Chapter One Hundred Sixty-One: Artificial Rain "Surprised, aren't you?"
"One million mu?" Leilin was quite astonished. In his previous life, that would have been the area of several counties.
"Mm, and it's not just various rare plants and magical creatures — there are also many ordinary people…"
Martin pointed toward what looked like small towns and villages in the distance. "We hire ordinary people to farm for us and cultivate plants that are useful to Wizards. It turns out that organized, planned cultivation, with more manpower invested, can produce far more resources…"
"The entire Four Seasons Secret Realm is the foundation of our Four Seasons Garden — an inexhaustible treasure trove!"
"Establishing a Secret Realm, cultivating resources, and reaping the output — this is the primary source of resources for the White
"One million mu of land, with energy density this high, on top of dedicated management…" Leilin silently marveled to himself.
He had a vague sense that before this, he had always existed in the dark corners of the Wizard world. But here, he was finally seeing a philosophy and set of ideals completely different from those of the Dark Wizards.
The White Wizards obtained their supplies by cultivating the various plants and animals within the Secret Realm.
The Dark Wizards, on the other hand, seemed to prefer obtaining their resources through violence.
"Leilin, do you know why the entry inspections were so strict earlier?"
Martin suddenly asked.
"Why? Was it because they were afraid of Dark Wizards?" Leilin voiced his guess.
"That's right — those damn locusts!" Martin's teeth gritted together when he mentioned the Dark Wizards.
"Those bloody Dark Wizards. All they think about is getting something for nothing, never bothering to properly manage their own Secret Realms. Instead, they're always scheming to prey on our White Wizard Secret Realms…"
The small-statured Wizard beside them explained the reason.
"Every year, there are cases of Dark Wizards successfully raiding Secret Realms! Sure, they mostly just make off with the finished resources, and the Realm can recover its production capacity — but it's still a tremendous loss…"
Lei Lin actually understood the reasons behind this rather well.
Although Dark Wizards grew up in extremely bloody and brutal environments, there was no denying that Dark Wizards forged in such conditions possessed average combat strength that definitely surpassed that of ordinary White Wizards.
And according to the Dark Wizard theory of survival of the fittest, the White Wizards' resources were nothing more than a fat piece of meat in their eyes!
Moreover, this kind of low-intensity conflict, from the perspective of the Dark Wizard leadership, likely served a troop-training purpose as well.
If it weren't for the White Wizards' organizational superiority and relative cohesion, combined with the Dark Wizards' own flaws and low mutual trust, the entire balance of power among the wizards of the South Coast would have been rewritten long ago.
"Alright, let me hand out assignments!"
Martin stepped forward to one side and waited until all the Wizards had recovered before speaking up.
"Our specific task is to clear out a section of the eastern region, eliminating insect infestations and other blights. Pay special attention — a plant disease has recently appeared on the eastern grasslands. All the Horse Milk Grass has developed black spots on its surface, and it will require treatment with Jacklin No. 1 Potion…"
"Next — Fire Eye, Hawkford, you two are assigned to East Zone One! Lei Lin, Oco, you two take East Zone Two…"
Martin then began distributing assignments.
"Let's go!" The small-statured Wizard from earlier — the one called Oco — said to Lei Lin.
After the assignments were handed out, the members of the Third Group left the platform in pairs and small groups.
"It's quite a long way from here to the eastern sector, but our organization already has mounts stationed here — we can get there fast…"
Oco had clearly been here several times before. He led Lei Lin over to a nearby building and obtained two green iron tokens from a window.
"Dragon-Crowned Night Hawk controllers?"
Lei Lin understood immediately. It seemed that Four Seasons Garden maintained an extremely high degree of control over the entire Secret Realm.
With two sharp, echoing cries, a pair of enormous Dragon-Crowned Night Hawks spread their wings and took flight, heading east.
After the Night Hawks had flown some distance, several more of the same birds rose from the same spot behind them, bearing Wizards who looked like tiny black dots, scattering in every direction.
The whooshing sound of wind rushed past Lei Lin's ears.
Lei Lin sat on the broad back of the Night Hawk, his gaze continuously sweeping across the land below.
In this secret realm saturated with dense energy particles, all manner of plants grew in exuberant abundance.
A vast green grassland stretched as far as the eye could see, dotted with several neatly arranged patches of blue where clusters of tiny blue flowers bloomed, their buds brimming with sweet nectar.
These were Honey Milk Flowers — not only a common ingredient in many apprentice-level potions, but their nectar was also a favored food source for many creatures throughout the Wizard world.
Through the Chip, Lei Lin could also make out several figures moving among the blue floral expanse, working industriously like ants, dressed much like herdsmen.
Near the flower fields, there were also several areas that were clearly human-made structures, seemingly dedicated to overseeing and tending the flowers.
