Foreign Land Reclamation By a Vegetable-growing Skeleton

The seaweed extended all the way to the surface of the sea, where it floated and grew into a large area, making it look like an island when viewed from the water’s surface.

As Alice emerged from the water, she noticed that the side of the seaweed that floated on the surface of the water was sun-bleached to a whitish color and had even sprouted flowers.

Flowers? Alice had no idea that seaweed could grow flowers.

Looking around, Alice soon spotted Ange. He was meandering on the ‘island’ formed by the seaweed, walking as if on flat ground, and from time to time, gesturing towards some strands of seaweed that obediently floated towards him.

Inspecting, registering, comparing, Ange fell into his most familiar rhythm.

As he predicted, the chlorophyll-rich seaweed, once reaching the surface, underwent photosynthesis with the sunlight and indeed produced starch. What Alice thought was the part of the seaweed that was sun-bleached was actually the starch.

In the past, Ange didn’t understand these specialized things. The knowledge the Lord instilled in him was only about normal soil planting, roughly the same level as that of a professional farmer.

These pieces of knowledge were obtained from the notes of the Spring Breeze Druid Loui and the scattered fragments of souls in the druid village.

The seaweed was a type similar to sea grapes, cluster after cluster, connecting into a large string. Once it reached the surface, it expanded in a disordered manner, branching out a lot, growing from a single stem into a cluster.

After receiving sunlight, the produced starch caused the ‘grapes’ to whiten and harden. Plucked, they looked like individual fruits.

Ange picked up one ‘grape’ that was about seventy to eighty percent white, drove out its moisture, and then ground it into a powder to examine its condition.

These actions were a bit off the mark, and Negris couldn’t figure out what Ange was up to, quickly asking, “Ange, what are you doing? Why are you grinding every single one into a powder?”

“To check the ripeness, if it’s overripe, it’s not tasty,” Ange explained.

“Pfft, you’ve never eaten it, how can you differentiate whether it’s good or not?” Negris asked in amazement.

“The notes say that the more starch, the tastier it is. It needs to be picked in time. If it becomes overripe, it will shrivel up, but now it’s alright,” Ange said, while crushing the floating gel board, leaving a footprint behind.

For this footprint, Ange had specifically taken out a gel board from his spatial dimension, or else he wouldn’t have known where to leave his footprint.

Negris kind of understood Ange’s intention, daringly, he was researching the stage at which the starch content was highest to determine the best harvest time.

Too little starch meant the plant was not yet mature, but if the plant was overripe, the starch would transform into plant nutrients, causing a waste. So, every crop requires a choice of proper harvesting stage.

After thinking for a while, Negris, feeling overwhelmed, just noted everything down for later understanding.

Setting the problem aside, Negris relaxed and looked around through his consciousness, quickly spotting Alice, who was sticking out half of her head and eagerly gnawing the seaweed.

After getting closer, Alice didn’t know why, but she suddenly felt extremely hungry and couldn’t help but bite the seaweed in front of her.

After crushing the footprint, the seaweed’s growth slowed down, and Ange also relaxed a bit.

Facing a new crop, he had been very focused when he activated the Instant Death Halo, in order to prevent him from missing any details.

Now that he relaxed, he felt as if someone was calling him in the darkness. Following the soul contact, Ange’s consciousness extended towards the direction of the calling, quickly encountering the extremely anxious Anthony.

Ange tilted his head, “You’re looking for me.”

…

In the Master Plane, at a secluded resurrection altar, Anthony was meticulously preparing. On the altar lay a body that looked exactly like Anthony, but much younger, probably only about twelve or thirteen years old.

The phoenix, also known as the undead phoenix. The so-called phoenix project was his continual resurrection and rebirth plan.

In the past, resurrection through rebirth required careful selection of the body. Now, it’s unnecessary. Ange, during his spare time, had prepared an extra one for him. It was cultivated from his own tissues, but growth stopped when it reached adolescence.

