I'm a mage, what's wrong with loving farming?

Chapter 227: One Year Later, the Apprentices’ Journey

A year has passed since Croa decided to carry out drastic changes to the North.

With the help of Miffin, the Kingdom of Nolant almost acquiesced to Croa's control over the North - but in name it was still given to Kemoye, who was already marching towards the earldom with great momentum.

In just one year, Count Kermoyer had taken control of all the nobles in the North, except for the Duke stationed in the Telenas Mountains.

In order to prevent them from affecting his farming plans, Croa very kindly and sincerely sent his apprentices to invite them one by one.

He has renovated the island in the sea that was originally used to host these nobles. It is absolutely safe and well-fed, and it will be as warm as spring no matter how the weather changes.

Of course, it is impossible to leave.

However, he also very kindly announced that he would accept the descendants of these noble families to join his army of apprentices for study.

If you do well enough, you can become the garrison lord of certain places.

Today, he is already a fifth-level archmage. In addition, he has connections with Prince Miffin and Archmage Celeste of the Mage Association, so his status is unbreakable.

Anyone with a bit of brains would choose to join Croa's army. Following such a powerful wizard, the future would definitely be much better than being a small noble.

In such a situation where the time, place and people are all right, if there is no way to carry out drastic changes in the North, then it will definitely be Croa's problem.

Fortunately, he and his men are very capable, as the saying goes, "If you want to get rich, build roads first."

Croa's first order was not to carry out planting operations in various areas, but to ask them to build a smooth road starting from the Telenas Mountains to connect to the Reef Island that was wide enough to accommodate ten carriages driving side by side.

After a year, the road was finally completed.

If this road were really built according to the medieval civilization, it would probably be impossible to build it even if all the farmers and servants in the entire North were worked to death.

However, with the help of magic and monsters, even moving mountains and filling the sea is no problem. Now is the time for acceptance.

Apprentice Jamie stood on the top of a bread-like vehicle and looked into the distance. As far as the eye could see, he could see a road paved with white rocks.

Surrounded by vegetation and rocks, it glows white, like a holy white road leading to heaven where gods reside.

The apprentices around him all had extremely dark skin, as if they had been digging coal for several years. It was impossible to tell that they were actually noble mages and knights.

As they looked at this road, they recalled the hard work they had experienced in the past year and felt sad and emotional.

"Don't look at it. Let's go."

Jamie took another look and said with a smile: "Let's follow our plan and test the smoothness of the road along the way, and pick up the brothers in various territories.

We are in a hurry to get to our house before Master Croix's birthday party."

After hearing his words, the apprentices around him hurriedly got into the cars one by one - these bread-like cars were all sketches drawn by Cloya himself.

The entire body is made of a special alloy, and the wheels are made of magic rubber. It can travel at full speed on any terrain and can transform when necessary.

It's a kind of large golem.

Their mission was to pass through this road that Croa once traveled in a carriage, pick up other apprentices who were working on the farms in various territories along the way, and take some local specialties and return to Hanjiao Island to present gifts for Croa's birthday.

After getting in the car, they drove quickly on the white road, extremely smoothly, with various constantly changing scenery on both sides of the road.

“The road is pretty smooth.”

"It's good to repair it."

"The earth-stealing rat construction team and the wind-eroding sandworms are really amazing."

Since the car was basically self-driving, they were more concerned with whether the road would deform under the weight of the wheels, the road signs on both sides of the road, and the magic patterns hidden under the road...

The result was not bad. After all, the whole process was under the charge of the construction team of earth-stealing rats, and these monsters were more rigorous than humans.

After all, most of the time they dig tunnels and pave roads for their own nests, and they will not compromise on either reproduction or safety.

Soon, they arrived at their first stop.

This place is called Gray Stone Ridge, a complex area of ​​gray stone mountains. It is far away from the ocean, with very little water sources around it, and the wind is extremely dry.

But it is in such areas that some extremely special magical plants can grow, for example...

"You guys are here!"

Apprentice Lina waved excitedly at the convoy: "Come here quickly, they are just about to bloom now, let's pick the best ones and bring them to Master Croix!"

Hearing this, Jamie and his group of ten people quickly jumped out of the car and followed Lina into the cave. In the cave, which was about the size of a football field and filled with faint blue light, they saw a pool of blooming stone lotus flowers.

The surface of each petal of those lotus flowers has the rough texture of stone, but when they bloom, the lotus pod wrapped inside briefly emits a vibrant ochre light, and even the rock petals become crystal clear, like crystal.

An indescribable strange fragrance echoed in the cave, soon attracting a large number of butterflies to gather here. Those butterflies with phoenix feather patterns danced around the lotus flowers, and the scenery was extremely spectacular.

