Foreign Land Reclamation By a Vegetable-growing Skeleton

Big Bone was stunned by the screams, dumbly watching the humans in the cave for a few seconds before reacting: “Ah! There are so many people!” Then he turned and ran.

“…”

“…”

Negris helplessly said, “Ferick, it’s us.”

Hearing this voice, Ferick immediately responded, “Lord Nage? Why have you turned into a skeleton?”

Negris, tired of explaining, retorted, “Never mind that for now, what’s going on with you? Why are there so many humans? And why did you bring them here?”

“Ah, Lord, it’s like this: these are all the families and friends of my customers on the opposite mountain. The Holy Wall City has fallen, and everyone is terrified and didn’t know what to do. Although the undead have been announcing everywhere that the Undead Army does not kill, everyone is still very scared, so they entrusted their families to me,” Ferick explained.

“We walked over the mountain and we’re very tired, so I led everyone to rest here for a while. Don’t worry, Lord, I’ve repeatedly warned them not to trespass on your territory,” Ferick vowed.

Negris swept his gaze over the humans. None of them were in good shape, their lips cracked, their eyes vacant, weak and listless.”

“What’s going on? Is there no water?” Negris asked.

Ferick responded, “Yes, we left in such a hurry that we didn’t bring enough water. The water we did bring was long gone, and there’s no water source on the mountain. Possibly, there might be water in some gaps between the rocks, but I usually don’t drink water and don’t pay much attention. It’s too late to find it now, we just have to endure until we get to the foot of the mountain.”

Negris looked at the humans, concerned, “Can they make it down the mountain? Going down the mountain is far more difficult than going up.”

“Ah, we’ll try our best,” Ferick sighed helplessly. With so many elderly and weak, even an undead like him couldn’t look after them all.

As they spoke, the humans in the cave, who had been terrified before, gradually calmed down. They were only startled in the first place.

Those who were willing to flee with an undead creature were not especially afraid of the undead. Seeing that Ange did not seem to tear them apart, they gradually quieted down.

Among them, a seven or eight-year-old boy, perhaps too thirsty to bear any longer, suddenly ran over and held up a Soul Crystal to Ange, “Can I buy water from you?”

Ferick gaped, “Tiny Brandon, how do you have a Soul Crystal?”

“Pfft, what did you call him? Are you from the Brand family?” Negris spluttered, couldn’t be that much of a coincidence, could there? Were there actually villagers from Brand Village here?

Glancing carefully, there were indeed. Several faces were familiar, clear acquaintances, but he could not recall their names.

Tiny Brandon responded, “My grandfather gave it to me.”

“Your grandfather, couldn’t possibly be him, could it?” Negris asked. Ange reached out and pulled out Brand, Little Brand, Tiny Brandon one by one. These people named their children so randomly.

As soon as Little Brand emerged, he exclaimed, “Snot Worm, what are you doing here?”

Tiny Brandon screamed in delight, “Dad!? Dad!? How come you suddenly appeared?”

Little Brand also found many familiar faces from the villagers in the refugees, and ran over in surprise and worry.

As they were all acquaintances and had even given money (Soul Crystal), Ange had to fetch a bucket from his space dimension. He performed magic to fill it up, like pouring water.

Fearing anyone might contract the plague, Ange carried out a Purification spell, transforming the water in the bucket into Holy Water.

To the parched refugees, the sound made by Ange performing magic to pour water sounded like music. Everyone turned to look at the same time.

When Ange filled the bucket with water and cast Holy Light, everyone was stunned and fell on their knees, muttering, “This… is this the Holy Skeleton? God, he creates water out of thin air. Is this a miracle?”

People who are hungry tend to have particularly strong faith, and the same goes for those who are dying of thirst. Ange could only sense a wave of pure Soul Flames being thrown at him. And all these Soul Flames were directed at him, not the light.

Ange tilted his head in confusion. Why had this change occurred? Could it be because of the name ‘Holy Skeleton’?

When it came to matters of faith, even Negris was at a loss, so he was more so. He threw his doubts aside, too lazy to think.

Brand, who stood beside him, observed everyone’s deep reverence and heard the calls for a ‘Holy Skeleton’, his expression was incredibly complicated.

Having been to the Resting Palace, he naturally knew what the skeleton in front of him was – not some ‘holy skeleton’ at all. It was the biggest boss of the Undead Empire.

However, as a shrewd man, he also realized that no matter who Ange was, there was nothing he could do about it.

Blow the whistle? Given the current circumstances, even if he shouted aloud that this was the big boss of the Undead Empire, would anyone believe him?

Thinking about the miracles that Ange had demonstrated while harvesting crops in the village, even ordinary people who had been to the Resting Palace might not realize Ange’s true identity, like his two stupid sons and nephew.

Others might not believe him, but his fate would be sealed. He was sure to die a clean death, not even a soul would be left behind. The fact that Ange dared to let him in and out meant that he had a way to keep his mouth shut.

After pondering, it seemed that there was only one path left.

Brand drew his longsword and knelt on one knee, saying earnestly, “Lord Ange, Brand swears his loyalty to you.”

There were no empty terms like light and holy, just a simple oath. However, after his Soul Flame entered Ange’s body, a new symbol formed in his soul — a mental connection was established between them.

Negris couldn’t feel this mental connection, but he was very happy with Brand’s move, and praised, “You did the right thing, or else the next time you wouldn’t be able to get out.”

…

Main Plane, Fallen Dragon Lake, Kael’danil rolled up his trousers, squatting on the ridge with a miserable face, tears welling but not falling. There was not an iota of the grace of a high-ranking elf priest left in him.

The sound of clopping hooves rang out as a unicorn carrying Gailard landed, asking with surprise, “Lan Dai, what’s wrong?”

Kael’danil turned his head and said to Gailard with a mournful face, “Your Majesty, please bring Ange and the others back. I…I’ve killed their rice.”

“What?! Killed it?” Gailard’s eyes widened in shock. The unicorn, too, widened its eyes in disbelief, as if hearing something incredible.

Kael’danil, the high-ranking elf druid, the one who cares for the World Tree.

If druids were ranked in the world, Kael’danil would undoubtedly be one of the best. There was hardly anything in the world she couldn’t cultivate, so how could she have killed the rice?

Kael’danil had a dejected look on her face. Her confidence had taken a severe blow. Although she couldn’t grow the World Tree seedlings successfully last time, that was not strange. What would be truly surprising was if she had succeeded. That was probably due to Ange’s good luck in encountering the right environment, which had nothing to do with ability.

But this time, what she faced was Saline Demon Rice, which, though saline, was still rice.

The processes of flowering, filling, and pollination, were all within Kael’danil’s grasp. The yield she obtained in the end was 20 percent higher than Ange’s cultivation.

When she took over, half of the growing period had already passed, yet she was still able to increase the yield by 20 percent. If she managed it throughout the growing period, wouldn’t an increase of 40 or 50 percent be a piece of cake?

Kael’danil, brimming with self-assurance, selected and cultivated the best Saline Demon Rice after harvesting the crops.

The idea was good, but the reality was, she couldn’t sprout a single seedling.

“Could my seedling cultivation technique be wrong?” Kael’danil asked, somewhat uncertain.

If it had been any other method that had failed, she would have been able to accept it. However, the fact that she couldn’t sprout seedlings, like with the World Tree, this made her begin to doubt whether her seedling cultivation technology was outdated.