From the next day on, I kept trying to create wheat that was resistant to drought, but I couldn’t quite manage to improve the wheat using my Production Skill.
It was already noon as I kept struggling with ideas, so I headed to the dining hall.
Father and Mother were out on some errands, so it was just Sophie and me for lunch.
“Hello, Brother.”
“Hello, Sophie.”
Usually, Sophie is so lively, but today she seemed a bit tired.
“You look tired today, Sophie.”
“Please listen! My studies have suddenly increased a lot lately!”
Recently, Sophie had started to show her intelligence more and more, and I’d heard from Mother that her tutor was putting in extra effort.
Sophie is a serious and honest girl, so even though she grumbled, she seemed to be working hard at her studies.
“Mother told me that your teacher is enthusiastic because you’re so talented, Sophie. What did you study today?”
“Today I studied living things. I was taught about how parents’ traits are passed on to their children, but it was really difficult.”
Oh, Mendel’s laws of inheritance, huh?
So even in this world, those things are known.
Hmm?
Inheritance?
Come to think of it, the traits of wheat are determined by genes.
Maybe genes are important if I want to create new kinds of plants.
“Is something wrong, Brother?”
“Oh, sorry. I was just struggling with my own craftwork, but your words just gave me an idea, Sophie.”
After lunch, I returned to my room and lined up wild grass and wheat.
This time, I tried to imagine incorporating the gene for drought resistance from the wild grass into the wheat’s genes.
I focused hard on the image of manipulating genes and activated my Production Skill.
After the warm light faded, a wheat stalk appeared.
Up to this point, it was the same as always.
But this time, I felt like something had changed.
I hoped it finally worked.
I praised it with a prayer in my heart.
The result was “Winter Wheat (New Breed): Highly Drought Resistant.”
I did it!
It really is more drought-resistant.
To make sure it wasn’t just a fluke, I used wild grass seeds and wheat seeds to activate my Production Skill once more.
Yes, it worked.
I produced the same new breed of wheat.
It hadn’t gone smoothly at all before, but I’d finally created drought-resistant wheat!
Overjoyed, I dashed out of my room.
I went to Sophie’s room and knocked on the door.
“Brother, what is it?”
“Sophie, I managed to create a new drought-resistant wheat with my Production Skill! I couldn’t figure it out for so long, but your words gave me the idea!”
I took Sophie’s hands and started twirling her around.
“Hehe, I’m not sure I understand, but I’m glad for you.”
Still, it’s amazing that I can perform gene recombination without knowing the gene sequences at all—Production Skill really is incredible.
Carrying the new wheat, I visited Father’s study.
“Oh? What’s the matter? It’s rare for Will to come to my study on his own.”
“Sorry to bother you when you’re busy, Father. I have something urgent to report.”
I explained to Father that I had produced drought-resistant wheat with my Production Skill.
“Oh, you managed to create drought-resistant wheat? Will, your Production Skill is amazing! Thank you. I can just imagine the joy of the farmers suffering from drought.”
Father was truly delighted.
“I’d love to plant Will’s new wheat throughout our domain. I’d like to sow the seeds by next month, but how much can you make?”
“Let’s see, I didn’t feel like it used that much Mana. If I go to the Great Forest and gather more wild grass for materials, I should be able to make a decent amount.”
“That’s reassuring. It will be tough, but I’m counting on you.”
The next day, I went to the Great Forest to gather that wild grass.
Once again, Knight Order Captain Liam and several knights accompanied me.
I couldn’t quite remember where I’d gathered it before in the Great Forest, but after searching a bit, I found it right away.
And luckily, there was a lot growing, so I could use my storage magic to bring back a huge amount.
From then on, I devoted myself to producing drought-resistant wheat.
I had Teo and the Workshop craftsmen try to make the new wheat, but they couldn’t seem to imagine it clearly and weren’t able to produce it.
Maybe visualizing the combination of genes is just too difficult for people of this world.
In the end, I had to do it all by myself.
I left the Workshop to Teo and the craftsmen, and every day I produced as much as I could, right up to the limits of my Mana.
After about a month of hard work, I was able to produce enough to distribute throughout the domain.
In fact, I might have made a bit too much.
Looking at the mountain of cloth sacks filled with the new wheat, I thought I’d done pretty well.
But I was really exhausted.
I don’t want to push myself this hard again.
After all, overworking isn’t good.
For a while, I’ll take it easy and rest.
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