Chapter 75

"The Druid Spring Breeze Cup planting competition has seen a new grain variety break a yield of one thousand jin per mu." The Black Knight said this with excitement and agitation. Of course, his excitement and agitation were feigned, primarily to liven up the atmosphere.

Who would have thought that Ang would tilt his head, and Negris would also turn back to glance at Ang, neither showing the slightest bit of excitement.

"What? Doesn't this count as intelligence regarding vegetable planting? A yield of one thousand jin per mu, you know."

Negris asked Ang for a handful of long-grain rice: "Our grain seeds, if planted in this godforsaken place, yield eight hundred per mu."

"Eight hundred? In this godforsaken place? Are you kidding me? Can this godforsaken place even grow crops?" The Black Knight almost jumped up.

Negris slapped the Black Knight on the head with his small, short hand: "Who are you calling a godforsaken place? Whose place are you calling godforsaken?"

Ever since he speculated that the Wind of Rest might be a plane defense set up by the Monarch, Negris no longer felt this plane was godforsaken.

The Black Knight held his head, endured a few blows, and muttered something under his breath.

"What?" Negris didn't hear clearly.

"Nothing, nothing, nothing. Let's change the subject then. The Elven race's World Tree is sick, and they are searching the whole world for someone who can heal it. If successfully healed, the Elven race will pay out a World Tree seed." The Black Knight racked his brains and thought of another one.

The Little Zombie and the Angel Skeleton were not interested in what they were chatting about and turned to run outside.

Negris, however, was quite interested, interested in mocking them: "Tsk tsk tsk, these Elves are as stingy, arrogant, and self-righteous as ever. A World Tree seed? Who wants this trash? One fruit produces thousands of seeds, and they won't sprout for hundreds of years. Even if they do sprout, they are very hard to grow to maturity. If they were truly sincere, why not reward a few moon springs? Surely no one would actually be attracted by the World Tree's reputation to go and take this reward, right?"

"Ah? Ah? They won't sprout for hundreds of years? Our boss... old, the previous boss even sent people to try it." The Black Knight only realized after saying this that he had offered his soul, and his current boss was Ang.

"Hehe, you suffered a loss and were fooled, right? Did you heal it? Did those Elves really let you touch their precious World Tree? How did they verify if you had the ability to heal it? Don't heal the tree to death; that would make the problem serious." Negris's tone sounded like he was gloating.

"That part is easy. Those Elves are now driven crazy with urgency, searching the whole world for people. As long as someone contacts them, they immediately offer a diseased branch. There's no need to go in person; just connect to their teleportation array. One teleportation array is limited to receiving one branch." The Black Knight said while struggling to gather a bit of form, organizing the teleportation array.

Looking at that posture, could it be that he is demonstrating how to ask the Elves for a sample?

Seeing his struggling appearance, Ang kindly (impatiently) transferred 'a little' soul energy to him.

"Oh oh oh oh! Such powerful soul energy, I am filled with power!" The Black Knight's soul suddenly erupted with black smoke, rapidly gathering into his original form.

Ang now consumes two thousand soul flames every day for farming; for him, 'a little' is an amount that could burst the Black Knight.

The Black Knight looked at his own hands in disbelief, looked at Ang, then looked at Negris, and said with a trembling voice: "I... I broke through."

"What? What broke?" Negris was stunned by this sentence.

"Yes, I broke through to Count. I had been stuck at this bottleneck for over three hundred years. Just now, being supported by the soul energy, I... I broke through." The Black Knight said blankly, his tone full of incredulity.

"Oh, it's that breakthrough. Not strange. You've been stuck at the bottleneck for three hundred years and suffered such heavy injuries. Being supported by soul energy, breaking through is very normal. Consider yourself lucky." Negris said dismissively.

The Black Knight shook his head: "If it were really that simple, that would be fine. Emperor, Duke, Marquis, Count, Viscount, Baron—I had been stuck at the Viscount level for three hundred years. During that time, I was injured and dying many times, yet I never saw a breakthrough. Boss, you are my God of Luck."

The last sentence was said to Ang, his tone full of relief.

"Yes, yes, yes, he is the illegitimate son of the God of Luck." Negris felt the same way, then urged the Black Knight: "Hurry up."

The teleportation array beside the Reincarnation Altar is fully functional. Not only does it have teleportation capabilities, but it also has beacon functions and can limit the volume of teleportation, meaning that things exceeding a certain volume cannot be teleported over.

This is equivalent to a disguised way of preventing the possibility of enemies launching a surprise attack through the teleportation array. Forcibly teleporting over might very well result in only half a body coming through because it exceeds the teleportation range...