"It's grown well!" Jamie praised. "This is the main ingredient for the rock lotus perfume that Lord Cloya sells in the capital and abroad. The wives of the princes and nobles are crazy about it."

In fact, the popularity of these perfumes is extremely exaggerated. Because of their subtle fragrance, not only human ladies buy them, but also some elf men.

Each lotus can produce about thirty bottles of perfume, and each bottle of perfume can be sold at a high price of twenty magic crystals.

The person who was arranged to be here by Croa is considered to be someone he trusts.

"Hehe." Lina smiled proudly, "I also have to thank Master Cloya for arranging these wind-feather butterflies and the magic roots at the bottom of the lake. I don't know what kind of magic power was provided, but it can actually extend directly from Hanjiao Island to here."

An apprentice at the side couldn't help but say, "What can't the omnipotent Master Croa do?"

Although this statement sounded neither scientific nor magical, the apprentices all nodded in agreement, as if to Kloya, all this was not strange anymore.

The Wind Feather Butterfly is a butterfly that lives high in the mountains. It can absorb the "essence of rock" and is an excellent catalyst for these stone lotuses.

With the catalyst, they can achieve three harvests a year, but the wind-feather butterflies have a very poor ability to adapt to the environment.

In other words, it was because Croa improved them and applied some of the adaptability learned from the Zerg that they were able to survive a little longer.

The difference between harvesting once every two years and harvesting three times a year is extremely huge. This pond of lotus alone has created huge profits for Cloya.

After boasting about Croa as usual, the apprentices searched in the rock lotus pond for a while, and finally picked the largest lotus to take away.

When they were leaving, the people living in Graystone Ridge mustered up the courage to gather around them. One of them, an old man with white hair, presented a gem with trembling hands.

"Sir, this is a treasure from our village. It was obtained by a knight from our ancestors in the Gray Mountain."

"It was the Lord who gave us our freedom, allowing us to farm and graze, so that we could survive."

The old man bowed his head respectfully, his tone a little nervous: "We are willing to present it to the Lord!"

"..."

Lina didn't expect something like this to happen suddenly. To be honest, even though Croa took away all the nobles who ruled these areas, the servants would live more freely.

But there is still a big gap with Hanjiao Island.

She had to return to Hanjiao Island to report on her work every week, so she didn't think this was anything special. She didn't expect that in their eyes, Lord Croa was almost a saint.

She couldn't help but glance at Jamie.

The latter had a smile on his face. Although he didn't know what this thing was, he stepped forward and solemnly took the crystal clear blue gem: "My lord, I will definitely like this gift."

He took the gem and gave Lina a look. Lina immediately understood and stepped forward and said, "You have presented a gift to the Lord. I will ask the Lord to send the Tree Spirit Guards to bless your land."

The servants immediately expressed their gratitude with joy.

But the apprentices had to hurry on their way, so they just left.

With Lina's joining, there was one more car in the convoy. They continued to move forward and arrived at the second, third, and fourth stations.

During this period, they gradually obtained some fish, pine nuts and crystal watermelons from Green Water Lake Ridge, Squirrel Territory, Crystal Cave Territory and other places and continued to move forward.

After passing these four territories, it was already the second day and they had already traveled half the distance.

They looked at the scenery along the way in the car and sighed: "There are so many uninhabited areas here... So many people died in that snowstorm."

Halfway along the journey, a full thousand kilometers, there were only four developed human settlements. The rest of the area was overgrown with vegetation and rampant monsters.

It’s easy to imagine how low the population in the North is.

"So that's why the adults chose to let the magic beasts and magic plants take care of that area. Are we almost there?"

"Coming."

"Here we are!"

The apprentices' car stopped in front of a vast plain. The land in front of them, which was about ten hectares in radius, was almost entirely covered with green grass.

Floating in the green grass are some elves that look like jellyfish and have gauze-like wings. They collect the scattered magic power and provide magic power for the magic plants on the ground that are lying on the ground basking in the sun.

The roots of all those magic plants were exposed outside the soil. None of them were long and thin. All of them were flat like human feet, with tiny fruits hanging on the roots.

At first glance, it looks like an upside-down tree.

They can even run around happily, enjoying the gifts of sunshine and rain freely in the fields, waiting to grow big enough and then be taken to various fields to take root and grow.

These are all magical plants called knotty beans.

Through the apprentices' tireless experiments, they determined that this special magic plant could increase the fertility of fields. After comparison, they found that its effect was better than that of several other magic plants.

So this kind of bean was cultivated on a large scale.

Then, with the help of the Orpheus Oak, the knotty beans inexplicably gained the ability to move freely and were brought to this "knotty bean ranch" for free-range breeding.

