Novel Full Chapter 153 - Foraging Frenzy
Aiden arrived in Zera Town expecting to continue Griffith's work after the pygmy dwarf updated him on the building projects required in the undeveloped town. However, he wasn't expecting to be thrown in charge of building the barn, goat pen, dairy farm, apiary and irrigation system for the various crops found.
Rino apologised for his hasty leave as he loaded the sky palanquin with dug up spuds that wouldn't grow on this soil. At the same time, the spectres were helping him sort out new foraged items that Rino wanted to bring to Noir Province and test the farming theory. Large amounts of salt rocks were loaded, and the lich explained the situation as best as he could.
"We found some new types of seeds, and a recent discovery that salt was a natural fertiliser changed the whole farming plan. I'm sorry to leave you in charge of Zera's construction projects for a few days. Don't worry if you cannot finish everything. Get the spectres to assist you in anything. They don't have much to do now in the tannery."
The pygmy dwarf barely nodded before Mutt came running to inform his master they were ready to depart. Everything happened so quickly that by the time the sky palanquin took to the sky, Aiden was still trying to wrap his head around the things Rino told him.
Up in the sky in the palanquin, Rino checked his quest. The previous quest was completed within a night as the fairies turned in their findings. The seeds were not difficult to get after they found the correct plants. With a little nature magic and some mana imbued water, these plants grew endlessly. They had a surplus supply to share with Noir Province to see if it could be duplicated in the swampy or cold soils. The rice would definitely appreciate a wetter condition in the swamp to grow in, or so Rino thought.
There was another reason why Rino was so hasty to leave Zera even when his mana wasn't completely recovered. He had a few days left before the main quest reset, and Rino needed to be back when the gods gave him a new quest.
Scouring the area near Town Zera, Rino already identified a huge heap of edible crops they could try planting. However, he realised that he never once found more edible crops within Noir Province. With the new foraging skill, Rino was excited to see if he could find some of his favourite things from the previous world near the swamp and forest around Spudville.
One of those things had to be coffee - the best beverage ever invented. Rino missed that bitter-tasting liquid full of adrenaline-pumping effects. He remembered how he used to drink sixteen cups when he had research to conduct over three nights without a wink of sleep. Of course, he fell immensely sick after that from having a hole in his stomach lining drinking that stuff without eating much or sleeping. The doctors gave him an earful, and the magicians in the tower put his coffee supply under strict monitoring. Poor Rino could only have two cups a day after that incident, but there was no stomach lining or restrictions to coffee that the magician needed to worry about in this new world. He could drink himself into a caffeine-induced dance, and nobody could stop him.
Even as they flew across the landscape, if Rino activated his foraging skill under a new passive skill tab, he could hear the information in his mind assisted by the system's voice about the type of plant life found in the area.
The foraging skill was basically a walking encyclopaedia about this world's plant life, and Rino was amazed when it told him the uses of plants. Some were poisonous. Others were carnivorous. For those that were edible, the foraging skill would include a small suggestion on edible parts. Rino only wished that it would let him know the best way to cook it. However, there wasn't a need to concern himself with that. Kragami and the ladies in Spudville would be more than happy to help with this concern.
Boosted by Rino's magic, they arrived in Noir Province in half the time four spectres would require to fly the sky palanquin. Rino noted how the magic consumption of travelling in such a manner was significantly lesser than if he teleported. After he built a few more sky palanquins, Rino would commission one specifically for his use. It was more comfortable than flying, especially during the day and used less mana than he was comfortable with, even if it did take a while to fly to and fro. For non-emergency travelling, this was a very ideal method.
When the sky palanquin docked in Spudville, Rino left the unloading to Fronzo and quickly told Erika what he wanted to be done. The secretary listened and wrote everything down, assuring Rino that the villagers would see to the agricultural experiments. He did not know if crossbreeding potatoes would make the new hybrid more durable, but he wanted to see if there was something called an ultimate spud.
It was totally not for the sake of finding the best way to grow them so that he could turn everything in for more GF credits!
Yet, Rino walked over to the granary and emptied out whatever the farmers harvested for more GF credits. He reasoned that it was needed. The new honeybee purchases needed GF credits, and while the apiary was a work in progress, Rino wanted to save up enough in case a new sale or item was introduced.
Excited to test his new foraging skill, Rino did not stay long. Instead, he summoned Mutt and ran towards the direction of the forest that Fowler and his team often hunted in. Rino did not want to teleport there because he would miss out on many sights along the way.
Compared to the speed of running in the jungle to get to the new town, Mutt was going at a very slow jog so that his master could slowly take in all the plant life that he never noticed before.
The forest offered many interesting plant life, and occasionally, Rino would tell Mutt to stop so he could harvest them and add them in the toad skin dimensional storage bag. Apart from many oak trees, ferns, berry bushes and wild potatoes, Rino discovered that tomatoes, carrots and onions were hiding in this forest so close to his farm. How did nobody notice them?
Then again, without the help of his foraging skill, he would not notice it either. They were not very noticeable and often hid the delicious parts under soils or in leaves. The tomatoes were not red. Even when ripe, they were green. This puzzled Rino, who was used to seeing a mushy paste of red in some of his meals. Tomato fruits were very popular in the empire, and they used tomatoes for everything from soup to sauce.
As they reached the king toad forest territory, the plant life started to change a little. Here, there were more leafy vegetables and fruits. Rinocollected one or two of everything new he found. However, the most interesting discovery was this long pod-like fruit from the tree that resembled nothing like coffee. Yet, the description his foraging skill told him matched what he was looking for.
The brown pods held bitter nut-like seeds that tasted bitter but had an invigorating effect. Rino did not stop at one. He harvested almost half the tree for these brown pod fruits, leaving only a few greenish pods hanging. He wanted these pods, and if they proved to be coffee, he would demand a cup of it.
Kragami might not be a coffee lover, but Rino knew he appreciated tea. Fortunately for his magic teacher, there were several bushes of what looked like suitable wild tea leaves. The flowers were small, but there was no mistaking the jasmine flower from the east in his previous world. They even smelled the same, and without the foraging skill to prompt him that there was a plant hiding behind boulders, Rino would miss it completely.
The bag had some space left even after Rino found the coffee that this world had to offer. Hence, he decided to run with Mutt all the way to Cypress County. He wanted to know what the swamp had to offer.
Sure enough, as they got closer to the swamp, the leafy vegetables became scarcer. Instead, there were many strange weed-like grasses and flowers on trees. Some vines and creeping parasitic plants were considered edible by the foraging expert in his head. In fact, most of these plants were herbs that contained medicinal properties Rino never knew about.
He harvested everything and was amazed that what he thought looked like a poisonous mushroom was a longevity herb that helps in anti-ageing even though it was useless to the undead. The only person who might find this strange mushroom's effect useful had to be Kragami. Rino looked forward to seeing his teacher's reaction when he told him what this mushroom did.