CHAPTER 746: GOLDEN FERTILIZER, GOLDEN FERTILIZER, ONE BAG IS WORTH TWO!

Sweat drenched his back, and mud clung to his pant legs.

Reverend Matthew lifted his hand from the ground, facing the lush green expanse before him, and sighed in frustration.

He was cooperating with the council on an agricultural experiment. They planted a wave of purple vetch, rapidly accelerated its growth, then plowed it back into the soil. This was a long-standing, effective method for enriching farmland.

Of course, leaving the purple vetch in the field over winter and planting other crops the next year was not feasible. Reverend Matthew needed to use divine magic to accelerate the decomposition and fermentation of the grass, then measure the soil fertility before planting another crop.

However, the divine magic clearly didn’t cover all the grass roots and seeds. Amid the magically stimulated wheat sprouts, the lush purple vetch was wantonly competing for nutrients with the wheat.

Looking around, the brothers of the cult experimenting with alfalfa or soybeans faced the same problem…

Moreover, the divine power of the priests of the God of Nature was not unlimited. In fact, it was quite limited. Now, it seemed that using it to accelerate pasture growth for fertilization consumed more energy than it yielded.

"What do we do when the divine power is insufficient?"

In the nearby shed, Elder Wood wiped the sweat from his white beard and asked the Archmage beside him.

The cult of the God of Nature, in cooperation with the council, had concluded through experiments that, given an ample supply of mental potions and enough believers participating in prayer, the quantity of accelerated food produced was still less than half of the needed amount.

Divine power was a significant bottleneck.

"Someone is already working on a solution," the Archmage consoled softly. He vaguely heard that those seeking a solution were the Lord of Thunder and several other legendary mages, but he didn’t dare to say it. What if it wasn’t true?

Even if the information was accurate, who could casually gossip about legendary mages? He wasn’t a disciple of a legend, and even if he were, not all legendary disciples were favored!

He could only vaguely hint:

"In about one or two months, there should be results. Come on, let’s conduct another experiment..."

Even if the issue of limited divine power was resolved, fertilizers for the fields were still indispensable. So when Aurora presented Garrett’s plan and paper to her teacher, claiming that this technical route was worth trying...

Archmage Carlisle was ecstatic!

What? There will be ammonia in the biogas digester?

Ammonia will also be present in excrement?

That strong-smelling gas, which can dissolve in water and be used for irrigation after dissolving?

It contains nitrogen?

Burning it in pure oxygen yields nitrogen and water, proving it contains hydrogen and nitrogen?

So if we reverse it, nitrogen and hydrogen will react under high temperature and pressure to produce ammonia?

Excellent!

With this technical route, we can try it!

Hydrogen? As long as there’s water, there’s an unlimited supply! Nitrogen? As long as there’s air, there’s an unlimited supply!

"Wait a moment, let’s try it ourselves... High temperature and high pressure, right? Pure hydrogen, pure nitrogen, right?"

Most of the high-ranking disciples of the Lord of Thunder had already gone on missions. Archmage Carlisle, at level 14, was the highest-ranked disciple left in Nevis. Ṙ𝘼NộʙĚ𝙨

He naturally started calling people, gathering all his disciples, and rushed into the Tower of Heaven:

"High temperature and high pressure, right? What degree, did Garrett not specify? How much pressure, did he not specify either?"

"No..." Aurora answered a bit guiltily. She only saw Garrett fiddle with ammonia for a while, then add it to water, pour it onto a flowerpot, and place his hands on the soil, concentrating his magic...

"Well, no problem. Ammonia water indeed promotes plant growth. Hmm, let me try again, Aurora, help me with soil composition analysis—"

Aurora cried as she went to analyze the composition. Why, why is the most troublesome task always given to me? Is this the boss’s privilege?

This paper could only confirm that "ammonia water is indeed useful." As for what specific high temperature and high pressure conditions are needed to synthesize ammonia from hydrogen and nitrogen...

Garrett only estimated that "high temperature and high pressure are required," without specifying the exact temperature or pressure. With the conditions at Garrett’s Mage Tower, it was impossible to conduct experiments under very high pressure.

"Never mind, I’ll give it a try! You, you, you, and you," Archmage Carlisle pointed out several disciples:

"Don’t just stand there, get to work! Adjust the magic array, establish the protective field, extract gas! Conduct grouped experiments, each person testing different temperatures and pressures!"

"Heat to 500 degrees Celsius, 20 atmospheres, first combustion test, start!"

"500 degrees Celsius, 30 atmospheres, second combustion test..."

The result of extreme manpower accumulation was that, on the day when the Plastic Energy Department was summoned for the second phase of the experiment, Archmage Carlisle submitted a report.

