Birch Worm

The birch tree might be nurturing a Spirit Worm, which undoubtedly made Russell feel that happiness had come suddenly, while also putting immense pressure on him.

It wasn't unheard of for Spirit Worms to be nurtured in the wild, but it was extremely rare.

The reason for this was not that wild plants and mushrooms couldn't absorb the power of the earth. It was because the earth's power was ultimately too thin. Without the blessing of a Spirit Worm of the same origin, it was exceedingly difficult for plants and mushrooms to absorb nutrients on their own and successfully nurture a Spirit Worm.

Most likely, it would end in miscarriage due to insufficient supply of earth power.

"Can this tree... nurture a Birch Spirit Worm?"

Looking at the faint luster emanating from the tree trunk, Russell desperately recalled the memories of his previous life, trying to find a way to help the birch tree.

From the knowledge he had learned, Spirits had appeared in human sight for at least four thousand years.

How to use Spirits to cultivate Magic Potions was already quite proficient.

How to use Magic Potions to cultivate new Spirits in turn also had a set of mature plans.

However, how to improve the nurturing of wild Spirits remained a great unsolved mystery. They didn't even know how to find wild Spirits. After all, whether plants or mushrooms nurtured Spirits was random, with no fixed pattern to follow.

Tonight, Russell encountered the thickest birch tree, which was nurturing a Spirit, but this did not mean that the thickest and tallest birch trees would necessarily nurture Spirits.

And nurturing one did not mean it would necessarily be successful.

Perhaps the shortest and most slender birch tree would also nurture a Spirit, and its success rate might even be higher than that of a thick and tall birch tree.

Therefore, methods like fertilizing, watering, weeding, and pest control had no effect on nurturing Spirits.

Otherwise, with thousands of years of human cultivation history, countless crop and fruit tree Spirits should have been cultivated long ago, and people would be happily farming.

"Ice cream, do you have any ideas?" Russell, unable to find a solution, casually asked the Little Dream Dragon.

He didn't hold out much hope.

However, the next moment, the Little Dream Dragon turned its head, glanced at Russell, and snorted hot air from its nostrils with a look of disdain.

Then.

It turned its head back, aimed at the birch tree trunk, opened its mouth full of fine dragon teeth, and exhaled a breath of Dragon Breath thinner than smoke.

A magical scene then unfolded.

The extremely dim light of the birch tree, empowered by the Dragon Breath, became warm as if it had come to life. It also developed a rhythmic pulse, with the light flickering brighter with each pulse.

"Gaga!" After doing this, the Little Dream Dragon turned its head back again, looking askance at Russell.

Although Russell couldn't be sure what the Little Dream Dragon's Dragon Breath had done to the birch tree or how it had stimulated its Magic Power, it didn't prevent him from guessing that this breath of Dragon Breath would definitely play a crucial role in the nurturing of the Spirit Worm.

"Well done, Ice cream!" He vigorously rubbed the Little Dream Dragon's large head.

"Gaga!"

The Little Dream Dragon shook its head, then directly knocked Russell off, and flapped its wings, leaving Russell's side.

It was tired.

"Just one breath of Dragon Breath..." Russell only managed to utter half a thought before his consciousness darkened and he fell into chaos.

Ooooh!

The rooster at the Serf's home in the distance crowed loudly.

In the tent, Russell stretched his arm out of his sleeping bag, stretching his whole body comfortably to welcome the beautiful morning.

"Ever since I got Ice cream, I haven't had a single bad night's sleep." He fumbled for his pocket watch under his sleeping bag pillow and checked the time. It was 6:30 AM.

He lifted the tent flap.

Sunlight had already evenly sprinkled through the birch forest.

Jack, the Knight Retainer, looking somewhat groggy, was leaning against a birch tree, nodding off like a pecking chicken. He was startled awake by the movement.

"Ah, my lord."

"Go to the manor's annex, wash your face, have some breakfast, and then get some good sleep." Russell stretched his chest and instructed.

"Your subordinate isn't tired," Jack said, lying with his red eyes.

Russell simply repeated, "Go."

Jack bowed and retreated, "Understood!"

Leaving Russell alone, he carefully observed the birch tree. Since the part nurturing the Spirit was more than three meters above the ground, he couldn't see clearly standing beneath the tree, but he had a strong feeling that this Birch Spirit Worm would definitely be successfully nurtured.

"The fourth Spirit Worm, I didn't expect to have the fourth Spirit Worm so soon!" After looking up for a while, Russell's heart grew warmer.

This was only his second night staying at Wuyou Snake Manor.

If he changed camping locations every night and opened the Dark Dreamscape in different locations, did that mean he could ask the Little Dream Dragon to exhale Dragon Breath for all the wild Spirits that could be nurtured throughout the entire territory, and thus successfully nurture them?

"Awesome!"

He became more and more excited as he thought about it.

This was until Steward Morris arrived with two male and female servants to bring him toiletries and breakfast.

"Master, are you still going to stay here?"

"I plan to watch the Insect Grass," Russell replied casually. His territory was his to command, and he didn't need to explain his actions to anyone.

With the servants attending to him, he brushed his teeth and washed his face with the clear water from the Glimmering River, followed by a simple breakfast.

He then lingered by the birch trees for a while, ensuring no abnormalities were visible. Only then did he hand over the Insect Grass to the arriving Serf Technicians to care for, while he went to inspect other Insect Grass fields.

The Monochoria Insect Grass and Dill Insect Grass had already taken root, greedily drawing strength from beneath the earth.

The serfs planting wheat and beans nearby, led by the serf steward, had already begun harvesting the immature seedlings.

After the harvest, it would be time to sow the Monochoria and Dill.

"The weather is getting better day by day, Master. The ice age ends and the warm season begins. If we plant the Magic Potions now, they'll grow quickly and won't delay the Magic Potion harvest at all," Old Hans said, bending his back as he approached Russell.

"You've planted Magic Potions before?"

"I used to plant them in town. Speaking of which, I, Old Hans, was also a Serf Technician. Later, Baron Lord assigned me to Wuyou Snake Manor as a foreman, and that's when I stopped planting Magic Potions." Reminiscing about the past, Old Hans unconsciously touched his waist.

There hung a well-worn pipe.

Without cigarettes or cigars, the people here either used pipes or chewed raw tobacco leaves if they wanted to smoke.

Suddenly remembering something, Old Hans quickly hung the pipe back. "I'm sorry, Master, I almost gave in to my craving."

"It's fine, smoke if you want to," Russell said casually.

He didn't consider a serf smoking in front of him an act of disrespect towards his noble authority, even though he didn't like smoking.

He didn't like secondhand smoke either.

This was the wilderness, after all. He wouldn't inhale much secondhand smoke. Besides, with Battle Qi nourishing his body, even smoking all day wouldn't cause lung cancer. Knights with Battle Qi rarely fell ill; Battle Qi was more miraculous than any elixir.

Old Hans ultimately didn't dare to light his pipe in front of Russell, merely trying his best to please him.

As Russell patrolled the field ridges, he asked, "Old Hans, you've lived in Wuyou Snake Manor for so long. What do you think is the first thing we need to address to develop this place?"