Chapter 29: Good Quality Soil

The first solution James considered was to build a water wheel, but the construction process was complex and the principle unclear.

So, he temporarily set aside that idea.

The second solution was to connect the pond to the upstream creek via a pipeline, keeping the pond water flowing and maintaining a balanced water level.

This method was simpler and more convenient, and seemed promising.

James gathered some bamboo of similar thickness from the nearby forest.

After removing the branches and cutting off the excessively thick or thin parts, leaving only the middle sections of uniform thickness, he punctured the bamboo joints to ensure smooth water flow, turning them into effective pipelines.

The creek was nearly 60 meters upstream from the shelter, and James used 12 pieces of bamboo, fitting them into each other.

He secured the bamboo with stones to prevent movement and disconnection.

However, a significant portion of the water still ended up on the ground, not making it all the way to the pond.

The gentle stream of water, after traveling through the sixty-meter channel, finally flowed into the pond.

James also opened a small outlet in the pond's drainage system, allowing some water to escape, ensuring smooth pond operation.

After these tasks, which took quite a bit of time, there was just over an hour left in the day.

James decided to use this remaining time to check his animal traps.

Of the nine traps he inspected, two had catches.

One trap contained a dead bamboo rat, weighing about five or six pounds, yielding two pieces of ordinary-grade meat.

The other had a grey rabbit, still alive but with multiple fractures and unlikely to survive.

James ended the rabbit's suffering and harvested three pieces of ordinary-grade meat, a rabbit skin, and a wooden resource box.

This was a good start.

On his way back to the shelter, James also luckily found another wooden resource box.

With the approaching cold wave, the frequency of resource boxes had increased, and most survivors were finding wooden boxes.

Back at the shelter, James checked on the plants and animals in the yard. Most were growing healthily, but the potatoes had not sprouted and were found to be frozen dead.

Being ordinary-grade and not from the system, their quality wasn't guaranteed, making survival in harsh conditions difficult.

This made James wonder if the garden that came with his Level 3 shelter could improve seed survival rates.

He consulted the "Fog Survival Handbook" and found that the garden required 100 units of good-quality wood, which he was short of.

Without time to chop trees, he decided to buy the material from the trade market, spending 20ml of spring water to gather the required materials and construct the garden.

The familiar glow appeared, and soon there was a garden next to the beast pen, approximately 9 square meters in size, forming a 3x3 square.

This was the third facility in the yard: the garden!

Upon inspecting the soil in the garden, James found it to be of high quality but still ordinary-grade, which was somewhat disappointing.

He wondered if the soil Nancy had collected might be of better quality.

Nancy had already traded over 300 pounds of soil, showing her diligence.

Upon examination, James found the soil to be brown-black, moist, rich in water content, and mixed with a lot of decayed leaves, indicating high-quality leaf mold.

However, it was still only ordinary-grade.

Pondering how to obtain good-quality soil, James wondered if he needed to find natural good-quality soil or obtain it from the system.

This was the best soil he could find, but it led him to think about what made good-quality items different.

He realized the main difference was the presence of spirit energy, a unique element in the Fog World.

Food with spirit energy was more nourishing, and tools with spirit energy had stronger effects.

Almost all good-quality items contained spirit energy, breaking the limits of ordinary-grade.

James wondered how to increase the spirit energy in soil.

One way was to let good-quality plants and animals decompose in the soil, allowing it to absorb the spirit energy.

However, this was costly, as James could barely afford good-quality food for himself.

Then he thought of spring water.

A sudden idea struck him: excellent-grade spring water!

It contained more spirit energy and could potentially improve soil quality.

He took out the 800ml of stored spring water and tried pouring it onto the soil, observing closely.

After pouring about 10ml, the soil information changed - it became good-quality soil!

[Name: Spirit Spring Soil (Good Quality)

Function: Protects seeds and roots, enhancing plant survival and growth rate, dependent on spirit energy concentration.

Description: Quality soil catalyzed by excellent-grade spring water]

Protecting roots and seeds and enhancing growth rate were the main features of good-quality

soil. The plants James had grown, especially the crystal rice that could only survive in good-quality gardens, demonstrated the significant effect good-quality soil had on plant survival in harsh environments.

However, James faced another dilemma. With 10ml of spring water, he could only convert about 100 grams of soil to good-quality soil.

With his current supply of 800ml, plus the unused water from today totaling 1300ml, and reserving 300ml for personal use, he could only transform about 20 pounds of soil to good quality.

Although it seemed like a substantial amount, it was actually quite limited.

Twenty pounds of good-quality soil couldn't be spread across the entire garden; it wouldn't cover the area sufficiently, and mixing it with ordinary soil would diminish its effectiveness. So, James used two used resource boxes to store the transformed soil.

He decided to plant winter wheat in these boxes.

Each box had three pits, where he planted four or five winter wheat seeds. With good-quality soil and seeds, the germination rate was expected to be high.

Having resolved the soil issue, James planned to redirect Nancy from digging soil to collecting vines the next day. He sent her a message through the "Fog Survival Handbook" to change her task, to which she readily agreed.

Tomorrow would be the seventh day, and after midnight, the cold wave would fully arrive.

Although James was confident in his rapid development and the food he had gathered, the proximity of the disaster still brought an undefined sense of panic – a fear of the unknown.

Only by making more preparations did he feel a sense of security.