Chapter 44: Level Up

"Vegetable seed discovered. Appraisal grade: -1. No value found. Extraction aborted."

"Vegetable seed discovered. Appraisal grade: -1. No value found. Extraction aborted."

"Vegetable seed discovered. Appraisal grade: -1. No value found. Extraction aborted."

……………………

"Forage seed discovered. Appraisal grade: Level 0. Equal to the level of forage in the Space. Extraction aborted. Seed retained."

"New fruit tree seed discovered. Appraisal grade: Level 4. Seed extracted. Extraction complete. Seed digitized; available for purchase in the Space Shop. Due to insufficient Host level, the Oil Fruit Tree is temporarily designated as a nine-season crop."

As soon as Zhao Haigang took out those seeds, a long string of notification sounds rang out. Then, except for the alfalfa seeds and the Oil Fruit Tree seeds, all other seeds vanished before Zhao Hai's eyes.

Zhao Hai patted his head and muttered, "This Space is truly domineering. If the level isn't high enough, it just makes them disappear. Fortunately, what's left is enough to use."

It wasn't just Zhao Hai who was dazed by this series of notifications; Mei Lin and the others were even more bewildered. They didn't understand anything about levels, appraisals, or extractions; they only knew that right before their eyes, nearly half of the seeds had vanished.

Just as Zhao Hai finished speaking, the Space sent another notification: "Space has met the upgrade conditions. Upgrading to Level 5. Reward: One bag of eggplant seeds. Plantable area: Two mu."

"Host level has reached Level 5. Gold coins: 1,100. Cultivation requirements met. Two mu of arable land can be reclaimed. Reclaim immediately? Yes / No"

Hearing this notification, Zhao Hai couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief. This finally confirmed his theory: the best way to upgrade the Space was to bring in things that weren't already inside. If he relied solely on the Space to upgrade itself, the speed would be far too slow. He immediately replied, "Reclaim the land."

As soon as he spoke, a flash of white light flickered beside the cornfield, and in a moment, another two mu of arable land had been reclaimed.

Zhao Hai also realized that in this Space, aside from the designated farmland area, all other areas were like the background of a game and could not be planted. How wonderful it would be if the background could be used for planting as well.

The Space notification rang out once more: "Host level insufficient. To use background land, Level 30 is required."

Zhao Hai froze for a moment. He truly hadn't expected that the background land could actually be used once the level was high enough. This was fantastic.

At this time, Mei Lin walked to Zhao Hai's side and said, "Young Master, what do you plan to plant on this newly reclaimed land?"

Zhao Hai glanced at the two mu of land, then at the ten mu of radish field that had just been harvested, and turned to Mei Lin. "Grandma Mei Lin, I plan to plant Oil Fruit Trees on those ten mu. As for those two mu, I'll plant corn there once the current corn is harvested. What do you think?"

Mei Lin was stunned. She looked at the ten mu of radish field and hesitated. She knew the radishes Zhao Hai referred to were Magic Radishes. Originally, she had wanted him to plant more radishes, but she felt he was right—they shouldn't plant radishes now, otherwise they would have too many in stock. For a moment, she was indecisive.

Zhao Hai looked at Mei Lin and said with a smile, "We already have three seasons of radishes in storage, which is about 240,000 jin. Even if we sell them, it will be enough. Moreover, because of this influx of radishes, I think the price might drop. But Oil Fruit is different. Oil Fruit can be processed into fruit oil, which is a necessity for everyone on the continent. Even if we produce hundreds of thousands or even millions of jin, it won't cause a massive market shock. Most importantly, if we plant radishes, we have to spend money to buy seeds, but the seeds for the Oil Fruit Trees are already here."

Hearing this, Mei Lin quickly said, "Alright then, we will follow your lead, Young Master. Let's plant the Oil Fruit Trees."

Zhao Hai nodded. "Ten mu of Oil Fruit Trees." As soon as he spoke, the small shovels, water buckets, and the seeds on the ground immediately sprang into action.

After all, the Oil Fruit Tree was a tree and had a long lifespan, so the planting area for the first batch of fruit trees was quite large. Zhao Hai calculated that in ten mu, he would only plant about three hundred Oil Fruit Trees. This quantity was truly not much.

After planting the trees, Zhao Hai sent the remaining seeds back to the Space's warehouse. He did not plant anything on the newly reclaimed two mu of land. The corn was almost ripe, and he wanted to wait until it was fully mature to plant the new corn alongside it, so they could be harvested together. It wouldn't make much difference to wait that little bit of time.

Everyone stood there blankly, watching Zhao Hai's performance. Such a massive Space, such a vast expanse of land—everything could be settled with just a single word from Zhao Hai. To Mei Lin and the others, this was nothing short of a miracle.

