Lucien decided to ignore the string of notifications for now.
There were more pressing matters to attend to.
He stepped once more into the center of the stage, surveying the crowd before him. The murmurs died down the mont he stood still and his presence alone commanded silence.
Seeing that the mont was right, he raised his voice for all to hear.
"My people! We’ve discovered the cause of our failing crops!"
A hush fell over the crowd. Tension filled the air. Was it good news... or bad?
Lucien’s expression hardened. "There is a creature called the Soilwyrm. It feeds on the nutrients of the earth. The traitor, Dreggor, released a swarm of them into our fertile lands! But do not despair. It is easy to remove them!"
The people gasped as their shock gave way to outrage. That soone would sabotage their livelihood felt like a betrayal too cruel to bear. If Dreggor were still alive, they would have demanded justice with their own hands.
"Rember. What doesn’t kill us, makes us stronger. Stand tall. Fight with . We’ll purge our land together!" He pointed in the direction of the farmland. "I will lead the way!"
A stir of hope swept through the crowd. Nobles rarely dirtied their hands, let alone led the charge in labor. Yet here was Lucien, volunteering to walk with them.
To dig.
To sweat.
To work.
They could see the figure of the previous Baron who lead to to their good life and gave them a place they can call ho.
So even stepped forward, offering to carry Lucien on their backs. But he gently declined. Their thin, malnourished fras betrayed their strength. And besides, he never had any intention of being carried.
When they reached the fields, Lucien saw the extent of the damage.
The soil was dry, cracked, lifeless. Once rich and loamy now bore an ashen gray hue.
"Rember what I told you," Lucien announced, pulling out a large jar from his inventory with a flourish. "Find the Soilwyrms but do not kill them. Put them in here."
The sudden appearance of the jar startled the onlookers.
A skill... they realized.
They didn’t question it.
What more could they ask for than a lord who possessed a skill? Even if they didn’t know exactly what it was, just knowing he had one filled them with hope.
Deep down, they all believed Lucien was destined for greatness and when that day ca, they knew his rise would lift them up as well.
Lucien asked for farming tools and gathered the workers. Then, he demonstrated how to spot the worms.
"These creatures drain the soil dry. They may not bite or claw but they are monsters all the sa. One per square ter is enough to ruin the land."
He pointed to a patch of dirt.
"Look for patches that are slightly darker than that ashen gray colour. The ashen gray areas an the Soilwyrms have already drained all the nutrients and moved on so don’t waste ti there. Focus on the darker shades instead. They don’t burrow deep, so you can catch them with ease."
Once he finished explaining, Lucien took the lead and began working himself.
He chose a small trowel which is more suited to his size than a full shovel and approached a patch of soil with a slightly different color gradient.
Without hesitation, he began to dig.
Seeing their young lord get his hands dirty stirred sothing in the people. It was rare and almost unheard of for soone of noble blood to work the land alongside the subjects in the field. Their respect for him deepened.
After several careful digs, Lucien finally unearthed one of the Soilwyrms.
He held it up with a grin.
"Hehehe..."
His chuckle was misinterpreted by the crowd as childish amusent. They saw it as endearing... Proof that their lord is still so young and could laugh even while holding a squirming worm.
Their hearts lightened and determination blood.
Lucien, of course, had other thoughts.
’I wonder what drops when I kill one...’
But he kept the worm alive, placing it carefully into the jar.
’Better to wait. Maybe I can breed them and farm drops...’
The villagers, anwhile, were already digging in earnest.
So were even more efficient than him.
Lucien then activated SCAN. While it couldn’t reveal the exact location of the Soilwyrms, it highlighted the areas where he should dig.
His inexperience made it hard to tell the subtle color differences by eye alone. He felt almost colorblind trying to spot them manually.
But with SCAN, the soil’s details ca alive. The skill allowed him to distinguish nutrient levels and detect anomalies beneath the surface. It changed everything. All he had to do was SCAN, and the system would guide him to the right spots.
One thing Lucien discovered about SCAN was that it didn’t strain his eyes as much when used on things with limited information. Scanning soil, for instance, was a breeze compared to scanning humans. It was simpler and far less overwhelming.
Inspired by Lucien’s abilities, the villagers worked faster and more energetically. Laughter and chatter filled the air.
Hours passed in cheerful labor until at last... Lucien confird through SCAN that the worms had all been collected.
The jar was now filled with Soilwyrms, about fifty in total. It was fewer than Lucien had expected, but he was satisfied nonetheless. ’A drop is a drop,’ he thought with a smirk.
He then chewed on a Nectar Crystal to recover so energy, savoring its sweetness like a child with candy.
"Young lord," a young man called out, "What will you do with these worms? Will you release them on "that lord’s" farms as revenge?"
Lucien shot him a sharp look and said firmly,
"Nonsense! Look at us! Do you really think it’s right to stoop to that level? The other lord may be guilty but what good would it do if innocent people starved because of our retaliation? I’m not saying I won’t take revenge... but it will be in another form."
He ant every word... or at least, that’s what they believed.
Deep down, Lucien wasn’t planning to return the worms. ’Bullsh*t! Finder’s keepers,’ he smirked inwardly. ’And I want the drops.’
The villagers nodded, inspired and grateful. They were proud to have stayed loyal to this land.
"I apologize, my lord. I spoke out of turn."
Lucien gave a firm nod. "All is well. I’ll return for now. I need to find a way to restore our soil. Wait for good news."
He walked off, holding the jar with both hands. They watched him go with hopeful eyes.
As he walked, Lucien racked his brain for ideas. He barely knew anything about soil science.
Agronomy?
Fertilizers?
Chemistry?
He was a dropout, after all.
He sighed.
"I should’ve studied more in my past life. All I learned in school is that Mitochondria is the powerhouse of the cell."
When he got ho though, his curiosity overtook his worry. The excitent of seeing item drops was too tempting.
In the kitchen, he summoned a fla and sacrificed ten worms.
He didn’t want to eliminate all the Soilwyrms... at least not yet. He was already thinking of ways to breed them. After all, who knew what other drops they might yield?
The creatures offered no resistance. They simply withered and died in the fire.
As expected, nine gray drops and one green drop materialized. Lucien quickly stashed them in his inventory as his eyes glead with anticipation.
Without wasting a mont, he opened his inventory to inspect the loot.
Type: Utility/Resource
Rarity: Common
Description: A gel-filled organ storing concentrated nutrients. (Can rejuvenate soil or be used as fertilizer.)
Type: Utility/Crafting Material
Rarity: Uncommon
Description: A crystal infused with the essence of fertile earth. (Crushed form accelerates plant growth; also useful in crafting magic tools.)
"I’ll be damned," Lucien muttered wide-eyed. "I didn’t need to find a solution... it dropped right into my lap!"
He laughed.
"F*ck, problem solved."
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