Cave Refuge

After confirming with his Spiritual Sense Scanning that there was no one around, Zachary entered the Cave realm. 𝒻𝑟ℯℯ𝑤𝑒𝑏𝑛𝘰𝓋𝑒𝓁.𝒸𝑜𝘮

Because he knew nothing about perfumes, he headed to the grasslands to find Walker Violet, who was leisurely horseback riding.

He took out a dozen or so types of perfume from the storage space and asked Walker Violet to categorize them based on their quality.

After hearing Zachary’s request, Walker Violet immediately said to him, "Master, if you want to ask about perfume, you’d better go to Heather. She likes to tinker with them and is very skilled at both making and appraising perfumes."

As soon as Walker Violet mentioned Heather, the image of Canary, who always emitted a faint fragrance, came to Zachary’s mind.

Though the scent lingering on her was seductive, it was by no means too strong; instead, it was rather subtle and elegant.

Actually, the reason Zachary sought Walker Violet was to get a female’s perspective on the quality of the perfumes he had in hand. Although Walker Violet was not particularly knowledgeable about perfumes, it was still rather simple for her to categorize them for Zachary.

If Heather was like a highly professional chef who could not only distinguish the level of the dishes but also cook delicious meals herself,

then Walker Violet was akin to an ordinary food connoisseur, who, while unable to cook extremely delicious dishes, could nonetheless discern the tastiness of the food before her.

Logically speaking, since Zachary only needed someone to categorize the perfumes and didn’t require a specialist like Heather, Walker Violet could meet his needs by herself, eliminating any need for Zachary to find Heather specifically.

But after hearing Zachary’s request, Walker Violet still suggested he seek a more professional individual to handle the perfumes.

The reason behind this was self-evident: Walker Violet and Jasmine Anderson were the first two Canaries to follow Zachary, and since they were identical twins, they held a special place in Zachary’s heart.

Even though Heather was quite pretty, she was not particularly conspicuous among the many beautiful Canaries in the Cave.

If it were someone like Jade who was good at cooking, or Addison Lilith who could display her tea artistry to Zachary when he was at leisure, it would be a different story.

Other Canaries, though each had their specialized skills, were like Heather whose abilities were significantly weakened after the disaster struck.

Had it not been for the expanded Cave realm, where many spare areas were utilized to plant flowers, Heather’s expertise in making perfumes would have indeed been rendered obsolete.

In a palace drama context, Walker Violet’s action would be tantamount to aiding a rival. Normally, not only would she take on Zachary’s request, even if she couldn’t do it herself, she would claim the task and then seek Heather’s help under her own name, making sure to limit Zachary’s contact with Heather as much as possible.

However, reality is not a palace drama, and Zachary is not one of those frail emperors from TV shows, doting evenly every day, or capable of vigorous activities throughout the night; hence, the Canaries living in the Cave had less inclination for scheming against each other.

In addition, Zachary had given them cultivation methods, saving them from thinking about how to plot against others when idle.

After all, compared to engaging in intrigues, they preferred to increase their Cultivation Level and maintain their youthful and beautiful appearance when they had nothing better to do.

It was for this reason that they were willing to let Zachary know about each individual’s specialties, so he wouldn’t seek out other Canaries outside for certain tasks.

In the Cave, Zachary had no need to use Spiritual Sense Scanning to locate Heather; as the master of the Cave, his will was omnipotent there. With a mere thought, he was instantly at Heather’s side.

At that moment, Heather was tending the garden with Lillian, whose specialty was horticulture—a talent highly appreciated by the upper class before the disaster, and even during the disaster era, many horticulturists turned to agricultural advising due to the similarity in plants.

Lillian was rather lucky. If the Cave had not been upgraded, although it was possible to plant flora within the Cave mansion due to the limited space, Zachary would have chosen crops with high practical value over ornamental plants.

Even though Zachary had bought various seeds for flowers and plants before, he wouldn’t have sown them in the Cave mansion at that time.

However, after the upgrade of the Cave, the space within was greatly expanded, providing much more area to cultivate a variety of flora. This allowed Zachary to allocate a specific section solely for growing different types of plants.

Surprisingly, despite the Cave maintaining a perpetual spring, plants that required special environments to flourish thrived and grew well within, regardless of their typical habitat.

Zachary surmised that it was probably the dense Spirit Energy in the Cave that enabled these ordinary plants to disregard their original growth conditions and prosper in the Cave.

Since other plants were growing, Zachary naturally set aside some land and scattered some seeds for medicinal herbs as well, entrusting the Canaries with their care, although he didn’t hold much expectation for the medicinal garden.