"Common materials planted by ordinary people, ones that apprentices use fairly often. The more precious resources useful to full Wizards would be guarded far more strictly — they might even replicate the natural environment of the outside world for specialized wild cultivation…"
The flight at high altitude continued for nearly half an hour before they finally descended outside a small town.
"Greetings to the two Lords!"
At that moment, a large group of women and children emerged from the small town, led by a man who appeared to be the town mayor and a Wizard Apprentice. They bowed respectfully to Lei Lin and his companion.
"The specifics must have been relayed to you already! Here is my token! Take me to the Watchtower!"
Oko casually tossed a badge-like object to the apprentice.
The apprentice appeared quite advanced in age, with white strands already appearing behind his ears. He accepted the badge, carefully rubbing its surface with his right thumb while chanting a few spells.
As the incantation sounded, a burst of white light suddenly erupted from the badge's surface, forming a luminous screen in midair. Within it appeared the portraits and information of the two Wizards, Lei Lin and Oko.
"Lord Lei Lin! Lord Oko! Please follow me!"
Upon seeing the images and records, the apprentice visibly relaxed and led Lei Lin and Oko to the front of a tall stone tower at the center of the town.
"This is the Watchtower established by the organization. I've been responsible for its maintenance and upkeep all along — it's currently operating perfectly…" The apprentice opened the Watchtower's door while delivering his report.
The interior of the Watchtower was quite spartan, the walls left in their natural grey-white stone color.
The first floor served as the apprentice's quarters and living area, while the second floor was a storage space haphazardly piled with rock materials for repairing the Watchtower, rune crystals, and similar supplies.
After ascending the long spiral staircase, Lei Lin and the others arrived directly at the highest floor of the Watchtower.
Standing guard outside the door on the top floor was an unexpected magical creature — a lizard painted on the wall. It called out: "Password!"
"Praise the Great Mother of the Earth — it is she who bestows vitality upon the land!" The apprentice recited the phrase as though chanting a hymn.
"Password correct!" With the lizard's voice, the great door creaked open.
"Only Third-Tier Apprentice level. Still, not bad at all!"
Lei Lin glanced at the lizard still crawling across the wall painting and offered a faint comment before stepping into the room.
The topmost floor's room was quite small, with windows on all four sides. Through the transparent glass, one could faintly make out the scenery beyond the town.
"This is the weather monitoring instrument, along with a magic array for regulating temperature and humidity. The operation is very simple, but since it's your first time here, Lei Lin, just watch me do it first..."
Orc arrived first before the black apparatus.
"We came here primarily to address the disease affecting the mare's milk grass on the plains..."
Orc pressed a button on the instrument, then pulled a mask fitted with red glass lenses over his face.
*Click.* A recess appeared on the instrument, about the thickness of a finger — just wide enough to hold a potion test tube.
"Jakelin Number One Potion!"
Orc inserted several green potion test tubes into the recess, and the level of the green liquid inside them steadily dropped.
"Rain!" Orc uttered a single syllable in the Ancient Byron Language. At the same time, water-element energy particles began gathering around his body.
Moreover, the energy was amplified through the instrument under his command, continuously expanding, until it surged out from the top of the tower.
"Replacing technology with the power of Wizards to achieve artificial rainfall — what a brilliant idea!" A look of fascination crossed Lei Lin's face as he marveled to himself.
Any path could reach its destination in the end.
And the Wizards, wielding their mysterious arcane power, achieved a result remarkably similar to that of Lei Lin's previous life.
*Crack!* Above the small town, a mass of dark clouds gathered as though appearing out of nowhere, growing thicker and thicker.
*Beep! Beep!* Rain, transparent with a faint tint of green, drifted down through the air.
The dark clouds gathered thicker and thicker, and the rain began to fall upon the grassland.
Under the cleansing rainfall, the black spots on the horse milk grass were visibly fading. It looked as though after just a few more bouts of rain treatment, the grass would make a complete recovery.
"Managing a secret realm is a real art! This kind of rainfall is just the most basic step — you also need to pay attention to the combination of certain plants and animals. For example, when you pair Night Lotuses with Dark Night Bees, you not only increase the Night Lotus yield by thirty percent, but also significantly boost the bees' activity levels. There's even a chance a queen bee will emerge. And the honey brewed from Night Lotus pollen is a beauty product highly sought after by many female Wizards…"
Orco casually introduced these details to Raylin.
When it came to managing a secret realm, Raylin's experience was absolutely zero.
As such, he carefully recorded every word Orco said, asking questions from time to time.
"What a pity! If I could use the Chip to implement technological management across the entire secret realm, I'm confident I could boost its output by another twenty percent!"
After getting a general understanding of the secret realm's situation, Raylin felt a twinge of regret. (…)
P.S.: Just a quick note — since I'm a slow typist and things have been busy at home lately, the monthly ticket bonus chapters might not be updated as promptly as usual, but they will definitely come! Please bear with me, dear readers!