Chapter 70: Seed Improvement and Selection

Chapter 70: Seed Improvement and Selection

The Kingdom of Fanelia is divided into seven provinces.

Among them, the Goldrock Province is located in the far north, bordering the Lakeblue Province to the southwest, and beyond that, the Frosttainted Province.

"What plague?" Su Nan asked.

Kei didn't elaborate, simply handing over the parchment.

As Su Nan took it, his brow furrowed.

It turned out that just a month ago, a strange illness had appeared in Silver Ridge, a city in the Frosttainted Province. Those who fell ill began to grow beast-like fur, claws, and fangs, along with other animalistic features. They would go mad, attacking others with a fierce desire for flesh and blood.

Initially, the Lord of Silver Ridge didn't take it seriously, sending guards to kill the infected and bury them hastily.

But the situation didn't end there. More people within the city began to show symptoms of the illness.

In just a month, the number of infected in Silver Ridge had surpassed five hundred and was still increasing at an alarming rate.

By this point, the city's military forces were no longer capable of handling the crisis.

With no other choice, the Lord of Silver Ridge had to seek help from the Duke of Frosttainted Province.

Currently, the Duke had dispatched his army to suppress the infected, who had gone mad.

After reading the contents of the parchment, Su Nan couldn't help but grimace as if in pain.

This was clearly the Beastification Syndrome!

Beastification Syndrome was less a disease and more a reversion to a primal state.

When a human contracted Beastification Syndrome, the beastification factor within their body would be fully activated, causing them to develop numerous animalistic features, lose their sanity, and become bloodthirsty, savage beasts.

However, only the Original Beastified Humans could spread the syndrome.

Original Beastified Humans referred to the first generation of beastified humans and their direct descendants.

Those born from the union of an Original Beastified Human with a normal human or a regular beastified human were not considered Original Beastified Humans.

For example, Ota, the beastified human guard in the employ of the Firefox Trade Guild's Mu Zhuo, was clearly a regular beastified human.

In ancient times, the Original Beastified Humans had caused the "Beastification Catastrophe," leading to massive casualties until they were finally suppressed by the wizards.

Since then, wizards had recognized the threat posed by the Original Beastified Humans and exterminated them all.

Those who remained were the regular beastified humans, born from the union of normal humans and Original Beastified Humans.

So, in theory, there should no longer be any Original Beastified Humans left on the Starlight Continent. How could Beastification Syndrome still appear?

Su Nan was puzzled.

"This is Beastification Syndrome," Su Nan said, handing the parchment back.

Seeing Kei's puzzled expression, he had to explain in detail what Beastification Syndrome was.

After hearing the explanation, Kei's expression became particularly grave.

"Infected individuals who become beastified are hard to deal with?"

"Depends on their physical condition. If they are ordinary people, they might become as strong as a Squire at most. But if they are Squires or Knights, it becomes very problematic."

"Beastification Syndrome can be either minor or major. If the source of infection can be found quickly and the spread contained, followed by the elimination of all infected, the situation can be quickly resolved. But if it gets out of control, it could lead to a disaster," Su Nan shook his head.

Kei's frown deepened, and he sighed. "I hope the Frosttainted Province can control the situation soon."

Su Nan pursed his lips but wasn't overly worried.

The Frosttainted Province was separated from the Shining Fief by the Lakeblue Province. Even if the Beastification Catastrophe were to break out in the Frosttainted Province, it would be the Duke of Frosttainted and the neighboring provinces' dukes who would have to deal with it, not him.

Time flew by, and before they knew it, it was the month of Summerlong.

Finally, the Firefox Trade Guild delivered the seeds of the Silver Moon Flower and the Red Vein Fruit.

The construction of the Magic Plant Garden could now proceed.

However, before planting, Su Nan had to improve the seeds of the Silver Moon Flower and the Red Vein Fruit.

The former was relatively simple—just one word: Synthesis!

Using basic Silver Moon Flower seeds, he could synthesize better varieties.

Of course, synthesis wasn't limitless.

While theoretically, with enough Silver Moon Flower seeds, Su Nan could continue to improve them indefinitely, the better the variety, the more demanding the growing conditions became.

If the synthesized Silver Moon Flower became too advanced, even the energy concentration in the Magic Plant Garden, enhanced by a power-gathering array, might not suffice for its growth.

So, Su Nan's goal was to find the optimal improved seed that perfectly matched the energy particle concentration of the Magic Plant Garden.

This process wasn't particularly difficult, but it was time-consuming. He had to plant different synthesized seeds, observe their growth, and select the best ones.

It took him about two months to choose the most suitable superior variety.

The improvement process for the Red Vein Fruit was much more challenging and time-consuming.

First, he had to fuse the Red Vein Fruit seeds with Dragon Blood, plant them, and obtain the improved seeds before he could proceed with synthesis.

Fusing each seed individually would have exhausted him.

Even with the improved growing environment provided by the power-gathering array, the Red Vein Fruit still had a growth cycle of three months.

Including the time spent on research and fusion, it took Su Nan four months to harvest the first batch of seeds, which he named Dragon Blood Fruits.

Then, he repeated the selection process for the Silver Moon Flower seeds.

By the time Su Nan planted the final selected Dragon Blood Fruit seeds, it was already the month of Autumn Curtain, nearing the end of the year.

The weather had become cold, but the Magic Plant Garden had a temperature-stabilizing array, so he didn't have to worry about climate effects.

Looking at the dense rows of Silver Moon Flower and Dragon Blood Fruit seedlings in the Magic Plant Garden, Su Nan let out a satisfied sigh.

From now on, he wouldn't have to spend a fortune buying Silver Moon Flowers, and the material problem for his Super Energy Potion was temporarily solved.

The same went for the substitute for the Secondary Dragon Blood Potion.

Once the first batch of Dragon Blood Fruits was harvested, the supply issue for the potions would be resolved.

Stretching lazily, Su Nan turned and left the Magic Plant Garden.

The base was quiet.

Since he was the only one there, it was mostly silent most of the time.

Occasionally, he could hear the heavy footsteps of the clay golems as they cleaned the base.

Due to Xie Man and the others not being able to handle tasks independently yet, the planting and cultivation of the Silver Moon Flowers were entirely Su Nan's responsibility.

As a result, he had been busier than ever over the past few months.

This even delayed the creation of the iron golem, with the black iron sent by Flash City still piled up in the warehouse.

However, Su Nan hadn't neglected his meditation and spell practice.

He had successfully constructed the seventh star ring, bringing him closer to advancing to a third-level Apprentice Wizard.

His mental power had also increased to 22.12.

However, the proficiency in his 8th-level star ring meditation technique had skyrocketed to 130,000 points.

He still needed about 20,000 more points to level up and break through.

"About 20,000 proficiency points, which should take around a month."

"But at this rate, the proficiency required for the 9th-level star ring meditation technique might reach 200,000 points, meaning it would take at least seven to eight months to level up."

Su Nan estimated that the time was roughly in line with his previous predictions.

If everything went smoothly, he would construct the ninth star ring by the end of Summerlong or the beginning of Fireflow next year.

Thank you to reader 1504435735196188672 for the support!

(End of Chapter)

Chapter end