Chapter 6: Domesticating Water Mines |
The people of the Lower Hive had many places they considered gold mines.
The Ruins Zone was the largest and most dangerous—a place where only desperadoes dared to venture.
Most people opted for the Water Guild's wastewater reservoirs instead.
Wastewater from the upper hive and Midhive cascaded down through pipes into these Lower Hive reservoirs, where time and gravity forced the pollutants to settle.
Sludge slowly built up on the reservoir floor, raising its bottom, while the relatively clearer water spilled over the edges into the next settling tank.
Once a reservoir was completely choked with sludge, it became a "black beach"—a prime scavenging spot for the Lower Hive.
Countless rumors surrounded these black beaches, usually involving someone striking it rich overnight after unearthing a piece of discarded jewelry from the upper hive.
The Water Guild regularly dispatched excavators and transport trucks to haul the sludge away, dumping it in the wastelands beyond the Hive City.
Until the transport work was finished, Lower Hive commoners were granted special permission to enter the reservoirs.
Of course, they did so at their own risk.
Scrapes, minor infections, fevers, coughs, or even mutations—the Water Guild took absolutely no responsibility for any accidents.
Within the black beach sludge grew a bizarre black organism known as a "water mine."
They could grow up to ten centimeters in diameter. Their slick surfaces were constantly coated in a layer of pitch-black slime.
If stepped on, a water mine would detonate exactly like its namesake, violently spraying the foul wastewater stored inside in all directions.
Since the pathogens and pollutants they carried were generally non-lethal, children loved to use them for water fights, turning the unlucky losers into walking, reeking hazards soaked in sewage.
"Kids! Hold on a second! Look here, look at me! I've got something to say!"
Lino spread his arms wide and approached a group of children roughhousing nearby.
Whoosh—
A water mine hurtled straight for his face.
Lino's brow twitched, and he hastily sidestepped to dodge it.
The water mine exploded behind him, splattering his back with a foul-smelling mess.
The children burst into roaring laughter.
"Hahaha!"
"Who do you think you are? Why should we listen to you?!"
"Yeah! You have to beat us first!"
"You look older than us! You can be your own team, and we'll all gang up on you!"
The cocky brats figured he was an easy target on his own. The two sides that had just been warring against each other instantly teamed up to bombard him.
Lino's mouth twitched. Before a fresh volley could hit him, he pulled out his trump card.
"See this ration card in my hand? Whoever brings me ten water mines gets it! I've got a limited amount, so it's first come, first served!"
The kids' eyes lit up.
Their parents couldn't afford to send them to school.
Having water fights and picking through trash at the reservoirs was the entirety of their childhood.
Now that there was real money to be made, the little brats were over the moon.
Lino didn't even have to urge them on before the entire area erupted into a frenzy of activity.
In less than half an hour, Lino had collected a massive sack of water mines and handed out a fistful of ration cards.
On his way back, he purchased food-grade detergent and chemical-resistant gloves, then spent time meticulously washing the water mines clean.
Carrying his haul back to his quarters, Lino took a water mine in his hand and silently commanded, 'Analyze Fungus.'
The system interface popped up.
[Name: "Water Mine"]
[Analysis Results:]
[Wild fungus. Exhibits miscellaneous bacterial contamination and mild toxicity.]
[The residents of the Lower Hive have empirically proven that unless one consumes three "water mines" in a single sitting, its bacteria and toxicity will not cause illness.]
[The "water mine's" gelatinous shell is extremely hydrophilic, capable of absorbing several times its own volume in liquid.]
It was inevitable for wild fungi to carry miscellaneous bacteria; as long as there was no pest infestation, it was manageable.
To combat these contaminants, Lino had gone out of his way to purchase fungicide and antibiotics from a medical station. The former would deal with fungal pathogens, while the latter targeted bacterial ones.
The only flaw was the water mine's inherent toxicity.
Fungal toxicity typically stemmed from genetic material and metabolic byproducts. No matter how many generations it reproduced, that toxicity would never truly vanish.
However, considering the atrocious environment the water mines grew in, Lino leaned toward the theory that their toxicity came from absorbing toxic substances rather than an innate genetic trait.
Setting the water mine down, Lino pulled some ration cards from under his bed and headed out once more.
A few minutes later, he returned laden with bags of all sizes.
These were the raw materials he needed to synthesize a culture medium, based on his past experience.
