Chapter 2791: Million-Unit Incubation Box

Looking around, apart from a few isolated floating islands in the distance, there was no other observable tangible matter; this was indeed a typical Wind Elemental Plane.

In essence, it also belonged to the Material Plane, but the element affinity was extremely polarized. Xia Duo even suspected that those few floating islands were not products of this plane at all, but were brought in from the outside.

Because this plane, like the Blue Crystal Plane he possessed, had negligible gravity, and with the entire plane filled with gale-force winds, it was almost impossible for loose, minute matter to aggregate into floating islands.

"Lord Xia Duo, please, this way."

Just as Xia Duo was speculating on the reason for the existence of the floating islands in this plane, Talafu had already reminded him from the side to continue deeper. Moreover, seemingly noticing Xia Duo's gaze, Talafu also explained in a timely manner:

"Those floating islands are breeding bases for wind elementals. Newly born wind elementals are too weak and need to be allowed to grow for a period of time before being released into the natural environment."

After speaking, Talafu took the lead and flew toward the floating island.

Xia Duo followed behind Talafu, flying while carefully perceiving the Magic Net of this plane. It was slightly different from the Main Plane, but with his spellcasting proficiency, this degree of difference was not enough to affect his normal spellcasting; he only needed to make slight adjustments.

During the flight, they occasionally encountered some elemental creatures that intruded upon their path. At such times, Talafu was responsible for driving these wind elementals away, while simultaneously explaining to Xia Duo:

"There are too many wind elementals being raised in this Element Ranch, and the Element Elder may not be able to look after every single one. It doesn't matter if a few occasionally break free from their binding; when it is time for feeding, they will all return."

"Are these wind elementals content with this state of captivity, and do they not resist because of being harvested?" This was a point Xia Duo was very curious about.

"How can this be called captivity? This entire plane is their range of activity. If this is captivity, then who is it that keeps us in captivity in the Main Plane?"

Talafu countered with a very philosophical question. Xia Duo was slightly silent upon hearing this, while the other party continued to explain: "Wind elementals are naturally fond of freedom; only a plane-level Element Ranch can support their normal activities."

"As for resistance, any creature will have a survival instinct, and of course they will resist. But for these special creatures, as long as they do not become an Element Elder, they cannot possess true Wisdom. Their resistance is meaningless in our eyes."

"And once they become an Element Elder and possess Wisdom, they can naturally be spared from being harvested and can even become a Manager of a new Element Ranch."

Hearing this explanation, Xia Duo could not help but sigh that even capitalists were not this capable of exploitation. However, there was nothing to criticize; just as Talafu said, these ordinary elemental creatures did not possess true Wisdom.

Moreover, their forms were too different from flesh-and-blood creatures like humans. Humans even farmed existence like chickens and ducks, which were also flesh-and-blood creatures, so elemental creatures were no different.

And the most critical point was that Xia Duo's trip was to sign a contract with the Mairide Family to introduce technology related to the Element Ranch, so he had even less standing to criticize anything. On the contrary, he had to praise it as a job well done—a perfect creative idea!

This was just like humans raising traditional livestock, then selecting the excellent ones from the livestock to serve as managers to continue opening up new farms. This was simply a path that had never been conceived before.

Soon, the two arrived at the floating island nearest to them. From afar, this floating island looked very small, but after getting closer, Xia Duo discovered that this island was actually not much smaller than the Murloc Island in the Blue Crystal Plane.

The diameter was about six or seven New Li.

There were few buildings on the island, only things that looked like crystal cubes, arranged neatly and densely in the center of one side of the floating island. Continuing to approach, one could discover that inside these crystal cubes were individual swirling winds.

"Are these the Wind Elemental Breeding Boxes?"

On the way, Talafu had already given Xia Duo a preliminary introduction to the function of these crystal cubes. At this time, hearing Xia Duo's inquiry, he again gave an affirmative answer:

"Yes, Lord Xia Duo may observe as you please. After the agreement is signed, we will hand over all the technology, which naturally includes the manufacturing technology for this type of breeding box."

Xia Duo did not expect the technology to be handed over before the agreement was signed, but being allowed to observe as he pleased showed that the Mairide Family indeed still had sincerity.

After all, the magic world was different from Earth; some technology might just be a line of thought. By looking at it and understanding the thought process, even if the original design was not adopted, it could still be realized with other designs.

Thus, Xia Duo leaned in to observe the crystal cube carefully. Although called a breeding box, it was not actually a hollow box, but a solid whole, with a side length of about half a meter.

Although it looked like transparent crystal, its surface and interior faintly revealed complex and rigorous magic patterns. It did not look like a Magic Item made by permanent spell casting, but rather a product of Mithril construction and crystal encapsulation.

Of course, this was only "like"; it was more likely a unique manufacturing process of Calimshan.

The manufacturing method could be anything, as the essence of Magic is unique. The systemic difference between Calimshan Bloodline Magic and Netheril Magic was actually far smaller than the difference between Netheril Magic and Elven Magic.

Xia Duo was not worried that he would be unable to manufacture it using Netheril Magic processes.

What he was mainly observing now was not the manufacturing process of this crystal cube, but the core function of this crystal cube.

Through observation, he preliminarily judged that this crystal cube should at least possess functions such as Energy Gathering, Genesis, and Binding.

The so-called Energy Gathering and Genesis were, of course, to gather wind elements and subsequently give birth to elemental creatures; this was the core function. Binding, meanwhile, was to temporarily bind the wind elements within this crystal and continue to cultivate them.

Until they reached a certain standard, they would not be released.

There were nearly a million breeding boxes on this floating island, and the breeding progress of these breeding boxes could not possibly be controlled so well that they all gathered energy, underwent genesis, and were released at the same time.

According to Talafu's explanation, the process of elemental creatures being born was very ingenious. It was not that elemental gathering would necessarily lead to the birth of an elemental creature; some special catalysis was also needed, and this catalysis was the core technology mastered by the Mairide Family.

Yet even so, it was impossible to guarantee a 100% success rate within a fixed breeding period.

The success rate Xia Duo negotiated with the Mairide Family was at least 30%. The Mairide Family might have a higher rate, but this would at most affect the breeding cycle of some elemental creatures, and for the entire element farming process, the impact was not significant.

Therefore, the breeding progress of these nearly one million breeding boxes was almost never exactly the same. It was conceivable that when Xia Duo and Talafu arrived on the island, they must have seen scenes of wind elementals being released.

Those released wind elementals would be summoned by the Wind Elemental Elder in the distance, traveling through the Fast Wind Field Channel above the breeding boxes to reach the Element Elder to receive further cultivation.