Foreign Land Reclamation By a Vegetable-growing Skeleton

They finally arrived before the Resting Wind began, and dug out a big pit that could accommodate everyone. Ange was alright, but the biggest obstacle was Negris. Though when stripped, it was only half a meter long, its meat wings, neck and tail took up too much space. At least five or six skeletons’ space was taken up by it alone, so they had to dig a bigger pit.

The wind whistled, bringing Ange ls thoughts back to the wilderness a few months ago. He couldn’t help but reach out his hand, allowing the Resting Wind to wrap around his fingers, guiding the cold air downward.

A huge horse’s head peeked out from the edge of the pit, looking around fearfully.

Everyone focused their gaze on it, which scared it into retracting its head.

After a good while, probably because the Resting Wind was too unbearable and it couldn’t dig a pit big enough to hold itself, it made the difficult decision to choose death by blows over being blown to death.

Lightning blocked its eyes with its hooves, pretended it saw nothing, slid his butt into the pit, and pushed Negris aside.

Negris wanted to rage, but after thinking about it he decided to endure. If he drove Lightning out under such conditions, it would be tantamount to a death sentence. The Resting Wind didn’t care if it was a unicorn or a multi-horned unicorn, it would indiscriminately blow them to death.

Peace returned to the pit and there was no movement for a short time. Lightning slightly opened his hooves from over his eyes, a fist quickly enlarged, smashing into Lightning’s cheek, making his eyes see stars.

Lightning didn’t dare to fight back and hugged his head with both hooves, resolutely choosing to bear with it rather than to leave the pit and face the possibility of death.

After thoroughly beating Lightning, Little Zombie sat back contentedly. The Angel Skeleton also loosened its clenched hands, in which it held two faint spheres of Holy Light, clearly prepared to smash Lightning if it dared to fight back.

After a while of no movements detected, Lightning quietly opened his hooves, finding that he was no longer paid attention to. The Little Zombie and the Angel Skeleton, like Ange, had reached into the Resting Wind.

Little Zombie, having learned his lesson, only dared to stick one finger bone out, quickly pulling it back after a moment’s contact. He shivered violently, so much so that it looked as if his bones would fall apart.

The Angel Skeleton followed suit. It would stick out one finger and pull it back, shivering, only to extend it again, appearing to take delight in doing so.

Negris alone was still sizing Lightning up.

Lightning heaved a sigh of relief and moved his butt to make himself more comfortable.

Negris was still staring at him. Lightning had to shift again, agitated. As long as Negris was watching, Lightning kept fidgeting, unable to sit still.

In the end, it was Negris who broke the silence: “How did you become

Leonardo’s mount? Aren’t you unicorns the chosen ones of Lightning?”

Lightning snorted and said dejectedly: “Those with horns are the chosen ones; those without are the abandoned ones.”

“So, you were driven out?” Negris understood as soon as he heard this. Every species has its own elimination mechanisms, the fewer the number of a species, the more cruel the elimination mechanism.

In human society, even the blind and lame might find a mate. But it’s different for rare species, like unicorns and giant dragons.

Even the slightest flaw disqualifies mating rights because these species are too rare to afford any defect being passed on to the next generation.

The horn of a unicorn is not merely a physical part, but rather its essence. A unicorn without a horn can only be considered a ‘horse,’ which is why Lightning reacts so strongly when people call it a horse.

It’s the same with the Giant Dragon Clan. Defective dragons are driven out and stripped of mating rights, left to their own fate.

But even a defective giant dragon is still a giant dragon. Hence, there are often tales of giant dragons committing atrocities, plundering treasures, and abducting young girls, which in turn attract waves of knights seeking to slay the dragons.

Furthermore, giant dragons have a particular problem; their sexual desire is extremely high. If there are no partners of the same species, they will turn to other species, resulting in numerous sub-dragons, or even hybrid Dragon-Men.

As for the huge disparity in size between dragons and humans, how could they procreate? Because dragons have the ability to transform.

Negris felt this deeply and sympathetically patted Lightning’s shoulder, expressing sympathy for this unicorn that had lost its mating rights.

“Even so, you didn’t have to mix with Leonardo, you’re not the same type of creature,” Negris said.

The reason Lightning was allowed to enter without getting its mouth torn apart on the spot was because everyone sensed that he lacked aggression. Although he had a foul mouth and was unpleasant to listen to, he was not aggressive.

All of his abilities seemed geared towards evasion and escape. He moved nimbly and with speed, but he never attacked others. Only once did he kick Luther.

But looking back on it, that kick on Luther was probably just to get away.

And what kind of creature was Leonardo? Arrogant, cold-blooded, cruel, rude, self-righteous, and so on. How could he have won the loyalty of a unicorn? Only if there was some kind of coercive constraint.

Lightning hesitated for a while, but remained silent.

On the other side of the pit, Ange extended one hand outward while the other disappeared. His shoulders shrugged as he returned to tending his crops, despite the distraction.

After playing with its own fingers for a while, the angel skeleton crawled next to Ange, showing him its shoulder, palm, and cheek, as if asking for help.

