The fact that the trees could easily process bio materials was already great, as not only would they have infinitely rich soil, but they would also get paid to get rid of trash. The trees being able to process metals and plastics meant that they could consume 99.99% of all trash. The last remaining sliver of waste is radioactive. Something the Sol Dominion struggles to this day.
There are dedicated deathworlds to store such materials, but transporting them to these locations is costly, as radioactive matter needs to be handled with more care than other waste. It would be much easier if they could just take care of it in the world, but that's against the Dominion's policy of keeping habitable worlds clean.
"Make figuring out how long each type of material takes to be processed and what happens to the processed materials, priority one." Rolan ordered.
"And start sending out exploration drones. Get the weapons factory online asap," ordered Leira.
While Rolan was focused on the fact that the trees were going to literally grow them money, she was focused on the latter part of the scientist's words. The man had said that there was a similar species of trees in the database, reported by many previous awakeners.
That means there is a chance that there are settlers near us. Same species in a very unique environment like theirs meant that they were from the same region. Even though regions themselves can sometimes span millions to trillions of miles (kilometers, doesn't matter at this scale), you can never be safe. In case you got lucky and spawned right next to a preexisting settlement, you might not make it out alive.
She had to take all the precautions she could. Information on the nearby area and military capability was needed, whether for other humans or monsters; she had to be ready.
Rolan glanced at her and just flashed a smile.
The meeting quickly developed into more specific tasks and planning. Everyone was soon sent their way as Rolan and Leira headed to a luxurious estate. Not only were everyone else's homes done, but theirs too.
They had been allocated the entirety of what would be called the south side of the territory. The north faced the forest. The south faced the ocean. East and west faced the endless coastline. The ocean would be the backyard of their estate. The estate was currently filled with greenery and one single, expansive mansion. Apparently, there were over 100 rooms in this 5-floor giga manor. The entire structure was designed to mimic the style of noble mansions from fantasy media from old Terra.
The color motif was white and gold with royal blue accents. Arches and curves with intricate motifs and patterns decorated the structure. It was hard to describe to the couple, as they were too used to the usual steel and glass architecture of the domain. Their home was just so different and felt jarringly out of place.
But what could they do? This was just how the dominion preferred for the rulers of territories to live. They had to set themselves apart from the common populace. As for why they chose to do it in this way, Rolan could only make guesses.
"They said there's over 100 rooms..." Leira pointed out as they walked along a path made from decorative, patterned blue and white stone. Rows of green trees and bushes were aligned at their sides as they admired the view.
"So much waste. So the dominion can afford to give us such buildings, but they can't give us some more soldiers." Rolan criticized.
"The dominion loves to show off. They always make everything of theirs more extravagant than it needs to be. " Lierra scoffed. "Even those battleships of theirs are decorated like holiday presents."
An image of kilometer-long motherships that were covered in ostentatious amounts of gold, silver, and rare decorative materials appeared in Rolan's mind when she mentioned it. Unlike the rest of their fleets, the nobles would always make their personal ships ostentatiously bright.
"Whatever. We're gonna be living in this place for a long, long time. We will have to get used to it."
Leira just continued to smile as she heard this. She had already started to daydream about filling this grand mansion with family.
...
It was another 4 days later that all the urgent tasks were finished. Over a 100-mile radius of the area was scanned by drones. A weapon factory had been built, but there were no materials to actually start production. All available construction materials were completely spent. They would have to get anything else they needed by either buying or producing it themselves, or by relying on more subsidies when they grow enough.
The scientists had already finished their calculations on the rate of consumption for the trees.
Young trees, 3 to 15 meters tall, consume about 0.20 to 0.50 tonnes of biological waste per day.
Mature trees, 19 to 40 meters tall, consume from 1 to 5 tonnes per day.
Older trees, 50 to 90 meters, unknown...
As for ancient trees that are taller than 100 meters, they had only seen glimpses of it from drone footage further inside the forest. They currently only have access to young and mature trees on their part of the forest.
The drones had picked up hordes of different kinds of monsters spread all throughout the forest, so they couldn't test anything on trees taller than 40 meters, which is about a 10 to 12-floor building tall.
"And how much soil do they produce and what effect does it have?" Rolan asked the scientists who were present before him.
"For every ton they consume, they make 0.10 tonnes of soil. Everything else they store as energy for their growth." replied Siera as she took out a sample of dark dirt in a petri dish.
