40: Chapter 40 Modification, and Magic Missiles

Under Ross's settings, the "mana microorganisms" in the culture chamber at hand,

in addition to the normal delivery of nutrient solution, had been additionally designed with a delivery program for "Magic Stone Dust".

Inside the plantation, Ross watched as six orc slaves channeled fresh, flowing water into the magic fields.

These five acres of magic fields were located inside the advanced plantation and had been uniformly reclaimed.

Unlike the "Swamp Magic Field" Ross had found previously, which utilized the natural environment and saved Ross a lot of physical labor,

considering that these magic fields ultimately belonged to Professor Pulang, it was inconvenient for him to alter their soil structure.

Fortunately, this was not difficult for Ross.

In his view, the absence of natural flowing water was not necessarily a bad thing.

Ross designed a set of hydroponic ditch pipes to introduce a portion of flowing water, allowing these Water Lily Magic Plants to grow within the normal magic fields.

It could also effectively avoid the drawback of "Marsh Magic Fields" accumulating silt and debris over a long period.

However, the flowing water within the plantation was limited, and during the season of rising temperatures, these orcs needed to take wooden buckets and some three-wheeled handcarts to fetch some water for replenishment.

In this way, not only could the Water Lily Magic Plants absorb clean and fresh flowing water every day, but it could also effectively exhaust the physical strength of the orc slaves.

Although these slaves had become much more well-behaved under the control of the [Lesser Slave Spiritual Mark],

as the orc species and group, their natural personality was irritable and their energy had nowhere to be released.

Without taking some measures, it would be difficult for Ross to guarantee whether these bored orc slaves would do something out of line.

After all, Ross would not stay in the plantation forever, and the value of these slaves was far from reaching the point where it was worth Ross staring at them every day.

If the orc slaves provoked people in the plantation, Ross was not afraid of others looking for trouble with him; after all, this was his mentor's plantation.

But there was a high possibility that these orcs would face retaliation after angering the people here.

The strength of the six of them could not match the plantation's guard team, let alone the Wizard Apprentices occasionally summoned here by commissions issued by Professor Pulang.

If things went wrong, these ox-heads and horse-heads might roll onto the ground.

By then, bloody and pale terrible things would be smeared everywhere, and the scene wouldn't look good either.

After modifying these magic fields, there would no longer be these troubles.

Under the effect of the [Lesser Slave Spiritual Brand], if the slaves failed to complete the master's tasks, they would suffer mental torture.

That feeling of the soul being torn apart and severely damaged was a torture that ordinary people could not endure.

Under the control of this spell, the slaves would also be much more obedient.

It was just that this spell, as a control method for these ordinary orc slaves, was only at the level of a level-zero cantrip.

Therefore, one shouldn't expect it to be very intelligent.

In fact, as the master, one had to issue sufficiently clear commands.

Otherwise, these slaves might work under control, but their efficiency and reactions would be much slower.

So Ross issued the instructions for planting the magic plants and the daily tasks,

including weeding, plowing, loosening soil, watering, channeling water, pest control, and even cleaning, one by one,

ensuring that these orc slaves did not have even a shred of extra leisure time every day.

Of course, rest time would also be left for them, after all, it was also to make them work better for him.

This could ensure that the slaves would not look for trouble, and it could also be considered a countermeasure to protect these slaves from being casually killed by others.

"Right now, there is not much time left to do anything. The assembly time is also approaching. Both the cultivation of the "mana microorganisms" and the planting of the magic plants have been properly arranged."

"The equipment for going out, the potions used for healing, and some small items have all been prepared by myself."

Ross fell into contemplation, recalling whether there was anything he had forgotten or overlooked...

"I almost forgot to retrieve that high-quality Water Lily Magic Plant from the plantation. As the spell-casting magic plant for [Hand of Vines], I hadn't transplanted it before because I didn't have a suitable spatial pocket to house it."

However, this wasn't much of a big deal; magic plants themselves could grow better in the magic fields.

Although this magic plant was formed through the modification of the [Hand of Vines] spell and was different from ordinary mature magic plants,

it could adapt to harsher environments, and its own strength had also been enhanced by mana.

Yet it still retained room for growth.

These days, it grew very comfortably in the plantation's magic fields, not only nourished by the top-grade magic fields, but also watered and fertilized by slaves every day.

Under the modification, it had grown into an integrated Water Lily Magic Plant.

When Ross cast [Hand of Vines] on the spot, it was completely different from casting this spell previously.

Previously, because the magic plant had not fully grown, its body was still in a seedling state.

He could only rely on the spell and Ross's own mana to extend some vines as a means of binding and attacking.

However, as the Water Lily Magic Plant grew continuously during these days, it carried mana itself and could transform some special attack methods.

Ross could feel the "consciousness" of this magic plant—a very weak consciousness.

This weak consciousness obviously did not have self-awareness yet, but it was much better than completely lacking consciousness.

Even if effective communication was impossible, Ross's commands could already be understood much faster by this "Water Lily Magic Plant" to launch attacks.

As Ross explored further within the body of the magic plant, he discovered that not only could it grow stronger vines for attacks,

but the microscopic fluff originally unobservable on these vines had also become as hard as iron.

Now, it could even pierce the flesh and skin of some ordinary animals.

Even some monsters, under the continuous entangling of the vines, would be scratched, and over time, more of their stamina could be drained.

When Ross's mental power moved to the seedpod area,

the space that should have originally nurtured lotus seeds was empty, with neither lotus seeds nor any plant tissue of the water lily.

But after Ross communicated with the consciousness of the Water Lily Magic Plant, Ross vaguely sensed the changes in this space.

Originally, as an ordinary magic plant, nurturing fruits was necessary, but it would also massively lose its own origin and power.

Under the modification of the [Hand of Vines], this seedpod space that should have grown lotus seeds no longer nurtured lotus seeds.

Instead, it could rapidly concentrate its own or rely on Ross's transmitted mana to generate a "Mana Missile", which was similar to highly condensing mana into a new ranged attack method.