Starting from the Basics

Seven hundred meters north of the oasis was an open, flat stretch of sandy land. Shane crouched in front of a Red Willow, silent.

Beside him, Elon crouched in the same manner, but the furrows in his brow were tight enough to crush a flying insect.

“Is it really not working after all?”

After a long silence, Elon finally couldn't help but speak. He looked with great pity at the Red Willow, which was mostly buried in sand, staring at its already withered branches and yellowed leaves.

“Once you get a certain distance from the oasis, the wind and sand at night become noticeably stronger.”

Elon reached out to brush away the sand at the base of the Red Willow, revealing the root system that had already begun to blacken. “Just one night, and it's mostly buried. Even though we can dig it up and replant it, we can't possibly do this every single day, can we?”

As he spoke, he turned to Shane. “Do you have any ideas?”

Shane didn't answer immediately. He stood up and scanned his surroundings. Looking at the sparse Red Willows and Suosuo nearby, his mood wasn't great either.

This area was a trial planting zone he had recently cleared, specifically to see if they could plant these pioneer species a bit further away.

But without the help of the Living Soil Pouch, the difficulty of this task was extraordinary. Not only was survival difficult, but the wind and sand at night alone were enough to cause a massive headache.

It couldn't be helped. To resist the quicksand, they had used most of the Living Soil Pouches on the sandy slopes, and the remaining few had been allocated to planting the dry beans.

Although the Red Willows and Suosuo on the slopes were growing beautifully, things were not nearly as optimistic elsewhere.

Without the help of the Living Soil Pouches, in areas far from the oasis, the probability of the plants' root systems being corroded by death magic was extremely high. No matter how Shane adjusted the death magic, he couldn't keep the plants alive. Coupled with the rapid evaporation of surface moisture, there was simply no chance of survival for the plants.

It seemed everything they were doing now was in vain.

Shane shifted his gaze to two groups of skeletons not far away. In each group, one skeleton was carrying a bucket while the other watered the seedlings.

He raised his hand and waved it. The skeletons stopped their movements, freezing in place as they awaited Shane's instructions.

“Watering right now is completely pointless. It's a pure waste of resources.”

Shane looked at Elon, who let out a long sigh upon hearing this, before Shane continued, “I've been studying your Living Soil Pouch lately, but to be honest, progress hasn't been ideal. Its internal structure and cultivation cycle are far too complex, and there are still parts I don't fully understand. Therefore, I won't be able to replicate it anytime soon.”

Elon naturally understood this. He gave a bitter smile and said, “Well, there's no helping it then. The Living Soil Pouch itself is a magical item that only a handful of druids know how to make. Moreover, a place like the Golden Sea is practically a forbidden zone for druids, so...”

Elon spread his hands, implying there was absolutely nothing that could be done.

But Shane did not lose heart. He turned to look at the Red Willow, contemplating some methods he had used in the past.

For example, aerial seeding. He could find some drought-resistant seeds and use some kind of vehicle to scatter them in large quantities from the air, leaving the rest to nature. If luck was on their side, some seeds would always survive.

This was one of the commonly used desert reclamation methods from his past life, and its efficiency was far higher than planting trees one by one.

But the problem was, first of all, he had no vehicle for aerial seeding. This world had no airplanes or drones; for a necromancer, the best he could do was summon gargoyles or bone dragons.

Secondly, aerial seeding itself was a highly technical job. Seed pretreatment, moisture preservation techniques, and the timing of the seeding—every single step required precise expertise. This was not something he could solve on his own.

Thus, this plan could only be temporarily shelved.

Aside from that, there was one thing they could do right now that would be incredibly effective: sand prevention.

The temperature difference between day and night in the Golden Sea was extreme. The high temperatures during the day and the rapid drop at night caused extremely fast wind speeds after dark, which was why these saplings were buried by the shifting sands.

However, there was a way to solve this problem.

Shane looked at Elon and said, “In that case, let's not think about expanding the green coverage for now. We need to deal with the wind and sand first. Let's start with the straw checkerboards.”

“Straw... what?”

Elon looked puzzled, clearly not understanding what Shane meant. Shane bent down and drew a few simple vertical and horizontal lines on the ground to form a grid. “Straw checkerboards. Simply put, it means using wheat straw or similar materials to bind these checkerboard grids into the sand.”

“This way, the wheat straw is deeply embedded into the soil, with about ten to fifteen centimeters exposed, forming a barrier on the surface.”

“When the wind sweeps across the surface, moving the sand, it will be disrupted by these barriers, making it difficult for the wind to carry the sand away. As a result, the sand inside the grids will gradually stabilize, creating a relatively steady soil environment.”

Shane snapped off a few dry branches from the withered Red Willow and stuck them inside the grid. “Once the soil is stable, we can plant vegetation inside them, and the survival rate will be much higher. Furthermore, the straw checkerboards themselves help retain moisture, reducing water evaporation.”

Listening to Shane's explanation, Elon's eyes gradually lit up. His brow unfurled as he looked at Shane, his eyes full of delight. “In other words, although we can't plant trees directly right now, we can build these straw checkerboards first to pave the way for future planting?”

“Yes.”

Shane clapped his hands and stood back up, looking toward the oasis. “When Isha came last time, I asked her to help buy some wheat straw and make some tools for building straw checkerboards. She should bring them with her the next time she visits.”

“Besides, the size of the pool has nearly doubled compared to before. Both the population the oasis can support and the plantable area are increasing.”

“In addition to expanding the green coverage, we also need to consider the soil fertility. Water and plants alone aren't enough for that.”

Elon agreed with Shane's reasoning and nodded. “Indeed. The area around the bean field is growing quite well due to the residue from the Living Soil Pouches, but other places are still nothing but yellow sand.”

“Therefore, I also asked Isha to help gather some legumes or other beneficial plants that can grow in the desert.”

At this point, the corners of Shane's mouth curled up as if he had thought of something. “Of course, if we're lucky enough to find some cash crop tree species, that would be ideal. But there's no rush for now. We have to lay a solid foundation first.”

Elon couldn't help but shake his head at his attitude. “You really aren't in any rush at all.”

“Of course.”

Shane's expression was calm, but a trace of playfulness rose in his eyes as he looked at Elon. “On one hand, I know this isn't something we can rush. On the other hand, necromancers have very long lifespans. Who knows, maybe one day I'll bury you in the soil to use as fertilizer.”

Hearing Shane's banter, Elon was about to retort when he noticed Shane's expression suddenly change. He then watched Shane turn and look toward the east of the oasis.

“What's wrong?”

As Elon asked, he followed Shane's gaze toward the horizon. He discovered a massive cloud of dust kicked up in the distance. The dust appeared highly unnatural, as if some immense force had stirred it up.

And at the very top of the dust cloud, several pale figures could be seen flying in midair. Elon's eyelid twitched—those were clearly the skeletons Shane had summoned.

Someone was attacking Shane's undead creations!