Chapter 165. A Field Worth Paying For

Chapter 165: 165. A Field Worth Paying For

Carlos read the cucumber panel before asking Rowan anything.

--

[Water-touched Clearwater Cucumber]

[Uncommon Grade]

[Seed maturation complete]

[Water-touched trait confirmed in mature seeds]

[Trait stability: High]

--

He looked at the blue-lined fruit hanging below the leaves.

They had reached the point Rowan had wanted to confirm since the first cucumber developed its strange colour.

The seeds could carry the trait. Carlos would not need to keep hoping that another ordinary vine changed in the same way.

"All the seeds?" he asked.

"We inspect the harvested count first," Rowan said. "But the line is there."

Mira handed him a clean cloth. Rowan held the fruit from below and cut it loose, then placed it on the board Sela had brought. The harvest record appeared as he opened it carefully.

--

[Water-touched Clearwater Cucumber Seeds x12 acquired]

[Water-touched trait: Inherited]

--

Carlos grinned. Twelve more, and this time they came with a result instead of a warning that the trait might vanish.

Four seeds had become four vines, one vine had matured under Rowan’s hand, and that one had already given them enough to widen the next row.

"We plant them in the Rare land," he said.

"Some of them," Mira replied. "Keep a protected packet again."

Rowan agreed before Carlos could argue. He separated the seeds while Sela wrote their labels, keeping the inherited batch distinct from the original packets.

Carlos watched the small pile on the cloth and decided he could live with holding a few back.

They were getting more than they used now. That was the part he cared about.

Mira took the opened cucumber toward the kitchen once Rowan finished examining it.

It was still food, and she was not going to leave it drying on a board because the seeds were more exciting. Carlos asked her to save him a portion and stayed while Rowan checked the new Rare Farmland row.

The four seeds planted there had become full climbing vines, with blue-lined fruit hanging below their leaves.

Rare soil had brought them through growth much sooner than the old bed.

Rowan examined the fruit, then showed Carlos the seed assessments still running beneath their records.

"We can harvest food from these already," he said. "The seed fruit stays until the assessment ends."

Sela planted one of the newly inherited seeds beside a spare frame while they worked. By the time Rowan finished checking the older vines, a small shoot had pushed through the dark soil.

"Can you use Life Bloom on that?" Carlos asked.

Rowan crouched beside it. "It has started properly. Yes."

Carlos gave permission. Green light moved beneath Rowan’s hand, and the shoot rose along its frame. Leaves spread across the supports while flowers appeared between them. Fruit thickened until the familiar blue lines covered its skin.

Sela put down her watering pot and watched the new vine.

They had taken its seed from a cucumber only minutes ago. Now there was another mature plant standing beside the four she had tended yesterday.

"Then we wait for its seeds too?" she asked.

"Yes," Rowan said. "Mark it as the inherited batch. We compare it with the others when its assessment finishes."

Carlos looked between the beds, imagining rows of blue-lined cucumbers. They could sell the food without offering anyone the seeds.

He went with Sela to bring more labels while Rowan remained near the vine.

On the way, they passed the fenced tomato row. The fruit was still being held for seed maturation, and Kaia had left a clear marker beside the basket used in the tests.

"Nobody touched them?" Carlos asked.

"Nobody," Sela replied. "Tarin checks the fence before watering."

Carlos nodded. The tomatoes had already done something useful by making people take a crop seriously as a weapon.

Their seeds could wait another day if they needed it. He wanted a line he could reproduce safely, not one basket he had to keep remembering whenever a worker passed.

Near evening, Rowan’s Worldroot cooldown ended. They chose the next harvested section together, keeping the mill path and the storage entrance clear.

The original Spirit Farmland stayed untouched, with the Tidal Silverwood standing above its smaller seed rows.

Roots moved beneath the ground as Rowan used the ability. Carlos watched the pale earth darken across the marked section and opened the completed record.

