Above the mage!

Chapter 300 Return
As the snowy land on both sides of the Phoenix Ice Wall was gradually cleared and Northwest Barley No. 1 was spread, the day when the Zhenbing Tribe became self-sufficient was getting closer.

In fact, the progress of reclamation was not particularly optimistic at the beginning.

Because reclaiming wasteland and cultivating cultivated land are two completely different concepts.

The normal process of land reclamation involves steps such as burning the land, turning the soil, accumulating fertilizer, leveling the land, and digging canals.

However, snowfield agriculture is quite special.

First of all, the snowfields are mostly flat, so there is no need to clear away gravel and shrubs, let alone burning the land. The main work is to clear the snow and then turn the soil.

Another thing is that Northwest Barley No. 1 has the property of absorbing ice elements, so there is no need to accumulate fertilizer or dig canals when planting it.

This saves a lot of effort.

But at the same time, the Zhenbing tribe's farming technology is also rare in its backwardness.

What's worse is that as a non-traditional farming nation, the number of agricultural tools in the Zhenbing Tribe is far from enough for current work needs - if it weren't for a piece of volcanic land that gave the Zhenbing Tribe a certain agricultural foundation, they might not even have a single agricultural tool.

Therefore, they could only develop the farm while urgently making farm tools.

Another way is to rely on spells for help - although the spells awakened by the Iceborn bloodline do not include [Earth Shaping], this is just a trick after all, it does not require spells or potions, and the construction of the spell model is also relatively simple.

Therefore, after God wrote out the formula for the [Earth Shaping] spell and distributed it to the Iceborn mages in the tribe, they did not have to spend too much time learning a trick by relying on their high wizard level of at least one ring.

Soon, [Earth Shaping] became the standard spell for the Iceborn mages of the True Ice Tribe.

Even if it was just a magic trick, in Gaode's opinion, its efficiency in reclaiming land was actually comparable to the large-scale machinery in his previous life.

This is the charm of extraordinary power.

Jinhui Farm is expected to have 300,000 acres of land. Under normal circumstances, given the backward conditions of the Zhenbing tribe, even if 20,000 laborers were mobilized, it would take at least 20 years to fully reclaim it.

But with the help of magic and the special features of snowfield agriculture, the first batch of 10,000-acre farms were developed in just over a month.

And as everyone becomes more skilled at their work, the pace of land reclamation is accelerating.

The field closest to Phoenix and surrounded by an ice wall is the breeding field for Northwest Barley No. 1.

During this period, Flora and Sunaifah spent almost all their free time in the breeding fields.

Godd looked out the window of his "office" into the distance. With the terrifying farsightedness of Mandela's Magic Eye, he could vaguely see that Northwest Barley No. 1 was growing wildly in the breeding field surrounded by the ice wall.

For example, the golden barley he saw in the fields now was dazzling, but in fact it was still green ears of wheat in the morning.

The reason why there can be such exaggerated changes within one day is naturally due to the "art of nature".

Relying on the magical power of nature, Northwest Barley No. 1 accumulates seeds at a rapid rate of one or two harvests a day.

These are definitely not something that Sunaifa can do alone.

Thinking of this, Gao De picked up the parchment on his desk and started reading it.

On the parchment was the "tree planting" application submitted by the Ice Mage in the tribe during this period.

Two months have passed since he and Sunaifa decided to fully implement the "Qingmu Changsheng Sutra" in the Zhenbing tribe.

The smooth progress was beyond Gao De's imagination.

There is no need to promote the benefits of "Aoki Changshengjing" too much.

The fact that the "natural art" of the "Qingmu Changsheng Sutra" can help develop the Jinhui Farm is enough to make the Ice Mage of the Zhenbing Tribe disregard other things and start practicing this method without hesitation.

In Gaode's expectation, considering the importance of the holy object to the "Qingmu Changsheng Sutra", most Iceborn wizards should "wait for the price to rise", carefully select and slowly choose the appropriate holy object.

The fact is, in order to acquire the ability of "Nature's Magic" as quickly as possible, many Ice Wizards don't care about the so-called "prospects" at all, and only want to obtain the holy objects as soon as possible to help the tribe reclaim land and grow food.

However, the same problem that Gaode faced when he chose the Qingmu Changsheng Sutra also exists for the Iceborn mages:
Even the lowest level of magic plants need to grow on spiritual land, because magic power is a necessary condition for their growth.

Moreover, spiritual land is often only the most basic condition, and different magical plants will have different additional requirements for soil properties.

