My 100th Rebirth a day before the Apocalypse

Chapter 999: Chapter 997 Automatic Farming

On the positive side, it would benefit her Sales Channel store and the base’s Supply Center, giving her more supplies to work with. But on the negative side, it meant that nearly all the vegetables and fruits she supplied would no longer be ordinary crops, potentially affecting pricing and quality perceptions.

Worse, if outsiders noticed this peculiarity, especially someone with ill intentions, the base could become a target. After all, having so many exceptional resources already drew attention, but if even the crops were extraordinary, anyone aware of this might covet the base itself.

In that case, Kisha might no longer be able to keep the existence of her territory space hidden from the public.

More importantly, if ordinary people were to use spiritual crops for everyday cooking or baking, the results could be disastrous. At best, the crops would lose all their spiritual energy and degrade into ordinary produce when cooked by ordinary people, which would be an outright waste.

At worst, improper handling could cause them to explode. Either outcome would be unacceptable, especially if the ones affected were residents of the Base.

If she were to sell spiritual crops through the Supply Center, they would need to be clearly labeled. However, she couldn’t afford to remove the normal crops from the shelves, not only for comparison, but because their prices and uses were entirely different.

That meant she could only release a limited quantity of spiritual produce, disguising them as either mutated plants or crops grown through a Wood-Element–type awakened ability. Both explanations were believable and could serve as a cover for her territory space.

But if all the crops turned into spiritual ones, covering it up with a few half-baked excuses would become nearly impossible.

’Then why don’t I simply isolate a portion of the farmland?’

If she prevented the spiritual energy in the air and the spiritual energy carried through the water in the irrigation from seeping into certain vegetables and fruits, they wouldn’t transform into spiritual crops at all.

After all, the soil on the farm had already been fertile and functional long before she integrated the Spiritual Crystal Gatherer into the territory space. Its purpose had been to gather spiritual energy, not to maintain basic soil quality.

Since the land was already at peak fertility, isolating it from spiritual energy shouldn’t hinder the crop’s growth. At most, the produce would revert to normal crops. That alone would solve her biggest problem; she wouldn’t need to scramble for excuses to explain away every harvest.

And because anything grown within the territory space inevitably grew larger than what ordinary people were used to, she could still attribute the changes to plant mutation. Bigger yields, altered properties, those details would slowly condition the public.

When the time came to introduce true spiritual crops, the groundwork would already be laid.

Kisha leaned back slightly, having thought it through.

"Host, that is indeed possible. After all, you possess absolute control over this territory, so you may alter it as you wish. And you’re correct, even without spiritual energy, the crops grown here would still thrive. They would retain their original functionality and remain larger, juicier, and more flavorful than ordinary produce from outside," 008 agreed with Kisha’s reasoning.

"Good. Then I’ll go ahead with that plan and explain it to Marcus," Kisha said, nodding to herself. "He might even have better insight on which plots would be best to isolate."

Without wasting time, Kisha brought up the matter with Marcus as they worked, cutting the Napa cabbage for harvest and leaving only the outer leaves on the ground. Later, Marcus would have Mike gather the leftover leaves to repurpose as feed for the animals.

"That’s also a good approach, Young Madam," Marcus said. "After all, we’ve already been supplying a large amount of crops to the Supply Center, and using the forest as our cover farmland is already a stretch; the land couldn’t possibly produce as much as we’re providing."

"Using a Wood Element Type Awakened Ability user as the ’front’ helps throw off suspicion and explains why the crops are bigger and juicier than normal. Plus, Captain Sparrow and Captain Vulture have already captured some mutated farm animals outside when they brought in the livestock, so using mutated plants as an excuse works as well."

"Of course, we can’t stop supplying the Supply Center with normal crops while offering spiritual crops to the marketplace for special item production; that balance has to be maintained."

Marcus analyzed Kisha’s plan carefully and agreed with it completely.

"Since that’s the case, and we currently have over two hundred acres planted with crops, maybe we could allocate half to grow the spiritual crops while keeping the rest isolated from the spiritual energy in the air," he suggested. "But what about irrigation? The water flowing across the island already carries the essence of the spiritual spring. How do we prevent the isolated crops from absorbing it?"

After pointing out which plot could be isolated, he realized another equally important problem needed addressing. Kisha fell into deep thought, considering the implications.

"Hmm. Let me try isolating the selected plot first," Kisha said. She pulled up the territory’s holographic farmland map in front of her and asked Marcus to point out the plots that could be isolated. Once they made their choices, she clicked on the designated lands, zoomed in, and used her fingers to encircle and highlight them. As she did, a prompt appeared on the screen.

...

[Farm Land Management]

[Automatic Harvesting: Off]

[Automatic Planting: Off]

[Customization: Configure crop type, plot isolation, and spiritual energy settings]

...

Kisha’s eyebrows rose as she examined the new feature. Before, when she checked the farmland plots, there had been no option for automatic harvesting and planting. Perhaps it only appeared after she upgraded the Territory Pack, and it was indeed a helpful addition.

But she couldn’t rely on it just yet. If she did, Marcus would lose his role on the farm, and more importantly, his ’Green Thumb’ gift was invaluable. Having him actively work the land maximized that gift, improving harvest yields, making the crops bigger and tastier, and even increasing the chance of boosting the crops’ spiritual grade.

Given that, Kisha decided it was best to let Marcus focus entirely on the spiritual crops, while she set the isolated plots for normal crops to automatic planting and harvesting. As long as there were seeds in the warehouse, the system would handle the work, and the harvested crops would automatically be sent to the designated storage.

This way, Marcus’s workload would be reduced. He would only need to check the isolated plots from time to time, allowing him to focus fully on the spiritual crops. With the territory’s crops growing far faster than ordinary plants, he would also have more time for other tasks instead of spending all his time tending to the fields.

With a clear plan already forming in her mind, Kisha tapped the "Customization" button. Then, a game-like configuration interface unfolded before her, allowing her to adjust nearly every aspect of the farmland, even the temperature of each plot.

It didn’t take long for her to find what she was looking for. The system allowed her to fully isolate specific plots and erect a protective barrier around them, blocking spiritual energy from the air. Even the irrigation water would be filtered of spiritual essence before reaching the isolated land, neatly resolving the problem she had been worrying about earlier.

After finalizing the settings, Kisha enabled automatic planting and harvesting for those plots. She then granted Marcus access, allowing him to plan which crops would be planted after each harvest. The system functioned like a detailed planner, displaying how long each crop would remain in the soil before being automatically harvested and letting him queue the next crop in advance.

All Marcus had to do was ensure there were always enough seeds in storage. The plots would handle everything else, from germination to full growth, entirely on their own.

The moment Kisha finished explaining how it worked and handed Marcus control, his eyes lit up, practically sparkling as he marveled at the territory’s advanced functions.

After all, even with Hugo’s team helping whenever they could, managing hundreds of acres of farmland was still far too much for Marcus to handle alone, especially since crops inside the territory grew at an accelerated rate and time itself flowed faster there.

If Marcus were to personally oversee every plot, he would end up spending all his time in the fields, leaving him unable to fulfill his role as the villa’s acting butler for Kisha’s family, let alone spend time with his own grandchildren.

By setting half of the farmland to automatic planting and harvesting, the burden on his shoulders would be greatly eased, and he could rest easy most time.

Moreover, even if Marcus forgot to schedule the next planting cycle, the plots set to automatic farming would simply replant the same crops previously grown on them, leaving him with nothing to worry about.