In his sixteen hours of sleep, Rino did not imagine that three hundred fledglings would be born. Then again, with a population of five thousand, he should have expected it.

Rino took a walk around Town Zera to find the couples involved in his baby boom. However, wherever he walked, it was strange.

The trolls who have always wanted to repopulate their tribe managed to do so but the future generation was not looking very much like trolls. If anything, they looked closer to giants. In fact, they were not the only tribe with confusing offspring.

The drows who wished for children had beautiful dark druids instead of dark elves. Maybe it was the crossbreeding between Sheila and Deezer, but it was a happy occasion. The difference in species did not deter families from becoming happy.

In fact, there were many changes within the town. Instead of the usual wood and stone colours, Rino could see from here that the windmill and barn were painted bright red. He did not know what kind of dye that was from, but the colour stood out cheerfully. Those were not the only buildings that received a makeover. The living quarters were now adorned with more flowers and splashed with blue and yellow paint to liven the atmosphere.

Due to the sudden increase in population, construction for more living spaces hastened as more people volunteered after their shifts to complete the area. Yet, Rino had a feeling the tiny living district would not be able to house ten thousand people. If three hundred babies were born in just sixteen hours, Rino had to deal with a population boom in the next two weeks at a steadily inclining rate as the word spread.

Children helped to bring joy to the community in Town Zera, and even the newly integrated citizens started to have families, sharing the experience of raising children.

The one thing Rino could not understand was the speed of growth in these children. Some of them were born only for a few hours, but already, they were learning to fly and walk. Rino also swore that the baby giant he passed by just several minutes ago on his rounds grew bigger in just a few minutes, even if the change was little.

“What’s going on?” he asked Zerg, who was busy issuing instructions for the construction team and volunteers.

“My lord! You’re finally here. Everyone who wanted a child prayed to the tree of fertility, and we did not know who would be getting their wishes granted first when the tree started to grow fruits.”

Taking Zerg back to his humble stone cottage in front of the Genesis tree, Rino asked for details.

Unsurprisingly, the gods were not very creative. The genesis tree was able to birth new fairies using fruits that were created by mana. The tree of fertility did something similar. However, the only difference was in the size of the fruit and the incubation period.

“The tree is still growing fruits as we speak, and some might take longer than others.”

Curious about how the species got mixed up and how the parents knew whose child it was, Rino asked for more details.

Zerg frowned. “The parents claimed to hear the voice of their child calling out for them before they were born. The rightful parents who wished for a child together would hear the same child’s voice resonating in their head. I don’t know how that works, but this was confirmed by all the parents who received their children. As for the species…”

Rino nodded in understanding. There was no telling what the species would be. Everything was decided by the tree of fertility.

Unlike the Cypress Ghost Tree and World Tree that continued to grow bigger with Rino’s power, the Tree of Fertility remained the same size. It didn’t matter if four hundred fruits were growing on its branches at any one time or if a particular fruit looked heavy enough to snap the branches off. The Tree of Fertility remained dainty in comparison to Rino’s other magic trees.

“Do you know how many more babies are waiting to be born?”

Zerg did a rough estimate, and Rino did not like what he heard. On the bright side, the target of reaching a population of ten thousand in no time at all. As much as Rino wanted to remove the Tree of Fertility to prevent too many babies at once, the news had already travelled to Noir Province.

He couldn’t deprive the others of a chance to start a family now. From Zerg’s report, Fowler and Erika were very enthusiastic when they heard about the possibilities. However, due to the overwhelming response, they had to wait for a week before coming over with the first batch of eager villagers from Spudville and Cypress County.

“Did my teacher say he was going to pray for a child too?” Rino asked out of curiosity.

Zerg raised a brow. “No. He said that having you, me, and Rina are enough to deal with. He didn’t want to deal with another- ahem! Another brat.”

Laughing at Zerg’s candid reply, Rino pardoned him. He guessed as much but wished that Kragami could have prayed to the tree so that he could find out if the supposed human offspring would turn into something else.

Rino took a look at the current town’s map and decided that they needed to expand. The current land in Town Zera would not be able to host ten thousand people. He had two places to expand outwards. Going to the meadows would give them a more flat area, but going into the rocky mountains could serve more secrecy. 

When asked, Zerg considered it for a while and asked if it was possible to go both ways.

“The land towards the meadow could be used to farm more crops. As it is, I don’t think the children would be able to afford the proper meals required. Our harvest may be quick, but the children grow up quicker. The farmers are already working overtime, but there is a limit to how much they can produce. As for living space, I think going towards the mountains or using the abandoned mines can work. We do not have enough hands to work on both projects simultaneously.”

Rino agreed with Zerg and praised the lesser vampire, patting him on the head. He had only been with Rina and Kragami for a few lessons, but already, he was on par with the goblin chief and Sheila when it came to foresight.

“I will leave the field expansion project to you while I oversee fixing up accommodations in the abandoned mines for the growing population,” Rino informed Zerg, who beamed at the new task.

Deciding to take one last look at the newly born children in his town, Rino wondered why the gods created so many different species that did not originate from the original parents. Was this a repopulation project to fight against the rapid extinction elsewhere?

Also, there was something strange about the growth rate of these children. Rino could have sworn they were only a quarter of their troll parent’s size when he first saw the giant child. After discussing with Zerg, the same child was now at least half as tall as his troll parents.

Rino walked over and asked the couple about the remarkable speed of growth.

“Is this common for trolls?”

Shaking their heads, the trolls explained that the growth of children blessed by the tree of fertility grew at an unnaturally fast pace. The giant child was already walking and eating solid food. The more he ate, the faster he grew. The trolls estimated that these children might be able to help out with farm work by the end of the week.

The cycle of rice in Town Zera was two weeks. Rice could be grown from grains to stalks, ready for harvesting in two weeks under the most optimum conditions, including constant mana imbued water and regular fertiliser. These children were similar. If the trolls were right, they could see competent individuals fit for working in his town in the next two weeks to cope with the labour shortage.

Was this a case of recurring profit from nothing? Rino had no idea what it was, but he was reminded of how a potato grew from a potato. If he had even just one potato, he could have a whole field of it if he multiplied it correctly. The only difference was how this method of increasing manpower did not directly come into his control. Undead parents were giving birth to new living species of other creatures from the blessing of this magic tree.

The manpower issue might be resolved, but now, these new children were at risk of getting targeted by harvesters because they needed food to live, unlike their undead parents.

Feeling troubled, Rino left and headed for the abandoned mines. Zerg was settling the food shortage issue, so Rino should do his part and create an underground town in the mines to act as a safety bunker if harvesters break through his barrier. At the very least, the children would be safe in the dwarven defence.

Dragging new extensions from the mana web array, Rino expanded the barrier’s protection radius all the way to the end of the mountain range where the abandoned mine was located. He checked his mana reserves and sighed. At this rate, it might be months before he could leave this area.