Farming in the Magical World

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

Looking at the handful of tea leaves that had been crushed into tiny pieces, Lanny was both angry and amused. This guy was really too rude. Fortunately, he didn't plan to leave the tea picking to Black Tiger later.

"Put it away for now," Lanny waved Black Tiger away, then looked around and whispered to Melissa beside him, "Is this the only place with tea trees?"

Melissa pointed to several low hills not far away, then drew a circle around the small black mountain. "This whole area is like that!"

“However, I did notice something strange,” Melissa said, tilting her head and frowning in confusion, “These tea trees seem to only appear in the Black Mountain area.”

"I've traveled to quite a few places, but I've never seen anything like this before," Melissa said with a touch of emotion. The "quite a few places" she mentioned was mostly because she was being chased by people. Looking back now, she finds it somewhat unbelievable how she managed to persevere.

"What?" Lanny turned around abruptly, looking at Melissa beside him with a look of confirmation. "I've never seen this thing anywhere else?"

“Yes, I’ve never seen it!” Melissa nodded, then paused and added, “I’ve never even heard of it. Neither the bitter dwarf tree that the locals call it, nor the tea tree you mentioned, do I see any!”

"This is interesting!" Lanny stroked his chin thoughtfully. Either Melissa hadn't traveled enough, or this thing really hadn't grown anywhere else.

"Let's go and take a look ahead." Hearing Melissa's words, Lanny was overjoyed. If the tea trees only grew in this Black Mountain, it would be good news for him. At least he wouldn't have to worry about someone else reaping the benefits of his hard-won tea market.

Before that, he also wanted to verify his conjecture, so he did not enter Black Mountain directly, but instead led everyone towards the edge of Black Mountain.

In his mind, if this thing really only grows in the Black Mountain area, then is it related to the black soil on the ground? If it is related, or if black soil is a necessary condition for tea trees, then it is easy to verify. Just find the edge area and you will know.

This time, with a clear target for observation, Lanny observed much more carefully, and as he moved further and further away from the Black Mountain, the black soil gradually underwent some obvious changes.

First, there's the color. As you move further away, the black soil tends to lighten in color. But when Lanny scraped the soil a little, he found that it wasn't that the color was getting lighter, but rather that the thickness was decreasing, gradually revealing the yellowish-brown ordinary soil underneath. This is what caused the phenomenon.

They hadn't walked far when the blackness on the ground became almost imperceptible, and Lanny stopped there, staring blankly at the faintly visible dividing line.

As he traveled along, he discovered that these tea trees, just as he had expected, only grew on the black soil. Once they left the area covered by this black soil, they could hardly be seen at all, not even a single seedling.

He also took a look at the small hills that Melissa had marked out. Although there were tea trees growing on these hills, it was obvious at a glance that the tea trees were growing very poorly, far inferior to the lush greenery inside the Black Mountain. He was also somewhat concerned about this.

At first, he was quite puzzled. He looked down at the black soil on the ground, then at the other equally lush plants on the hills, and then at the obviously withered and thin tea trees. He thought to himself, "There is black soil here too, so how come they grow in such a terrible state?"

It wasn't until he dug through the black soil that he found what wasn't really an answer.

These hills are already some distance from Black Mountain, and there is only a thin layer of black soil on the ground.

Standing on a small hill, looking at the small black mountain not far away, and then at the malnourished tea trees around him, Lanny had some guesses in his mind.

In his mind, the black soil seemed to have broken off from the Black Mountain and then gradually formed through long-term weathering, rather than having always existed there, otherwise there would not be such a clear dividing line.

Perhaps this black soil or sand is rich in some special minerals or organic matter, which is why it is dark in color. But these unknown substances are precisely the key to the survival of these tea trees. This can be easily deduced from the extent of the black soil coverage and the growth range of these tea trees.

This phenomenon can be fully explained if these tea trees require certain special nutrients from the black soil to grow.

As for what exactly the black soil contains, he couldn't figure it out for a while. He searched through his memory but couldn't recall anything that was necessary for tea trees and would cause the soil to change color.

