13: Golden Ling Rice Ripening
The sky darkened, and the twin moons hung in the sky.
People named the slightly smaller blue planet next to the moon—Tianqi.
It signified its arrival, opening a new era; 2030 was called the First Year of Cultivation.
"Eh?"
Professor Liu Quan, located on the 11th floor, was fast-forwarding the surveillance video of the experimental field.
"Why is this kid's rain cloud so big!"
Professor Liu seemed to remember something; it seemed someone in the parallel research group at Qingbei University in the capital had also achieved this.
He immediately dialed the phone.
"Old Yan, what is the name of that student you reported yesterday who cast the large spirit cloud?"
"What's wrong? Does your Huaxia Agricultural University want to poach our talent from Qingbei?" A chuckle came from the other end of the phone.
"Heh! So only Qingbei has talent, right? Don't get cocky; my student is no worse than yours."
The person on the other end quickly said: "So you're saying you have a student there who managed it too?"
"Of course!"
"Actually, the situation is simple. The power of various Spells is not immutable; the effects can be completely different depending on who casts them. You know this. Once you are Proficient in casting and have a deep understanding of the Spell, its power will naturally increase greatly," Professor Yan said.
Although he had guessed as much, hearing Professor Yan's explanation put his mind at ease.
He was worried that what Zhang Sheng cast was not the Spring Breeze Turning into Rain Technique, but other Spells obtained through illegal channels.
...
"Zhang Sheng, you are very good!" Professor Liu patted Zhang Sheng on the shoulder, the gloom of his student dying in battle easing slightly.
"Your Spring Breeze Turning into Rain Technique is progressing very quickly. I have already instructed your senior sister and senior brother; you can use your excess spirit rain to water their seedlings!"
Zhang Sheng asked in surprise: "Teacher, wouldn't that be inappropriate?"
After all, the harvest results could not be clearly divided.
"You don't need to worry about that. Everything is for the sake of better breeding; your senior sister and senior brother have both agreed."
Zhang Sheng thought for a moment and said: "Then let's do this, Teacher. After I water their seedlings with spirit rain, the final results will still count towards my senior sister and senior brother."
Professor Liu Quan did not object in the end, only saying: "As long as you are willing."
Until one o'clock in the morning, the gold spirit rice seedlings at the experimental base, the fastest ones, had already grown to one meter high. Thanks to Zhang Sheng's efforts, even the slowest ones had grown half a meter high.
According to the video data sent back from the Secret Realm.
Mature gold spirit rice is two meters tall, with stalks as thick as a finger; the stalks are like iron, and the leaves are like knives. The gold spirit rice, just planted two days ago, grew extremely fast under the stimulation of the Spring Breeze Turning into Rain Technique.
According to AI calculations, gold spirit rice grown in nature takes about three hundred days, but with sufficient spirit rain, it would probably mature in three days, increasing the growth speed by a hundred times.
Returning to the dormitory, Zhang Sheng lay on the bed to check his talent panel.
"Spell: Spring Breeze Turning into Rain Technique (Proficient: 146 / 1000)"
After Zhang Sheng completed Refining Essence into Qi, in addition to replenishing the spirit rain needed for the gold spirit rice to grow, he mainly focused on improving the proficiency of the Spring Breeze Turning into Rain Technique in the cultivation room.
Little spirit clouds appeared and dissipated one after another.
In a very short time, Zhang Sheng's Spring Breeze Turning into Rain Technique reached the Proficient level.
At that moment, Zhang Sheng suddenly understood.
The casting speed increased several times over; a spirit cloud formed by just a trace of Spiritual Qi could reach a diameter of ten meters.
It seems that increasing proficiency from Proficient to Proficient is a huge leap; the area of the rain cloud increased by more than ten times.
However, Zhang Sheng did not cast the rain cloud formed by a trace of Spiritual Qi at full power in the experimental field; instead, he kept it at the size of his previous Proficient level.