It is usually difficult for high-level magic plants to agree to the magician's request for a contract, so the most realistic method is to cultivate them from a seed.

However, the magic plant seedlings are extremely delicate. Once placed in the wild, they are easily attacked by accidents or harsh environments. Caring for them personally every day is extremely energy-consuming. For most people, this is obviously an unrealistic task.

Of course, since Gaode chose to promote the "Qingmu Changsheng Sutra", he must have prepared solutions to these problems - the land transformed by Yugathshira is exactly the spiritual land suitable for the growth of magic plants.

As long as the holy relics of the covenant are planted around Yugathira, Elder Gain can lead the tree protection team to help everyone protect the holy relics while protecting the holy trees.

It not only saves manpower but also makes efficient use of resources.

However, Gaode put forward two requirements:

First, if you want to plant the sacred objects of the covenant around Yugathira, the type of sacred object you choose must be a tree species.

Because only tree species can provide growth benefits to Yugathshila.

The land that Yugathira has to transform is still limited, and resources must be utilized to the maximum extent possible.

When there is surplus land in the future, Gaode will allow everyone to enter regardless of what kind of magic plants they choose.

Secondly, the sacred object of the covenant must be a seed that has not yet sprouted or a newly born seedling, and cannot be a mature magic plant transplant.

Because Yugathixila was just planted not long ago, even after being stimulated to grow, it is only in the form of a small sapling and its ability is still very weak.

Although the land it has transformed now has a weak magical power, it is still some distance away from becoming a spiritual land and is not enough for the magical plants to grow healthily.

The seeds or seedlings of the magic tree do not require that much magic power in the soil, so the land that Yugathhira has transformed is barely enough.

Of course, as they grow, these magic trees' demand for magic power will definitely increase.

But don't forget that Yugathira is also growing.

Moreover, its growth rate is faster than other magic trees. After all, the characteristic of Yugath-Shila is that the more magic trees there are around it, the faster it grows.

By that time, Yugathira should have already transformed the land into a spiritual land.

This is called growing together.

In addition, the cultivation of magic plants is also a profound science.

The Zhenbing tribe, which is poor in knowledge, has not studied this subject much.

This should have been a major problem in promoting "Aoki Changsheng Jing", but Gaode has Flora!
Born to plant trees.

For all tree species, as long as Flora works with them, she can come up with the most suitable cultivation method.

What is the Central Courtyard Continent, what is the Temple of Balance, the orthodox "Aoki Changsheng Sutra" is in the north
If finding the magic tree species was not an easy task that required time and a bit of luck, more than half of the Ice Wizards in the Zhenbing Tribe would have chosen the holy object to form a bond by now.

But even with so many restrictions, the number of mages in the Zhenbing Tribe who have chosen to make a contract with the holy relic is still a huge number.

It is a huge number that the land area currently transformed by Yugathshila is far from meeting the demand.

Therefore, if you want to "plant trees" in Walar Bay, you must first go through the application process.

To this end, Gao De also specially set up a "Forestry Office" in the Ministry of Agriculture, which was specifically responsible for the matter of "tree planting" - the chief officer was of course still Flora, but she was assigned two more people to collect and screen the "tree planting" applications submitted by the tribesmen.

"Including the seven in this batch, there are now thirty-one Iceborn mages who meet the requirements waiting in line." Gao De went through the "tree planting" application and came up with a number.

Even with such stringent restrictions, there is still a shortage of supply.

He couldn't help but let out a long sigh. What a happy trouble.

Then he began to think in his mind:

"Twelve first-level magic trees and six second-level magic trees"

These are the new "magic trees" that have been planted around Yugath Shila in the past two months. They are all sacred objects bonded by the Ice Wizards in the tribe.

In order to maximize the use of resources, the tree planting applications he approved were all for different types of tree species, and all of them were magical tree species with relatively universal requirements for the soil environment.

The growth benefit that the magic plant can provide to Yugathira is far greater than that of ordinary trees.

Therefore, once these eighteen magic trees take root and sprout successfully, the growth benefits they can bring will be equivalent to that of hundreds of ordinary tree species.

However, the magic plants contain more complex vitality and magical energy, which cannot be easily produced by "Nature's Art". The amount of mana required increases tenfold or even dozens of times.

Even with Sunaifa's help, only eleven of the eighteen tree seeds planted have sprouted.

But the sprouting of these eleven magic saplings was enough to bring about earth-shaking changes in Yugathira.

In just two months, its height skyrocketed from more than three feet to more than nine feet.

