Chapter 22: Gossip and Rumors

Chapter 22: Gossip and Rumors

To the magic apprentices, using Wood Spirit Magic to cultivate crops was as absurd as feeding pigs with fine wine.

It was a waste of precious resources and an insult to magic itself!

"Anyone have objections?"

Yu Sheng'an's gaze swept over the murmuring apprentices.

The apprentices exchanged glances, but in the end, no one dared to voice their dissent—whether due to the Greenman Effect or simply knowing which side their bread was buttered.

"Good!"

Yu Sheng'an nodded in satisfaction, snapping his fingers. A massive Virtual Scroll unfurled before them, inscribed with a series of numerical codes.

"I've created a group. Here’s the group number—join it yourselves. If you have any thoughts or suggestions, send them to me privately. Well-written ones will earn you points and rewards."

After finishing his instructions, he assigned a few more trivial tasks before dismissing the meeting.

Truth be told, Yu Sheng'an wasn’t particularly knowledgeable about crop cultivation.

However, having undergone nine years of compulsory education, he was at least familiar with concepts like "Dominant Gene," "Recessive Gene," "Directed Cultivation," "Mutation," and "Induced Mutation."

Don’t underestimate these concepts. With them, he could, in some ways, surpass this world’s biology by centuries—if not millennia.

This world’s biology relied too heavily on magic.

Most methods involved using magic to alter or distort plant growth.

Yu Sheng'an refused to believe that, armed with these concepts, the resources to implement them, and control over nearly one percent of the Keville Empire’s Wood Spirit mages—all augmented by magic—he couldn’t produce tangible results.

Even a mere ten percent increase in crop yields, when scaled across the entire empire, would translate into an astronomical figure.

It would fill more bellies, sustain a larger population, and free up more labor!

All of this would directly translate into power for him.

In fact, over the past half-month since spreading the Internet Divine Technique across the empire, he had been researching relevant materials and inspecting soil conditions firsthand. By now, he already had a rough plan in mind.

Still, before committing to experiments, he decided to hear the opinions of professionals. After all, wisdom comes from listening to all sides.

After the meeting, Yu Sheng'an leisurely made his way to the rear of the hall.

Few knew that beneath the "Magic Forest" hall, over the past half-month, an underground space the size of a football field had been excavated using earth magic.

In the imperial capital, this was no small feat.

The difficulty lay not in expanding the basement but in the fact that underground spaces were monitored by the Magic Tower. Unauthorized digging would trigger its defensive countermeasures, turning the offender into paste—with no one to blame but themselves.

Descending the spiral staircase into the basement, the vast underground space came into view. Devoid of any decoration, it was a perfectly square chamber.

The walls, ceiling, and floor had all been crystallized with earth magic, giving the space a clean, polished appearance.

Embedded in the ceiling were orderly arrays of solidified Inch Light spells, illuminating the entire area.

At a glance, the basement was densely packed with glass containers of varying sizes.

Inside each container were intricate Magic Runes—Gravity Magic Runes, to be precise. Once activated, they could simulate a microgravity environment.

This would be the main battleground where Yu Sheng'an simulated a microgravity environment to induce mutations in crops and screen for suitable varieties.

"Power sure makes things easier!"

Yu Sheng'an looked at this high-standard laboratory, his heart swelling with ambition!

Choosing to start in the Keville Empire was simply too damn wise!

……

"Has Lord Dandell lost his mind? Draining all the Wood Spirit Magic apprentices just to cultivate crops? This... this is utterly absurd!!!"

Archmage March, a member of the Willis Magic Plantation Association, slammed the table in fury.

The magic plants grown in their plantations almost all required extensive Wood Spirit Magic to sustain.

Though they employed some mages skilled in Wood Spirit Magic, these individuals could never maintain their vast estates on their own.

Previously, they had relied on magic apprentices as temporary—or even free—labor.

Now, with these apprentices withdrawn, at least a fifth of their plantations would be rendered useless. How could they not be enraged?

"Absurd? This is downright foolish! Forget whether they’ll succeed—even if they do, do they really think illiterate farmers can handle such cultivation?"

"Hah! Do they truly believe that just because the Internet Divine Technique has spread across the empire, everyone can become a mage?"

Several plantation owners sneered with contempt.

"Who is this Ajef anyway? How could he command such attention from Lord Dandell?"

"No idea. He seems to have appeared out of nowhere. I’ve observed him—his mana fluctuations are pitifully weak. If he’s not an Archmage, he’s a magic apprentice. I lean toward the former. Maybe Lord Dandell recruited him from another country!"

"Whoever he is, he can’t just swallow up all the Wood Spirit Magic apprentices! Gentlemen, why don’t we unite and petition Lord Dandell?"

"I was just thinking the same!"

"This is precisely the duty of our Willis Magic Plantation Association!"

After a brief discussion, the plantation owners resolved to band together and pressure the God of Magic, Dandell.

Meanwhile, Ajef’s name shook Felix to its core due to this unprecedented large-scale collaborative magic experiment!

"All this fuss just to cultivate crops? A handful of magic apprentices would’ve sufficed!"

"Using magic to grow crops? Who even thinks of that?"

"Of all things to research, why crops? How much profit can that possibly bring?"

"Who is this Ajef? Never heard of him."

"Me neither. I checked the Empire’s official website for registered mages—no such person exists."

"Rumor has it he’s a foreign mage recruited by Lord Dandell!"

"No wonder he’s getting such high treatment—it’s all for show!"

"Nonsense! I heard he’s Lord Dandell’s... illegitimate son?"

"Wait, really? Is that true?"

Under the veil and reach of the Internet, a storm of gossip swept through Felix!

From high-ranking magic instructors down to lowly apprentices, the flames of rumor blazed fiercely!

Judging by the prevailing attitudes, nearly everyone reacted with scorn and mockery.

Forget whether researching crops was beneath magic’s dignity—even from a purely profit-driven perspective, it wasn’t worth it!

Magic plants cultivated through Wood Spirit Magic fell into just two categories.

The first method involves forcibly interfering with and amplifying a specific trait of plants through Wood Spirit Magic to achieve the desired outcome.

This approach requires manual intervention, and even if only the seeds are altered without further interference, the cost is still beyond what commoners can afford.

The second method entails directly breeding an entirely new plant variety.

This borders on the domain of the gods—who could possibly develop such a thing?

Even if someone succeeded, it would essentially create a brand-new plant. Farmers would only need to purchase the seeds once, after which they could save and replant them without buying again. Compared to the research costs, is it worth it?

Absolutely not!

What? Sell them at a high price?

Do those commoners even have that kind of money?

Honestly, anyone with even a basic understanding of magic should know this—would Lord Dandell really be unaware?

If he knows, then why did he approve this experimental project?

Why even withdraw all Wood Spirit Magic apprentices from Felix to participate in it?

No one could make sense of it, but that didn’t stop the speculation.

In no time, countless versions of Ajef’s origins spread like wildfire.

From a mysterious foreign mage, to the illegitimate son of the God of Magic, to a member of the royal family—people’s imaginations and rumor-mongering abilities were fully unleashed by the Internet.

Amidst the rampant gossip, Dorothea nervously knocked on the gates of the Magic Forest.