There was a plan for artificially synthesizing ammonia! Ammonia water irrigation could replace nitrogen fertilizer and promote plant growth!

Cheers erupted from the mages gathered near the fields.

Finally, no more fieldwork!

Finally, no more squatting in the fields, throwing lightning bolts every day!

If they still had to work, they’d rather be in the laboratory— even in a factory, conducting extreme magical output and streamlining magical flow, was better than working in the fields!

As for how to scale up laboratory ammonia synthesis to large-scale production?

How to ramp up yield to meet the needs of fields nationwide?

How to minimize costs so that ordinary farmers could use it in farming?

These were still subjects for further exploration. But as long as the council gathered enough manpower, many issues could be resolved in the short term!

"Everyone, get to work!" After the report was reviewed and validated, the review committee members collectively decided. At such times, the more technical routes available, the better. The more methods to explore, the better!

"Group people! Conjuration Department, Plastic Energy Department, Protection Department, Transmutation Department, Prophecy Department, each with a mage above level 10!"

"The Conjuration Department handles the magic array, the Protection Department constructs the protective field, the Plastic Energy Department outputs magical power, the Transmutation Department oversees the reaction process! The Prophecy Department records and monitors the experiment’s danger!"

"Both the Transmutation and Necromancy Departments will send people! Whether using golems or skeletons, the dangerous task of adding materials must be handled by non-living entities! Mages should not approach personally!"

"Also, bring in a team of medical mages! Request help from the War God’s temple! For such large-scale experiments, medical support must be present!"

Of course, if the Prophecy Department mages had the capacity, they could predict the success rate of experiments and provide guidance on modification methods, which the council would greatly welcome. However, this was not mandatory; the precious power of prophecy had to be used wisely!

The Transmutation Department alchemists knew all too well how many modifications were needed to create a new substance. And the journey from lab synthesis to mass production was filled with all kinds of breakages, fire, and explosions.

"Boom!"

"Boom!"

...Look, something exploded again. From a distance, an enraged archmage’s curses echoed:

"I told you to seal it properly! Seal it properly! Don’t you know hydrogen explodes upon contact with oxygen?!"

Amid various setbacks, explosions, angry shouts, and quarrels, the council’s nitrogen fertilizer development project hurtled forward like a runaway train.

Several times, there were near accidents— or actual accidents— all salvaged by powerful mages using various protective spells.

Debris was blocked, explosive blasts were directed skyward, strange gases were dispersed with strong winds...

Of course, some were particularly unlucky, with even the Prophecy Department mages failing to forewarn them, and both skeletons and alchemical golems in front being affected by the accidents. Fortunately, most were saved by the medical mages and priests present.

Through extreme measures and unlimited manpower, the council miraculously forged ahead. By burning coal to produce coke, then blowing steam through it, they ultimately achieved large-scale ammonia production.

Meanwhile, Transmutation Department’s senior mages tirelessly injected ammonia into water, trying countless methods until they finally produced solid nitrogen fertilizer...

On the day the experiment was declared a success, cheers echoed from Igor Peak to the experimental site, and across the trial fields behind Igor Peak. They had nitrogen fertilizer! They had nitrogen fertilizer! As long as there was enough coal and coke, there would be enough nitrogen fertilizer!

The mages of the Plastic Energy Department threw their tall, short, wide-brimmed, narrow-brimmed, soft felt, and hard-top hats into the air, shouting loudly:

"Finally free!"

"Finally no more soil chopping!"

"Finally back to the lab for research, no more staying by the fields!"

The mages of the Transmutation Department quietly slipped away, hiding their names and contributions. Aside from producing solid nitrogen fertilizer, someone had the bright idea to apply for an experiment:

Mix the newly produced solid nitrogen fertilizer with bird guano and carnallite products in proportion, mix evenly, and take it to the fields for the priests of the God of Nature to accelerate growth experiments:

Mix according to the nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium ratios measured in the soil;

Mix according to the ratios measured in manure;

Spread directly on the fields after mixing;

Mix evenly with manure before spreading on the fields;

Based on the priests’ sensing, mix in different proportions for root growth, leaf growth, and fruiting stages, then spread

on the fields...

"The results were unexpectedly good!" Reverend Matthew, who finally got a short break and visited Garrett in town, described joyfully:

"One part artificial fertilizer mixed with one part compost, spread evenly on the field, yielded more than twice the effect of compost alone!"

"As long as there’s enough carnallite and bird guano, we won’t worry about fertilizer during this famine!"

Garrett: "..."

So it really is golden fertilizer, golden fertilizer, one bag is worth two bags!

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