Chapter 300: The Eye of Omniscience

"For the days ahead, I must trouble Elder Gaien to work hard once more." With matters here temporarily settled, Gao De prepared to return to Phoenix, though there were still some things to entrust before his departure.

"To guard the Holy Tree is our honor; it is no trouble at all," Elder Gaien replied solemnly, taking a deep breath.

Gao De nodded slightly. "Once the radius of the land transformed by the Holy Tree has doubled, notify me promptly. I will return then."

"Yes, my King!"

Mounting his snow wolf, Gao De set out on the return journey.

For some reason, however, Flora was exceptionally active on the way back, flitting around him like a little bee, as if she were "seeking attention."

After a while, Gao De finally couldn't help but ask, "Is Lady Flora in a good mood today?"

"How did the mage know?" Flora exclaimed in surprise!

How did I know? You might as well have written your happiness on your face.

"I guessed. Why is Lady Flora so happy?" Gao De asked.

"Mage, Mage, Lady Flora has already learned 【Friendship Art】!" Flora lifted her head, looking up at Gao De with a "casual" air.

"Oh~ wow!" Gao De said, feigning surprise. "The Agricultural Force has been so busy lately, and I see Lady Flora has been swamped; to think you still had time to practice magic? I knew Lady Flora had a wise heart, but I never expected you to be this diligent and hardworking!"

Flora's expression tightened, and her breathing involuntarily quickened.

She wanted to say something, but she dared not open her mouth, merely tensing her face.

At the same time, she quickly ran through every unhappy thing she could think of in her mind, terrified that if she let her guard down, she wouldn't be able to suppress the corners of her mouth, exposing her extreme pride and joy.

Must be composed, must be elegant! A moment later, feeling her emotions stabilize, Flora fluttered her small wings and said with a straight face, "Actually, half the credit goes to Yujia Te Xila. It has grown, and so Lady Flora's abilities have strengthened a little."

Of course, the other half of the credit came from Lady Flora's own diligence and wise heart!

Flora didn't say that, pretending to be indifferent while looking expectantly at Gao De.

Hearing Flora's words, Gao De suddenly realized that Yujia Te Xila was not only his holy object but also Flora's Seed of Life! If he had gained so many benefits from Yujia Te Xila's growth, how could Flora have gained nothing? Gao De glanced at Flora, who was silent but had bright, sparkling eyes, and chuckled. "Although Yujia Te Xila deserves credit, success depends on the individual. Lady Flora's achievements today are all due to your own effort and talent."

The little person couldn't help but take a deep breath and clench her tiny fists.

Damn it, I was mentally prepared, so why is it still so hard to control!

After a good while, Flora finally exhaled that breath and calmed down.

"Since you have learned 【Friendship Art】, let me teach Lady Flora 【Earth Shaping】. With Lady Flora's wise heart, I imagine you will master it easily. Once you master 【Earth Shaping】, Flora will be able to dig pits and plant trees all by yourself!"

As he traveled, Gao De spoke in a tone as if he were describing a wonderful opportunity.

Flora froze for a moment, couldn't help but take another deep breath, and clenched her tiny fists again.

At that moment, she felt her mind couldn't quite keep up—it sounded great, but why couldn't she feel happy? Learning magic is hard work, working is hard work, and learning magic to work is even harder... However, looking at the mage's expression of being happy for her, and thinking of the mage's praise—diligent and hardworking—Flora shook her head and cast her distracting thoughts aside.

"No problem!" Lady Flora's tone was incredibly firm, and her expression was equally resolute!

Elder Lanwen, who had listened to the entire conversation, took a great deal of effort to keep his eyes straight and stifle his laughter.

Gao De, however, was well-practiced. He pursed his lips and said naturally, "Compared to your progress in magic, Lady Flora, your progress in arithmetic is somewhat slow. With Lady Flora's wise heart, that shouldn't be the case. Is it because work is too tiring, and you've been neglecting it a little?"

Is a wise heart more important, or is diligence more important? Flora began to worry, falling into a dilemma, not knowing whether to answer "yes" or "no."

While Flora was still thinking, Gao De added, "Actually, Lady Flora has so much to do; it's already very tiring. One shouldn't be too harsh regarding studies."

"I mainly thought that since Lady Flora has a wise heart, you could fully manage both, but one must balance work and rest. It was my fault for having such high expectations of Lady Flora."

"Lady Flora is already amazing!" he praised emphatically.

Good children are made through praise.

Gao De was well-versed in this.

"That's right!" Flora nodded in agreement, thinking to herself that she would sleep a little less from now on and secretly study "arithmetic" while the mage was resting, so she could surprise him and prove her "wise heart."

