Althea stared at her hands and concentrated her eyes, activating the meditative techniques she had been practicing for a while to feel the abundant wood energy in the area.
She opened her eyes and was surprised to see the amount of wood energy, especially around the farmlands. She narrowed her eyes and walked outside, to observe the densities around the plants.
She couldn't do it inside the farm; it was too bright.
Outside the farmlands, the wood energies were much less, but it was unsurprisingly much greater around the plants, especially trees—more notably, deciduous trees.
Then going back to her farmland, the wood energy was so bright that it was almost blinding.
This was quite amazing, especially since she doubted most of the other building types made use of elements at all.
She wondered how it was done…
While she put aside her curiosity for now, she did make a mental note to study it more in the future. There were more pressing objectives of study at this time.
Althea mused on how to use it for a while, analyzing, and thinking what should be the first point of experimentation.
She then recalled the differences in how to handle various elements, and came up with an experiment.
[Used Elementary Appraisal (D)! - 10 Mana!]
She activated her skill and saw the information she already knew and had checked before. However, she looked at the floating green glitters floating like dust and willed some of them to gather towards her.
Or more specifically, collected them in front of her eyes. Slowly, but purposely, more and more emerald sparkles floated and condensed, creating a sphere in front of her eyes, dying her sights green.
Then, she reactivated her skill, as if trying to look through the 'screen' of the assessment skill to see if she could see something else. Unexpectedly, the familiar ding resounded in her head, instead.
[Learned! Eyes of Wood (D), a special ability to analyze wood beings. Wood Elementalists only. Cost: 30 Mana]
"Oh?"
Her eyebrows rose and, interested, used the skills on the nearby plants.
[Used! Eyes of Wood (D), -30 Mana!]
She almost jumped for joy at what she was registering. There was no text, not exactly, but it was more of an instinct on what the plants needed.
She stood up with bright eyes, going through the 'problem plants', immediately consuming her mana just studying them.
She stared at a plant through the Eyes of Wood and she would just know, as if she felt it herself, what the plant needed and what she needed to do.
The results were amazing!
For instance, she would know when a plant needed water or if there was too much. For instance, she would know if it was getting too much sunlight, or if it was too damp.
She reckoned Gru's farmer skill must have similar results, but to a much lesser effect.
There were two plants—notably bought from Ferrol—that required cool, dark, and damp places to grow. At this time, they were in the greenhouse, receiving ample sun.
No wonder they didn't want to sprout!
Maybe it would be a plant like horsetail or some ferns, both having some medicinal properties that could prove useful to her.
There were also plants that apparently thrived on water which could be used as food and medicine. They were planted to damp soil, but it kept giving her signals of 'more water, more water', which she naturally complied with.
After a few experiments, she realized it didn't just need to be watered, it needed to be in the water.
She thought that perhaps it was a water hyacinth which was known to improve water quality. A part of her also hoped it was something like duckweed and maybe the gugu birds would taste better eating it.
Watercress would also be good for its various medicinal properties, and she was looking forward to the plants' growth so she could study their uses more efficiently.
There were also plants that needed open air and had to be hanged. Like the water plants, they were also planted nicely in the soil. They sent her signals of 'Suffocating', so she naturally let it 'breathe'.
It was all so very fascinating.
Reinvigorated, she went to return to her Terran plant experimental fields, though not without consuming a lot of mana cookies along the way.
Her Terran field was unsurprisingly the most vibrant, with various colors and types and scents abound. It made Gru cry every time he went to visit.
Anyway, they were all healthy and properly maintained and a lot of seeds had already been produced and placed to the agriculture team for planting in the fields outside.
In fact, a lot of the previous crops had already been transplanted to the fields outside. Just last week, several fields dedicated to specific plants had been fully planted..
Among the flowers, Lavender was the most common. It was perennial and drought-resistant, making it the ideal flower to invest in.
