Chapter 1544
Chapter 1544 - 1540: Leisurely Life
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Lu Ping’an’s new life began unpleasantly, the world was unfriendly from the start.
"If ordinary people stay here for too long, I’m afraid they might just get cooked..." Just the outdoor temperature alone eliminates most Earth animals’ ability to reproduce naturally and also leads to high prices for the local "Earth meats and vegetables."
In fact, even in the lowest areas, mortals need various facilities, tools, or even Divine Grace to ensure their habitability.
If they leave those towns established at the bottom of the world, they would perish insignificantly, like ants caught in a forest fire.
The "technology" and "local specialties" that Lu Ping’an focused on turned out to be quite subtle as well.
"Are most of the industries and products in the high levels?" Research institutions are even higher.
Lu Ping’an didn’t rush to get up and go there. He always felt that "research" must start from the basics.
Compared to the chaotic world above, he believed that the foundation of research needed to be built... and his courtyard’s warriors, logistics, and researchers needed time to adapt to the environment. Various materials needed to wait for research reports, and foundational information in sociology, geography, and elemental theory had to be accumulated.
Lu Ping’an thought that if one really wants to analyze something, it’s probably easier to discern trends from the basic samples at the fringes.
The furthest he had been was around the tenth layer.
These layers aren’t storeys but rather a concept of "height." One moment you could be on the mountain range of the tenth layer and the next climbing onto the eleventh layer’s plateau, only to accidentally slide into a ninth layer’s lava lake.
What made Lu Ping’an feel helpless was the severe water scarcity in this world... For gardeners who mainly deal with Magic Plants, this was akin to a nightmare condition.
Fortunately, high-level Gardeners had been working here before Lu Ping’an arrived.
They produced a special kind of Magic Plant that could live here and bear fruit full of moisture, alleviating the problem to some extent... Were there a large body of water, it would evaporate instantly, an independent water source existing without a physical container seems nonexistent.
This was actually quite advanced, implying that the creator possessed a special extraordinary module for "thermal energy, energy conversion into Life Energy."
Of course, the water produced this way was of poor quality, even with an earthy taste similar to that of soil...
"Seems like I could sell water... never mind, there’s not even enough for myself."
Lu Ping’an’s courtyard did have a Water Source, but it only produced water periodically, and increasing the quantity by using Life Points was clearly not cost-effective.
This reality meant that he also couldn’t employ tactics of Magic Plant mass production; many Magic Plants, once deployed, were sure to be unrecyclable, and it wasn’t possible to plant them extensively outdoors.
"On the bright side, Magic Plants and related materials can sell for a good price here."
He set up a few experimental plots, purchasing the ridiculously expensive Watermelon Tree Species to serve as a water source at the bottom layer (where the temperature is lowest) for the local plant adaptation trials.
See which species could adapt to the local environment and what surprises they could bring him after adaptation.
On the other hand, what truly attracted Lu Ping’an to stay were the local "residents."
"...The way they come to life, it’s quite interesting."
Lu Ping’an lay on the plains, resting yet also "working"... observing the busy collectors at work in front of him, waiting for their results, which were also part of his job.
In the Courtyard, a large amount of materials had piled up, and expert teams were bustling with activity, hoping to rapidly produce theoretical outcomes that could get the courtyard’s production system running.
And what captivated Lu Ping’an’s attention, even enough to make him not think of leaving for a short while, was the mystery of Life creation in front of him.
"No reproductive behavior, no parents, just spontaneously generated?!"
Right before Lu Ping’an’s eyes, those fragmented red "Elements" spontaneously gathered, forming an Elemental whirlwind.
And when the whirlwind died down, a round, plump "Elemental Little Person" appeared... It lacked distinct limb structures, yet it seemingly was the most basic unit of Life.
At this time, some of its predecessors walked over, took it to the town, and after a period of learning, it could gain a certain degree of Wisdom and Knowledge, and begin Mimicry in order to survive.
So, what happens if there’s no one to guide them?
"Even more interesting....."
Lu Ping’an climbed up five or six floors, where there were still basic "Elemental Men" being born, but they were more massive than those below. Just born, they faced Predation from the Elemental Wolf Pack and Elemental Sub-dragons.
The slow ones naturally met their end, and those that evolved slowly would meet a similar fate... If one could evolve into an Elemental Wolf within dozens of hours, even if not accepted by the Wolf Pack, it could survive on its own for a while and attempt further Evolution.
Lu Ping’an could easily crush those lowest-level Elemental Men, but their malleability was fascinating.
He captured many low-level Elemental Sub-dragons, Elemental Wolves, and those spherical beings, dissected them in every aspect, and the logistics team concluded that they were entirely different at the genetic level.
That is to say, they were not simply "accumulations" but had undergone a transformation in their Life Form.
"Under such conditions, are Magic Plants likely to exist...."
Plants and animals are different; excluding Intelligent creatures as an anomaly, ordinary animals are Adaptors and predators of the environment, while plants are Symbionts and transformers of the environment.
He searched higher up but didn’t find any, but at the lowest level, he made a bit of a discovery.
That was "grass"... or rather, Elemental grass roots.
In fact, they were ubiquitous on the land, a gathering of local Elements, and most Elemental Life was born atop these grass roots.
"Uh, Ginseng Fruit?"
Lu Ping’an dug it up and found crystal-like roots. Instinctively, they seemed to gather surrounding Elements to form a cradle for new Elemental Life.
Was this natural? Or the creation of a higher Life Form?
Lu Ping’an needed more.
He compared and found similar products at higher levels, only maybe due to the denser base particles, they exhibited clear crystallization, and the Newborns they produced seemed to start at a higher point.
"It seems that this world still has a natural ecosystem cycle of plants (producers) and animals (consumers)... Eh, as Energy and resource converters, it’s not necessarily only plants, while animals themselves, seemingly without the need for reproductive gene exchange, are also capable of Life Evolution."
If it were a low-level Gardener, probably they would never link those Crystals to plants, as they fundamentally lacked Life responses.
But an existence like Lu Ping’an has already crossed some of the boundaries of life and death.
He truly could "ponder" it... When he considers you a plant, perhaps that’s exactly what you become.
"Life investment... Indeed, effective!"
When he poured investments into it and successfully cultivated a large Crystal vein in the manor, he also began to understand the underlying Rule structure of the world.
And at this time, the local master’s messenger finally found him, found this odd reinforcement that wasn’t following normal procedures, digging holes and catching pets everywhere.
— End of Chapter 1544 —