Chapter 32: Sowing Seeds
Zhao Hai was in the study room, which also served as the Green's preparation room. There were some books inside, although not many, mostly consisting of account books. However, there was no shortage of paper and pens.
To Zhao Hai's surprise, he found that the pens here were divided into several types. Some were made from bird feathers, some from animal bones, and there were also fountain pens made of metal, writing brushes, coal-made pencils, and other similar items. This variety of writing tools fascinated Zhao Hai and broadened his horizons.
However, Zhao Hai couldn't help but feel speechless when it came to the paper. It wasn't the white paper he had imagined, but rather yellow, similar to the kraft paper he had seen in his childhood. The paper was very hard and much drier than kraft paper.
Seeing this, Zhao Hai couldn't help but be speechless. In Adam's memories, there were plenty of love affairs and stories about horses and dogs, but there was no memory of these paper-related matters. It was evident that he had a different background before.
Zhao Hai took a charcoal pencil and quickly drew the shape of a stone mill and an edge runner on the paper, then showed it to Secure. Secure looked at the drawing and immediately said, "Young Master, I can make this. We usually use a similar tool when grinding rice, although it's not exactly the same, it's similar."
Zhao Hai nodded with relief and said, "Good, you can do it. Meg, gather a group of 40 men and let Secure teach them how to make these two tools. Make several of them because we have many people here, and I'm afraid there won't be enough."
Meg agreed, and Zhao Hai continued, "The remaining ten men will go to the mountain to cut grass and gather hay. Then, the women under Chrysanthemum's supervision will arrange the grass. They need to hang up the straw mats in all the rooms as quickly as possible. Also, if anyone has any skills or crafts, they can come to you. Inform me as well. Tell the slaves that if they feel that sleeping on the ground is too cold, they can spread some corn stalks on the ground. We have very few resources at the moment, and they can't afford to sleep on beds. However, resting on the ground for too long can make them sick. By spreading several layers of corn stalks, they can use them as makeshift beds."
Meg nodded in understanding. He knew that at present, the slaves had nothing to do. Zhao Hai's land hadn't been developed yet, and the mine tunnel had been cleared. There was really nothing specific for them to work on.
After giving the instructions, Zhao Hai and a few others left the study room. As they entered the living room, they met Merine, who had prepared breakfast. Merine invited them to have breakfast.
During breakfast, Zhao Hai explained the tasks he had assigned. Merine didn't object and thought that Zhao Hai's arrangements were appropriate, especially the tool for grinding rice. It was a good idea.
After breakfast, Meg immediately began to assign manpower according to Zhao Hai's instructions. Stonehead/stone and the others went to find suitable stones for making the edge runner and grinding pan, while the women were responsible for arranging the straw mats. The entire castle became busy.
Meanwhile, Zhao Hai and Meg left the castle and headed to the canyon from the lake. There was no immediate danger, so Merine didn't need to accompany them, allowing her to relax.
As they walked along the lakeshore, Zhao Hai couldn't help but think about how he could set sail soon. However, they didn't have the materials for shipbuilding, nor did they have anyone skilled in sailing. For now, all he could do was ponder.
After a while, they arrived at the canyon. Zhao Hai checked the land he had improved the previous day and found no changes. The improved area was still ten mu in size.
Merine suggested, "Young Master, shall we have the slaves come here tomorrow to till the soil and plant the crops?"
But Zhao Hai shook his head. He wanted to conduct an experiment with this land. He couldn't forget the prompt he received when he touched the small shovel. That small shovel could be used outside of Space and improve ten mu of land each day. He wanted to see if he could control the seeds and water brought over from Space. If he could, he could improve ten mu of land every day.
Seeing Zhao Hai shake his head, Merine knew he had other plans and didn't say anything. She just looked at Zhao Hai, curious about what he was going to do.
With a thought, Zhao Hai summoned the small shovel from Space. It immediately started turning the soil. Zhao Hai then thought about sowing seeds, and the corn seeds flew out from Space, landing on the freshly turned soil. Zhao Hai anxiously checked and saw that the seeds had been buried. He felt relieved.