It was also great for perfumes and other scents, by itself or mixed with others, so it had the largest plots among the flowers.
The herbs had their own plots of land but, because they needed a long time to truly age enough, it would more or less take several more months to be really usable.
Barley and Maltose were also transplanted to their own fields. Soon enough, maltose sugar, maltose beer, malt extract, maltose milk, malt syrup, and other products would be made available in the supermarket.
Soy and peanuts were already harvested in bulk, and had been sent to their respective factories for processing.
It was the trees that still needed some time. Her orchard was fine, because the grapes, strawberries, and the like had short cycles, but the rest would take a while.
Roughly, Terran plants took 1/15th to 1/10th of their growth cycle when grown in the level 2 fields, further reduced by her fertilizers and other agricultural techniques.
Oranges and Cocoa had a Terran cycle of about 5 years, Coffee and apple trees had three, while mango trees could take 5-8 years. This meant that, planted in Xeno Level 2 fields, she'd still need several months for each of them.
It was still a long time, if one asked her.
She looked wistfully at the cocoa and coffee trees. More than the fruit trees, she was more looking forward to these.
After all, there was no lack of fruit in Xeno, just different types and tastes. Coffee and cocoa, on the other hand, were totally different raw materials.
From the timeline, they should be ready in a few more months. She also had a few fields outside dedicated to these plants and only kept a few seeds in her space for safekeeping.
Too bad she didn't have too many seeds (yet) so mass production of chocolate or coffee would still be perhaps a year away...
Too long…
She wanted to taste it again, even if it was just for her group for now. She pursed her lips and stared, a little idea dawning on her, but it was not quite clear yet.
She went to the cocoa tree. She remembered craving for chocolate in her pregnancy. Was it because she wasn't unsatisfied at the time that she was getting these cravings again?
Instinctively, she touched one chocolate tree and closed her eyes.
She filtered out the natural wood elements in the fields and focused on the ones in and around the plants.
With her mind's eye, she saw virtual green dots floating. Their density varied, focusing on where the plants were. Among the plants, the herbs had the densest, unsurprisingly, which could be seen in their strong contents and healing abilities.
She focused on the cocoa tree, feeling every cell in its body, as well as every 'green spot' that integrated with its being.
With her mind's eye she could feel and understand how the matter was composed, how it worked.
She guided the green sparkles to the tree, combining them with certain growth cells.
It didn't quite succeed immediately. The cells fought a little before the green spots passed through its 'guard' and integrated. She could feel the cell becoming stronger, and more vibrant.
[Learned! Growth Control (C): Increase a plant's growth rate by 1-2%. Mana: 50]
Oh.
My.
Goodness!
Gulping and very excited, Althea immediately used her skill, over and over.
[Used! Growth Control (C)! -50 Mana!]
[Used! Growth Control (C)! -50 Mana!]
[Used! Growth Control (C)! -50 Mana!]
She stopped only when her mana and mana potions ran out. Studying the tree and its current appearance, she noted that she reduced the growth of the tree by a few hours.
She smiled.
Vaguely, she felt that she could also direct the plant's direction of growth.
"Direction of growth, eh?"
She went back to the corn-like plant and zeroed in on two or three crops to experiment on.
Of course, this was not before she brought back some more mana cookies from Harold.
For this experiment, it was best to choose something not too hard but with obvious differences.
So she decided on the corn strain that could make popcorn!
But… she had already consumed all her mana cookies before she could succeed. She stood up to goad Harold to bake her a box-full.
Unfortunately, it was already dark and she turned to find her husband staring at her.
"Husband?" She uttered, a bit startled. His frown remained as he approached her.
"You're working too hard." He told her and then leaned down… to carry her back like a sack.
"Hey!"
He gently patted her buttocks as if not hearing her, "The children will be staying with their auntie Sheila tonight."
She blushed a bit, her eyes ending up on her farm that was getting farther and farther away from her.
Her popcorn!!