PGVCW 45

Playing God in Various Catastrophic Worlds

Chapter 45: The Root Cause of Low Productivity

"Their tools are too primitive." The observation report submitted by the expert panel was filled out swiftly. Once completed, the primary reason why the inhabitants of this world worked at such a sluggish pace was brought to light.

"The implements are overly crude, clumsy, and primitive in design."

"They believe agricultural labor requires animal power, such as oxen and horses, which is also largely due to lagging tool technology."

"There is also another critical issue."

Yuan Ning lowered her light-console, her expression carrying the quiet knowingness of an anticipated realization: "They do not know that human and animal waste can be utilized as agricultural fertilizer." This was something they had anticipated all along. Although most of the soil back in the Xia Kingdom was no longer arable, the instruction on enriching fields remained deeply rooted in every student's mind. In the historical archives of the Xia Kingdom, "nightsoil and manure" had always been regarded as treasures by the peasantry, encompassing both human and livestock waste. Xia Wang'an had once encountered a historical anecdote during her research about a "landlord" who would hold his bladder while out, refusing to use a restroom until he returned home. The idiom "Fertile water must not flow into an outsider's fields" continued to circulate as a common colloquialism.

"I guessed as much," Xia Wang'an stated. "Our country's land still has too much uncultivable terrain, otherwise transporting all the fertilizer from this world back would not be a bad idea." Cai Cai was completely astounded. Realizing that Wang'an was genuinely serious, her initial shock shifted into the sudden realization that it actually made complete sense. The earlier disgust felt toward the filth blanketing the ground transformed into the vision of rich compost capable of making crop seeds thrive. While much of the land remained uncultivable, the Ministry of Agriculture still maintained plenty of fine arable land under cultivation.

"Then what are we waiting for?!" Cai Cai insisted on taking action immediately. "Let's get to work!" "There's no need." Yuan Ning quickly intercepted the instantly energized Cai Cai: "While this fertilizer value is neither overwhelming nor negligible, it isn't worth wasting human labor over. Let's prioritize constructing our domain architecture first."

Accelerating the Infrastructure

The living conditions of the indigenous population in this world were exceptionally uncomfortable. Although Xia Wang'an hadn't uttered any complaints upon returning home, the expert panel had acutely perceived from the monitoring feeds she brought back that she harbored severe dissatisfaction with her environment. How could anyone wrong Blue Star's savior?! Even if they lacked resources elsewhere, possessing the capability to overhaul the current living environment meant they were ready to pour maximum effort into the task. Yuan Ning glanced back to see that Wang'an had once more climbed up into a tree to close her eyes in meditative cultivation, finding herself entirely in agreement with headquarters' decision.

Having spent a period familiarizing the robots with the local topography to minimize potential wear, she operated the systems further to accelerate their progress. To the eyes of the people in the magic world, the locals worked at a speed as slow as crawling tortoises. Conversely, in the eyes of these locals, the black-armored knights executed all architectural tasks with a speed akin to fast-forwarded footage. Each of them remained silent, yet they moved with an innate synchronicity where the completion of a process by one individual was immediately succeeded by another. The serfs bustled about handling trivial, non-technical chores. Selected patches of land were leveled, and all visible and invisible debris was cleared away. Brick kilns were erected, and freshly produced bricks were retrieved. Massive trees that normally required serfs to combine their efforts to fell and transport were carried back by these individuals with a mere gentle wave, handled by one or two people effortlessly. They wielded various bizarre yet razor-sharp tools, manufacturing furniture and buildings at a dazzling speed. The serfs, including Carlo and his companions, watched with wide eyes.

"This is not architecture, this is pure art!"

The Magic Stone and the Gun

Carlo held a tiny magic stone in his hand. The magic stone trembled continuously—not because it possessed motion, but because Carlo was overly excited and his hand was shaking. "By the Light God..." The count's second son spoke with a trembling voice: "I actually own a magic stone." Magic stones served as exceptionally precious circulating currency. Though they could not assist mages in cultivating magic, they could be utilized as raw magical materials. At this moment, Carlo carefully retrieved a box and extracted a gun from it. He then carefully placed the compact yet pure, high-grade magic stone directly onto the weapon's body. Magic rippled, and it was absorbed instantly.

"Indeed, it is related to magical tools." Relying on her superior eyesight, Xia Wang'an sat on a tree branch, openly and blatantly observing Carlo's every move. The way Carlo and his father looked at jewels resembled lovers; without any analysis from the psychology team, Xia Wang'an could discern the status jewels held in this world. At this moment, the gun in Carlo's hand no longer possessed merely a luxurious exterior, but radiated a faint layer of transparent energy from inside out. That must be the mana referred to by this world. While their combat and infrastructural capabilities were lagging behind, their manufacturing capabilities were quite decent.

