Chapter 282: The Last Seed of Fool Village Secret Realm
After hanging up the phone, I felt a slight relief. Sofiry was currently at the plantation, and when I connected the call, she was busy carefully cultivating extraordinary plants.
As soon as the call connected, she immediately greeted me and, upon learning that I had brought new seeds from the secret realm, she agreed to meet me right away.
She also sent me the location of her plantation.
“Set here… it’s pretty far. I didn’t expect this to be a plantation. I remember the plantation covers a large area; is this really enough space?”
I opened the location and looked at the map of Witch Academy on my phone, ultimately complaining to Sister Bai.
“This is one of the concentrated plantation planning areas of Witch Academy. Don’t be fooled by its small size. Okay, it really doesn’t occupy much space, but the plantations there are all indoor glass greenhouses, similar to sunrooms, and they are reinforced with indoor space solidification magic. The internal space is much larger than it appears from the outside. I was fortunate enough to visit and gather materials during the potion course in the past.” Bai Yu had also leaned over to take a look and explained to me.
“Sister Bai, your daily life is really rich.”
“Not really, Xiao Han. You are exempt from classes, so theoretically, your daily life should be more enriched than mine, where I follow a set study routine.”
“Alright, Sister Bai, don’t take this opportunity to lecture me. It feels weird. I will try to adapt to other lifestyles too, but when I mentioned meeting another senior, it seems like you got a bit jealous~”
“I… you, Xiao Han, are you asking for a beating?” Bai Yu was somewhat flustered by my teasing, directly pouting at me with indignation.
“Ah, I’m just joking. Spending more time outside will inevitably lead to interactions with others. I actually think that senior Sofiry is a nice person and has a relatively introverted personality. Last time I met her, she was with another senior, and I felt their relationship was quite special~”
“Is… is that so?” Bai Yu clearly sighed in relief upon hearing this.
“Of course, Sister Bai, don’t you think… that the seniors at Witch Academy have quite abnormal s*xual orientations?”
“Well, it’s normal for them to be abnormal since they’ve repressed themselves for a long time, combined with their emotional needs and the situation at Witch Academy.”
“What about you, Sister Bai?” I continued to ask.
“I… me?” Suddenly confronted with this question, Bai Yu was at a loss for words.
“If you don’t want to say it, that’s fine. I don’t really mind whether you’re normal or not, anyway, regardless of what kind of person you are, I’ll still be hanging out with you.”
Seeing Bai Yu’s attitude facing such questions, I had to forcibly end the topic while secretly sighing. I really couldn’t tease her! Such a Sister Bai was impossible to tease!
Upon arriving at the plantation area for the first time, just as Bai Yu had said, it was filled with glass houses that looked like they were copied and pasted everywhere. I couldn’t tell if it was an illusion, but as soon as I got here, it felt like even the sun was much hotter.
Through the glass, I could see another world inside, miniature in scale.
Some plantations grew wildly like primordial forests, while others were neatly arranged, resembling a technologically standardized greenhouse, with various unfamiliar devices and pipes creating a beautiful order.
The plantations here are distinguished by numbering, and one can also customize their names, but the numbers do not change. Many plantations simply add their names in front or the names of special cultivated plants, which is quite straightforward.
The plantation to which Sofiry sent me the location is called “Kelly Elliott Plantation.”
From the name, it seems it doesn’t really belong to Sofiry after all?
When I arrived, Sofiry was already waiting for me at the entrance. Upon seeing us, she reached out to greet me.
“This… this way.” Sofiry’s voice was not very loud. When she saw me, she hadn’t had time to be happy before she noticed Bai Yu standing beside me.
“Um… I’m really glad you came to my plantation. So… you mentioned you got new seeds from the secret realm, is that true?” Sofiry asked somewhat nervously, glancing at Bai Yu from time to time as she spoke.
“Yes, so I thought of you right away. This is Bai Yu, my sister, but there’s no need to pay too much attention; she just came along to take a look.”
“Oh, okay. This is… Senior Bai, hello.” Sofiry politely greeted Bai Yu.
