Farming in the Magical World

When they arrived at Zhuilong Ridge, it was already quite late.

After instructing Black Tiger to have the team start a fire to prepare for the night, Lanny beckoned to Melissa and called her over, "Where did you find the alpine algae? Let's go take a look before it gets dark."

Melissa looked around, determined the direction, and pointed to a spot not far away. "Over there, it's not far. Follow me!"

He waved to stop Black Tiger from following, then left the crowd with Melissa, completely unaware of the strange looks cast at him by the team members behind them.

The two walked in the direction Melissa pointed out for a few minutes until they were out of sight of the team members and came to a slope, where Melissa, who was walking in front, stopped.

This slope is the shady side of the entire Zhuilong Ridge. In addition, the surrounding trees are very tall, and the spread leaves at the top block most of the light, resulting in a severe lack of light on the ground, making it appear somewhat dark and damp.

The vegetation on the ground was not lush, and through the gaps in the vegetation, one could see some black soil and wet ground.

Alpine cyanobacteria thrive in such environments, spreading densely across the ground, covering almost every inch of exposed surface.

Lanny had been assuming that alpine cyanobacteria was a complex of fungi and algae, like lichens, when he lay down to take a closer look. Only then did he realize that it was not.

Although this stuff, like lichen, is generally green, this stuff is more like a type of mold, like a layer of green hair growing on the ground, which is even a bit disgusting.

"You said you even slept on this thing one night, didn't you feel disgusted?" Lanny pointed at the things and looked up to tease Melissa.

"I was injured and already had difficulty moving around. I ran all the way from Silver Pine Ridge, and I was exhausted and hungry. I also had to be wary of the pursuers. I just collapsed and fell asleep here." Melissa pouted and rolled her eyes in annoyance. "Do you think I wanted to?"

Considering his situation, it seemed there really wasn't a better option, so Lanny put away his joking mood and pointed to the green alpine algae again. "Why don't you try it?" After hesitating for a moment, he added, "Just try it with your hand, it shouldn't have much of an impact on you, right?"

Melissa did not act immediately, but stood there biting her lip, clearly feeling some resistance.

After being infected by the Black Vine Seed, the magic power in the body can hardly be replenished. Any loss of magic power feels like a loss of life force, which is not a pleasant feeling.

This is similar to a normal person going to the hospital for a blood test. Even though they know that the amount of blood drawn is unlikely to have a significant impact on their health, the feeling of watching their blood flow out of their body and the loss of vitality is something that few ordinary people can calmly accept without any reaction.

Lanny didn't urge her, but waited quietly by her side. He could roughly understand her thoughts and feelings. Although he couldn't truly empathize, he could imagine how uncomfortable it must have felt.

However, he had no choice. He wasn't a magician himself, and he couldn't find any other magicians at the moment, so he had to bite the bullet and let Melissa give it a try!

Fortunately, although Melissa hesitated for a long time, she did not refuse him. Instead, after mentally preparing herself, she gritted her teeth, closed her eyes, and pressed her hand on the alpine algae.

Seeing her expression, which resembled that of a young woman, Lanny felt a little guilty. However, considering that she had no other choice, she thought, "Well, I shouldn't be so coy. It's more important to observe her carefully."

Lanny stared intently at the layer of green algae on the ground, expecting some kind of halo or faint blue light to appear, but after a few breaths there was no movement at all. Only Melissa, with her eyes closed and a tense expression, reached out and pressed her hand to the ground.

"Has it started?" Lanny finally couldn't help but ask Melissa, thinking that at least he could give her a response. There was no response at all, and he was completely confused.

"Hmm," Melissa hummed softly through her nose without making any further movement, clearly indicating that she was not in a good mood. Lanny, feeling awkward and embarrassed, didn't dare to urge her any further and could only obediently squat beside her, watching the almost frozen scene with boredom.

After a while, Melissa finally stood up from the ground, wiping the various things off her hands, and said with a disgusted expression, "Okay, okay..."

Hearing that she had finished, Lanny leaned over to examine it carefully, thinking that even if the process was not obvious, the result should be somewhat different, right?