She had actually felt a bit of fear and difficulty regarding "arithmetic," but after Gao De said that, it was long forgotten.

Lady Flora must work hard! Flora clenched her fists and encouraged herself in her heart.

On the third day of the return journey, heavy snow suddenly began to fall from the sky.

Goose-feather snowflakes drifted and scattered.

At this time, Gao De was less than a hundred li from Phoenix.

If it was snowing here, there was a high probability that Phoenix was in the same situation.

However, Gao De wasn't overly worried—the reason the cold-resistant wheat was suited for the northern realm was that it could absorb trace amounts of ice elements from the extreme cold environment to replace sunlight and water as energy for growth.

Therefore, even if it snowed, it wouldn't affect the Northwest Barley No. 1, which had inherited the cold-resistance of the wheat; one could even interpret it as excellent weather that would lead to a good harvest.

This was a truly auspicious snow signaling a bountiful year.

By the time they returned to Phoenix, the small city was already wrapped in a layer of white gauze, and the sky was a hazy gray.

In the northern realm, this was the most common weather, so the lives of the people in Phoenix were not affected.

Gao De returned to the City Hall, formerly the Elder Hall, and had just sat down in his "office" when a knock sounded at the door.

"Come in." As Gao De's voice fell, Grant, the Deputy Minister of the Agricultural Force, burst in, though he wasn't there to see Gao De.

"My King, I heard you returned. Is Lady Flora back as well?" As he spoke, Grant's eyes darted left and right, quickly spotting Flora on Gao De's right shoulder, his eyes brightening again and again.

For the current Agricultural Force and even Phoenix, Flora was extremely important.

Especially her ability to select seeds through touch; for Phoenix, where agriculture had just gotten on the right track, that was "core technology."

Grant, who had known Gao De took their Minister away, felt as if the sky had collapsed, and he had been looking forward to Gao De's return every day.

"She is here for Lady Flora!" Gao De lowered his head and said to Flora.

Then, a smile appeared on his face as he remarked, "Before I knew it, Lady Flora has become so important. This home cannot do without Lady Flora."

Gao De was happy, and Flora was actually even happier.

"Lady Flora has skills!" she emphasized.

"Yes, incredible skills." This was not coaxing a child, but genuine, heartfelt praise.

"After the long journey, would Lady Flora like to rest first?"

"Long journey?" Flora didn't understand.

"It means traveling."

"Not tired!"

"Then I must trouble Lady Flora to work hard; everyone relies on Lady Flora to have a chance to be full."

"No trouble!" Flora's tone was crisp and full of energy.

Then, she waved her "big hand" and called out in a clear, thin voice, "Deputy Minister Grant, let's go, to the fields!"

Watching the two "titans" of the Agricultural Force leave, Gao De's "office" welcomed another visitor.

Su Naifa. "My King, I discovered something strange. It was found by Saint Xi En during a patrol." Upon seeing Gao De, Su Naifa got straight to the point.

"Something strange?" Gao De subconsciously frowned.

"An eye. You must come with me; it is truly hard to describe, and you need to see it with your own eyes."

"Alright." Gao De suppressed his curiosity and rose to follow Su Naifa.

As they walked, Su Naifa briefly introduced what had happened.

This "eye" was discovered by Su Naifa's magical falcon, Saint Xi En, during a routine patrol in the sky on the second day after he left Phoenix for Jianwan.

It appeared on the edge of the planned area for the Jin Hui Farm, but fortunately, due to the slow progress of reclamation, it was still wasteland.

Su Naifa, having received the report from Saint Xi En, was very vigilant and took action personally at the first opportunity.

After all, the Jin Hui Farm was too important for the Zhenbing Tribe and even the northern realm; she could not tolerate any accidents.

"Its strength was unexpectedly powerful; I even had to use 【Breath of the Wilderness】 to capture it alive." Speaking of this, Su Naifa's expression became serious.

【In the error-free version!】

Hearing this, Gao De's expression also turned solemn.

What on earth?

A single "eye" had forced Su Naifa to use 【Breath of the Wilderness】. Although capturing alive was harder than killing, it couldn't hide the fact that this "eye" was extraordinary.

More importantly, in Gao De's understanding, Su Naifa was already the number one person in the northern realm—the northern realm had no visible fifth-circle mages, and the only fifth-circle necromancer, Lei Sen, had been killed by Su Naifa herself.

The number one person in the northern realm was certainly not invincible in the northern realm; after all, there were more and stronger ley-line creatures.

But at least, ley-line creatures that could give Su Naifa a headache should be rare. How could one appear so quickly, and outside of Phoenix at that?

