Chapter 86: Chapter 84: Mushrooms (4th update, seeking subscription)
The mushroom house is not located within the Dragon Nest Village, but rather beneath a tall and lush area resembling the giant banyan forest from Austin’s previous life.
This enormous broadleaf plant, similar to the banyan trees from Austin’s previous life, had yet to be named by the beastmen, so Austin simply named them banyan trees, and the mushroom house is located underneath the banyan forest.
These banyan trees of the Otherworld have trunks that require at least ten people to embrace, with dense and lush branches and leaves that completely block out the sky, allowing not a shred of sunlight to come through.
Under the tropical rainforest climate of the Kawa Great Forest, a lot of rainwater falls through the gaps in the leaves from above, but once the rain stops, the sunlight above is entirely obscured by the lush banyan leaves, leaving the entire area below humid and muggy, creating a greenhouse-like environment.
In such an environment, no herbaceous plants can survive, only some moss covers the soil and spreads across the tree trunks, covering the wrinkled and uneven bark, making the whole area appear as though entering the Underworld.
Besides moss, another organism thrives in this environment.
That would be mushrooms and other fungi.
The fallen banyan leaves and branches quickly decompose in this greenhouse setting, and spores attached to the surface begin sprouting and growing in the humid environment, causing mushrooms to bloom one after another.
This Otherworld’s banyan forest can be said to be a natural nursery bed for fungal growth.
At this time, small, roughly person-high, long rectangular simple thatched huts were built under the banyan forest for the goblins, and these huts are the mushroom houses where the Dragon Nest Division specifically cultivate mushrooms.
No one was present under the banyan forest at the time, probably busy elsewhere, but Finn had no intention of slacking off; he moved ot gaze-era the mountainous pile of oak and leftover wood from various manufacturing tools to the banyan forest, then carefully placed each piece of oak inside the mushroom house.
Finn cherished the days at the Dragon Nest Division where one could get enough to eat by just working, so he worked diligently, even taking care to make several labels on the side.
In fact, there was no need for much processing; simply throwing the wood under the banyan forest would cause various mushrooms to grow on it in a few days, though most of these mushrooms were toxic and inedible.
This was not surprising. If these mushrooms were not toxic, other animals would have long ago cleaned out the scattered mushrooms and fungi on the ground.
Even in the Otherworld, it follows the ironclad rule of the survival of the fittest and natural selection.
After countless years of evolution, the spores floating in the air within the mushroom greenhouse under this banyan forest have mostly eliminated the non-toxic ones.
Austin was indeed greatly elated upon discovering such a treasure trove back then, ambitiously devising a grand mushroom production plan.
However, after poisoning more than ten or eight beastmen, he finally realized that things were far from simple.
In this highly advantageous environment, the air was filled with spores of various toxic mushrooms; even if you processed the wood and threw it under the banyan forest, you would still end up with a heap of toxic mushrooms.
At his wit’s end, just when Austin planned to abandon the mushroom plan, Finn appeared before him.
Finn, a deer-man inherently timid and weak, was not adept at hunting and mostly depended on vegetarian food to survive, which included mushrooms in his diet.
Since Finn was young, he learned from his mother to use his keen nose to distinguish which mushrooms were toxic and which were not, a survival skill and technique honed over generations.
And that is discovering that mushrooms growing on oak are ninety-nine percent non-toxic.
The principle behind it, Finn didn’t understand, but this didn’t prevent him from remembering this skill well, relying on it to survive in the harsh forest after the successive death of his parents’ tribe.
Logically, Finn became responsible for mushroom production and received guidance from Austin, specializing in developing technologies for producing non-toxic mushrooms.
These mushroom houses are the product of Finn’s proposal. Although mushrooms growing on outdoor oak are ninety-nine percent non-toxic, possibly due to environmental factors, only about half of the mushrooms stimulated by oak under this banyan forest are non-toxic.
A fifty percent non-toxic chance would be difficult for large-scale production without a quick method to identify and separate them.
Subsequently, through Finn’s continuous experimentation, he finally discovered that if oak is isolated within a mushroom house, the probability of toxic mushrooms being triggered can be significantly reduced.
The exact principle is unknown, but it does not hinder Finn from continuing to explore and improve.
"Hmm, this one?"
After placing a specially treated piece of oak in a mushroom house, Finn suddenly saw a piece of oak in the corner covered with mushrooms and swiftly pulled it out.
"Only three are toxic? That’s great! Quickly check how it was initially processed!" Finn hurriedly grabbed the record board hanging nearby, which contained barely understandable drawings.
These were the initial records, methods taught by Austin, even most of the experimental theories were Austin’s instructions.
"First burn it with fire, scorch, and then wash with white mud slurry... Is this the process? Wonderful! Blessings of the heavens, finally found a method!"
Joy, great joy, ecstatic joy!
Finn, the deer-man, was thrilled; after expending so much time, he finally saw hope for success!
"Oh, Finn, it seems I came at just the right moment. Is there some progress?"
A deep voice echoed in the air, Austin appeared behind the deer-man Finn.
Of course, he came to check how far the mass production of non-toxic mushrooms had progressed, for Dragon Nest Tribe nowadays, having one more item capable of bulk production offers additional security.
Previously, Austin only handed over some of the current experimental selection methods to Finn, a slightly experienced deer-man, simply because he knew more about the non-toxic aspects of mushrooms, hoping to improve mushroom cultivation techniques and realize large-scale non-toxic mushroom production.
Initially, Austin had little hope for Finn before coming, but now it seems there has been progress?
...
Fourth completion.
Today’s update ends here; my head feels utterly dizzy.
Finally, asking for a monthly ticket (￣▽￣)／