Back in the botanical garden, Yolanda kept whispering in Charlie's ear."Junior, this blood-drinking monster taro is no joke. Although the teacher has assigned you this task, he has strongly warned me that you must ensure your own safety first and try to complete this task. So you must understand its habits from Master Karl."
Although Master Roen did not directly agree to Charlie's request, what kind of person is Yolanda? She is best at grasping the teacher's psychology and good at reading people. Her junior may achieve greatness in the future, and now is his weakest time, which is a good time for emotional investment.
"I understand."
Yolanda added: "The teacher has to take into account the feelings of a group of herbalists and gardeners, so he will not arrange any positions for you for the time being, and the third-tier blue badge gardener position that Martin promised will not be fulfilled. Can you understand that, junior?"
Charlie smiled and said, "Those are just empty titles, it doesn't matter. What I'm concerned about is whether I'm allowed to access the botanical garden's records, and whether I have the right to use the laboratory materials."
"Of course, the teacher still needs you to work miracles, how could he restrict you in this regard?" Yolanda pondered for a moment and said, "Evans the herbalist may take over the position of the garden manager. The teacher instructed him to cooperate with your work as much as possible. In short, just do your best! The teacher is not a stingy person. As long as you make an effort, even if you don't get the ideal result, I believe the teacher will give you a fair treatment."
Charlie smiled and said, "I understand. Sister, you go first. If there's any problem, I'll contact you."
"Okay, then I won't take up your time."
After seeing off Yolanda, Charlie went straight to the botanical garden to find Master Karl. Karl is also a workaholic. After hearing about Charlie's responsibilities, he was briefly surprised, then entered work mode. He took Charlie directly to the work area, walking through the maze-like botanical garden to the core area.
Karl smiled and said, "The layout of the botanical garden is a bit complex, it's easy to get lost when you first arrive, and some areas have magic restrictions. These days I'll accompany you, and once you're familiar with the terrain, you can move around on your own."
A kind reminder, but Charlie didn't need it. On the way, he had already mapped out the route he had passed and remembered the key landmarks.
Charlie smiled back and said, "Okay, then I'll trouble the master."
"No problem, I've been interested in your cultivation technique for a long time. Previously, Martin blocked me from learning about it, and now I finally have the chance to feast my eyes."
Charlie smiled and said, "It's just some folk methods from my hometown, nothing special."
Soon, they arrived in a section in the center of the botanical garden. From the equipment and room layout, it was clear that the plants grown here were extremely precious.
This area had the best sunlight, was very open, and each plant occupied a separate room, which was very luxurious.
Karl took out a metal badge, embedded it in the wall, and the stone door retracted into the wall, revealing a 30-square-meter black soil field. The soil was dark brown, soft and damp, and the weeds had been cleaned up neatly. In the center of this black soil was a purple-brown plant.
It was about 0.8 meters tall, with thick, purple-black leaves, several of which guarded a bucket-shaped flower. The mouth was small and the belly was thick, as thick as an adult's thigh. The petal edges were slightly curled, emanating a pungent stench, a smell that was difficult to describe, like a pile of various animal carcasses rotting and fermenting.
Although it was not the first time, Karl still felt his breathing was not smooth, and he just wanted to escape this place. He turned to look at Charlie, seeing his calm demeanor, and was surprised, "I thought you would run away. The first time I came, I was so embarrassed that I even vomited out my leftover dinner."
Charlie smiled and said, "My tolerance is pretty good."
"That's good. Tolerating its stench is the first small step to success." Karl pointed to the base of the plant and said, "You have to be very careful of the thorny vines hidden in the soil when you approach it."
Charlie examined carefully, and sure enough, at the end of the rhizome, he saw some black-brown, dry and hard vines that penetrated into the soil. If you didn't look closely, you wouldn't even notice their existence.
Karl drew a circle with his finger and warned, "The range of the thorny vines is about 5 meters around it. If you don't have a magic taro powder sachet with you, you'll be attacked by it."
The tips of the thorny vines are very sharp and can tear open your skin and penetrate your body, sucking your blood, and they are also poisonous. Once you are entangled by them, you will quickly lose consciousness, and at that time, no one can save you. The best outcome is to be destroyed together with it. This is the lesson we learned after sacrificing three lives and one disabled herbalist over half a year.
Charlie frowned and asked, "Apart from the thorny vines, are there any other things I need to pay attention to?"
"Its flower sap has strong corrosive properties, absolutely cannot be touched with bare hands! If you accidentally touch it, you will suffer great pain.
In addition, it is highly sensitive to sound stimulation. If it attacks you, it's best not to scream, otherwise it may trigger an even more violent reaction.
Of course, if it starts attacking you, your chance of self-rescue is very small, unless you are a holy knight of the Church or a powerful mage like a Grand Sorcerer. Holy light and fire are its nemeses."
"It sounds like a difficult thing to deal with indeed."
"Yes! There's one more thing you need to pay special attention to, its scent is unique, you can't smell it for too long. If you smell it for a long time, you'll get a splitting headache and may even hallucinate, or something might happen."
Listening to his description, this blood-drinking monster taro has multiple attack methods, and it is indeed a very dangerous plant.
Charlie asked, "How was this blood-drinking monster taro cultivated? Have you already mastered some methods?"