Only after finishing everything did Zhao Hai breathe a sigh of relief. He turned to Mei Lin and the others and said, "Alright, everyone, go back to what you were doing. Don't mind me."

However, everyone looked at him with eyes full of adoration, even Mei Lin. Everything happening in the Space was simply too magical. Forget the former slaves; even the well-traveled Mei Lin had never heard of such things existing in this world.

Seeing their gazes, Zhao Hai couldn't help but feel embarrassed. Although he had recently begun managing the affairs of the Buda family, his essence was still that of an otaku. Otakus can be shy, and being stared at like this made him feel quite awkward.

Zhao Hai could only say, "Uh, Grandma Mei Lin, I'm going back to the room to check on the situation outside." With that, he turned and entered the thatched hut, closing the door behind him.

Seeing Zhao Hai's reaction, Mei Lin and Meg exchanged glances and burst into laughter. Both of them had a certain understanding of Zhao Hai. They knew the former Adam even better, of course, but Adam would never be shy—he didn't even know what shyness was. Zhao Hai was completely different from Adam; because he had had little contact with people before, he was very easily embarrassed. This change was quite amusing to Mei Lin and Meg.

Returning to the thatched hut, Zhao Hai took several deep breaths to calm his emotions, cursed himself inwardly a few times, and then walked to the screen. He turned it on to check the situation in the castle. There were still magical beasts in the castle, but Zhao Hai didn't bother checking what kind they were. He turned off the screen and lay down on the bed.

Operating the Space was truly too simple. Much of the time, he didn't know what to do because whether it was plowing or planting, the Space would do it for him with just a thought. While extremely convenient, it also made him feel quite bored.

From outside the window came the sounds of Mei Lin teaching the slaves how to read. Zhao Hai's heart gradually calmed down. He felt as if he were in that "humble room" mentioned in the *Ode to the Humble Abode*. He took another notebook from the warehouse and began to read seriously.

About two hours later, the corn matured. Zhao Hai harvested the corn and stored it in the warehouse, then planted four mu of new corn before returning to the hut to continue reading.

Zhao Hai knew that the Oil Fruit Trees wouldn't mature as quickly as the radishes. In the outside world, they took two years to mature. However, since the seeds had been digitized, he estimated they wouldn't need to wait another two months. He had never heard of any seeds in the Space taking two months to mature; the slowest took about three or four days.

Zhao Hai was prepared. Since the Space was not lacking in food or drink, and they had three seasons of radishes, they had enough. It was better to plant other crops.

Furthermore, other crops in the Space couldn't necessarily be taken out to be sold, and the economic value of alfalfa was too low, which was why Zhao Hai chose the Oil Fruit Trees.

Sure enough, over the next two days, three more seasons of corn matured. The Oil Fruit Trees grew larger, but they had not yet begun to bear fruit.

During these two days, Zhao Hai kept a close eye on the castle. Although no signs of magical beasts or undead were visible in the castle by the second day, Zhao Hai still did not allow Mei Lin and the others to go out and scout. He feared the magical beasts were still nearby. If Mei Lin and the others were discovered, while it might not necessarily be dangerous, the beasts might never leave, forcing them to stay in the Space even longer.

It wasn't that Zhao Hai didn't want them to stay in the Space, but the castle was their foundation, their home. Sooner or later, they had to go out.

Moreover, Zhao Hai noticed over these two days that the slaves' morale was not very good. Although they could learn to read and write in the Space, they didn't have to work every day. Aside from studying, their only "work" was eating, which made them feel very unsettled. They felt as though they were idling and were being ungrateful to Zhao Hai.

Now, they had fragrant white rice every day and soup with every meal. For those slaves, this was practically a life in paradise. This made them even more grateful to Zhao Hai, but also made them feel even more indebted to him.

Zhao Hai hadn't noticed this. He spent his free time reading, leaving the teaching to Mei Lin and the others. It was Mei Lin who noticed; she found that the slaves were somewhat distracted while studying, and everyone seemed to be in low spirits.

Mei Lin didn't know why, and when she asked the slaves, they refused to say anything. Finally, having no choice, she sent Ju to inquire, and only then did she learn the reason.

During dinner that evening, Ju reported what she had found to Mei Lin and the others. Zhao Hai hadn't known about this, but upon hearing it, he found himself caught between laughter and tears.

Mei Lin, however, was in no mood to eat. To be honest, she wanted to go out even more than Zhao Hai did. No matter how magical Zhao Hai's Space was, it didn't feel like home. Mei Lin wanted to return to the castle; she had always felt that the castle was the true home of the Buda family. After all, it was their permanent fiefdom.

(End of Chapter)