The small teleportation array in Ice City is just like that. The only thing to worry about is someone like the Black Knight, who can curl into a ball, teleport over, and then stretch out.

However, when curled into a ball, it is also when the Black Knight is most vulnerable. If the enemy is prepared, then it's not a surprise attack, but rather delivering a meal.

Seeing that the Black Knight had voluntarily limited the teleportation volume, Negris felt relieved; this guy didn't have any other bad intentions.

He had offered a soul oath and was one with Ang; if Ang had trouble, he would be finished too, so it was unlikely he had bad intentions. Negris was just habitually being cautious.

Operating the teleportation array, the Black Knight explained while working: "The Elven race has announced the location of a teleportation array. As long as someone contacts them, they will offer a diseased branch."

"A diseased branch of the World Tree should also be very valuable, right? Aren't they afraid of others claiming it falsely? Even without healing ability, they might still go up to claim one." Negris was surprised.

"Afraid of false claims? Are there many people with teleportation arrays these days? If they have a teleportation array, are they still afraid of not having healing ability? What if they do? And a diseased branch, what is it used for? Grinding it into powder to soak in water?" The Black Knight said dismissively.

That's true; possessing a teleportation array is already a natural screening condition. If someone has a teleportation array, are they still afraid of not having ability?

The Black Knight activated the communication function of the teleportation array and said a few words to the other side. The other side checked the teleportation array here, found it wasn't on the registered list, and without a word, teleported over a branch half a meter long and as thick as an arm, even covering the teleportation costs themselves.

"It's that simple?" Negris held the branch, somewhat incredulous. The World Tree, the god of the Elven race, its branch was obtained so easily? And with free shipping.

However, looking closely, the state of the branch was indeed not very good. As the God of Knowledge, Negris had seen a healthy World Tree. The other party had even invited him to eat its fruit—a fruit the size of a washbasin, containing countless seeds and yellow, viscous liquid inside. The taste was excellent, and it had a certain effect of increasing lifespan.

The Brass Dragon has a lifespan of ten thousand years; Negris ultimately lived to be ten thousand and two years old before dying. Those extra two years were probably the effect of the fruit.

Although the effect wasn't obvious, the taste was indeed good. However, one fruit contained a pile of seeds, and those were the World Tree's seeds. Offering only one seed for healing the World Tree—isn't that cheating children?

It would be better to provide a few more branches. If this branch were healthy and could survive through cutting, it would definitely grow faster than seeds.

"Regarding the planting intelligence, you pass. Ang..." Negris turned his head to look, but where was Ang's shadow? The little skeleton had long since run off to who knows where.

Not having run far, Ang discovered that he couldn't understand the topic they were discussing, so he ran outside.

Seeing him come out, the Angel Skeleton fluttered toward him, exposing the soles of its feet as it flew. This dead child didn't know where it had run to step on hot rocks; its soles were roasted and cooked, the outer skin charred yellow and fragrant...

The Little Zombie was much smarter; it stayed far away from anything emitting heat.

Casting a few Holy Lights to heal the soles, Ang 'howled' at it, and the Angel drooped its head, flying back into the valley in low spirits.

The bottom of the Great Rift Valley is a scorching lava river, flowing to an end invisible to the naked eye. On both sides of the river are steep slopes; the higher up the slopes, the lower the temperature.

There are many holes on the slopes. These holes emit black smoke all year round. The substances in the black smoke solidify and settle when cold, accumulating a small mound of soil beside the holes. Over the years, the mounds have become larger and wider.

As long as some soil is dug down from outside the valley and mixed with the accumulated volcanic ash, it becomes very fertile planting soil. Coupled with the heat of the lava river that never ceases all year round, the climate here is distinct, allowing crops to be grown for two seasons, and some cash crops or vegetables can also be grown, making it very rich.

The entire Great Rift Valley is of unknown length; the five-thousand-person Demon Valley can only utilize a short section. Ang casually found a hole that was still emitting smoke and transferred the gray soil accumulated nearby into the Palace of Rest.

Calculating at a ratio of one hundred jin per soul crystal, he spent two thousand soul crystals, and Ang transferred two hundred thousand jin of volcanic ash soil inside.

This quantity sounds like a lot, but it's actually only one hundred tons. Averaged over three thousand mu of land, that's only sixty-six jin per mu. However, as fertilizer mixed into the soil, whether this ratio is appropriate is not yet known.

Ang has already begun preparing a control group, picking out ten mu of land to first find the appropriate ratio before transferring enough inside.