So the one guarding this place is of course——

"Mr. Oak!"

As Jamie approached the edge of the bean pasture, huge roots suddenly rose from the ground and surrounded the edge of the field of more than ten hectares in just a few seconds.

It was like a fence was erected in a pasture, immediately separating the green grass inside from the outside.

What was even more outrageous was that there was hardly any fluctuation of magical power, and all those roots rose up. The apprentices didn't dare to think about what would happen if they were attacked like this... so they might as well just close their eyes and wait for death.

"You are here."

A tree man more than one meter tall walked out from the tree roots. Its leaves were green, but the trunk was covered with dry bark that looked like wrinkles.

All the apprentices bowed to it respectfully.

The reason is simple. This Oak Teacher is not only a good friend of Lord Kloya, but also a powerful one favored by God. It guards the only road leading to the deeper North, and also keeps the knobby beans in captivity.

It is the only one in the entire Hanjiao Island that possesses the special magic that allows the magic plants to walk freely. I heard that it also teaches elven magic, but basically no one can learn it.

Jamie said, "Mr. Oak, Master Croa's birthday is coming soon, so we would like to invite you to return to the Reef with us."

The light in Oak's eyes lit up, and his tone became excited almost immediately: "My friend's birthday is coming... I have prepared a gift for him too!"

No one saw it doing anything, but in the endless field behind it, some blood-red ears of wheat suddenly grew.

They seem inconspicuous in the context of the entire field, but on top of the wheat ears there are some tiny insects growing.

They were all fat, lying on the wheat ears and eating them, with blood-colored pupae hanging around them, which looked very strange.

That is……

"Elf blood silkworm?" Jamie asked in surprise.

"Yes, I started breeding these little guys when I came here a year ago, just to prepare a gift for my friend."

The Oak of Orpheus waved its branches (hands) at the blood silkworms, and they immediately began to spin silk. The blood-red threads intertwined in the air, just like the most diligent and skilled weavers.

Soon, a robe with extremely gorgeous shape was formed.

There are patterns of flowers, plants and trees, as well as changes in clouds and rivers, which are vivid and lifelike, as if they were real scenery.

While spinning these silk threads, the originally plump blood silkworms seemed to be squeezed dry. When the robe was woven, the silkworms were completely withered and turned into things like dead vines and fell to the ground.

"Thank you for your hard work. I will let you be reborn in my roots and in my embrace..."

The Oak of Orpheus waved its branches again, causing the field of wheat ears and the silkworm pupae to sink, wrapping them up with its roots.

As an elemental creature, the elven blood silkworm can only spit out a fixed amount of silk threads in its lifetime and will die immediately after spitting out all the silk threads. Unless it has enough life force to nurture it, it will not be possible for it to be reborn.

After putting on the robe, Orpheus Oak took out a small model, which quickly grew larger after injecting magic power into it, turning into a convertible wooden sports car.

It sat directly inside, and then waved to the apprentices: "Hurry up and go, it will be troublesome if you can't make it to your friend's birthday!"

"Oh, here it comes!"

The apprentices quickly got into their own cars and drove into the field, harvesting a lot of ripe berries and grass seeds.

These fruits are nourished by the magic of the Orpheus Oak and the power of the Mother Earth, and both the taste and the magic contained in them are at level three or four.

The surrounding grass and trees were still helping them move forward, so even an area of ​​dozens of hectares could be crossed in just a few minutes.

After passing the bean ranch, they crossed a bridge and could already see the rushing Terai River and the neatly arranged fields on both sides of the river.

Not only common staple crops such as wheat, potatoes, and corn grow there, but also vegetables and fruits such as cabbage, tomatoes, onions, carrots, etc.

They are all arranged neatly, and from a distance they look like a colorful picture, so beautiful.

This was one of Croa's most important areas, where all the crops he cultivated were grown, and the population here was also the largest in the North.

At just a glance you can see the huge golem farming in the fields and ordinary people sitting on the golem and controlling it to farm and harvest.

After training, even ordinary people can skillfully control these golems without having to worry about how difficult it would be to farm and harvest.

When the apprentices and the Oak of Orpheus saw the scene here, they couldn't help but stop and look into the distance.

They all knew that all the crops growing here were edible, and under the care of Mifflin, the Sons of the Harvest, and Rhea, they could harvest five times a year.

And now is the third ripening time among the five times a year.

They were going to pick up Miffin, Rhea and others here, and collect enough of the best fruits and crops to bring back so that Cloya could taste the fruits of their hard work.

Thank you all for your monthly tickets and recommendation tickets...I was controlled by the hacker today, so it’s a little late.

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(End of this chapter)