Chapter 232 - Unexpected Expenses
Shane knew that starting a Nightshade flower field would be expensive, but he didn't expect it to utilise most of his remaining funds in a matter of minutes.
He enlarged his world as much as possible with the mana he had currently stored before the Hidden Paradise continued to absorb the mana in his surroundings.
His world's mana consumption was still negligible. Shane assumed that it would increase once he reached 1 kilometer or 10 kilometers as it was a vast difference to his planet's current size that had reached a size of 400 meters in diameter.
Out of all the farming supplies he purchased, hand shovels, spades, digging forks, rakes, and so on were relatively cheap because he didn't have to purchase high-grade or good quality ones.
Nevertheless, he bought [Tier-1 (Common)] ones that were slightly more durable and had a lesser chance of accidental breakdown.
Other than that, he bought a [Tier-1 (Extraordinary] double-bladed Secateur with a [Lesser Damage] ability.
Its price was 600 gold coins which were shocking and Shane wanted to search for a different extraordinary quality secateur.
That was because Shane was confused about the name of its ability but fortunately, Elyon convinced him to purchase it as its effect was extremely useful.
Shane entered the enlarged world with his mind, and he could see how Elyon worked with the Secateur. Every single cut he made at the 14 unscathed Nightshade flower roots hurt Shane's soul.
However, Elyon and Louis assured him that everything was fine. They planted the small parts which Elyon had cut off earlier inside pots to cultivate them to a certain extent. Then the twins placed them inside the Nightshade flower field which they had created with the help of Umbra.
Umbra felt humiliated to be used as a means to spread 1,000 kg of high-nutritious [Mortal (Extraordinary)] soil that Shane had purchased for around 1500 gold coins. Though he was disgruntled, Umbra did his job and evenly spread the soil on the field Mark and Clara, the two [Platinum] quality farmers used to plant the damaged Nightshade flowers.
They separated the quality of the roots among the multiple rows they had created to differentiate them evenly before they watered the soil until it was soggy.
After that, they used their skills to decrease the blossoming period, increase the harvest, and resistance against negative external influence.
Once that was done, they used the 'Faruo Asald' fertilizer that was recommended according to the characteristics Louis found from his occupation's skill.
Now that the damaged roots were planted, Shane had to provide enough water and set aside enough nutritious soil for the future. The recuperation period of the 14 unscathed Nightshade flower roots he owned, would be accelerated several times over owing to the two platinum farmers and the platinum florist.
Louis, with his plant researcher occupation, could also accelerate the recuperation process by explaining what exactly the cut roots required to heal faster which was extremely helpful.
As such, Shane was told that it was possible to cut the unscathed roots two to three times a month!
This was some good news and based on his calculations, Elyon could expect to receive lots of Nightshade flowers in the future.
The only thing Shane had to decide was whether to focus on quality or quantity! Every time he cut the unscathed [Rare] and [Uncommon] Nightshade flower roots, he would receive around 5 new, damaged roots, as long as they were well cultivated.
The cultivation process would only take a few days and they would need to be tended to carefully in their initial growth phase before they would grow strong enough to not require as much attention as before anymore. As such, after five to seven days, the small cut roots would be planted inside the Nightshade flower field.
These cut parts would be at the same quality as the complete, unscathed root they stemmed from. This would mean that Shane would obtain around 20 [Rare] and 50 [Uncommon] new Nightshade flowers every time the unscathed roots were cut!
This was shocking, but even more so was the fact that Elyon said that one could cut the small cut roots in five parts again!
With a longer cultivation process and enough resources, one could further trim the cut parts, by decreasing their quality which would allow one to have several lower quality Nightshade flowers.
Apparently, this could be repeated two times before the several, already cut roots would be too small and damaged to recuperate and blossom.
However, Shane could obtain lots of Nightshade flowers through this, if he wanted to.
Yet, instead of focusing too much on the monetary funds, he decided to have a high-quality Nightshade flower field.
Thus, he said
"As long as we are unable to increase the quality of [Trash] and [Common] Nightshade flower roots by cultivating them, we should focus on the [Uncommon] and [Rare] roots we can obtain through a secure way!
I believe that all of you can improve and we have more than enough time to increase the Nightshade flower field's profits by creating more high-quality roots!
The 100 [Trash] quality roots I brought should be enough to experiment with for now, right?
Louis, if you have enough time, try to find ways to cultivate them into [Common] quality roots, after that you may even start trying to mutate them….Don't look at me like that! One step after another….
The most important right now is to accumulate enough mana and build a stable source of income, right? In the end, I have to pay you a high salary, considering that I don't earn anything until the next month….And after that, I will still be at a loss!"
Shane was lying on the Giant Fluare-plains alone, enjoying the light gust of wind while his mind was rattling.
