Back in the morning—
City of Chaos.
After taking a shower, Ron muttered to himself, "Phantom Willow Seeds, huh…"
He was still unsure what kind of effects this new plant reward from the side quest would have.
But it was clearly too early to be worrying about that now.
The new side quest required him to make the hotpot and BBQ restaurant popular across the Human Empire—definitely not something achievable in a short amount of time.
After all, the Human Empire was massive.
It stretched from the Manchester Mountains on the western coast to the Forest of Freyst, territory of the elves, in the east.
To the north was the Frozen Tundra, home of the Beastkin Tribes, and to the south flowed the great Darle River, which ran east to west—just across it lay the Dwarven Kingdom.
In terms of sheer land area, the Human Empire ranked as the second-largest nation on the Rixis Continent.
The Beastkin did claim the largest territory, but much of the Frozen Tundra was uninhabitable.
So if we only count usable land, the Human Empire undoubtedly came first.
Of course, if the elves counted the entire Forest of Freyst as theirs, or if the gnomes claimed the entire Bondelers Mountains, then the humans would be bumped down to third.
But regardless, for the hotpot and BBQ concept to become truly widespread across the Human Empire, there would need to be at least one franchise in every major city.
At this point, Mia had only just started—there was no way things would spread that fast.
Leaving the bathroom, Ron sat down at the table, mentally organizing his thoughts.
Yuna and Sylvie were already up, seated at the dining table.
Nora, wearing an apron, was bustling between the kitchen and the living room, serving breakfast to everyone.
Ron took a bite of bread, some bacon, sipped milk, and opened his system inventory to check the reward from the just-completed side quest:
[Spice Pine]:
["An evergreen tree, 50–60 meters tall, with a trunk diameter of 30–50 cm."
"Thrives in rich, ultra-acidic soil."
"Needles grow in clusters of three—stiff, glossy, dark green, and serrated."
"Cone-shaped fruit."
"Needles can be soaked in warm water to remove fishy or gamy odors and eliminate unpleasant smells."
"When steeped in hot water, the tea can be consumed regularly to nourish yin and replenish yang."
"Bears fruit four times a year. Fruit can be ground into powder for use as seasoning."
"Spring fruit is sweet, summer fruit is spicy, autumn fruit is sour, and winter fruit is salty."
"Mixing all four fruit powders will trigger an intense reproductive urge in the consumer."]
Ron's eyes visibly twitched when he read that last line. He had a comeback on the tip of his tongue, but didn't know whether to say it or just let it go.
Everything up until that point had sounded medicinal and reasonable—the tea promoting yin-yang balance, the seasoning qualities…
But then it took such a wild turn?
That escalated quickly.
Fighting the urge to roll his eyes, Ron continued reading.
["The bark's inner layer contains rich resin—an all-natural anti-aging compound. When consumed, it prolongs organ longevity; when applied externally, it slows skin aging."
"The resin can also be used as seasoning. It enhances the natural umami of food and has antioxidant and preservative effects."
"The bark itself is medicinal, with heat-clearing and detoxifying properties. When brewed with different seasonal fruits, it provides specialized effects:
With spring fruit, it enhances taste sensitivity.
With summer fruit: enhances sense of smell.
With autumn fruit, it clears the eyes and improves vision.
With winter fruit: sharpens hearing."]
By the time he finished reading, Ron no longer found his breakfast appetizing.
This thing was a miracle plant!
From needles to bark, branches to fruit—every part was useful. Some even had combinational effects.
Other than the frankly questionable outcome of mixing all four fruit powders, everything else was incredibly practical.
The fruit could be used as seasoning—and with the system's backing, the flavor was sure to be top-tier.
The needles could eliminate odor, and tea brewed from them had... well, vitality-enhancing properties. Ahem.
If word spread, Ron imagined a line of noble lords secretly showing up to beg him for it.
The resin could prolong life, whether taken orally or applied externally.
Internal health and external beauty—tailor-made for noble ladies and their obsession with youth and appearance.
And the bark, boiled with different seasonal fruits, could treat a range of ailments—weak senses, poor taste, stuffy noses, hearing loss, blurry vision.
With this plant alone, Ron could throw on a white coat and call himself a doctor.
A divine physician, even.
He could publish a book titled: "Super Steady Doctor Travels Another World" or "Losing Money with Traditional Medicine in Another World". Readers wouldn't dare subscribe.
Bringing his scattered thoughts back into focus, Ron finished his breakfast, glanced at Sylvie doing her morning prayer on the sofa, ignored Yuna's teasing wink, pinched Nora's cheek affectionately, and headed downstairs to enter the Dimensional Farming Space.
From his inventory, he tapped [Spice Pine Cultivation Guide], and a green light surged into his mind, instantly granting him complete knowledge of how to grow the tree.
He took a deep breath, steeled himself, and spent a huge chunk of wealth points to unlock 10 square meters of farming space, merging them into one plot.
Over 20,000 wealth points gone in the blink of an eye.
Thankfully, the Spice Pine didn't require much horizontal space to grow. Though the mature tree reached dozens of meters in height, unlike Puppet Trees, which had massive umbrella-like root systems, the Spice Pine's roots grew vertically.
The farming space had no height or depth restrictions, so 10 square meters was enough.
Once Ron figured that out, he felt relieved.
If the system had been stingy enough to sell farming space by the cubic meter, he'd probably be broke right now.
He took the Spice Pine Seeds from his inventory and planted them in the farm.
Nutrients appeared instantly. The soil adjusted itself to meet the tree's needs.
Sunlight, water, and other conditions responded to Ron's will.
With accelerated time active, the seeds quickly sprouted, rooted, and grew—rapidly shooting up into the sky until a towering tree, dozens of meters tall, stood before him.
Next to it, the Puppet Tree, which was barely 10 meters tall, looked like a dwarf.
The tree's deep green, needle-like leaves were as thick as a baby's arm, standing upright like a Super Saiyan's hair. From a distance, the whole tree resembled a massive spiked club.
Large cone-shaped fruits, about the size of a fist, began maturing.
On the first harvest, all the fruit was pink.
As time inside the farm accelerated again, Ron harvested the pink fruits, and the Spice Pine bore a second batch—this time bright red.
Then came the third and fourth harvests: pale yellow and soft white.
After the fourth fruiting, a full in-world year had passed inside the farming space.