Xia Wang'an leaped down gracefully from the tree. The air was filled with the fresh scent of grass because the entire area had been cleared, and overgrown grass was trimmed down. The surviving grass blades had also been rinsed, appearing green and lush—a scenery not currently visible in the Xia Kingdom. With a clear target, she walked directly toward Carlo and inquired very politely: "Can you give this gun to me?" This was Xia Wang'an's unique method of inquiry, which typically developed into either "the other party gives it, she takes it happily" or "the other party refuses, she launches into a violent robbery". This was a habit cultivated from her apocalyptic days that persisted into the present. Of course, that was in the past.

[Carlo is also my friend, I will not beat him up.] Xia Wang'an stated to 007 in her mind: [So if he is unwilling, we will just let it go.] Regardless of what Carlo thought internally, ever since she arrived in this world, he had consistently shown her friendship. Not only did he bring her to his home (despite it being dirty), he also gifted her domain and people (though equally dirty), and after Yuan Ning and Cai Cai arrived, he remained friendly to her friends as well (fearing to be otherwise). Overall, Xia Wang'an still liked this new friend—even though he was truly dirty.

Carlo froze. To be frank, he was reluctant to part with it. "This gun was gifted by my father; it is a rare magical defense gun capable of withstanding three attacks from a Great Archmage," Carlo explained carefully regarding its origin. "Unfortunately, activating it requires an advanced magic stone. I never managed to gather enough coin to purchase a magic stone, so I carried it with me until just now, when Your Highness gave me a magic stone..." He was about to say "So this is truly my cherished item and I cannot give it to you, perhaps you could look at other items of mine—" when he noticed Xia Wang'an still looking at him with high expectation. That wasn't even the main point; the key issue was that behind the hopeful princess, the black-armored knights who had been diligently working earlier had stopped all movement. They stood up, and their faces hidden beneath the armor were evidently glaring directly toward this side. Pitch-black and cold, they resembled ravenous black bears. Despite wearing plate armor, every single one of them seemed to project the silent sentiment of "If you dare make our Princess unhappy, you are dead for sure." Carlo: "......." He swallowed his saliva and spoke with extreme speed: "—Of course, if Your Highness likes it, gifting it to Your Highness is completely unproblematic."

Xia Wang'an was delighted, not expecting her new friend to be so generous. "Thank you!" She accepted the gun and looked curiously at the sweat covering Carlo's forehead: "Are you very hot?" Carlo wiped his sweat: "I—I am fine." Xia Wang'an dug into her pocket, initially pulling out the second-largest gemstone, before reconsidering and putting it back, pulling out the third-largest one instead. When it rested in the young girl's palm, Carlo's gaze glued onto it instantly, feeling as though his blood might freeze. This! This is another advanced magic stone! It is even larger than the previous one! He was immensely excited, guessing something while feeling flattered and finding it hard to believe as he looked at Xia Wang'an. He watched the princess from a major nation smile as she handed the magic stone to him: "This is a return gift." Carlo: "???" Such a massive advanced magic stone as a return gift?! Never mind his gun! He would gladly steal his father's gun to gift to her without a problem! "Thank you for your generosity!!" Holding the large advanced magic stone, Carlo's hands shook again. According to his experience, the shaking should subside shortly, but his hands failed to stop trembling. Because the black-armored knights had completed all foundational work and began actual structural construction.

Now, time loops back to after the experts acquired the monitoring footage.

"The people of this world should value the exterior appearance of architecture."

"The interior condition does not matter to them, but the exterior must look high-end."

"Then we must build a structure that surpasses everyone else. After all, Wang'an is a princess, how could a princess live in ordinary quarters?"

Design blueprints were delivered to the expert group rapidly and inputted into the operation program of architectural robots. The most convenient and rapid solutions emerged—some adopted, others modified—and items to bring were screened repeatedly. Ultimately, this construction corps was formed. The Xia Kingdom had once spent only a day and a night excavating a massive cavity capable of accommodating the Western District after encountering a meteorite strike.

T/N:

 

Hey besties! Just wanted to drop a quick update from the trenches. 😭 I only pushed out 5 chapters today, but I literally spent hours glued to my chair staring at my screen because my site was throwing a major technical tantrum. If any of y'all notice text blocks looking way too dark or unreadable, please slide into my DMs and let me know ASAP! My poor nape is screaming from sitting here grinding for hours straight. 💀 Thank y'all so much for sticking with this journey—sending major positive vibes!

 

-Siofra