Soon, the one mǔ of land was completely plowed thanks to the combined efforts of Shen Xingyan and Wangcai's team.
While working, Shen Xingyan, pondering his "sheep shearing" plan, occasionally observed the skeletons' labor, assessing their efficiency. After the Innate Talent enhancement, all the skeletons' attributes increased by 1 point. While such a gain was less than a level-up for a Professional, for the skeletons, it meant a twofold strengthening. Without stamina limitations, they now worked much more efficiently—one skeleton could handle the work that previously required two.
Before, managing one mǔ of Level 2 seeds required two small skeletons to maintain a normal pace. And in the period immediately following the use of the professional skill, when the prompts appeared more frequently, three skeletons were needed just to keep up.
But based on Shen Xingyan's observations, after the attribute boost, just two skeletons could easily handle the Star Source prompts, even right after the skill was used.
This discovery greatly pleased Shen Xingyan. The more efficiently the skeletons worked, the faster they completed the Star Source tasks, allowing him to better implement the principle of intensive cultivation and increase the final yield.
Furthermore, when his professional level reached 10, he would be able to cultivate Level 3 seeds, and the frequency of prompts for those would be far higher than for Level 1 and 2 seeds.
Studying the materials earlier, Shen Xingyan had noted that information on the increase in difficulty was quite scarce, without specific figures. He assumed the challenges would be significant. After all, under the normal development system, a farmer cultivating Level 3 seeds was expected to have reached Level 30—a true high-level Professional with at least 40 points in every attribute. For the current Shen Xingyan, the only way to cope with such intense prompts was through the tactic of overwhelming numbers using his small skeletons.
Due to his concern for the future, Shen Xingyan believed that the higher the skeletons' efficiency, the better his chances of successfully cultivating Level 3 seeds.
Musing on this, he bought potato seeds for the one mǔ of land from the Star Source Store and, together with the skeletons, began planting. Looking at Wangcai and his team, he thought:
"With the current number of skeletons, regular Level 3 seed maintenance won't be a problem, but coping with the prompts after the 10% progress boost—that's no longer guaranteed.
The army is still too small. Fortunately, since the talent upgrade, I can summon two skeletons at a time, which significantly accelerates the growth of my army."
"Furthermore, Wangcai and the others seem to have a Berserk skill. As a last resort, I could make them use that skill—efficiency should increase sharply. I wonder, in the berserk state, do their attributes increase by 1 point or 2 now?"
This thought piqued Shen Xingyan's curiosity. When he first saw the skill, the skeletons had attributes equal to 1, and in berserk mode, they received +1 to every attribute. Now, he wasn't sure how this hidden skill worked. But they were currently focused on planting potatoes, so this could wait.
Thanks to the synchronized work of several skeletons, the potato planting on the plot was quickly completed.
Without the influence of Shen Xingyan's professional skill, this plot looked bare, like a scar in the middle of the green field. Looking at it, Shen Xingyan wanted to immediately apply his skill to 'green' it, but he would have to wait until tomorrow for that.
Having finished the planting, Shen Xingyan handed over all remaining care tasks to the skeletons.
Stepping to the edge of the field, he called Wangcai over and, pointing to one of the small skeletons, asked: "Wangcai, can you make that small skeleton demonstrate the Berserk skill?"
Shen Xingyan certainly didn't want Wangcai, who consumed health to use the skill, to use it himself. Just in case, he chose a random skeleton for the experiment. He addressed Wangcai instead of giving a direct command because he didn't know how to activate the skill. After all, the skill wasn't displayed on the skeletons' attribute panels, and he had no idea how to trigger it. Although Shen Xingyan was the skeletons' master, his knowledge of them was limited to their current attributes.
Hearing the question, Wangcai didn't seem to understand what his master wanted. He slightly tilted his small skull to the side, as if expressing confusion.
Seeing this, Shen Xingyan rubbed his chin and pondered: it seems even Wangcai doesn't know what a 'Berserk skill' is, or my description doesn't allow him to understand what to do.
Unsure of the issue, Shen Xingyan recalled the situation when the skeletons first used the Berserk skill. Back then, under the double speed of the Star Source prompts, he had ordered Wangcai to make all the skeletons work at full capacity, and only then did the hidden skill appear.
Realizing this, he seemed to grasp the correct command and told Wangcai: "Wangcai, make that small skeleton work at full capacity!"
Following this order, Wangcai instantly straightened up and looked intently at the skeleton Shen Xingyan had indicated.
Observing closely, Shen Xingyan noticed that when Wangcai's "gaze" fell upon the skeleton, the latter clearly froze for a moment.
Then, as if activated, and with a notification appearing over its head about the loss of 2 Health Points, the skeleton began working at doubled speed, as if an accelerator had been engaged.
Seeing the health loss notification, Shen Xingyan smiled—the experiment was a success. Satisfied, he opened the skeleton's attribute panel.
All four base attributes of the skeleton were now equal to 4 points, with a note about the temporary effect.
A status also appeared:
Status: Berserk State (Consumes 2 Health Points per minute, increases all attributes by +2 points. The state ceases when Health reaches its minimum value. Cooldown: 4 hours).