Chapter 44: Upgrade

"Vegetable seeds found, identification level, level negative one, no redeeming qualities, not extracted."

"Vegetable seeds found, identification level, level negative one, no redeeming qualities, not extracted."

"Grass seeds found, identification level, level zero, equal to the space grass level, not extracted, retain seeds."

"New fruit tree seeds found, identification level, level four, extract seeds, seed extraction complete, seeds digitized, available for purchase in the space store, due to host level, oil fruit trees temporarily set as a nine-season crop."

As soon as Zhao Hai took out the seeds, a series of prompts sounded. Then, except for the alfalfa seeds and the oil fruit tree seeds, the other seeds disappeared before Zhao Hai's eyes.

Zhao Hai patted his head and muttered, "This space is really domineering. It just makes things disappear if the level isn't high enough. Fortunately, the remaining seeds are enough."

Not only Zhao Hai was confused by the series of prompts, but also Melin and the others were even more confused. They didn't understand what levels, identification, or extraction meant. All they knew was that a significant portion of the seeds had disappeared right before their eyes.

Just as Zhao Hai finished speaking, the space issued another prompt: "Space meets upgrade conditions, upgraded to level five, reward: one bag of eggplant seeds, plantable area: two acres."

"Host level reaches five, 1,100 gold coins, meets cultivation requirements, can cultivate two acres of farmland, do you want to cultivate immediately? Yes/No"

Hearing this prompt, Zhao Hai couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief. This finally confirmed his idea: the best way to upgrade the space was to bring in things that the space didn't have. If he relied solely on the space to upgrade itself, the speed would be extremely slow. He immediately said, "Cultivate the land."

As soon as he spoke, a white light flashed next to the cornfield, and soon two more acres of farmland were cultivated.

Zhao Hai realized that, except for the farmland, other areas in the space were like the background in a game and could not be planted. If the background could be planted, that would be great.

The space prompt sounded again: "Host level insufficient, using background land requires level thirty."

Zhao Hai was taken aback. He hadn't expected that the background land could be used, as long as the level was high enough. This was excellent news.

At this moment, Melin walked up to Zhao Hai and said, "Young Master, what do you plan to plant on the newly cultivated land?"

Zhao Hai looked at the two acres of land and then at the ten acres of radish fields that had just been harvested. He turned to Melin and said, "Grandma Melin, I plan to plant the ten acres of radish fields with oil fruit trees. The two acres of land will be planted with corn after we harvest the corn. What do you think?"

Melin was taken aback and looked at the ten acres of radish fields, hesitating. She knew that the radishes Zhao Hai mentioned were magic radishes. She had originally wanted Zhao Hai to plant radishes, but she also felt that Zhao Hai was right; they shouldn't plant radishes anymore, or they would have too many. This made her hesitant.

Zhao Hai looked at Melin and smiled, "We already have three seasons' worth of radishes, which is 240,000 pounds. That's enough to sell. Due to the impact of these radishes, the price of radishes might drop. Oil fruit trees are different. Oil can be extracted from them, and oil is a necessity for everyone on the continent. Even if there are hundreds of thousands or even millions of pounds, it won't significantly impact the market. Most importantly, if we plant radishes, we need to buy seeds, but the seeds for oil fruit trees are already available."

Hearing this, Melin quickly said, "Alright, I'll follow Young Master's plan and plant the oil fruit trees."

Zhao Hai nodded, "Plant ten acres of oil fruit trees." As soon as he spoke, the small spade, bucket, and the seeds on the ground immediately got to work.

The oil fruit trees were a type of tree with a long lifespan, so the planting area for each tree was quite large. After calculating, Zhao Hai found that he could only plant about 300 oil fruit trees on the ten acres of land, which was not a large number.

After planting the oil fruit trees, Zhao Hai returned the remaining seeds to the space's warehouse. He didn't plant anything on the newly cultivated two acres of land. The corn was almost ripe, and he wanted to wait until it was fully matured before planting, so they could harvest everything at once. A few days wouldn't make much of a difference.

Everyone stood there dumbfounded, watching Zhao Hai's performance. In such a large space, with so much land, everything could be done with just a word from Zhao Hai. To Melin and the others, this was a miracle.

