Favorite of the Beast-world: I Got Rich Through Farming-Chapter 221 - 162: Digging Potatoes + New City Lord
They had transported a lot of supplies from their tribe to Beast Gathering City, and on the very first day, the Beastmen here had eaten through half of it.
It was terrifying.
At this rate, their food would definitely not be enough.
Fortunately, An Jin had planned ahead and stored a large amount of food in her Universal Warehouse within the System Space.
She would secretly add a little to the city’s storage warehouse from time to time. The small additions accumulated, and the Beastmen never noticed anything amiss.
But the food would eventually run out. Simply relying on their not-so-abundant relief supplies was certainly not a long-term solution.
An Jin planned to lead them to find more food.
With Demon Beasts besieging the city, they couldn’t leave. Their only option was to dig for food within the city’s lands.
Many food sources in the Beast World were untapped resources, considered inedible by the Beastmen. If An Jin could just teach them the correct way to prepare these foods, they could significantly increase their reserves.
"Those large root vegetables you brought—the sweet potatoes—they were delicious and very filling. We found a lot of similar tubers nearby. Could you come and take a look?"
The Beastmen, who had just rushed back from the mountain forests on the city’s outskirts, hurried to find her, their faces flushed with excitement.
They were panting heavily, having clearly sprinted all the way here.
"Quick, take me there."
An Jin felt a surge of joy. She quickly got ready and followed them to a hilltop, where she found a huge pile of freshly dug potatoes.
The skins of the round potatoes were still caked with dirt. They were piled up into a small mountain, yet no one dared to eat them.
"Because of the famine, we’ve already dug up all the edible wild vegetables and plants in the city," a Tiger Beast said worriedly. "A starving Beastman once ate this yellowish-brown tuber but quickly started vomiting and died."
An Jin shook her head. She crouched down, picked up a small potato, and gently rubbed the dirt off with her thumb. "You ate them raw, didn’t you?"
The Beastman nodded. Most of the wild vegetables and edible plants they dug up were eaten raw.
In their minds, these easy-to-chew foods and fruits didn’t require the effort of cooking.
"This tuber... uh, we can call it a potato. Potatoes can’t be eaten raw, or you’ll get poisoned."
Potatoes are rich in starch and must be cooked. Otherwise, the starch granules won’t break down, and the human body can’t digest them.
Moreover, potatoes contain a toxic protein called lectin, which can cause red blood cells to clump together. Ingesting it can lead to nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, and in severe cases, death.
When the protein is cooked at high temperatures, it denatures and loses its function. That’s why foods like potatoes and taro are usually eaten cooked.
Of course, the Beastmen didn’t understand any of this science. But since An Jin said they were edible once cooked, they happily carried the potatoes home in their Beast Skin Bags.
After cooking them at home, they found they were indeed not poisonous. Although they didn’t have much flavor, they were extremely filling.
Soon, a wave of potato-digging swept through the city’s Beastmen.
As they dug, they also discovered daikon radishes, taro, yam roots, and more. Many of these plants, previously classified as inedible, all became edible thanks to An Jin’s effective explanations.
The food reserves in the warehouse increased dramatically.
[Personal Prestige +6. Current Prestige: +195!]
Mirror Mirror’s cheerful voice rang out. "You’re almost at 200! Please keep up the good work, my dear Master!"
The great rainy season arrived. The first downpour was sudden and intense, blanketing the entire city. The trees in the forest were twisted and bent by the fierce winds.
A milky-white mist filled the air, and inhaling it made one’s lungs burn and cough. The Beastmen had no choice but to huddle in their houses, hoping the storm would end soon.
An Jin was no exception.
"Oh gods, I’m so itchy. Why am I covered in this red rash..."
An Jin climbed out of her grass nest in the middle of the night, itching all over. She started scratching her shoulders and back.
Ling Hong pulled her into his arms. His gaze fell on the grass nest beneath her, and his silver-white, sword-like brows furrowed. "It’s the great rainy season. The weather is too humid, and these grass nests are all damp."
"The warehouse flooded during the rain a few days ago. All the hay they had dried beforehand got wet, so there’s no way to replace it."
Beast Gathering City had no beds. The Beastmen slept in nests of hay and on animal hides, maintaining an incredibly primitive lifestyle.
’This is unbearable. I can’t take it anymore.’
An Jin wailed, "If I stay in this damp grass nest any longer, I’m going to scratch my skin raw! Let’s hurry up and make a bed!"
[Ding! Random Quest Issued—Teach the Beastmen how to make beds and popularize the method in Beast Gathering City.
Time Limit: 7 days
Reward: +35 Gold Coins]
The system happened to issue a random quest at that exact moment, which was just what she wanted.
She was a woman of action. As soon as the storm subsided, An Jin planned to teach the Beastmen of the city how to make beds!
「A few days later」
The gloomy sky finally cleared. After being cooped up at home for so long, the Beastmen couldn’t wait to run out of their houses and frolic.
"AWOOO~" They shifted into their beast forms, lazing by their doorways to soak up the long-awaited warm sunlight. They took deep breaths of the air, rich with the smell of damp earth and fresh greenery.
Hearing the long howl of a Wolf Beast erupt from the city center, the Beastmen’s spirits lifted. They immediately roared in response and ran toward the square. Soon, the empty plaza was packed with a dense crowd of Beastmen.
An Jin looked at the sea of heads. Seeing that almost everyone had arrived, she told them her plan to make beds.
The Beastmen were tough and thick-skinned, suited for any harsh environment, so they didn’t feel much discomfort from sleeping in grass nests all year round.
But the females, who were physically less robust, weren’t so lucky.
Many of the females had developed the same red rash as An Jin. It was incredibly itchy with a slight stinging pain, and they often scratched their skin until it bled.
The males all felt deeply for their mates, so they were unanimously and completely in favor of making beds.
However, they were worried about the quality. After all, Beastmen were sturdily built and could easily break wooden structures. Plus, they and their partners often made quite a commotion while mating. Could these so-called wooden beds really withstand their... activities?
"You don’t need to worry about the quality."
An Jin said firmly, "The Beastmen in our tribe have been using beds to rest for several years, and not a single one has ever collapsed. If you’re still worried, you can make stone beds instead."
The Beastmen from the Sheng’an Tribe nodded eagerly, unable to resist puffing out their chests with pride.
The Beastmen of Beast Gathering City were utterly shocked.
They had always believed their city was the most developed and prosperous in the region, but they never imagined they had fallen so far behind in something as basic as sleeping arrangements.
They were still sleeping in grass nests, while others were already sleeping on these so-called "beds."
’This tribe is far more civilized and advanced than we thought.’
Through their interactions over this period, the Beastmen of Beast Gathering City had witnessed the capabilities of this Female Clan Leader before them. Their initial simple gratitude had deepened into admiration.
The Old City Lord had already been... by that pack of Demon Beasts...
’Sigh. The city’s strength is greatly diminished now. We don’t have the power to hold a tournament to select a New City Lord.’
’If only she could become our New City Lord...’
