As soon as Levi returned to the surface, he used Cobblestone on the crafting table to make furnaces.
[Achievement Unlocked: “Hot” Topic]
After seeing their Prince tinkering with a bunch of furnace blocks on the crafting table,
Trist was completely convinced.
What kind of magic is this?!
It could actually turn stone into furnaces.
Afterward, Levi brought Trist to build a wall from left to right in the back garden.
A furnace wall composed entirely of stone furnaces.
Looking at the furnace wall before him, Trist had no other feelings in his heart besides “holy crap”.
Not to mention the furnaces, just looking at a wall this long, even if professional craftsmen were asked to build it, it would take at least a week’s worth of work.
But now, His Highness actually built it in a minute with a flurry of clicks?
What is this if not magic?!
Trist was completely won over.
Turns out His Highness really was playing the pig to eat the tiger before.
Looking at the furnace wall before him, Levi nodded with satisfaction, then turned to look at Trist.
“Old Trist, tell those people not to transport the potatoes, animal bones, and coal to the warehouse.”
“Transport them directly to the back garden.”
“Yes, Your Highness!”
…
The attendants pulled carriages loaded with the supplies Levi needed: animal bones, potatoes, coal…
The attendants whispered among themselves.
“What kind of madness is the Sixth Prince acting up again, actually making us scavenge for animal bones…”
“And what is he going to do with so many potatoes?”
“He even talked about returning it tenfold; when has any of his bullshit ever come true?”
“Hehe, you better shut your mouth, or he’ll impose a potato tax on us later, and then we won’t even be able to afford potatoes.”
The Sixth Prince’s idleness and malice were already common knowledge throughout Wintertown.
Although the attendants complained verbally, they didn’t have the guts to disobey Levi’s orders.
During the last hunt, Levi even made the attendants use arrowless arrows to hunt monsters.
Fortunately, Knights Order Captain Lord Isabella Windsor, who was responsible for protecting Levi’s safety, intervened in time, otherwise these attendants probably would have suffered casualties.
Levi’s maliciousness was evident.
Right now, refugees were starving and freezing outside the city, yet Levi, as the lord, was wining, dining, and having fun in the Lords Mansion…
They dared to be angry but didn’t dare to speak out.
For the sake of making a living, they could only endure it.
At most, they complained to each other with colleagues, cursing this prince to have no asshole offspring.
The attendants obediently led the carriages bringing the animal bones and potatoes into the Lords Mansion.
Trist, the butler of the Lords Mansion, was already waiting for them.
However, to the attendants’ surprise, the butler not only did not let them put these things into the Lords Mansion’s warehouse, but instead had them transported to the back garden.
Inexplicable.
But the attendants didn’t dare say much; since the person in charge had spoken, they could only follow instructions.
Walking closer, the attendants responsible for transporting potatoes and coal were completely shocked by the furnace wall before them.
That was a furnace wall measuring a full 20 meters long, with three furnaces in each column, totaling 60 furnaces.
It could be called a small wonder.
Where did so many stone furnaces magically appear in the back garden out of thin air?
“What is going on here…”
With so many stone furnaces, even the forge-proficient Dwarf Kingdom probably wouldn’t have them packed so densely?!
Trist derived a great sense of satisfaction from their shocked gazes.
Because one of the builders of this furnace wall was none other than him.
Although because the furnace blocks were too heavy, he only managed to place three furnaces,
His Highness the Sixth Prince built this wall, which could be called a wonder, like lightning.
But don’t ask how much he contributed; it’s the participation that counts!
After being shocked by this small wonder, the attendants noticed that on the open space beside them, about twenty stone hoes were piled up.
and that idle Sixth Prince Levi was standing to the side, looking at them with a cheeky smile while crossing his arms.
Uh-oh!
The attendants’ hearts suddenly turned cold, because this smile was far too familiar to them!
This was the prelude to the Sixth Prince wanting to torture them!
Sure enough, the attendants’ conjecture came true.
Levi pointed to the hoes on the side, then pointed to the frozen ground beneath his feet.
“Come on, each of you take a hoe and plow this open field.”
“Then plant the potato tubers.”
“??”
Hearing Levi’s words, the attendants understood that this Highness the Prince had once again lost his mind somehow, wanting to plant potatoes in the back garden.
But in this frigid winter season, can potatoes really be planted?
They simply can’t grow!
Among the attendants, a middle-aged man skilled in farming named Pete stepped forward.
Shrinking his neck in some fear, he still spoke out what he wanted to say:
“Your Highness… forgive my offense, but right now it is deep winter, the land is frozen and cracked, and there are simply no conditions for reclamation.”