“Yes, I heard from Xiao Han that you went to the secret realm together last time, and we have to thank you.”
“No, no, no, Xiao Han… she is really powerful, we relied on her to lead us.”
“Come on, you don’t need to be so formal, we still have important things to discuss.” I nudged Bai Yu with my elbow; at this point, she had completely taken on the demeanor of a senior.
“By the way, the seeds I brought this time are mostly from a rainforest environment, um, would it be convenient for you?”
“Rainforest? Oh, I’m quite confident in my research on extraordinary plants in that aspect. Special circumstances call for special treatment; don’t underestimate the capabilities of a plantation. Um… I want to ask, for this batch of seeds… what do I need to pay? Recently, I just got the Giant Devouring Thorn Vine sorted out, and my financial situation is a bit tight… how about I exchange it for some soon-to-ripen extraordinary fruits from the plantation?”
“Tight? Ah…? You shouldn’t be in such a financial bind with such a large plantation, right? But… this plantation’s name…”
“Oh, that’s my mentor. When I thought about my mentor having a plantation here, it was transferred to my name… but along with it came the hefty maintenance fees and so on. I’m really sorry. If it’s unfeasible, I can hurry some extraordinary fruits and ask those shops because I have no experience managing a plantation; I’ve really been a bit financially strained lately, which could be called living paycheck to paycheck.”
“Ah, that… indeed sounds a bit grim…” I sighed, but I didn’t really care about that, as I had come here to leech off her resources; I thought she would charge me for getting her to grow plants…
“However, I don’t mind. I mainly want you to help cultivate these plants, particularly for breeding them; after all, besides the ones I have on me, the others may be extinct…”
“Extinct? The plants in the secret realm shouldn’t be extinct… Oh! Wait, is it true what’s been said online? You’re Xiao Han… Yes, you are Yang Yuelan! Did you blow up that secret realm?!” Sofiry suddenly seemed to realize something quickly.
“Huh? No, wait, that wasn’t me who blew it up, but the seeds did come from there. The secret realm being destroyed is pretty much equivalent to extinction…” Hearing this from Sofiry, I was speechless. How could news spread so quickly?
Wasn’t Sofiry busy with her meticulous cultivation just now? How did she have time to check the academy’s online information?
“It really is you… Oh, okay, I understand now… I didn’t expect you to keep the last hope of that secret realm. You want to breed them, right? Naturally, I can help with that, um… just…” At this point, Sofiry understood my request, but the next moment her tone became a bit shy, almost pleading.
“Um, after the breeding is completed, could you leave some seeds for me? I won’t charge a breeding fee and guarantee I won’t cultivate or spread them widely; I… I’m just very interested in many peculiar plants… really just for the sake of collecting!”
“If you don’t trust me, we can sign a witch contract!” Sofiry added at that moment.
“Ah? That’s not…”
“Okay, signing a contract is fine.” Just as I was about to speak, Bai Yu interrupted me, “Xiao Han, you need to fight for your own interests; don’t take everything for granted.”
“Ugh? Okay… ok…”
After being lectured by Bai Yu, I did not refute her. I actually wanted to say… many things shouldn’t need to be so clear-cut… after all, my ambitions don’t lie in planting. I need Sofiry’s help, I just purely wanted to recreate Fool Dream Drink.
However, Bai Yu was right; if Sofiry wasn’t a good person, she could completely exploit these seeds I had given her and promote them widely because of my unintentional acts. After all, I might not get any benefit from it.
That is equivalent to harming my own interests indirectly.
“That’s right, what Senior Bai said is correct; many things should be made clear from the beginning, and there won’t be many disputes afterwards. Even if those seeds are ordinary, once combined with the hype of this secret realm’s extinction, they can indeed create a massive wealth…”
Sofiry also spoke up, seemingly agreeing with Bai Yu while also finding a way for herself to step down.
“Well then, shall we enter your plantation to take a look? We’ve talked outside for so long, and you haven’t taken us in to have a look yet.”
“Oh, oh! Right, come in! Let me show you around.” Sofiry quickly reacted and pushed open the door of the plantation to invite us in.
