Chapter 55: Plant Cultivation

A ten-million-ticket actor struggling with insomnia was recommended <Pillow Slime> by a fellow actor.

With his eyes sparkling, he checked the clock and then, looking pleased, gave a gentle tap to the <Pillow Slime> he had been sleeping on.

“What does that action mean?”

“I’m just thankful for the pillow. My insomnia was really severe, but ever since I switched pillows, I sleep soundly.”

The ten-million-ticket actor, having peeled off the <Pack Slime> from his face, stretched lightly and headed to the bathroom.

Without even washing his face, he applied sunscreen to his already glowing skin and tidied up his hair with <Towel Slime>.

Next up was breakfast.

Chop chop chop chop. Using a digital scale, he skillfully made fried rice.

“You really make sure to have breakfast, huh?”

“I used to skip breakfast because I found it bothersome, but it turns out it was the dishes, not the cooking, that bothered me. Once cleaning up became easy, I started eating breakfast.”

After finishing his meal, the ten-million-ticket actor wiped the used utensils with <Towel Slime>.

Seeing him put the dishes straight into the cupboard, the panel was shocked, so he explained.

“I wondered if it might be unhygienic, so I did a bacteria culture test, and it was fine.”

A reference video popped up on the screen.

The ten-million-ticket actor appeared in a lab coat and mask, disinfecting the table with alcohol and setting a candle on top-going all out with the experiment.

The panel was surprised again and continued the conversation.

The daily life of the ten-million-ticket actor on screen continued.

He put <Gargle Slime> in his mouth, munch munch, gulp.

The ten-million-ticket actor disappeared into the bathroom.

When he came out and went to the living room, the camera zoomed in on several potted plants there.

“You have a lot of plants at home?”

“When I’m filming, I get tense, anxious, and excited, so my nerves get sensitive. They say caring for plants helps you feel calm, so I started bringing them in one by one, and before I knew it, I had this many.”

“What’s that on top of the pots?”

“That’s <Pack Slime>. If you look at the number on the soil moisture meter, you’ll see-when you lay <Pack Slime> on top of the pots, it helps regulate moisture and temperature quite well.”

–

“Have you always used this much <Slime>?”

“At first, I was hesitant because I heard it was an alchemy product, but after my friend recommended <Pillow Slime>, I was hooked.”

The ten-million-ticket actor, famous for his cold impression.

A face he never showed anywhere else.

He spoke with a bright smile.

“Now, I can’t even imagine life without <Slime>.”

—

So this was it.

An actor who starred in two ten-million-ticket films, firmly establishing himself as a ten-million-ticket actor, appeared on an observational variety show.

That alone was enough to create a buzz. On top of that, his science-y side, skilled cooking, and his deep <Slime> love-which looked almost like a <Slime> PPL-were revealed, making it even more of a sensation.

Naturally, more people started watching related videos and memes.

Information spread about how you could use <Pack Slime> when growing plants.

If you don’t jump on this trend, you’re not a real influencer.

That’s why there’s been a spike in posts and videos about growing plants with <Pack Slime>.

For plants to grow, temperature, humidity, and light are important.

<Pack Slime> excels at regulating temperature and humidity.

It only takes care of the roots, so there are limits when it comes to the leaves.

The price of <Pack Slime> is 14,800 won.

It feels wasteful to use that just for growing plants. The lifespan of <Pack Slime> is less than ten days anyway.

Even if you give a plant as a gift, it’s only worth a few tens of thousands of won. The money for three <Pack Slimes> could just buy a new plant.

You say you have to consider the giver’s sincerity?

Then study up on how to grow the plant.

Truly expensive plants will only be given to people who know how to care for them.

And for those kinds of expensive plants, managing them with just one <Pack Slime> is unlikely.

The only plants whose lifespans are extended by <Pack Slime> are the easiest kinds-like cacti that aren’t picky about humidity or temperature.

With <Pack Slime>, even someone who doesn’t know much about plants can water them a lot without the roots rotting and dying.

Rare orchids?

Why do you think they’re rare? Because they’re hard to grow. If they were easy, someone would have mass-produced them and sold them by now.

Solving everything with a single <Pack Slime> is impossible.

<Pack Slime> can only maintain proper humidity and temperature. Its [Analyze] ability can’t handle plants that need large temperature swings.

There’s even talk of someone making three million won a month with <Pack Slime>. But after watching the whole video, as expected-the person was selling pots, nutritional supplements, and orchid seeds.

They even say they provide extra training if you buy, so it’s clear that you can’t properly grow real money-making orchids just with the info in the video.

That’s how all the videos on WTube are.

Maybe if it’s someone else’s rice bowl, but hardly anyone shares info that would break their own rice bowl.

Hydroponics. This is at least a proper use case.

Using <Pack Slime> definitely reduces the workload.

The method explained in posts about growing vegetables at home is the deep water culture system-putting plant roots in water full of nutrients. The biggest issues are the nutrient solution’s temperature, dissolved oxygen, and bacteria, moss, and green algae living in the solution.

All of those are <Pack Slime>’s specialties.

If you don’t use enough <Pack Slime>, it can’t handle temperature and oxygen, but as long as you use enough, it can manage them properly.

Bacteria, moss, green algae?

Bon appétit.

There’s no need to worry about <Pack Slime> eating all the nutrients the plant needs.

Our <Pack Slime> is smart enough to distinguish between what it can and can’t eat.

But with facility setup costs, maintenance, water bills, nutritional supplement costs, and regular <Pack Slime> consumption, isn’t it a loss?

Maybe you can make it work by selling them as expensive pesticide-free or organic produce?

I don’t really know since agriculture isn’t my specialty.

Well, if money isn’t the goal, there’s no problem.

