NOVEL SIMPLE Chapter 64 – The [Lizardwings] produce a valuable resource
Chapter 64 - Lizardwing's number two hobby is making natural fertilizer
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Two days later, we had just finished the day’s tree planting session when one of the prince’s men came running towards us, his eyes wild.
“They’ve hatched!” he said.
Prince Baiyu looked alarmed and asked, “What happened? Is there a problem?”
I joined them, and the man gave me a glance whose meaning I couldn’t quite decipher.
“None…” The man coughed and looked down at his feet. “Except for the smell.”
“How bad could it be?” Prince Baiyu’s attitude was dismissive.
“Girls, let’s go see the Lizardwings!” I waved them over and they obediently joined us. “I’ll teach you how to take care of the animals.”
“I’ll go with you,” said Prince Baiyu.
“So it begins!” I said.
[Greening the Desert] in the game had been quite satisfying, but that was nothing compared to the excitement I felt in real life.
“We’ve used spirit animal manure before,” said Prince Baiyu.
“Oh? And it worked, right?”
He shrugged. “The trees that we plant will grow for a few days, but they die quickly. Using the manure extended their lifespan by a few weeks, that’s all.”
“So it does work! Why didn’t you guys just keep the animals here for a continuous supply of manure?”
“Animals and spirit animals tend to grow sick in these lands.”
“They do? Why do you seem a bit depressed? I thought you believed that I could do this.”
He took my hand in his hand and squeezed it. “I think you have a better chance than anyone else that I know.”
“We’ll see.”
We walked outside together.
Once again, Kharli and Mo raced each other to the far side of the valley. This time, however, they stopped short of the finish line and ran back to me.
“Teacher! Teacher! What’s that smell?!” Mo pinched her nostrils closed with the two fingers of her right hand and grimaced horribly.
Kharli sneezed and then hurriedly pinched her nostrils shut, too.
“That’s the smell of success.” Taking out a veil from my inventory, I wetted it with water from a pitcher I got from my inventory then tied it on the lower half of my face. Then I put the pitcher back in the System storage space. “Breathe through your mouth. You should get used to the smell soon.”
I turned to see how Prince Baiyu was doing and was surprised to see that he didn’t seem to be affected.
“You’re okay?” I asked him.
“I’ve turned off my sense of smell.” He looked slightly abashed.
“How convenient.”
We were still quite a distance from the pen, but the smell of manure was incredibly strong. The closer we got to the Lizardwing’s habitat, the worse it became. When we got there, I saw that the other men must’ve fled from the stink.
“Why does it smell so bad when they just hatched?” I asked no one in particular.
“Is it going to get worse later?” Kharli asked in horror. “What if we die from the cursed miasma?”
“Don’t exaggerate. It’s not that bad.” I gave her a mischievous grin from under the veil. “You’d better toughen up. The two of you will have to shovel that manure and spread it around to nourish the soil.”
Kharli fell to her knees and covered her forehead with her left hand. The right one was still pinching her nostrils closed. “What kind of sin did I commit in my previous life to deserve this?”
“You were probably a monkey and threw your shit at a monk!” said Mo.
“If I was a monkey, then you were a skunk!”
“If I was a skunk, then you were a stink bug!”
“If I was a stink bug, then you were a… a… a…toilet!”
“Toilets aren’t alive, ha! I won!” Mo made the mistake of raising both her arms to celebrate her victory and accidentally drew a breath through her nose. “Ahhhh!”
I let the kids have fun. Soon the stench grew stronger and we arrived at the pen.
The Lizardwings were supposed to be chicken-like, but I thought they looked more like fierce but tiny dinosaurs. Their scales were bright orange, and they had small, useless feathered wings. The Lizardwings’ heads were small and rounded, with pointed brown beaks and beady little black eyes. Despite the fact that they had hatched less than an hour ago, the ground under the pen was already covered in their droppings.
I stepped forward until I was within touching distance of a Lizardwing.
