Chapter 79: Traces of Magic
Under Marion's guidance.

Riding on a snow horse, Rhodes came to a high slope and looked down.

At the same time, ravens flew in all directions, presenting the complete terrain of this area before his eyes.

The Hanshui River runs across the center of the rolling hillsides.

At this time of year, a thick layer of solid ice has frozen on the surface of the river, and heavy snow covers the sky above.

On the west side of the river, there is a vast low-lying plain.

Ravens circled back and forth above and estimated by visual observation that the area of ​​this low-lying plain was more than 60,000 acres.

It was there that the people from the Linmu Guild discovered a swamp.

In the next few days, more and more residents arrived here.

With the help of mane horses and black yaks, residents cleared the snow and explored the distribution areas of nearby swamps and peat layers.

After the shovel was used to clear the upper layer of snow, a layer of buried grass roots was revealed, about twenty centimeters thick.

Continuing to dig down, he found what Rhodes needed: large areas of peat soil and silt.

Peat, as the initial form of coal, is rich in organic matter.

After simple processing, it can be used as fuel and an excellent soil improvement material, which is equivalent to a natural high-quality fertilizer.

This swamp is very rich in peat resources.

After several days of excavation by residents, the peat layer was found to be at least four meters thick, and lignite mines were discovered further down.

This is good news. Theoretically, with the rich peat resources here, Rhodes can open up at least 50,000 acres of farmland in this low-lying plain.

But it's only in theory.

After Rhodes was happy, he thought of the current situation of the territory and couldn't help but feel a headache.

Given the harsh cold climate in the north, if he wants to develop 50,000 acres of farmland here, he will have to send at least 2,000 young and middle-aged people to work.

And this process will last for more than three years, during which it will be difficult to gain anything.

Two thousand young and middle-aged people?
What a joke! The territory's labor force has already been exploited to the extreme.

That is to say, women in the North are equally strong, and women in Bayou Town and Mole Town can do a lot of physical work.

In addition, the elderly population accounts for a very small proportion, and young and middle-aged people aged between twelve and forty-five account for more than 80%.

Only then can the territory afford more than 900 professional soldiers and maintain normal operations.

But if people are to be drawn to open up farmland, unless the army makes massive layoffs, the current operating system of the territory will collapse immediately!
There is a prerequisite for this, Rhodes must first cultivate cold-resistant hybrid barley.

There's no crops on it, it's just a piece of shit land.

But no matter what, the discovery of large tracts of peat resources is indeed good news.

Even if farmland cannot be opened up for the time being, peat is still a good fuel.

Although peat and lignite cannot be used for ironmaking due to their quality, they can replace coal and be used to heat residents' homes.

Peat mining requires a lot of manpower. By canceling some coal purchases, a lot of money can be saved, enough for Rhodes to withdraw this part of the labor force.

"The farmland problem can be divided into two aspects: lack of crops and insufficient labor. There may be solutions."

Rhodes did not lose heart. He returned to Pingdingshan and came to the Demonic Field area.

He plans to solve the problem of hybrid barley first.

Rhodes looked ahead.

Next to the magic field, he also had people open up ten acres of ordinary farmland to be used as a test field for hybrid crops.

More than ten days ago, seeds were planted in these ten acres of experimental fields. They were the first generation of hybrid barley seeds.

Rhodes observed carefully and found that many of them had sprouted and grown into new seedlings.

But germination is far from enough, it also needs to withstand the severe cold and grow healthily.

And we must ensure the yield and achieve a good harvest of wheat ears.

Otherwise, if a bunch of dogtail grass grew up, Rhodes would be so angry that he would faint.

Normally, he needs time to grow the hybrid barley.

Through screening generation after generation, plants with excellent traits are selected.

By crossing them and letting the offspring inherit them, and repeating this process countless times, it is possible to finally get crops that meet the requirements. This is a long and huge project.

Fortunately, his predecessors in the wizard's guide had already found a way to shorten the process for him.

Rhodes came to the window of the room.

There was a flowerpot with a light yellow flower blooming in it.

After one night, a drop of crystal clear water condensed in the center of the flower.

Even in the cold wind of the north, the water droplets are still crystal clear and have never frozen.

This flower is not a magical plant, but an ordinary plant called evening primrose.

The difference is that after Rhodes' [Magic Harmony], the evening primrose became connected to the moonlight at night.

Become a temporary container for condensing the magic of moonlight.

"Moonlight Essence can temporarily enhance the effect of the Eye of True Vision, making the spirituality of plants clearer in the eyes of low-level wizards."

Rhodes recalled the knowledge in the wizard's manual and dripped this drop of moon essence into his eyes.

Similar to eye drops, waves of coolness come from the eye sockets.

Rhodes opened his eyes again and could feel that the effect of [Eye of True Vision] had changed slightly.

He returned to the magic field area and looked at the high-quality barley planted there.

Above those seedlings, he saw a surge of emerald green light, which was the spirituality of high-quality barley.

But unlike before, Rhodes could see more clearly now.

It can be seen that there are three obvious bright traces in the light ball.

He used his spiritual contact and tried to understand the three traces with the wizard's knowledge.

This is not difficult because these three traces were originally left by him.

It was a trace of magic that Rhodes created through [Seed Transformation], countless attempts, and the help of luck.

【Cold resistance (weak)】

【Nourish (weak)】

【High yield (weak)】

The meanings of these three traces of magic power appeared in Rhodes' mind one by one.

Then he got up and went to the planting area of ​​high-quality black wolfberry to observe the spirituality of this crop.

【Nourish (weak)】

【Blood supplement (weak)】

High-grade black wolfberry only has two traces of magic.

But as a first-level intermediate magic plant, its nourishing effect is much stronger than that of high-grade barley, rising from weak to weak.

After observing these two magical plants, Rhodes returned to the hybrid barley experimental field.

At first glance, the young seedlings here are as spiritual as a candle in the wind, trembling and shaking in the cold wind.

From time to time, a few rays would dissipate, which also meant that the seedlings below had died.

Rhodes observed carefully and successfully found a special seedling.

There is a trace of magic brewing in its spirituality.

【High yield (unformed)】

Rod carefully dug it out of the experimental field and transplanted it to another acre of blank experimental field.

He then continued searching and found more than a dozen seedlings with the trait "Cold Resistance (Unformed)", and transplanted them all into the one-acre experimental field.

In the subsequent hybrid breeding, he only needs to keep looking for hybrid barley that contains traces of magic.

They are then further hybridized with higher quality barley.

To stabilize the traces of magic that they carry with them.

After a few generations, there is hope that hybrid barley with the trait of [cold resistance (weak)] can be cultivated.

(End of this chapter)