Civilization Chronicles: Rise of the Divine Creator

Having concluded his business at the soap factory, Lucas planned to head to the sugar lab to check out how the new cooking methods and equipment the Roth Family ladies had suggested were working out, but on his way there, a messenger rode up to his carriage with a request for him to return to the Manor as soon as possible.

”Has something happened?” Lucas asked pointedly, worried it was about whatever his Master and the other higher-ups had been hiding from him recently.

Fortunately, that didn’t seem to be the case today as the messenger just shook her head and replied, ”No, it seems you have a guest from Falcon’s Bend. A Lady Foster.”

Foster... Foster... Ah! Lucas took a moment to think but soon recalled a freckled young woman with that last name who was a huge fan of his Master. If it was her, then she was probably here bearing good news.

”Tell Lady Foster I will be there as soon as possible,” Lucas replied before signaling to the driver to head back towards the Manor.

The messenger, acknowledging the order from her Lady’s First Disciple, nodded and rode off to carry out his order.

.....

”Young Master!” Molly Foster, the niece of Count Lester Randolph, quickly stood up from her chair when Lucas entered the reception room and bowed.

”Please be at ease, Lady Molly,” Lucas motioned for her to relax before taking a seat across from the young woman.

Also sitting down, Molly reached into her bag and pulled out a thick stack of papers, placing them on the table between them and announcing, ”As you requested, together with scouts from the Count’s Manor and the Swift Current Legion, I had my lumberjacks survey a wide area around Falcon’s Bend looking for regions where large numbers of lych trees grow.

Unfolding a large map, Molly enthusiastically proceeded to point out several different locations, ”After several months of searching, these 5 spots were the best candidates we could find for establishing pioneer villages. Each one has ample access to fresh water and has plenty of lych trees in their nearby forests.”

Without letting Lucas get a word in, Molly continued to explain the pros and cons about each location, such as how flat the terrain was, how far it was from Falcon’s Bend or an established road, and so on and so forth.

It was an incredibly detailed and well put together briefing that gave Lucas a clear picture of what issues he would be facing when trying to establish new settlements in north of the province.

This was the final piece of information Lucas had been waiting for to begin his full-scale sugar harvesting operations, and the good news didn’t stop there.

According to Molly, in addition to the 5 prime locations, there were actually 10 more which were less ideal but still potential candidates for sap harvesting.

One spot among the initial 5 locations also had the potential for more than just a village to be established. The geography, location, and water supplies there were sufficient to build a large town, one that would also be extremely close to a rich grove of Star Lych Trees.

No one had tried building a settlement there before because it wasn’t ideal for farming, logging, or mining, but the conditions were actually ideal for Lucas’ purposes.

When the young boy heard Molly excitedly speak about this location, a big grin involuntarily appeared on his face.

Maple Sugar from Red Lych Trees was valuable as a luxury good, one that may eventually be abundant enough for it to filter into the hands of commoners, but it was the sugar from Star Lych Trees that was the real prize in his eyes.

When Lucas, Celestina, and Victoria had presented the two types of sugar to Ariana for her evaluation, the former queen had said that no matter how much of it they produced, she could sell it in the Sovereignty for an enormous profit.

The Red Maple Sugar would reap a huge amount of Gold, but the Tier 3 Star Maple Sugar was valuable enough in Ariana’s opinion to be sold directly for Low-Grade Spirit Crystals.

The reason for this was simple; Low-Rank Mortal Grade Tier 3 foods typically contained enough World Qi to be useful even to Peak Spirit Initiates in boosting their cultivation as long as they were consumed regularly.

This kind of improvement was slight, providing no more than a 1% increase in overall cultivation speed, but one had to remember that many Spirit Initiates took decades to break through from one Minor Realm to the next, so this seemingly insignificant boost could actually save them many months worth of effort.

As for Adepts, the benefits they saw from eating Mid-Rank Tier 3 foods was even smaller, but that didn’t mean a sugar of that quality wasn’t useful to them.

When Spirit Chefs prepared meals for strong Cultivators, one of the easiest ways they had to maintain high concentrations of World Qi in their dishes was to use higher-Tier ingredients.

In that sense, Lucas’ Maple Sugar would be incredibly valuable to high-rank Spirit Chefs as it would allow them to avoid using the much more common Tier 1 sugars.

These reasons alone would have been enough to double down on the Maple Sugar project, but if the improved refinement methods Olivia and Ava provided panned out as well, the potential gains would be another order of magnitude higher!

Lucas really felt like leaping out of his seat, dancing around, and hugging Molly in joy, but with incredible willpower, he managed to remain ’mostly’ composed, nodding along to the enthusiastic young woman’s explanations.

Finally, when she was done, Lucas couldn’t contain himself anymore and shouted, ”Wonderful! You don’t know how much I appreciate all the hard work you’ve done for me these past few months, Lady Molly! A reward is definitely in order! What is it you would like as compensation for your efforts?”

Molly’s eyes lit up when she heard this as she immediately declared, ”I want to meet the Marquess!”

For a moment, Lucas gawked, before bursting into laughter, ”I already promised you that for simply looking into this matter, so consider it done. In fact, why don’t you join my Junior Sisters and I for dinner tonight with our Master? That way you can spend some time talking to her in a less formal setting.”