“Thank you.”
With curious eyes, I looked through the door, and the inside space was incredibly large, forming a stark contrast to the size outside.
The tall ceilings, excellent lighting, and many devices I had never seen before; the only one I recognized was probably the irrigation system.
Soon, my eyes were drawn to the plants here—the tall trees reaching for the ceiling, the succulent plants piled like grapes, the herbaceous plants that were much taller than me, and the large flowers similar to sunflowers that released light elements in response to sunlight.
However, many of the fields here seemed to be in a state of abandonment; Sofiry hadn’t utilized them well.
“Um… those plants were all left behind by my mentor. When I took over, a large number had already died; just cleaning took a long time. Only these ones are still alive. Since transplanting them is too painstaking, I just left them as they were, which is why it looks a bit chaotic; I hope you don’t mind.”
“Oh, I don’t mind at all.”
I replied nonchalantly, and soon my gaze landed on the familiar plant—the Giant Devouring Thorn Vine. At this point, Sofiry had already transplanted a small patch of common fast-growing trees, allowing the Giant Devouring Thorn Vine to grow on them, which indeed seemed to be getting on track as Sofiry described.
“By the way, the seeds.”
I quickly thought of these and hurriedly took out the seeds. The way to preserve these seeds was also taught to me by the Fool Dream, as when I expressed a desire to take some seeds back, those cute Fools taught me how to preserve them. After all, these were extraordinary plants, containing extraordinary power. Although eating one didn’t seem to have much effect, who let it produce abundantly?
Those were the food for the Fools.
At this moment, Sofiry took them from me and began to examine them carefully.
“Mm… the preservation condition of these seeds seems to be quite good. I feel like we can start trying to germinate them right away…”
After examining them, Sofiry looked slightly surprised at me, as she probably thought I was completely clueless about planting. Did she learn everything directly from the notes she provided?
These are unknown seeds.
“So… how long will the breeding take?” I asked tentatively.
“I’m not sure, but if you need it urgently, I can continue using magic to help them ripen. Also, once the fruits are ripe, I will contact you immediately. After all, some plants might experience varying degrees of deterioration after leaving their original environment. If they don’t meet your expectations, there’s no need to waste more time.”
“Mm, thank you, senior.” I nodded, after all, I had heard of the saying about the Southern oranges and Northern citrons. I hope these seeds won’t be too delicate.
“It’s no trouble. New plants are also a new challenge for me, and I can learn and master new knowledge. Although I can’t guarantee success, I will do my utmost.”
“Mm.”
After entrusting these seeds to her, I had completed a step of my plan. As for whether Sofiry, this planter, was reliable… I still trusted her more or less. Even in the worst-case scenario, if she destroyed all the seeds I gave her, I still had my last batch of insurance seeds, and besides, she did have a mentor. If she couldn’t even cultivate such plants, I would seriously question her abilities.
Next was the contract drafting. I had experience in drafting contract content, having done it during the communication competition; however, with Bai Yu here, it was even more standardized.
Once the contract was signed on sheep parchment, turning to ash, our purpose for coming here was almost fulfilled. Before we left, Sofiry even gifted us some specialties from her plantation. After all, besides these specialties, she had nothing else she could offer, and we gladly accepted.
Before leaving, I also inquired a bit about whether Sofiry needed help with odd jobs or was looking for junior apprentices, after all, managing such a large plantation alone would show she was overwhelmed just by the many deserted lands.
Of course, I asked mostly thought of Dongli Yiren, thinking that if I could tag along with this senior, I might learn a lot about planting since many things wouldn’t just be learned from books; otherwise, teachers would lose their significance.
Ultimately, I wanted to give Dongli Yiren an opportunity to come into contact with more extraordinary plants, especially since she had no resources at the moment.
It would be nice to make some side income as well.
However, it seemed Sofiry didn’t have that idea for now, as her life was quite strained. However, she did mention that once she had money she would definitely hire someone to help out.
Also, I needed to ask Dongli Yiren for her thoughts; after all, it was better to prepare for the future, helping a struggling roommate while I could still lend a hand.
