Basically, losing a couple of potatoes could give her a day of superstrength and increased defenses. It’s quite worth it.
That said, even if the major spike was temporary, there were also permanent effects because she had already harvested mature second-generation crops.
For example, when she had just awakened, she had gained enough strength to drag Wang Xiuying by the hair. Now, she could probably carry her outright, though just for a bit. She should be able to swing people by the feet again as passive after a few more level-ups.
She looked forward to it. It certainly added to her enthusiasm to farm in her Space.
Her hearing and sight had become superior to the average as well, which was a relief for her.
She still had about two days left to stay in Jiangning City. Hopefully, the move against the Zhous would happen in this period. She wanted to see their downfall with her own eyes. She had purposely added dramatic details, even hinting at the possibility of spies, to expedite the process.
There was a major fight against spies in any era, especially in this one, when owning foreign books could get you imprisoned. Even if she just mentioned the ’possibility’ of spies, it was bound to be taken seriously.
She had only revealed some of the most incriminating locations of the Zhou family’s ’treasures,’ keeping the other ’treasure cave’ for herself.
It was located in a small detached house where Director Zhou kept his mistress, hidden under the flower bushes. This mistress worked in the factory, too, which left a certain number of hours when there was no one in that house. That mistress didn’t know about this treasure at all.
She had to go there herself and dig it out if she wanted it.
Her space wasn’t as magical as those in stories where she could grab things from far away. She had to be close by, and there were no obstacles like walls or soil in between.
That said, it wasn’t something she had to get right now. It would just be a very sizeable bonus, but if it was too much of a risk, she wouldn’t bother with it. She was perfectly capable of gathering wealth for herself.
Anyway, for the rest of the night, she would just farm. Anyway, she was camping in her own space. For now, it wasn’t the most comfortable set-up, but it’s safe.
With the new area she gained, she dedicated a larger area for cultivating high-level crops. The higher the generation, the higher level, and the longer the growth time, so she had to plan her layout well.
For example, planting seeds from outside would take less than a day to mature, giving birth to first-generation crops and seeds.
The second-generation crops needed a lot longer, like a few days. The third generation, which was the next level for her, would probably take a week to mature.
Perhaps it was because each plant absorbed more and more of the space’s energy, the quality of the seeds as she replanted them would also experience a qualitative change with every level up.
By the time the fourth or fifth generation was planted, the fruit or food would have no match in quality; their freshness also lasted much longer.
They also gave more ’experience’ and thus have better effects for the space, enlarging it more than others, even if it did take a while to grow. It was a virtuous cycle.
This quality change and growth time was relatively consistent per plant and per level.
For example, if she planted fourth-generation plants and needed their quality lowered, she wouldn’t be able to change it. It is what it is.
As for the direction of growth, she couldn’t easily modify the plants either, unless she manually modified them through techniques like grafting, crossbreeding/hybridization, and so on.
This was like how you can’t control evolution. If she wanted ’realistic’ quality crops, she’d have to buy new seeds and plant a first-generation batch all over again.
However, the direction of improvement was always towards the benefit of the human body, likely because it was connected to her own body.
For example, chilli peppers wouldn’t improve simply by adding excess spiciness, which was technically a plant’s defense mechanism. In a way, it was mild poison.
Her chilli pepper would increase in vitamin C and a little bit of Capsaicin, which would create a bright and sharp taste with heat lingering for longer.
That said, fourth generation chilli pepper really was not edible anymore.
They would make for excellent weapons, though.
She had once gotten her chilli pepper tested back then through a trusted source (claiming it was genetically modified chilli pepper) and found out it produced a lot more vitamin C and antioxidants than it should.
From her past life’s experience, the golden generation wherein the plant was a super good quality but could be sold outside—without being too miraculous and magically different—was the fourth and fifth generation, depending on who the buyer was.
Sixth was already bordering the unscientific, and beyond that was already too magical and should not be taken out.
When the market opened up, she could sell off fifth-generation harvests as very premium fruits and vegetables that could sell for a fortune.
Back then, she sold a few kilograms of fifth-generation strawberries to a rich visiting foreigner and bought an apartment with the profit.
Another way to keep her plant quality within a realistic range was to take them out of the Space to be planted outside. However, she hadn’t explored this aspect much in her past life, so she didn’t know the rules and limitations yet.
She was too busy in her past life; planting outside meant that the growth rate would somewhat balance out with the outside world. She didn’t have the time for it.
However, she was determined to push her powers to the limit in this life. That said, in her current vagrant situation, where would she plant anything?
It was actually one of the reasons why she was so looking forward to the countryside. She would definitely get her own little garden for this.
Before heading out, she harvested a few hundred jin of the first batch of corn, chilli peppers, and so on, planting their seeds for second-generation crops.
Calculating the time she was traveling, which would take days by train, planting first-generation crops was not practical. She opted to plant exclusively second-generation instead. This way, the crops would mature by the time she reached the commune.
After this, she stretched her body a bit and went to the blanket she had bought before and slept right inside the space. Even though she didn’t have a proper mattress here, she found herself very comfortable inside her own Space and her recovery rate was also higher here. Why bother looking for a place to sleep?
She had another exam tomorrow, after all.