Farming in the Magical World

Early morning, security guard camp!

Today was the day Lanny and Melissa had agreed to go to Little Black Mountain. When Lanny brought Melissa to the square, Black Tiger had already assembled a small team and was waiting in the square.

Melissa's eyes lit up as she looked at the security guards standing like javelins in the square. She turned her head and whispered to Lanny, "I have to say, the team you've trained looks really good."

Lanny was somewhat proud of the current security force, but he humbly said, "They just look good; their true combat strength still needs to be tested in actual combat."

"Tch, you're just showing off!" Melissa rolled her eyes at him, somewhat speechless. She had been watching the entire battle against the Grummans from inside the castle. Was it something that looked alright?

She thought to herself, "Doesn't that sound incredibly fake?" It's only because she didn't know there was an adjective like "Versailles" that she would have assigned it to Lanny.

This wasn't a battle between mages she was familiar with, but anyone with a bit of observation could easily see that the Grummans hadn't even posed a real threat to the Security Guard. It was also easy to see from this how different this Security Guard was from a traditional auxiliary army.

Melissa looked Lanny up and down again, unable to contain her curiosity any longer. "Where did you learn this training method?"

Thinking about how long this team had been established, she was somewhat astonished. These guards had been there even shorter than she had been at the castle—was it a month or a month and a half? Definitely no more than two months.

In such a short time, these ordinary people, farmers and hunters have been trained into this state. What would happen if they were trained for another year or two?

However, she also knew that training couldn't be improved infinitely simply by accumulating time, but that would be terrifying, wouldn't it?

"We're still far from it. We need to train a lot more. There are quite a few subjects to learn..." Lanny waved his hand dismissively and walked towards the square first.

He naturally couldn't tell Melissa the true origin of this training method, because it was simply impossible to explain.

And although there was an element of modesty in what he said just now, in his opinion, it really can't be said that he was that modest.

The team looks very impressive, but because teams in this world don't pay much attention to their appearance, the sudden appearance of such a well-organized and energetic team is naturally eye-catching.

However, when it comes to real combat strength, it's not something that can be improved by these things alone. What's more important is collective consciousness, teamwork, and an unyielding fighting spirit.

The security team currently only possesses a basic morale; the next training focus will be on teamwork and cultivating fighting spirit.

To reiterate, the security force is currently only at the level of university military training. If it were to actually go to the battlefield and fight in skirmishes or mobile warfare, it would probably be a complete mess.

The previous castle defense battle seemed to have yielded good results, even some amazing ones, but he had actually done a mental review afterward and thought there were several reasons why it turned out this way.

Firstly, these Grummans who came down from the mountains had never seen trench warfare before. Unfamiliarity was one reason, but underestimating the enemy was also a very important one.

Imagine if those guys had just kept shooting arrows from a distance outside the trench. That might have worked for a short time, but once there were casualties, it's hard to say how the team members, who had only had short training and no combat experience, would have fared.

Furthermore, if the leader wielding the giant axe had used his brain a bit and sent some men to attack the rear of the castle, wouldn't the castle, caught between a rock and a hard place, be thrown into chaos? It's hard to say.

In fact, he was unaware that Albert had also tried to persuade Petrov, but to no avail. The resounding victory against August in the previous match had clouded his judgment.

Therefore, luck played a large part in that battle.

Lanny went on and on about the training that would follow, but Melissa was a little distracted by his confident look. Her mind was wandering to the thought that this little guy was getting more and more handsome.

Her behavior is not surprising. It stems from the admiration for strength in our genes, a kind of species wisdom that enabled humans to survive in ancient times, and the basic need to continue the species.

Of course, men don't admire strength, they admire whiteness and bigness... ...Ahem, I'm getting off-topic!

Although Lanny himself was not particularly strong in combat, since the security guard belonged to the castle and to Caster Ridge, it naturally belonged to him as well.

When Melissa was still an archmage, the main reason she couldn't find a man she liked was that there weren't any suitable men around her. Few young men were as capable as her, and those who were were mostly old men. What choice did she have? She could only find pleasure in the laboratory.