If you feed your family vegetables you grew organically yourself, you’ll feel a sense of fulfillment you can’t get from store-bought.

It also gives you a trump card to stop your family from being picky eaters.

‘Mom grew this herself, and you’re not going to eat it?’

That card is pretty strong. Speaking from experience, it breaks your guard right down.

If it’s usable at home like this, there must be companies researching large-scale hydroponics with <Slime>.

Trading my <Slime> between individuals is illegal, but using <Slime> to make money like this is something to be welcomed.

As long as it’s not half a scam like the orchid sellers.

Seeing more people using <Pack Slime> in new ways shows that demand is dropping.

Of course it is.

The weather’s gotten colder.

In summer, lots of people stuck it to their armpits or chests to get rid of sweat and body odor.

Now that it’s colder and people don’t sweat as much, it’s only natural for usage to drop.

From now on, it’ll mostly be used for facial skincare, atopic dermatitis treatment, or attached to the body’s core.

As predicted back in the days when Slimes were chewing chicken, demand for <Insole Slime> must have dropped too. The main use for <Insole Slime+> is athlete’s foot treatment. Athlete’s foot is an infectious disease, and the more people are infected, the more it spreads exponentially, but it drops just as sharply when it declines.

As demand among ordinary people drops, it must be easier for companies to secure <Insole Slime>.

Just like <Insole Slime> is being researched in America as a shock-absorbing cushion, maybe similar things are happening here too.

“Hmm….”

Should I make commercial <Slime> or not.

Whatever the job, it’s most efficient to solve it using something designed for that purpose.

No matter how good a gaming computer’s stats are, if you use it as a server, all sorts of problems crop up.

<Plant Cultivation Slime>

-A slime that holds and grows plants inside itself. Grow strong and healthy.

As long as it gets enough water and nutrients, there’s nothing to worry about.

Since it’s blocked off by Slime, there’s no worry about pests or disease.

Of course, there’s no worry about temperature, humidity, or wind.

For light, <Plant Cultivation Slime> can just emit light itself to provide it.

If you put edible plants inside <Plant Cultivation Slime>, the nutrients will concentrate in the edible parts, making them huge, beautiful, and delicious.

An agricultural revolution is bound to happen.

Of course, not right now, but in the distant future.

For me, Gongdori☆☆, and Gongsooni☆☆, to cover all the world’s farmland with <Plant Cultivation Slime> is impossible.

But if all the skills [Decompose], [Absorb], [Divide], and [Multiply] evolve into [Decompose++], [Absorb++], [Divide++], and [Multiply++].

I feel like I could handle the world’s food production on my own.

Let’s be realistic.

A farmer uprising would happen.

Even if I don’t hold back, it seems like it’ll take a long time to get ++ on all four skills.

At least four Class A artifacts are needed. When going from + to ++, even Class A artifacts might not be enough.

After upgrading once, to upgrade again, you need even higher-grade materials, right?

S-class artifact, huh. What on earth would I have to make to get something like that as payment?

It might be faster to just go into a dungeon myself and find one.

Ah, of course, I have no intention of actually going into a dungeon.

Home is the best.

Even if I can’t cover the world’s farmland with <Slime> right away, with time, I could make enough to fill a whole building.

Buying a suitable building, decorating it like a high-tech farm, and growing premium fruits with <Plant Cultivation Slime> to sell doesn’t sound bad.

Yum.

If I start a business, I’ll need someone to manage it.

No matter how much I automate, there are limits, and errors can happen.

Since it’s not about selling alchemy products, I can’t get help from the Alchemy Center.

I’d have to manage the facility myself or hire someone.

The former is less profitable than making and selling <Slime> in that time.

The latter, I don’t have anyone I can trust.

Since I don’t really want to sell <Plant Cultivation Slime>, I guess I’ll just bury the idea.

***

[Me: Makina!!!

Me: Let’s plaaaay!!!

Makina: Shut up.

Me: Let’s… play….

Makina: K. What do you wanna play?

Me: Should I decide?

Makina: The one who wants to play should decide.

Me: That’s a tough one.

Me: Word chain?

Makina: Are you a kindergartner?

Me: How rude.

Me: Word chain is a game for intellectuals that reveals a person’s knowledge.

Makina: Sunset.]

Even if you don’t feel like playing, that’s just too much!

[Me: Sunset ends with ‘t’. Tellurium

Makina: Tellur ends with ‘er’. Erbium

Me: Ends with ‘m’. Magnesium]

Makina: Tsk.

Yes! Feels like I got one over her.

[Makina: Metamorphosis

Me: Slime.

Makina: Eroded

Me: Despair

Makina: Restore

Me: Emerge

Makina: Engagement

Me: Shall we stop here?

Makina: Decided on something to do?

Me: Yup.]

I picked a game and sent it to Makina.

A game about building amusement parks.

[Me: Let’s see who can make the more popular amusement park!

Three hours later.

[Makina: I went for extreme efficiency.

Me: Is this hell?

Me: You can’t even get out after you die.

Makina: The score is high, though.

Me: The money is skyrocketing, sure.

Me: But I now know I can’t trust you with amusement park design.

Makina: How about this?

Me: You made two more in that time?

Me: On this scale?

Me: ….

Me: ….

Me: Don’t make this in reality, okay!

Makina: Lol.]

As expected, thinking I could beat Makina at a game was reckless.

***

-Alchemy Slime-nim. Do you have any plans to export <Glutton Slime>?

<Glutton Slime>, you mean this?

<Glutton Slime>

-A slime specialized in absorbing and storing consumed nutrients.

A slime I introduced to efficiently supply materials to our Gongdori and Gongsooni.

You want me to sell this?

“Where do they want to import it from?”

-They say they want to import it to America.

Why all of a sudden?