Rumors and Gossip

To the Magic Apprentices, using Wood Spirit magic to cultivate crops was as absurd as raising pigs on wine.

It was a waste of precious resources—and an insult to magic!

"Who has an objection?"

Yu Sheng'an swept his gaze over the chattering Magic Apprentices.

The Magic Apprentices exchanged looks. In the end, no one dared step forward to question him. Whether it was the Greenman Effect or simply knowing which way the wind blew, no one could say.

"Very good!"

Yu Sheng'an nodded in satisfaction and snapped his fingers. A huge Phantom Scroll appeared, covered in a string of numerical codes.

"I made a group. This is the group number, so join it yourselves. If you have any ideas or suggestions, message me directly. Good submissions earn points and rewards."

After saying that, Yu Sheng'an made a few more trivial arrangements before dismissing the meeting.

To be honest, he did not know much about crop cultivation.

Still, having received nine years of Compulsory Education, he at least knew concepts such as "dominant genes," "recessive genes," "Directed Breeding," "mutation," and "induced mutation."

Do not underestimate those concepts. With them, he could, in some respects, put himself hundreds or even thousands of years ahead of this world's biology.

This world's biology relied far too heavily on magic.

It basically depended on magic to alter, distort, and manipulate plant growth.

Yu Sheng'an refused to believe that, with these concepts, the means to put them into practice, and nearly one percent of the Kevil Empire's Wood Spirit mages at his disposal, he still could not make something of it with magic's support.

When the time came, even if crop yields rose by just ten percent, spread across the entire Empire, it would amount to an enormous figure.

It would feed more people, produce a larger population, and free up more labor!

All of it would directly transform into his power!

In fact, during the past half month of spreading the Internet Divine Art throughout the Empire, he had continuously consulted relevant materials and personally investigated soil conditions across the Empire. He already had a rough idea in mind.

Before deciding on the experiment, however, he still chose to hear the opinions of professionals. The more perspectives, the clearer the truth!

After the meeting, Yu Sheng'an slowly headed toward the back of the great hall.

Few people knew that beneath the Magic Forest hall, an underground space the size of a football field had been forcibly expanded with Earth Magic over the past half month.

In the Empire's Capital City, that was no easy task.

The difficulty was not expanding a basement, but the fact that the Empire's underground spaces were monitored by Magic Towers. Excavating without approval would trigger a Magic Tower's defensive counterattack. If someone got crushed into pulp, they could not blame anyone else.

Following a spiral staircase down into the basement, he looked out over the vast underground space. There was not the slightest decoration; it had been neatly excavated into a square chamber.

The surrounding walls, ceiling, and floor had all been crystallized with Earth Magic, making the place look exceptionally clean and beautiful.

Solidified Inch Light spells were arranged across the ceiling in a pleasing pattern, illuminating the entire space.

At a glance, countless glass cases of varying sizes stood densely packed throughout the basement.

Complex Magic Runes had been inscribed inside the cases. They were all Gravity Magic Runes, and once activated, they could simulate a microgravity environment.

This would be Yu Sheng'an's primary battlefield for simulating microgravity conditions, inducing crop mutations, and selecting suitable crops.

"Having power sure makes things easier!"

Yu Sheng'an looked at the high-spec laboratory, his heart filled with ambition!

Choosing to begin in the Kevil Empire had been fucking wise!

"Has Lord Dendall gone mad? He pulled every Wood Spirit Magic Apprentice away just to cultivate crops? Th-this... this is utterly ridiculous!!!"

Marchie, an Archmage and member of the Willis Magic Plantation Federation, slammed his hand on the table in fury.

Nearly all the magical plants grown on their plantations required large amounts of Wood Spirit magic to maintain.

Although they employed some mages skilled in Wood Spirit magic, those people simply could not sustain their enormous estates.

In the past, Magic Apprentices had served as temporary workers—or even free labor.

Now that those people had been taken away, at least one-fifth of their plantations had effectively been crippled. How could they not be furious?

"Ridiculous? This is outright stupidity! Never mind whether they can succeed—even if they do, do those Farmers who cannot even read a single word have the ability to grow them?"

"Haha, does he really think that just because the Internet Divine Art has spread throughout the Empire, everyone in the Empire can become a mage?"

Several major plantation owners sneered in anger.

"Who is this Asheff? How could he make Lord Dendall value him so highly?"

"No idea. He seemed to appear out of nowhere. I observed him before—his mana fluctuations are extremely weak. I think he is either an Archmage or a Magic Apprentice. I lean toward the former. Perhaps he is a mage Lord Dendall recruited from another country!"

"Whoever he is, he cannot swallow up all the Wood Spirit Magic Apprentices! Gentlemen, why don't we join forces and request an audience with Lord Dendall?"

"I was thinking the same thing!"

"This is precisely the responsibility for which we founded the Willis Magic Plantation Federation!"

After a brief discussion, the plantation owners decided to join forces and pressure Magic God Dendall.

At the same time, the name Asheff shook Felix because of this unprecedented large-scale coordinated magic experiment!

"Do they need such a huge operation just to cultivate a few crops? A handful of Magic Apprentices would have been enough, wouldn't it?"

"Using magic to cultivate crops? How did he even come up with that?"

"Why research crops of all things? How many Copper can that earn?"

"Who is this Asheff? I've never heard of him."

"Neither have I. I checked the mages registered on the Empire Official Website, and there was no such person."

"I heard through unofficial channels that he is a mage Lord Dendall recruited from abroad!"

"No wonder he received such generous treatment. It is all for show!"

"Nonsense. I heard he is Lord Dendall's... illegitimate son?"

"Huh? Is that true?"

Shielded and spread by the Internet, a storm of public opinion swept through Felix!

From Magic Mentors down to Magic Apprentices, the flames of gossip burned fiercely!

Looking at everyone's views and attitudes, there was almost nothing but contempt and mockery.

Setting aside whether using magic to research crops was beneath them, it simply was not worth it from a profit perspective!

Magical plants cultivated with Wood Spirit magic basically fell into two categories.

The first involved using Wood Spirit magic to forcibly interfere with, distort, and amplify a certain trait of a plant to achieve the desired result.

This method required human intervention. Even if it only involved the seeds and required no further intervention afterward, the price would still be beyond what Farmers could afford.

The second was directly cultivating a new variety.

That was tantamount to entering the domain of gods. Who could possibly research something like that?

Even if someone did develop one, it would be an entirely new plant. Farmers would only need to buy it once, then save their own seeds afterward instead of purchasing more. Compared with the research costs, was it worth it?

Not at all!

What? Sell it at a high price?

Did those commoners have that kind of money?

Honestly, this was something anyone with even a basic understanding of magic should have known. Would Lord Dendall not know it?

Since he knew, why had he approved this experimental project?

He had even transferred every Wood Spirit Magic Apprentice in Felix to participate in the experiment?

No one could understand it, but that did not stop them from imagining things.

For a time, countless versions of Asheff's identity and background began circulating.

From a mysterious foreign mage, to the illegitimate son of a Magic God, to a member of the Royal Family, everyone's imagination and talent for spreading rumors had been thoroughly awakened by the Internet.

Just as the rumors reached a fever pitch, Dorothy anxiously knocked on the doors of Magic Forest.