It seems I need to change my plans.

His original idea was to transplant some tea trees to the area around the castle and improve the varieties through human intervention in order to cultivate varieties with better flavor.

But the current discovery has clearly rendered this plan futile and completely unfeasible.

This has made tea tree management and variety improvement a major challenge.

First, we need to stop the villagers from cutting down the tea trees for firewood. Second, we need to change their harvesting methods. If they continue to harvest the tea trees like Black Tiger does, treating it like a barbecue, the tea trees will be completely destroyed as soon as we open up the market.

"What, you also think these tea trees aren't as good as those from Black Mountain?" Seeing him standing there in a daze, Melissa leaned closer, glanced at the lost Lanny, and pursed her lips. "If they're not good, then don't want them. There's so much in Black Mountain, isn't that enough for you?"

Actually, she felt the same way as Lanny. In the past, she would go to the Black Mountain to collect tea leaves, and she didn't care about the tea leaves that were obviously much worse. But that shouldn't be enough to make her so worried, right?

Lanny shook his head and didn't say anything; he didn't know how to explain his problem.

"Oh right, didn't you say you were going to Fallen Dragon Ridge? It's getting late." Seeing his hesitant expression, Melissa simply brought up the second purpose of their trip. She stood on tiptoe and pointed to the right, "Look, that's Fallen Dragon Ridge. It'll take several hours to get there from here. If we don't go soon, it'll probably get dark, and the journey is difficult!"

Since he couldn't think of a good solution for the time being, Lanny simply gave up and decided to take things one step at a time.

Hearing Melissa's words, he looked up at the sky and then looked in the direction she was pointing. He thought to himself that they really needed to set off immediately. It was already around three or four in the afternoon, and they had just spent quite a bit of time.

Melissa pointed in the direction behind Black Mountain. Of course, all she could see was the tall silhouette of Black Mountain; she obviously couldn't see what lay behind it.

He tossed aside the black soil in his hand, dusted himself off, and stood up. "Of course I'll go. Black Tiger, lead the way!"

... ...

Because they were heading towards Black Mountain, the journey ahead became even more difficult. Not only were the roads dense with thorns, but in some places there wasn't even a path. The group had no choice but to have Black Tiger lead the way with an axe, and they followed in his footsteps.

Only then did Lanny realize how Black Tiger had gotten the axe.

Currently, the security guard's weapons consist only of red-tasseled spears and shields; bows and scimitars haven't even been issued yet. Before setting off, fearing danger on the road, Black Tiger had some of their own bows and axes carried along. He hadn't noticed them before, but they proved invaluable now.

After the group followed Black Tiger through the winding path and out of Little Black Mountain, they finally came to a relatively wide road. This was obviously the road connecting Caster Ridge to Silver Pine Ridge and Grumman Mountain. People often walked on this road, and the narrow path had been worn down by these pedestrians.

After the group followed the path through a narrow pass, they finally arrived at the Dragonfall Ridge that Melissa had mentioned.

Lanny, who was already panting heavily from exhaustion, bent over to rest for a while before straightening up and looking around at his surroundings.

Although it's called Falling Dragon Ridge, it's really nothing special. It's just a small hill, not as impressive as the Grumman Mountains in front of it, and not even as impressive as the Black Mountain behind it.

Yes, they were currently positioned between Black Mountain Village and the Grumman Mountains. If they went any further, they would enter the Grumman Mountains, and if they went any further, they would soon enter the Castel Ridge.

Surrounded by high mountains, this area forms a small basin. A river cuts through the mountains, resulting in a gourd-shaped basin that is narrow at both ends and wide in the middle.

Six months ago, August was attacked from both sides by the Grummans here, resulting in a major defeat that killed many knights and almost all of his vassal army.

But looking around now, there was no trace of the battle. All that could be seen were lush, overgrown weeds and the river flowing quietly beside them.

Clearly, the dense vegetation covers a lot of things.

