Foreign Land Reclamation By a Vegetable-growing Skeleton
Chapter 1028 - Chapter 1028 Chapter 597 Must Seize the Dominance

Chapter 1028: Chapter 597: Must Seize the Dominance Chapter 1028: Chapter 597: Must Seize the Dominance The benefits of hosting the Grain Competition were immense, starting with the ability to promote high-yield crops.

One should know that Ange’s Planting God Statue derived divine power from the consumption of crops it fostered by sentient beings. This method of gaining power was inefficient, but its base was substantial.

Not every believer prays daily, but every sentient being needed to eat daily, except for dwarves. However, the issue was that the dwarves’ drinks were also brewed from crops cultivated by Ange.

Little by little, Ange’s Planting God Statue became the most powerful among all deities, even surpassing the Undead Godhood.

The crop varieties of the Master Plane had already been promoted, and at least three hundred million people on the Plane consumed the crops Ange cultivated daily, bringing massive amounts of Faith Elemental Force daily. Promoting these crop varieties here would be akin to cultivating hundreds of millions more believers.

The Commerce Guild was actually already working on this, as the seeds they managed now were mostly cultivated by Ange – varieties like Magic Rice, green dates, Axe Potatoes, and sweet beets. However, the speed of this kind of promotion was too slow.

“It’s too slow,” said Silver Coin, shaking his head. “Our Commerce Guild is indeed too young still, and our channels haven’t penetrated into the villages, where farmers never leave their villages in their entire lives. It could take years before they hear about a high-yield crop from the neighboring village and, barring special circumstances, they wouldn’t switch to a new grain.”

“Why? The yield could increase by so many times, why wouldn’t they switch?” Feiti asked, raising her hand, puzzled.

“The risk is too great. Many farmers are very poor. After turning over sixty percent of the food they grow to the landlords, what remains is just enough for next year’s seeds and their own family’s sustenance. If there’s a disaster, they might have to borrow from the landlord and pray for a bountiful next year to repay the debt. If the next year is also disastrous and they can’t repay, they would have to sell their children to the landlord to offset their debts. They simply don’t have the capacity to plant new crops,” Silver Coin explained.

“What?” Feiti was a bit confused, failing to grasp the logic. “They are already so poor, shouldn’t they be more inclined to plant high-yield crops?”

“What if they can’t grow them?” asked Silver Coin. “With the crops they’ve grown before, they know what yields to expect. With new crops, there are no guarantees. If they fail, the whole family could starve. Who would gamble their entire family’s lives on new crops?”

“Impoverished farmers simply lack the incentive to try new crops. Those who do have the incentive are the landlords who own a lot of land. They are very enthusiastic about high-yield crops, which is why our Commerce Guild is primarily promoting to such landlords,” Silver Coin said.

“But we haven’t dared to tell them the real yield of the crops. If I told them that Magic Rice could yield up to 1,700 pounds, they would surely throw me out, calling me a liar. Besides, they probably couldn’t achieve such yields anyway,” said Silver Coin with a wry smile.

Anthony timely stepped forward and said, “That’s why the Grain Competition is essential. It can at least spread the concept that food yield per acre can break a thousand pounds.”

Indeed, the concept of breaking a thousand pounds per acre was extremely important. Initially, Ange and Negris were also taken aback by this and remembered the Grain Competition and Spring Breeze Druid because of it.

Let’s hold it then. Ange nodded; he was not overly interested in divine power from faith, but he was very interested in the seeds, and this would be an opportunity to see even more exotic varieties.

There was no need to worry about exposure of identity, things were different now.

Even if Anthony openly flew the banner of the Church of Light now, there was no concern for unexpected incidents. This was because the secrets of the Undead Empire had been thoroughly understood by him, and the situations within the Sorcerer Alliance might even be worse; it would be difficult for anyone with the audacity to provoke them, a force owning ‘thirty million of the Holy War Expeditionary Force.’

The only concern was the Starburst Array, but with the God of Life watching, they would notice the Starburst Array beginning to charge, and then disperse when the time came.

With this confidence, the approaches for operation could be more diversified.

“What? You want to hold this crop competition with the Sorcerer Alliance and the Undead Empire?” Negris was shocked.

“This is the best way, since only by joining hands with them can we start the crop competition at the fastest speed,” Anthony said.

Negris hesitated and asked, “Aren’t you afraid they’ll take over the leadership of the competition?”

Anthony laughed, “How could that be? They don’t have any core competitiveness. Ultimately, the essence of the crop competition is high-yield crop varieties. With Lord Durken present, what could they possibly have to compete against us? Can they produce a crop variety with a yield of 1700 kilograms per acre?”

Indeed, the crop competition organized by the Stellaris Academy was highly lucrative, but it was a culmination of efforts from many realms. Specifically, those who cultivated the winning crop varieties were the ones who reaped the largest benefits, their names quickly spreading across the entire plane.

The higher the attention the crop competition received, the greater the rewards for the champion. It was the crop competition that made names like the Spring Breeze Druid, the Salted Fish Team, and Dobinki known to all.

“Moreover, even if they do take the leadership, what does it matter? Our goal is simply to promote high-yield crops. As long as we can spread that, who leads doesn’t matter. As long as we hold the crop varieties in our hands, no one can take away our leadership,” said Anthony.

“That’s true, but is there still time? The harvest season is upon us, and we would have to wait for the next planting season for the cultivation data,” Negris said.

Anthony shook his head, “It won’t do. If we were to use a simulated magic formation like the Stellaris Academy, it wouldn’t work for us. We don’t have the credibility of the Stellaris Academy, which has the foundation of decades of crop competitions. People wouldn’t trust those data; they would think we are cheating, so we must grow the crops on site.”

Negris immediately understood Anthony’s plan, “You’re thinking of using the Instant Death Halo Stone? Wouldn’t that expose the Instant Death Halo?”

Anthony looked at Durken and said, “Can Lord Durken camouflage it, disguising it as a Time Acceleration Magic Circle?”

Durken thought for a moment and nodded, “No problem, but a Time Acceleration Magic Circle is quite impressive.”

“Impressive is good. After the competition, we’ll act carelessly and leave behind the ‘magic circle’s’ core component for them to pick up. By then, a bunch of wizards will be surrounding the magic circle trying to study it, but they won’t figure out anything, which will really frustrate them,” said Anthony.

Negris’s eyes lit up; he liked the idea, and for a moment, several scheming individuals exchanged glances and laughed together joyously.

“Right, my lord, it would be best if we could have the Giant Star Thunderclap Lord stop by. Having him there would make the atmosphere of the crop convention several times more lively,” Anthony said.

That was easy to manage. Ange went back once, and after a few hops, he borrowed the giant squirrel who was sleeping in.

…

Soon, Cabrela and Gust of the Sorcerer Alliance received Anthony’s message.

“A crop competition? Judging various high-performance, high-yield crop varieties, splendid! Is there really such a method? Holding a competition? My goodness, such a brilliant idea; why didn’t we think of it before? We are also in desperate need of crops that can produce high yields in the Void; why didn’t we think of holding a competition?”

“No, we must take over the leadership of this competition,” Cabrela said excitedly.