My Farming Domain Is Broken

Chapter 59. Bellvine Watcher

Bellvine Watcher Seed

Uncommon Grade

Type: Sentient Defensive Crop

Produces a climbing vine with eye-shaped buds and bell-shaped flowers.

The mature plant can learn to produce different alarms after detecting movement, climbing, digging or smoke.

Growing Requirements:

Prepared soil beside a constructed support

Regular water

Daily sunlight

Warning:

Strong winds and storms may trigger false alarms.

The plant must be trained to recognize ordinary territory activity. Which can take time and effort.

Carlos read it and actually liked the seed. Then he looked at the seller’s asking price.

[Requested Payment]

Copper Coins x600

Wood x500 and Stone x400

Carlos stared at the numbers. The seed was useful, but the seller wanted enough construction resources to build several structures in exchange for something he could not even grow himself.

Having food in surplus did not make it worthless. It gave Carlos something most other Lords needed every day and could not easily produce.

’These unreasonable requests are only coming because people can see my name in the Rankings and the world achievement. It is time I built a response to them.’

He rejected the resource price and sent a counteroffer.

[Counteroffer]

High-quality Cooked Meals x8

The seller responded immediately.

[Lord GreenThumb]- This is the only Bellvine seed in the Trade section. I got it from a near-death experience.

[Carlos Goldwin]- It is also one seed that may die before producing anything.

[Lord GreenThumb]- It is Uncommon grade. Eight meals are not enough.

[Lord GreenThumb]- Defensive seeds are rarer than cooked food. All military lords can use them for their territory. Not just production domain.

[Carlos Goldwin]- One failed germination leaves me with nothing. You cannot germinate this level of seed without proper knowledge, but you can eat every meal today with my offer.

[Lord GreenThumb]- Three hundred Copper Coins and five High-quality meals.

[Carlos Goldwin]- Ten High-quality meals. That is my final offer. Take it or keep a seed you cannot grow. Later.

The seller did not answer for nearly a minute.

Carlos sent the description to Cosmic and asked whether GreenThumb had completed any other public trades.

Cosmic found three seed exchanges and no complaints from the buyers.

It seemed like the guy found a seed chest and opened it and now had seeds he could not use.

Carlos knew there were ways to hide defects in item information. With Cosmic’s help, he was able to reduce the risk to some extent.

[Cosmic Merchant]- His price is insane.

[Carlos Goldwin]- I know.

[Cosmic Merchant]- Offer six meals instead.

[Carlos Goldwin]- I offered ten High-quality meals. No coins, wood or stone, and nothing owed afterward.

[Cosmic Merchant]- Alright, just keep me updated. I gotta go for now, My lizardmen and others have gone for the 3rd conquest.

[Carlos Goldwin]- Good luck broski, tell me if you need anything.

[Cosmic Merchant]- I will

While he was talking, a notification came. GreenThumb finally accepted.

[Trade completed]

[Bellvine Watcher Seed x1 obtained]

[High-quality Cooked Meals x10 delivered]

Carlos took the seed to Rowan before the seller could change his mind.

It was long, thin and covered in green fibres that moved whenever the wind touched them.

Rowan inspected it without asking what Carlos had paid.

"Where do you want it?"

"Somewhere that can give it support and it can also do its job properly."

Kaia joined them and studied the inner walls. The Burstpod already covered the southern entrance, so placing another defensive crop there would leave the west dependent on guards and empty towers.

She selected a wall section near the western gate and the Conquest Portal.

"Here. Its alarm can reach both western towers and the training ground. The road remains clear."

Rowan crouched beside the wall.

"The soil is compacted from construction. It needs loosening before anything grows here."

He called Elias and Boro. The three Farmers prepared a narrow cultivation bed along the wall. They removed stones, loosened the soil and mixed in a small amount of Purified Soil.

Rowan made the bed longer than the seed required.

"The vine will spread," he explained. "If we prepare only the place where it begins, its new roots will reach compacted soil and weaken."

Carlos helped break the ground with his hoe while Elias removed stones. Boro carried the loosened soil away from the planned road instead of leaving it where carts would eventually pass.

The work took longer than placing a building through the system. That was the difference between constructing a barrack and growing something alive.

Boro kept looking at the seed.

"Can it smell people through the wall?"

"Nothing says it can smell," Rowan answered.

"Then how does it know?"

"Ask it after it grows." Carlos joked.

Mira arrived carrying meals for Ironroot’s existing trade requests.

"Can its flowers ring when lunch is ready?" She asked jokingly too.

"No," Kaia answered immediately, not understanding she was not serious.

But Carlos considered it for a moment, it seemed like a good thing to get alarm for.

"That could be useful. Everyone could gather at the sound of the alarm"

Kaia looked at him with confusion but she still nodded.

They planted the seed beside the wall and placed a simple wooden climbing frame above it.

Rowan tied three soft strips of cloth between the frame and wall. The young vine could climb them without damaging itself against the iron reinforcement.

"Will it not climb the wall on its own?" Carlos asked.

"It can. But we don’t need to risk it."

Carlos looked at the Burstpod standing fully armed across the territory. Rowan had treated that dangerous plant with the same care he used for ordinary wheat.

To Rowan, being able to shoot someone did not stop something from being a crop.

Blue approached with Mana Water, but Carlos raised one hand.

"Ordinary water first."

The Burstpod had grown from a seed into an armed plant within hours because of one drop. Carlos wanted to understand the Bellvine before accelerating it.

Boro watered the prepared soil and for several minutes, nothing happened.

Then a thin green stem broke through and wrapped around the lowest part of the climbing frame.

Bellvine Watcher

Growth: 4%

Condition: Healthy

Current Detection: Inactive

GreenThumb messaged him right away and offered two Common flower seeds at inflated prices.

Carlos rejected both. Completing one fair trade did not make him an easy customer. Besides, he already possessed enough ordinary seeds and planned to produce more through future harvests.

Rowan checked the new stem every fifteen minutes. Elias prepared more support ties, while Boro carefully pressed the loose soil whenever another root emerged.

By evening, the vine had reached Carlos’s waist. Closed buds covered its stem, while three small bell-shaped flowers hung beneath the leaves.

Unlike the Burstpod, it did not turn aggressively toward every person passing nearby. The buds moved slowly, following footsteps before returning to their resting position.

The Bellvine was already detecting activity. It simply had not learned which activity deserved an alarm.

Rowan refused to use Mana Water until its roots strengthened.

Kaia began planning the training tests.

One guard would walk near the wall. Another would climb a ladder. The Tool Workshop would produce smoke away from the fields, and Brann would strike the ground beyond the gate to imitate digging.

"One danger at a time," Kaia said. "It needs a different alarm for each."

The Burstpod could attack anything that entered its firing lane.

The Bellvine would eventually warn them before an enemy reached it.

Carlos looked across the unfinished walls and imagined other crops growing between the towers. Crops that could restrain attackers, shield the fields or help injured defenders.

My Farming Domain Is Broken

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