"Spit it out, little guy."


    Liszt held a restless rubber bug in his palm and stepped through the muddy water to reach a pre-nned vacant rubber garden area—the rubber gardens were to be cultivated on tens of thousands of acres, so theyout of the area had all been determined in advance.


    As the rubber bug opened its mouth, a faint green light flew out.


    It was a tiny seed that took root immediately uponnding and then grew at a rate visible to the naked eye, sprouting stalks, branching out, and producing leaves, eventually bing a huge cordyceps tree.


    This dynamic scene of nt growth stirred something in Liszt: "A seed can grow into a towering tree, elf bugs nurture life in this way… then what is the magic fire seed within me, and does it have any connection with the seeds of the elf cordyceps?"


    Elves could be seen as being nurtured from seeds.


    If his guess wasn''t wrong, fire dragons would also be nurtured from magic fire seeds.


    Thus, elves and dragons are both nurtured from seeds, and their seeds are clearly not ordinary—they are condensed from magic power. The seeds of the elf cordyceps possess the functions of ordinary nt seeds as well, but it''s unlikely the magic fire seeds could be nted in the ground to sprout.


    "I hope it doesn''t sprout in my heart and consider me the soil from which it draws nutrients, draining my Dou Qi to nurture itself into a fire dragon."n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om


    As the new rubber tree cordyceps grew, his thoughts were active.


    One moment hepared the simrities and differences between the elf seeds and the magic fire seeds; the next moment, he thought of humans developing from fertilized eggs, which could also be considered seeds; he concluded that perhaps all life originated from seeds, yet he inexplicably thought of Sea Sprite Ake, who seemed not to have developed from a seed.


    When she was born, she was already inside a shell,plete in body parts except for legs below the knees.


    "Perhaps, Ake was originally just a shell?"


    It was like elf bugs, which did not exist initially; sudden mutations in ordinary nts then nurtured elf bugs. Maybe sea sprites also did not exist, and a sudden mutation in a shell brought forth a sea sprite.


    Such thoughts were a bit strange.


    He didn''t believe Ake was transformed from a shell—there''s hardly any aesthetic in the flesh of a shell: "The only thing is, how was Ake''s shell formed, and where did shee from? If I can solve this mystery, perhaps I could mass-cultivate new sea sprites."


    Although Ake was still underage and under cultivation, her role was clearly significant.


    Nami was discovered by her, kelp bugs were found by her, the coral reef, Pearl Lake, and the trida were located by her, the fen hai luo was also found by her, Chris Truth was rescued by her, green caterpirs, green-headed ducks were discovered by her, and even the Six-Headed King Serpent was lured by her. Find your next adventure on empire


    Basically, all the rewards from the ocean-rted smoke missions were inseparable from Ake''s shadow—after all, Liszt was not an aquatic creature.


    Knights could conquer thend, and in the future, the skies as well, but the ocean was perhaps beyond the reach of even dragon knights—except for those riding water dragons, for water dragons could definitely roam the sea at will.


    He did not drift long in the sea of thoughts.


    The cordyceps had been sessfully ced.


    Liszt put away the rubber bug that had calmed down and began to examine the new rubber tree cordyceps. He noticed that this cordyceps waspletely different from the previous two; it was muchrger, with a thicker trunk and more branches. Especially its leaves were extremely exaggerated,rger even than those of a banana nt.


    It had not borne fruit.


    Perhaps like amon rubber tree, rubber could be extracted from the trunk.


    "The biggest difference with this new Cordyceps might be its leaves, I''ll pick one to study first." Liszt carefully plucked a leaf imbued with magic power.


    The magic power quickly dissipated, turning into an ordinary leaf.


    From the cut at the base of the leaf, a small amount of rubber was seen to seep out, proving that the new rubber tree could still produce rubber and had not lost this ability—in Liszt''s view, the value of rubber can bepared to that of magic potions; losing the ability to produce rubber would be an absolute failure of a mutation.


    "Such arge leaf, and quite sturdy, too." He tugged at the leaf, but it didn''t tear, "It could be made into a fan, or maybe... packaging bags? Like wrapping zongzi, using its leaves to wrap delicacies? I always feel that this function doesn''t quite match the worth of a rubber tree."


    …


    After settling the new Cordyceps rubber tree.


    Liszt''s next priority was toplete the new Smoke Mission—stockpiling enough food for ten thousand people to get through the winter.


    But he soon discovered a serious problem: "It''s not even October yet, winter is from mid-December to mid-February, so when should I stockpile enough food to consider the taskpleted? Should I start stockpiling now?" He was unsure whether the food stockpiled now would count as winter food.


    Nevertheless, he had to start somewhere, and there was no way to stockpile enough food in a hurry.


    Under the condition of ensuring basic food and clothing, a young adult male would consume about 600 jin (approximately 300 kg) of grain per year. After deducting the consumption of the old, young, women, and children, and taking into ount the extra consumption of knights, it was estimated that each servant needed 2 jin (approximately 1 kg) of food per day.


    Ten thousand people would need 20,000 jin (approximately 10 tonnes) of food per day.


    The food required by ten thousand people for two months would be 600 tonnes.


    "Starting now, I need to find a way to buy grain from all over Coral Ind every day, storing 3 tonnes a day, so by December, I should be able to store about 100 tonnes; plus the grain produced from my own territory minus the consumption for eating, should allow storing another 100 tonnes; with the addition of preserved meats and seafood, another 100 tonnes shouldn''t be an issue... But there is still a shortfall of 300 tonnes."


    This 300 tonnes had to be purchased from other inds.


    The cost would definitely not be small.


    As of now, Fresh Flower Brew''s profits have been mortgaged until next year, and the revenue from ck Tulips, Fresh Flower Soap, and rubber can barely support the development of the territory.


    To buy additional food, I must find a way to raise new Gold Coins.


    "If there''s no other way, start selling ck Pearls and see if the market is indeed eager for ck Pearls smaller than a sea bowl." He had previously sold a fist-sized one to Levis for several hundred Gold Coins.


    Now, with ck Pearls bing more plentiful.


    The price will surely fall, but no matter to what extent it falls, it will definitely be more valuable than the White Pearls produced by the Grand Duke''s Pearl Oyster farming at Tranquil Lake—White Pearls can only calm and soothe, while ck Pearls not only have that effect but can also disperse Wind Attribute Magic Power.


    Moreover, they arerger and contain more abundant magic power.


    "At ten times the price, they''ll definitely sell! Now,rge Trida in Pearl Lake are hard toe by, but there is still an abundance of small ones, just by catching a batch, I can make Gold Coins... I don''t need to worry about the territory''s finances at all, I may be out of money but I have special products!"


    So, after returning to Fresh Flower Town, he immediately took a few samples of ck Pearls and rushed to Tulip Castle to discuss the trade of ck Pearls with the Levis couple.


    If there''s no market on Coral Ind, my sister-inw Loria can take them to Golden Ind to sell.


    I believe thedies of Golden Ind will pay a handsome price for ck Pearls.