Ah, but they couldn’t possibly think of such things when they finally saw what these children had been up to!
The aquaponics complex in the dungeon-linked space had been explained to them before, and they had heard plenty about the concepts and Luca’s grand plans. But this was their first ti seeing the facility for themselves.
And it did not disappoint.
Sure, they couldn’t feel energy from the land, but considering how they nearly suffocated from the "stillness" outside earlier, this was already a giant leap forward!
Luca thought so too. Having traveled between places where the spiritual energy situation was vastly different, he believed that while the gap outside was terrifying, at least here was sothing that could bridge it.
And while it still took a few days to grow crops inside the aquaponics complex, it was sothing they could legitimately do outside of the space. Sothing the Empire could one day know about.
They just had to wait until the facility could produce continuously before selling.
Only, the elders had been waiting for... what, centuries? Maybe longer? And they couldn’t wait any longer. Especially not after being fed soup. Especially not after being given bodies again. The least they could do was prove that all of this was worth it.
More than worth it, Luca thought, because he honestly hadn’t expected any of this when he first bought those seeds. Who in their right mind could have imagined such an outco?
The elders walked down rows of glistening lettuce. Bright green, full of life, their leaves shimred with beads of water that dripped like jewels. At one point, Ollie squinted at a head of lettuce and swore it popped like in one of those "freshness comrcials" he had once watched on Star Net. He even poked one. It sprang back. He yelped. Everyone stared at him.
Despite all the wonders they had seen before, this was different. This was, once again, one of those tis they had witnessed such a major change take root outside the space. After all, the great divide between "inside" and "outside" had been unshakable until very recently. One that could be attested by the crops that Duke Leander attempted to tend to.
"!!!"
"This is possible because there’s concentrated energy inside this complex," Elder Shen declared.
"Correct. And while it is not advisable to do this forever, it might be best to ramp up farming until we set up a larger base."
"Also, what about farming more perennials?" Elder Wei added, stroking his chin. "The disadvantage has always been the long initial growing period. But we could temporarily bypass that here."
Luca’s eyes sparkled. If they planted more cherry tomatoes and strawberries, then wouldn’t they have even more crops they could harvest again and again? Wouldn’t that an more food to send out?
Yes, definitely!
Beside him, Jax was scribbling notes like a man reborn. His fatigue from supervising animal births vanished with every lettuce leaf he passed. Plants were surely the best. Maybe one day, he thought, if he cultivated enough, he could talk to plants too. Then he would take care of his children even better. Definitely. All he had to do was beco the next elder.
Only, he might be very surprised to find his ultra great-grandchildren "snappened up" if they were ever sold on Star Mall.
But that was for so other ti. For now, after much discussion, they decided to schedule the shop update in three days, thirty days before the expo.
But maybe they should have pushed for it earlier, because by then the elders had already gotten a taste of another modern developnt: shopping.
After showing off what remained of their abilities, they indulged in shopping sprees courtesy of Killian, who sohow got them their own terminals. The elders marveled at not having to rely on ssenger birds or animals to pass ssages, and within hours, they had adapted to the conveniences of modern life.
Shockingly, they were soon more familiar with the threads and forums than a certain dungeon owner who barely had ti to look at posts about him.
Which was how they stumbled onto several posts discrediting Luca’s store for supposedly excluding the poor.
Obviously, the original poster was t with plenty of disbelief. Everyone knew Luca had been selling relics for practically nothing.
However, a malicious comnt pointed out that, despite restocking every two weeks, the shop’s pace was still so much slower than that of the day care’s VIPs, particularly given the superior selections available to the rich and famous.
Still, it made sense because of how much they paid for it, but despite understanding, one couldn’t help but feel less than after discovering what could’ve been.
That was when attention shifted.
The netizens who hadn’t known about the VIPs started digging. And sure enough, the blissful handful who had managed to get their hands on the ingredients left glowing posts about the greatness of eating food. They weren’t even labelled posts. But by then, the people had done enough digging to know the source.
"!!!"
And just like that, the Empire exploded into another heated debate about the disparity between the rich and the poor. All while crying about how and when they’d be able to get their hands on such things.
So even noted that they’ve purchased similar culinary materials while others tried the recipes using similar looking ingredients only to be t by sothing that didn’t taste similar to the food that got glowing reviews.
They were heart broken! And so were a certain horrified group of newly technologically enabled ancients.
Unfortunately—or perhaps fortunately—the elders saw the posts. Elders who prided themselves on farming. Elders who had just eaten chicken soup for the first ti in centuries. They were mortified. Their Lord was being criticized because he did not have enough to sell.
The elder deities grew furious. Furious enough to farm. Furious enough to farm more. Furious enough to practically bury themselves in planting until the fields overflowed.
They harvested and harvested and then, without warning, they dumped the goods on Steward Han.
The poor steward nearly fainted. "Wait, wait, elders, are you saying we sell all of this?!"
"Of course," Elder Shen hmphed. "If we do not sell it, then are we supposed to eat it all ourselves?!"
Elder Wei added coolly, "If others have the ability, then let them snatch the goods. But they should stop talking nonsense."
Steward Han, pale and trembling, stared at the mountains of produce. They might have had the ability, but did he?
He wasn’t so sure.
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