I’ve Been Reincarnated as a Tentacle Slime~ I Want to Live a Comfortable, Secure Life and Do Whatever I Want~ - Chapter 72

In the span of half a month, I was able to collect seeds of leafy vegetables.

Because surplus seeds were produced, there was something I wanted to try. That is the selective breeding using the [Agriculture and Animal Husbandry] skill.

By consuming seeds of plants and applying the [Agriculture and Animal Husbandry] skill, a window appears showing a list like the parameter screen.

● Radish

┣Taste ←→:

┣Nutrition ←→:

┣Yield ←→:

┣ Germination Rate ←→ :

┣ Disease Resistance ←→ :

┣ Pest Resistance ←→ :

┣ Cold Resistance ←→ :

┗ Heat Resistance ←→ :

5 points remaining

There is an arrow next to it, and when I press “→” it adds one ■ while subtracting one remaining point.

It appears I can improve the plant’s effects according to the skill level in each category.

“Yield, germination rate, cold resistance, and pest resistance are must-haves. Since this region is cold, I should add cold resistance and use all 5 points this way, right?”

I showed the window to Michael, who helped harvest the seeds with me, and asked for advice on how to allocate the skill points.

● Radish

┣Taste ←→:

┣Nutrition ←→:

┣Yield ←→:■

┣ Germination Rate ←→ :■

┣ Disease Resistance ←→ :■

┣ Pest Resistance ←→ :■

┣ Cold Resistance ←→ :■

┗ Heat Resistance ←→ :

0 points remaining

“Father, is it really necessary to cram everything into a single seed?”

“What do you mean? Mika, do you have an idea.”

Seems you’ve come up with something good. I’m really glad I consulted you.

“Split the seeds into eight groups, fully invest in one trait per group. By cross-pollinating two flowers, you’ll get vegetables with two characteristics.”

“I see, so this is selective breeding. If so, shall we combine disease resistance, pest resistance, cold resistance, and germination rate to aim for stable harvests?”

“That’s good too. However, since we’re at it, let’s combine all traits. If it goes well, we can get all traits with three rounds of selective breeding.”

If the first selective breeding is successful, the second and third crossings of resilient crops will be easier.

“Then, except for the pest resistance × taste combo, is it fine to pick the rest at random? Bugs are drawn to tasty vegetables.”

“Yes, that should be no problem. We will manage them carefully and raise everything safely.”

“Sorry to trouble you.”

“It’s fine, vegetables can’t be harvested in dungeons anyway. They’re needed for human nutrition. Let’s have them eat well and have them bear many children.”

(I wasn’t thinking that far ahead… I just thought that if we’re growing vegetables, it’s better if they grow safely and taste good…)

This time, I applied selective breeding—maybe genetic modification?—to the harvested seeds and sowed them.

–

After a few days, the seeds I planted began to sprout.

As expected, the seeds with improved germination rate sprouted the most. While the other seeds had about a 10% germination rate, the improved ones had 20%. 20% may sound low, but if you say the rate doubled, doesn’t that make you go “Whoa!”?

–

A few more weeks passed, and the fast-growing leafy greens had grown lush. The radishes had also fattened their roots—though they were still small.

Needless to say, the seeds with improved germination rate had higher yields, and the seeds with improved yield had larger leaves and more of them.

The radishes’ root bulbs had also grown a size larger.

“Let’s harvest half and use the rest for crossbreeding.”

“Yes!”

When I had the villagers try the taste-enhanced vegetables, they said they were tastier than before and gave great feedback.

“Cruz-san! This is delicious!! Hey, hey, can you give me some of these seeds~?”

“Give it a little more time and they’ll be ready for regular harvests. Until then, you’ll have to settle for my seed, I guess…”

“No way~! Cruz-san, you sound like a dirty old man~!”

“Don’t call me an old man!”

–

As the flowers started blooming, I performed a cross-pollination between the two groups.

If you insert a tentacle before the flower blooms and consume the stamen, pollination won’t occur, so it’s actually pretty easy.

Finally, when I collected the seeds and checked their parameters, most seeds had 5–6 points of stats.

However, about 5% of the seeds had a stat of 9.

● Radish

┣Taste ←→: ■■■■■

┣Nutrition ←→:

┣Yield ←→:

┣ Germination Rate ←→ :

┣ Disease Resistance ←→ :

┣ Pest Resistance ←→ :■■■■

┣ Cold Resistance ←→ :

┗ Heat Resistance ←→ :

5 points remaining

“Hm?” The points are back to 5. Does that mean I can reallocate them in the next generation?

This is perfect, if I add 1 point, I’ll have a crop seed with a total of 10 points!

On top of that, I attempted raising the performance above 6—but it didn’t work!

――――You cannot exceed the skill level――――

Well, there’s nothing I can do about it!

“We’ve done a nice job with the breeding, Father. If we secure distribution channels, this could become the village’s signature product.”

“Oh! You were thinking that far ahead? As expected of you, Mika!”

As I thought, Michael is amazing.

“What are you saying, Father? You improved the crops to earn the village some outside income, didn’t you?”

“Hmm… yeah… I guess that’s… the case?”

And just like that, our crops ended up being higher quality than those in other villages.

・ Normally, this kind of selective breeding isn’t possible, but because it was absorbed through predation, it can be freely manipulated.

・ Starting from the second half, the story moves slightly into the future.

Chapter length 2228 characters.