Once his preparations were complete, Lino sat in his chair.
"Start the wild fungus domestication simulation."
[Simulation starting.]
[Please select experimental sample.]
Lino pointed at the bag of water mines.
"Isolate the fungal strain from the water mines, and use it for cultivation."
[Sample set.]
[Please select the culture medium and nutrient solution.]
Lino raised a hand, gesturing at the bags at his feet, and instructed:
"Make a culture medium using Synthetic Starch, orange sugar, and purified water. Each batch of medium will use 200 grams of Synthetic Starch, 20 grams of orange sugar, and 1000 milliliters of purified water. As for the nutrient solution, use a mixture of orange sugar and purified water—5% orange sugar and the rest water."
To be honest, Lino wasn't entirely confident.
An ideal culture medium required potato starch, glucose, agar, and purified water.
But anyone who knew anything about this godforsaken Warhammer world knew you couldn't find normal starch or glucose here.
Lino had to make do with Synthetic Starch, which supposedly contained traces of potato starch.
The so-called orange sugar was a locally manufactured synthetic sugar block. Hopefully, it contained some actual glucose.
[Culture medium and nutrient solution set.]
[Please select container.]
Lino pulled a stack of brand-new plastic bags from his pocket, which had cost him a pretty penny.
They came from the Promethium Guild, a byproduct of promethium refinement. They were completely unused and had undergone strict sterilization before leaving the factory.
"Use these plastic bags in my hand as the cultivation bags. Before the experiment starts, sterilize the containers using the medical alcohol I purchased."
[Container set.]
[Please set simulation parameters.]
"Standard atmospheric pressure, room temperature at 25 degrees, relative humidity at 70%, no light, and adequate ventilation."
[Simulation parameters set.]
[Simulation started.]
[Day 1: Sowing complete.]
[Day 2 and Day 3: Environmental parameters remained unchanged. The samples developed and grew rapidly.]
[Day 4: Small spots of various colors appeared on the surfaces of more than a third of the samples, indicating mild bacterial contamination. What do you decide to do?]
Researching these stray bacteria might lead to a significant discovery of some sort.
However, it was better to focus on the water issue for now. He couldn't afford to waste time and energy studying contaminants.
Lino replied decisively:
"I choose to quarantine the contaminated samples and treat them with fungicide and antibiotics. If the treatment is ineffective, abandon the contaminated samples."
[Day 4: You found the treatment to be ineffective. You promptly eliminated the contaminated samples, preventing the contamination from spreading to the rest.]
[Day 5: You observed fruiting bodies. What do you decide to do?]
"I'll lower the ambient temperature to 20 degrees, increase the relative humidity to 95%, and ensure adequate ventilation."
[Day 7: Bacterial contamination broke out once more. This time, over 90% of the samples showed varying degrees of contamination. What do you decide to do?]
"Over 90% contaminated? Are fungal experiments in the Warhammer world really this difficult?"
Lino felt a tightness in his chest. He grumbled internally before continuing.
"Same as last time. I'll quarantine the contaminated samples and attempt to treat them, discarding them if the treatment fails. Also, carefully spray water on the surfaces of the normally developing fruiting bodies, ensuring not to spray too much and cause pooling."
[Day 7: After isolation and treatment, only two cultivation bags were saved.]
[Day 8: The fruiting bodies in the two remaining cultivation bags finished developing, but they were severely contaminated by bacteria and were beyond treatment.]
[At this point, the first simulated cultivation is declared a failure.]
"Damn it, how am I still failing at the last hurdle even after coming to another world? Ahhhh—"
Lino pulled at his hair in frustration, feeling his PTSD acting up.
The process of domesticating a wild fungus was both long and agonizing.
Researchers often had to go through countless generations of cultivation and selective breeding just to obtain the ideal mycelium.
Failing on the very first cultivation attempt was undoubtedly a massive blow to any researcher's motivation.
However, Lino was already used to it.
God only knew how much hair he'd lost trying to domesticate wild fungi back before he transmigrated.
Now that he had a system to help him, the situation was far better. There was no point in being overly demanding.
Lino quickly calmed down and fell into deep thought.
Now that he was in another world, the cultivation techniques he had previously relied on might not work anymore. He had to adapt to his new environment.
Anyway, there were no mentors breathing down his neck anymore. He could experiment however he wanted.
With that thought in mind, Lino slowly stood up, grabbed his ration cards, and headed out again.
