8 Chapter 8 Intermediate Farmer Level Fertilization_1

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.

His increased cultivation allowed him to do this physical labor much faster than before.

"Fertilizing +0.01! Labor Point +0.01!"

He had just collected a small pile of humus and reaped two types of attribute points.

"The improvements in the skills of sowing, watering, weeding, and loosening the soil have brought tremendous benefits. If I enhance my fertilizing skill, could I collect fertilizers more efficiently?"

His eyes brightened involuntarily, as he had now accumulated quite a few labor points.

He tried adding 9.9 labor points to his fertilizing skill, and it advanced from beginner to proficient.

With this skill upgrade, he was delighted to find a significant improvement in his understanding of how to fertilize crops, which fertilizers were more enduring and suitable for corn, and when to apply them, along with many other techniques and experiences.

The humus he collected seemed loose and dark, appearing to be very fertile, but as his fertilizing skill improved, he realized their fertility was actually quite limited.

Most of it had already been washed away by rain.

If he went through the trouble of carrying it back to the field, it would only provide limited help to the crops' growth.

"Thank goodness I upgraded my fertilizing skill; otherwise, I would have worked hard for over ten days, only to have a poor fertilizing effect."

Qin Niu, seeing the importance of the fertilizing skill, gritted his teeth and spent another 90 labor points to upgrade it a level.

Fertilizing Slightly Proficiency 100/1000.

To reach the next proficiency level, he would need 900 labor points.

He now had only 170 labor points left, not enough to level up again.

But for just planting corn, having such a high fertilizing skill was completely sufficient.

According to his understanding, the proficiency level of fertilizing skill was equivalent to the top level of a low-tier farmer.

Slightly Proficiency should have already reached the level of a mid-tier farmer.

A mid-tier farmer already had the ability to cultivate some delicate cash crops, not just ordinary grains and vegetables.

A strong mid-tier farmer could even help wealthy families manage those flowers and plants grown in their courtyards.

Most of these flowers and plants are usually very delicate, and to make them blossom beautifully requires a very high cultivation level.

The wealthy families have high demands too; their aesthetic levels, the shaping and layout of the flowers and trees, etc., are all specific.

Not just anyone is qualified for this kind of job.

Of course, if done well, the income is certainly not low, and the rewards from the employer are generous.

And it's much less strenuous than farming.

So, don't look down on farming as a lowly profession; as long as you master the skills, you can enjoy the nice things in life and live comfortably.

After Qin Niu's fertilizing skill reached Slightly Proficiency, he looked at the small pile of humus he had collected before, and it felt completely like a pile of 'garbage'.

Such fertilizer was simply not worth the effort of carrying down the mountain to spread in the field.

Additionally, there were many weed seeds in the humus, which needed to be deactivated before use.

Otherwise, once spread on the field, the seeds of the weeds would soon sprout; before long, the field would be overrun with weeds competing with the crops for nutrients and water.

Rather than aiding the growth of the crops, it would introduce several 'powerful opponents' competing for nutrition, which would harm them.

Concerning how to deactivate these weed seeds, Qin Niu had a powerful weeding skill that could be put to use.

He had at least three methods to deactivate them.

He decisively abandoned the small pile of humus he had previously collected and started looking around in the mountains, quickly making new discoveries.

Furthermore, as he traveled, he found that some soils were naturally superior fertilizers.

Bringing them back, even if just mixing a little at the base of the crops, would preserve moisture and nutrients and also have a natural degrading effect.

The fertilizing technique of a mid-tier farmer is truly outstanding, nothing that a low-tier farmer could compare with.

Qin Niu began to gather the fertilizer that caught his eye.

"Sorghum is currently in the seedling stage, and it requires two types of fertilizer. One is for leaf growth, which needs humus rich in nitrogen. Another is for helping the root system to grow rapidly, which is phosphate fertilizer," he said.

The humus formed from the rotting leaves and fruits of these dwarf pines perfectly met these two requirements.

Then, considering that the sorghum seedlings needed to grow strong in order to produce larger sorghum heads and increase yield, improving their lodging resistance,

he also chose some humus rich in potassium fertilizer to mix in.

This was already akin to creating his own 'ancient version of chemical fertilizer'.

He believed that as long as it was applied to the field, those sorghum seedlings would surely grow vigorously.

Potassium fertilizer can promote photosynthesis in plants, help them to form more chlorophyll and make their leaves and branches stronger. It also improves the plants' resistance to cold and disease.

Qin Niu quickly collected a large pile of humus and carried it down the mountain on his back.

Because he drank wolf blood yesterday, and the meals since then had all been wolf meat, his strength was inexhaustible.

With this high-intensity exercise, the body's absorption of the nutrients from the wolf meat and wolf blood he had consumed accelerated significantly. Many cells that had been in a semi-dormant state were activated, voraciously absorbing the energy supplied by the stomach and intestines.

His cultivation level seemed to be growing rapidly.

Even he could feel it.

This feeling of getting stronger was just too great.

A basket of humus weighed seventy to eighty catties, which would require a strong, grown man to rest seven or eight times while carrying it down the mountain.

Yet, Qin Niu carried it directly to the field without stopping to rest even once.

He didn't rush to fertilize, but first carried out a sterilization process.

For this, he needed to use his weeding skill.

He found that each of the five basic planting skills had its own purpose, and they were interconnected with each other.

When a skill reached a minor level of achievement, this interconnection became even more apparent.

Days passed by, one after another.

Wang Haikun had forcibly taken the wolf skin and had not disturbed him since.

This kind of person only gets up early for profit.

Without any benefit that could pique his interest, he couldn't be bothered to visit Qin Niu's shabby house.

The sorghum planted in the field grew at an astonishing rate after being fertilized.

Indeed, it was different every day.

The high-level fertilizing skill was genuinely impressive.

Based on the current growth trend of the sorghum, this year's mid-year harvest would not be inferior to others' fertile fields.

In the blink of an eye, twenty days had passed.

Qin Niu had finished eating the entire old wolf. He didn't waste the internal organs and ate them too.

Even the wolf bones were made into bone soup to drink for strengthening sinews and bones.

His cultivation level increased as if it had wings.

From a frail body, he now had a bit of muscle, and his six-pack abs were particularly prominent.