But things are different now. She can no longer use her magic and has basically returned to the state of a weak woman. For her now, the power that Lanny possesses is naturally considered powerful.

As they spoke, the two had already walked up to the team.

Because they were going to the village, Melissa wore a relatively tight black shirt and riding breeches for ease of movement, which showed off her curvaceous figure. The lace on the cuffs also showed her feminine side. She attracted the attention of the team members even before she got close to the square.

Although the team members were standing ramrod straight, they couldn't help but glance over at her. Melissa was used to this level of attention, but she still couldn't help feeling a little happy and smug, especially in front of Lanny.

Lanny didn't notice anything unusual around him. He walked straight to the front of the group, stood still, and raised his hand in salute.

"Snap..."

The team members saluted in unison, and Black Tiger shouted, "Security Guard Squad One reporting for duty, please give instructions!"

Lenny didn't waste any time, waving his hand and shouting, "Let's go!"

Because the castle didn't have many horses, and Joseph, the groom, had been sent to Elfen and hadn't returned, the group traveled on foot, which naturally slowed their pace.

As time passed, the summer sun was already high overhead, and the group heading to Heishan Village was sweating profusely and panting heavily.

Especially for Lord Lanny, a nobleman who had never traveled this far since arriving here, the poor road conditions made his journey quite difficult. The group had to stop several times along the way to accommodate him, which made him feel a little embarrassed, but he could only grit his teeth and persevere.

He secretly resolved that he would always ride a horse when he went out in the future, otherwise it would be too embarrassing.

On the contrary, Melissa, this seemingly weak woman, although unable to use magic and appearing to be just a frail woman, had not lost the transformation of her body by magic. Her physical fitness was quite good, and she was able to keep up with the pace of progress steadily, forming a stark contrast with Lanny.

By the time the group arrived at the entrance of Black Mountain Village, it was already afternoon. Lanny stopped at this point, wiping the sweat from his face with a handkerchief while looking around at the small village in front of him.

"Master, why aren't we going into the village?" Black Tiger saw Lanny stop and gestured for his team to stop as he approached Lanny, asking him what was going on.

"Do you want to go back to the village to see your father?" He pointed to the village where wisps of smoke were rising from the chimneys.

"My mission this time is to protect your safety. As for Father, we'll visit him another time!" Black Tiger looked at the village with some reluctance, but he quickly turned his head and looked at Lanny with a determined expression.

"And you? Are you interested in seeing this village?" Lanny then looked at Melissa beside him, speaking vaguely, as if asking her if she was interested in visiting it.

Melissa simply pursed her lips without answering. She understood what Lanny meant, but what was there to see? To see how she had suffered and been sad back then?

Black Mountain Village left her with a bad impression. She had to evade pursuit while also pretending to be old and ugly. It was no wonder that things were difficult. She didn't miss Black Mountain Village at all.

"Then let's not bother the villagers!" Seeing that none of them intended to go check, Lanny didn't linger any longer and waved to the other side. "Our main mission here is to get to Little Black Mountain, so let's turn around here! Black Tiger, you lead the way from now on!"

Black Tiger led the way for the rest of the journey. He grew up in the village and knew Little Black Mountain very well; he could find his way there with his eyes closed.

Black Tiger lived up to expectations, leading everyone through narrow paths, climbing and crawling through the woods, and soon arrived at a mountain peak.

"Master, this is Little Black Mountain," Black Tiger pointed behind him.

Not far in front of them was a low mountain peak, covered with lush trees, and filled with the sounds of birds and the roars of animals. However, unlike ordinary mountains, the ground exposed not far from the foot of the mountain was neither yellow soil nor brown rock, but black sand.

Upon seeing this extraordinary sight, Lanny disregarded everything else, squatted down, grabbed a handful of soil, and examined it closely.

Judging from the feel, this soil doesn't seem to be the same as the so-called black soil formed from humus. The soil is clearly granular and quite hard, which means it's severely sandy, like grabbing a handful of sand. In addition, the dark brown color is already quite deep, so from a distance it looks black, no wonder it's called "Black Mountain".