He observed every little task Umbra and his 8 new friends were performing.
In the end, he also purchased a Larger water tower with 4 million liters of water for 1000 gold coins. This was relatively cheap, considering that the tower itself had only cost 600 gold coins.
However, looking at his expenses, Shane could only frown deeply. He had almost exhausted all of his hard-earned money. Now, Shane was barely left with any to even think about enhancing Umbra's quality which he would have loved to do.
Sighing deeply, he had to check if he had enough coins left to pay Talia and the others according to the agreed remuneration of 500 gold coins.
'The Water tower was 1,000 gold coins, the tonne of soil 1,500 gold coins, the 300 kg Faruo Asald fertilizer..600 gold coins?... Then the [Tier-1 (Extraordinary)] double blade secateur with the lesser damage ability for 600 gold coins, 200 pots for one gold coin to store the unscathed nightshade roots, as well as the new, duplicated roots.
At the same time, those pots could also be used to cultivate and experiment with [Trash] Nightshade flower roots…
As for the remaining tools, I paid 40 gold coins in total….
That's 3,741 gold coins and I have yet to purchase everything required to accelerate the recuperation process of the unscathed Nightshade flower roots and the separate parts to cultivate them…
Adding the costs for experimenting and learning how to cultivate [Common] quality Nightshade flower roots out of [Trash] quality ones will take a while too and shouldn't be cheap in the beginning either…
Even less for the following cultivation processes.
Let's add 500 gold coins there… then I have to pay everyone 500 gold coins a month which would be 4,000 gold coins a month….
That means I'm at 8,241 gold coins for now and follow-up costs too… Water, soil, and fertilizer should be enough for several months but the 4,000 gold coins I have to pay later are exorbitant…'
In the end, Shane was left with less than 1,000 gold coins which meant that he had to accumulate 3,000 gold coins to pay the small group of Artisans he hired.
Suddenly, Shane noticed that he made use of only 4...at most 5 out of the 8 young students he took in.
As such he gathered everyone around him, outside the Hidden Paradise, on the Fluare-Plain as he put on a serious face.
"Everyone should be aware that we can earn a huge fortune as long as nothing goes south, right?
There is only one problem, which is your payment.
All of you might know that I told you that your payment would be 500 gold coins. That means altogether I would pay 4,000 gold coins, right? However, from the looks of it, there are at most 5 doing something, which is your agri team.
Talia is doing the systematical and management work, but what about Maya, Dyr, and Han, what are you three going to do for your payment?"
Earlier, Talia and the rest of her friends had only seen how happy Shane was about everything which was a huge contrast to his current behavior. It was obvious that money could even turn the gentlest person into a beast.
However, it was not that Shane acted unreasonably. In the end, Maya was not even a true architect yet, while Dyr and Han didn't have much to do. They had just reinforced the water tower to prevent it from falling over, even if Umbra were to jump against it with all his weight.
This was something great, but definitely not worth 500 gold coins a month.
As such, the three began to sweat heavily which didn't go unnoticed by Talia. Wanting to intervene she began
"If that's a problem we don't need so much gold c--" "Stop!" Shane intervened, as his eyes turned slightly cold, "I didn't ask you!"
Under Shane's cold gaze, Talia could only retreat as her legs began to tremble.
She knew that Shane was powerful but the fear instilled within her stemmed from something much more dangerous than his strength.
'How many must he have killed to get such eyes….they're merciless..'
Gulping down her saliva, Talia had to retreat further, before she stood next to her friends who were intimidated by his aura too.
However, he switched from being happy to serious, as quickly as from someone who doesn't show any mercy to the lighthearted youth.
"I don't care about paying you 500 gold coins, but you must prove your worth.
Dyr, you are a Master Craftsmen with your specialty in weapons, right? What weapon can you manufacture? I doubt your occupation is at the (Gold-Rare) quality without reason, what can you do??
Han, you are a Craftsman- Supreme-builder!! What can you manufacture or do? There has to be something special about your occupation, otherwise, it wouldn't be called 'Supreme' right? You might not have a specialization but that doesn't matter because your occupation is at the [Platinum] quality!!
If all of you want non-combat-oriented occupations except the three basics ones to be seen without discrimination, do something to achieve this. Don't let someone like me tease you like I did right now and show me how great your occupations are.
After I'm pleased, we can slowly build your reputation before we demonstrate to everyone how great non-combat-oriented occupations can be. Who cares about blacksmiths, alchemists, and runemasters? They're great occupations but that doesn't mean other occupations are worse…
As for you, Maya...I know that you can't show me your full capabilities, but it would be great if you can use your capabilities, even without an occupation, to design a house for all of you...that is if everyone wants to stay in my small world!"
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