Solving the territory's food shortage was something they hoped to accomplish in this Experimental Field.
Rapidly upgrading the territory, solving the shortage of bunker rooms, and even resolving the problem of this place not resembling a territory at all were all things they hoped to accomplish in this Experimental Field as well.
It could be said that the root of solving all the territory's biggest current problems lay in this Experimental Field. Its importance was self-evident.
The importance of this Experimental Field did not lie in the plants that had already grown several dozen centimeters tall. What mattered was the soil beneath them.
Compared to the soil elsewhere in the territory, this soil was no different. And to Landen, the fact that there was no difference was precisely what mattered most.
Since there was no difference, if this land could successfully produce food, then the other land could do the same. At that time, as long as he had enough people who knew the Planting Technique, Landen would be able to rapidly develop large areas of farmland. When the time came, using All Things Grow would immediately solve the territory's food shortage.
However, all of this was built on the foundation that the Experimental Field could actually produce food.
After all was said and done, it could be summed up in one sentence: this Experimental Field was the most important thing to Landen right now—its importance even surpassed that of the bunker.
Moreover, the bunker had a powerhouse like Lilith guarding it. But here at the Experimental Field, only a few Dark Elves were taking turns watching over it. The difference in strength was enormous. More importantly, the enemy would not try to destroy the bunker; they would only try to infiltrate it and then kill Landen. But here at the Experimental Field, they did not even need to care whether Landen was present. As long as they destroyed this field, they could deal Landen a tremendous blow.
Therefore, when Landen heard that someone had appeared around the bunker, he was not worried in the slightest. He even had the leisure to lead people out.
However, when he heard that someone had been watching the area near the Experimental Field—and had been doing so for several days—Landen immediately became tense.
"Where did you find the tracks? Take me there." Hearing Ibaka's report, Landen did not even have time to check on the crops' growth. He immediately had Ibaka lead the way.
The place where Ibaka had discovered the tracks was not far from the field. It was near a rather concealed valley, which was probably being used by the Dark Elves as a place to relieve themselves. The moment they approached, they smelled something unpleasant.
Fortunately, Ibaka did not lead Landen into the valley. Instead, he continued forward for a short distance before pointing at a spot and saying, "I came here to relieve myself that day, and that guy was hiding right here. I didn't notice him at first, but for some reason, he suddenly moved on his own. That was when I discovered there was someone there. He was faster than me, and he knew the terrain around here no less well than I did. I chased him for a while, but he shook me off."
"So you inferred that he had already been here for several days based on that?" As they walked back, Landen asked, "Then, what race was he?"
"A Dark Elf!" Ibaka answered.
"Heh, looks like we really have been targeted." Landen smiled bitterly again. If it had been another race, they could have guessed that a wild creature had accidentally wandered here. But if it was a Dark Elf, then they could be one hundred percent certain that someone else had sent him.
"How much longer until those crops are mature?" Landen turned and asked Avina.
"The plants' growth is somewhat strange." Avina did not answer Landen immediately. Instead, she spoke seriously. Whenever she encountered a professional question, she seemed to become an entirely different person.
After a pause, Avina continued, "I don't have many records on plants from the underground world. The growth cycle of this Lavon Wheat should be around several months, but only nearly one month has passed. Judging from the growth of this Lavon Wheat, however, it is already comparable to what my records describe for wheat that has grown for several months."
"In other words, it's growing twice as fast?" Landen finally heard some good news, and his expression relaxed slightly. He then asked, "What about the growth? Given the current situation, if we can harvest it, roughly how much food will we get?"
Avina shook her head. "I'm not entirely sure about the specific results either. After all, I've only read about these things in books, and this is my first time actually carrying out the process. However, judging from the current situation, the final harvest should be somewhat greater than what the books record."
"Good." Landen's expression finally eased.
Growing crops in the underground world was very different from doing so in the Surface World. The differences involved not only sunlight, but also fertilization.
The races of the underground world were entirely different from those of the Surface World, and the food they ate differed greatly as well. Naturally, this resulted in vastly different excrement.
There was no such thing as high-tech compound fertilizer in this world. The only fertilizer was animal excrement. Animal excrement from the Surface World could be used as fertilizer to promote crop growth, but things were completely different in the underground world. The excrement of animals here could not be used as fertilizer at all, because it contained extremely strong corrosive properties. If it were spread over the soil as fertilizer, seeds planted in the earth would be corroded before they could even sprout.
Therefore, in the underground world, the growth of crops depended entirely on the land's own fertility. How fertile a piece of land was almost completely determined the final harvest.
A piece of land that had originally been extremely barren now possessed fertility nearly comparable to that of the most fertile land in the underground world. Moreover, food planted on this land grew almost twice as fast. If these crops truly grew to maturity and were successfully harvested, then this barren land that the various factions had previously disdained would immediately become a highly coveted place throughout the entire underground world.
Landen was delighted by the changes in his territory, but he did not want the outside world to learn of them at all.
Vivian's arrival earlier had given him a tremendous warning. He now possessed a fair amount of strength, but compared to the major powers that truly ruled cities and territories, he was still just a tiny insect. The reason those powers had not dared to openly move against him was still his mother, Matriarch Isis, and his three older sisters.
After all, the Isis Family was a powerful clan that possessed a city and controlled vast amounts of material production. Although the surrounding forces had constantly made minor moves against the Isis Family in secret, they had never dared bring them into the open. War was a small matter; severing their trade ties was the real disaster.
But once Landen exposed the fact that his territory could produce large quantities of food—the most basic resource in the underground world—he could not guarantee that those major powers would still be able to control their desires.
"I only wanted to solve the territory's problems back then. I never expected any of this. Now that I think about it, this is troublesome." Landen looked at the thriving Experimental Field, his expression turning cold. "I may not be strong enough yet, but whoever dares lay a hand on my Experimental Field or my territory— even if I can't kill you, I'll still tear a piece of flesh from you and make you hurt for the rest of your lives!"
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