The increase in height is secondary; the more obvious changes are in the roots and trunk.

The trunk of the tree became thicker, and the mysterious and complex runes on it became more clearly visible, containing vigorous power. The number of new leaves reached more than two hundred, surrounded by colorful light, like a dream.

The root system expands further and goes deeper into the ground, and the roots exposed above the ground become more vigorous and powerful.

"It won't be long before Yugatshira advances to the next stage. It will probably only take a week or two."

This is the message conveyed by Yugatshira himself.

Once entering the next stage, Yugathira will awaken some of his own innate abilities.

Gaode has been looking forward to this for a long time.

"My king, Catherine is back and is waiting outside to be summoned."

While Gold was still immersed in his reverie about the great cause of "afforestation", Grant, the Deputy Secretary of Agriculture who had been very busy recently, suddenly arrived and brought Gold an unexpected news.

"Finally she's back," Gao De's eyes lit up and he said, "Let her in."

A moment later, Grant came in with Caitlin and did not leave - after all, Caitlin was a high-level mage, not a member of the True Ice Clan, so Grant would naturally not let Caitlin and Goder be alone in a room.

"Sir, I have successfully completed the task you assigned me." As soon as she entered the office, Caitlin saluted with her hands on her chest, with just the right amount of respect in her voice.

She looked a bit tired and exhausted, and it was obvious that she had not had an easy time during this period.

Nearly three months had passed since Caitlin led the team to leave Phoenix and head to the snowfield to hunt down the murderer.

During these three months, she did not dare to rest or slack off for even a moment - the longer the time it took to track down the murderer, the higher the intensity of the work would become, so she had to do it quickly.

After three months of intensive pursuit, even though Caitlin was an experienced hunter, she was exhausted.

Fortunately, the results are good.

"Among the Snowfield Guardians, we have tracked down all the necromancers who followed Holy Inquisitor Ryan to learn forbidden necromancy and then fled away."

"Four of them resisted fiercely after discovering us, so we had no choice but to kill them. We captured the remaining necromancer and have brought him back to you, awaiting your decision."

Gaode already had a plan to deal with this group of people.

"It just so happens that we don't have enough manpower to open up the Jinhui Farm right now. After injecting the forbidden ice needles, let's hand them over to Deputy Minister Grant to work as laborers."

"Thank you, my king!" Grant couldn't be happier after hearing Gode's arrangements.

As Jinhui Farm was being developed, it could be said that there was a shortage of people everywhere.

After arranging the whereabouts of these necromancers, Godard looked at Caitlin and said, "I promised you that if you complete the task of hunting down the murderer, I will give you all freedom."

He paused, then nodded under Caitlin's slightly nervous gaze, "This is of course true. From now on, you are free."

Caitlin's face suddenly showed an irrepressible joy, and she felt that all the fatigue of these days was worth it.

"But." But before she could be happy for long, Gao De spoke again.

Caitlin's heart tightened when she heard the first two words.

"You should have noticed when you came back that Phoenix is ​​currently undergoing a major construction project."

Caitlin nodded subconsciously when she heard this, and recalled what she had seen and heard before entering the city.

When we left, the snowfields on both sides of the city gate were still a wasteland covered with snow.

In just three months, it turned into a field, and there were actually barley plants growing in it.

Further away, there were thousands of Zhenbing people busy removing snow and tilling the soil.

When she saw this scene for the first time, Caitlin thought she was under an illusion spell or was dreaming.

Even now, she still hasn't figured it out.

Gaode continues here:

"Phoenix is ​​very short of people right now, especially capable people."

"So, I would like to invite you to stay in Phoenix and work for me. Of course, you can refuse." What Gode said at the end was far beyond Caitlin's expectations.

"You mean, invite us to work for you?" Caitlin asked in disbelief.

"Yes," Goder nodded, "Any questions?"

"With the power of the Zhenbing Tribe, you don't have to be so polite to me." Caitlin still found it a little hard to understand.

Now they are lower than humans in status, and Gaode needs them to do things, and they cannot and dare not refuse.

"What I need is not someone with ulterior motives." Gao De gave his own explanation.

In fact, as a time traveler, he was not very fond of the word "service" - this word was too feudal.

But he knew that sometimes it was meaningless to simply emphasize equality and freedom.

Citron in the south and orange in the north.

In such a world, it is foolish to betray one's own class.

What he should do is to grow the most abundant fruits possible under the conditions that suit the soil of this world.

(End of this chapter)