure water, also called organic fertilizer. But you can't seal it, because it will generate biogas, which will explode if it gets hot. Food scraps and fruit peels are the same; you pile them in a box, and the stinking water that seeps out is organic fertilizer. In Ming Luochen's hometown, they often use leftover fruit peels as organic fertilizer to grow flowers. But you can't use too much, and you can't pour it directly on the plants, otherwise it will burn them."

"I see." Charlie understood, adjusting his glasses. He hadn't expected there to be so many intricacies. He had never known that feces could be used in this way before; he had always just thrown it away.

Melia also remembered something, and her eyes lit up: "No wonder the latrine in our house exploded before, it was because of biogas meeting fire." She remembered that the explosion had blown off the latrine cover, splashing water all over the yard, and it smelled bad for several days.

"Yes, biogas can be burned, and it can be collected for cooking and boiling water, but it's quite dangerous." After saying this, Aura prepared to carry Ming Luochen back to his room to sleep. He was already breathing evenly in her arms. Just as she got up—

Charlie quickly stopped her, his voice tinged with urgency: "Ola, is there anything else we should be careful about? What was that about Ming Luochen mentioning cultivating grass seeds?"

"I'll take him back to his room first." Aura looked down at the person in her arms, a smile curving her lips. She picked up Ming Luochen and gently led him back to his room. She carefully placed him on the bed, covered him with the blanket, tucked it in, kissed him on the forehead, and then returned to the living room.

"You can't dig up the grass roots in the soil anymore. They're crucial for the grass to sprout and for fixing the soil in place. Digging them up too often will only make the soil crumbly and eventually turn it into yellow sand." Aura explained to them using Ming Luochen's knowledge, her tone calm and composed, completely unlike the girl who usually only knew how to fight.

"I see. Then what is cultivating grass seeds? How do you cultivate them?" Charlie hadn't expected Aura to know so much. It seemed the Raven Crest Earl's family was on track to become marquises. His gaze towards Aura was different now, filled with a sense of satisfaction that "this child has grown up."

Aura explained in detail how to cultivate grass seeds—intentionally planting fast-growing and delicious grasses, just like farming, including seed selection, tilling the soil, sowing, watering, and fertilizing, explaining the entire process clearly.

Valerius smiled with satisfaction as he watched her calm and unhurried explanation, as if his daughter had become a promising young woman, a well-rounded elite skilled in both literature and martial arts. He picked up his wine glass, took a sip, and the wrinkles at the corners of his eyes smoothed out.

After answering everyone's questions, Aura looked earnestly at the elders, her gaze sweeping across their faces: "Uncle, Second Uncle, Third Uncle, Uncle-in-law, Aunt, I want to ask you for a favor."

"What's wrong?" Marina was immediately worried when she saw her daughter's serious expression, and she clenched the handkerchief in her hand tightly.

Aura felt immense pressure; her palms were sweating. She didn't know how to tell her parents; the words were stuck in her throat, unable to come out. She felt a sense of utter disrespect—this was tantamount to severing her father's bloodline. Her lips opened and closed, closed and opened again.

"Aura, don't be afraid of anything, I'll help you." Valerius noticed that his daughter's expression was off, and his nerves immediately tightened, even putting down his wine glass.

"What's wrong? Your uncle will help you. Just say it, don't be afraid." Unipar also became serious, put down his wine glass, and leaned forward.

"We'll all help you," Ares immediately declared, patting his chest. It seemed the matter was serious; the elders all stopped their earlier jesting.

Aura took a deep breath, as if inhaling all her courage, and then solemnly said, "It may be difficult for Ming Luochen and me to have children in the future, and I will not have children with anyone else. So we may adopt a child in the future."

After saying that, she lowered her head, not daring to look her father in the eye.

Valerius's face was grave, his brow furrowed—he had thought something terrible had happened to her, but it turned out to be just a child. Ming Luochen was so weak, and not a centaur, and their sizes were so different; he had long suspected they might not have any offspring and had prepared for the worst. He just hadn't expected his daughter to say it so formally.

Everyone fell silent, their gazes unconsciously drawn to Valerius and Marina. They were the ones who truly held the reins in this matter; it was likely a matter of adoption. The living room was so quiet that the crackling of the firewood in the fireplace could be heard.

Marina walked over to Aura, hugged her tenderly, and gently patted her back. "It's okay. If you want children in the future, just ask your cousin's family to adopt one. Don't put too much pressure on yourself." Her voice was as gentle as a spring breeze.

"So what if you don't have children? I got through it all, didn't I? As long as you're happy, we respect your decision," Valerius said calmly, without a trace of hesitation in his voice. Seeing his daughter like this, he felt a pang of sadness, but even more so, a deep heartache—heartache for her keeping all this bottled up inside for so long.

"Thank you." The heaviest knot in Aura's heart was finally untied, like a huge weight being lifted. She hugged her mother, her eyes reddening, truly afraid of hurting them.