Chapter 170: Research

Chapter 170: Chapter 170: Research

Before exiting the grand briefing hall, Rowan pulled three polished, velvet-lined mahogany crates directly from his spatial storage. He set them gently onto the heavy ironwood table, lifting the lids to reveal a radiant spread of Sun-Crystalline Eden Apples, Amethyst-Gold Peaches, and a dozen freshly harvested Sun-Gilded Jade Avocados pulsing with golden life force.

"A small gesture of appreciation for the Crown’s continued support, Your Imperial Majesty," Rowan said smoothly, resting his hand over his coat. "Consider these a fresh restock for the royal dining table."

Emperor Aurelius stepped closer, a warm, genuine smile breaking across his sovereign features as he took in the uncorrupted, topaz-and-amethyst glow radiating from the fruits. Knowing full well how Princess Lyra had already raved about their miraculous vitality-restoring properties after their recent tower trials, the Emperor nodded with deep approval.

"Your generosity does your house great credit, Rowan," Aurelius said warmly, resting a broad hand on the edge of the crate. "The imperial house will enjoy these immensely. Travel safely back to your fields."

Tipping the brim of his Enchanted Straw Hat, Rowan offered a polite bow and made his exit. Stepping back onto the private marble helipad, he boarded the waiting black-and-gold imperial helicopter. The heavy rotor blades roared to life, lifting the aircraft smoothly into the sky as the capital spires receded into the background.

The flight back was peaceful. Rowan leaned against the plush leather seat, watching the sprawling capital landscape give way to the familiar, rolling green hills of Sol-Aethel. Minutes later, the helicopter descended over Sunny Vale, parting the protective barrier of the Imperial Grand Array before touching down softly on the open pasture.

As the engines wound down, Rowan stepped off into the fresh, crisp breeze of his homestead. Waiting near the porch were Arthur and Martha, waving warmly to see their son return. Walking across the familiar, energy-rich earth of his home, Rowan felt a deep sense of calm settle over his chest.

With his rivals evaluated, his family resting peacefully, and his fields thriving under his care, he was completely grounded and ready for whatever the Global Tournament would bring.

***

Heading upstairs to his bedroom in the peaceful quiet of Sunny Vale, Rowan closed the door and stepped straight across the spatial boundary into [Domain: The Virgin Soil]. Walking across the soft, mana-rich loam, he made his way to the colossal World Tree at the absolute center of his realm and climbed into the quiet wooden sanctuary nestled within its sprawling branches.

Sitting down at the rustic table, Rowan pulled forward the ancient parchment logbook left behind by Malakor, the legendary author and ancient pioneer. Unfolding the yellowed pages to where he had left off, Rowan traced his fingers over the glowing, handwritten script.

Malakor’s entries laid bare the true, staggering purpose of their shared craft. It was not merely about harvesting high-grade crops or amassing fortune—it was a heavy, cosmic responsibility to return the universe to its pristine origin.

By cultivating plants, flora, and herbs back into their uncorrupted primordial forms, a true master gardener held the power to purge atmospheric mana decay, restore broken planetary leylines, and heal the dying fabric of the world itself.

Rowan read with quiet intensity, feeling the immense weight of Malakor’s words echo through his chest.

However, as he reached the bottom of the page and attempted to turn to the next section, the dark ink suddenly flared with a dense, blinding violet-gold radiance. The ancient glyphs began to warp and drift across the parchment, becoming entirely incomprehensible.

An intense mental pressure washed over Rowan’s mind, accompanied by a firm system notification:

[System Alert: Knowledge Threshold Locked]

[Host’s Current Level and Cultivation Depth are Insufficient to Bear the Understanding and Responsibility of the Content Beyond]

Rowan tried to focus his mana perception to pierce through the blurred script, but a sharp throbbing in his temples warned him that his current spiritual foundation was simply not ready to process higher-order primordial laws.

Smiling faintly, Rowan leaned back in his chair and gently closed the logbook, adjusting the brim of his Enchanted Straw Hat. Malakor’s legacy was vast, and while Rowan’s Lv. 5 Breath of Eden had brought him far, he still had plenty of levels to gain before he was ready to carry the full weight of the universe on his shoulders.

Leaving the rustic sanctuary beneath the World Tree, Rowan descended the winding root-staircase and stepped out onto the expansive, energy-rich fields of [Domain: The Virgin Soil]. The domain’s sky radiated a warm, golden glow, illuminating rows of primordial crops that had reached peak maturity.

Equipping the Hoe of the World-Tiller, Rowan moved down the plots with practiced, fluid efficiency. With his newly elevated Lv. 5 Breath of Eden humming through his core, every strike of the divine tool cleanly extracted the produce without shedding a single drop of concentrated vitality mana.

Rowan systematically gathered a massive, high-tier yield directly into his spatial inventory:

Orchard Yields: Heavy, glowing branches of Amethyst-Gold Peaches, Sun-Crystalline Eden Apples, and massive, dark-green Ancient Avocados pulsing with pure earth mana.

Field Crops: Sheaves of golden Aether-Thread Wheat, vibrant clusters of Azure Dew Berries, crisp Mature Frost-Melons, and fiery Ignis-Bloom Sweet Peppers.

With the pristine harvest safely locked in stasis, Rowan centered his focus on the domain’s boundary and willed his return. Space folded around him in a quiet emerald ripple, depositing him back into his bedroom on the second floor of the Sunny Vale estate.

Rowan unclasped his Enchanted Straw Hat, hanging it on the familiar wooden peg beside the wide glass window. Leaning his forearms against the sill, he looked out over the sprawling fifty acres of Sunny Vale.