"There's nothing strange about this, is there? Why is it called Fallen Dragon Ridge?" Lanny pointed to the surrounding terrain and looked at Black Tiger with a puzzled expression.

Black Tiger scratched his head, grinned, and chuckled, "Master, I don't know either. That's what the old folks in the village call this place."

At this moment, a teammate next to him raised his hand. "Sir, I... I've heard a legend..."

Lanny remembered that this person seemed to be from Black Mountain Village as well, so he smiled and nodded at him, signaling the other person to speak.

"I heard it from my grandfather," the young man first stated the source of the information, and then began to speak in a low voice, seemingly imitating his grandfather's expression at the time, which was deep and drawn out.

"Long, long ago, a giant dragon fought a battle with its enemy in the sky. The burst of red light illuminated the entire sky, dyed the whole earth red, and turned the night into dusk."

"This battle lasted for over a hundred years. In the end, the dragon was no match for its opponent and was knocked down from the clouds, falling to Fallen Dragon Ridge. Its blood stained several nearby mountains black and even penetrated deep into the ground, turning the land here black. That's why this place is called Fallen Dragon Ridge."

The young man spoke with great seriousness, and Black Tiger nodded in agreement, clearly having heard the legend as well.

"Haha, Mickey, you're talking nonsense. Blood isn't red, but the soil here is black!" One of the team members scoffed at the legend and couldn't wait to laugh at it.

Hearing his teammates' mockery, Mickey naturally disagreed, stubbornly retorting, "How should I know? That's just what the legend says!"

"Alright, alright, it's just a legend, no need to take it seriously!" Lanny waved his hand, stopping the team members' argument, and didn't think the legend had any reference value.

That's just how legends are, all mysterious and ambiguous; who knows the real story?

After carefully examining the surroundings again, comparing the terrain with the image of dragons in legends from ancient and modern times, both in China and abroad, I couldn't find anything that resembled it at all.

Melissa, however, seemed to have made a discovery. She beckoned him over and said, “Take a close look around. Doesn’t it look like it was smashed open by something?” She then pointed to the mountains in front and behind and the hills at their feet.

Huh! After Melissa's reminder, Lanny also realized what was going on.

If you consider the distance between the surrounding mountains and this small hill, it actually makes some sense.

The surrounding black hills, large and small, along with another unnamed high mountain not far away, encircle this small hill, which is located in the very center of the encirclement.

He hadn't considered his location before, treating it simply as a small basin. But if you take his current position into account, from an aerial view, it looks very much like a meteorite impact crater. It's just that because of its age, the surrounding vegetation, and the man-made roads and river erosion, it's not easy to tell.

Moreover, the ground of Zhuilong Ridge is also dark brown, almost comparable to that of Xiaoheishan.

Could this be the origin of the name "Fallen Dragon Ridge"? Did a meteorite fall here?

At that moment, a scene appeared in Lanny's mind.

In the endless void, a meteorite drifted silently in the boundless dark void, lazily spinning and tumbling in the empty air.

Suddenly, the meteorite was struck by an unexpected object, its trajectory was drastically altered, and it was captured by the gravity of a nearby planet, leaving a long trail of fire as it crashed heavily to the ground.

Finally, the remaining fragments that had not completely burned in the air crashed heavily onto the spot, even creating a deep crater in the surrounding mountains.

The unknown energy or metals brought by the meteorite stained the surrounding ground black, thus forming the unique black soil here.

The place where they are standing now is the spot where the meteorite fell.

It's possible that villagers looked down from the nearby mountains and noticed the strange terrain, which led to the legend of the dragon's fall. They even combined it with the unusual soil conditions in the area to create a well-developed story about the dragon's fall.

Of course, all of this is just Lanny's imagination and speculation. Whether it is really the case, or whether the strange situation here is due to some other unknown reasons, remains to be seen.

Regardless of the cause of its formation, the presence of the magical blue algae described by Melissa, the fall of the previous patriarch of the Wells family here, the black soil, and the tea trees that only grow here all lend this small Falling Dragon Ridge a mysterious air.