Once he was exposed, what would be sent to the laboratory would probably not be the gold spirit rice, but himself.
Fortunately, when casting a spirit cloud with a diameter of two meters, the Spiritual Qi consumed was only one-tenth of what it was before.
In addition to the progress in the Spring Breeze Turning into Rain Technique, the fastest progress was in the Gluttonous Eating Method.
"Spell: Gluttonous Eating Method (Proficient 325 / 1000)"
The Proficient level Gluttonous Eating Method operated once every ten seconds, allowing Zhang Sheng to digest twenty kilograms of food in almost five minutes, further shortening the interval between Refining Essence into Qi.
Unfortunately, the Heavenly Circulation Method was limited by food and cultivation duration, so it was very slow to improve.
Refining Essence into Qi once an hour, refining two threads of Spiritual Qi at a time, and having to swallow twenty kilograms of food; he ate more than ten pigs in a day.
They call themselves Cultivators, but they might as well be called manure-making machines!
The next morning,
The gold spirit rice in the experimental field was growing gratifyingly; the fastest six plants had already bloomed with small white flowers, and the rest were close behind.
Before starting to Cultivate, Zhang Sheng's first priority was to water the one hundred gold spirit rice plants with spirit rain.
Originally he had twenty plants in total, now adding the sixty plants of his senior sister and senior brother, and the twenty plants of his teacher.
Only then did he begin to Cultivate.
On that day, in Laboratory 1101, a phenomenon appeared: every hour, Zhang Sheng would run to the experimental field to water the spirit rain.
"Junior brother Zhang Sheng, you are too fierce! Not only is your Refining Essence into Qi fast, but your Spiritual Qi is endless?" The voice came from senior brother Cheng Hao.
Thinking about how difficult it was for him to learn the Spring Breeze Turning into Rain Technique, comparing people to people really is infuriating.
At four o'clock that afternoon.
Professor Liu stared excitedly at the monitor screen.
"Xiaobai, Xiaobai, hurry up and record!" he urged quickly.
"Ready! Professor, please go ahead!" Bai Mingzhu's hands were trembling slightly as she typed on the keyboard.
"May 5, 2030, 8:00 PM, we planted the gold spirit rice..., May 10, 2030, 4:05 PM, the first gold spirit rice matured in the Huaxia Breeding Academy laboratory..., Breeding researcher—Zhang Sheng, Team leader—Professor Liu Quan."
After making the records, the group rushed to the experimental field at the experimental base.
"This is the gold spirit rice!"
"Teacher, we succeeded!" Zhang Sheng said excitedly.
Professor Liu Quan had tears in his eyes, "That's right, we succeeded! And we are one step ahead of other universities. We are the first to successfully breed gold spirit rice, proving that using the 'Spring Breeze Turning into Rain Technique' for breeding is completely feasible!"
"Great! Junior brother Zhang Sheng, you are amazing!" Bai Mingzhu said excitedly.
Finally!
So Senior Sister Bai knew his name was Zhang Sheng.
Zhang Sheng was also very happy; an extra skill appeared on his talent panel.
"Skill: Planting gold spirit rice (Beginner 1 / 10)"
This mature gold spirit rice was two meters tall, the stalks hard as iron, and the whole plant emitted a golden light.
Whether it was the stalks, leaves, or rice grains, everything was golden yellow.
Senior brother Zhang Yong took out hydraulic shears to cut the stalks, took out the rice ears, and brought them back to the laboratory.
"This is the first gold spirit rice successfully bred on Earth; it has extraordinary significance!" Professor Liu Quan said excitedly.
"One grain, two grains... nine grains."
A total of nine grains of gold spirit rice grew on the ear of rice, each one the size of a peanut.
"Everyone has worked hard!" Professor Liu Quan said.
"I will report the results now, and next, we must continue to work hard and take good care of the remaining gold spirit rice."