Foreign Land Reclamation By a Vegetable-growing Skeleton

“Thank you, sir. Our deepest appreciation for slaying the demon that burned seven of our farming areas in Ice City. As a token of our gratitude, we present this humble gift to you,” said Lan, her hands holding up a helmet.

“Huh? What is this? Quite interesting. It is made from magic steel, sandwiched by soul iron. It’s slender in shape and doesn’t have space to accommodate the ears. It’s a helmet designed just for a skeleton huh, very interesting indeed. A skeleton-specific helmet?” Negris projected into Ange’s soul with an air of fascination.

Ange tilted his head towards Lan and asked, “What is it?”

Lan shook her head, saying, “We are not quite sure, but this helmet can’t be worn by an ordinary person. We believe it was specifically made for a skeleton, and it might truly be effective under your possession, sir.”

Ange tapped the helmet and discovered that it was solid, his spirit couldn’t penetrate it. He put it on his head and it fit perfectly, neither too loose nor too tight, even when shaking his head.

Indeed, it was specially designed for a skeleton. If a living person wore it, due to their hair, skin, and ears, the interior of the helmet would feel completely different. This helmet protruded at the ear section, fitting snugly into the hollowed ear section of the skull. Even without straps, it was incredibly secure.

After wearing the helmet, he immediately felt as if the world had become much quieter, as if he were wrapped in a soundproof boundary.

Skeletons perceive the world through the fluctuations of their souls, mainly radiating from the eye sockets. However, the skull can also be penetrated by soul fluctuations, albeit much weaker.

Therefore, a skeleton’s field of vision is 360 degrees, but only the area dead ahead can be sensed clearly. Other angles are unclear and hazy, often serving as a distraction.

After wearing the helmet, due to the helmet being impervious to spirit fluctuations, all the hazy perceptions disappeared. Only the area illuminated by his eye sockets remained, making his perception much more focused.

Not bad, Ange removed the helmet and said, “I like it.”

“Phew, it’s great the lord likes it,” Lan sighed in relief, her heart finally returning to her chest from her throat.

She certainly didn’t offer a gift casually. As long as the lord liked her gift, she could comfortably propose her small request.

“Sir, our customers were very satisfied with the Holy Mushroom powder. However, there was too much of it, the customers couldn’t digest it all. They hope you can process it into Holy Essence Liquid for them. They are willing to pay five times the price,” Lan respectfully said.

Before Ange could understand what this meant, Negris had already started cursing: “Are they dreaming? Only five times the price for Holy Essence Liquid? Do they think we’re gullible? These unreliable merchants, this must be the doing of those swindling Goblin Merchants! Shameless swindlers!”

Negris seemed furious as if he had been swindled by these goblins himself, his bitterness evident as if he wished to leap straight out of Angels soul.

“What is Holy Essence Liquid?” Ange asked, puzzled.

“It’s a liquid extracted from Holy Mushroom Powder using purified Holy Water. The effects are remarkable. Holy Mushroom Powder can dispel some mild negative effects like bleeding, diarrhea, colds, and fevers. However, it can’t handle severe injuries such as severed limbs, extensive burns, allergies, poisoning, or aging. For that, you need the Essence Liquid.”

“If a wounded limb were soaked in the Essence Liquid, a new limb would grow in three to five days. Although there are spells in Holy Light Magic to regenerate limbs, they require a priest of level 8 or above. But where could you find a level 9 priest without any connections? The Holy Essence Liquid is more accessible.”

“Moreover, in cases like allergies, even magic is powerless. The Essence Liquid can change one’s constitution, and even slow down aging. It works for sensitive skin too. However, to extract the same weight of Holy Essence Liquid, you need five times the powder, and a lot of Holy Water. They dare to only offer five times the price? If they’re not swindling, what are they? Do they think magic doesn’t cost money? Time is free? Technology doesn’t cost money? If not, they need to raise their offer.”

“When I was young, I was also swindled by these Goblin Swindlers. They said they wanted Dragon Saliva Grass and offered an irresistible price, claiming that Dragon Saliva Grass would flourish where Dragon saliva touches the ground. They didn’t mention how long it would take. They made me spit for a full fifty years, swindlers!”

After Negris had explained the situation with Holy Essence Liquid, he was already boiling with rage. Even the God of Knowledge was once young, naive, and tricked.

Having summarized Negris’s long explanation, Ange focused on one key point:

“They should pay more.”

“Ah? Pay more? How much more?” Lan paused, not startled by the ‘pay more’. It was expected in business after all, the price was always negotiable. She only put on a show so that Ange would not charge too high.

Ange, unaware of the concept of pricing, ultimately let Negris determine the amount: “Ten times.”

A pound of Holy Mushroom Powder costs thirty demon crystals, so a pound of Holy Essence Liquid would require three hundred crystals.

The price was too high. Lan couldn’t make the decision herself. She stepped aside, closed her eyes, and consented to the price after consulting Anna from Ice City through a spiritual connection.

“Sir, here is the down payment. We need five pounds of Holy Essence Liquid, may I know when you’d be able to deliver it?” Lan handed over a bag and asked.

