mijobooks Chapter 27 Golden Garden
Chapter 27 Golden Garden
“I’ve actually heard of this client,” Ryan said. “Rumor has it that this craftsman is skilled in bio-alchemy, and the leather armor he creates is practically magical.”
Greenwood is a large city.
But people with special talents always tend to be more famous.
Like this druid who tried to raise goblins, most adventurers in the Adventurers' Guild knew this strange person and mocked this extraordinary powerhouse who had already awakened his spirit without restraint.
As a native of Greenwood, Ryan naturally knew about other relatively well-known people in Greenwood.
Ryan guessed, "Previously, this armor master used large monsters such as rock boars, wind wolves, and earth bears. Now he must have developed a way to use goblins. To be precise, he must be developing one. He probably issues commissions to obtain surviving goblins for experiments."
"Goblins...make magical items?"
Luo Qi was somewhat surprised.
Magical items are very precious, and their creation often requires special materials such as mithril and adamantite.
The poor would plate steel and other materials with mithril patterns to give them the ability to conduct spiritual power, while the rich would forge a high-grade weapon made entirely of special materials; but even the cheapest magical items were extremely expensive, with a mithril-plated sword costing more than a hundred times the price of an ordinary sword.
Many spiritually awakened extraordinary adventurers need to save up for a long time to buy such a magical item.
And the quality of such expensive items naturally justifies their effects.
The ornament on Misfield's forehead is the most basic magical item; it can detect evil creatures in the vicinity and give warnings by stimulating its owner.
However, this magical item serves as proof of her position within the Silvermoon Church and cannot be easily given to others.
Longswords plated with mithril to solidify magical effects are extremely sharp, capable of penetrating the defenses of most monsters. Their sturdiness is also greatly enhanced, allowing them to effectively withstand the power of superhumans—under the power of superhumans, ordinary steel weapons would easily deform.
Magic armor offers significantly enhanced defense. Most magical armors have an invisible defensive layer on their surface, which leaves the adventurer completely vulnerable. Some magical armors can even repair themselves automatically.
If low-level monsters like goblins can be used to make magical armor, then raising these creatures could indeed become a profitable business.
At that time, there would probably be countless adventurers wearing magical armor made of goblin leather, eagerly rushing into goblin lairs to hunt goblins like madmen.
Most importantly, Luo Qi discovered that this method of utilization had a complementary effect on her own.
The Emperor's Banner needs goblin souls the most. In addition, goblin flesh and blood can be used as supplies for the daily activities of the subjects, and bones can be used to strengthen the flagpole... But items other than souls can be obtained from ordinary flesh and blood creatures.
"Using the manufacture of magical armor as a pretext, then establishing a power base, mass-producing goblins, and replenishing the Emperor's Banner with subjects in large numbers—this plan... is absolutely feasible!"
As we all know, if scientific and efficient management methods are established, the efficiency of livestock breeding will be much higher than that of grazing, which in turn is much higher than that of hunting and gathering.
If goblin breeding can be carried out on a large scale, the growth rate of the Human Emperor Banner will definitely be much faster and safer in the future.
But normal people wouldn't raise goblins, which are monsters that would definitely lose money.
The armor maker then added the piece of the puzzle: "rationality."
Moreover, Luo Qi also had to consider a problem... Once the Armor Master hyped up the importance of goblins, a large number of adventurers flocked to goblin lairs to hunt goblins. In the future, the difficulty for him to educate goblins through hunting will inevitably increase, and their numbers are very likely to decrease.
Aquaculture is imperative!
"We have to work with that master!"
Without hesitation, Luo Qi found the Adventurers' Guild's receptionist and accepted the Armor Master's commission, from which he learned the master's address.
Afterwards, Loki followed the young man Ryan to his farm.
This goblin farm is actually located inside the city, and even though it's near the edge of the city walls, the rent for this land is exorbitant.
"This guy... is he a rich kid, right?"
Luo Qi looked at the huge mansion, which was about five or six acres in size.
This piece of land is inside the city, within the city protected by a wall over a hundred meters high!
"No wonder some people think he's out of his mind. A piece of land that big would be more profitable than raising goblins, no matter what you do with it!"
After passing through two courtyard walls, Luo Qi arrived at a large garden.
Golden flowers, resembling sunflowers, covered the entire garden. These flowers seemed extraordinary, and the garden's temperature appeared to rise because of their presence.
From the base of these flowers, four vines branched out, binding each green goblin.
This made Luo Qi sigh again, "As expected of the extraordinary world, even the aquaculture industry is so unique!"
In Loki's imagination, goblin farming is like this: goblins are locked in cages, struggling and screaming, while farmers provide them with food and wait for them to grow up; but what the druid Ryan shows is that every time a goblin cub is born, a special flower will appear in the garden, restraining them, and from birth to death, they will not have a moment of freedom.
"It's a man-eating plant?"
Dorothy, who had been following behind, couldn't help but say, "I was worried that your goblins would escape, but now it seems they have no chance of escaping at all!"
The four tendrils of the man-eating flower's root system have one branch that penetrates deep into the goblin's stomach through its mouth, two that bind its hands and legs respectively, and a final one tied around its waist, leaving the goblins with no room to move.
These goblins want to be free, but they must kill the man-eating plants.
When faced with danger, the man-eating plant absorbs the flesh and blood of its prey to enhance its own vitality... Before the goblins can kill the man-eating plant, the bound goblins will die first.
"Yes," Ryan said with some pride. "These carnivorous plants are a special species that our family has cultivated for hundreds of years. Ordinary carnivorous plants can secrete substances to lure prey, but the ones we have bred have enhanced the effect of secreting food. So, the goblins' food actually comes from carnivorous plants."
