Chapter 179: The Ethereal Hammer

Most spatial ornaments require a Magic Rune authentication to open; unless, like that tear-your-clothes female mage last time, they are deliberately left unlocked for quick insertion and removal, in which case anyone can open them.

There are only two ways to open a locked spatial artifact: either the original owner triggers the opening with their unique mana fluctuation, that is, the Magic Rune, or one finds a spatial mage to crack it.

Generally, only a spatial mage of Archmage rank or higher has a high chance of cracking it, though this also depends on the artifact's creator.

The more powerful the spatial mage, the harder the spatial artifacts they create are to crack; for the same artifact, a higher-level spatial mage cracks it more easily. This is like a game of war chess, a long-distance contest between the creator and the cracker.

For now, the level of the belt's creator is unknown, but Seeing Ange's Spot-Removal Technique hummed and cracked the Magic Rune lock, completely exceeding Lord Nai Ge Li Si's understanding.

However, there are already enough unreasonable things about Seeing Ange; involving gods and the power of belief, it is easy for things to become unreasonable.

So, ordinary mages tend to dislike Divine Art users because they easily leave them at a loss.

The spatial belt belonged to that mage named Xie He De. Opening the belt's space, he rummaged around and found some Magic Crystals, several bottles of Stamina Potions, a few spellbooks, several sets of mage robes, two wardrobes full of clothes, a wig cabinet, some Intimate Items, and that was all.

This Xie He De actually used precious space to store clothes, wigs, and Intimate Items?

He put away the useful items, shook out the useless ones, and dumped them off the dragon's back.

Then he pulled out another spatial ring belonging to Tie Lei Si, hummed for a while, and spent much longer than on the spatial belt before Seeing Ange finally erased the Magic Rune lock on the ring and reached his hand inside.

"Military strategy books, terrain maps, account books, three copies of military supply equipment ledgers, contact lists, various protocol rubbings, relationship charts of high-level figures from various countries, war chess simulation insights, biographies, biological atlases, population census data tables for various countries, economic, livelihood, and customs research reports for various countries... Oh my god, Seeing Ange, it seems we took down quite a formidable guy," Lord Nai Ge Li Si exclaimed.

Seeing Ange tilted his head.

"Look, these are all professional books and reports, written and rubbed on special paper, not parchment; the material itself is valuable. Moreover, every book shows signs of being read, with annotations. This person has read all these materials, more than once. He must love learning very much, and with such professional content, he must be an outstanding commander."

Seeing Ange nodded; he couldn't understand them anyway, so whatever Lord Nai Ge Li Si said was fine.

Almost everything was related to military command, except for one object like a pebble, made of an unknown material. As soon as it was taken out, under the blowing cold air, it quickly began to glow faintly.

As more wind blew upon it, the glow became steadier. With a gulp, a windless air bubble opened behind the pebble. Inside this bubble, one could not feel the slightest presence of wind.

Wind is the phenomenon of air flow; it is a verb. What blows is wind; when still, it is just air.

"Huh? What a wonderful barrier. Is this a Wind Element Anti-Magic Barrier? And an Anti-Magic Barrier triggered by the Wind Element itself? I ban myself?" Lord Nai Ge Li Si said in shock.

Within the range enclosed by the bubble, not a trace of wind could be felt. Seeing Ange tried to use the Pollination Technique but could not cast it. Yet the air existed; it was as if moving wind entering this bubble immediately came to a standstill.

What use could such a thing have? He thought for a long time but could not come up with a clue, so he had to put it away for now.

Returning to Fallen Dragon Lake, he had barely touched ground when Bai Hou swooped over: "Awooo!"

Seeing Ange leaped back onto the dragon's back in a flash, shot into the sky, and flew toward the lake's central island. Bai Hou told him the Elf Beans had sprouted.

The Elf Beans had finally sprouted. To plant these things, Seeing Ange had tried every possible method. He never expected them to be even harder to grow than the World Tree. Of course, the main reason was the scarcity of seeds; there was only one seed. Otherwise, with Seeing Ange's Control Group Method, he would surely have found the trick very quickly.

The reason Elves could grow Elf Beans was largely due to the World Tree. Seeing Ange could not bear to plant the small sapling in the ground, so he dug up an ordinary World Tree from the Abyss of Rest, planted it on the central island, and sowed the Elf Beans beneath its shade.

Before planting, Seeing Ange mixed dozens of soil types, then dripped Life Essence onto the Elf Beans and placed them on the soil. If it produced an emotion of disgust, he would quickly pick it up; if it emitted a signal of comfort, he would increase the dosage according to that ratio.

Because the potency of the Life Essence was too strong, only one drop could be used each time, and eight hours had to pass before it could be used again; otherwise, the Elf Beans could not withstand it.

For this reason, just to adjust a suitable soil environment, Seeing Ange used an entire bottle of Life Essence on the Elf Beans. It took three or four months to select the soil composition it liked best, where the ratio of Dragon Soil to insect ash had to reach seven percent and zero point five percent.

