In their continent, Keiran and Concordia had come up with a farming scheme that was quite similar to mine and Ciella's. With their makeshift distillation device, they also had a stable source of clean water.
"It's possible that after a number of planting seasons, we might exhaust the fertility of the land" Keiran noted.
"That's true. That's why most farmers resort to fertilizers and the like" Concordia noted.
"Uh huh. I suggest we resort to organic fertilizers like manure and the like. Inorganic fertilizers when used without precise quantity control could also inflict stat debuffs in the long term. We could also deal with soil pests but I'm yet to figure out the rest" Keiran said with his thumb and forefinger on his chin.
He appeared to be in deep thought.
"For manure, animal dung as well as fallen leaves from trees are pretty good substitutes for inorganic fertilizers notwithstanding the husks of certain fruits" Concordia noted.
"You're absolutely right. We can't afford to get hit by stat debuffs before we've secured a stable supply of healthy foods" Keiran said seriously.
"You said something about soil pests earlier?" Concordia asked.
"Yep, I'm pretty sure they'll eventually become a problem. To deal with them, we're going to have to find tons of seeds in this game that correspond to leguminous crops in the Real World. Legumes have the capacity to deposit traces of nitrogen into the soil via their roots. These traces of nitrogen are harmful to most soil pests" Keiran explained.
"I'm actually surprised our HPs are not depleting as quickly as I'd originally imagined" Concordia noted.
"Our HPs in this game must have been assigned to our avatars by taking into consideration our actual stamina. Since we're Dream Knights, I'm quite certain the higher ups would have data on our various strengths and weaknesses. These as well as our fighting styles are factored into the development of strategies whenever a unique problem arises and the teams whose affinities and capabilities are optimum for solving the problem are assigned to handling that problem" Keiran explained.
"That's true. It's the reason I was assigned to defending the Dream Realm's Border Wall. It was because of Kraken Andromeda's wide range" Concordia admitted. "I see. So this special training programme our parents came up with was designed taking into consideration our actual ability. They might be trying to observe our adaptability and how well we respond to unfamiliar challenges. However, starting from History's Day One and calling that the future is a bit of overkill" Concordia observed.
"Again, I am certain that was my Dad's doing" Keiran said with a weird expression on his face.
"But why is all of this necessary?" Concordia asked.
She almost looked as though she were on the verge of irritation.
"There are times when a soldier gets stuck behind enemy lines. At times like that, it is not so much their combat prowess as it is their survival skills that are put to the test. These trials seem to have been designed to teach us how to survive in enemy territory without necessarily having to depend on an enemy's currency" Keiran explained.
"I see. So that's what your Dad meant by the proverb 'it's time to hammer those swords into ploughshares.' We must all find ways of converting our combat prowess into survival skills huh?" Concordia realized.
"Exactly" Keiran nodded.
"So that's why the emphasis is placed on 'Key Skills' instead of 'Key Items' in this game" Concordia realized.
"In the Real World, a person with lots of possessions and no actual skill loses everything once they lose their possessions. On the other hand, a person with amazing skill and no possessions can survive anywhere" Keiran explained.
"Your Dad certainly leaves no room for oversights" Concordia said with an impressed look in her eyes.
"Of course not. If he did, how would he have been able to defeat an evil that had been planning an Apocalypse since time immemorial?" Keiran said with a smirk.
"I'm impressed" Concordia admitted.
"So what's your plan now Keiran?" Concordia asked.
"You mean our plan" Keiran corrected.
Concordia nodded.
"We'll implement a crop rotation based system centred mostly on energy producing foods. We'll leave an open spot for leguminous crops and leave one part of the land fallow after a number of planting seasons to serve as a period in which the land will recover its fertility. Vegetables and shrubs will be included in the rotation formation" Keiran stated their plan.
"Is there any way I can help?" Concordia asked.
"While I cultivate our crops, you could Hunt And Gather more fruits for meals to sustain our HP and MP. Your sigil has great reach so this shouldn't be too difficult. You could also Hunt for helpful soil pests" Keiran said.
"Helpful soil pests?" Concordia wondered what Keiran was getting at.
"Yeah, on the Leo System, you should find them as organisms below Ground Level that provide tremendous support. The metre would most likely be displayed as many miles below Ground Level. Keep this in mind. The Leo System does not measure the depth of the earth but rather the degree of support an organism can provide against the location where its products are stored" Keiran explained.
"I see" Concordia realized what Keiran was getting at.
"So the lower the support the organism provides, the more likely it is to be a pest right?" she asked.
"Yep, such an organism would be very close to Ground Level…to put it in strict agricultural terms as represented by the System" Keiran explained.
Concordia nodded and departed.
"It doesn't necessarily mean the organism in question is useless though. It might provide indirect support to other organisms in ways that ultimately benefit us" Keiran said.
"I'll keep that in mind" Concordia said with a smirk as she walked away.
Meanwhile, in their continent, Arlene and Mitsuki had created irrigation channels that led some kilometres inland. During the time they had been doing this, the riverbeds created by these artificial rivers had gradually began to become fertile. As to how they had been sustaining their HP and MP, they very well knew how infertile their land was however, they also knew that there were areas close to the coast and other areas further inland that were not completely devoid of life. They thus focused more on Hunting And Gathering in terms of an animal diet rather than a plant based one and had begun to rear a few animals in some of the more fertile zones in their land. Thanks to their irrigation channels as well as a makeshift distillation device constructed through Mitsuki's ability to manipulate Gravity and Gravitational Zones, they had constructed a means by which they could transform the salty sea water into fresh drinking water through distillation. They stored the leftover salt from the process for cooking purposes as well as the preservation of some of their meaty diets.
Most of their diets however came in the form of dairy products and eggs. Whenever they killed an animal to eat, they stored the leftovers either by leaving it out in the sun to dry for an extended period of time or by salting it with some of the salt obtained as residue from the distillation process. Fortunately for them, their irrigation channels caused the lands close to the riverbeds to gradually grow fertile allowing them to cultivate those lands. Unlike Keiran and Concordia as well as Ciella and I who remained stationary for the most parts, Arlene and Mitsuki through Mitsuki's Gravitational Control explored their continent through flight and gradually mapped it out.
However, they never wandered too far from the lands they had cultivated or from the animals they had reared. Most of their exploration was geared towards finding more fertile lands.