This gave Gao De some bad premonitions.

As they spoke, Su Naifa had brought Gao De to the place where the "eye" was temporarily detained—because its origin was unknown, Su Naifa had cautiously kept it outside Phoenix and assigned Elder Lu En to guard it.

"My King, War Mother." Seeing Gao De and the War Mother arrive, Elder Lu En bowed with his hand on his chest.

"This thing?" Upon seeing the true face of the "eye," Gao De couldn't help but gasp.

It was truly an eye, a monstrous, extremely deformed eye.

Its overall structure was like a terrifying product of a human eyeball magnified infinitely.

The huge eyeball occupied the center of vision, with a diameter of over a person's height, emitting an ominous, deathly white luster. The white part of the eye appeared unusually turbid, without a trace of life's vitality.

In the center of the eyeball was a strange purple pupil, which kept slightly contracting and expanding, as if breathing.

Even more horrifying was that surrounding this huge eyeball were a dozen twisted and winding purple tentacles.

They swayed gently like living things, their surfaces covered in slippery mucus, and tiny suckers were vaguely visible at the ends, seemingly searching for targets to entangle or attack.

At this moment, the surface of this deformed eyeball was covered in a layer of thin ice, Su Naifa's masterpiece.

It was this layer of thin ice that restricted all its movements.

"Have you seen anything similar before?" Gao De asked.

Su Naifa shook her head. "This is my first time seeing such a creature, and it doesn't look like a ley-line creature."

Gao De nodded slightly, agreeing.

This thing before them clearly didn't come from the same family tree as ley-line creatures.

"Its blood is purple and possesses strong corrosive properties, capable of corroding even snow and soil. Additionally, its eye can shoot attacks similar to rays, with extremely high intensity." Su Naifa gave Gao De a detailed introduction to the characteristics of this eye.

"The most peculiar thing is that while it doesn't look like a living thing, its intelligence shouldn't be low. After exchanging a few moves with me, its first reaction was to try to escape, very decisively."

Gao De nodded silently, the solemnity in his heart deepening.

He thought for a moment, then finally widened his eyes and looked at the strange eye before him.

The next instant, deep within Gao De's left pupil, gold and blue intertwined runes flashed and vanished.

Third-rank Mandara Demon Eye, power of 【Insight】.

He activated the Mandara Demon Eye to observe and model the eye monster before him.

"Unknown creature, unknown gender, height 160 cm (referring only to the height of the eyeball part, excluding tentacles), weight between 100kg-500kg (due to the inability to directly measure the weight of the tentacles).

Skeletal structure unknown but unusually sturdy, body surface covered with a layer of slippery mucus, possesses powerful corrosive blood and ray attack capabilities.

Number of tentacles: 13, each tentacle length approximately 2 to 3 meters, tiny suckers at the ends, can be used for entanglement or attack.

Nervous system unusually sensitive, reaction speed extremely fast, intelligence level extremely high, possesses a certain degree of strategic thinking.

Unknown energy flows inside the body, energy intensity extremely high, possibly related to its supernatural strength and speed..."

With the rapid consumption of mana in his body, a concrete model of the eyeball monster was gradually constructed.

Of course, Gao De was not satisfied with this, so he continued to observe.

The longer the observation time and the more abilities the observed object displayed, the more comprehensive and precise the constructed model would be.

As the Mandara Demon Eye continued to expand and Gao De's mana was about to bottom out, some differences were finally detected by Gao De.

There was an extremely illusory and invisible, yet extremely stable "thread" extending from the pupil of the eyeball monster toward the northeast, with no end in sight.

Gao De subconsciously activated his long-distance vision ability, looking in the direction the thread extended.

The next moment, his whole body trembled, and his face turned deathly pale.

In that instant, he clearly saw a huge blue eye, separated by an unknown distance, staring face-to-face with him.

The overwhelming pressure almost made Gao De feel suffocated, leaving his body stiff and unable to move.

That feeling was like staring directly into the void.

Fortunately, it was only for an instant; the blue eye disappeared, as if everything were just an illusion.

"What's wrong, my King?" Su Naifa noticed Gao De's abnormality and asked with concern.

Gao De, having regained his senses, glanced at Su Naifa's eyes—also blue, but infinitely more beautiful—and slowly exhaled.

"This thing cannot be kept," he said.

Although uncertain, Gao De vaguely felt that this eyeball seemed to be connected to another eye.

Through it, that blue eye could see everything here.

Gao De drew 【North Wind】, stepped forward, and stabbed directly into the purple pupil of the eyeball monster, then twisted it fiercely.

Origin:

Fifth-circle—Artificial Eye of Omniscience (1/7).

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 301 =====