Chapter 655
Chapter 655 - 635: Chips
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7 min read
Lu Ping’an’s Gardener path seemed to have deviated from the right track from the very beginning.
Regular Gardeners, like Professor Wen, follow the scholarly route, accumulating knowledge and wealth at Tier 1-2. Their strength and tier aren’t necessarily related, as many third-tier and fourth-tier Gardeners have no combat power. However, their research might yield invaluable or potentially devastating results.
How do Gardeners fight? Since combat power is needed, wouldn’t it be more crude and straightforward to follow a Battle-profession rather than the Gardener’s main path?
Lu Ping’an and Guan Xinxian, these violent Gardeners, were not normal from the very beginning... Lu Ping’an’s choice was the result of being "tempted" by the big cat, and to this day, he’s unsure if there are different development possibilities on the Tamer’s Path.
Guan Xinxian’s development path was driven by his desire for a "never-sinking circular ecological zone (ship)."
Normal Gardeners have scholarly, accumulating professions, and are in charge of logistics... Lu Ping’an almost forgot that he had entered the logistics major of Ancient City University.
So, he naturally encountered a development bottleneck...
"As Gardeners, I guess neither of us can be considered qualified..."
In Lu Ping’an’s courtyard, various Magic Plants were rotting on the ground, as the overly fertile Land of Life produced low-level Magic Plants at a much faster rate than expected.
This wasn’t just the humiliation of a Magic Alchemist like Miss Rou, who couldn’t consume the produced plants. More so, it was due to the production planning of the production end.
Lu Ping’an was a second-tier middleman Gardener, and Guan Xinxian had put his points into "rescue" and "Ark" related parts. They had little understanding of the Gardener’s compulsory basic course - "Orchard" production, planning, planting rotation, and industry chain.
A normal high-level Gardener’s "small garden" should maintain a dynamic balance between consumption and production in the planning and development stages. Even if left unattended, the production chain would work and yield profits... However, Lu Ping’an’s garden had Magic Plants scattered around with low-level and high-level plants mixed, and a large number of Magic Plants rotted in the garden every day.
The most troublesome part was the unrestrained growth of low-level Magic Plants, which became something like weeds in their garden. They would indeed be considered treasures in someone else’s garden, but in Lu Ping’an’s place, they were just occupying space. Fang Wen’s mechanical Gardeners had to spend hours each day fighting these "weeds".
Lu Ping’an needed professionals to help sort out his garden and make full use of the courtyard advantages, rather than spending his time removing weeds and disposing of garbage.
At least, he could establish a reliable production chain, instead of having his garden produce "garbage" every day, with Miss Rou rummaging through the trash for some materials to make potions, while most Magic Plants were wasted.
"Um, Lu Ping’an, are you sure this isn’t a joke?"
When Lu Ping’an revealed his idea of recruiting someone, Professor Wen thought he was joking.
However, when Lu Ping’an presented the conditions...
"A Rule-level Land of Life, how is that possible!"
As the big cat had mentioned before, once Lu Ping’an threw in his offer, no Gardener could reject him.
Seeing Professor Wen kneeling on the ground, smelling the soil without worrying about his appearance, Lu Ping’an knew the deal was probably done.
Growing Magic Plants is not easy, and the vast majority of Gardeners deal with low-level Magic Plants throughout their lives for a reason... The knowledge of cultivating high-level Magic Plants is considered Taboo, not to mention the massive resources required.
Gardeners are supposed to cultivate Magic Plants, and Guan Xinxian’s ability to raise the Fusang tree proves his strength. But most Gardeners can only cultivate third-tier or lower Magic Plants due to practical constraints... They don’t even have access to Decree-level Magic Plants, let alone afford to nurture them.
"What a fertile land, these Decree-level Magic Plants take root directly! They don’t need special conditions to survive... How is this possible!"
Decree-level creatures signify an Extraordinary existence. Decree-level animals are rare and difficult to deal with. In a sense, they can briefly distort reality as powerful Demons. The same goes for Decree-level Magic Plants, which are equally hard to cultivate... After all, they are stable mutant organisms born under high pollution in some ways.
Animals require large amounts of food, and their evolution is a process. Plant life is slow and enduring, but their demand for nutrition remains unchanged.
To cultivate Decree-level Magic Plants, one must first have Decree-level "soil," a Land of Life that can provide the necessary conditions for their survival, or a similar energy supplying medium... This requirement alone restricts most Gardeners in Ancient City University to experiment with planting just one or two in their private gardens.
If the soil isn’t fertile enough, then it will naturally require additional "fertilizer." The conditions required for different Magic Plants to grow also vary... A specifically crafted ecosystem is essential for them.
The cost of the environment needed to cultivate high-level Magic Plants is extremely high. A "nutrient-rich" Land of Life can effectively reduce this cost, but the Lands of Life themselves have different tiers.
The previous Lady of the Forest’s Secret Realm was just the lowest grade, a first-tier or even zero-order Land of Life, with Gardeners continually coming to rent or borrow land, bringing in astonishing daily income.
For every kind of Magic Plant, apart from meeting their basic "nutrient needs," a whole set of cultivation knowledge and techniques are required. Many of these techniques are not the best but the most cost-effective and recommended... A Gardener’s most crucial job is to research and summarize this knowledge.
Professor Wen has a botanical garden, which, through the use of the "pseudo-secret realm" environment setting ability, can provide it with a slight resemblance to a Land of Life. Its efficacy is nowhere near Lu Ping’an’s courtyard, and it falls far short even compared to the Lady of the Forest’s low-level Land of Life.
Despite this, he still creates individual tiny ecosystems to provide a safe living environment for the finicky Magic Plants.
The most precious areas are those for several Decree-level Magic Plants... Each of these would cost more to build than an equal volume of gold, and the daily maintenance consumes considerable resources.
Professor Wen’s co-existing "Netted Banyan Tree" extends countless roots out to care for numerous Magic Plants, showing his dedication.
At this moment, seeing Lu Ping’an planting the two Decree-level Magic Plants simply by digging a hole and burying them, and their obvious preference for the broken soil over the expensive cultivation medium... Professor Wen couldn’t help but feel defeated.
"No Gardener can refuse the courtyard..." Lu Ping’an recalled the words Big Cat had said previously.
From another perspective, he could understand Big Cat’s initial suggestion about the career path.
With the courtyard, Lu Ping’an’s path as a Gardener was invincible from the start.
"...Is this a dream?"
"It’s not a joke or a prank, is it? Haha, or are these two Decree-level Magic Plants special, just easy to look after by nature?"
Lu Ping’an scratched his head and sighed helplessly.
"I just got these Magic Plants from a friend yesterday. I don’t even know their specific types or characteristics. I brought them here for you to help me take a look..."
"...Bring the agreement! I’ll sign it!"
"Wait, we haven’t discussed the contract terms yet."
"No matter the conditions, as long as I can use this garden, I agree!"
At this moment, the old professor’s impatient expression resembled that of when he first met... when he was promoting his granddaughter.
Uh, indeed, nothing has changed.
"...Lu Ping’an, you’ve seen my granddaughter, right? Isn’t she lovely..."
Well, here we go again.
— End of Chapter 655 —