If Anthony were to rebirth into this body, even if he stood before others, no one would associate him with Anthony.

However, Anthony did not want to be reborn. Because once reborn, he had to give up everything and start again. Although there were many conveniences he could leverage, in the end, he would have to start over.

The best solution would be to get in touch with Ange and let Ange help him solve this big problem.

But as time went on, Anthony grew increasingly anxious, to the point of getting blisters on the corners of his mouth.

Even with the Instant Death Halo, it would take Ange five to six days to produce a hundred thousand tons of food.

Three days have already passed. If he starts planting now, it will take at least eight days. By then, it would be too late.

He was originally manoeuvring amongst the major powers, already walking on thin ice, now with the crucial food supply cut off for eight or nine days, his whole plan was bound to collapse.

With his prestige and connections, he maintained the current situation. Once it collapsed, he would immediately become a rat crossing the street, everyone wishing to hit him. No amount of prestige would be useful then.

It would be better to take the opportunity to flee and start all over again.

Before today, he called out for Ange in hopes that Ange could save his life. Now, he calls out for Ange mainly to bid farewell, as even if Ange starts planting now, it would be too late.

As long as Ange is there to cover for him, even if he has to start all over again, Anthony firmly believes he would live an even better life than this one.

Moreover, he was now a bit hesitant. Should he transform into a human being and continue to create chaos in the Church of Light? Or should he simply transform into an Undead or Black Warrior, and once again pledge allegiance to the Undead God?

For more than a thousand years, Anthony has grown tired of being human.

What to do? Undecided, Ange’s voice echoed in his heart: “You’re looking for me.”

“Oh, Lord, I finally found you. You’re not in trouble, are you? I’ve been so worried because you didn’t respond to my calls,” Anthony said with emotion.

With a hiss, Anthony’s consciousness was pulled into the Consciousness Space. Negro’s taunting voice echoed: “Now I understand why you could become the Archbishop. You’re already in a fix but still remember to flatter.”

“Hehe, Lord Nage, it’s not flattery. It’s sincere emotion from the bottom of my heart and soul, signifying my loyalty to the Lord,” Anthony said sincerely.

Huh? This reaction isn’t right. The food was burned, Ange disappeared, Negris thought Anthony would be in a panic and anxious, but he didn’t expect him to be still in the mood for flattery. Did the food problem get solved?

“Hehe, it’s too late, it won’t work anymore. I’m preparing to activate the rebirth plan. Even if we start planting now, the first batch of food won’t be available for several days. My borrowing from the Silver Chamber of Commerce, Merchant’s Guild, and the Mercenary Guild is about to become due, and without at least thirty thousand tons of food, I couldn’t cover this gap”

“Once I default, my credit will collapse instantly. When creditors come knocking, it’ll be too late for me to run.”

Negris said in a puzzled way: “You are a prestigious acting pope with so many men under you, why should you fear creditors? Can’t you just kick them out? You could last at least ten days or half a month, right?”

Anthony replied with a bitter smile: “The people under me have already become the creditors due to my operations. After the credit collapses, the first to come knocking will be them. Even Patricia has her loan out.”

“Pfft – you’re too—” Negris didn’t know what to say anymore. Now he understood why being late for a few days was unacceptable. If he doesn’t run now, he may not be able to when the time comes.

Anthony sighed helplessly, “I had no choice, without sufficient funds, I couldn’t mobilize so much manpower and food. As for borrowing Patricia and the others’ money, I wanted to make sure they earned something, so they devote more to their work. who would have thought that someone would dare set Ange Lord’s fields on fire.”

Hearing this, Ange said: “Can it be replaced with something else?”

Anthony was taken aback: “Replace it? Replace it with what?”

Ange, stepping on air, slowly ascended to a higher point, looking down from above, his gaze swept over the whitening seaweed, and as the Ring of Balance flashed across his body, a string of numbers appeared before his eyes: “One hundred and fifty thousand tons…bread algae.”

Ange decided to name this seaweed ‘bread algae’.