Chapter 116 - 115: Unable to Enhance, Building the Base
[Poisonous Fly Amanita, Fungi Kingdom... Enhancement currently unavailable. Host must provide sufficient Energy Crystals to unlock.]
Ren Yuanyang froze for a moment when he saw the prompt. He'd always assumed that since he could enhance plants and animals, he should be able to enhance all living things. 'Looks like I was too naive!'
"Are there any other organisms I can't enhance?" Ren Yuanyang asked, his brow furrowed.
[Besides the Fungi Kingdom, there is also the Protist Realm, the Prokaryotic Realm, and viruses.]
These scientific terms made Ren Yuanyang's head spin. He'd forgotten everything he'd learned about biology the moment he graduated from high school.
Of course, the system had very detailed explanations, which he could consult at any time.
Since he couldn't enhance it, he had no choice but to put the Poisonous Fly Amanita aside and wait until he found some Energy Crystals to unlock enhancements for the Fungi Kingdom.
After taking care of the plants, Ren Yuanyang walked over to the incubating pigeon eggs, ready to begin the enhancement.
"Enhance the hatching success rate and the survivability of the chicks!"
[With the host's current Mental Energy, you can only enhance 18 pigeon eggs simultaneously. Enhance?]
Ren Yuanyang's current Mental Energy was enough to enhance a month-old rabbit, so enhancing these small pigeon eggs should have been a breeze.
However, he had acquired a large number of pigeon eggs this time, and he needed to enhance two different aspects, so he still couldn't enhance all of them in one go.
"Enhance!"
[Enhancement successful.]
[Pigeon Eggs Pending Hatching (+2): As long as the external environment is suitable, the hatching success rate will be nearly one hundred percent. The chicks' digestive and immune systems have been enhanced...]
This enhancement almost completely drained Ren Yuanyang's Mental Energy. He rubbed his forehead and left the shipping container.
He'd woken up late this morning, so he'd missed practicing the Five Animals Qigong with Hua Lingfang.
So, he took advantage of his depleted Mental Energy to practice a round of the Five Animals Qigong.
After finishing the Five Animals Qigong, Ren Yuanyang broke into a light sweat, and his Mental Energy began to recover quickly.
'I wonder if I should find a few more ancient health and body-strengthening Cultivation Techniques to practice,' Ren Yuanyang thought. He grabbed an axe from a nearby toolbox and headed out.
With only one bamboo stalk to work with, Hua Lingfang didn't need any help. The task of clearing the aerial roots today, however, was a bigger job, so Ren Yuanyang decided to go help.
The duck boat Qin Haonan had brought back was well-suited for navigating the waterways inside the Banyan Forest, so Ren Yuanyang pedaled it toward the outer perimeter.
After rounding a bend, Ren Yuanyang immediately felt the wind grow stronger. He pedaled the duck boat with all his might, finding it increasingly difficult.
Ten minutes later, Ren Yuanyang finally reached the outer perimeter.
"Boss, what are you doing here!" Qin Haonan called out when he saw Ren Yuanyang, his raincoat flapping loudly in the wind.
"The clearing job is pretty big today, so I came to help out!" Ren Yuanyang said, climbing onto a nearby branch with his axe. The branch looked no thicker than a thumb, but it held his weight.
These were branches that had been enhanced once; they were much stronger than ordinary ones.
Ren Yuanyang swung his axe, rapidly clearing the unwanted aerial roots from the branch.
"Nice. The Aircraft Carrier Base didn't cut any corners on these tools!" Ren Yuanyang remarked with satisfaction, swinging the razor-sharp axe.
"Yeah, with these tools, it's way faster than when we were slowly hacking away with our combat knives!" Xin Wan chimed in. "It took us most of the day yesterday, but I feel like we can get this done in a single morning today—even though there are more aerial roots to clear!"
Qin Haonan jumped in, "It won't even take all morning. Two hours, tops, and we'll have it all done!"