"The soil they produce has the effect of speeding up the growth rate of basic plants by over 300%. Rarer plants will require further testing."
Rolan raised his eyebrows, hearing this. This meant that the vertical farms they were working on could easily provide enough food for his people and more. Even though the dominion has created an abundance of it, it's still cheaper to make your own than buy it. He wanted to be as self-sufficient as possible.
"I assume the non-biological substances need more testing?" Rolan asked, seeing they sid nothing about it.
"Yes sir. We can't exactly identify the rates of consumption for these materials as its seems to be erratic. And we have not been able to tell what is done to materials as they are consumed."
Rolan nodded his head and let out a sigh. He knew science would be slow. It has always been slow. Especially when it comes to the products of the Zantarra realm. Its effects are often based on magic. Even with over ten thousand years on their hands, the dominion struggles to make sense of how some things from this world really function.
"Alright then. What would you need to help speed up the test?" Rolan offered.
"We will need to make custom labs with specialized equipment and lots of samples of different metals, plastics, and radioactive materials. We will also need to build special farms for the trees to raise and test our own samples." Sierra explained that they would not have a lot of non-standard tools.
Stuff that was going to cost Rolan a boatload of credits. He currently did not have the funds for that. His family was only slightly well off, as most members are high up in government chains but not high enough for real wealth.
"Fine, continue your tests on the wild samples and make a list of everything you will need. I'll try my best to get it for you. Though it will take a while." Rolan made no promises, in case he couldn't get things done quickly or unexpected roadblocks appeared.
He would just do his best to make the money from what they currently had. So it was time he went back to their homeworld.
The meeting was adjourned, and Rolan left the building with Leira. They went to a massive warehouse created to store all their exports and imports.
Rolan opened a portal back home and was escorted back by a contingent of soldiers. In no time, he was back in the basement of the Terraforming Authority Headquarters.
He quickly arranged a meeting with General Chen via text. He and his group took an elevator to the 450th floor. There, he was greeted by a young male secretary wearing a sharp black suit.
The man quickly led him to the general's office, where only he and Leira were allowed entry. The soldiers were waiting calmly outside.
"Finally out of that place, huh. A week is all it took." General Chen, in his usual white military suit with many medals and ribbons on his chest, said. The ageing man sat on his desk with a languid expression.
"And a week is all it took for you to get some more white hairs." Rolan joked as he took a seat in front of the man.
"Humph, my hair has been all white for decades now, boy." the old man snarled.
"Oh, I must have been mistaken then. You're actually losing some hair. Maybe some hair regrowth potions would help." Rolan liked to poke fun at this man who had always made him overwork in the past.
Though usually that would just make his load heavier, he doesn't need to care about that anymore.
"I've lost all those hairs since the day I hired you. Maybe you should buy me a potion when you make it big." the old man laughed and suggested. He smiled and drank a glass of water from his cup.
General Chen reminded himself and Rolan that Rolan had often caused damage or flubbed missions on purpose just to take breaks while repairs were done. The old man could never do anything about him since Rolan was still the fastest in terraforming efficiency and success rates compared to the rest of the fleet commanders assigned to his planet.
"Ahem." General Chen cleared his throat. "What brings you 2 here? I thought you guys would have gone home after a week of being in the real?"
By this time, Leira had taken a seat in front of the general's desk as well. She had been amused by the 2 men's strange way of greeting.
"Can you introduce us to the sanitation department?" she asked in a sweet tone.
General Chen was quite fond of Leira as he had a great impression of her with all the years she had spent negotiating her crew's breaks with him. She was much more courteous and understanding than the bastard of a negotiator like Rolan.
She also reminded him of his granddaughter. His granddaughter, who hadn't been home in months as she was also an awakened, spent the majority of her time in the realm.
"Sure I can. But can you tell me why, so I can take you to the right person?" General Chen knew a lot of people from a lot of departments at his level. He needed to know exactly what they needed to direct to the right one.
"We plan on becoming a garbage disposal service." Liera said plainly. There was no need to hide this.
There was plenty of garbage to get rid of on a planet like theirs that has a population of 2.3 trillion. Overworld transport services were too expensive, and they could barely keep up.
But still, to understand how viable their business idea was, they would need someone who is much more knowledgeable in this, so why not go directly to the sanitation department that manages it directly?
"Hmm...alright, give me the day to set up a meeting." General Chen says while smoothing out his long beard with one hand and a contemplative look on his face.