Farming in the Magical World

"What's wrong with Lanny lately?"

Melissa took an elegant sip of her milk tea, but her gaze drifted to Tiffany sitting next to her.

Summer was almost over, and the mornings and evenings were no longer so humid. The castle itself was situated on a small hill, surrounded by a gentle breeze. Adding an iced milk tea to the mix made it a truly delightful experience.

During this period, Tiffany had less to do. The tea purchasing and processing were on track. The soap making that Lanny had instructed her to make had also been stopped because there wasn't enough oil. Bored, she once again set up a tea table in the shade on the side of the castle, and occasionally invited Melissa to come here for tea and a chat after the sun went down.

However, it was Melissa who took the initiative to invite me today!

Ever since Lanny returned from Elfen, he's been acting mysteriously every night. He's locked the study door from the inside, something he never used before. Several times when I went to talk to him about things, he would dawdle for a long time before opening the door.

If it were just that, it wouldn't worry her much. It's like everyone has secrets. But if another batch of magical materials is missing, that's what worries her.

When Ford was procuring magical materials, some of them were added by Lenny himself. At the time, she only thought that Lenny had some understanding of the pentagram array and wanted to try it out, so she didn't pay much attention. But recently, these materials were taken away, and it was undoubtedly Lenny who took them.

It's important to understand that magic circles are inherently complex. If you make a mistake and fail, that's one thing, but if you accidentally create something else, it can be quite dangerous.

Today, she invited Tiffany, the legitimate wife, out for afternoon tea to ask if she had made any discoveries—actually, it was hardly afternoon tea anymore, as it was almost evening.

"Him? Nothing happened!" Tiffany was a little confused, her pretty brows furrowing as she didn't quite understand what Melissa meant. "Did my sister and he have a fight?"

"No way! Haven't you noticed that he's been acting strangely ever since he came back from Elfen?"

Melissa was somewhat amused and exasperated. Was that what she meant? Had Tiffany misunderstood?

"It's probably because we're about to go to war!" Tiffany frowned. "I don't know much about combat, but since the guards have never participated in a real war, it's normal for them to be nervous!"

Lanny didn't say much about this matter. Given her popularity at the Earl's Castle, she naturally didn't have many other sources of information. She always thought that this campaign against Grumman was just a routine one, no different from previous years!

As a wife, she was naturally very worried about this expedition. However, such expeditions by nobles were customary, and there was very little she could do. She could not even interfere too much and could only wait at home for the fate that might come. This was the destiny of noblewomen.

Since the nobles enjoyed the privileges granted by the kingdom, they naturally had to pay the corresponding price, whether it was managing their subjects or waging wars abroad, while the women could only stay at home praying for their husbands, fathers, and brothers, and could do nothing else.

"oh... ..."

Melissa nodded in realization and suppressed her urge to ask further questions. Tiffany was already very worried, and she didn't want to add fuel to the fire.

Slowly adjusting his body to a more comfortable position, he looked at the distant scenery below the hill, but his mind was once again filled with speculation about what Lanny was up to.

Was he really just doing some minor testing, or did he learn some new formations during his trip to Elfen?

But why did you hide it from me...?

While Melissa was leisurely enjoying afternoon tea with Tiffany in the afterglow of the sunset, wondering about Lenny's purpose, Lenny was busy and sweating profusely in the study.

The reason he kept it from Melissa was actually quite simple: he was currently setting up a bloodline activation array for his family.

Aside from Frank, the old butler, no one else knew the secrets of the Wells family, and Lanny had no intention of letting more people know.

Originally, he did not plan to activate his bloodline so early. He wanted to wait until Tiffany was confirmed to be pregnant with his child, or a year or two before starting. However, the current situation forced him to try to activate the formation now.

Angus chose a good angle this time. According to the laws of the kingdom, Angus, as a superior noble, initiated the border clearing plan and obtained the consent of the Grand Duke of the North. As Angus's fiefdom noble, he had to personally take the lead in this expedition.

The day after he returned to the castle, Angus couldn't wait to send people to the castle to collect the debt, clearly determined to get Lanny's title during this time!

Fortunately, although Ford had left, the Locke Merchant Guild's transactions did not stop. In seven or eight days, the Locke Merchant Guild would send people to transport a batch of goods. If they could scrape together the money, they could still come up with it.

Corrani did not do that, but chose to pay only a portion of it. As for the remaining amount, he could only say that he would pay off the remaining debt and annual tax before setting off on the expedition.

The debt collectors didn't press the matter further, but instead sneered that if Lanny didn't settle these debts on time, Count Enno might force a complete liquidation. With that reason, no one else would be able to say anything!

Lanny knew Angus could do that, but he still didn't choose to pay in full at once. He was worried that if the Earl found out he could pay such a large sum of money, he might cause other problems.

However, Angus's eagerness this time suggests that the risks of this expedition are far greater than he anticipated.

Augustus gave up his bloodline power for love, only to be killed by dozens of barbarians at Dragonfall Ridge. He would never make the same mistake.