For safety's sake, Seeing Ange did not dare to use the Accelerated Death Aura; he simply buried the seed and let it grow freely.

Because the Accelerated Death Aura accelerates growth too quickly, a full maturation cycle might not even experience night. Ordinary grains are naturally fine, but for magical plants like Elf Beans, a complete day and night cycle is very important.

Bai Hou's main task now is to look after the Elf Beans. Since they are planted on the central island, anyone else wanting to come would have to row a boat for one or two hundred kilometers.

Arriving at the central island, the surrounding vegetation was already very lush. Especially the wetlands along the shore, all reclaimed by Seeing Ange into paddy fields, were planted with Saltwater Magic Rice.

On the mid-slope of the central island, a short World Tree was growing vigorously, becoming wider and wider, almost covering the entire mid-slope. The soil layer on the central island is relatively shallow; to prevent the World Tree from being blown over, its top is frequently trimmed, forcing it to grow horizontally rather than too tall.

Under that umbrella-like shade, five or six skeletons surrounded a tiny sprout, holding branches in their hands to drive away various small birds and insects, lest the precious seed be snatched away just after sprouting.

These arrangements now appear to be foresighted. See, the seed has sprouted.

Seeing Ange took one look and immediately felt relieved. The sprout's growth was very good and healthy, which meant the growing environment was very suitable for it. As long as it was watered and fertilized on time, it would grow vigorously.

Next, Seeing Ange jumped down into the paddy fields by the shore, held the sickle upside down, and harvested. Rows of rice stalks fell into the water. Normally, the water should be drained to avoid the rice ears getting wet, but Seeing Ange was not afraid; he had magic and the Breath of Life Soil.

For rice grains wet with water, a swipe of mana removed the water element from their surface. This ability doesn't even count as magic.

The mountain on the central island is a stone mountain with a thin layer of weathered soil on its surface. In a huge stone crack on the mid-slope where the rock had split, the Breath of Life Soil was laid down, and the rice was piled inside; it could hold at least several hundred thousand tons.

Seeing Ange planned to store all the crops planted on the central island here.

Seeing Ange was busy and happy, but Lord Nai Ge Li Si sighed there: "You guy, you can't walk away when you see fields. Have you forgotten something?"

Seeing Ange tilted his head in confusion.

"The Earth Holy Hammer, the real Earth Holy Hammer. You didn't forget it, did you? The Undead Anthem, the Blessing Holy Seal. Anthony wants to see them, and I want to see them too. I'm dying of curiosity."

"Oh." Seeing Ange scratched his head; it seemed there was such a matter: "But..." He turned back to look; only one-tenth of the paddy fields had been harvested.

"Fine, fine, fine. I'll go pick up Anthony. You play." Lord Nai Ge Li Si sighed helplessly. Generally, when Seeing Ange showed such an emotion, even ten dragons couldn't pull him away. It was better to let 'the Mountain' come.

"Good." This time he agreed very readily. As soon as the words left his mouth, he dragged the sickle and ran out of sight.

"Sigh..." Lord Nai Ge Li Si: "Bai Hou!"

Bai Hou shot in front of Lord Nai Ge Li Si like a white shadow: "Awo?"

Lord Nai Ge Li Si slapped its head: "Stop saying 'awo' all day. Speak Dragon Tongue."

"%#@! @... ￥##@@" Bai Hou said.

"... Forget it. You just say 'awo'. One 'awo' finishes the sentence, but your Dragon Tongue takes forever to say."

"Awo!" Bai Hou immediately switched back to Awo-speak.

"Go to the canyon and pick up Anthony." After Lord Nai Ge Li Si finished speaking, he flapped his wings, flew onto Bai Hou's back, and sat down heavily.

Perhaps due to good nutrition, Bai Hou grew very fast. Now it was five or six meters long; carrying one or two people on its back was no problem. The Silver Dragon's talent made it fly like a silver arrow.

"Awo!"

"You are fast; the Bone Dragon is slow. What's wrong? Can't your ancestor-grandpa ride you for a bit?"

"Awo~" Bai Hou reluctantly turned its head, flapped its wings weakly, and flew up with a mumble.

"Hurry up, we're short on time. Here, I'll give you something good." Lord Nai Ge Li Si took out the pebble.

Bai Hou bit it in its mouth and looked at Lord Nai Ge Li Si in confusion.

"Fly up and try. You'll know once you try. Your body is small and your speed is fast; the air bubble you trigger should be able to envelop you," Lord Nai Ge Li Si said.

The faster the speed, the larger the air bubble the pebble can excite. Bai Hou's body is small — unlike the bone dragon, which is over twenty meters long — so the air bubble simply can't envelop it.

Taking flight, accelerating, and once a certain speed was reached, Bai Hou opened its mouth and let the wind element slam against the pebble it was biting. In an instant, Bai Hou felt the drag on its body vanish.

