The Royal Military Academy's Impostor Owns a Dungeon [BL] novel Chapter 422

Chapter 422: Mutualism

It was like a moment of truth, one that got Luca so excited his eyes were practically glowing.

Spiritually enriched soil had always been a critical issue, which was precisely why they ended up resorting to soil-less methods of planting. While it would be possible to take a bunch of soil from the space and put it into a dome to grow root crops, Luca didn’t think it would be sustainable.

After all, just how much soil would they be able to take from the space before it’s all used up?

Also, wouldn’t this raise questions about where they were getting them?

Most definitely.

At first, Luca thought about using the grow beds to raise root crops outdoors. He even considered bringing in soil from outside and trying to enrich it with spiritual energy. But with this unexpected gift—delivered straight to their doorstep—it looked like they’d have to rethink a few things.

From what he knew, soil had always been a finite resource, which had even led him to ask where all the soil they kept getting during expansions was coming from. But at the same time, it wasn’t impossible to make them. It might not just be produced within an ancient human’s lifespan.

Surprisingly, a Cindermoss Burrower worked a lot like the machines used to make lab-grown diamonds—the same kind he’d only heard about because the lab handlers claimed they’d at least given him tools made from synthetic ones.

Not that he ever used them to make guiding pills.

But the significant bit here was how they could similarly shorten a process that would have taken ages if done naturally.

And Luca was all for it.

Now the others weren’t exactly sure why their heir had been so excited, and Jax, for one, was just excited because when Luca was excited, it usually meant something really good.

He wasn’t wrong.

And it was ground-breaking. Literally.

For it was definitely faster than composting in a space that had such an odd sense of decomposition.

Spiritually enriched anything takes so much longer to decompose, and while connected to the plant or tree, they don’t even follow the natural growth and decay cycle, so even now, they’d been reliant on the barn’s built-in composting machines.

Which helped, but if they could have something like this, then wouldn’t they be able to make fertile soil faster?

All in exchange for rocks and minerals, partially burned roots, mosses, rotting wood, or even compost.

They even take spiritual mushrooms, dried leaves, and grasses!

Which probably explains why the earlier attempts to use them weren’t working.

"Captain, isn’t this...?" asked Kyle, who couldn’t exactly announce the Imperial study that they had once had to review for funding.

Xavier understood what he meant and just nodded.

Kyle had known about the hype this once had and the subpar results, but for some reason, with their current state, he felt like he could understand why Luca looked absolutely thrilled.

For this was practically a gold mine. One made with poop, ash, and leaves!

So when said "gold" came out, it sure took Xavier explaining that this was spiritually enhanced fertile soil before everyone started rejoicing.

Jax, in particular, wanted to scoop it all up until Luca told him not to do that, not just yet, because the temperature might be a little too hot.

All this was observed by Tortie, who realized that these new mouths to feed might be useful for producing more food. As this redheaded servant of his only ever got excited when it was related to eating.

Understandable.

Hmph.