“And more importantly, if you plant the potato tubers directly, they will suffer frostbite and necrosis, making it impossible to harvest potatoes next year.”
Although potatoes are very hardy, known as the “Hardy King” of the food world, this does not mean they can grow in open-air frozen soil at sub-zero temperatures.
Levi naturally understood that what this attendant said was correct.
But for Levi, who possessed Steve’s Power, growing food in frozen soil was not entirely impossible.
Through bone meal ripening, potatoes could be turned from tubers into mature individuals in three seconds.
This was an operation even more outrageous than magic.
He ignored Pete and just stood there quietly without speaking.
Trist immediately understood and stepped forward with a cold expression.
Although Trist didn’t know what Levi actually wanted to do, the “magic” Levi had displayed made him completely understand that the Sixth Prince of this moment was no longer what he used to be.
His Highness the Sixth Prince doing so certainly had his reasons.
“Do whatever His Highness tells you to do, why all this nonsense.”
Hearing Trist’s reprimand, the attendants immediately lowered their heads to admit their mistake, quickly picked up the hoes one by one, and then began to reclaim the land.
Anyway, this frozen soil probably couldn’t be plowed anyway; just hoe a few times to make it look like they tried.
“Huh?”
The hoe in Pete’s hand landed on the frozen soil, but the anticipated bone-hard feeling did not feed back to him.
A trace of doubt appeared on the face of Pete, who was proficient in farming.
Shouldn’t frozen soil be so rock-hard that you couldn’t hoe into it at all?
Why…
why was this stone hoe as if it were reclaiming moist, fluffy soil moistened by snowmelt in spring?!
Pete half-crouched down and doubtfully pinched the frozen soil with his hand.
Yep, it was still that familiar feel, rock-hard just like black bread mixed with sawdust.
The other attendants also showed looks of shock and suspicion one by one, involuntarily looking at each other.
There was something wrong with this stone hoe!
In just a few strokes, the rock-hard frozen soil turned into plantable land.
But the soil quality met the standard, yet the ambient temperature…
The attendants looked conflictedly at the potato tubers in their hands.
Right now, food was scarce in the town; wasting food was simply too regrettable.
“What are you all standing around in a daze for? Plant the potatoes!”
Trist’s cold command made the attendants move into action immediately once more.
Care about so much for what?
Anyway, wasting this little bit of food wasn’t enough for the refugees outside the city to eat for a single meal.
The attendants quickly sowed the potato tubers into the plowed ground according to Levi’s instructions.
After straightening their backs again, they discovered a strange thing.
Huh?
How did those five large carts of animal bones all disappear?
Trist to the side, however, widened his eyes.
Even though he had just seen Levi display his “magic”, but this was a full five carts of animal bones, which could pile up as high as a rockery on the ground.
Yet they disappeared in an instant?!
Levi did not get distracted, but instead began processing those animal bones into bone meal.
To be honest, Levi found it hard to imagine how such hard bones were made into bone meal with bare hands.
Steve’s Power was truly terrifying.
In just a few breaths, the five carts of animal bones turned into 20 stacks of bone meal.
Totalling 1,280 portions of bone meal.
Roughly calculating, using all this bone meal for ripening would yield at least 1,500 potatoes.
“Watch carefully; how I operate is how you will do it later.”
Saying this, Levi pulled a handful of white powder out of thin air.
It was precisely the bone meal just made from animal bones.
Afterward, amidst everyone’s astonished gazes, he scattered a handful of bone meal onto the potato seedling closest to him.
The next second, the potato seedling, which was still in a tuber state, popped and turned into a sprouted state.
“?!”
Levi’s operation did not stall.
The second handful of bone meal was scattered.
The potato seedling instantly grew a large chunk taller again.
And miraculously bloomed flowers.
In this bitter winter, a light purple flower actually appeared?!
Trist and the attendants all widened their eyes.
What on earth were they seeing?
The third handful of bone meal was scattered.
The flower instantly Withered.
The leaves turned slightly yellow.
Levi grabbed the stems and easily gave a pull.
On the plant’s root system, a full dozen or so potatoes of varying sizes hung on it.
This was a yield that could only possibly appear during a bumper harvest.
“Oh?!”
The potato yield made Levi’s eyes light up.
In the game, the yield of a single block of potato crops was around 1-4, unexpected that in the real world, the yield of ripened potatoes actually had over a dozen!
This meant that the yield Levi estimated just now was far lower than the actual output!
The originally estimated yield of 1,500 should actually multiply by at least 4-5 times, reaching at least 5,000!