When it flies at full speed, wind is the biggest factor hindering its velocity. Humans call this drag wind resistance.

As the drag vanished, Bai Hou shot forward in a sudden lunge, its speed spiking sharply.

As its speed increased, the air bubble grew larger, wrapping around its entire body. With the drag on its whole body gone, Bai Hou's speed climbed higher, which excited an even bigger air bubble, forming a positive feedback loop.

Whoosh — Bai Hou was like a bolt of lightning, vanishing from sight in the blink of an eye.

Only when it reached the canyon did Bai Hou slow down, spit the pebble out and grip it in its hand, then cry out excitedly: "Aoo aoo!"

"You mean it's exhilarating and fast? But your snout isn't inside the air bubble, so the wind stings a bit? And without shockwaves and turbulence, your aerial maneuverability is lacking — no good for fighting, but first-rate for running away?"

"Aoo!"

"That's easy to fix. You wear a nose cover with a tube extending out from it. When accelerating, open it; when maneuvering, close it. Because the tube extends the distance, it can wrap your nose in the bubble too."

"Aoo!" Bai Hou barked excitedly, yipping and yowling.

Someone on the ground was tilling the fields. Hearing the sound, they looked up and said excitedly to their companion: "See, I told you — giant dragons all go 'aoo aoo.' Hear that?"

Arriving at the canyon cliff face — the spot where Nai Ai Li La had gone poof-poof earlier — Andoni was already waiting there, gazing into the distance until his eyes nearly fell out.

"Huh, switched mounts? How come you're so late?" Andoni leapt onto Bai Hou's back, first showing a flash of surprise, then unable to hold back his complaint: "I'm swamped here, a whole pile of matters. What are you going to do about that Divine Favored one?"

"What Divine Favored one? Oh, you mean that female shopkeeper — isn't she one of Silver Coin's people? Just have Silver Coin arrange it." Nai Ge Li Si was stumped for a moment before catching on.

"That doesn't seem right, does it? A Divine Favored one, and you just toss her to someone else to handle — that's not proper, is it?" Andoni said hesitantly.

Nai Ge Li Si rolled her eyes at him several times: "You go find Seeing Ange to chatter away every now and then, and even have him run errands for you — are you a Divine Favored one? Silver Coin goes to Seeing Ange to report work whenever something comes up — does that count as a Divine Favored one? Lisa borrows Seeing Ange's power every day for beauty treatments — does that count as a Divine Favored one? Everyone's a Divine Favored one, no need to make it special."

"Fair enough — the Divine Favored ones aren't special, it's Lord Seeing Ange who's too special. Fine, got it."

Whoosh — Bai Hou flew at full speed, and before long they were back at the island in the middle of the lake.

"Hiss — so this is the saltwater magic rice? What's the yield?" Looking down from the air at the rice paddies spread across the shallow-water area, Andoni sucked in a sharp breath.

It was his first time seeing saltwater magic rice with his own eyes; before, he had only heard Nai Ge Li Si mention it a few times and had no intuitive sense of it.

Now, taking one look, he immediately realized he had underestimated this thing in the past. A crop that can be grown in saltwater and saline-alkali land — as long as the yield isn't too poor — is a divine object capable of altering the situation of the entire continent, more terrifying than one or two divine artifacts.

As for how low counts as poor? A yield below a hundred jin per mu counts as poor. Below that figure, the grain grown might not even be enough for the farmer's own consumption.

"We're planting Magic Rice No. 3, six hundred jin per mu," Nai Ge Li Si said.

"Poof? How much? Six hundred jin?" Andoni immediately sputtered.

"Too little? Well, it's true — at the Chunfeng Cup there are grain varieties breaking a thousand jin, so six hundred jin is indeed a bit low. We also have Rice No. 1, which can yield seven hundred per mu — already pretty good, after all, it's saltwater land…"

"Lord God of Knowledge, have you perhaps not updated your knowledge of agriculture in a long time? There are indeed grain varieties breaking a thousand jin at the Chunfeng Cup Planting Competition, but those are yields produced under the intensive, meticulous cultivation and wholehearted nurturing of druids. For ordinary farmers tilling the fields, three or four hundred jin is already a bumper harvest."

After being looked down on by Andoni for a stretch, Nai Ge Li Si finally realized that the data obtained from Seeing Ange and the Chunfeng Da De druids couldn't be taken as the standard.

……

Pulling out the Holy Hammer of the Earth, Andoni lay down in front of it and examined it closely: "Mm, this is indeed a creation of the Undying Empire. The Undying Movement on the handle is complete. Besides these visible symbols, there are also these raised and recessed dots — they are the soul-resonant syllable annotations; only undying beings can chant the complete movement. It's just been sealed, so its original appearance can't be made out, and I don't know what kind of hammer it is."

"It seems to be called the Hammer of the Void." The hammer suddenly spoke, giving Andoni a fright: "Who are you?!"

"Of course I'm the spirit that sealed this hammer."