And you know what? There really is a difference. It's just that you can't really tell unless you look closely. But after careful observation, he did find some differences. The green of the blue algae that Melissa touched seemed to be a bit darker.

Since he couldn't sense the flow of magic, Lanny didn't know for a moment whether it was due to the temperature of his palm or the higher level of magic, but he did manage to observe some differences.

I mentally calculated the time; from the moment Melissa started pressing until it ended, it took about ten minutes.

This thing only takes about ten minutes to charge?

In other words, if Melissa is used as a source of energy, given her level of magic, this thin layer of alpine algae would take about ten minutes to recharge.

In terms of charging speed, it's pretty good, but as for magic power, he's not sure if it's fast or slow.

Melissa calmed herself down for a moment, then looked at Lanny squatting there, staring blankly at the ground. Feeling a little embarrassed about her earlier attitude, she squatted down beside him and asked, "So, did you find anything? Should I try again?"

She was subconsciously resisting the feeling of magic draining away, but in reality, considering the contact area of ​​her palm, the amount of magic drained away would hardly have any effect on her.

"Look, aren't these things starting to emit magic now?" Lanny didn't answer her question, but instead pointed to the ground and asked Melissa for her observations.

There was nothing he could do; he genuinely couldn't sense the magic.

"Hmm, it's starting to radiate magic!" With a touch of guilt, Melissa carefully sensed it before nodding in affirmation.

"What about the speed? Is there any loss of magic power during charging?" Lanny asked again!

“It’s less than 30% of the time I used!” Melissa estimated in her mind, holding up three fingers. “As for the loss, it seems there is a tiny bit of loss.” But she quickly shook her head. “However, it’s too slight; I can’t feel it!”

Lanny nodded knowingly and fell into deep thought again.

In other words, the absorption time is about three times the release time, and there is a slight loss (questionable).

He could understand the losses; even a lithium battery packed with various technologies and touted as a high-precision technology could not possibly have a 100% charging efficiency, let alone this natural vegetation that had not undergone any treatment.

Even so, even though only the most basic tests have been conducted so far, since this thing has the ability to absorb, store, and release magic power, it definitely meets the requirements to be a magic battery for storing magic power.

Lanny's eyes lit up as he looked at the green algae on the ground. He wished he could carry the whole thing home immediately, as it was a treasure for his future research on magic!

An excited Lanny stood up and walked around, trying to calm his excitement and see just how large the area this thing was growing on.

Seeing Lenny's strange behavior, Melissa followed. However, after observing Lenny's actions and gaze, the clever Melissa immediately understood what he meant. She then separated from Lenny and began to explore the surroundings.

After the two met up, Lanny gave up on his plan to take the whole piece home.

First, let's talk about the area where this thing grows. Judging from the surrounding area, it's almost only found in the area Melissa pointed out earlier; it's almost nowhere else.

This raises the question: once Lanny clears this area and brings it back to the castle, how will the issues of seed preservation, increasing production and breeding, and sample diversity be resolved?

If the cultivation fails, we won't even have the seeds left, so what's the point of researching?

Therefore, Lanny felt that this place had to be preserved, and even if he successfully cultivated it in the castle, it should not be disturbed.

As for bringing back the samples to the castle for cultivation, there's no rush now. We can discuss it when we set off for the return trip tomorrow morning. They'll be staying here for another night, and it wouldn't be good if they were dug up too early and dried out.

Having made plans for the future, Lanny looked at Melissa sheepishly and tentatively asked, "Could we try again? I know..."

Melissa had developed some resistance to that feeling by now, and shook her head to interrupt him before he could finish speaking, "It's okay, this little bit of magic loss doesn't affect me much. I just didn't like that feeling just now!"

After saying that, she looked at the ground, gritted her teeth, and pressed down again. In order to make a better comparison, she even chose a relatively thick spot.

Although she does not yet possess extensive scientific experimental methods and ideas, as a great magician with an exploratory spirit and rich experimental experience, she still has some basic ideas about comparative experiments.