The refugees outside the city numbered less than 1,000, and just this first wave of yield would be enough for them to eat for about 3 days.
This miraculous scene made everyone present unable to care about wiping the potato soil off their hands, and they rubbed their eyes.
What on earth did they see?!
Is this scene before them reasonable?!
Could this be a blessing bestowed by the God of Harvest?!
“Ma… magic?!”
Only Pete pointed at the potatoes in Levi’s hands and cried out loudly.
Trist gave him a displeased look.
As an attendant, daring to offend a master, especially when this master’s identity was a prince!
Clashing with His Highness, this crime was huge.
Pete plopped down on his knees and hurriedly explained his loss of composure:
“Sorry, it was His Highness’s miraculous magic that made me lose my composure.”
“There was once a Tier 2 plant-attribute mage who came to Wintertown’s Agricultural Association to guide us, and I went to visit at the time!”
“But the spell cast by that mage only increased the germination rate of seeds, and completely failed to instantly accelerate the growth of crops.”
“Your Highness, you! How on earth did you do it?! This is too magical!”
Pete changed his previous skeptical attitude and was completely captivated by the miraculous effect of bone meal.
“As you said, it is magic.”
“I used magic to turn the animal bones you transported into ‘growth powder’.”
“And these ‘growth powder’ can make crops ignore environmental impacts, shortening the growth cycle every time they are scattered until reaching maturity.”
Levi answered calmly, then threw a pile of bone meal from his inventory onto the ground.
He turned his face to look at Pete.
“What was your name again?”
“Pete, Your Highness.”
“You know a lot about farming?”
“Reporting to Your Highness, my family has farmed for generations, and when I participated in the Agricultural Association, I was even exchanged to study in the Royal Capital due to my outstanding performance.”
“Crop planting, farming management, disease treatment, crop processing… Your Highness, I understand a bit of all of them.”
“Oh?”
Levi’s eyes lit up.
He was a talent.
“I now appoint you as the general person in charge of this operation, and all attendants on site need to obey your command.”
“I need you to ripen enough potatoes, roast them, load them onto carts, and finally deliver them to the refugees without missing a single one.”
“Can you do it?”
Levi gently patted the other person’s shoulder, his eyes filled with anticipation.
“?!”
Pete’s pupils shook, his legs went soft, and he directly knelt down.
How did he suddenly become the person in charge?
“Y-Your Highness! Can… can I really do it?!”
“Why aren’t you accepting the order?” Trist frowned and looked at Pete.
Pete immediately gave himself a resounding slap on the face.
The fucking Lord gave you a task and you’re still hesitating, what are you thinking!
“Subordinate accepts the order!”
Afterward, Pete began organizing the people on site to carry out the potato ripening task.
Levi could tell that Pete was a knowledgeable agricultural expert.
For talented people, Levi naturally understood the principle of “delegation of power”.
After taking over the task, Pete instantly transformed and began commanding the attendants on site:
“Everyone come over to take ‘growth powder’, ripen all these potatoes, and pile the harvested potatoes together on the side.”
“Pay attention to checking the state of the potato tubers; tubers with diseases must be dealt with directly, otherwise they will spread.”
“As for the rest of the people, part of them are responsible for loading coal into the furnaces, and another part puts the potatoes into the furnaces to roast.”
The attendants were now completely captivated by the “miracle” displayed by Levi.
Turns out the Sixth Prince wasn’t trying to torment them like before, but had truly found a way to solve Wintertown’s food crisis!
The refugees who had fled here from outside the town due to the Monster Tide were saved!
The attendants began to get busy according to instructions.
Scattering bone meal, digging potatoes, loading coal, roasting potatoes…
The back garden originally dedicated to noble viewing and entertainment had now become a scene of busy farming, appearing exceptionally contrasting.
Looking at the scene before him, Levi nodded with satisfaction.
Not bad, he didn’t misjudge his person.
This Pete could be nurtured, and in the future might become his capable general.
After all, no matter where it was, food was the most important thing.
A subordinate who understood management and was proficient in agricultural knowledge would play an unimaginably huge role.
bone meal would eventually run out, and conventional food cultivation was still necessary.
“Trist, pass on my order: three hours later, open the city gates and provide disaster relief to the refugees!”
“Yes, Your Highness.” Trist suppressed the excitement in his heart and accepted Levi’s order.
He had just run a few steps when Levi called him to a stop again.
“Come back.”
“Your Highness?” Trist turned back, showing a puzzled expression.
Levi opened his mouth wide and yawned:
“Before you go, go up and move a reclining chair for me, this prince is a bit tired.”
“Yes!”