Chapter 18: Birch Sprite Grubs

The birch tree might be nurturing sprite grubs, which undoubtedly made Russell feel a sudden surge of happiness accompanied by immense pressure.

Sprite grubs appearing in the wild was not unheard of, but it was extremely rare.

The reason was not that plants and mushrooms in the wild could not absorb the Earth’s power. Rather, the earth’s power was inherently sparse, and without the enhancement of a similar sprite, it was extremely difficult for plants and mushrooms to absorb enough nutrients to successfully nurture a sprite.

Most of the time, the lack of sufficient earth power would cause the process to end in miscarriage.

“Can this tree… nurture birch sprite grubs?” 

Looking at the faint glow emanating from the tree trunk, Russell strained to recall his predecessor’s memories, hoping to find a way to help the birch tree.

From the knowledge his predecessor had, sprites had been in human sight for at least four thousand years.

The techniques for using sprites to cultivate magical herbs were already quite advanced.

There was also a mature method for using magical herbs to nurture new sprites.

However, how to increase the chances of sprites appearing in the wild remained a significant mystery, and it was even unknown how to find wild sprites. After all, plants and mushrooms nurturing sprites were random and followed no fixed pattern.

Tonight, Russell encountered the most robust birch tree that had a sprite growing on it. This did not mean that the most robust and tallest birch trees would definitely nurture sprites.

Even if they were nurturing, it did not guarantee success.

A small, slender birch tree might nurture a sprite, and it could have a higher success rate than a robust and tall one.

Therefore, methods such as fertilizing, watering, weeding, and pest control had no effect on the nurturing of sprites.

Otherwise, with thousands of years of farming history, humans would have already cultivated countless crop and fruit tree sprites and farmed happily.

“Snowcone, do you have a way?” Russell, unable to find a solution, asked Little Dream Dragon idly, not really expecting an answer.

The next moment, however, Little Dream Dragon turned its head to glance at Russell, snorting two puffs of hot air from its nostrils with a look of utter disdain.

Then,

It turned back, aimed at the birch tree trunk, opened its mouth with fine dragon teeth, and exhaled a puff of dragon breath that was even thinner than smoke.

A miraculous scene unfolded.

The extremely faint glow of the birch tree, enhanced by the dragon breath, seemed to come to life, becoming warm and pulsating in a rhythmic, breath-like pattern. The light flickered, each flicker increasing in brightness.

“Quack!” After doing this, Little Dream Dragon turned its head back, glancing at Russell with a sidelong look.

Russell couldn’t determine exactly what Little Dream Dragon’s dragon breath had done to the birch tree or how it stimulated the magic within. However, he could guess that this dragon breath was crucial for the nurturing of the sprite grubs.

“Good job, Snowcone!” He rubbed Little Dream Dragon’s big head vigorously.

“Quack!”

Little Dream Dragon shook its head, causing Russell to be jolted off, then it flapped its wings and left Russell’s side.

It was tired.

“Just one dragon breath…” Russell only managed to think halfway before his consciousness dimmed and he fell into a state of confusion.

…

Cock-a-doodle-doo!

A rooster from a distant serf’s house crowed loudly.

Inside the tent, Russell stretched his arm out of his sleeping bag, stretching his entire body to greet the beautiful morning.

“I haven’t had a bad night since I got Snowcone.” He pulled out his pocket watch from under his pillow and checked the time – it was 6:30 AM.

He lifted the tent flap.

The sunlight was already spreading evenly over the birch forest. Armored Knight Jack, looking a bit dazed, was leaning against a birch tree, nodding his head like a chicken pecking at rice. He woke abruptly at the sound of movement.

“Ah, my lord.”

“Go to the manor to wash, have some breakfast, and then rest.” Russell stretched out his chest and instructed.

“I’m not tired, my lord.” Jack said with red eyes, lying.

Russell simply repeated, “Go.”

Jack bowed and left, “Yes, my lord.”

Left alone, Russell watched the birch tree carefully. Since the part nurturing the sprite was more than three meters up, he couldn’t see much from the ground, but he had a strong feeling that this birch sprite grub would be successfully nurtured.

“The fourth sprite hatchling, I didn’t expect to have a fourth one so soon!” He looked up for a while, his heart growing warmer.

This was only his second night at Black Waist Snake Manor.

If he changed his camping spot every night and activated the Dark Dreamscape at different locations, could it mean that all possible wild sprites in the entire territory could be nurtured by having Little Dream Dragon exhale dragon breath?

“Awesome!”

The more he thought about it, the more excited he became.

Until Butler Morris arrived with two male and two female servants to bring him washbasins and breakfast.

“My lord, are you going to stay here and watch?”

“I intend to watch the wormgrass.” Russell replied casually, as the decisions on his land were his to make, and he didn’t need to explain himself to others.

With the servants’ assistance, he brushed his teeth, washed his face with the clear water of the Dusklight River, and had a simple breakfast.

Then he lingered by the birch tree for a while, making sure there were no abnormalities, before handing the wormgrass over to the new servant technician and going to inspect the other wormgrasses.

The Rainflower Wormgrass and Dill Wormgrass had already taken root, greedily absorbing the earth’s power.

Nearby, the serfs planting wheat and lentils had already begun to harvest the unripe green shoots, led by their overseer.

After the harvest, it would be time to plant rainflower and dill.

“The weather is getting better every day, my lord. The ice season is ending, and the warm season is coming. Planting the magical herbs now will allow them to grow quickly without any delay in harvesting,” Old Hans hunched over and approached Russell.

“Have you ever planted magic herbs before?”

“I used to plant them in town. By the way, I am Old Hans, a serf technician. Later, the Baron assigned me to Black Waist Snake Manor as a supervisor, and I put my magical herb planting aside,” Old Hans reminisced, touching the pipe hanging from his waist.

Without cigarettes or cigars, people here smoked either with pipes or chewed tobacco leaves.

Suddenly remembering something, Old Hans quickly hung up the pipe, “I’m sorry, sir, I almost gave in to my nicotine craving.”

“That’s all right, if you want to smoke, go ahead.” Russell said casually.

He didn’t consider it a violation of his noble authority for a serf to smoke in his presence, even though he didn’t like smoking himself.

He didn’t like second-hand smoke either.

But this was the wild, and he wouldn’t inhale much second-hand smoke. Besides, with Martial Arts Energy nourishing his body, even smoking all day wouldn’t cause lung cancer-knights with Martial Arts Energy almost never got sick, as Martial Arts Energy was more miraculous than any elixir.

Old Hans ultimately didn’t dare light his pipe in front of Russell, only trying his best to please him.

As Russell patrolled the fields, he asked, “Old Hans, you’ve lived in Black Waist Snake Manor for a long time. What do you think is the first thing we need to do to develop Black Waist Snake Manor?”