Chapter 32: Irrigation Problems

"Building houses has nothing to do with management and construction!"

Lin Murphy shouted in complaint.

"It's pretty much the same as those management games where you have to build houses, right?"

"Not even close! Besides, in those games I could just click the mouse to build a house. In this game, I actually have to do it with my own hands."

"Then do it. Isn't the whole point of playing this game for the realism? The wood you're using to build the house came from trees I chopped down one by one."

Ethan Carter recounted his early struggles in the game.

"You had it easy. You could complete the quests right in town. Back then, we had to go deep into the forest to chop trees and almost got wiped out by an Ursaring."

"Plus, that quest was time sensitive and gave a ton of Poké Dollars. If I didn't have farming to do, I would've taken that quest immediately."

"Farming? You can farm in this game?"

Lin Murphy immediately caught the keyword.

"Of course. This game is basically a real world, so of course you can farm."

"The plot of land I'm farming was a reward from completing the tree chopping quest. That quest isn't available now, but you can rent land with Poké Dollars."

To encourage new players to start farming quickly, Leon had issued a new decree allowing players to spend a certain amount of Poké Dollars to obtain the right to use farmland.

What? You don't have any money?

No problem. The kind Lord Leon also offered interest free loans so new players could experience the joy of farming!

"Then why should I build houses? I should just go farm instead."

Lin Murphy was confused.

"Because all the Digletts have been borrowed by the NPC villagers. Even if you rent land now, you won't be able to cultivate it in time. You might as well earn some money these next few days so you'll have less debt later."

"What's a Diglett?"

"A Diglett is... Ugh, it's hard to explain right now. Just trust me on this."

"Fine, I'll take the quest!"

Though Lin Murphy didn't fully understand Ethan's explanation, he knew Ethan wouldn't steer him wrong, so he accepted the house repair quest.

"Good choice. Go finish the quest first. I need to get back to farming. If you have any questions, come find me anytime. My farmland is at..."

After giving the exact location of his plot, Ethan parted ways with Lin Murphy and returned to his farming duties.

The situation was similar for other veteran players and newcomers.

After explaining the basics of the game, veteran players would recommend that newcomers start with a quest from the quest board to get some practice.

On one hand, it would earn them some Poké Dollars. On the other, it would help the newcomers learn more about the game.

Because of this, veteran players didn't take any quests today. The daily quests were limited in number, so they left them for the newcomers while they focused on farming.

When Leon woke up and inspected the territory, he was pleased with how things were going.

Both veteran and new players were working hard to develop the territory, and there were no unexpected incidents.

The new players were all taking the game seriously, with no troublemakers among them.

The veteran player referral system seemed to be working well, as the quality of these newcomers was high.

Just as Leon was feeling good about the thriving state of affairs, he noticed a problem.

Both the NPCs and players were using manual labor to carry water for irrigation, which was highly inefficient.

This puzzled Leon. The NPCs doing this was understandable, given their outdated farming methods.

But why were the players also using such primitive methods?

After asking a few players, Leon learned that it wasn't because they didn't want more advanced irrigation methods, but because the conditions simply didn't allow it.

Leon's territory had many rivers, and the distance between them and the farmland wasn't far.

Because of this, the NPCs had always carried water from the rivers using buckets for irrigation.

The players naturally didn't want to use such a labor intensive method.

They tried to find a more efficient irrigation solution.

But after researching, they realized irrigation wasn't an easy problem to solve.

In the real world, ancient people would dig wells near farmland for easy water access.

But the players lacked the tools and knowledge to dig wells, so they abandoned that idea.

They then considered making irrigation tools like waterwheels.

But large scale irrigation tools weren't as easy to make as seed drills.

After struggling for a while, the players couldn't even make a basic waterwheel, let alone a more complex chain pump.

They decided to wait and see if any new players had carpentry skills to help with construction.

But that would take time, and the seeds had already been planted. They needed water now, so they couldn't afford to wait.

In the end, they had no choice but to use the same manual method as the NPCs.

After understanding the situation, Leon fell into thought.

Irrigation was indeed a major issue. If not resolved quickly, the players would spend all their time hauling water instead of doing anything else.

This would not only delay their progress but also dampen their enthusiasm for the game.

After all, no one wanted to play a water carrying simulator.

The players had already considered all possible solutions, leaving Leon with no immediate alternatives.

Should they really wait for a new player with carpentry skills to make irrigation tools?

But that was too uncertain. There might not even be such a player among the newcomers, and even if there was, it would take time to make the tools.

The players could wait, but the seeds couldn't.

"Ugh, problems just keep piling up. Can't I get a break? Huh? Wait a second!"

Leon sighed and absentmindedly touched the Poké Balls on his belt.

"Damn it, why did I let these players influence me so much?"

Leon smacked his forehead in frustration.

"I was so focused on real world irrigation methods that I forgot this is the Pokémon world! Who needs waterwheels when we have Water type Pokémon?"

Just two days ago, he had recruited Digletts to help with plowing. How could he forget about using Pokémon for irrigation?

Once again, Pokémon were the ultimate solution!

With this realization, Leon stopped inspecting the territory and returned to the castle.

First, he checked the courtyard for any Water type Pokémon.

After looking around, he found mostly Grass and Bug types, with no Water types in sight.

It seemed he'd have to go out and "convince" another group of Pokémon to join him.

Leon didn't waste time. He made quick preparations, took Bounsweet and the others with him, and informed Walter before leaving.

Then, he set out beyond the territory to search for Water type Pokémon.

Unbeknownst to him, a pair of eyes hidden in the shadows watched him intently.

"That must be the mission target. He's finally left the territory. Arbok, let's follow him!"

"Ssseviper!"