Chapter 46 – Florida Man Hides Expensive French Fries in Impenetrable Granary, Raided by His Cat
Planting crops was fine and dandy, but harvesting and storing such a massive potato could be a chore. After pulling out the 3-meter-long gold potato, Leo harvested more.
When Leo was done, the farmland self-repaired itself, reverting to the soft-plowed land with black dirt. Meanwhile, Leo gawked at the pile of massive radioactive potatoes, sitting on the south of the farmland. The majority of potatoes came out smaller than the first one while a few had the same size. They emitted the pleasant scent of boiled sweet potatoes even though they were raw.
Leo picked the smallest piece, which was as big as his entire body. He patted off the dirt and peeled its skin with his fingernails. Then, he took a bite.
The texture was soft and hot. It also tasted exactly like sweet potatoes.
DING
<Your lifespan has increased by 1 year.>
Similar to wolf meat – A mouthful of potato gave Leo a year of lifespan. Moreover, it was delicious.
However, it lacked something important. It lacked sauces!
Leo cut a small piece of potato there to research. He rushed to the first workshop and fetch a handful of tomatoes. Then, he brought them to the alchemy cauldron.
DING
He researched the potato first, hoping to see something good.
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Virgin Yang Potato (Perfect-Grade)
Can only be found in a mystic realm with a hot and wet climate. It's a rare breed that instantly grows by absorbing fire essence from the ground and environment. However, it also instantly withers within a few minutes after it has been harvested. Alchemists value it highly as Virgin Yang Potatoes are a rare catalyst for yang-type cultivation pills. Can also be used as a substitute for starch in cooking.
[Traits]
Increase a massive amount of lifespan (consumption)
Guarantee 100% pill-refinement success chance if used as a catalyst
Extremely delicious!
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Fiery Yang Tomato
Can only be found in a mystic realm in a hot climate. It contains a thick amount of Fire Essence, and it can be refined into fire-type cultivation pills. Chefs also love them as they make good tomato sauce, though they are a little spicier than regular tomatoes.
[Pill Recipe – Yang Flame Dan]
One Virgin Yang Tomato
One Yang Catalyst
Fire Element Catalyst
Fire Essence
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Leo giggled as the tomatoes and the new potatoes suited each other. He tested them by trying to make some pills first. As Leo hated multi-tasking, he brought two sets of ingredients and filled the two cauldrons at once.
DING
The cauldrons rumbled and automatically closed the lids. A timer appeared.
2 Hours, 59 Minutes, 58 Seconds
"Three hours, huh?"
Leo disliked the long waiting time. Moreover, he had one more issue – The potatoes could quickly go bad!
Leo rushed back to the pile of potatoes, hoping that they would still be fresh. Unfortunately, it was too late. When Leo got back, all potatoes, including the half-eaten one, already turned purple. It only took less than five minutes for them to rot.
Leo shrugged and deeply sighed. They might look inedible by a human standard, but his stomach was different. Not wasting the food, he grabbed the purple potatoes and continued eating them as if nothing had happened. The premium taste was gone, replaced by the moldy odor and moss.
DING
<Your lifespan has increased by 1 year.>
<You are immune to Yang Poison.>
<Your lifespan has increased by 1 year.>
<You are immune to Yang Poison.>
<Your lifespan…>
…
An hour later, all harvested potatoes withered and transformed into black soil. Leo gazed at the half-eaten potato, which turned into black dirt.
This was the primary issue of this plant - They grew fast, but they also died early. Leo wished he could have magic that could stop food from going bad.
Thinking of a place to store food, Leo recalled that he hadn't constructed some system buildings yet. He threw the dirt away and explored the shop domain system.
Granary and warehouse building icons in the system window shone, standing out from the rest. Leo pursed his lips, wondering if they were a waste of lifespan or if they could solve the storage issues. As he had nothing to lose but lifespan, Leo tried building a granary, placing the 5x5-grid building south of the farmland.
A small 25-square-meter hut appeared. Leo deeply sighed in disappointment and touched the small frame of the hut's door, wondering if it was upgradeable.
Leo was surprised. The system prompted him with a message.
<Will you upgrade the Granary Level 1 to Level 2?>
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Granary Level 1
Storage Size Level – (1/5)
Food Preservation Level – (0/5)
[Upgrade] – 1,000 Years of Lifespan
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There weren't many things to choose from. However, the food preservation option was the most attractive here. Leo pressed the text, wondering if the system would be kind enough to tell him what effect it would give.
