"Boss, don't you have any other dishes here?"
It was the third day of working as an aide. Since the role was barely considered clerical, Kokomi gave him a lot of freedom, and Victor Wang was still living at the Yukawa Inn.
Dinner was fairly generous: a braised fish, a steamed fish, a soup with nothing but seaweed and no egg, and a colorful platter of assorted seaweeds—green wakame, brown kelp, white agar weed, and red algae. It could not be said that the meal was lacking.
The only problem was… this had been the same dinner for three days in a row.
"We also have lavender melon soup and grilled eel. Hehe, when this inn was built, these dishes were chosen so travelers could really taste Watatsumi Island's specialties. Nowadays, the menu is this limited because other ingredients are just too scarce," the innkeeper explained unhurriedly.
"Hey, don't bully the boss. He keeps lodging costs low for outsiders who came seeking refuge on Watatsumi Island. The lack of variety in food isn't his fault."
"Ah," Yukawa Shuji waved a hand toward the other traveler, "I don't think this young man was blaming anyone."
Victor Wang nodded and said nothing more.
It was his third day as an aide. Though he didn't have to clock in like an office job, he was even busier—meeting the resistance army, writing a novel, offering advice to Kokomi, even making a quick trip back to Mondstadt. He had accomplished quite a lot.
Most importantly, after investigating the geology and terrain of Watatsumi Island these past few days, he had successfully pinpointed why the land was barren and so difficult for crops to grow.
First, he confirmed by tasting it himself that the seawater flowing into the inner island had indeed turned into drinkable fresh water—a natural phenomenon…
Watatsumi Island was shaped like a concave bowl from the outside inward, made up almost entirely of mountains, with hollow ground beneath (below lay Enkanomiya). Mountain bodies already made poor reservoirs of water. Even if they held some, the upper slopes would leak, and the lower ones would be soaked by a backflow of seawater… Normally, small islands rely on rainfall to accumulate fresh water, but here seawater constantly intruded.
Mountains and seawater waterfalls.
In other words, both groundwater and rainwater were cut off.
It only showed how powerful Orobashi truly was. Even though it had dragged the people of Watatsumi Island to the surface and left the land shaped in a way that couldn't retain freshwater, Orobashi's mighty power had also left behind a kind of "purification ability." It looked beautiful while still being functional.
So, why was the land barren?
First:Holy Soilification.
The 'spirit' of Watatsumi Island was drawn to the depths of Enkanomiya, and the land gradually whitened. This belonged to the realm of metaphysics, just like "purification ability." The solution to this was simple: the use of coral branches could cure it.
Second:Mountainous Terrain.
Looking outward from the inner ring of the island, one saw layer after layer of exposed rocky slopes. They couldn't hold water, crops couldn't take root, and the soil lacked nutrients. This was the primary reason for the barrenness.
Third:Salinization.
Moving outward from the inner island's distinctive soil, the problem of holy soil weakened. One could observe that the few lavender melon trees grew only on the outer island, as did Iwata's radish fields. But large-scale farming on the outer island was impossible: it sat highest in elevation, closest to the sea, and couldn't access the inner island's freshwater. Only small patches could be planted.
The outer island was mountainous too. Iwata managed to grow radishes only through relentless labor—swinging his hoe to carve out a tiny field from bare rock. Against sacred soil and nutrient deficiency, he still forced radishes out of the earth.
A fractured rocky ground and a forcibly opened radish field.
To summarize: the outer island sat high, with little sacred soil, but no access to fresh water; the inner island sat low with better water, but was heavily affected by holy soilification. Both were also affected by mountainous terrain, which is ill-suited for crops.
Thus, while the outer island seemed more promising, it was in fact the hardest to reform.
Reform.
Yes—Victor Wang planned to reform the land in Watatsumi Island.
His ancestors had never been halfhearted about farming. If it could be done, why not do it? If it couldn't be done? Create the conditions!
He hadn't even begun trials yet, but just the thought thrilled him. On land others called barren and uncultivable, planting a seed, watering, fertilizing, watching it break the soil, grow ripe, then eating it…
"Hehehehehehehe!"
It wasn't until everyone around him was shuddering at his laugh that Victor Wang reined it in a little—though he was still so excited he barely slept.
The next morning, he went straight to the entrance of Bourou Village. After pacing endlessly between two lamp posts, Gorou's men finally arrived.
There were fifty in total, all drawn from the logistics unit, each equipped as instructed.
"You all can dive, right?"
"Hahaha, Mr. Victor, don't joke. Who on Watatsumi Island can't swim?"
"Good. Saves us trouble once we're in the water."
"Mr. Victor, I don't understand—what are we going to do?" someone asked, holding up his shovel and bucket.
"Didn't Gorou tell you?"
All fifty shook their heads.
"We're going to dig up seabed silt."
"Huh?"
