Foreign Land Reclamation By a Vegetable-growing Skeleton

“Boss, it’s me!” Sofia peered out from behind the large stone, quickly speaking her piece before retreating again.

“Foolish wretches, I chose you to be my Dragon Speakers, not to disturb my slumber. Come out and endure my wrath. I’ll roast you just enough, won’t be a painful death.”

Sofia ducked her head behind the boulder as the Bronze Dragon opened its colossal jaws in her direction.

“Boss, your son is here to see you.” Sofia uttered quickly, repeating it in rapid succession as if fearful the Bronze Dragon might not have heard clearly: “Your son is here, your son is here.”

Lord Naeli’s vertical pupils dilated, almost biting her own tongue in surprise: “My son? Since when do I have a son?”

Sofia exhaled in relief, having escaped certain doom. The Bronze Dragon was, at times, hot-tempered and hard to control, especially shortly after waking. Yet when something intrigued her, she could be quite amiable.

“I have no idea, but he mentioned Zero Degree Island, and said his name was…Nage.” Sofia spoke Negris’ name in dragon language.

“Nage? Nage?” Lord Naeli murmured, her eyes growing brighter with each repetition: “Is it really Nage? Really Nage?”

“Yes, it’s Nage. I studied dragon language well, I can’t have misunderstood.” Sofia said resolutely.

Overwhelmed with excitement, Naeli attempted to get up, urgently asking: “Where is he? Where is he?” But before she managed, she stumbled forward and tumbled to the ground.

“Be careful!” Sofia cried out in concern, instinctively reaching to help. However, she halted mid-step, remembering the massive creature before her was dozens of meters in length, and weighed hundreds of tons.

Could it be her actual child causing all this fuss?

“I’m fine! I’m fine.” Naeli said excitedly, explaining: “We dragons are cold-blooded creatures. During deep slumber, our body temperature drops to its lowest. Upon waking, we need time to reheat before any physical activity.”

As she spoke, Naeli cast a glance above her, realizing that relying on that thin ray of sunlight to heat her massive body would take forever. She commanded:

“Step back.”

A tad hesitant, Sofia asked: “Are you going to fly there? Given your current physical condition, wouldn’t that be too strenuous? Why don’t I bring them here instead?”

Naeli shook her head, replying with a tone of reverence: “If it’s the Bronze Dragon named Nage you’re talking about, it’s a being worth me greeting personally. Now, retreat.”

Sofia ran for cover, and soon felt a wave of heat behind her. Looking back, she saw Naeli spewing a stream of fiery Dragon Breath onto the ground where she had lain, the rock melting rapidly upon contact.

The Dragon Breath spread, turning the surroundings into a sea of flames, its lingering glow even enveloping Naeli herself.

The bronze dragon’s Dragon Breath was not merely fire, but rather a highly concentrated form of elemental energy with many properties, heat being only one of them.

In the blazing heat, the colossal creature gradually rose, her scales glowing in the roasting Dragon Breath.

With a spread of her wings and a mighty flap, the ground-bound Dragon Breath was instantly extinguished – a testament to the power of the gust, as Dragon Breath was known to be difficult to put out.

Rising and stretching her neck, Naeli let out a resounding dragon roar that reverberated through the air, leaving Sofia with one instruction: “Head back on your own.”

Initially, Sofia assumed Naeli would take flight, only to see her retract her wings, make a powerful leap, and prop herself up against an opening above with her short, stubby claws. Trailing her belly and hind limbs, she started to climb, alternating between front and rear, in a manner that appeared clumsy but was actually quite nimble.

Sofia shook her head, sighing. Whenever she watched Naeli emerge from the cave in this manner, it struck her as rather ungainly. But the fact remained the opening was too small for Naeli to simply fly out, making climbing the only option.

Each time, Sofia watched her lug her massive form up in this awkward manner, fearful that her large belly would make it too difficult for her claws to maintain their grip.