However, Zhao Hai noticed a problem. This shovel, along with the seeds, could only move within a ten mu range outside of Space. It couldn't handle more complex tasks. The shovel could only turn the soil, and the seeds could only be sown. Zhao Hai also wanted to try using Spatial Water, but he couldn't use the water from Space to improve the land. He couldn't use the water from Space outside of Space.
Zhao Hai was somewhat dissatisfied. If he could control the water from Space, it might become his weapon. Unfortunately, the water from Space could only be used for irrigation and not much else once it left Space.
Although Zhao Hai was dissatisfied, Merine was shocked. She hadn't expected Zhao Hai to be able to farm using this method. It was incredible.
After two hours, the ten mu of land had been improved. The small shovel automatically returned to Space, and the seeds appeared once again. Although it was not yet ten mu, Zhao Hai was satisfied. He could improve ten mu a day and plant ten mu. It was just right.
Looking at the improved land, Zhao Hai turned to Merine and asked, "Grandma Merine, did you use Water element Magic to irrigate this?"
Merine snapped back to her senses and nodded. She walked to the nearby pool and began chanting an incantation. She chanted for quite a while, and soon, water energy emerged from the pool. The water vapor condensed into light rain, gently falling on the land. This was an artificial rain, and Zhao Hai found it fascinating.
However, Zhao Hai didn't know that not all magicians could achieve this level. Only advanced-level magicians like Merine could do so, and this was considered auxiliary magic, not offensive magic. It was much simpler than offensive magic.
Merine had excellent control over magic. Soon, the land became moist enough. She stopped her magic.
Zhao Hai looked at the ten mu of improved land with a sense of accomplishment. He turned to Merine and said, "Grandma Merine, although this land can't make crops mature as quickly as in Space, it serves as our foundation for settling down. I'm afraid that one day the Space will disappear, so improving the land is our top priority."
Merine's expression changed upon hearing this, and she quickly said, "May the gods bless us. I hope that Young Master's Space will always remain."
Zhao Hai smiled faintly and turned to walk towards the cave. Although he was satisfied with the progress, he wished he could enter Space earlier. However, they didn't have the materials for shipbuilding or anyone with sailing skills, so he had to be patient for now.
As they walked, they heard the sound of workers chanting coming from a small cave not far away. Zhao Hai and Merine followed the sound and found Stonehead leading a group of workers lifting stones out of the cave.
Zhao Hai hurried over and took a look at the stones. Of course, he couldn't assess their quality, but he wanted to see if they were large enough.
Indeed, the stones weren't very regular in shape. They were about 1.5 meters tall, with a minimum diameter of around three meters and a maximum diameter of about five meters. It was clear that they were heavy. The workers had tied ropes around the stones and were lifting them out of the cave.
Zhao Hai quickly said, "Alright, you can put down the stones. I'll take care of them. You can go back to work."
The workers looked puzzled, but Stonehead understood what was going on. Zhao Hai wanted to bring the stones back to Space. He hadn't explained this to Stonehead before, but now he said, "Alright, everyone, put down the stones. Stonehead, I'll take care of them. You don't need to worry about it."
Although the workers were puzzled, they didn't dare to disobey Zhao Hai's orders. They immediately put the stones down, and Stonehead untied the ropes.
As they watched the stones lying on the ground without ropes, Zhao Hai waved his hand and stored them in the Space Warehouse. Stonehead and the others were shocked to see this mysterious ability. Although there were Space tools on the continent, they were usually only used by powerful nobles. Small nobles couldn't afford them, let alone slaves like Stonehead and the others. They had only heard about them but had never seen them used before.
Stonehead and the others couldn't help but think that their master was an incredibly powerful magician. Zhao Hai ignored their thoughts and followed Merine back to the castle. On the way, they saw several male slaves cutting grass on the mountain.
Zhao Hai didn't help them transport the grass since it was light and easy for the slaves to carry.
When they returned to the castle, they saw many women sitting in the square, guided by Meg and Chrysanthemum, arranging straw mats. Some women were carrying corn stalks from the castle to the rooms where the slaves lived.