They all stared wide-eyed, dumbfounded.
If he had Zhongli's power, maybe he could create an island like Guyun Stone Forest for farming.
If he had Awakened Precepts, life force strong enough to grow grass into trees, maybe terrain and fertility wouldn't matter.
If Khaenri'ah's Bloom of Life, like the Two Ends of Beginning and End, carried a life-based ability, maybe crops could be directly forced to grow.
But he had none of those. To farm, he had to use science, not metaphysics.
Victor Wang explained: "Seabed silt contains remains of countless aquatic plants and animals. After decomposition, these are excellent fertilizer. Silt itself is a type of soil. For a mountainous island like this, it's a treasure. If we process it correctly, Watatsumi's farming problem will be solved!"
"Can that… really work?"
The crowd erupted into chatter. Being suddenly called for such a task, with a newly arrived staff officer as their supervisor—even the logistics unit wasn't sure this was okay.
"Feel free to ask any questions."
After all, working underwater meant risks. If they weren't convinced, efficiency would plummet. If it succeeded, the work would expand in scale. Better to resolve doubts now, then let word spread among them.
"Can't we just dig sand from the beaches instead of diving?"
"Sand is terrible for holding water or nutrients, and it washes away easily. No."
"Then couldn't we just buy soil from abroad?"
"From who? Inazuma? Narukami Island is an island too—they won't sell soil to Watatsumi. Liyue does have vast land, but even if they agreed, do you have the fleet for overseas transport? Can you pay shipping and soil costs?"
"Uh… I was just asking…"
"I'm not blaming you. As long as everyone understands, it's fine. Any other questions?"
"I—I read in a book that pond-bottom silt is good soil, but seabed silt won't work because it has too much salt…"
"Your name's Teppei, right?"
"Yes! You remembered?"
"Not just you. The last one who spoke was Yoshida, before him Kang Yi, and earlier was Saito Makoto. The very first was Nemoto Tsukasa. I only had to attend roll call once to remember you all."
Showing off his memory a bit won them over. Victor Wang continued: "Teppei, your question is sharp. Seabed silt does contain lots of salt. If we dig it up, it becomes saline soil—usable only for special crops."
"Then… do you have a way to treat it?"
"Yes."
In this world, aside from Watatsumi's unique case, most inhabited lands were naturally fertile. Proof? Fertilizer was a specialty product of Sumeru!
Sumeru produced fertilizer, but they never dealt with saline soil. Their problems were dead zones, excessive rainforest rain, and deserts. So, knowledge of salinization was scarce.
But the solution was simple: rinse with fresh water to dissolve the salt, then drain it away.
The real question: would nutrients in the silt also be washed away? How much? Too little, and extra fertilizer would be needed. Too much, and crops would burn.
The soldiers finally got excited. Whether they fully understood or not, they at least knew this task could solve Watatsumi's farming problem. With shovels and buckets, they marched to the sea with zeal.
Victor Wang led the dive. Not everywhere had silt—some sea beds were bare rock, most were sand, only a few had real silt. But the ocean was vast. Even its "few" meant plenty for humans.
He located a patch of silt. Under his guidance, soldiers dove one by one, filling buckets and bringing them ashore.
In under an hour, every container was full. Much faster than expected.
The group returned to the inner island. By the ring-shaped rivers, where Victor Wang had dug a small reservoir connected at both ends, they poured in silt, drew in water, stirred, let it settle. To test salt levels, under astonished gazes, Victor Wang even tasted the water.
Ideally, the first batch of water should be very salty—three flushes needed at minimum. Indeed, it was.
Drain, refill, stir, settle, taste. Drain, refill, stir, settle, taste.
"Mr. Victor?"
"Shh…"
By then, the water had little saltiness left.
Victor Wang then scraped up some of the silt itself. The smell was a mix of dead fish, rotten egg, and damp earth—not salty. For comparison, he sampled fresh silt from the bucket: same stink, but distinctly salty.
The seabed silt had been physically purified.
"Mr. Victor, you actually dared to eat that!"
"From now on, I'll admire no one but you!"
The soldiers were stunned.
The next was step sun-drying. But time was precious. Instead, he used pyro to bake it dry. As expected, the silt hardened into clumps—useless for farming, since roots couldn't penetrate.
He ordered them crushed thoroughly, then mixed with sand, stone powder, and small gravel to loosen the soil. If nutrients were lacking, they could add straw, food scraps, or… animal dung. But seabed silt was already rich. For testing, this was enough.
The final product: usable black soil was born!
Though all that effort only covered a 3m by 3m plot, it had taken just one morning, with fifty people. Spread on the stone ground, it would remain usable indefinitely.
Thrilled, Victor Wang pulled out the seeds he had bought in Mondstadt—at the cost of enduring two bouts of teleportation motion sickness.
If even one sprouted, the great undertaking of farming Watatsumi Island would succeed!