After watching Lord Naeli climb out of the crevice and fly away with flapping wings, Sofia returned to the Oasis through the teleportation array. To her surprise, only Negris, Luther, and Lightning were left in the field, Ange and the Angel Skeleton Little Zombie were nowhere to be found.

“Greetings my Lord, where are your two companions and a young girl? Where did they go? Please invite them to come and rest. Quickly, please, some dates, large dates to treat our distinguished guests.” Sofia spoke politely and enthusiastically, even giving her trusted aide a quick kick.

Negris made a subtle smile, predicting a different attitude. Apparently, Lord Naeli knew who he was.

As for the other two companions and the young girl…Negris turned around to look for them and yelled in surprise, “Where’s Ange?”

Ange snuck away because Negris wouldn’t let him plant anything, and he had found a large field of abandoned farmland, so he quietly slipped away.

Although Negris didn’t pay attention to him, the guards watching over the area certainly did. A high-level swordsman and two spearmen followed him.

“Greetings, esteemed visitor, I am Orum. May I assist you somehow?” The high-level swordsman was very polite.

These people were brought by the Bronze Dragon, therefore, despite Lord the

Dragon Speaker questioning their identity, the mere status of the Bronze Dragon was enough to treat them with utmost respect. Even if they were not children of Lord Naeli, they were certainly part of the tribe, and thus closer to the Dragon Speaker.

So, Orum was very polite, and he only intended to guide them, not restrict their activities.

Ange had a question and pointed at an abandoned area and asked, “What is that place over there?”

“Oh, that’s an abandoned land, there’s nothing there.” Orum responded.

“Farmland, there is farmland.” Ange insisted, pointing at the marks on the ground.

“Oh, you mean that. It used to be a farmland, but as the water system has degenerated, it has now been abandoned.” said Orum, sighing, “The water system in the Oasis has been receding, and more and more areas on the outskirts are being abandoned, alas.”

Ange didn’t care about all this and asked, “These farmland have been abandoned, can I plant things here?”

“Ah? You want to plant something there? But there’s no water there.” Orum exclaimed in surprise.

Ange opened his hand, and a drizzle of rain started to fall from his palm, immediately wetting the ground.

Orum immediately showed his respect, “So you are a mage, my apologies for any offense, however…”.

Orum initially wanted to say that it’s not practical to use magic to cultivate land, but he changed his mind before he could speak out. What does it matter to him whether it’s practical or not? Perhaps this mage has some quirks?

So he changed his words and said: “The land there has been abandoned and is ownerless. According to our customs here, if you build any structure or plant anything on it, the land will belong to you. But to avoid disputes, you need to register it at the Dragon Temple, and pay a little registration fee…..”

The moment the words “registration fee” were out, Ange handed him a palm full of Demon Crystals that almost made Orum and his subordinates’ eyes pop out.

Despite the presence of a Demon Crystal Mine near the Oasis, nobody uses these in their transactions here since the denomination is too large. One crystal is worth nine gold coins.

“This…” After a hard swallow to suppress the sudden surge of greed in his heart, Orum carefully picked up a crystal and said, “This is too much, even one is too much. I’ll handle the procedures first and return the rest to you later. But you also need to build some structures quickly, otherwise, in three to five years, the abandoned land will resume its ownerless status.”

Having said that, he ran off in a hurry. Normally, it would be a simple thing that he could delegate to his spearmen, but Orum didn’t dare to give the precious Demon Crystals to them. Who knows if they would have any bad intentions? Although the probability was small, what if?

Registering a piece of abandoned land is very simple. In the desert, abandoned land is not valuable, land with water is valuable. If they could build houses and other structures on the abandoned land, it could increase the total production of the local area. So, as soon as they heard that someone was registering for the abandoned land, the temple registrar didn’t even charge any money.

Holding a handwritten document with a Dragon emblem on it – the proof of land registration, Orum returned back to his original place.. Looking from afar, he was shocked, is that the same place he knew? Why were there more rows of buildings?