The Plant Master Becomes A Mute Sub-Beast: Farming And Laying Eggs

Chapter 163: Chapter 163: Sprouting

"Sir Cael, all the potatoes in the surrounding area have been harvested and are placed in the large plaza. Chief Carat invites you over."

A Bramble beastman eagerly ran over to report the news. Kaelen nodded ’Mhm’ to show he understood. He checked the temperature of the bowls of goat milk, feeling they were still quite hot, so he instructed his children:

"Remember to drink your milk later, don’t let it get completely cold before drinking, it’s not good for your stomachs."

Previously, the kids loved drinking fresh goat milk, but ever since Chloe started telling interesting stories from the Primordial era, the children often forgot to drink it.

"Yes, Papa!" Finnick and Ryder answered in unison, while Oliver raised his chubby white hand, babbling "ya ya".

The three children had recently found a new joy in listening to Chloe tell interesting stories about the Primordial era, no longer clinging to their two fathers as before.

Ah, Chloe was the name Kaelen gave to the young rattan sapling. In Greek, Chloe means ’the green shoot of spring’, which perfectly suited her attribute. Chloe seemed to really like this name, clinging to Kaelen and thanking him profusely.

Finnick really wanted to show off his new companion to Edward, but Chloe couldn’t follow him into the resonance space. Finnick was even sad about this for a few days. Chloe used her tendrils to rub Finnick’s head, comforting the boy:

"Master, please don’t be sad. Wait until I advance one more level, then I can fuse my mental energy with your mental energy, and then I can follow you anywhere."

Under the comfort of Chloe and his brothers, Finnick’s mood gradually improved.

Even though the children had sworn to guarantee they would drink their milk as instructed, Kaelen was still not reassured, telling a guard beastman to keep an eye on them before heading outside. Just upon reaching the third turn from the Bramble tribe’s guest house, Kaelen saw Sane standing and talking with a stranger. He couldn’t help but focus his gaze to look closely at this person.

It was a muscular middle-aged beastman with a full beard, wearing a hat made from the skull of some animal on his head. Judging by the shape, it looked somewhat like a Demonic Bear’s skull.

Perhaps sensing Kaelen’s gaze, the middle-aged beastman also turned to look at him, politely nodding once in greeting. Following his line of sight, Sane also saw Kaelen and smiled, saying:

"That is the First Disciple of our tribe’s High Priest, Cael, who is also my mate." As Sane finished speaking, Kaelen had already stepped to his side, hearing him introduce the person opposite: "Cael, this is Sir Cinder, the Chief of the Cinder tribe. He wants to discuss business with us."

Kaelen nodded and bowed in greeting: "Hello, esteemed Chief Cinder. I am very glad you have taken an interest in our humble merchant caravan."

Hearing such polite words for the first time, Cinder was slightly flustered. He scratched his head and coughed lightly: "Yes, hello Sir Cael. It is an honor to meet you."

Kaelen also exchanged a few pleasantries with Chief Cinder, then said apologetically:

"I don’t understand much about business matters; please discuss them with our captain and vice-captain. I still have to guide everyone in planting potatoes, please excuse me first."

Just hearing "planting potatoes," Chief Cinder’s eyes lit up. Although he already knew potatoes were the so-called poisonous tubers growing all over this wasteland, Chief Cinder still pretended not to know and asked:

"What are potatoes?"

The Crimson group consciously lowered their heads to prevent their disdainful gazes from being too obvious. In their hearts, Kaelen, Sane, and Aaron were already cursing, but outwardly they still appeared incredibly friendly. Kaelen said slowly:

"Ah, they are the poisonous tubers everyone talks about. That thing only needs to be cooked thoroughly to be eaten, and it is very filling. Furthermore, if planted correctly and cared for well, the yield obtained is very high."

Cinder acted incredibly surprised again, starting to spout nonsense as if he were very scared. The Crimson group rolled their eyes, thinking inwardly: [Act, keep acting. If we didn’t know you had sent undercover agents near the Bramble tribe for the past few days, we might have actually believed you.]

After a period of feigning confusion and doubt, Chief Cinder finally blurted out his intention:

"Can I join? To be honest, although there are no poisonous tubers around my tribe, there are a few other types of tuber plants. But we are afraid eating them will kill people like the poisonous tubers, so we dare not touch them."

Naturally, Kaelen didn’t refuse, so the person heading to the Bramble tribe’s public plaza went from just Kaelen to a whole group. Chief Carat, who was standing and overseeing everyone’s work, saw Cinder walking with the Crimson people and inwardly understood.

He didn’t have any objections to this either. After all, there were many times when the Bramble tribe fell into the most severe shortages, and the Cinder tribe had extended a hand to help them a bit.

The situation of the Cinder tribe had also been relayed back somewhat by the Sub-Beasts married over there: the salt and supplies exchanged at Hollow in early spring this year had been stolen by Cinder’s own son. Carat felt that Cinder swallowing his pride was the right decision.

Otherwise, this winter, the Cinder tribe would only be able to live on air.