After finishing everything, Zhao Hai breathed a sigh of relief and turned to Melin and the others, "Alright, everyone, go about your business. Don't worry about me."

However, everyone looked at him with admiration, even Melin. Everything that happened in the space was truly amazing. Even the well-informed Melin had never heard of such a thing existing in the world.

Seeing everyone's expressions, Zhao Hai felt a bit embarrassed. Although he had recently started managing the Buda family's affairs, he was still a bit of a shut-in and easily embarrassed. Being looked at like this made him feel uncomfortable.

Zhao Hai said, "Well, Grandma Melin, I'll go back to the hut and check the situation outside." He then turned and entered the hut, closing the door.

Seeing Zhao Hai's reaction, Melin and Meg exchanged glances and chuckled. They had a certain understanding of Zhao Hai, and they knew him better than the others. Adam, on the other hand, would never be embarrassed; he didn't even know what embarrassment was. Zhao Hai, however, was different. Because he had little interaction with others, he was easily embarrassed. This change made Melin and Meg find it quite amusing.

Back in the hut, Zhao Hai took a few deep breaths to calm himself, scolded himself a bit, and then walked to the screen, turned it on, and checked the situation in the castle. There were still magical creatures in the castle, but Zhao Hai didn't care what kind they were. He turned off the screen and lay down on the bed.

Operating the space was really simple. Many times, he didn't know what to do because, whether it was planting or plowing, everything was done with just a thought. This was convenient but also made him feel quite bored.

Outside the window, he could hear Melin teaching the slaves to read. Zhao Hai's mind calmed down, and he felt as if he were in a humble abode. He took out a miscellaneous notebook from the warehouse and read it carefully.

About two hours later, the corn matured. Zhao Hai harvested the corn and stored it in the warehouse, then planted four more acres of corn before returning to the hut to continue reading.

Zhao Hai knew that the oil fruit trees wouldn't mature as quickly as radishes. Outside, they took two years to mature, but since the seeds were now digitized, they probably wouldn't need to wait two months. He had never heard of any seeds in the space taking two months to mature; the slowest took only three to four days.

Zhao Hai was prepared. Since the space had plenty of food and drink, and they had three seasons' worth of radishes, which was enough, he decided to plant other crops.

Not all crops in the space could be sold outside, and alfalfa had low economic value, so Zhao Hai chose to plant oil fruit trees.

Sure enough, over the next two days, the corn matured three more times, but the oil fruit trees only grew larger and did not start bearing fruit.

During these two days, Zhao Hai also kept an eye on the situation in the castle. Although the castle was free of magical creatures and undead by the second day, Zhao Hai still didn't let Melin and the others go out to investigate. He was afraid that the magical creatures were still nearby, and if Melin and the others were discovered, it might make the creatures stay longer, forcing them to stay in the space for an even longer time.

It's not that Zhao Hai didn't want Melin and the others to stay in the space, but the castle was their home, and they would eventually have to leave.

Moreover, over these two days, Zhao Hai noticed that the slaves' moods were not good. Although they could learn to read and write in the space, they didn't have to work, and besides learning to read and write, eating was their only activity. This made them feel very uncomfortable, as if they were doing nothing and were unworthy of Zhao Hai's kindness.

Now, they had fragrant white rice to eat every day and soup with every meal, which was like a paradise for the slaves. This made them even more grateful to Zhao Hai but also more guilty.

Zhao Hai didn't notice this, as he spent his free time reading and left the teaching to Melin and the others. However, Melin noticed this and found that the slaves were not as focused on their studies and seemed quite depressed.

Melin didn't know what was wrong, but when she asked the slaves, they refused to say. Finally, Melin had no choice but to ask Chrysanthemum to find out the reason.

Chrysanthemum told Melin and the others about the situation during dinner. Zhao Hai, who didn't know about this, was a bit amused and frustrated when he heard about it.

Melin, however, lost her appetite. Honestly, she wanted to leave more than Zhao Hai. No matter how amazing the space was, it didn't feel like home. Melin still wanted to return to the castle, which she felt was the true home of the Buda family, their permanent fief.