Chapter 158. Making rare lands daily? Piece of cake!

Carlos did not let anyone touch the tomatoes after the first explosion. He let them sit on the ground and not even touch the stems. If one fell through natural measures, it would make another small explosion.

And these explosions weren't really lethal but they did damage the soil by loosening it a lot more than needed.

Kaia arrived after Tarin ran from the field to get her, as everyone's instinct told them to always do. She looked at the small crater, then at the red fruit still hanging from the vine.

"What did this?" she asked.

"You didn't hear the explosion?"

"Was there an explosion?" she asked warily and looked at the walls. Then she made her way forward to check the soil. "It really was an explosion but I didn't hear it. My apologies, my lord."

"It was a small one but we need to be alert."

"But what did this?"

Carlos pointed toward Rowan.

"This man evolved and decided to upgrade tomatoes to exploding ones"

Kaia looked at Rowan for a long moment.

The Dryad was floating a little above the soil beside the tomato row. White pieces of cloth moved around him slowly while he examined the vine like it was a normal farming job.

"Wow, look at him. Can I evolve like that too?" Kaia asked.

Carlos checked and shrugged his shoulders. "It doesn't say, but you are not really a barrack troop to begin with, Kaia."

Kaia nodded but there was a small pout on her face.

She went back to business and looked at the tomatoes on the ground, "Can he make more?" Kaia asked.

"Yeah if he did it once, there can be more. But we need to find out everything about these ones before we do that," Carlos said.

Rowan looked up.

"The fruit only reacts after it leaves the vine. Do not pull it carelessly. If it falls, it will do what it is supposed to."

Kaia nodded once.

"Then I will make a safe place for it."

She called two Shield Militia over and led them toward the unused southern side of Ironroot. Carlos did not need to tell her why a crop that exploded on impact should not be growing near the kitchen.

Carlos watched old stones get moved into place.

Mira came to the row next. She stood far enough away that Carlos noticed it.

"Can it still be eaten?" she asked.

"No," Carlos said at once.

"I was asking because it is still like a tomato."

"It is not going near your kitchen, statement" he replied.

Mira gave him a look, then turned to Rowan.

"Can the trait pass to seeds and wow you are floating now?" she spoke while looking at him go up and up in the air until it was like he was laying on a sky bed.

Rowan looked at the vine again. His green eyes did not move for several seconds but they sort of blinked once.

"Maybe. The plant is holding the change. I need to let the seeds mature before I say it will pass on."

Mira nodded but sighed, "Truly a sad thing we can't eat it." She went away after that, losing interest over it.

Carlos looked at the small crater again. This one was dangerous and Rowan did it so casually. What was going to be the next?

The first day of Rowan's new life was not going to end with one tomato vine.

Carlos led everyone toward the empty ground beside the southern fields. It had been claimed land for a while, but it was still ordinary soil. The area was flat and dry, with only a few weeds growing through it.

"Time to use your skill, buddy. We need that Rare Farmland" Carlos spoke while nudging him.

Rowan looked across it.

"Three hundred square meters. That is what the System said."

"Do it."

Rowan walked to the center of the empty section.

For a moment, nothing happened. Then a root came out of the Spirit Farmland behind them.

It moved beneath the ground like something swimming under clear water. More roots followed. They crossed the open land in lines before joining together beneath Rowan's feet.

The soil changed.

The dry top layer cracked apart. Small stones sank into the earth. The ground became dark, loose, and rich enough that Carlos could smell it from where he stood.

A shallow water path formed along one side of the new land. It was not a channel built with stone. It was a natural dip in the soil, made to carry water without drowning the roots.

The System panel appeared.

--

[Worldroot Expansion complete]

[Rare Farmland created: 300 square meters]

[Next use available in: 23:59:59]

--

Rowan looked at the new ground with a serious face. "It is Rare Farmland now, but it still needs hands, seeds, and water. Do not think a good field works alone."

Carlos nodded. The System had given them better land, not a reason for everybody else to stop working.

He understood.

Tarin stepped onto the edge of it and stopped.

"This is better than the prepared land," he said.

"It is Rare Farmland," Rowan replied. "It should be."

Sela crouched and picked up a handful of soil. It did not clump in her hand even though it was damp.

Carlos looked at the field and felt the same thing he had felt when he saw the three thousand wheat in his inventory.

It was not just more land. It was three hundred square meters of land that most young Lords would never be able to afford.

"Do you need help of the Spirit Farmland every time?"

"No, I felt it to be faster if I did that, my lord. But fear not, nothing will happen to the Spirit Farmland as it isn't ordinary," he spoke while looking at it.

"Anything interesting aside from its spirit land Epic grade status?"

Rowan looked at it and nodded. "I can feel a very strong energy at the center of the farmland, that is pouring in rich and nourished energy directly in the soil regularly. I don't think land will ever be non-fertile, the energy is abyssally large."

"I see." Carlos felt like this should surprise him but at the end of the day, this was Epic grade farmland. It was supposed to be this good.

Mira came closer this time after seeing the new land.

"What grows here?"

Carlos looked at Rowan.

"Not everything," Rowan said. "Rare land is not a place to throw every common seed because you are excited. We use it for the things that can become more valuable with better soil."

Carlos nodded.

"The Water-touched cucumber seeds. The Sunseed crop. Any rare seed we get later."

"And the tomato?" Kaia asked from behind them.

Rowan looked toward the fenced row being made in the distance.

"Not until we know whether it spreads its trait."

"Then we make a small test row first," Carlos said. "If the seeds work, we grow more. If they don't, we only lose a few plants instead of blowing up the whole southern field."

Kaia looked toward the temporary fence and gave a short nod. That was a plan she could support.

There was one Life Bloom charge left for the day.

Carlos took Rowan to the protected cucumber beds. Four Water-touched cucumber vines had been growing there under supervision. Their leaves held the same faint blue lines as the fruit that had first given them the seeds.

Rowan touched one of the vines gently.

"This one is healthy," he said. "It can take it."

Carlos did not need to ask what he meant.

Green light gathered under Rowan's fingers. It passed through the vine, down its stem, and into the soil.

The cucumber plant grew before their eyes.

Its leaves spread wider. New flowers opened, then closed. A pale cucumber formed beneath them and thickened until blue lines appeared along its skin.

The panel above it changed.

--

[Water-touched Clearwater Cucumber]

[Maturation complete]

[Trait stability: High]

--

Mira put both hands over her mouth for a moment.

"That took days before," she said.

"Not anymore," Carlos replied.

Rowan looked at the cucumber, then toward the new Rare Farmland.

"The sixty percent faster growth has already started. Tomorrow, we move the protected seedlings. We will keep records before we decide what this land can do."

Carlos was happy Rowan still wanted records. A stronger Rowan had not stopped being careful.

By evening, the Impactburst Tomato vine stood behind a temporary fence. The new Rare Farmland waited with dark water lines across it. The cucumber vine rested under the Living Scarecrow's watch.

Mira had the three thousand wheat counted and placed in storage. Kaia had marked the southern test ground. Tarin and Sela were already arguing quietly about where the first seed rows should go.

Carlos stood beside Rowan near the Spirit Farmland.

Ironroot was no longer only trying to cook enough food for tomorrow.

It had a Dryad who could turn plain land into Rare Farmland, make crops mature with a hand, and create plants nobody else had, at least it felt like that.

Carlos looked across the territory and smiled.

Now it could grow faster than the people watching it.