Down below, every perfectly aligned row of spirit crops glistened under the moonlight, humming softly within the dual protective threshold of his Earthen Ward and the Imperial Grand Array.

Everything was in perfect order—his parents were resting comfortably, his trade network was booming, and his domain was flourishing. Rowan took a long, grounding breath, ready for whatever the Global Awakener’s Tournament would throw his way.

***

Rowan pulled up his chair, turned on his computer, and launched his high-performance research interface. With the Global Awakener’s Tournament quickly approaching, he initiated a deep, AI-driven synthesis on the ancient, legendary flora mentioned by Emperor Aurelius: Silphium.

Within seconds, the holographic monitor flickered as the AI cross-referenced historical archives, ancient botanical texts, and pre-collision geological data, compiling a comprehensive report on the monitor screen:

[AI Deep Research Dossier: Silphium (Laserpicium)]

Botanical Family: Apiaceae (distantly related to giant fennel/ferula).

Historical Status: Extinct for approximately 2,000 years. Native strictly to a narrow coastal steppe in Cyrenaica (modern-day Libya).

Historical Value: Worth its weight in silver. Ancient Roman chroniclers recorded that Julius Caesar stored over a thousand pounds of processed Silphium resin inside the state treasury alongside bars of pure gold. Its distinctive heart-shaped seed pod was even stamped onto silver coinage (and believed to be the historical origin of the modern heart symbol).

Medicinal & Culinary Uses: Considered the ancient world’s ultimate "miracle cure-all". Produced a fragrant, golden-yellow resin used as a royal aromatic, a luxury culinary seasoning, a broad-spectrum analgesic/anti-inflammatory, an antiseptic, and a potent natural contraceptive.

Cause of Extinction: Overharvesting, overgrazing by livestock, and severe soil degradation following Roman provincial expansion. According to Pliny the Elder, the very last recorded stalk ever found was harvested and sent to Emperor Nero in the 1st Century AD as a rare curiosity.

[Crucial Botanical Challenge: The "Wild Refusal"]

Ancient scholars, including Theophrastus, explicitly documented that Silphium could never be cultivated by traditional human farming. Whenever farmers attempted to sow its seeds in tilled soil, fertilize it, or tame its fields, the plant withered, rotted, or lost its medicinal potency. It demanded untouched, pristine wild earth with absolute mineral and biological balance.

Rowan leaned back in his leather chair, a slow, knowing smirk spreading across his face as he adjusted his Enchanted Straw Hat.

"So that’s why the Council of Nations chose Silphium," Rowan murmured to himself.

The challenge was brilliant—and a complete trap for modern harvesters.

Competitors like Gabriel Bernard would undoubtedly try to nourish the seed with rich French compost and mineral-heavy soil, which would cause the wild plant to instantly rot. Tian Yu would likely attempt to force the seed awake using aggressive Tianshan mountain arrays and high-density elemental mana, which would shatter the ancient seed’s fragile, dormant cellular structure.

They were all bound by the same fundamental mistake: trying to tame and force nature.

Rowan glanced toward the window, thinking of the vast, untouched expanse of [Domain: The Virgin Soil]. His domain wasn’t just farm earth—it was literally the uncorrupted, wild, primordial foundation of creation, completely free of modern mana pollutants and human forcing. Combined with his Lv. 5 Breath of Eden and Primordial Spring Water, reviving a plant that "refused cultivation" wouldn’t be a struggle.

Closing the AI dossier with a light click, Rowan smiled calmly. The Global Tournament was going to be an absolute masterclass.

***

Scrolling to the very bottom of the screen, Rowan’s eyes caught a tiny, highlighted footnote appended to the AI research dossier:

[Expedition Note — Confidential Archive]: During deep-sea archaeological excavations of the submerged ruins of Atlantis, petrified fossil samples and preserved seed capsules of the Silphium plant were discovered buried beneath the ocean floor’s volcanic silt.

Rowan leaned back, a low chuckle escaping his lips as the final piece of the puzzle fell into place.

The standard historical narrative claimed Silphium was simply overharvested on coastal plains, but the truth was far more profound: its true origin was tied to the hyper-dense, uncorrupted aquatic-terrestrial leylines of the ancient world before the ocean claimed Atlantis. It wasn’t merely a terrestrial herb—it required a delicate harmony of mineral-rich aquatic silt and pristine hydro-mana to thrive.

Why the Competition Will Fail

Gabriel Bernard: Will attempt to cultivate the specimen in dry, heavily composted French soil, completely ignoring the plant’s ancient ocean-silt heritage.

Tian Yu: Will try to force the seed using frigid, high-altitude mountain arrays, which will instantly calcify and shatter the delicate cellular matrix.

Rowan’s Winning Formula

Primordial Soil: Anchor the ancient strain within the untouched, wild earth of [Domain: The Virgin Soil].

Aquatic Leyline Replication: Irrigate the plot using the hydro-balanced flow of the Vessel of the Eternal Tide blended with Primordial Spring Water.

Vitality Activation: Channel a steady pulse of Lv. 5 Breath of Eden to purge two thousand years of ocean-floor stagnation and gently wake the dormant core.

Closing the research terminal, Rowan leaned back and adjusted his Enchanted Straw Hat with a quiet, confident smile. The Council of Nations believed they were giving the world’s best harvesters an impossible botanical puzzle, but Rowan already held the exact primordial conditions needed to make an Atlantis-buried legend bloom once more.