Wizard Farming Guide

Chapter 81 Ecological Valley

The saber-toothed tiger was discovered within the territory of the Duchy of Northern Frost, in the baron's domain right next to Rivermouth Town.

Rhodes had some trade dealings with the other party, but they weren't familiar with each other overall.

Therefore, he did not bring his troops in.

Instead, under the cover of night, he followed the saber-toothed tiger alone into the snowfield.

It needs to be fast, but with minimal noise.

The main goal is to avoid attracting the other party's attention and quickly bring that herd of wild black yak back.

If the other party discovers it, it's really not easy for him to forcibly seize it from someone else's territory.

We can't just buy them, can we? Wild populations, that would be too much of a rip-off.

The man and the tiger left Hekou Town.

With the lightness enhanced by the raven's feathers, Rhodes nimbly traversed the snow.

Guided by the saber-toothed tiger, we quickly traversed the woods and bushes.

The cold wind howled, and the snow-covered plains in the darkness lacked reference points, making it difficult to discern directions.

If an ordinary person were to enter, they could easily lose their way.

Under the lure of perceived advantages, one may think they are walking in a straight line, but in reality, they are just going around in circles.

Fortunately, the saber-toothed tiger is considered the most experienced hunter in the snowfield.

Once it locks onto a target, it can detect the scent of its prey from eight kilometers away.

If you get stained with its blood, the tracking distance can be increased tenfold under the racial talent [Blood Hunt].

After running for more than an hour, the saber-toothed tiger slowly stopped.

Seeing this, Rod breathed a sigh of relief and stopped, panting.

"Huff~ Huff~" The first thing he did after stopping was to put his hands on his hips and take deep breaths, trying to calm himself down after the intense exercise.

"I think we drove about 60 kilometers. The cold and oxygen-deprived high-altitude environment in the North is really tough."

Rhodes stood there feeling dizzy and covered his forehead in discomfort.

The saber-toothed tiger on the other side remained as lively and energetic as ever.

When she turned to look at him, his big, furry head was full of questions. He couldn't understand how he could be so tired from such a short distance.

"Turn your head away, it's your fault for not being able to ride," Rod said irritably, pushing its head away.

He missed his snowfield horse.

Compared to riding a horse, running on foot is really too tiring.

But it was just a thought; I didn't regret not bringing it.

Compared to the development of my territory, my physical strength is indeed lacking, and I should exercise occasionally.

After resting, Rod took out a large biscuit, about the size of a brick, from the backpack behind him.

It has a golden and crispy appearance and a rich aroma of grains.

This wasn't something Rod wanted to eat.

The main ingredient of this biscuit is crushed high-quality barley straw.

It is made by combining animal fats, grain bran, and other ingredients, and then compressing them under magical blending.

These were the feed biscuits he used to tame wild herbivores.

【Name: Golden Roughage Biscuits】

[Quality: Tier 1, Inferior]

[Effect: Greatly increases the favorability of fed animals and slightly accelerates their evolution progress.]

To be honest, this can be considered a kind of magic potion, rather than simply mixing and crushing food together.

Unlike white bread, saber-toothed tigers have no interest in cookies.

After seeing that Rod had rested, it lowered its body and crawled forward into the woods ahead.

Rod bent down and slowed his pace to keep up with it.

Here was a dense birch forest. After walking for several kilometers, Rod found a valley ahead, blocked on both sides by raised stone walls.

Pushing aside the birchwood blocking the entrance, Rod entered and discovered a completely new world.

"Snow moss, there's so much of it." Rod looked around the valley with curiosity.

There are no birch or shrubs growing here, but there are quite a few rotten tree trunks.

The ground and the surrounding stone walls were covered with dense snow moss.

It is grayish-green in color, somewhat sponge-like in shape, and feels very loose to the touch.

Amazingly, at night these snow mosses emit an orange-red glow, making it feel like you're in a fairy tale.

Rhodes dripped the moonlight essence from the quartz tube into his eye sockets and observed the surrounding vegetation.

[Cold hardiness (slight)] [Fast growth (slight)]

These are the magical traces of snow moss, and Rhodes is not surprised.

Plants in the North are more or less capable of withstanding the cold.

What really interested him was what was hidden beneath the moss.

Carefully digging away a patch of moss, Rod discovered many luminous filaments.

It appeared to be a fungus, the name of which he had never heard of in the Duchy of Northern Frost, but the magical traces it possessed were quite extraordinary.

[Fever (weak)]

"So that's how it is. This is the unique ecology of this valley."

Rod transplanted the fungal hyphae into flowerpots, then looked towards the center of the valley.

More than eighty black yak oxen were resting there, grazing on the moss in the snow.

Every now and then, a black yak would drag a piece of tree trunk in from another entrance and drop it on the ground, where it would be quickly taken over by the heat-generating mycelium.

In the ecosystem of this valley, this fungus is responsible for rapidly decomposing feces and trees.

It nourishes the soil and generates heat, maintaining a suitable temperature in the valley.

Snow moss grows rapidly above the fungus, attracting yaks to the area.

The arriving yak herds will break birch trees from the outside and drag them here to nourish the valley.

"An interesting sustainable cycle, quite clever."

Ordinary black yak cattle do not possess this intelligence. Rhodes focused his gaze on the center of the yak herd and spotted the herd leader.

It was a colossal creature, over four meters tall, comparable to an elephant!

It has huge, milky-white horns at both ends of its head, with spiral patterns like protruding drill bits.

