Chapter 8 - 8 Chapter 8 Intermediate Farmer Level Fertilization_1 (1/2)

8 Chapter 8 Intermediate Farmer Level Fertilization_1

Translator: 549690339

The next day, when he got up in the morning, he checked his cultivation level, “Mortal Onefold 22/100.”

It rose by 0.8, so exhilarating indeed.

It felt as though he had absorbed all the nutritional essence the old wolf had accumulated over decades.

With this trend, he should be able to reach the strength of an adult male with the help of the wolf’s carcass without much problem.

After checking his own cultivation, he looked into the Ant Queen’s condition.

The energy dropped from 131 to 126.5.

This rate was rather frightening.

He really worried whether it could last until the final moment.

Based on experience, it took about twenty-one days for ant eggs to hatch and become Worker Ants capable of foraging.

It was a very lengthy process.

Its own energy consumption was 2 points per day, and for spitting saliva to expedite the hatching of the ant eggs, each egg consumed 0.5 points of its energy daily.

In total, that came to 4.5 energy points per day.

As the ant larvae were born, the energy consumption would further increase.

If it couldn’t last until the Worker Ants matured, it would exhaust its energy and starve to death.

Qin Niu’s dream of becoming an Insect Master was all entrusted to it, and he truly hoped it would not fail.

Yesterday, dealing with the wolf carcass took a whole day, and he just couldn’t get around to working the land.

He went to check on the corn sprouts in the field.

“Wow, the green sprouts finally broke through the soil!”

The first batch of corn seeds had sprouted, and although there was only one cotyledon, they still filled Qin Niu with immense joy as they dotted the soil.

After checking, he had planted a total of 210 corn seeds across three plots, with a 100% germination rate.

This high germination rate astonished Qin Niu.

Based on past planting experience, the germination rate for corn was only around eighty percent.

The rate of maturing into seedlings was less than seventy percent.

After his sowing and watering skills reached proficiency, the germination rate increased to 100%, indicating that his plant cultivation techniques were no worse than those of experienced farmers.

Germination was just the first hurdle; next was to see the rate at which they matured into seedlings.

Some seeds might germinate but then produce weak, defective, or deformed seedlings.

These had to be cleared away.

Such problematic seedlings were of no use, no matter how well they were nurtured; they couldn’t produce corn or would produce very small corn cobs. Basically, it was a waste of fertilizer, labor, and land.

As the corn seedlings had grown, so had the weeds’ seedlings.

Lots of them, which was just a headache to see.

His weeding skill was slightly accomplished and could clean them up neatly, but it was extremely time-consuming.

Now that the corn seedlings had grown, it was time to fertilize.

This world had no chemical fertilizers.

The fertilizers for crops came from three sources.

The first type was human feces and urine, known as domestic fertilizer.

The second type was livestock manure, especially cow dung and pig manure, which were considered top-quality fertilizers.

Only landlords and wealthy people could afford to keep livestock; an ordinary family could at most raise one or two fat pigs. Any more would be unaffordable since pigs consumed more food daily than people.

Manure from poultry like chickens and ducks was also very good fertilizer, and most families would raise them.

The third type was wood ash and humus.

This could be obtained from the forest on the mountain or by piling up tree leaves and crop roots to decompose and ferment.

It, too, was very good fertilizer.

Qin Niu was on his own and had accumulated some domestic fertilizer, but not much.

It was nowhere near enough for one mu of crops.

He occasionally collected cow dung and dog excrement from the road to use as fertilizer. However, the amount he could collect was similarly small.

Many shepherds from landlord families would carry a basket when herding cattle and would immediately shovel it in upon seeing the cows defecate. It could be sold for money—returning it to the landlord would earn extra rewards.

Both domestic fertilizer and livestock manure were not easy for Qin Niu to obtain, so he could only opt for the third type, humus.

If all goes well, the other corn seeds he planted would also germinate and grow in succession.

He needed to prepare early and accumulate enough fertilizer for them.

He wore a large bamboo basket on his back and hurried to the mountains, planning to collect some humus.

It was also a good opportunity to check on the Ant Queen.

As he passed by the front of Wang Furen’s house, Wang Wanyan’s delicate face emerged from the window on the second floor.

Her smile was radiant.

“Ah Niu, thank you for the wolf meat you brought to my house yesterday, it tasted great!”

“Then eat more of it!”

Qin Niu looked up at her and earnestly said.

“Hmm, I felt a lot stronger after eating, and it kept me from getting sleepy while reading. Today, I asked the kitchen to make braised meat for me. Are you heading into the mountains again?”

Before Qin Niu could answer, Wang Furen’s voice was heard.

“You girl, just focus on your studies. Are you not afraid people will gossip if you shout out like this? If you dare do it again, I’ll have someone nail this window shut!”

Wang Furen would not allow his daughter to have too much contact with Ah Niu.

His daughter was destined to rise high and become a Phoenix, not to marry a poor boy.

Wang Wanyan stuck her tongue out at Qin Niu, winked, and then withdrew her head back in.

Qin Niu lowered his head and continued on his way, heading straight into the mountain.

He might be poor now, but that didn’t mean he would be poor forever.

Life and fate were changing little by little with his efforts; he believed that one day he would stand out and look down upon his peers with pride.

It didn’t matter if Wang Furen looked down on him now.

Given the current rate of skill improvement, it might just be a matter of a couple of years before it was Wang Furen’s turn to look up to him.

After a short while, he arrived at the Ant Queen’s nest; everything was as usual.

He didn’t disturb the Ant Queen, who was focused on incubating the eggs, and started looking for suitable humus to collect.

Having been attacked by the wild wolf yesterday made him proceed with extra caution today.