Chapter 83: Dad Wants to Progress: Raising Fish in Rice Fields

“Encyclopedia of Necromantic Magic: Level 1 Necromantic Magic”

[Damage Deepening]: A level one curse-type magic that reduces the target’s defense. Upgrading increases the effect. At level four, it upgrades to “Area Damage Deepening,” reducing the defense of a group of enemies simultaneously; at level seven, it improves to “Regional Damage Deepening,” reducing the defense of enemies within a specific area simultaneously.

…

Chatting with Desai Strom all the way toward the rice fields in the village, the sixteen-year-old youth naturally felt there was nothing much to talk about with a five-year-old junior fellow apprentice. However, a sixteen-year-old “brother-in-law” definitely felt the need to please a five-year-old “brother-in-law,” especially since this “brother-in-law” was viewed by people as a genius and was clearly not someone easy to fool.

Luo Yan secretly found Desai’s current behavior amusing, but he pretended as if he noticed nothing and chatted casually. However, some of the opinions he mentioned in passing caused Desai to gradually start taking his little junior apprentice seriously. Previously, he had not had any real, serious contact with Luo Yan; only now did he discover that although the boy was only five years old, he possessed maturity and wisdom far beyond his age. The fragments of words he occasionally let slip were so profound that even a top student from the Hall City State Intermediate Academy like himself had to think repeatedly to understand the deeper meaning. Were all wizards this freakish?

However, Desai did not know that while he was secretly evaluating Luo Yan, Luo Yan was actually secretly evaluating him as well, and his assessment was equally high…

Later, people often commented that the eldest son of the Strom Family was mediocre in talent, and only because the second and third sons had no interest in power was he able to remain steadily in the position of the family’s first heir. But these people did not consider that if Desai Strom were truly as incompetent as they said, how could he manage a group of highly capable subordinate officials so effortlessly? How could he rise to the position of Governor of the Sedan Province in just a few short years? That was a position of true regional power; none of his competitors would have been simple characters.

He had a future, a real future! If not for the twists of fate and the will of heaven at that time, it was possible that this Desai Strom would one day radiate a brilliance even greater than that of “Golden Yuan Caesar.”

[…In this instant, Luo Yan felt as if the already very thick “thigh” standing before him had become even thicker. Well, provided that the bloody night could be passed smoothly…]

Setting aside Luo Yan’s secret calculations and Desai’s inner astonishment, the two soon arrived near the rice fields. They immediately saw Luo Pei helping in the fields. Even Old Strom had cast aside his pride to personally enter the field, though their movements were clearly slow and clumsy, showing that this work was not their forte.

Desai was even more surprised now; he had never seen his father do field work like this. Luo Yan, on the other hand, acted very naturally. The time for transplanting triple-crop rice lasted only a few short days; given Luo Pei’s personality, he would definitely help personally.

At that moment, Luo Pei and the others saw the two of them approaching. He looked up and smiled, wiping his face with his hand. However, he accidentally forgot that his hands were covered in muddy water, leaving his face smeared with black mud and looking quite wretched. Old Strom, standing beside him, was not as messy, but seeing his eldest son witness him personally working in the fields seemed to make him a bit embarrassed. His expression darkened, and he said in a low voice, “Desai, what are you doing here? Hmm… didn’t you say you were hitting the road today? Why haven’t you left yet!”

Desai was clearly quite afraid of the usually rigid Old Strom. Hearing this, he nervously lowered his head and mumbled, “Oh… that… I went to the Director’s house to say goodbye to Director Luo Pei and my little junior apprentice. The little junior apprentice said the Director was over here, so we came together. I will set off as soon as I go back…”

Hearing this, Old Strom’s expression softened a bit, but he still said with a straight face, “Hurry up and leave once you get back. There are only a few days left before your school starts. Be careful not to be delayed on the road. Remember to study hard when you get to school; do not spend every day just playing wildly.”

At this moment, Desai’s heart was full of grievances. He thought, “When did you ever see me playing wildly?” But he naturally could not say this aloud and simply kept nodding in agreement, maintaining the standard image of a good son.

However, just as Old Strom waved his hand to let Desai say goodbye to Luo Pei and leave, Luo Yan, who had been squatting by the edge of the field, suddenly asked seemingly casually, “Teacher, I see the water in the rice field is quite deep. Do you think we could raise fish in the fields? Ha… if we can, then when they grow large, we will have big, fat fish to eat during the festivals.”

“Raising fish in rice fields”!!

This was not Luo Yan talking nonsense. In fact, this was a new agricultural technology that was supposed to appear and quickly become popular across the continent forty years later. It was only when people traced it back later that they discovered similar technology records existed as far back as the “Eden Era,” though for some reason it had mysteriously been lost. By saying this now, Luo Yan was naturally giving a hint; he firmly believed his dad would definitely feel something.

As for the purpose, it was of course to find a way to help his dad progress. No matter how thick someone else’s “thigh” was, it could never be as reliable as his own father’s. If he had to be a “privileged son,” Luo Yan’s first choice was naturally to help his father continuously progress!!

As expected, upon hearing Luo Yan’s words, several nearby villagers couldn’t help but laugh, feeling that this wizard was actually just an innocent and cute child. However, a few people—Luo Pei, Old Strom, and Desai—showed confused expressions. After staring blankly for a moment, Luo Pei suddenly asked, “Wait, Luo Yan… what did you just say?”

Hearing this, Luo Yan looked confused and said with surprise, “I said eating fish…”

“No… the part before that!!”

“I said during the festivals…”

“Wrong, still the part before that!”

“I said raising fish in the rice fields…”

“That’s it! It’s all water; why can’t we raise fish in rice fields!” Saying this, Luo Pei suddenly turned around and asked Old Strom with a serious face, “Mr. Strom, do you think what Luo Yan said is possible?”

Old Strom showed a hesitant expression. He pondered for a moment and said slowly, “I am not a naturalist, but based on my sensitivity to elements, the environment in a fish pond seems to have no fundamental difference from the environment in a rice field. If one wanted to use it to raise fish…”

Old Strom stopped very cautiously at this point, but Luo Pei and the surrounding villagers already had expressions mixed with excitement and sudden realization.

[The great scientist and explorer of the Winged Race in later generations, Slovakia Li, once said—many times, people are only one step away from the truth…]