CHAPTER 53: CHAPTER 51 PLANTING

Since it is possible to use the nameless plants within the Spider Cave to treat the severe spider poison Rodney and others are suffering from, it suggests that using herbal remedies for detoxification and treatment is viable. This indicates that Austin’s Chinese medicine treatment methods from his previous life also hold some relevance in this world.

If the medicinal properties and habits of various wild herbs known to the Beastmen can be gathered and personally sampled, and if the folk remedies mastered by some Beastman Tribes can be compiled and systematically organized to establish a medical system akin to Chinese medicine, it would greatly benefit the development of the Dragon Nest Tribe.

However, Austin, who finds the laborious task of establishing an Otherworld version of a medical system cumbersome, has left it to Quik, the Fox-faced Man, who has a keen interest in it.

This is a very complex grand project, so Austin only offers a word or two from the sidelines, sharing some occasional Chinese medicine theories from his previous life with Quik, and gives him guidance on how to set up this medical system.

The Blue Young Dragon has no intention of personally dedicating significant time to building this medical system.

Subsequently, Quik began visiting every Beastman in the Dragon Nest Tribe, asking them about their experiences with ailments. For instance, what herbs they used when their hands or feet were injured, what the Tribal Elders had them eat when they suffered abdominal pain, what herbs they applied when bitten by prey, and what remedies helped them recover from headaches and chills.

Beastmen have been breeding and thriving in the Kawa Great Forest for thousands of years, through various chances or necessities, some tribes have discovered quirky folk remedies. Of course, only two or three out of ten remedies are actually effective, and they require systematic sorting before becoming truly robust.

The establishment of a medical system cannot be rushed. After delegating the task to Quik, Austin continues his grand venture of cultivation and reclamation with a group of Beastmen.

Earlier, a portion of the river plains had already been developed; although Rodney’s situation later occupied Austin’s focus, the elite troops from the Dragon Nest Tribe, led by the Blue Young Dragon, continued working on the land cultivation tasks left by Austin while also guarding the Dragon Nest Tribe.

When the Blue Young Dragon returned to the river plains, the twenty-acre field had already been thoroughly turned by the Beastmen using tools like wooden shovels and sticks, exposing the underlying soil.

But this does not mean planting can begin; turning over this vast land is only the first step.

The purpose of soil tillage is to loosen the ground unchanged for centuries, allowing oxygen to enter and aiding root oxygen absorption when planting yams, thereby increasing yam yield.

The second step is to level the soil, smoothing the loosened land into flat terrain.

This arable land is called a plain, but in reality, it is uneven, with dips here and mounds there, easily flooded in low areas during heavy rains, while high areas don’t retain water well, significantly impacting yam cultivation.

The best approach is to divide the twenty acres of arable land, with high areas and low areas separated like terraced fields, ensuring yield and reducing the Beastmen’s work load drastically.

However, doing so requires meticulous planning. The Beastmen are careless and may not execute these precision divisions well. Moreover, Beastmen have significantly better physical stamina compared to humans, so increasing their workload isn’t problematic.

Thus, under the Blue Young Dragon’s command, the Beastmen worked relentlessly.

They leveled the high areas, filling the low-lying zones with soil.

Despite the efforts of the Beastmen and given that the river plain terrain isn’t overly uneven, it still required dozens of Beastmen working together for a whole day to consolidate the arable wilderness into a twenty-acre flatland.

At a glance, the entire wildland had been completely leveled into a smooth terrain; despite some inconvenient wooden stakes left behind, the arable land had indeed been preliminarily arranged.

But it was not yet time to plant yams.

Due to the influence of magic tides, the Kawa Great Forest is hot and rainy nine months of the year, akin to Tropical Rainforest climate.

If yams are planted directly on this reclaimed flatland, the area often becomes muddy, and during downpours the entire field is soaked.

Yams typically grow on higher terrains like mountains, which are relatively dry lands, indicating yams dislike waterlogged muddy areas; prolonged water immersion could severely affect yam output.

Therefore, the third step is to create ridges on this arable land.

Ridges provide yams with more sunlight exposure, enhancing photosynthetic efficiency, improve soil permeability promoting root growth, and most importantly simplify irrigation management versus flat bed cultivation.

During downpours, rainwater automatically channels down ridge furrows and drains out, unlike flatlands where large water deposits hinder yam production.

Initially, Austin thought creating ridges was the simplest step.

Yet, he didn’t anticipate the Beastmen had grass growing in their brains instead of brains.

While digging ridges, they skewed off course after three steps, and two Beastmen even dug into each other’s paths.

Seeing the skewed and unusable initial ridge furrows, Austin almost jumped with anger.

In the end, the Blue Young Dragon used vine-made ropes to draw a straight line from end to end directing the Beastmen in one direction, marking a path to prevent skewing during ridge formation.

Over three busy days, preparation for planting yams was finally complete, with rows of ridge fields neatly aligned.

The final step was planting yams.

According to yam growth methods, options include cuttings, root heads, layers, and seeds. In this Otherworld, Austin was not particular, using cuttings to plant, slicing thick yam vines, removing the leaves, directly planting them on ridges, and watering them.

In his previous life, planting yams required attention to many details, but the Blue Young Dragon was not omniscient and didn’t expect the transplants to yield high returns. As long as yam production is achieved, it was deemed successful.