--

[Worldroot Expansion complete]

[Rare Farmland created: 300 square meters]

[Total Worldroot-created Rare Farmland: 1,500 square meters]

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

--

Fifteen hundred square meters, all made from land they already held.

Carlos looked across it and could see where the old ordinary plots had been absorbed into the new cultivated area.

They still had buildings, roads, and guarded spaces inside a territory of only twenty-seven hundred square meters.

He was going to need more land.

"How much can we convert after this?" he asked.

Rowan pointed toward the remaining ordinary rows.

"Some. But do not count the house paths as a field just because I can change soil. We need people moving through here."

"I know. I am asking because I want expansion tokens."

Rowan looked at him with more interest.

"Then ask. You have seeds now."

Carlos found Kaia near the training yard on his way to the hut and told her what Mira had said about the protected reserve.

"Seven days?" she asked.

"Ingredients for the people already here. We are asking what extra workers we can maintain before using the summons again."

Kaia looked toward the new fields. She had helped defend them when there was barely enough food coming out, and Carlos could see she understood what had changed.

"Farmers first?" she asked.

"And another Hearthkeeper as Mira is short handed. You wanted stronger troops. I still do too. But if we add the people who help us grow and prepare more food now, we can keep adding fighters afterward."

"Then do that," Kaia replied. "I will keep training these ones. The new Militia are getting better at holding together."

Carlos asked to watch the next formation practice before he left. The shields moved in a line when Kaia called, their bearers adjusting toward the gap rather than standing where they had started.

His fields were growing quickly, but the people guarding them were improving as well. He wanted enough food to let both continue.

Carlos went toward the Lord’s Hut and opened Cosmic’s messages. He told him the mill was working and the oil trade had completed. Then he asked him to look for Territory Expansion Tokens, with the price and any listing restrictions sent before a purchase.

Cosmic replied after Carlos had begun writing the new field total on his own board.

--

[Cosmic Merchant]- I was about to message you. Mercer liked the oil and asked if you can work with more valuable crops. He supplies a few alchemists as well as kitchens. One of his clients has Rare seeds he has not been able to grow properly.

[Carlos Goldwin]- What seeds? And how does that help with the expansion tokens?

[Cosmic Merchant]- I told Mercer you were looking for development resources. The client can pay in tokens if someone gives him a reliable harvest. I have not promised him anything.

--

Carlos sat down to read the forwarded listing. Rare Moonleaf Herb Seeds. Their leaves were used as an ingredient in recovery preparations, but that did not mean Carlos could boil them in a pot and make a recovery potion.

The processing belonged to the people buying the leaves.

The cultivation requirements were the part he cared about. Healthy mana-bearing soil, a clean water supply, and proper control of light during the early growth stage.

The seller had lost two batches after planting them in ground that was fertile but poorly suited to the crop.

Carlos stood again and went straight to Rowan.

"Read this," he said, holding the panel where the Dryad could see it.

Rowan studied the requirements for a while. He asked Carlos to open the listing’s condition record, then examined the seed image beside it.

"We have suitable land," he said. "But I want the seed condition checked before we agree. If the inside has already died, good soil will not fix it."

Carlos sent that question to Cosmic immediately. Then he asked for the proposed payment, and the reply made him stop beside the path.

--

[Cosmic Merchant]- Two Territory Expansion Tokens after the first agreed harvest. The client gets the medicinal leaves. You keep the seed stock produced by that harvest so you can continue supplying later, if both sides agree. No territory access required. He wants a grower, not your land.

--

Carlos looked at Rowan, then at the Rare field behind him. Two tokens would give Worldroot more ground to work on. Keeping the seeds would give Ironroot a crop worth more than another sack of ordinary wheat.

He could already see why Mercer wanted the oil trade to lead somewhere.

"Ask for a condition assessment and a small inspection sample," Carlos wrote. "We will tell him whether we can grow it after Rowan checks."

Then he turned the panel toward Rowan again, this time with the payment visible.

The Dryad read it and looked across the land he had changed.

"We should make room for those," he said.