Chapter 29

In the era before industrial sugar production, sweetness was a luxury. It not only provided high calories but also stimulated the brain to secrete more hormones, which helped to alleviate negative emotions such as sadness and pain. This is why some people binge eat after a breakup, mainly to consume sugar.

Without sugar, the primary sources of sweetness were honey and some naturally high-sugar crops, like sugar beets, which have a sugar content of up to forty percent and are very important for sweetness.

However, it is very difficult to grow sugar beets in the underground city, or even in this world. Regardless of whether there is enough food, the underground city cannot meet the light conditions required for sugar beets. To convert starch into sugar, sugar beets need a long period of high light exposure, which the underground city and this world cannot provide.

But Angge is a skeleton who specializes in growing vegetables, with farming as a secondary activity. The farm originally had sixty skeletons, each responsible for fifty acres of farmland, some growing vegetables and others growing food. After the undead souls disappeared, he was the only one left on the farm. Seeing the crops in other fields gradually wither, Angge's instinct couldn't be suppressed, and he did his best to take care of the other fields.

Of course, with three thousand acres of farmland, even if he split himself in half, he couldn't manage it all. In the end, he could only take care of a few types of crops, while the rest withered.

Sugar beets happened to be one of the main crops Angge grew, with a planting scale only slightly smaller than food crops. However, the yield was large, and the storage in the granary was even more than food, making it less valuable than food.

Forty pounds of sugar beets for forty pounds of food? Angge took out forty pounds of sugar beets and found that, due to the effect of the living soil, the sugar beets had dehydrated, reducing their weight to seventy percent of the original.

"Too much, too much. For an equal exchange, sugar beets are worth at least ten times more than food. Four pounds would be enough," Esk said, his eyes gleaming, but he had to painfully refuse.

Not only are sugar beets worth at least ten times more than food, but they are also in high demand because there are no sugar beets available on the market. Even if he only got four pounds, Esk would still make a huge profit.

Although the forty pounds of sugar beets Angge brought out made him very eager, he didn't dare to take advantage of this. He thought this rule was set by Angge, and it would only be a rule as long as Angge was willing to follow it. If Angge didn't follow it, he wouldn't even have the right to haggle.

So, if you don't have the ability to enforce the rule and don't have the right to haggle, never break it.

Equal exchange? Angge tilted his head. The storage of sugar beets in the granary was larger, and they were easier to grow, with a much higher price than food. Wouldn't it be more cost-effective to grow sugar beets?

With his reward, Esk rolled up his sleeves and worked hard to engrave the magic array for Angge.

"Engrave it here. The angle is just right, covering the largest area," Esk gestured, finding a suitable spot on the middle of the cliff. He needed to climb up to reach it.

After a moment, Esk said awkwardly, "I'll go find a rope. It's too high to apply force."

Angge tilted his head and asked, "Can fly."

Esk replied sheepishly, "Can't hold on."

As an intermediate mage, Esk could fly briefly but not for long. He could climb a wall in an emergency, but he couldn't hover to engrave a magic array, which required precise work.

Angge extended his hand and cast the Pollination Spell on Esk, lifting him off the ground.

Esk was startled, but once he realized it was Angge, he relaxed, rubbed his hands, and resolved to do his best to repay Angge for the sugar beets.

An hour passed, two hours passed, three hours passed... Esk kept looking back, his heart racing, and his mind screaming, "No way, no way? Can someone really last this long?"

For three hours, Angge steadily held him without any sign of instability, which was simply incredible. Even a high-level mage couldn't have such endurance.

Before, Esk had only inferred Angge's strength from Phyllin's attitude toward him. Now, he truly felt the unfathomable, vast, and endless power.

Don't think that lifting him only required a first-level wind spell; maintaining a steady output for such a long time was even more difficult. Anyone can stand on one leg, but try standing on one leg for three hours.

This was definitely a level of skill that only an Adept Mage could achieve. Considering that Angge was a projection, he must have at least the power of a Truth Mage, a god. The Angge in front of him could very well be a projection of the Undying King.

Esk instantly understood why Phyllin was so respectful.

The amazed Esk didn't realize that in this world, someone had spent over three hundred years practicing only a first-level spell to water crops, a huge misunderstanding.

It took Esk four hours to complete the engraving of the lighting array, mainly because he wanted to do a good job, and the lighting array covered a larger area, requiring more effort.

After completing the task, Esk happily went home with four pounds of sugar beets, completely unaware of the ridicule in Angge's soul from Negris:

"The array is terrible. The magic patterns are not concise, there are too many redundant circuits, the conversion efficiency is low, the energy consumption is high, and there is no stable structure. Once the release process starts, it will be strong at first and then weak, bright at the beginning and dark at the end, terrible."

"Without systematic training in array magic, it's easy to have such problems. A simple lighting spell, such a magic circuit is inefficient, but not fatal. However, if you want to use it as a stable array, there are big problems."

Angge tilted his head: "Oh."

"Don't just say 'oh.' Fly up, and I'll teach you how to modify it."

"Oh." Angge flew up and, following Negris's instructions, modified the magic array. After infusing it with magic power, the array flashed a few times and emitted a steady, bright light, illuminating the entire pit.

Bathed in the bright light of the lighting array, Angge suddenly had an idea: "Can the Rain Spell be engraved as an array?"

"It can be engraved, but your Rain Spell is self-created and needs to be transformed into a magic pattern, flattened, and combined. You haven't learned array magic, so how can you transform it? It would be better to use a Water Ball Spell array, which is already available." Negris said.

Angge shook his head: "Water Ball Spell doesn't water the fields. Rain does. Teach me."

Negris was already used to Angge's way of speaking and understood immediately. He sighed, "You are quite persistent about farming. What's the difference? Isn't it all water? If someone is dying of thirst, can't your Rain Spell condense water to save them? If you want to learn, fine, I have nothing else to do anyway..."

Angge didn't hear the rest. His mind was filled with the question: Can the Rain Spell save someone dying of thirst?

This reminded him of the person who activated the teleportation array, who died of hunger and thirst due to the lack of water. Can the Rain Spell save someone dying of thirst?

It seems it can. Why didn't I think of that at the time? Angge cast a Rain Spell, watching the drizzle in his palm, lost in thought.

A gust of wind, and Esk flew back through the only passage, exclaiming, "Master, something's wrong. Your fields have been burned."

The fields have been burned! Angge's soul trembled violently. He turned to look at Esk, and the hollow eye sockets emitted a flame that made Esk's heart shudder.

The water droplets in his raised hand turned into sharp ice crystals, piercing the ground.