Chapter 2710: Farewell and Establishing Diplomatic Relations

The 840th year of the Netheril Calendar, the fifth day of the first month.

The massive cyclone that had been hovering over the northern sky, appearing and disappearing, began to grow smaller and fainter starting today; and in a place invisible to ordinary people,

inside the Cloudtop Palace, which was held aloft at all times by the Wind Lord Luohaxi, Xia Duo and Talafu sat opposite each other. Now that the Water Vapor Migration Plan was complete, Talafu was also set to return to Calimshan.

Upon receiving the news, Xia Duo had come specifically to see him off, and of course, to take the opportunity to probe the Mairide Family's attitude toward elemental farming technology.

"With this parting, I don't know when we will meet again. Talafu, my friend, I toast you; may you have a smooth journey home."

Talafu possessed a Wind Element Bloodline, so the blessing of a "smooth journey" was most appropriate for him. Xia Duo raised his glass and drained it in one gulp. The wine from Calimshan was not at all as mild as Elf Fruit Wine; instead, it was filled with the wild aura of the desert, extremely potent, and in no way inferior to the distilled spirits Xia Duo had once made to seek the help of the Dwarves.

Xia Duo had never liked drinking strong spirits, although with his current physical constitution, a bottle or two was nothing to him; but after all, it was strong liquor, and drinking too much made one easily intoxicated.

As a Spellcaster and a leader of a territory, he would not easily allow himself to fall into a state of being unable to control himself.

But at this moment, drinking the "Free Wind" spirit from Calimshan, he felt a sense of exhilaration he had never experienced before, as if he had transformed into a wisp of free wind, running wild and unrestrained across the boundless desert.

"Lord Xia Duo—no, Xia Duo, my friend, I also toast you. I believe it won't be long before we meet again, and I hope that when we do, we can still raise our glasses and drink together like we are today."

Speaking to the end, Talafu could not help but be moved. As the second son of the family, his succession ranking was even behind some of his uncles, and he was almost naturally excluded from the center of power.

He felt his only opportunity lay abroad, and now, this attitude from Xia Duo was undoubtedly the best reward for his efforts during this period. He believed that even if his grandfather knew, he would hold him in higher regard.

For him now, even without starting from a utilitarian perspective, he would try his best to maintain this relationship simply for a friend he did not reject in any aspect.

Before leaving, Talafu repeatedly assured Xia Duo, "Regarding the trade of Elemental Essence and the introduction of the Element Ranch, I will persuade my grandfather to agree. Even if they refuse due to various considerations, I will find a way to find a breakthrough from other families."

"No need to force it. You shouldn't cause conflict with your family because of a little experiment of mine. If there is really no way, I will personally visit Calimshan to pay a visit to Grand Vizier Fahede. Calimshan wants to establish diplomatic relations with the various countries of the Northland, and I can put in a few words. Given that, the Grand Vizier likely won't make things too difficult for me."

Watching the Wind Lord gradually drift away, the emotions ignited in Xia Duo by the strong spirit gradually calmed down. In the conversation just now with Talafu, he had learned about the approximate production capacity of Elemental Essence of the Mairide Family, as well as some basic information about the Element Ranch.

It is no exaggeration to say that it is probably difficult for the Mairide Family alone to supply the almost endless demand for Elemental Essence in the future, and perhaps even all of Calimshan might not be able to supply it.

As for the Element Ranch, it was not as simple as he had initially imagined. Setting aside whether it could be introduced, even if it could, managing it was not an easy task.

There were two biggest difficulties in this: one was obedient Element Elders. One could not always let humans herd elements; even if it were feasible for a short time, various problems would easily arise over time.

This was the experience summarized by Calimshan over countless years: to let Element Elders, or better yet, Element Lords, do it. But elemental creatures at the level of Element Elder already possessed not-insignificant Wisdom.

Making an Element Elder herd elements was like making a human Mage farm humans. The act of killing one's own kind, even if the ones being farmed were individuals without Wisdom, was very difficult to convince a sentient being to do.

What was more troublesome was that Element Elders could only herd elemental creatures of the same attribute, which added to the difficulty.

Another difficulty was the Elemental Plane. To farm elemental creatures of a certain attribute, one needed the corresponding Elemental Plane. Xia Duo currently had two planes that could be used for farming: one was the Wind Elemental Plane where the Kuangfeng Baolei gifted by the Mairide Family was located.

One was the 【Blue Crystal Plane】. This plane had extremely high Water Element Affinity, so farming some Water Elements was not a problem.

If one did not consider the issue of harvesting, one could also free-range them in environments with many corresponding elements, such as free-ranging Wind Elements in the high sky, Water Elements in seas and lakes, and Earth Elements underground.

But these environments naturally existed or were prone to having channels connecting to the Elemental Plane, and one careless mistake could result in a total loss of harvest, so the best farming environment was still in the Elemental Plane.

Strictly speaking, the 【Blue Crystal Plane】 was still a bit lacking, because it could already be considered a complete Material Plane, just with a certain high elemental affinity.

Generally speaking, Elemental Planes were those intermediate states between the concept of an element and a Material Plane, and could also be considered the Genesis stage of certain Material Planes with extreme attributes.

For a plane, the time this state could last was very short, but for humans, it was almost impossible to see the materialization of an Elemental Plane in one's lifetime.

If Xia Duo was determined to farm elemental creatures, it would be best to use that Wind Elemental Plane; it just so happened that Calimshan was also best at farming Wind Elements.

Element Elders and Elemental Planes, although they were the two most important elements of an Element Ranch, and as long as one gathered them, it was possible to start the path of elemental farming, but this was only the beginning.

Elemental creatures had extremely long lifespans. It was conceivable that, under normal farming, the time required to let them grow from germination to a state where Elemental Essence could be harvested was definitely not short!

Farming, farming—of course, one could not do without feed. Elemental creatures ate things different from flesh-and-blood creatures; they needed to eat Elemental Gemstones rich in energy.

Elemental creatures of a certain attribute ate Gemstones of the corresponding element; the more they ate, the faster they grew.

Thus, this involved a unique technology of Calimshan—the Elemental Tower, specifically used to produce Elemental Gemstones. This actually did not have much of a threshold for Xia Duo; the Element Pool of a Mage Tower could also be used to produce Elemental Gemstones.

But the problem was that Calimshan's past accumulation was too deep. If the Tower of Time could only produce ten Elemental Gemstones a year, then the Gemstones produced by Calimshan in a year could at least be counted in the tens of thousands.

It was too late to build a dedicated Elemental Tower now. Fortunately, Xia Duo still had a way to overtake on a curve, and that was the Mythallar—using Arcane Crystal to manufacture Elemental Gemstones.

Calimshan dominated the south and had been deeply involved in the elemental field for countless years. The Mairide Family could use Arcane Crystal to manufacture Elemental Gemstones, and other families possessing Element Lords had always had such capabilities as well.