Plans

Xia Tao

"And what's going on here?" I asked Mei.

"Oh, we're having a blast! The idea of forming teams with the students has exceeded all expectations. At first, it was just competition, but then the strawberries ripened, and what a miracle those berries turned out to be! They help to learn skills much faster, and they greatly enhance the speed and accuracy of cultivation. If anyone outside this mountain learns about these berries, they'll bury us and take them away. So, we made sure the students understood that they must not share or talk about them with anyone. Thankfully, thanks to the Dao oath they took, this issue is easily managed."

"So what happened next?" I decided to find out what happened further.

"And then an intense battle unfolded because possessing the idol guarantees a kilogram of strawberries every week. There was frontal assault on the mini-fortress, ambushes on individual students, tactics of flushing them out with a bad smells and smoke, tunneling under the ground, and various defense strategies. In short, we're having as much fun as we can."

"I also set up a small plot with a plantation and moved some weak spiders there to guard it. The students are trying to get to the berries, though not very successfully so far, but at least they are motivated. I think it's time to recruit more students after the auction and start supplying strawberries for sale in small batches.

Fortunately, we don't have to worry about anyone replicating or growing the berries from seeds with the same properties. If they aren't fertilized and watered with celestium water, they simply won't grow. They require a combination of many factors, including the purity of energy, and few would figure that out. Plus, it's not a very rational use of celestium."

"I propose we can start selling a little later and have stable income, strawberries from the students' plot I mean. It's about five times weaker than the main plot, but we need to figure out how to hide our plantations. Given our plans to expand, I have an idea related to the book we got from Ye Chen. But that's for later. By the way, we need to decide what to do with the harvest, as it ripens every two weeks, yielding about 250 kg per harvest, and about 30 kg from the students' plot, part of which we distribute to them."

"By the way, I opened the book Ye Chen gave you. I was able to restore it using celestium crystals" Mei said.

"It's something related to the basics of illusion arts from the times of the old sects. It's a very rare thing, but my knowledge isn't enough to translate it. I only have basic knowledge of the ancient language. We need to find someone who can translate it, as I can only understand the basics: that it's something related to illusions and something fundamental, but exactly what is unclear. So, we'll need to find someone who can properly translate it into the modern language. This might take some time, but if it works, it could solve our problems, and we wouldn't need to create a garden inside the mountain, where there's not much sunlight."

"I also prepared the crystals that Ye Chen ordered" Mei said and placed the crystals and two books on the table. "And here is the open original and the copy you promised Ye Chen." I quickly stashed everything into my ring.

"What about making wine from the strawberries? Or moonshine?" In my previous world, I loved wine. It's made not only from grapes but from anything. Strawberry wine, by the way, I liked, though it has a slightly peculiar taste, but very delicious, although you can't drink much of it. I also liked cherry wine, it was just magnificent. The key is not to remove the pits when making the wine.

"Wine? Hmm, maybe. I was actually thinking of making something like fruit leather or some kind of pills and selling those instead. That way, it would be difficult to trace what they're made from, since, as far as I know, no one has seen such berries in this world."

"By the way, I checked the plant we grafted onto the stump. It hasn't borne fruit yet, but the plant itself has grown and now looks like a small tree, blooming again. Let's hope it will bear fruit this time."

"And here are the pyramids you needed" Mei said, and took out three pyramids. They were very different from the crystals we were used to, with a very interesting cut, and symbols carved inside them.

"As it turns out, these are energy storage. One of them can keep our mountain in the air for several years if charged. I did some research: they are extremely rare, mostly used in ancient artifacts or protective arrays as power sources, but charging them is not easy."

I took and stashed the pyramids into my ring as well.

Ding

The golem with a one-day charge (will be recharged to 3 days after fulfilling the condition of inviting the Red Forest Mountain Palace to the auction) has been placed in your storage, with an instruction manual for binding and control included.

I took out the golem, which looked like a mannequin with no distinguishing features, and a crystal with information on how to use it. After studying the instructions, it turned out that to control the golem, it needs to be bound to a specific owner, who will control it. Usually, this is done with a separate stream of consciousness, but that high-level technique is unavailable to us. So, whoever controls it must fully detach from the world with their main stream of consciousness.

It was decided that Lin Qing would control it since Mei and I needed to play active roles in the upcoming performance. Lin Qing approached, dropped a drop of blood on the golem, and closed her eyes. Within seconds, the golem's form shifted, revealing a middle-aged man of average height with no distinguishing features, someone you'd forget within moments. We dressed him in a regular protective suit with a defensive array to keep it from getting damaged.

Tomorrow we will stage the performance, but tonight I want to spend time with Mei, whom I have missed! Lifting her in my arms, causing a surprised look, I headed towards the mansion.