Ball of Nothing

Chapter 574: Caste Abolishment

The top brass of Lycantopia gathered in Zero's small tent and squeezed into the tight space as requested by the messiah. Nobody knew what he had in mind, but everyone was pinning their hopes on this one powerful magician.

King Gaon took the lead. He presented Zero with the requested materials that involved maps, soil and water samples from various locations. His advisors didn't know why the Messiah would ask for such strange things, but they did not question it. Food was now at an all-time low, and nobody was in the mood to waste more energy arguing about it. If Zero said that he could resolve the immediate food shortage problem, they had no better choice than to listen to his wise suggestions.

After receiving the samples and comparing the samples to the map, Zero ran some tests using magic. It took him all week to devise this method with the gnomes, Cleo and Wiser's help. The gardening team back in Half Moon Village gave Zero the crash course he needed about farming. Even in a barren land, it was still possible to grow something. However, it was now up to Zero to figure out what kind of crops Lycantopia should be growing. His magic was limited, and Zero shouldn't overdo it.

"Have you tested everyone for mana, qi and physical capabilities?" Zero asked.

The administrator was a small rat beastwoman. She pushed her glasses up and unfurled a long list of names on one of the thick parchment scrolls. Zero felt his jaw slacken at the sight of the list. Indeed, there were names for every individual according to their proficiency with earth magic in there.

"As requested, we identified a total of fifty-nine expert earth magic users, approximately three-hundred intermediate earth magic users, about six hundred beginner earth magic users and about three hundred with earth magic but no knowledge of how to use it."

Zero looked through the lengthy list and noticed how the expert users were mostly carnivores and omnivores. Those in the beginner earth magic section were primarily herbivores, but there was a particular clan that made Zero raise a brow.

"The cow and goat clans are intermediate earth magic users. Why were they classified as non-experienced users?"

The rat secretary adjusted her glasses and explained that they were originally dairy workers. "As herbivores, the kingdom decided that they were better suited to producing milk and cheese. It has been that way for generations, so nobody in those clans has any experience using earth magic until now."

Zero took a look at their numbers. With this many intermediate earth magic users untrained, it would make a massive difference in the production. Only intermediate earth magic-users could use life magic and speed up the rate of crops growing. The real question was if he was able to teach them how to use it.

The other werebeasts were similarly classified into their different affinity with magic and experience. Some clans were gifted with more than one kind of magic like the duck clan who were intermediate water magic users but beginner air magic users.

The physical labourers were classified into those who could use magic and those who had no talent in magic at all. It took a while for Zero to run through the lists, and by the end of it, he had a better idea about Lycantopia's overall strength.

"Understood. Let's head to the spot that these soil and water samples were taken from. I would like a representative from each kind of magic element to be part of the test. I would need a beginner user, an intermediate user, an expert user and one who is not trained. As for physical labourers, could you get me the unskilled but healthy volunteers? I'm going to replicate several scenarios to know if the method would work before replicating them on a large scale."

Within a few hours, the team was put together by the competent rat beastwoman secretary named Rachel. When the volunteers were selected, King Gaon was bombarded by unhappy cries of those who weren't chosen. The lion werebeast had a hard time explaining that everybody would eventually have a role to play in rebuilding Lycantopia, but for now, the Messiah needed space and time to develop a solution to their problems.

"The old caste system is no longer useful," King Gaon said. "There will be revisions made. Everyone, please be patient until we know what the Messiah wants. While the Messiah tests a few things out with the group of volunteers, please continue moulding mud bricks so that we can rebuild parts of the fallen wall!"

While King Gaon and a few of his bodyguards stayed behind to appease the crowd, Zero and Rachel left with their small group of twenty volunteers to the first site.

"Is this where the farms once were?" he asked.

Rachel nodded and referred to the map in her hands. "This is where we grew things like ground root, rubber figs and tubber spice. The soil here is suitable for these crops because it is furthest from the sea. However, due to the lack of water source, it is challenging for any other crop species to thrive. The water sample is taken from the small underground stream that flows through that single well in the area."

Zero took a look at the well in the distance and sighed. It was a very tiny well, and from the mini-map, it looked like it was half dried already. This water source would dry up in the next decade, and Zero didn't know what Lycantopia would do when it eventually did.

"Which clans usually tend to this field?"

"The farmers are usually in the herbivore caste. We have several roles for farmers. The worm clan is in charge of ploughing. The rabbit and chicken clans are in charge of sowing. The elephant clan is in charge of drawing the well water and carrying them to water the crops."

That would explain the wide paths in between rows of crops. It wasn't very efficient when the crops were planted so far from each other. Zero initially thought that it was due to the nutrition in the soil, but he now knew better after Rachel's explanation. Such a design was ineffective.

With a wave of his hand, Zero ploughed the soil. Then, he scattered some seeds harvested by the women and children from wild berry bushes in the camps' vicinity. The wind magic blew those seeds far enough to cover an entire plot of land. Afterwhich, he used earth magic to cover the soil. Following that, Zero used water magic to water them. Lastly, he used elemental life magic to encourage the speed of growth in those newly planted seeds.

Soon, there were multiple wild berry bushes within that small plot of land and the volunteers applauded. Zero turned to them and grouped the volunteers according to their magic proficiency and told them to replicate what he did.