The Mighty Dragons Are Dead

The Giant Algae Forest was distributed in a long strip, covering a total of approximately 36000 acres, with the western end close to the seashore and the eastern end far away from the sea.

So far, Liszt had explored the area at the western end near the sea, which was about one third or around 12000 acres, of which approximately 2500 acres were covered in Magic Medicine Kelp. Further east, the water was gradually getting deeper, reaching depths of 80 meters, and the seafloor was uneven, with some areas even exceeding 100 meters.

The fish that lived in this part of the Giant Algae Forest were also getting larger, and ferocious predators such as sharks even lurked on the ocean floor.

Of course.

Even underwater, where Liszt's Dou Qi was not as agile, he could still easily kill the ferocious sharks, especially with the help of Ake, the Water System Grand Mage, by his side.

As long as no Sea Monsters appeared, he would be safe on the ocean floor, "The eastern region of the Giant Algae Forest is not very suitable for marine culture due to the deep water and sharks. It is very dangerous for ordinary fishermen to harvest the Giant Algae here... Even if the territory promotes Dou Qi and ordinary fishermen may be able to have Dou Qi in the future, it would still be dangerous."

A knight's domain is the land and sky.

The sea is not included.

Even knights who possess Water Attributes are restricted in the sea and could easily drown. Not just knights, but Magicians, too, cannot conquer the sea; the human flesh and blood is naturally not suited for action in the sea. Whether one becomes a Dragon Knight or an Archmage, going into the water spells trouble.

This is also the reason why the Duchy of Sapphire tirelessly attacks the mainland—even island nations find it difficult to conquer the sea, let alone those countries on land.

Without the existence of the Sea Sprite Ake, Liszt would also have a hard time developing the sea.

At least until technology evolves to allow for underwater operations, the sea is synonymous with danger. Even on Earth in the age of technology, humans cannot completely conquer the sea. Confronted with the resource-rich sea, they can only look on helplessly. Very few countries are even capable of extracting offshore oil.

However.

With Sea Sprite Ake, the ocean is no longer so mysterious to Liszt.

"Ake, exploring the Giant Algae Forest takes quite a lot of time. Today, we will start by developing the Magic Medicine Kelp. I have redesigned the placement of the Giant Algae Cordyceps; in the future, the planting range of the Magic Medicine Kelp will gradually move toward the seaside... Underwater, cut down all the Magic Medicine Kelp in this area so it floats to the surface; I will send fishermen to salvage it," Liszt instructed.

"Mhm."

Ake was a hardworking and obedient Sea Serpent, never refusing the tasks assigned by Liszt.

Watching her skillfully dive into the sea, Liszt felt quite moved—the Smoke Mission brought him many rewards, the most important of which was Ake. She even surpassed the Little Fire Dragon Leo in his heart. If he had to choose one to give up, he would rather give up Leo.

Of course.

He would never reveal such thoughts to Leo.

Otherwise, Leo might get his fur in a fluff and quite possibly fly away—though it was hard to say, as he was well fed and cared for by Liszt, he might not be willing to leave at all.

...

The operation to harvest Magic Medicine Kelp was quickly underway.

About 600 acres of Magic Medicine Kelp were not in Liszt's planned area and could be cut down.

Distinguishing between Magic Medicine Kelp and regular Giant Algae was not difficult; the ones with longer leaves were Magic Medicine Kelp, and those with slightly thicker leaves were ordinary Giant Algae.

There was no doubt about Ake's working capabilities, and soon large clusters of yellow-brown Giant Algae were floating on the sea surface.

The sampan fishing fleet from Black Horse Island had grown to over three hundred, and Liszt drafted a hundred of them to swarm the surface, searching for Magic Medicine Kelp drifting with the waves, and transporting it to shore. Then, serfs would load the Magic Medicine Kelp onto carts and haul it to the Magic Workshop in Port Town, handing it over to Chris Truth.

It was inevitable that some ordinary Giant Algae were mistakenly cut by Ake in haste, but Magicians had ways to differentiate between the Magic Medicine and ordinary plants.

Liszt did not forget to instruct the official in charge of transportation, "Do not throw away the incorrectly cut ordinary giant algae. Send someone to explore whether they can be eaten and if there is any other value they might have."

If the 36,000 acres of giant algae couldn't be eaten or used, that would be too wasteful.

The preparation for harvesting the 600 acres of magic medicine kelp was slow, as only Ake was cutting it continuously.

Liszt would also dive underwater to harvest as much magic medicine as he could. His diving and breath-holding ability was getting stronger. Now, he could swim underwater for twenty-five minutes without needing to breathe—this was without Ake using the currents to help him, which showed his rapid progress.

First, based on the plan for the magic medicine kelp nursery he had devised last night, he brought the two contracted giant algae minor elves and three elf bugs, and started to transfer the cordyceps. He aimed to transplant them as close to the coastal areas as possible, ensuring that the ranges of cordyceps coverage did not overlap, to maximize planting area.

Then he selected a section where the water depth was no more than twenty meters and marked out an experimental field.

He would experiment with the growth, harvesting, and reproduction of the giant algae.

Based on his understanding of algae, they were a very primitive form of plant; in fact, some algae couldn't even be classified as plants but as primitive life forms.

But in this world, most algae could nurture elf bugs and were naturally classified as plants.

He had previously observed kelp; the leaves of kelp had little bumps. When the kelp matured, the bumps on the leaves would burst, likely containing the seeds of the kelp—he had asked Ake to experiment, and planting a piece of mature kelp into the silt quickly resulted in the sprouting of kelp seedlings.

Giant algae were probably similar to kelp and could also reproduce in this manner.

Moreover, with the help of Fizz and Tam, it was even easier for him to breed the giant algae; they could just let the minor elves reproduce on their own—using jade powder as the driving force.

All minor elves had a "planting" type of "magic."

For example, Jela could casually plant thorns, Nami could easily plant mangroves, Mickey could plant corn at will, and Fizz and Tam could also casually plant giant algae. However, the minor elves were not professional farmers after all; when they planted, they would just scatter seeds without concern for quality, density, or position.

After scattering, they did not attend to them, and all of these steps required human intervention to manage.

Especially during the seedling stage, the seedlings spread by the minor elves varied in strength, with many being substandard. Human-selected and bred seedlings were somewhat more qualified.

The only regret was that the minor elves could not distinguish whether the seeds they scattered were magic medicine seeds or ordinary seeds—essentially, the magic medicine still needed to be bred manually.

Now.

Liszt was not in a hurry to plant the giant algae; his main experiment was with the harvesting of giant algae and their continued growth.

He cut the giant algae in the experimental field into pieces of ten meters, twenty meters, thirty meters, etc., leaving behind giant algae of various lengths to see whether they would die or continue growing. If they could continue growing, then the giant algae could be harvested time and again; if they could not, then it would be necessary to cultivate new seedlings.

As evening approached.

Liszt joined Ake, who had been busy all day, and received good news, "Brother, while harvesting the magic medicine kelp, Ake found another giant algae elf bug."

"Really? Take me to it quickly."n/ô/vel/b//jn dot c//om

Diving, finding the elf bug, enticing it with jade powder, the contract was successfully made naturally. He had now obtained two minor elves and four elf bugs from the giant algae forest!

He had practically stumbled into an elf nest.

And there was still two-thirds of the giant algae forest waiting for his exploration. The Smoke Mission hinted at more core secrets; perhaps it would indeed be the greatly anticipated greater elf.

"Greater elf, oh greater elf, don't be in a hurry; as soon as I harvest this batch of magic medicine kelp, I'll come looking for you!" Your next chapter is on empire

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