This behemoth is the evolved form of the Black Deer Bull, and was named the Icebreaker by the people of the North.

Historically, it was frequently used by armies in wars and is best known as a battering ram used to break through the ice walls of cities.

Due to their ecological niche, herbivores have a harder time accumulating magic power compared to carnivores, making evolution more difficult.

However, some of them, thanks to their naturally large size, become natural war machines once they successfully evolve.

Its unparalleled crushing power far surpasses the claws and teeth of a ferocious beast.

The Icebreaker Beast is considered the rarest of the first-tier magical beasts in the Northern Territory.

Due to its special significance in war, its value is extremely high and immeasurable.

To Rhodes' surprise, there were two Icebreakers here, and they were in a standoff with each other.

The two men stood sideways to face each other, making themselves appear taller and more imposing.

They circled each other, letting out angry howls, hoping the other would know better than to leave.

It was their standoff that allowed Rhodes to remain untouched by the yak herd for so long.

"It looks like a new Icebreaker Beast has arrived here after you left."

After sensing the thoughts transmitted by the saber-toothed tiger, Rhodes understood the situation.

Although there is a lot of moss in the valley, it can only support one ice-breaking beast.

A territorial battle is taking place here.

The next second, the two ice-breaking beasts facing off raised their upper bodies.

After raising its head high, it slammed it down on the other person.

Their enormous horns collided, instantly creating a violent shockwave that shook the entire valley floor, causing rocks to fall from the high cliffs.

The horns of the bulls intertwined, and the two entered a state of struggle.

However, one of them was clearly outmatched and was forced to retreat steadily.

Not long after, it was overturned to the ground.

The victorious ice-breaking beast exhaled two streams of hot air from its nostrils, announcing the change of master of this valley.

It stopped paying attention to the loser and looked in Rhodes' direction.

Seeing the bull staring at him with red eyes, Rod quickly took out some biscuits.

"Um, would you like to try this? It's delicious."

The Icebreaker was unimpressed and raised its upper body again.

With furious roars, they charged toward him, the intruder.

A wild, bloody wind swept over them, and Rhodes and Saber-toothed Tiger dared not delay, dodging to either side.

After rolling on the ground, Rhodes could feel the earth trembling painfully and hear the sound of rocks cracking.

He looked in the direction of the Icebreaker Beast and saw a large section of the shattered stone wall.

"It lives up to its name; it truly is a living battering ram," Rhodes exclaimed.

This is far more ferocious than the Ironback Black Wolf and the Snowfield Steed. If it were to charge into the army, the shield-and-spear soldiers he currently commands would be absolutely unable to stop it.

It's not very agile; once it starts running, it can't change direction.

As Rhodes was making his judgment, the Icebreaker pulled its horn out of the stone wall and charged at him again.

This time, Rhodes did not dodge.

With a thud, he leaped onto the cow's back.

You straddle its neck with your legs and hold its horns with your hands.

He wanted to try the old cowboy tradition of taming this behemoth!

But not long after, a figure fell awkwardly from mid-air.

"Cough cough." Rhodes rolled on the ground helplessly and brushed the dust off his body.

He realized he had overestimated himself; the two sides were not even in the same league, and there was no possibility of a contest of strength.

"Looks like there's no point in talking." Feeling exhausted, Rhodes shook his head and took the Tier 1 longbow off his back.

He drew his bow and shot an arrow, which struck the running Icebreaker in the thigh.

But after a tiny cut was made, it lost its strength and fell to the ground.

"The bow is powerful, but the arrowhead is no good. The leather is really thick." Rhodes exclaimed with admiration.

Using this Tier 1 longbow, his arrows were powerful enough to pierce through plate armor.

However, it could not penetrate the monster's thick skin.

It felt as if a heavy truck was hurtling towards him, and just as Rod was about to be thrown away, he drew his sword, Iceblade.

With the raven's feather moving at breakneck speed, he dodged the impact of the bull's horns.

Using this impact force, they pierced the ice blade into the belly of the Icebreaker.

Drawing his sword, Rhodes retreated continuously, creating distance between himself and the enemy.

The next second, the charging behemoth collapsed to the ground, leaving a bloody trail and raising dust that filled the entire valley.

After more than ten minutes, with a final, mournful cry, the heart of the Icebreaker beast stopped beating.

After confirming that it was dead, Rhodes came to its side and processed the material while it was still hot.

First, use the solidified quartz tube of the [Soul Anchor] to bind the soul of the Icebreaker Beast.

The ice blade then pierced its brain, collecting the essence of brain matter, spinal fluid, and blood.

Due to a lack of high-grade black goji berries, the [Evolution Potion] cannot be manufactured at the moment.

However, these materials are also useful and can help Rhodes accelerate his research into artificial monsters.

Besides, other parts of the Icebreaker Beast are also treasures.

Ox horn and sinew are excellent materials for making extraordinary longbows.

Thick cowhide can be used to make leather armor, which is just as protective as ordinary plate armor, making it perfect for longbowmen.

The training cycle for longbowmen is so long that each one is exceptionally valuable.

However, in order to ensure the rate of fire of their arrows, they could not wear armor; lightweight ice-breaking beast hide armor could solve the protection problem.

The pelt of the Ironback Black Wolf can also be used.

However, it is much more troublesome to process than cowhide, and the leatherworkers in Rhodes territory do not meet the requirements.

(End of this chapter)