“In ten days.” Ange relayed Negris’s words. Lan left with a satisfied smile.

Looking at the bag of demon crystals Lan handed over, Negris said from within Angels soul, “It turns out that their customers are part of the Church of Light.” Ange tilted his head in confusion.

Negris explained, “This cloth for wrapping corpses — just without the runes — no one but the Church of Light could weave this kind of material.”

“Don’t they produce?” Ange asked puzzledly, wasn’t it said that the Church of Light also cultivates holy mushrooms?

Negris rolled his eyes. “You think everyone is as perverse as you? Just purifying the holy water would take how many priests? The cost of cultivating holy mushrooms and extracting it is unknown. Now you can buy a pound for only 300 demon crystals, it’s practically a steal!”

“Oh.” Ange murmured, not sure whether he understood. Harvest, dry, grind, extract, and ten days later, he delivered the essence liquid that had been extracted from thirty pounds of holy mushroom powder.

Lan quickly returned to Ice City and contacted the customers he had a down payment from, and delivered the essence liquid to them.

In the human realm, at the southernmost tip of the mainland, Saint’s Edge Castle, the base of Saint’s Edge Knight Group. God’s Knight, Leonardo, had just finished his training. He came out of the training field with his upper body glistening with sweat.

The serving maids admiringly watched Leonardo’s sturdy body, their faces blushing and their hearts pounding loudly enough to be heard next door.

Leonardo gave a faint smile, his mouth curving into a perfect arc as he nodded gently at the maids.

The maids’ legs went weak. They kept themselves upright and started doing their duties closely around him, changing his clothes, and finally presenting a bottle of transparent liquid.

Raising an eyebrow, Leonardo asked, “Oh, the essence liquid has arrived?” He poured a bit onto his palm, then applied it to his face, patting it to help better absorption.

If those disabled and mutilated knew that Leonardo was actually using the Holy Essence Liquid as a skincare product, they would probably be furious enough to jump out of bed.

Finding the effect quite satisfactory, Leonardo asked, “Where did this come from? As far as I know, the Church District hasn’t allocated any Holy Essence

Liquid to our Saint’s Edge Army.”

“It was delivered by the quartermasters.” a maid replied.

“Summon the quartermasters to me.” Leonardo ordered.

Shortly, the quartermaster arrived, meeting the neatly dressed Leonardo.

“You’re saying that these Holy Essence Liquids were bought from an abyss dimension? How much did you buy? Where’s the rest?” Leonardo asked.

“We bought five pounds. We retained two bottles for you, my lord, the rest were sent to the medical team to be used by the disabled soldiers.” The quartermaster reported.

Leonardo waved his hand, and a gust of Qi hit the quartermaster’s face. “Are you stupid? Do you know how much a bottle of Essence Liquid sells for in the Imperial City? A thousand Demon Crystals. You honestly gave it to those fools? The disabled are all fools. Do they even deserve to use this? Hurry and take it back.”

The quartermaster covered his face, responding repeatedly with, “Yes, yes, yes.” Inside, however, he felt greatly wronged. Didn’t the Church District used to give the Holy Essence Liquid to the disabled soldiers? Now that they had stopped, he had found a way elsewhere to get some, so why couldn’t it be used on the soldiers?

After lecturing the quartermaster, Leonardo remembered something. “You said this was bought from an abyss dimension? What level of dimension?”

“Level 6, one of the conditions they offered for selling this Essence Liquid is an exchange for food, so it should be a dimension lacking food. They probably don’t have a large population as well. They don’t have a plane transfer array because they want us to deliver to a fixed point.” The quartermaster reported.

Leonardo nodded thoughtfully, then waved his hand. “There’s nothing to do recently, don’t let those fools eat too much and cause trouble. Also, how much did these Essence Liquids cost?”

The quartermaster responded, “The original price was 3000 demon crystals, but we only paid 1500. The rest was exchanged for one hundred tons of food that were airdropped.”

“What?! 3000 Demon Crystals? One pound?” Leonardo was somewhat incredulous of the figure he heard.

“No, it’s 3000 demon crystals for five pounds.”

Leonardo couldn’t help but retrieve some essence liquid to examine carefully. The price was too low, so low that he doubted whether the goods were fake or not.

After confirming that the essence liquid was genuine, and seemed to be of even better quality than what the Church District allocated, he understood that the Church district’s essence liquid must have been watered down. It was an open secret, no one exposed it because it was beneficial for everyone to stay oblivious.

This bottle of essence liquid was like a concentrated essence that hadn’t been watered down.

A bottle of essence liquid, approximately 100 milliliters, could sell for a thousand demon crystals. Therefore, five pounds would be worth 25,000 demon crystals. However, the quartermaster only spent 3000 demon crystals to buy it, which was nearly nine times the profit.

After some thought, Leonardo asked, “Where did the information about this dimension come from?”

“Our people impersonated goblin merchants and discovered it.”

“Has no one else found out? Turn over the information, then burn the backup, got it?” Leonardo instructed. Once the quartermaster left, a bright smile appeared on Leonardo’s face. He muttered to himself, “Nine times the profit still seems a bit low. Let’s try some methods that don’t cost money..”