Foreign Land Reclamation By a Vegetable-growing Skeleton

Now that Ange and the others were forced to flee, they must be harboring a lot of resentment. And when the elves manage to kill off their new crop, they’re sure to despise the elves.

“Are they valuable?” Gailard asked. If they’re not valuable, letting them die isn’t a big deal. How much could grain be worth? They could just compensate double, triple, or even tenfold later.

Kael’danil nodded, suppressing his excitement, “Let’s put it this way, a fifth of the world’s cultivable land belongs to saline-alkali soil. If these crops can be promoted, it’s as if the world has suddenly gained an extra fifth of arable land, enabling it to support an additional fifth of the world’s population.”

A shiver ran through Gailard’s heart, and a phrase flashed across his mind—priceless treasure.

“How about we apologize to them, offer reparations, and invite them back?” Kael’danil suggested.

Gailard and Aistolia both rolled their eyes in unison at her suggestion. Of course, Aistolia did not have whites in her eyes to roll, but her expression was universally understandable.

The mighty elf army retreated in a huff, leaving only a squad of elf druids, led by Kael’danil, and a squad of chimera knights.

The druids led by Kael’danil were naturally there to look after the Saline Demon Rice—a thankless task. The elves were not accustomed to the desert climate, but these elf druids willingly endured the hardship because they were caring for an unprecedented new crop.

In the Holy Kingdom, the Square of the Gods, Ange stood in the tilled farmland, gazing blankly in a certain direction from time to time.

Luther, who had just come up from the Resting Abyss, saw this and asked worriedly, “Lord, are you still like this?”

With a helpless sigh, Negris replied, “Yes, he misses his land.”

“Damn elves! You should have taken me with you back then, so I could have chopped all of them on the spot!” Luther said indignantly.

“Really? Next time I’ll bring you along. There aren’t many elves. Three archmages, one of whom knows the Forbidden Magic Domain, a dozen or so Arcane Magicians, one Giant Dragon Hunter, three god archers, and a magic user army comprising a few hundred people—that’s all,” Negris said in feigned excitement.

For every additional point he made, Luther’s face twitched involuntarily, his embarrassment impossible to quell. He quickly changed the subject, “Lord Nage, do you still have the Upgrade Beans? Anna is stuck at a bottle neck. She wants to try using the beans to break through the Great Swordsman level.”

Negris spread his hands out: “They’re all gone. Ange took them to plant.”

“What!? No more? What do we do now? Anna is so lazy. Without the beans, she wouldn’t bother making an effort to break through. She may be stuck at a High-level Sword Fighter and won’t level up again.”

Luther scratched his head and said: “Lord, maybe I should push her a bit. Steal her blanket while she’s sleeping, snatch her toilet paper in the restroom, flick sand at her while eating to force her breakthrough. I just worry it might hurt our sibling relationship.”

Negris was almost speechless: “Breakthrough… can it be achieved through such means?”

“Of course, it’s to stimulate potential,” Luther was a bit eager. Whether she breaks through or not doesn’t matter, it sounds thrilling.

“No, no, that would hurt feelings. Just exchange some more with the Evil God, Ange.”

Negris proactively took over the matter of the Upgrade Beans. Firstly, to spare Anna from her unreliable brother’s torment, and secondly, to give Ange something to distract him from overthinking.

The farming skeleton was feeling rather ambitious now. Before, having a piece of land to cultivate satisfied it. But now, it wasn’t enough. It constantly yearned for the vast fields and wastelands around Fallen Dragon Lake and Lake Island.

Naturally, Ange understood that he couldn’t go back to the elves in the short term, so he didn’t say much. Just occasionally, when working with the crops in the fields, he would suddenly stare blankly in a certain direction, thoughtfully. It was a heartbreaking sight.

“Ange, where’s that Evil God statuette? Bring it out and exchange it for some Upgrade Beans. Anna is about to level up, and it would help her breakthrough.”

Ange nodded, took out the Evil God statue, and placed an Elf Bean on it.

With a whoosh, a fluffy claw immediately reached out and pressed on the Elf Bean, hooking it back in.

Immediately after, the small claw came out again, forcefully tapping on where the statute’s palm would be, and even tightened into a fizz.

Negris and Luther exchanged glances and hesitantly asked, “Is… is it angry?”

“It seems so. Angry about what?”

