The Cornflower Witch Chapter 135

The mountain wind blew, and the wheat in the valley gradually entered the heading stage.

The once crude fields had now been laid out with neat and intersecting paths. Hylial, wearing a sunhat and a light fabric skirt, walked among them, the wheat already reaching her waist, lush and green.

Her eyes blinked, and a verdant spectrum unfolded in her vision, informing her of the current growth status of these crops, occasionally noting down some useful details.

(‘Gardening Skills – Wheat Branch’ proficiency +12)

The reclamation, planting, and cultivation during this period, a series of large-scale practical applications, gave Hylial new insights and understanding of many detailed aspects of gardening. She had now reached [Gardening Skills Lv.6], and further advancement became very difficult, only possible by breaking through specific sub-branches.

It seemed that after ‘Gardening Skills’ reached Lv.6, she would face the process of transitioning from breadth to mastery. She had to cultivate 10 plants to perfect quality to further improve this skill.

[Gardening Skill – Wheat Branch (Excellent)]: You can now easily cultivate wheat to excellent quality. The proficiency is as simple as picking up a cup and drinking water. (Progress 289/300)

Continuing to walk through the fields, Hylial crouched down in a dense patch of wheat, gently touching the soil to perceive the situation underground.

The ‘Distortion’ that had been purified and driven away a month ago was gradually spreading upwards again. In about 30 days, it would slowly affect the surface plants. If left unchecked, the initial subtle influence would deepen little by little, until after another month, it would return to its state before Hylial came to the valley.

Farming here was truly not a simple matter. Hylial even suspected that among the three choices given, coming to the Glittering Gold Plain was not necessarily the easiest one.

Perhaps she had been overconfident. Most students would choose fields around the fortress to complete the task. Although the rewards and evaluations would not be high, the difficulty was indeed extremely low.

Standing up, the girl brushed off the slight dirt on her skirt, smelling the faint grassy fragrance of the dense plants in the fields, and gently moved forward.

(‘Gardening Skills – Wheat Branch’ proficiency +15)

After another round of sorting and analysis, her understanding of cultivating wheat continued to improve, now entering the next stage.

[Gardening Skill – Wheat Branch (Exceptional)]: You can now cultivate wheat to exceptional quality. (Progress 4/600)

However, after reaching exceptional, it was not as easy as the excellent stage. Hylial felt that it was time to use the accumulated Emerald Dew Water.

In the hands of a Gardener, ‘Emerald Dew Water’ was not only something that stimulated plant growth but also a good tool for active regulation, allowing plants to absorb nutrients from the soil better and supplementing the gradually developing ‘Emerald Honey’ aspect.

Without sufficient fertilizer, she could only use Emerald Dew Water to replace fertilizer, allowing these crops to actively absorb more nutrients. As for the side effect, the soil fertility here would be too low next time, and she wouldn’t be able to continue planting wheat. She would need to plant legumes to replenish the fertility.

As for why legumes, it was naturally because many legumes have nitrogen-fixing capabilities, converting nitrogen from the air into nitrogen elements usable by plants, which is equivalent to natural fertilizer.

Although she didn’t know how the laws of this world actually operated, Hylial found from the books she read that there were similar practices here. Scholar Hyde had also mentioned before that farmland must be rotated to maintain fertility.

Among legumes, common soybeans, peanuts, and peas have similar effects. There are also some forages, such as crimson clover commonly used in rice paddies, and ‘alfalfa’ used in barren pastures.

Looking at the state of this land, she would probably find it much easier to choose ‘alfalfa’, because planting soybeans takes a long time and requires a lot of water for irrigation, and there is only one well in the valley, which cannot meet such huge irrigation needs.

Alfalfa has deep roots and can actively absorb groundwater, which greatly reduces reliance on irrigation. Unconsciously, she had already begun planning for the next stage, and this mastery over the present and future gave Hylial an inexplicable sense of groundedness and fulfillment.

Everything was in order, everything was steadily progressing, as if order was gradually emerging from invisible chaos, becoming neat, beautiful, and efficient.

In a trance, she felt an invisible path unfolding before her, making the hidden starlight in her Fate Card appear.

Strange, why did she feel that her [Alien Star] rank had a tendency to advance at this moment? Didn’t it say that it would advance by following other aspects?

Hylial returned to her small hut, meditated carefully, and observed her own situation. She found that the originally hidden ‘Alien Star’ began to manifest. In the night sky on that card, faint outlines even appeared, as if it were an unpainted star palace diagram.

Slowly savoring this feeling, Hylial decided to be cautious and wait for [Emerald Honey] to catch up before making a decision.

During this period, because she was constantly participating in a large number of gardening practices, she implicitly achieved a balance of the ‘Three-Phase Law’, which greatly improved the [Emerald Honey] aspect. If rated numerically, when she successfully cultivated swan orchids last year, the strength of the ‘Emerald Honey’ aspect was about 1, and during the assessment battle with Iona, it reached about 5-6.

In the past six months, although no new abilities have been added, due to extensive participation in farming, planting, and cultivation, the [Emerald Honey] aspect has gradually increased under the influence of the Three-Phase Law, reaching about 8.9 current strength.

She had a premonition that if it reached above 9, she could try to enter ‘Second-Order Emerald Honey’. As for the current [Alien Star], she felt that the aspect strength had reached about 9.8, almost reaching saturation, which meant that the First-Order Fate Card was gradually unable to restrain this powerful aspect power.

As for what the Three-Phase Law is, it refers to Power (Resources), Skill (Knowledge), and Practice (Trial).

The Three-Phase Law is the truth and balance of this world.

For example, if you want to become a knight, even if you have a strong body and strength, noble character, and combat skills, if you only work in the fields, you still cannot become an exemplary knight. Only when you pick up a sword and participate in battles with your character and skills, whether it’s for conquest, protection, or upholding justice, can you finally become a true knight through trials.

Or, if you are an apothecary, you have material resources and naturally dexterous hands, knowledge of herbal blending, and precise control skills, but if you have never tried to formulate this potion, it still doesn’t mean you know how to do it. Only by actually making the potion through practice can you say that you mastered this ability.

This is how the Three-Phase Law manifests in various fields. If you follow its principles, you can gain great benefits in advancement.

However, the application of the ‘Three-Phase Law’ goes far beyond this. Madam Faran, when teaching her the Bloom-Flowering Method, specifically emphasized that the final power of the Bloom-Flowering Method also came from the ‘Three-Phase Law’, namely her own ‘Emerald Honey’ rank (representing power), the strength of the Bloom-Flowering Method ability (representing skill), and the strength and type of chosen flowers (representing practice).

The superposition of the three determined the final power, which meant that increasing any of the three could increase the final power.

At this time, the inexplicable improvement of [Alien Star] suggests whether some of her unintentional actions conformed to the concept and characteristics of [Alien Star].

According to current scholars’ summaries, ‘Alien Star’ represents the scrutiny and revelation from other worlds, indescribable knowledge, and anomalies.

Could it be that her application of knowledge and experience from her previous life also fits the concept of ‘Alien Star’? Or is there a deeper meaning related to the origin of her talent?