Cornflower Witch

Chapter 199 Heading Deep into the Dark Mist Mountains
Once the glass is forged, construction of the greenhouse can begin. The completion of the greenhouse will allow the settlement to achieve food self-sufficiency and settle down initially.

At the foot of the Dark Mist Mountains, a new round of construction has begun at the base.

While Hilti was focused on studying glassmaking, the artisans and scholars had already built the houses for the students. They resembled apartments, but the houses only had three floors, with four rooms on each floor, and two students living in each room.

"These three apartment buildings will be enough to house the current trainees," the member in charge of inspection remarked after the first building was completed.

The windows, doors, and walls of the house are all made using the secret techniques of the 'Candlecastle School', which can effectively resist the 'Twisting' erosion and make the structure very sturdy, making it extremely difficult for first-tier monsters to destroy.

With the construction of the residential buildings completed, the construction of the greenhouse garden gradually began.

Compared to houses built with stone bricks, greenhouse gardens have a much simpler structure, consisting of only one floor. The main structure is built with stone pillars and bricks to support and frame the structure, and then large areas of embedded glass are used to ensure light transmission.

It took about five days to build the first small greenhouse. Hiltiya and her group of horticultural apprentices began to plant potatoes and water them with water and dew.

Twelve days later, the large greenhouse at the camp was completed. This time, Hiltiya did not let everyone sow seeds directly, but instead planted a batch of alfalfa to improve fertility.

A week later, many apprentices were quite surprised to see the garden full of blooming alfalfa. Their senior sister Tiya had actually cultivated plants with a cohesive phase in such a short time. Such strength was simply terrifying.

'No wonder Senior Tiya was chosen as the team leader; she has such impressive skills.'

"With alfalfa as fertilizer, it becomes much easier to plant any other crops."

“At first I thought that building a base here would most likely fail, but now I feel at ease.”

"No wonder the association chose her as its leader. It must be because they value Senior Tiya's enormous potential in expanding territory."

"This makes things much easier for us. At least we don't have to risk going out into the wild to find food like other outposts."

"Oh, do we still need to go out into the wild to find food?" someone asked in surprise.

"Of course, there isn't enough food at the base, and the supplies brought by the supply team are limited, so we'll have to find our own."

"On the other side of the Dark Mist Mountains lies the abyss of the Twilight Sea, teeming with monsters, some of which are edible, serving as a source of emergency food."

"Can't we directly catalyze plants?"

"The pollution here is severe. Would you dare to eat food produced by catalysis? Secondly, while catalysis can replenish the food of ordinary people, those stationed here are all superhumans, and ordinary food can hardly replenish such consumption."

"I've heard that the biggest challenge some royal families face in retaining knights is the inability to provide them with quality food."

"Given the activity level of a Tier 3 Knight, he would need to eat about nine times the amount of regular food to meet his training needs. This means that he would have to go to the toilet while eating, which would be quite uncomfortable."

"Therefore, nobles who cannot provide high-quality food cannot support knights at all, and even if they do, they will leave quickly."

"For second-tier students, ordinary food is enough to maintain their strength, but in the event of intense battle or the use of their abilities extensively, ordinary food is unlikely to guarantee the recovery of their strength."

"High-quality grains from the forest are all directly controlled and purchased, and very little of them circulate in the market."

“Back in Huijin Plain, only Senior Sister Tiya could produce so many ‘rare’ quality crops. You can tell how rare the raw materials are by the fact that the bakery had to borrow money from its competitors to buy them.”

While everyone was discussing food crops, Hiltiah was troubled by something else.

"Senior Tiya, we're running out of firewood at the base," a student in charge of logistics reported.

"Firewood..." Hilti looked out the window at the barren land, wondering where to find supplies. This world had no coal, nor oil; the only fuel sources were firewood and charcoal.

"Are there other places in the surrounding area that have access to these resources?" She wondered how other outposts managed to obtain fuel.

"The frontline outposts are located in the canyons of the Dark Mist Mountains, where forest resources are abundant, so there is no shortage of them."

"As for the lookout post on the mountaintop, although there is little vegetation, they can get a batch by going down the mountain. Besides, they don't have many people, so they consume it slowly."

"We are located at the foot of the mountain, on the outskirts of the Dark Mist Mountains. While this means we don't have to worry about attacks from powerful monsters, the corrosive winds mean that almost no plants can survive, let alone produce trees and firewood."

"I understand." Hilti nodded and paced back and forth in the room.

Using greenhouses to cultivate plants for fuel is certainly one method, but it's far too extravagant and seems to put the cart before the horse. They built this base here to supply the front lines; using precious grain for firewood is simply...

"How long will it take for the first batch of potatoes in the greenhouse to mature?" she asked another horticultural apprentice.

"It will take another two weeks, but the first batch will be small."

“I know,” Hiltiya nodded.

"However, we still need to allocate a portion to supply the front lines, and incidentally exchange it for a large amount of wood, both timber and firewood."

"As for the base, we can only ask everyone to be patient for a while. Once we get through this month and the crops in the large greenhouses mature, we will basically not lack food."

"I'll explain to everyone later." She stopped and asked the students next to her to inform everyone.

At noon, in the makeshift restaurant, Hilti told everyone about the current situation and her decision, hoping that everyone could be patient for a while.

Although everyone was a little unhappy about eating less every day, they had a clear understanding of the situation at the base and had no complaints. Moreover, Hilti had done a very good job, managing to make initial progress in the construction of the base in a short period of time.

After arranging things for the next two weeks, Hilti decided to take some food and go to the front-line base, not only to find out the situation there, but also to make initial contact to facilitate the exchange of supplies later.

"While I'm gone, Rachel, Grant, and Elton will be in charge of discussing and deciding matters at the camp." These three are the leaders of the camp's 'Knight Squires,' 'Scholar Craftsmen,' and 'Gardener Apprentices,' respectively.

"no problem."

"Please rest assured, Tiya."

"I'll handle the greenhouse garden matter." The group nodded in agreement, looking somewhat excited, with a sense of anticipation that they could finally unleash their full potential without Hiltya present.

These guys, Hiltiya thought to herself with amusement. Although they seemed quite mature on the surface, they were all young people around her age, full of ideas and drive.

"Yes, discuss things with everyone and don't be too hasty." After giving these instructions again, Hiltiya led the twelve-person carriage team off.

Their entire group consisted of second-tier knight squires, clad in full silver-white armor and riding warhorses. The leader, Hilti, wore particularly gleaming armor; her pure white skirt paired with her silver armor created an ethereal elegance and beauty.

"Come on, let's set off."

They escorted the caravan loaded with food and supplies away from the city walls, into the dark and desolate Black Lion Wilderness, heading towards the depths of the distant Dark Mist Mountains.

(End of this chapter)