“Angry that we didn’t ask it for Upgrade Beans for such a long time?”

As soon as these words were spoken, everyone felt it was a bit absurd. A grand Evil God was angry because no one asked it for Upgrade Beans?

Ange took an Elf Bean and tapped on the clenched little fist.

The little fist remained clenched and did not let go.

Ange tried again, loosening a little bit, then tried again, loosening a bit more. Seeing that it was about right, Ange nestled the Elf Bean between its claws.

It gently clutched, then slowly retracted its claws, looking at its speed and lack of strength, one could tell it was reluctant.

Once retracted, the little claws extended out again, slapping the area where they had just deposited the beans.

Ange placed another Elf Bean, and by the time he got to the fourth one, a little claw stretched over, and there was an additional Upgrade Bean in its hand.

“Huh, wasn’t it five in exchange for an Upgrade Bean? Why has it become four now?” Negris asked in confusion.

Luther speculated, “Could it be that it’s been so long since the last exchange, it thinks we are dissatisfied with the price, and it’s voluntarily raising the price for us?”

“Possibly, but what do you think it does with so many Elf Beans? Eats them?” Negris asked.

“Well, if it’s an Evil God that needs to fill its stomach with Elf Beans, how many would it need a day? We haven’t exchanged with it in so long, and it hasn’t starved,” Luther replied.

Then Ange picked up an Elf Bean and channeled elemental energy to scorch its skin, quickly engraving a few small characters: “Are you hungry?”

The Elf Bean was hooked away, and the fluffy little claw immediately reached out again, but as soon as it did, it retreated, probably having noticed the characters on the bean.

Several minutes later, the claw came out again with a piece of black stone in its palm, upon which two shaky characters were written, “Very hungry.”

“It can understand human language, ask if Elf Beans can satisfy its hunger,” Negris said excitedly.

“Can Elf Beans make you full?” Ange carved the words onto a bean and put it in its paw.

“Delicious.” The small claw stretched over, there was still a black rock in its palm.

“Do you eat other things?”

“Other things are delicious.” This sentence didn’t have any punctuation, but Negris guessed it must be a question, otherwise it wouldn’t correspond to the previous question.

“What else have you eaten?”

This question made the little claw hesitate for quite some time. After a few minutes, the claw stretched out bearing a black stone, upon which was crookedly drawn a fluffy head tilting, its eyes expressing confusion.

Apart from the stone, there was another Upgrade Bean. Although engaged in conversation, the Evil God hadn’t forgotten the principle of exchange, giving an Upgrade Bean back for every four Elf Beans.

This soul-like painting style made Luther and Negris burst out laughing: “It seems it doesn’t know what else it has eaten. We could try offering different things and see if it wants them.”

After thinking, Ange pulled out a small, glowing fragment.

Negris grabbed him in a fright, “What are you trying to do? This is a fragment of a divine spirit, what do you want it for?”

The soul within the Divine Body escaped, but was caught by the God of Life and crushed on the spot.

The scattered Divine Spirit was unreservedly gathered by Ange. Together with a large piece that the Little Angel had gotten, most of the Divine Body’s soul ended up in Ange’s hands.

“There’s lots.” Ange pulled out a handful, all of them fragments of the Divine Spirit. The piece he had just brought out was less than a sixtieth of what here.

“Then be thrifty, don’t waste it.” Negris had to let go.

A divine spirit fragment was put on the holding hand, the little claw quickly seized it and pulled it back.

Several seconds later, the claw came out again bearing a huge handful, probably holding seven or eight Upgrade Beans. It threw them down, retracted, and grabbed another handful to stretch over.

A tiny fragment of the divine spirit exchanged for two handfuls of Upgrade Beans, a total of sixteen.

“That’s too many, we don’t need that many. Ask if you can exchange for something else,” Negris suggested.

Ange carved the words “Exchange for something else” on an Elf Bean, placing it along with a divine spirit fragment on the holder.

There was no action for several minutes.

Everyone was not in a hurry. Negris had figured it out by now; when the little claw stopped moving, it was either hesitating, unsure of what to exchange with, or it was assessing what would be the worthwhile exchange.

The little claw reached over again, clutching something in its hand. Its claws were flexing and bending as if it wanted to give something but was hesitant to do so.

However, it eventually spread its hand open. On it laid a black crystal shard, about half the size of a fingernail.