Ren Yuanyang nodded. "Then let's finish up quickly. The wind out here is too strong!"
Everyone nodded and picked up the pace.
Two hours later, they had finished clearing the space needed for the waterway.
Listening to the wind howling outside, Ren Yuanyang gave the order, "Alright, let's head back. The wind is too strong out here!"
"You got it!" Qin Haonan piloted the speedboat, towing the duck boat behind them, and headed deeper into the Banyan Forest.
In the past two hours, Ren Yuanyang's Mental Energy had mostly recovered. So, the first thing he did upon returning was go inside the shipping container and enhance the remaining eight pigeon eggs.
DRIP! DRIP! DRIP!
Listening to the raindrops hitting the roof of the shipping container, Ren Yuanyang frowned slightly. The rain had been light for the past two days, and it was barely noticeable under the banyan trees.
As the rain outside grew heavier, it began to fall under the banyan trees as well.
'The planting areas still need some kind of rain protection,' Ren Yuanyang muttered to himself before heading over to find Hua Lingfang.
At that moment, Hua Lingfang was busy making tables and chairs, with Qin Haonan and Hua Wen assisting him.
"Elder Hua, your skills are incredible!" Qin Haonan exclaimed as he split a piece of bamboo.
"It's just some crude work, nothing special," Hua Lingfang said with a dismissive wave.
"You're being way too modest!" Qin Haonan said with a laugh. "If I had your skills, I'd be bursting with pride!"
"Have you never heard the saying, 'Modesty helps one to progress, whereas pride makes one fall behind'?" Ren Yuanyang's voice drifted over.
"Heh, Boss, you here to learn woodworking too?" Qin Haonan asked with a grin.
"The rain is getting pretty heavy. I came to discuss some rain protection for the planting areas with Elder Hua," Ren Yuanyang explained, his brow slightly furrowed.
Hua Lingfang nodded slightly and said, "Didn't Haonan bring back two Ruozhu bamboo stalks yesterday? It grows fast, has large leaves, and is very productive. The leaves can be used to wrap rice dumplings, and they can also be used to make rain-proofing materials!"
Ren Yuanyang paused for a moment. When he had enhanced the Ruozhu bamboo, he hadn't paid attention to the other enhancement options, focusing only on its growth speed.
Now that Hua Lingfang had reminded him, he took a closer look at the system notification and, sure enough, found a corresponding description.
"Okay. For the next couple of days, we'll build the frames for rain shelters over the planting areas. Once the Ruozhu bamboo produces enough leaves, we can just lay them on top," Ren Yuanyang said with a nod.
"Alright. The remaining bamboo should be enough to build four frames. We should prioritize the crops, like the soybeans and wheat," Hua Lingfang replied. "Once the other bamboo is mature, I'll build the rest of the frames!"
"Yeah, that works," Ren Yuanyang agreed with a nod.
"Chief, lunch is ready. Should we eat now?" a message from Xin Wan came through.
Ren Yuanyang looked at the bamboo table and chairs Hua Lingfang had made and replied with a smile, "Yes, we're eating lunch in the shipping container today!"
"Huh?" Xin Wan replied, clearly puzzled. "The table and benches on the speedboat are a pain to dismantle!"
"No need to dismantle them. We have a new table and chairs!" Ren Yuanyang replied with a laugh. "Just wait for us to move them over, and then you can bring up the food!"
"Okay!" Xin Wan replied.
"Alright everyone, let's move this table and these chairs over to the shipping container," Ren Yuanyang called out.
"You got it!" Qin Haonan grabbed the round table and hoisted it up by himself. "This table is surprisingly light!"
"Hey, be careful! Don't be so reckless," Ren Yuanyang cautioned, picking up two chairs and following behind.
Hua Lingfang and Hua Wen each carried two chairs as well, heading for the shipping container.
Although there was still a small pond inside the shipping container, Ren Yuanyang had more or less cleared out the other half, so they set up the table and chairs there.