He added, "Of course, in order for the man-eating plants to secrete enough food, they need to be fertilized with a lot of fertilizer every day, and this garden is right near the carriage yard, so it's easy to buy enough camel dung from there."
Are there any requirements regarding the planting location for this flower?
Luo Qi asked.
There are probably more than three thousand man-eating flowers in this garden, which is equivalent to more than three thousand goblins.
Land inside Greenwood City is very expensive, but wastelands near the Great Greenwood in the North Wind are very cheap, and hundreds of thousands of carnivorous plants can be planted easily by clearing some land.
"There are no special requirements for the planting location, but they require several druid spells to grow," Ryan said. "In the entire city of Greenwood, there are no more than three people who have mastered those spells."
"And a first-tier druid can probably take care of about two acres of carnivorous plants."
Luo Qi did some calculations.
Even if all the people in Greenwood City who knew this kind of magic were recruited, it would only be enough to cultivate about thirty acres, which would be enough to raise about thirty thousand goblins.
It takes about six to nine months for an ordinary goblin to grow from birth to adulthood. In total, about 50,000 goblins can be educated in a year.
That already sounds like quite a lot.
But as his strength grows, he will kill a considerable number of goblins through adventurer commissions... Even if it takes a lot of time to travel, he can still complete one commission per day on average, eliminating a tribe with more than a hundred goblins. In total, he can convert tens of thousands of goblins a year.
"Compared to hunting in the wilderness, each has its advantages and disadvantages. At least raising goblins is easier and doesn't require traveling to different places for long periods of time," Luo Qi thought to himself. "In any case, this can serve as a supplement, at least it can speed up the development of the Emperor's Banner by several times."
"What if I become a second-tier druid?" Loki asked again.
"Still two acres." Ryan chuckled, then added, "However, back then I could make the man-eating flowers grow even bigger; one man-eating flower could probably support five to ten goblins."
"That's quite a considerable number!"
Luo Qi couldn't help but sigh, "Those adventurers probably don't know the cost you incurred, otherwise they wouldn't be in the mood to laugh at your actions."
If Ryan Lister's goblin farming venture actually succeeds, many low-level adventurers could very well lose their jobs.
Ordinary adventurers don't have the Emperor's Banner like Luo Qi, so they have to be careful every time they take on a mission. Add to that the time spent waiting for missions, traveling, scouting, and resting, and a fully equipped adventurer team can only be considered a model worker if they can complete fifty missions a year. How many goblins can they kill in that time?
It's nothing compared to this kind of large-scale farming!
"Does low cost even matter?" a somewhat weak voice asked. "Is it possible that the biggest problem with raising goblins is the low income?"
Luo Qi looked toward the source of the sound.
A brown-haired girl walked out of the flower field. She looked somewhat like Ryan, but her facial features were softer, her figure was more slender, and her ears had faintly pointed tips.
"Winnie, I was just looking for ways to make goblins more valuable, wasn't I?" Ryan said gently. "And now I've found one!"
"elder brother!"
The weak voice grew louder: "Our Lister family's responsibility is the defense of Greenwood City. As long as those flowers on the walls remain, our family will never decline! Now you are the head of the family, wasting your energy on something as meaningless as raising goblins... cough cough cough..."
Before the girl could finish speaking, she started coughing incessantly.
"Don't worry, city defenses only have meaning when war breaks out," Ryan comforted him. "It's only been a few decades since the orc invasion. When Greenwood City faces war again, our bones will probably be shattered to pieces."
Ryan summoned a servant to take his sickly sister back to her room.
"Sorry, my sister doesn't quite understand..."
Ryan gave a wry smile and explained, "The main reason I started goblin farming is that the situation is currently very stable. The city lord's mansion started cutting funding to the Lister family back when my father was in charge, and now they only have enough money to barely maintain the vines on the city walls. If I don't find a way to make money, I won't even have money to treat my sister!"
"No need to explain these things. At least in my eyes, goblin breeding is no less important than maintaining the city's defense system," Luo Qi said.
Loki and Ryan did not linger here for long.
Soon, the two of them picked a hundred goblins from the garden as easily as picking fruit, put them into cages, and prepared to send them to the armor master's workshop.
The Armor Master's workshop is located on Steel Street.
This street produces ninety percent of the steel for Greenwood City and the surrounding towns. It is very important, located at a bend in the river in the city center, nearly five kilometers away from Ryan's manor.
"This city is huge, but I've noticed that many houses seem to be completely uninhabited?"
Luo Qi asked, somewhat puzzled.
Greenwood City does have a large population, but in terms of area, it could have accommodated even more people, potentially two or three times more than it does today.
"It's from war," Ryan sighed. "Humanity has lost this city more than once, and each time it has lost its city, a large number of its residents have changed. The wounds from the last orc war haven't fully healed yet, so of course the city's population is smaller."
According to Ryan, his grandfather's generation all died in the last orc invasion.
"War?"
Luo Qi didn't know how to describe her feelings at that moment.
He knew he was somewhat looking forward to war, hoping that the imperial banner would become stronger in the war, but he also clearly recognized that this idea was very cruel. War would kill people, and everyone had people they were attached to behind them.
"Sigh, I'm not a qualified emperor yet!"
Luo Qi couldn't help but sigh inwardly, "The so-called human emperor is one who can make the choice to sacrifice his subjects when necessary. This is ruthless, but it is also necessary to achieve victory."
"Heh... The current human leadership is quite in line with this mentality. Even though there's still plenty of living space in the heart of the empire, they're still pushing humans to continuously build pioneer villages and cultivate forests and wastelands near mountains... This behavior is essentially about creating strategic space. Those pioneers are just 'expendable' resources used to warn of orc invasions!"
"It's precisely because of the existence of the Frontier Village that the orcs are unable to suddenly attack the core areas of the human heartland!"