As soon as the thought appeared, it quickly took hold of Shen Xingyan's mind and began to grow unrestrained, causing his eyes, filled with anticipation, to radiate a strange light.
If it were a normal professional skill that increased growth speed, using it at this moment would be a waste. But Shen Xingyan's skill increased growth progress, which was different from effects related to time.
It wasn't exactly time acceleration, but rather a pure effect directed at crops, with little relation to time.
If his use of the skill was successful, wouldn't he get a wheat harvest that far exceeded a normal one? If so, breaking the Star Source world record would be a piece of cake!
Shen Xingyan thought: "If my skill simply increased growth speed, the chances of failure would be high. After all, when plants mature, they automatically stop growing. Increasing the growth speed at that moment would be like multiplying by zero—the result is always zero. But my skill for increasing growth progress is a kind of addition. It will always give a boost by a certain percentage."
Realizing this, Shen Xingyan felt his chances of success increase significantly, and this idea began to spread uncontrollably in his mind.
Looking at the field of almost-ripe wheat, he hesitated for a moment but decided to try anyway. After all, even if the attempt failed, he would only lose the ability to use his professional skill for one day. But if it succeeded, the benefit would be huge—just remember the reward for the last record. The attempt was definitely worth the risk.
Having made his decision, Shen Xingyan stood up without hesitation, swapped his sickle for his beginner's staff, and, targeting all four mu of the wheat field, mentally activated his professional skill.
At that moment, the Star Source, as if understanding Shen Xingyan's intentions, issued a warning:
[A professional skill is detected attempting to be applied to a nearly mature crop. A failed outcome is possible. Continue?]
Hearing this, Shen Xingyan froze for a moment. But then he decisively replied: "The arrow is already on the bowstring; I must shoot. Continue!" and confirmed his decision.
As soon as Shen Xingyan gave his confirmation, his interrupted incantation continued. Primal Energy surged through the beginner's staff. The wheat field, which had been calmly waiting to ripen, seemed to react to the skill's effect and began to rustle.
Seeing the field's reaction, Shen Xingyan thought: "It worked!"
[Congratulations! You have successfully used your professional skill. Farmer profession experience +1.]
Along with this message from the Star Source, the field's vibrations intensified. The wheat ears, which had already stopped growing, began to swell rapidly, causing the heart of a carefully watching Shen Xingyan to pound wildly.
As he had expected, judging by the appearance of the ears, the harvest had already surpassed his previous record. In his excitement, Shen Xingyan firmly clenched his fists, expressing his joy.
However, his joy was short-lived. In the blink of an eye, the suddenly swollen ears of wheat shrank back, and the entire field returned to its previous calm state.
This unexpected change caught Shen Xingyan completely off guard. "What happened? Did my idea fail? But the Star Source already confirmed the skill's successful use. What happened?" he thought in confusion, staring at the field.
At that moment, a harvest icon appeared over the field, indicating that the wheat was fully ripe and ready for harvest. The timing of this icon's appearance almost matched Shen Xingyan's calculations!
Seeing the icon, Shen Xingyan quietly sighed and resigned himself to the result: "I didn't expect to fail after all!"
He admitted there was an element of gambling in his actions, but he didn't think he would lose with such high chances of success. "It seems luck really can't be relied upon," he cautioned himself.
However, he now understood why gamblers became addicted—the excitement he had felt was quite exhilarating!
Although the experiment didn't succeed, Shen Xingyan quickly recovered. In the end, he had only lost one day of using his skill—it was tolerable.
"Time to harvest! Grab your sickles, let's get to work!" he loudly commanded Wangcai and the other skeletons.
Entrusting Wangcai with the task of distributing duties and training the other skeletons, Shen Xingyan himself entered the field and began to furiously mow the wheat, as if trying to vent all his disappointment in the work.
Wangcai, following his master's instructions, directed the other skeletons, who cut the wheat with their sickles and piled it in one place, waiting for the master to collect the harvest.
Eleven workers were in the field gathering the wheat. Although the efficiency wasn't as high as with the first harvest due to the increased area, this was natural, and Shen Xingyan wasn't bothered by it. As the number of skeletons grew, the harvest time would inevitably shorten, and for now, he was happy with this result.
As he harvested the wheat, Shen Xingyan assessed the weight of the ears and mentally nodded. Although his experiment had failed and the wheat's growth hadn't reached the desired level, the harvest was still noticeably larger than the last time.
Perhaps this would be enough to break the Star Source record again!