“I’ll put one of them in my inventory.” One of the spirit beasts disappeared when I mentally ordered the System to put it in my [Animal Storage] inventory tab. “Now try to do the same.”
My two apprentices reluctantly approached and did as I ordered, though Kharli muttered under her breath about “animals stinking up my inventory.”
“Very good. Now examine your inventory and check its traits.” The one that I had was a female with the rare [Robust] trait.
“Mine is male, no traits,” reported Mo.
“Male, no traits,” said Kharli.
I double-checked all the animals and was happy to find that we had three breeding pairs. When they reached maturity, if the droppings proved useful, I could sell these Lizardwing pairs to the clans that wanted to renew their ancestral lands. Then I would hatch more of them. There were still 2,147,483,641 eggs in my inventory, after all.
When we finished inspecting them, I destroyed the pen and rebuilt it on a spot twelve feet away because I wanted to demonstrate its features to my disciples, and the old one was already covered in manure.
“The animals need two things: water and animal feed. The water is supplied by this automatic bell drinker. You just need to fill the container.” I took a bucket of water from my inventory and poured it into the water tank. “Got it?”
The two of them nodded, and I stepped aside to let them fill the tank. Then I showed them how the bell drinker worked. It was shaped like a bell with a shallow pool of water all around the bottom lip. When I used a handkerchief to sop up the water, the device automatically refilled the bottom of the drinker with water. This was a very nice upgrade from the usual watering trough that beginner farmers could place on their farms.
“As for the animal feed, put all the extra leaves, stems, roots, and so forth that we got from the harvest and place it inside this box. When it’s full, press the red button.”
Whenever we harvested our crops, we always put the inedible parts into our inventories because they were good for feeding animals. I supervised the kids as they placed the corn plants, minus the corncobs, into a big metal box. Then I closed the lid and let Kharli press the button. The device immediately started making grinding and crunching sounds. After a few minutes, the automatic feeder started spewing out squares of [Animal Feed] onto a small metal plate.
“It will automatically release enough food for all the animals every day. Both the water and the [Animal Feed] will only last for seven days. Now put the Lizardwings back into the pen,” I said.
Even though this was their first time working with live animals, my apprentices were already adept at using the inventory, so they were able to put the Lizardwings inside the pen without any problems.
“And that’s it for today’s lesson.” I adjusted my veil and quickly walked away when the spirit beasts started farting loudly.
The girls took off running. That was when I decided that discretion was the better part of valor and booked it. Prince Baiyu took the hint and ran beside me. I was sprinting away at my top speed when I looked back and saw that the Lizardwings, aka Poop Machines, were projectile pooping inside their pen.
I really hoped that their manure was worth it.
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Mana & Mayhem: An Adventurer's Tale [Progression Litrpg]
Iris Stuart's life was turned upside down by a freak accident that coincided with the appearance of mana in her reality. Suddenly, she found herself transported to the unfamiliar land of Eona, alone and cursed with the Spark of Bad Luck. Over the past year and a half, Iris has stumbled from one dangerous situation to the next, but luckily she has her loyal horse, Mocha Latte, to keep her grounded. Despite the challenges she faces, Iris is convinced that she has a purpose in Eona. She has magic coursing through her and believes that she was brought to this world for a reason. With each obstacle she encounters, she becomes more certain of what the world desperately needs. Adventurers. Heroes. Being the only adventurer in a world filled to the brim with adventure is surprisingly tough, but that just means there is ample opportunity for shenanigans, badassery, loot, and good deeds–for a reward, naturally. Join Iris as she journeys to show the world–and herself what it means to be an adventurer. Read it here - https://www.scribblehub.com/series/721067/mana--mayhem-an-adventurers-tale-litrpg-progression/ |
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Author's Note:
- How much do animals poop? Rabbits poop a lot, and geese go to the bathroom on average once every 12 minutes!
- Sorry for making you read a chapter about stinky poop.😅
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