Karl smiled bitterly and said, "It was personally matured by Master Roen, using a bottle of 'Potent Life Potion', three bottles of 'Stone Blood Ointment', and five 'Growth Scrolls'. Just these consumables cost over 50,000 gold coins. Now, to maintain its life, we have to consume a natural magic 'Potent Nourishment' spell every day, which costs nearly 2,000 gold coins. The maintenance cost is really astronomical."
Charlie frowned and said, "That's indeed not worth it."
"Yes! And the bigger problem is that its vitality is still constantly weakening. No matter what efforts we make, it's of no avail. At this rate, without using more expensive potions or scrolls, it will wither within a month. So I can only rely on you. Every day this problem is not solved, it will cost the master's energy and time, and the cost is unbearable."
Charlie silently nodded and replied, "I'll do my best."
Karl handed him a sachet that gave off a strange smell, and then pointed to the badge on his chest, saying, "If you have any problems, activate the button on the badge, and I'll come over right away."
Seeing him covering his nose, Charlie knew he didn't want to stay in this place, so he asked, "Master Karl, I have another question. Where can I generally find wild blood-drinking monster taros? Can you describe the details of finding this type of plant, like the surrounding environment?"
Karl shook his head and said, "I'm not very clear either. Discovering wild blood-drinking monster taros is a relatively rare occurrence, and since their value is extremely high, sellers usually won't provide the location. They want to make more money.
This monster taro is something we cultivated from its seeds, not a wild plant. But you can check the botanical garden's books, maybe you can find some clues."
Charlie sighed inwardly, knowing that people don't want to share knowledge is also a reason for the backwardness of biology on this continent.
In the past few days, Charlie had basically gone through all the books and handwritten notes in the botanical garden, learning what he could understand directly, and temporarily storing what he couldn't understand in his chip. He carefully searched through them, but couldn't find any information about the blood-drinking monster taro.
Karl asked, "Do you have any other questions?"
Charlie shook his head.
"Then I'll be leaving first."
Charlie is a pragmatist. After Karl left, he immediately went into work mode.
Through a competition and the reading he's done in the past few days, Charlie has found the following reasons for the backwardness of plant science on the Vagrande continent:
First, magic is overly prevalent, suppressing the development of other fields. People have formed a habitual way of thinking. When faced with any problem, they first try to solve it from the perspective of magic. If they can't solve it, they just give up.
Second, the whole society lacks the habit of sharing. They are self-centered, and the mainstream way of passing on knowledge is through master-apprentice inheritance, which is inefficient and has a small scope of influence. Knowledge is relatively closed, and some valuable discoveries are buried in the historical tide, and the Empire has not made efforts to promote this knowledge.
Third, many experts in various fields do not have the mentality of scientific research. They know the results, but not the reasons behind them. They are not sensitive to data and do not have the habit of summarizing, so many conclusions are simply wrong.
However, it is precisely because of this backwardness that Charlie has some opportunities. He can use methods from Earth to solve the problems he is facing now.
Charlie searched the data in his chip and found that the blood-drinking monster taro is extremely similar in appearance to a plant on Earth - the Titan taro: a Euphorbiaceae plant, a shade-tolerant crop, hating direct sunlight, requiring weak light intensity and short daylight hours, requiring a temperature of 15-25°C, well-drained soil with a low groundwater level, and a soil moisture content of 50-65% sandy loam. The relative air humidity should be 55-70%, with an annual rainfall of 1000-1500 mm, and the most suitable soil pH is 6.5-7.5.
The difference is that the blood-drinking monster taro is more ferocious, possessing some predatory characteristics. Logically, a powerful predator should not be so fragile.
Thinking of this, Charlie suddenly found a glimmer of inspiration. It has always been at the forefront of Charlie's thinking, elusive and unpredictable, just a tiny bit of distance away that Charlie couldn't quite grasp.
After pondering for a while, he still didn't gain any insights. Charlie gave up chasing the inspiration and started trying to find the reason for the blood-drinking monster taro's weakness through experimentation.
Based on the living habits of the 'Titan taro', Charlie tried to modify its living environment. Since he was afraid of alarming its thorny vines, he temporarily did not plan to replace the sandy soil, but could adjust the other conditions accordingly.
First, the easiest problem to solve is the light issue. Charlie found a huge sunshade and covered the top sunlight, creating a shaded environment.
Next is the problem of air humidity. It can be solved together with the soil's acidity and alkalinity. The blood-drinking monster taro requires weakly acidic soil, and after tasting a small amount of the garden's soil, Charlie's chip analysis found that the soil in the garden is slightly neutral, needing to be improved. There are many methods, and considering the conditions of the botanical garden, Charlie found a suitable one:
The botanical garden has a specialized first-tier water magic scroll 'Mist Spell' that can create a large area of mist. Before using the scroll, Charlie needs to figure out its incantation and prepare some additives. Lime juice has an acidic property, and when mixed with water, it can serve as a medium for the Mist Spell, and its juice is also a type of solvent, which is grown in the botanical garden.
One spell solves two problems.
Next, Charlie starts contacting Karl and Yolanda, the former helping to get limes, and the latter teaching Charlie the incantation and techniques for casting the Mist Spell.