Foreign Land Reclamation By a Vegetable-growing Skeleton

Doubting the Old Witch’s guest? Not a good idea, right? What if she holds a grudge against us? We’ll end up scrubbing toilets all day!

Ange didn’t give a hoot about what others thought, he just wanted to play this game. He pushed the Demon Crystal into the slot, studied it a bit, and figured out how to start it. He fed in a bit of Magic Power to activate the Simulated Magic Formation.

Swish, the well-kept farmland vanished, replacing it was a plot of untouched wasteland with fluctuating numbers displaying years, months, days, seasons, temperature, humidity, rainfall, and other data.

Do I need to clear this land first? Following the steps he had observed from others, Ange fiddled with the control panel and some images materialized.

Shall I Burn Wasteland here? After glancing at the soil description, Ange decided to go ahead with it and selected one of the images.

A torch appeared on Ange’s plot of wasteland in the pit. Ange could manipulate this torch, igniting it at different spots to Burn Wasteland.

The Burn Wasteland technique had its logistics, it wasn’t about burning everywhere aimlessly. The fire had to progress from a point to a line to a surface based on the vegetation’s moisture density.

If the ignition spot was poorly chosen, the first burnt area could easily become a barrier, blocking the spread of fire and leading to patchy burnt spots somewhat like a measles spell.

At this point, you have to sweep the torch across the patchy areas, burning them clean. Then you’d realize that there’s time limit for each ignition, you need to wait a dozen or so seconds between each try.

In the Illusion Magic Array, a dozen seconds would amount to half a day. By the time you’ve cleaned up all the spots, days would have passed.

Ange, however, did not make such rookie mistakes. Having Burnt Wastelands for over a thousand years, he could burn out a heart or star shape without a problem. He quickly cleaned up the wasteland, leaving just a layer of ashes.

The two competitors looked at each other, especially Dobinki’s students, full of disbelief. If Ange fooled around, it would be forgivable. But clearly, he wasn’t. If they didn’t play, would they be laughed at?

Let’s play then, it’s not like we’re the ones paying, the Demon Crystal’s already in.

The opponents also swiftly started to Burn Wasteland.

However, lacking practical experience, their vast theoretical knowledge didn’t help them Burn Wasteland well. They didn’t focus on these basics in their competitions and soon, their land was also patchy. Dealing with these unburnt areas wasted them several days.

By this point, Ange had already moved on to land preparation.

The process of land preparation was rich, involving, removal of debris, sun-bathing the field, applying base fertilizer and more, each needing a tailor-made approach.

When Ange saw debris, his first instinct was to call the Little Angel, but then he remembered this was only a simulation. This meant he could only use methods within the Magic Formation.

Obviously, there were no Earth Hammers in the Magic Formation, no one would use an Earth Hammer as a tool for debris removal except him and the first Black Mountain Duke.

Unable to pulverize the debris, the fastest method was plowing, so Ange chose plowing.

The soil condition was acceptable, no need for sun-bathing, just a base fertilizer application would suffice.

Ange viewed the available crops, discovering many varieties including Primordial Magic Rice, Breadfruit Trees, and the Vine Breadfruit that his opponent had just used.

Without a second thought, he selected Vine Breadfruit as he had grown the other two before and not this one, so he wanted to try this.

After deciding on a crop, Ange naturally opened its information to study its habits.

The holographic image of Vine Breadfruit immediately caused an uproar.

One of Dobinki’s students shouted angrily, “Are you doing this on purpose? This Breadfruit Vine is a new crop bred by our teacher. It combines the advantages of various crops while removing their disadvantages. It has the potential to become the next dominant food crop. You think you can grow it without having seen it before? You’re underestimating us!”

From an onlooker’s perspective, Ange’s actions did seem provocative. The student who had just lost his match was defeated by this crop; Ange promptly chose it. Was he planning to beat Dobinki’s students with the same crop?

Picking this crop, Dobinki’s side could only win and had to win by a large margin. Otherwise, even if they barely won or tied, it would be counted as a loss.

You bred the crop, you’re most familiar with its habits. If a newbie’s yield is higher than yours, isn’t that a loss? Isn’t that provocation?

Ange hadn’t thought too much about it. He just simply wanted to try out a new crop. Tilting his head, he asked puzzledly, “Oh, I can’t? Alright then.”

He promptly cancelled the Vine Breadfruit and chose the Magic Rice he was most familiar with.

This action infuriated the opponents again. If he hadn’t chosen the Vine Breadfruit at first, they wouldn’t have cared. But now, after choosing it, he immediately switched crops under their ‘threat’. Even if they won, it could only be an ignominious victory.

Negris, projected onto his body, burst into laughter. Just with a decision to ‘choose’ and ‘not to choose’, Ange was able to infuriate the opponents, twice. It reminded Negris of when it had first met this skeleton.