However, the amount of soul flames has been decreasing recently. Negris said this is a period of faith fatigue. Without other stimulation or the growth of new believers, this decay will continue.

It also asked Ang if he wanted to perform some miracles or the like to harvest a wave of faith. However, miracles have a threshold; they must be more shocking each time, otherwise, the effect will get worse and worse.

But the effect of miracles is not as good as wonders. Miracles are one-time events, while wonders can shock everyone's soul for a period of time, achieving a sustained stimulation effect.

However, a wonder is already being dug; the World Transit Station is a wonder. Believing that the day it is completely restored will be the day it shocks the hearts of everyone in this world.

Besides miracles and wonders, there is a more cruel method to harvest faith on a large scale, and that is a Holy War.

Launching a faith war, involving everyone, would make everyone's faith very firm and fanatical.

Negris mentioned three methods to increase faith soul flames. After listening, Ang tilted his head, threw out the word 'troublesome', and then ran away.

The next day, Ang did not use the soul-flame-consuming Quick Death Aura to farm, but instead reached out to organize the fields in the Palace of Rest, seemingly wanting to turn over the compacted farmland inside.

At this moment, Negris finally understood what Ang meant by 'troublesome'. He farmed for fun, not for output. If he had to do so many things just to use the Quick Death Aura, he wouldn't do it.

Thus, the number of soul flames remained at one thousand five hundred to two thousand per day and continued to decline. Occasionally, he needed to save up to use the Quick Death Aura once.

This made Negris unable to help but sigh at Ang's dumb luck. He was right to stop the human collaborative farming process; otherwise, the soul flames wouldn't be enough at all.

"Ang, look at this branch. Is there any way to save it?" Negris flew over holding the branch.

As the God of Knowledge, Negris had hundreds of ways to save a dead branch, but he was the God of Knowledge, not the God of Plants. His knowledge all came from those rich in planting knowledge, such as Elves, Druids, and human farmers.

He couldn't create planting knowledge himself, nor did he have personal planting experience, so he didn't believe that the methods he knew hadn't been tried by the Elves. They must have tried every method before seeking help from the outside world.

Rather than relying on his own professional knowledge, Negris felt that Ang, who had created four planting-type spells, was more reliable.

Ang took one look and shook his head: "Natural aging, life exhausted, cannot be saved."

"Ah? Natural aging? You mean the World Tree is about to die of old age?" Negris asked.

Ang nodded.

"The World Tree is going to die? Didn't it say it could live for one hundred thousand years? How can it die so soon?" Negris muttered in a daze.

Back on the road to becoming a god, the World Tree had given him quite a bit of guidance and had told Negris: "A god's lifespan is in the hearts of believers; my lifespan is in the growth rings, one hundred thousand years."

Now suddenly hearing that it was going to die of old age, Negris suddenly felt a sense of melancholy and loss. He had successfully ignited the divine fire, but his lifespan was not in the hearts of believers, but in the hands of the Undead Monarch. He had been sealed, theoretically living forever.

And the World Tree that had given him guidance back then was going to die...

Sighing with melancholy, he looked up and saw Ang take out a large bottle of essence liquid, a full liter of it, insert the branch into it, and then point his finger at the branch, activating the Quick Death Aura.

Only to see the part of the branch inserted in the bottle grow root systems at a speed visible to the naked eye. The nutrient solution in the bottle was visibly decreasing as if a straw had been inserted. The World Tree branch, which had been somewhat withered, suddenly glowed with divine color, its skin turned green, and it grew tender leaves, bloomed, and bore fruit.

Ang cut off all the extra bud points at the fastest speed, leaving only the one on the main trunk. Thus, all the nutrients were concentrated on the main trunk, growing a fruit the size of a washbasin, and then the branches and leaves withered rapidly.

Ang interrupted the Quick Death Aura and, regardless of whether it was ripe or not, picked the fruit immediately.

The branch continued to wither and char, finally turning into ash and disappearing without a trace, leaving only the large fruit in Ang's hand.

Negris looked blankly at the fruit, exactly the same as the one the World Tree had invited him to eat back then, only a bit greener.

"Alright, now there's no need for the Elves' reward; there are seeds. The seeds inside the fruit are all seeds." Negris said in a tone that didn't know whether to cry or laugh. This Ang could always give people surprises (scares).

But the even scarier part came: Ang actually smashed the fruit and picked out all the seeds inside, sprinkling a portion of them onto the volcanic soil mound at his feet.

Negris screamed in fright: "What do you want to do! Do you want to grow the World Tree like a vegetable!?"