Chapter 82: Three-Level Upgrade

Just before noon, Green woke up, went to the hot spring in the room for a quick wash, and then went out.

The estate was still bustling with activity. Undead creatures were constantly carrying large blocks from outside the estate, while An led the slaves in making millstones and grinding stones.

These two items were not easy to make, especially with such rudimentary tools. It took a considerable amount of time to make a millstone or a grinding stone. Moreover, An was the only one who could be considered a stonemason; the other slaves were still at the apprentice level.

The men naturally did the heavier work, while the female slaves, besides cleaning, helped with tasks like polishing stones.

The entire estate now looked like a large stone processing plant. If outsiders saw it, they would surely be amazed. Due to Zhao Hai's presence, the Chaotic Rock Mountain had become a mysterious place.

Zhao Hai stood in the courtyard of the estate. Although he couldn't help much, he still stood there with everyone. He wasn't there to supervise but to collect the stones mined by the undead creatures into his space.

After so much time together, the slaves had come to know what kind of person Zhao Hai was. He was easy to talk to and never got angry, so they had become accustomed to his presence while working.

This was not their fault. The space farm was not very large, but it wasn't small either. Ten acres of land, most of which was farmland, meant that the slaves couldn't live too far from the water source, which was also close to Zhao Hai. Even if they wanted to avoid him, they couldn't.

Because of this constant interaction, the slaves had relaxed and no longer felt tense. So even if Zhao Hai stood there all day, they wouldn't feel uncomfortable; they were used to it.

At this moment, Zhao Hai saw Green and greeted him with a smile, "Grandpa Green, you're awake. Did we wake you up?"

Green shook his head and said, "No, Young Master. I've brought back the seeds, they're in the room." Zhao Hai nodded and followed Green into the room.

As soon as they entered, they saw the large package. Inside, besides the seeds, were some tools used by stonemasons. These tools were not light, and only Green could have returned to Chaotic Rock Mountain so quickly.

Green first took out the tools, then handed the large bag of seeds to Zhao Hai. The bag weighed nearly fifty pounds, but Zhao Hai could still carry it, even though his current strength, due to the Void Water, was less than that of an ordinary strong man.

Holding the seeds, Zhao Hai turned to Green and said, "I'll be going now." With that, he vanished in front of Green, who said nothing and took the tools out.

As soon as Zhao Hai entered the space, he eagerly opened the seed package. A series of prompts almost made his head spin.

"New crop seeds discovered. Seeds are of high quality. Seeds digitized. Seed evaluation: Level 10 grain crop. Prone to disasters. Seed improved. Replaced space rice seeds. One-season crop. Available for purchase in the space store."

"New crop seeds discovered. Seeds are of low quality. No redeeming qualities. Seed canceled."

"New crop seeds discovered. Seeds are of high quality. Seeds digitized. Seed evaluation: Level 7 legume crop. High yield. Extracted advantages. Enhanced space legume crops. One-season crop. Available for purchase in the space store."

"New crop seeds discovered. Seeds are of high quality. Seeds digitized. Seed evaluation..."

The continuous prompts overwhelmed Zhao Hai. He quickly entered the thatched cottage, opened the screen, and clicked the store button. Indeed, the store now had over twenty new types of crop seeds, and the one that was not there must have been canceled by the space.

Zhao Hai noticed that this time the prompts were different from the last. The previous prompts were very short, but this time they were more detailed.

There were nearly fifty types of seeds. By the time Zhao Hai finished checking the store, the prompts were still not done. However, this was no longer important to Zhao Hai. What he wanted to know was how much the space had upgraded.

Sure enough, as soon as the seed prompts ended, new prompts immediately followed: "Due to the discovery of new crops, the space has upgraded. The space is now Level 7. Two acres of land can be cultivated. Reward: One bag of pea seeds. Two acres of land can be planted."

"Due to the discovery of new crops, the space has upgraded. The space is now Level 8. Reward: One bag of cucumber seeds. Two acres of land can be planted."

"Due to the discovery of new crops, the space has upgraded. The space is now Level 9. Two acres of land can be cultivated. Reward: One bag of pumpkin seeds. Two acres of land can be planted."

The prompts ended there. The seeds Green brought back had upgraded the space by three levels, to Level 9. However, Zhao Hai was not very satisfied. He had hoped to use these seeds to upgrade the space to Level 10 and then see if he could open a ranch. This would not only increase their income but also allow them to bring powerful magical beasts into the space, enhancing his combat strength.

However, the space did not care about such things. The higher the level, the harder it was to upgrade. So even with the many seeds Green brought back, the space only upgraded by three levels, unlike before when just a little bit of anything could upgrade the space.

Zhao Hai sighed in frustration and went to check the warehouse. The space was now at Level 9, allowing for the cultivation of four more acres of land. However, this required money, and he only had 600 gold coins, not enough to cultivate even two acres, let alone four.

The oil trees would only be ready in eight days, so the ten acres of land would not be free for another eight days. Zhao Hai could only consider selling something in the space to get more gold coins and then cultivate the four acres of land.

However, there was not much in the space that could be sold. Selling the oil fruits and corn would be a loss. Other items like cabbage were too few and not worth much. In the end, the only thing he could sell was the radishes.

Zhao Hai cursed inwardly. He only had three seasons' worth of radishes. Selling these would yield 1,500 gold coins, plus the 600 gold coins he already had, totaling 2,100 gold coins. This was just enough to cultivate the four acres of land, with little left over.

But Zhao Hai had no other choice. He gritted his teeth and sold the three seasons' worth of radishes, then cultivated the four acres of land. Cultivating four acres required 1,700 gold coins. At Level 7, cultivating two acres cost 700 gold coins, and at Level 9, it cost 1,000 gold coins. This left Zhao Hai with only 400 gold coins. He then spent 150 gold coins on a bag of radish seeds but did not plant them all, only the four newly cultivated acres.

He had other seeds that could have been planted, but he had no choice. They didn't know when Laura would return, and when she did, they could trade with her. If he didn't have radishes to offer, it would be embarrassing.

This time, Zhao Hai wanted to save some radish seeds to see if he could grow them himself. If he could, he wouldn't need to buy radish seeds from the store, saving him money.

Sighing, he stored the radish seeds and left the space. Honestly, he was disappointed with the upgrade. It didn't meet his expectations, but he had no other choice. He would have to wait until he sold the radishes and then find other unique plants to bring into the space to upgrade it.

Zhao Hai felt that Level 10 was a significant milestone. Once he passed it, something good would happen in the space. He didn't know what, but based on the pattern of games, the reward would be substantial.

What Zhao Hai most hoped for was to open a ranch and quickly enhance his strength to protect himself.

Seeing Zhao Hai come out of the room looking dejected, Green was surprised and quickly asked, "Young Master, what's wrong?"

Zhao Hai shook his head and smiled bitterly, "Nothing, it's just that although the space upgraded, it didn't meet my expectations. It seems that ordinary crop seeds are no longer very effective for upgrading the space. In the future, we'll need to find more advanced plants."

Green didn't know much about Zhao Hai's space, but he was happy to hear that it had upgraded successfully. So he asked, "Young Master, did the upgrade add more land?"

Zhao Hai nodded and said, "Yes, it added four acres. However, I sold the radishes in the space to get the money to cultivate the land. Now there are no radishes left in the space, and I've planted the four new acres with radishes."

Green smiled and said, "It's fine as long as the land is cultivated." Although Green had never played a farm game, Zhao Hai had explained the concept to him. He knew that buying seeds from the space cost money, and selling radishes to the space earned money, but that money couldn't be taken out of the space. So he wasn't worried about it.