Activating the inheritance might mean no children, while not activating it might mean losing yourself. Do I even need to ask which one to choose?

He was already full of curiosity about the magic of this world, and his meditation, which he had been trying to maintain for a long time, had not made any progress. If it weren't for the concerns about the side effects of the activation ritual, he would have tried it long ago. Now that Angus had forced him to this point, he had no room to back down.

So, after returning from Elfen, he got busy with this matter.

Because he had to keep it a secret not only from Melissa and the others, but also from Tiffany, his options for setting up the activation array were really limited.

There was nothing he could do but set it up in his study and cover it with a carpet when someone came. He didn't even dare to try turning it on at night, in case the light was too bright and he couldn't hide it.

In Lanny's view, this bloodline activation ritual is a kind of formation no matter which way you look at it, and it wouldn't be wrong to call it a bloodline activation formation. He now knows the role of the Blue Glow Grass in the formation, and he doesn't believe that it won't glow after it's activated!

These past few days, Melissa has been giving him strange looks and subtly probing what he's been up to, clearly starting to suspect something.

What could he do but grit his teeth and make up excuses to get through it? But he knew he couldn't wait any longer, so even though it was getting dark soon, he didn't care about anything else!

He glanced at the already dimming sky outside the window, then took out the parchment from the Inheritance Box again, smeared it with blood to reveal the last array diagram, and carefully checked it over.

Material location correct!

The loop connection is correct!

Distances of each part are correct...

After completing the final check, Lanny put down the array diagram in his hand, walked to the center of the array, sat cross-legged, picked up the knife and gestured a few times with his thumb, but for a moment he was hesitant to actually do it.

It wasn't that he was afraid of pain, but he had tried several times in the past few days. Although the wounds on his body weren't too big each time, it was impossible for them to heal on the same day. Now they looked rather terrifying.

Should we check it again? If there's another problem, then this surgery would have been for nothing...

After much hesitation, he gave up the idea of ​​getting up to check the formation again.

With a determined look, he made a cut on his finger and dripped the blood into the array eye in front of him. Under his watchful gaze, the blood quickly seeped in.

Although things seemed to be going smoothly, he did not relax and kept a close eye on the formation's reaction.

The last two startups were the same: blood droplets seeped in, and several key nodes flashed, but the light quickly went out and there was no further response, just like an appliance with insufficient power.

He hoped that this time would not be the case. The entire formation had been checked several times, and adjustments had been made to any parts that might have problems. There shouldn't be any issues.

He's not a complete novice when it comes to magic anymore. Through discussing and analyzing the pentagram array with Melissa, he's gained some basic understanding of magic arrays, and some of the circuits in this array are similar to those in the pentagram array.

For example, in the outermost circle, some structures are similar in detail to the magic element absorption circuit of the pentagram array, while in the inner circle adjacent to his body, there is a magic pressure boosting structure with similar features.

Although he couldn't fully understand the formation, he had some guesses of what it was.

In his mind, the function of this formation should be to compress and purify the magical elements in nature using some method, and then forcibly inject them into the body of the target, such as himself!

But there are still a few questions he hasn't quite figured out.

The first issue is the source of the energy driving the formation, that is, the self-sufficiency of the formation!

Because this world lacks things like spirit stones, according to Melissa's explanation, most magic circles require a continuous supply of magic power from the mage to maintain their operation; otherwise, they will quickly cease to function.

The only known method to achieve self-sufficiency is the previous pentagram array, which is why she is interested in such a seemingly useless array.

Regarding the self-sustaining aspect, the two had discussed it many times. Melissa had already conducted in-depth research on this formation, but she was still somewhat confused.

However, things changed when Lanny joined the discussion. Some of his ideas on power line design were very inspiring for Melissa.

That's not surprising. Melissa's research on formations is more based on experience. Oh, this one has this purpose, and the other one has that effect. What would happen if we changed the materials?

This resulted in a lot of material being wasted, and if things were done according to her idea, material consumption would be a major problem.

Lanny's approach is different; he focuses more on the energy changes, that is, the flow and effects of magic, which is closer to the essence of the formation.

Unexpectedly, through their analysis and discussion, they were able to basically define the scope of the self-sustaining component, but it is not yet possible to extract it separately for independent use!

However, Lanny did not find a similar part in this bloodline activation array. So how is the self-sustaining part of this array achieved? It can't just rely on a few drops of blood that he dripped in, can it?

It's possible that the blood is the source of magic to activate the magic circle, but how could it possibly provide a continuous power supply?

Secondly, there is the issue of leaps in one's realm, which is the kind of enlightenment often seen in martial arts novels!

It's quite strange, really. The materials used in this formation aren't exactly precious or rare, yet it can achieve such powerful functions.

It should be noted that the ultimate goal of this formation is to grant the recipient strength comparable to that of a great mage.

Lanny even felt that if he could understand this mechanism, the Black Vine Seed on Melissa would not be a problem!