Seeing him squatting on the ground, Melissa didn't hesitate to squat down beside him, tilting her head to watch Lanny's movements. "Did you find anything?"

When she first arrived in the village, she also felt that the Black Mountain was somewhat magical. She even studied it herself, but found... nothing at all.

This black soil seemed no different from ordinary soil; it had no magical properties, no special characteristics, and was even less fertile than ordinary soil.

The reason for asking Lanny was simply to see if he had made any new discoveries.

"It can't be that fast," Lanny shook his head irritably. "Do you think I have X-ray vision?"

He looked down and examined the black soil in his hand again, and said with certainty, "However, at least I can be sure that this is not black soil from which humus was produced!" He then sifted through the granular black soil in his hand again, feeling its almost sandy texture, and said, "I think there must be some minerals in the soil."

"Humus?" Melissa was completely baffled by this new word Lanny used, not understanding what Lanny was talking about.

Pointing to the woods not far away, Lanny explained in a deep voice, "After leaves and trees die, they accumulate in the soil, rot and ferment, and eventually form humus! After tens of thousands of years of accumulation, it can form the famous black soil!" However, Lanny shook his head again, "This is definitely not that kind of black soil!"

"Tens of thousands of years?" Melissa looked at Lanny with a skeptical expression. "How do you know it will take tens of thousands of years?"

“Maybe even longer? It doesn’t matter. This can’t be that kind of black soil.” Lanny shook his head, ignoring the curious Melissa, bent down to pick up some broken stones from the ground, rummaged through some black soil, and took out a bag he was carrying to put it in.

Seeing Melissa's puzzled look, he added, "Take some samples back with you, and we can try refining them using iron smelting methods. Maybe we'll find something."

After picking up some stones of various colors from the ground, he patted the dirt off his hands and shouted to Black Tiger, "Let's go, take me to see those short, bitter trees!"

The place with the dwarf trees is not far away. Just a few minutes ahead, as you enter the foot of Xiaoheishan Mountain, you can vaguely see some low-lying dwarf trees growing tenaciously under the cover of the surrounding tall trees.

You don't notice it from a distance, but when you get closer, you realize that these short, bitter trees are everywhere in the mountains and forests, just like shrubs growing in the forest.

Unlike the tea trees he remembered, which were only half a person tall, this tea tree was as tall as a person, with a trunk as thick as a goose egg. It grew very lushly, with more than a dozen branches extending from a single tree, like the ribs of an inverted umbrella.

The leaves near the ground are dark green, while only the tender leaves at the top turn a lighter, bright green, but appear thicker.

Looking up at the tea trees that were even taller than him, he began to have some doubts. He wondered, "Is this really a tea tree? Black Tiger, are you sure you're not mistaken?"

Or perhaps I've been fooled by those videos before, and this is actually the true height of the tea tree?

Lanny reached out to try and pick a few pieces, but quickly and awkwardly lowered his hand!

Because he discovered that he couldn't even reach the tea bushes... Can you believe what it's like to not be able to reach the tea bushes while picking tea? He probably knows best, haha!

Just as he was wondering if he needed something to stand on, Black Tiger miraculously pulled out an axe and, to Lanny's astonishment, chopped the entire tree down.

You... you... are you serious? What a spendthrift! Another tea tree is gone just like that. Lanny's lips twitched with heartache.

Black Tiger grinned and said, "Don't worry, sir. We can't cut all of these down. That's what everyone does when they're picking bitter tea."

Having said that, just like eating skewers, he deftly opened his big hands, plucked the skewer all the way down the branch, and presented it to Lanny.

Looking at Black Tiger's large hands covered in green sap, and the tea leaves in his hands that had been ravaged beyond recognition, Lanny felt a pang of heartache once again.

No wonder he found that many of the tea leaves Jimmy brought him were damaged; so this is how they "picked" tea!

This isn't tea picking, it's practically barbecue!