Magic Farm 96

Chapter 96: The Legendary Elven Archmage Aegnor

[Screaming Lily of the Valley (Blue): Due to certain experiences, this lily of the valley’s mind has undergone some strange changes. When it comes to enemies, warnings alone are not enough—only complete eradication can bring rest and peace.

Skill 1, Bell Chime. The Screaming Lily of the Valley can foresee the arrival of enemies and ring out a clear bell to alert the inhabitants of the territory. Bell Chime effect: all allied units are inspired, entering a battle-ready state; damage increases by 10%, critical hit rate increases by 10%.

Skill 2, Scream. When enemies invade, the Screaming Lily of the Valley emits a piercing scream, inflicting a mental attack on the enemy, with a 30% chance to cause negative states such as confusion, continuous bleeding, silence, or reduced damage. Each of the above skills can be triggered once per hour, with each effect lasting half an hour.]

It was hard to imagine what kind of mental state this lily of the valley had been in to complete such an evolution.

Using his Nature Whisper magic, Qi Yu sensed a surging aura from the newly transformed Screaming Lily of the Valley: Battle! Exhilaration!

Yet it was clear the plant now knew exactly how to make things easier for itself: both of its newly evolved skills triggered only once every half hour—no need to keep screaming without end.

A sudden thought struck Qi Yu: would the evolved Screaming Lily of the Valley drop seeds?

If it could drop seeds, he’d only need to plant two, let them take turns using their skills, and wouldn’t that be the same as having no cooldown at all?

Also, did “allied units” include the energy towers?

Qi Yu soon got his answer.

The swift that had arrived earlier had already turned into white light, but under the temptation of the black tree, new points quickly delivered themselves to his doorstep.

“Ding-ling-ling…”

A crisp, piercing bell rang out.

Qi Yu could see with his naked eye a blood-red halo appearing on the Screaming Lily of the Valley, rippling outward and rapidly spreading to cover the entire territory.

Demon Vine, Windblade Grass, Raging Tomato, even the Emerald Bees and the Sunlight Sunflowers—all of them were now shrouded in a faint, blood-tinged glow.

Above the heads of every inhabitant appeared a “Inspired State” icon.

Qi Yu’s heart stirred; he opened his personal panel.

He found that even his own status bar now bore the “Inspired State.”

He checked the energy tower and the alchemy golem, but unfortunately, neither had anything above their heads.

It seemed the Screaming Lily of the Valley’s skill only worked on living beings.

A vine whipped over to Qi Yu’s side with a “whoosh,” swaying anxiously left and right.

“Hungry! Hungry!”

The Demon Vine was nearly dancing itself into afterimages.

It had been excited at first, suddenly growing so much bigger.

But before it could enjoy the feeling, those annoying big things had multiplied just as quickly!

It couldn’t compete, not at all!

Qi Yu soothed it, “Don’t worry, don’t worry, I’ll make sure you eat your fill.”

He removed one of the energy towers, clearing several meters of space, and communicated with the Demon Vine through his spiritual power: “This area is yours. Can you hold it?”

Worried that the Demon Vine wouldn’t understand, he repeated himself several times.

But the Demon Vine was smarter than he’d imagined. When it saw that the big thing that always competed with it for swallows had vanished, and that the lord was pointing at the spot where it disappeared, it instantly understood his meaning.

The lord had removed the big thing, leaving the swallows for it to eat.

The lord was good.

The vine swayed joyfully in the wind and rain, then did its best to… bloom a flower just a bit larger than the others.

This flower was carefully offered to Qi Yu.

“For you, for you, my lord.”

Qi Yu could feel the joy and respect the Demon Vine was conveying.

He reached out and just as carefully accepted the flower.

After a moment’s thought, he let wood-element magic flow from his fingertips, weaving a tiny vine brooch to encircle the blossom.

He pinned it to his chest, right beside his mage’s badge.

The Demon Vine strutted back, brimming with pride. It was unexpectedly clever, knowing to retract most of its vines and focus on guarding the area the energy tower had vacated.

A new wave of swifts arrived.

This time, the first to act was once again the Screaming Lily of the Valley.

Qi Yu heard a long, unbroken, high-pitched scream.

Just like the inspiration halo, he saw a ring of transparent sound waves ripple outward from the Screaming Lily of the Valley—only this time, the target was not the territory, but the invading enemies.

The sound waves crashed into the flock of swifts, and visibly, the once orderly group charging toward the territory fell into chaos.

Some dropped straight from the sky, some began to fly erratically, and a small portion started attacking their own kind indiscriminately.

Qi Yu’s eyes lit up. He looked at the Screaming Lily of the Valley and praised it, “You’re amazing.”

He had originally planned to plant the black tree from his backpack first, but glancing at the time, he decided to open the treasure chest and skill book before anything else.

He hadn’t forgotten that today he had the Seven-Colored Flower’s blessing of luck.

If he got too busy and forgot, and it passed midnight, that would be a real loss.

He used Water Ball to wash his hands, then walked to the Seven-Colored Flower, carefully touching its pink petal.

Next, he went to the statue of the Goddess of Nature in the garden, made a devout wish, and offered praise to the goddess.