Ange knew what it wanted: to be healed. But with both his hands currently occupied and the skeleton inching closer, he withdrew his left hand and pushed it aside, only for the angel skeleton to return shortly after.

Lightning was unsure of the relationship between Ange and the angel skeleton, but their interactions moved him significantly. Since being exiled because of his flaw, Lightning had never had a companion.

“Do you know about the Holy Essence Liquid from the Church of Light?” Lightning suddenly asked.

Upon hearing this, Negris immediately understood and asked with a strange look, “You want to use the Holy Essence Liquid to heal the horn on your head and make it grow again, don’t you?”

“Right, you also know about the effects of the Holy Essence Liquid? Quite

Imowledgeable. Leonard said you’re just savages from the abyss who have never seen the world. Since you know about it, I don’t need to explain in detail. Dipping the wound into the Holy Essence Liquid can regenerate lost limbs.

A small bottle of the liquid sells for over a thousand Demon Crystals in the human world. It’s too expensive. Leonard promised me some if I served him. Now that hope is gone,” Lightning ended with a sigh of disappointment.

Negris rolled his eyes, convinced that Lightning’s horn must have been broken off because of his annoying babbling.

“So, are you saying it’s our fault? That we have taken away your chance to heal your broken horn?” Negris asked.

“Not exactly. I’ve also long despised Leonard. If I had been stronger, I would have crushed him underfoot long ago. He would ride me out every day to seduce noblewomen and commonfolk, ” Lightning replied bitterly.

“Actually…” Negris moved closer to Ange and whispered something to him. Ange took a bottle from the Resting Camp and handed it over to Negris.

“Actually, the Holy Essence Liquid isn’t solely produced by the Church of Light, we have it here too, and for a cheaper price. Are you interested in trying it out?” Negris held up the bottle in front of Lightning, swaying the transparent liquid inside.

Upon taking a sniff, Lightning’s eyes immediately lit up: “Is this the real Holy Essence Liquid?! How much does it cost?”

“Five hundred Demon Crystals.” Negris waved his four-fingered claw.

“That cheap?” Lightning looked at him with eyes wide open, “It is half the price.

Are you sure it’s not counterfeit? I cannot afford it.”

Negris was initially excited, believing he was about to secure a sale. Even if he sold it for just five hundred Demon Crystals, he would still make a huge profit. The previous time he used a middleman to sell it, he only made one thousand five-hundred Demon Crystals for two thousand five-hundred milliliters.

Now, without a middleman, each bottle of one-hundred milliliters sold for five hundred Demon Crystals would yield eight times more profit than the last transaction.

But Lightning’s last remark darkened Negris’s previously joyous expression, “If you don’t have the money then shut your mouth!”

“If I had money, do you think I would’ve needed to serve Leonard?” Lightning shouted back, “My broken horn likely needs more than one bottle. If I need three to five, or seven to eight bottles, I definitely can’t afford it. And just having the liquid doesn’t suffice, it also requires holy light activation to work.

Where am I supposed to find holy light?”

Before he could finish speaking, a sacred glow lit up from Ange’s location.

Ange reluctantly retracted his right hand engaging with the Resting Wind and began employing the Purify technique to heal the persistent angel skeleton. Underneath his gaze, flesh quickly started growing back on the skeleton.

Staring at the scene with wide eyes, Lightning turned his gaze to Negris in disbelief.

Negris simply raised his brows, “So? Are you buying or not? Five hundred

Demon Crystals per bottle, holy light therapy included.”

At dawn, as the Resting Wind faded, Ange, stepping out of the large pit, found himself being hugged around the thigh by a unicorn, “Sir, ride me, please ride me. If you give me enough Essence Liquid to regrow my horn, I will serve you wholeheartedly. Sir, please ride me.”

Unable to resist, Ange reluctantly got on the unicorn, followed by Little Zombie, the Angel skeleton and finally Negris as well.

The desperate Lightning had no choice but to put on a brave face, carrying four passengers and galloping towards the distance.

Back at the site of yesterday’s battle, the field was tidied and most of the people had moved into Ice City, while the remaining people had settled in the tents. Once dawn broke, these tents, shielded from the Resting Wind, would be collected – they were valuable property that everyone desired.

There had been a dispute last night over the spoils of war between the representatives of Ice City, Luther and Anna, and those of Witch City, Feilin and Lisa. The ownership of the booty was basically settled.

But before that, they needed to wait for Ange to return and inspect the spoils,

allowing him to pick first.

“Sir, this is the Divine Riding Badge found on Leonard. I don’t know why, but a symbol on it keeps flashing. Only someone of your abilities can control this thing,” Lisa handed Aange a beautiful badge.

Ange took it absentmindedly. His attention wasn’t on these spoils, but the Everlasting Spring Stone at the center of the camp.

The Everlasting Spring Stone which was used yesterday by the people of the Church of Light to collect drinking water. When the camp was overrun, no one had retracted it. Buffeted by a night of Resting Wind, a small puddle of black liquid had condensed at the stone’s base..