DING
A new window popped up, showing the detail.
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Food Preservation Level 1
– Prevent pests, worms, insects, and rats from entering the granary.
- Preserve food and prevent food deterioration for one week.
Food Preservation Level 2
– Prevent small animals from entering the granary.
- Preserve food and prevent food deterioration for two weeks.
Food Preservation Level 3
– Prevent large animals from entering the granary.
- Preserve food and prevent food deterioration for one month.
Food Preservation Level 4
- No unauthorized humans, cultivators, spirits, monsters, or demons can enter the granary.
- Preserve food and prevent food deterioration for three months.
Food Preservation Level 5
- No microorganism, germ, bacteria, fungi, or virus can enter the granary.
- Preserve food and prevent food deterioration for one year.
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Leo's jaw dropped. He finally understood the usefulness of the granary. Without hesitation, Leo quickly upgraded the granary to level 5. Then, he put two points to the food preservation level right away.
But before Leo put any point to the storage size level, he examined the interior of the granary first. He opened the small door and looked inside.
It was as small as the exterior as it only covered 25 square meters. It was not enough to store Leo's massive crops.
Leo left the granary and put two points into the storage level. Then, he rechecked the structure again.
RUMBLE
The outward appearance of the granary improved, but it still looked like a small cabin. The building had a double-door entrance, and it was 2.5 meters high, which seemed too big for a small structure.
But when Leo got inside, he had a déjà vu. The storage room was many times larger than it appeared. Similar to what had happened to his general store, the interior space was expanded while the exterior remained the same.
Leo looked at the ceiling and measured it with his eyes. It was as least 5-6 meters high. Then, he paced in the store and looked at the clean marble floor. After walking for 30 minutes, he managed to roughly guess the dimension.
'At least 100x100 dimension. DAMN, it's huge!'
He reopened the granary status and rechecked its description. This time, he pressed the storage size level text to see the detail.
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Granary Level 5
Storage Size Level – (3/5)
Food Preservation Level – (2/5)
[Upgrade] – 1,000 Years of Lifespan
.
Storage Size Level 1 – 25 x 25 m
Storage Size Level 2 –50 x 50 m
Storage Size Level 3 – 100 x 100 m
Storage Size Level 4 – 150 x 150 m
Storage Size Level 5 – 250 x 250 m
.
Leo almost cried. For once, his investment was worth every penny. He wished he had known about its secret and built it earlier.
As the food issues were solved, Leo resumed growing crops. He scattered seeds to the two farmland, growing more potatoes.
One hour later, the two 100sqmt farmlands produced 200 giant heads of Virgin Yang Potatoes. Leo dug them all by hand and stored them in the massive granary. Then, he sat there, watching the mountain of gold.
10 minutes passed. The food didn't change.
30 minutes later, nothing rotted. The hot potatoes still looked fresh and the sweet scent made Leo hungry again.
Leo shed a manly tear. He prostrated to the ground and kissed the marble floor of the granary.
His food was secured. He had enough French fries for life!
After securing his source of French fries, Leo returned to his original plan, aka making ketchup and sauces. He skipped and danced back to the workshop.
.
Meanwhile, Leo's action didn't escape Cat's eyes. It widely grinned.
"Nom-Nom Meow?"
It stalked Leo and waited for him to go into the workshop building. As soon as he went in to fetch some tomatoes, Cat nimbly climbed down and sprinted toward the granary. As the doors were large, Cat managed to slip inside to see the interior.
Food Preservation Level 2 did not grant Leo enough security to repel Cat, who was a monster plant, from accessing the granary. As a result, Cat easily got in.
"MYAAA?!"
Cat was surprised when it found the massive interior space and the mountain of gold potatoes. It salivated as the scent was irresistible.
As the previous elixir grain pill's effect had already worn off, Cat could eat hard food again. It climbed the potato mountain. Then, it started nom-noming.
Nobody noticed Cat's dao avatar spirit, who had been following the plant around. The infant shone in gold light as it absorbed the virgin yang energy from its master.
The infant spirit's eyes glittered, and she widely smiled. She faded and disappeared into Cat's body, and the plant also emitted gold light.
CREAK
The eye parasites suddenly sank into Cat's skin. Then, a small head of a tan-skinned little girl emerged, and the prosthetic eyes became her eyes. She slowly pushed her head out, extending her body out of the chomper's head.
The little baby girl laughed. As she and the large chomper mouth were the same body and soul, they meowed in unison.
"Meow <3"