With the mysterious ritual complete, he returned to the great tree beneath which his shelter stood.

The rain was perfectly blocked, and beneath the tree was a perfect, secluded space.

He took out the Farmer’s Profession Skill Book (Purple).

[Farmer profession skill detected. Learn?]

“Learn.”

The book in his hand turned into a stream of purple light, which settled onto his body.

A strange sensation enveloped him.

Qi Yu realized that his perception and control over the entire territory had grown stronger. He no longer needed the territory module or Nature Whisper magic—just by willing it, he could easily sense every movement of wind and grass within the territory, as well as the states of his inhabitants.

[Congratulations, player has acquired the exclusive Farmer profession skill: Farmer’s Domain.]

[Farmer’s Domain: In the farmer’s territory, all land is the farmer’s field. The farmer holds absolute authority over all inhabitants.]

Qi Yu stared at that line. All land is the farmer’s field?

Did it mean what he thought it meant?

He walked to the only black ancient tree in the territory, took out another from his backpack.

The land showed as plantable.

The entire territory really had become farmland!

That would save him a lot of points on buying farmland.

This time, the Swift Shop had farmland for sale. Qi Yu had thought, with the territory expanded so much, he’d need to plant many more crops, and there wouldn’t be enough farmland.

Even the cheapest basic farmland in the points shop cost 1,000 points per plot.

Now, with the whole territory plantable, he could skip that expense entirely.

Thinking of his earlier plans, he carefully used magic to wrap up the Golden Apple sapling, roots and all, and transplanted it into the garden, at the foot of the goddess statue.

He even moved the Mist Star Flowers, replanting them by the small lake.

The small lake was set beside the garden, its banks once lush with grass, now adorned with clusters of Mist Star Flowers in full bloom.

Now, the riverbank was strewn with stars—beautiful!

Next came the most exciting part: opening the chest.

[Diamond Treasure Chest detected. Open?]

Qi Yu looked at it expectantly. “Open.”

When he saw that familiar crimson light, only one thought filled his mind: the Seven-Colored Flower’s blessing hadn’t been wasted, and the goddess’s prayers really did work.

From now on, he would offer his sincerest greetings and respect to the goddess every day.

He stared unblinking at the light as it gradually faded.

Crimson light—Qi Yu remembered—was a higher grade than golden light.

Last time, from a diamond chest, he’d also drawn a crimson-glowing item: the Guardian Mage Robe he now wore.

The Guardian Mage Robe was a demi-artifact.

Which meant that within this unassuming glow, there was a high chance of another demi-artifact-level item.

[Congratulations, player has obtained “Advanced Theory and Practice of Magic Circles.”]

[“Advanced Theory and Practice of Magic Circles”: Authored by the legendary elven Archmage, Lord Aegnor. Note: Although this elven Archmage is not known to the world for his expertise in magic circles, that hardly matters. The title of ‘Archmage’ alone is proof enough.]

The legendary elven Archmage, Lord Aegnor?

Qi Yu remembered that when he’d obtained Aegnor’s notes before, the Survival Game’s annotation had called him the legendary elven Grand Magus.

It seemed this formidable lord had made yet another breakthrough.

For some reason, Qi Yu recalled the newspaper he’d reeled in earlier that day.

It had said that a Grand Magus from the Mage’s Association had advanced to Archmage.

Could it really be such a coincidence?

He tucked the exquisitely bound book into his backpack.

There was only this one item in the entire diamond chest.

Qi Yu wasn’t disappointed: President Sean had said that an Archmage was equivalent to a demigod-level powerhouse. A magic book personally written by an Archmage would naturally be of demi-artifact quality.

And, as it happened, he was currently very interested in magic circles.

This reward from the diamond chest was truly thoughtful.

Thank you, Survival Game.

For the next hour, Qi Yu planted all sixty-five black ancient trees from his backpack throughout the territory, filling up half the land at once.

The bare black trees were not particularly beautiful, but the good news was that after planting, every single one of them changed state.

[Mysterious ancient tree of unknown origin, status: Dormant.]

Just like the first tree, all these black ancient trees now emitted faint pulses of life.

The territory, too, became livelier than ever thanks to their presence.

Swifts—far too many.

The attraction of a single black ancient tree and that of an entire black forest were worlds apart.

Countless swifts were drawn from all directions, braving the energy towers and Demon Vine’s attacks, throwing themselves to their deaths, and turning into beautiful points.

Qi Yu had been worried that with so many swifts, the Demon Vine might not hold out.

To his surprise, the little guy, who at first could only extend a dozen or so vines to devour swifts in its direction, began to grow more and more vines as it killed.

A dozen, twenty, twenty-four…

The speed at which it killed swifts grew ever faster, the blood-red hue on its vines deepening, as if real blood might seep out.

Qi Yu checked on the Demon Vine’s state and found its mind filled with nothing but excitement and feasting, its strength growing with every swallow.

He was reassured.

The Demon Vine was truly treating the swifts as an all-you-can-eat buffet—the more it ate, the stronger it became.

It was a weapon even more powerful than the energy towers.

After all, the energy towers still needed magic crystals.

The Demon Vine would simply find its own food.

Truly a model inhabitant, one that spared its lord all worry.