Sure enough, due to the increased thickness, her charging time was slightly different this time.

According to her, if it was about sixty magic breaths last time, it was about sixty-five magic breaths this time, an increase of about five units. As for the lost magic power, it also increased a little, but not by much, and is probably not related to the difference in thickness.

"Demonic breath? What is that?" Lanny was completely bewildered. He had heard of breaths and seconds before, but this was the first time he had ever heard of demonic breath.

Due to the underdeveloped state of the world, time is not precise. It is roughly divided into morning and afternoon, a few hours, spring, summer, autumn and winter. A smaller unit is based on the frequency of human breathing, called a few breaths.

Lanny's question clearly touched on Melissa's pride. Her previously somewhat bitter face immediately brightened, and she could barely contain her laughter. "Haha, this is a unit of time that I invented myself."

Compared to using her inner magic to fight, as a great mage, she prefers to study magic quietly by herself. She feels that this kind of life is more comfortable than fighting. Quiet and undisturbed, she can explore and discover the mysteries of magic little by little. Isn't that wonderful?

However, she also encountered some problems while studying magic. For example, she felt that using a few breaths to judge time was very inaccurate. The error was very large when she was tense and when she was relaxed, sometimes even several times the difference.

Of course, simple hourglasses had already appeared by this time, but because there were no transparent containers such as glass, sealing and reusing hourglasses was very inconvenient. They were not only easily affected by the wind, but also easily made sand spread all over the table.

Therefore, she uses the circulation of magic power within her body as the standard unit. One cycle of magic power represents one magic breath, and then she divides one magic breath into ten parts, each of which is called a magic fraction.

In non-combat situations, the natural cycle time of magic is almost constant and does not change with the increase of the mage's level, mood, or the surrounding environment. One cycle takes about four breaths.

Moreover, the ability to sense the number of times magic circulates within the body seems to be an innate talent of magicians. With a little training following her method, one can clearly sense it, and it can even be reset like a stopwatch, which is truly amazing.

Listening to Melissa's explanation, Lanny was so envious he was practically drooling. This ability was too exaggerated; did she have a built-in human atomic clock? She was definitely the best partner for the lab!

Hourglasses, escapement mechanisms, and pendulum clocks are all utterly inadequate compared to this ability. It's born with an atomic clock. Aren't you envious? Aren't you jealous?

"You like this ability so much?" Melissa giggled as she saw Lanny looking at her with envy. "Little brother, I'll teach you when you become a magician, okay?"

Hearing her slightly teasing words, Lanny rolled her eyes. She knew perfectly well that she couldn't sense magical elements right now, was she deliberately trying to annoy her?

Ignoring the smug Melissa, he turned his attention back to the experiment.

After mentally calculating, if we consider a breath as lasting a little over three seconds, this magical breath is roughly equivalent to 10 seconds. If we divide it into ten parts, can we approximate it as one second?

Sixty magical breaths is roughly equivalent to 600 seconds, or about 10 minutes. Thinking back to my own estimate, which was also around ten minutes, it seems the deviation isn't too significant.

The experiment took 65 magical breaths, which is approximately 650 seconds, or about 11 minutes, an increase of less than one-tenth.

These two experiments at least demonstrate that the thickness of the blue algae can affect the level of magic absorption. In addition, the loss of magic also changed, which makes it possible to increase the capacity to hold magic by stacking thickness, bringing us one step closer to the magic battery envisioned by Lanny.

When the two returned to the temporary camp, Black Tiger and the other team members had already lit a fire. Some of the team members, who had even brought bows and arrows, had already hunted several prey, which were sizzling and dripping oil on the fire.

"Huh, what kind of animal is this?" Lanny had just sat down on a rock by the fire when he noticed the unusual nature of his prey.

"This is a wild rabbit, sir. You've never eaten one before?" Black Tiger looked puzzled. How come the master didn't even recognize a wild rabbit?

"Uh!"

Lanny was a little embarrassed. Could he really say he'd never seen anything like it before? Who had ever seen a rabbit the size of a wild dog? Are you sure it's a rabbit and not a wild dog?