Chapter 12: Planting Corn!

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

The materials required to build the wood processing plant stunned Ed, who could not help himself from taking in a sharp breath.

[ Materials required: wood x2050, leaves x1200, stones x1025, nails x500, cloth strips x250, metal sheets x350, plastic x150, glass x50 ]

[ Notice: Construction hammers, construction shovels, and construction rulers are required for this build. Please acquire them before proceeding. ]

That’s too expensive!

Even building multiple salt wells would not be this expensive, the requirements for them were not as insane. Moreover, the quality of the salt well was higher than this wood processing plant.

This was a little ridiculous.

Not only that, but it required the consumption of multiple rarer resources in numerous quantities.

Ed found the most ridiculous aspect to this was that not only did it require a large number of items, but it also required him to forge other tools needed for the construction.

This was a complete daylight robbery!

That’s right, this was nothing more than a robbery!

He noticed that above the description of the wood processing plant, a small green word flashed: upgradeable.

In other words, after this processing plant was built, it could be upgraded.

That would then be continuous robbery.

Given that the starting price was already so high, the cost of upgrading would undoubtedly be astronomical. Yet, he had no choice but to build this thing. He would need this for any form of construction in the future, which would not be avoidable.

It would have to be built regardless of its price.

Focusing back to the present, however, Ed had just harvested three forest chickens and three treasure tree holes. The things that had emerged from the latter had also been extremely rare.

Satisfied, he once again praised his luck.

If it hadn’t been for the potential dangers lurking around, he would have wanted to move and stay here immediately. Maybe he could have brought Little Treasure to wander around in the forest.

Taking out a few strips of cloth from the storage space, he tied the three chickens together. He then tucked Little Treasure away in his arms before heading back to the cabin.

He was more than prepared to reward the little squirrel with a good meal. Without it, he wouldn’t have gained so much today.

Ed soon returned to his empty plot of land.

Untying the three chickens, he bound a strong strip of cloth onto one of their feet to prevent them from escaping.

Huh?

As he had been looking at the three chickens, a strange idea had formed in Ed’s mind.

He had corn seeds on him now. When they were harvested, he should be able to use them to feed the chickens. 

He had seen this on TV before, and knew that chickens mostly ate rice and grain. If this worked, his chickens may be able to lay eggs.

Egg corn soup… cake…

Egg-related delicacies floated around in Ed’s mind.

Of course, these were all in the future. All of his plans now required him to wait for the corn to mature before he would know if he could achieve any of them.

Practice makes perfect.

That was the truth that Ed had always believed most strongly in.

Anyway, at the moment, the most important thing was to fill his stomach first.

Let’s eat!

With a swift swing of his axe, one of the three chickens was suddenly headless. The other two that were still alive cried out in terror. After all, their own kind had been beheaded in front of them.

Ed carried the chicken’s corpse and washed it as usual, burying everything that was inedible in the soil.

He then added wood to the grill before roasting the meat over a fire.

Thirty minutes passed, and a delicious roasted chicken appeared just like that.

Ed and Little Treasure shared the whole carcass. The little squirrel leaned back in Ed’s arms as it patted its plump belly.

“A little snack after dinner.”

Ed took out an apple, breaking it in half with his bare hands.

Crack.

Now that it was in two, he handed the smaller piece to Little Treasure, who was huddled in his arms. It took the small apple piece before eating it slowly.

Every time it took a bite, it seemed to show an intoxicated expression, fuelling Ed’s suspicion that Little Treasure really was a spirit.

Squeak squeak!

Finishing its piece, the squirrel seemed to have fallen in love with the taste.

Helplessly, Ed gave it the other piece. Anyway, it had been the main contributor today.

After the brief rest, he looked at the axe in his hand.

This axe only had its extraordinary power when it was used to cut wood. Generally, when it was used for other purposes, it was no different from an ordinary axe.

Picking up the hoe, he chose an open space before beginning to dig. After he had dug up a space of about ten square meters, Ed paused briefly before making some further improvements to the fields.

In a short while, he had prepared a field that was suitable for growing corn.

Corn fields were different from other crops. The land was not flat, but rather shaped like a bulge.

This was what Ed had seen from watching TV.

He could use this knowledge today. Sometimes he felt fortunate that he coincidently used to enjoy watching these types of survival shows.

Terrain of this manner would allow the corn to grow to its fullest, and could also better retain water. As corn did not have the long, developed roots of big trees, it would not be able to go too deep into the ground to absorb water.

Next, Ed started to dig a few small pits to sow the corn seeds.

As it watched, Little Treasure ran over, using its small hands to dig into the ground. However, for some reason, it soon ran away after a while.

Ed figured that it was probably too tired. After all, Little Treasure’s claws weren’t that sharp.

Using the hoe, he dug one pit after another. Soon, the initial preparations were ready.

Now it was time to sow.

This part was familiar to Ed. In the past, his hometown had been an agricultural land, so he was very familiar with growing crops.

He procured the corn seeds that he obtained earlier from the storage space before sowing them. After this was done, the next step was to water them.

Corn was a crop that required a lot of water. Ed poured a bit of water into each pit. He still had to be frugal. If there was too much water, the corn seeds that sprout may not emerge from the ground. If that really happened, it would be quite a loss.

The other reason was that he did not have much water anyway, and wanted to save as much as he could.

Every drop was precious nowadays.

The final step was the same as any crop. He had to cover the seeds with soil, so that they could slowly germinate. This time, Ed did not reuse the soil that he had dug up, but instead covered it with gold-quality soil.

Perhaps he may really be able to grow giant corn.

As he hadn’t obtained much gold-quality soil, he used them sparingly. Two portions had been enough to fill up all the holes.

As the last of the pits were covered, a sound similar to cracking shells could be heard from within the soil.

Ed watched on at the scene unfolding before him, flabbergasted.