Chapter 17 - Madman
A thousand years ago in the Ark Continent, a very famous wood-based advanced mage, plus several water mages and elves that were knowledgeable about plants, tried to study the Black Waste. They wanted to see if the black soil could be changed and make this place the largest fertile land in the entire Ark Continent. But after two full years of research, they couldn't even get grass to grow. Sadly, they gave up. Since then, no one tried to study the Black Waste. Many people now think that it would be a waste of time and there would be no value in researching it.
It wasn't like the Ark Continent didn't have other large fertile lands. There were plenty of areas that were already used to cultivate crops. There wasn't any food shortage problems in the continent. So the Black Waste didn't gain a lot of people's attention.
But the Continent has been relatively calm these past few years. No big wars had taken place and the population has been growing rapidly. It had reached the point where some small countries started to experience a food shortage. But since this didn't affect the five large empires as a whole, it did not cause any widespread concern.
And do not forget that there were slaves in the Ark Continent. Slaves were as cheap as the price of long grains. If there was a food shortage, it did not matter if you reduced the amount of food you gave the slaves. The slaveholders did not talk about this. They would rather talk to a beautiful woman about the moon. They didn't care if the slaves were a little hungry. So most of the people simply did not notice that there was a food crisis getting closer.
Now the continent was at peace, with a developing economy and a strong national army. But although the country's economy was on the rise, most of the people's standards of living did not improve. On the contrary, they were even reduced. And don't even mention the living standards of the slaves. When the country's economy develops, prices will naturally rise. But although the prices rose, the incomes of the people did not, which made it so that a lot of people could not even afford to feed themselves. More and more people had no choice but to become a slave to survive.
Of course, Meirin did not know any of these things. She just knew that the price of food was starting to get expensive. If Zhao was able to turn this black wasteland into fertile land, then it would be almost impossible for the Buda clan not to develop.
Zhao saw Meirin's excited look and chuckled. "Yes, Grandma Meirin, this is the power that I got. But I can only transform one mu of land per day. So organize the slaves in the afternoon to measure out the land."
Meirin excitedly nodded. "Yes Master, I'll immediately go arrange it."
Having said that, Meirin was about to walk out, but Zhao stopped her. "There's no need to hurry, Grandma Meirin. Just remember that you can not let outsiders find out about my ability, otherwise it would be very difficult for the current Buda clan to stop those guys."
Meirin also knew about the kinds of people in this world. After what Zhao said, she calmed down and nodded. "I know, young master. Leave this to me."
Whether it was Meirin or Zhao, they did not notice that standing behind them was Meg, who was looking at Zhao with eyes of admiration. In the past, whenever Zhao was in front of Meg, she would always have her head down because she did not want to look at him. But now she was carefully watching Zhao.
Meg and Adam were childhood friends. Even though Adam was two years older than her, they grew up playing together. Wherever Adam went, Meg would also be there. And if the other children were bullying her, Adam would fight to protect her. So she grew up with a good impression of the young master who was like an older brother.
But as they grew older, she had to be more sensible. Meg knew that Adam was her young master, so she couldn't just call him her brother. Eventually, Adam stopped playing with her, which made her very sad. Adam made a lot of new friends who were young masters of their own noble family. He seemed to have forgotten about his childhood playmate.
As he got older, Adam became increasingly outrageous, while Meg became more beautiful and showed a good talent for magic, so she took a completely different path than Adam. Meg became unhappy at the pranks and criminal acts that Adam pulled. She wanted to make him stop, but it was no use. Adam wouldn't even listen to her grandfather, not to mention her. There were many days where she hoped they could return to the past, back to their childhood where they played together, during a time when the young master would fight to protect her like an older brother.
Meg had always hoped that Adam would return to his past self, but reality ruthlessly shattered her dreams when Adam tried to molest her. When Adam attacked her, she felt like the world was tumbling down. Although she escaped unharmed, it was like her memories of the past had lost their color.
And then disaster struck.
The Buda clan went through a crisis where it was on the verge of life and death. She could do nothing but watch as the people she grew up with left the Buda clan one by one, where the king took away her childhood home, and when Adam was forced to drink the Water of Nothingness. In a short period of time, everything disappeared.
They were left with nothing but the Black Waste. While Adam had not yet woken up from drinking the water, she watched as her grandparents desperately tried to keep the Buda clan alive, like drowning people fighting their last fight against the flood.
Meg was just a young girl. With everything crashing down around her so suddenly, she wasn't able to stand on her own two feet. If her grandparents hadn't been there, she did not know how long she could last before she committed suicide.
But then in this land of death, Adam woke up, and Meg saw that the young master had changed. It wasn't like the past where he just stirred up trouble. He suddenly became mature and was fighting hard for his family. First was the magic radish, followed by the plans for the blue-eyed rabbits, and now this ability to improve the soil in the Black Waste. The young master had become strange. But it was a good kind of strange. He no longer had that frivolous temperament, but instead had become more steady. She liked this kind of confidence in Adam. He was optimistic with a gentle smile. When Adam saw her watching him, she looked away with a guilty expression. Unconsciously, a strange feeling stirred up in her heart.
Meirin did not pay attention to the changes in Meg, and after speaking with Zhao, she immediately went into the kitchen. Meg was blushing while looking down, but following behind Meirin gave her a chance to recover.
Later, Meirin and Meg were ready to organize the slaves to measure the land.
Zhao saw the smile on Meirin's face. Her mood had greatly improved. She had always thought that this place was a land of death, but now she was told there was a chance that they could survive. This was like someone telling a dying patient they could be saved. How could they not be excited about it.
Meirin had already gotten the slaves to measure the land. Those slaves, although they had no skills, was still capable enough for the task. Ten acres of land was immediately measured. Meirin then looked at Zhao to determine if he really was able to improve the land.
Zhao froze when he saw the ten acres. When he was in his spatial farm, he had full control over it. All he had to do was calculate the ratio and the spatial earth and water would automatically spill on the ground in the right amount. But when it came to improving these black lands, he wasn't sure if he could do it. Would the spatial earth and water still be under his control out here? Zhao was anxious as his thoughts went around and around, but then he heard a voice: [Do you want to improve this land?] [Yes/No]. The voice appeared with a screen that projected two buttons. One said [Yes] while the other said [No].
Zhao was overjoyed and immediately tried to hit the [Yes] button, but he became surprised when his hand went through the button. The screen didn't change with the two buttons still there. He tried to hit the button again. And again. And again. To the people watching him, it looked like he had become a dancing madman.