The group approached Carat, greeted him, and then simultaneously looked at the massive pile of potatoes in the middle of the plaza.

The number of potatoes the Bramble tribe harvested was quite large, enough to plant at least nearly ten acres. First, they needed to sort the seed potatoes. Potatoes only needed proper care to produce a very high yield; there was no need to have the children help sprout them in the space. Kaelen also set aside two baskets to bring back to Crimson for Alden to cultivate in the spiritual field.

"Discard the tubers bitten by mice or rotting. Those accidentally slashed during digging should be sorted into one pile, and the intact ones put into another pile. Where are the ashes from burning the grass and rattan vines I told everyone to collect the other day? Bring them out here."

Once preparations were complete, Kaelen personally demonstrated how to cut the potatoes and coat them in ash:

"Everyone look, on each potato, there will be many sprouts. We will cut the potato in half, each half having two or more sprouts. Look carefully to avoid cutting the sprouts." Kaelen held the potato in front of everyone, showing them what a sprout was.

A young Sub-Beast of the Bramble tribe picked up another potato to examine, then pointed at a depression on the potato and asked: "Sir Cael, is this a sprout?"

Kaelen nodded: "That’s right, that’s exactly it. Everyone learn to identify them yourselves; once you’ve learned, I will teach you how to cut the tubers."

The group immediately picked up potatoes, looking for the sprouts on the tubers. Once everyone had grasped it, Kaelen taught them how to cut the potatoes in half. After cutting, he dipped the cut surface directly into the grass and rattan ash.

"Note, the ash used must be grass ash or wood ash. This ash layer must be dry, and don’t use too much. Just a thin layer enough to cover the cut surface is enough. If you sprinkle too much ash covering the entire tuber, the high alkalinity can irritate the newly emerging tender roots and stunt their growth."

After coating them in ash, Kaelen arranged these potato pieces on a well-ventilated rattan tray. These potatoes needed to be kept in a cool shade for about two days for the cuts to dry and heal, after which they could be planted directly into the ridges and covered with dry grass.

Kaelen said to Carat:

"If we follow the proper procedure, we need to incubate the sprouts for seven to ten days before planting them in the soil, but we don’t have that much time."

*Just because my son’s advancement destroyed someone else’s tribe, our journey has been delayed by nearly a week.* Kaelen did not say this sentence out loud.

Letting everyone handle the remaining potatoes themselves, Kaelen led the group to the potato field.

The potato field was slightly higher than the water pool. After carefully building the embankments, everyone only needed to dig a water channel from halfway up the stream, eliminating the effort of bailing water. When the water in the potato field was sufficient, they just needed to block the source of the channel.

Kaelen had the Fire-attribute warriors burn down two-thirds of the rattan forest. After cooling, he had the Earth-attribute warriors bury them underground, at least one meter below the surface.

As for loosening the soil, forming ridges to plant potatoes, and watering, it was all left to the Bramble tribe to do themselves. It was unknown what short circuit happened in the Fang tribe’s brains, but they actually joined the farming process to help the Bramble tribe. Kaelen found it a bit funny. Perhaps they thought that by helping Bramble work, they could shorten the time before the Crimson merchant caravan arrived at their tribe.

This was good too; at least the Bramble tribe wouldn’t have to worry about being attacked for holding the potato cultivation technique for the time being.

Cinder carefully observed the potato field and wondered:

"Why do we have to hoe the soil up and pile it like that? Does it have any special effect?"

Kaelen said: "Hoeing the soil up and drying it helps eliminate pathogens and harmful insects hiding in the soil. Loosening the soil helps the plants absorb water and nutrients better. As for the piles of soil you mentioned, they are called ridges. Their purpose is to reduce washing away when it rains or snows, and also reduce the risk of waterlogging for the crops."

Cinder rubbed his chin, saying thoughtfully: "If so, growing wild vegetables also requires forming ridges, right?"

Kaelen secretly gave Cinder a thumbs-up in admiration: "That’s right, forming ridges also makes it easier to water and weed the crops."

Cinder nodded, silently committing it to memory. He picked up a bone hoe resting on the field bank, examined it for a while, then tried imitating the motion of the farming beastmen, plunging the hoe blade firmly into the ground. After prying the soil and pulling the hoe out, Cinder exclaimed in surprise:

"This hoe is crafted so exquisitely. It looks light, yet the force plunging into the ground is incredibly strong. It is also very sturdy."

Sane smiled and said: "Naturally. This hoe was made by the master craftsman in our tribe; its sharpness and durability are unquestionable. If maintained well, it can be used for a few years."

Cinder examined a few other agricultural tools such as the small bone shovel, the three-pronged bone rake, and the soil-turning bone pitchfork, secretly weighing whether to exchange for a few.

With this hoe, the Sub-Beast group growing wild vegetables by the river would find it much more convenient. However, this hoe looked simple, but the technology to make the handle was not simple at all; it probably wouldn’t be cheap. Cinder secretly recalculated the remaining supplies in the tribe, his guts twisting into a knot.

Damn it, if I had known this day would come, I should have choked that little brat to death before he could grow up!