Surviving The Fourth Calamity

Chapter 1029: Chapter 823: Planting Flowers and Vegetables, Building the Great Wall

No matter how much trouble Vila and ‘Young Master’ have caused for the Temporal Artifact… the Undead Tribe’s activities in Kalinsan have unfolded quite normally.

They first cleared the east side of the Alamir Mountain Range… this was mainly the work of the Earth Mages.

After hundreds of giant Fire God Beasts rampaged through, there was really nothing left on the ground except for some large metal and stone pieces, everything else had been burned to ashes.

The ground was left with high-temperature scorched earth, hardened into lumps, and fissures and grooves appeared at the foot of the mountain… in some places, there were even glass-like shards. Hill estimated this might be because of serious desertification of Kalinsan’s land and proximity to the coast.

At first, the Earth Mages only turned the soil one meter deep, but they quickly discovered these soils couldn’t be used… It wasn’t entirely due to the rampage of the Fire God Beasts; the barren land of Kalinsan also played a significant role.

So they had to work hard to turn down to three meters underground, only then did soil appear, rather than waste earth that was two-thirds sand… Yet there had always been fresh water flowing down from Alimil Mountain… and tens of kilometers away there was a waterway from Steam Lake leading to the ocean.

Hill was somewhat surprised by the poor quality of the soil here… Kalinsanians probably never knew the meaning of water and soil conservation, likely sowing crops that exhaust soil fertility, and once there were no more crops, they abandoned this land so there’s no nutrients in the soil under three meters deep.

The damage caused by the Fire God Beasts wasn’t that severe.

Once the Earth Mages turned the soil well and the Water Mages gently showered the ground with a light rain, Vila led the Little Fairies out from the Blossom Hall to the foot of the mountain.

She waved her small Flower Staff, using her followers’ innate abilities granted by nature… surrounded by nature’s light, these fluttering little elves became beautiful light orbs… the land at the foot of Alimil Mountain started to become fertile little by little.

No one could assist them with this work, the Little Fairies had to labor under the protection of the Undead Tribe for three days and nights… they were only able to convert such a large piece of land in such a short time due to their substantial numbers.

The Little Fairies probably hadn’t done such collective labor for tens of thousands of years… the Queen Titania of the Joyous Court dislikes laborious work, thinking that Little Fairies are natural-born favorites of heaven meant to enjoy, hence humans, deemed as lower races, should do this kind of labor.

If Vila hadn’t been confined under the Ice Mountain early on, her attitude towards Hill wouldn’t be so good… arrogantly asking Hill to work for her is typical for noble Little Fairies.

Under Queen Titania’s strong political maneuverings, no noble possesses the power to marshal so many Little Fairies to do anything… those nobles with such leadership abilities are either dead or useless.

Initially, Vila never planned to completely remain by Hill’s side… she originally hoped to open a Dimensional Gate leading to the Shady Home from the Floating Castle… but she eventually chose to settle in Agleya, even Oberon followed along.

Although Hill never asked, he knew full well there were many matters behind this… even something that could make upper-tier fairies like Vila and Oberon leave the eternally existing Fairy Court, completely losing the augmentations provided by the Shady Home… Hill’s half-plane could offer such strong assistance, not to mention a Divine Kingdom.

That Queen’s skills are truly powerful… and indeed, she has little affection for her husband and children.

With hands on her hips, Vila stood in midair gazing at her achievements with a satisfied smile… She turned to look at those Kalinsanians hiding in the fortress, observing their actions but completely unwilling to help, and adjusted her plans accordingly.

These people aren’t worth using the good seeds from Hill’s Seed Pouch… the ordinary seeds brought by Little Fairies from various places in Toril will suffice!

Vila was just about to issue orders when she suddenly remembered Hill’s words… do not vent grievances against hapless commoners because of the folly of Toril nobles… even if they are somewhat ignorant, do not mind them since they’ve never had the power to choose their lives.

This was Vila’s confusion when she found out Agleya was actually sheltering those refugees fleeing Deepwater City and Neverwinter: Hill clearly disliked those two cities!

Though Vila still doesn’t see anything in humans worth her sympathy, she amended her decision a bit… initially she planned to casually toss some wildflower, wild grass, even Thorn Seeds… thinking to plant thorns at the foot of the mountain, making it less easy for Kalinsanians who completely do not understand respecting nature to come up.

But after pausing for thought, Vila understood that such actions would only barricade ordinary commoners living off the mountains, true nobles and mages alike, would always have their ways to clear these thorns.

Now, although she still decided to plant thorns at the foot of the mountain, she left a few paths leading up the mountain… then planted fruit-bearing shrubs such as cloud berries along these paths, and among these shrubs planted some beacon firewood and shadow crown trees.

For the common people, these two types of trees are the most practical… they grow rapidly, and the towering shadow crown trees are very suitable for cooking. Shadow crown wood burns slowly and cleanly, producing hardly any smoke. Once ignited, it burns more vigorously, and the wood can be easily crushed with a bit of force, its fibers very suitable for weaving ropes.

As for beacon firewood, it is a green, waxy wood, which when burned releases greasy, choking, black smoke that can be used to light beacons… but most importantly, in Toril, the bark of this tree is often used to make low-rank magic scrolls and books.

Vila tilted her head and thought, these things are not very valuable to the professionals… but for the common people, they are precisely the entire conditions for survival… the sea is nearby, with berries and fish, they’ll manage to survive somehow.

In the remaining areas of the mountains, Vila decided to plant more thorns… she didn’t need to consider farming problems for the Kalinsanians.

In fact, Vila did give the Kalinsanians a chance… as long as they came out to help while Vila was making efforts to transform the land: she didn’t ask them to do anything, but they had to show their sincerity.

Unfortunately, these Kalinsanians knew only how to spy! They couldn’t even lend a hand, who would think about their future then?

Queen Vila’s kindness ends here… Hill has always only given those drifting with the currents, unable to fend for themselves, among commoners or slaves a chance to survive, never providing food and shelter.

Queen Vila pursed her lips and sent down her decision… planting flowers, planting grass, and afforestation are tasks that require little effort for the little fairies, and they complete them almost effortlessly while chatting and laughing.

While the little fairies were busy tending the land, the Undead Tribe began to climb up along the Alamir Mountain Range… and on the other side of the mountains lies the only remaining intact forest in Kalinsan—the Mil Forest.

But due to the chaotic rule of Kalinsan, on the plains between the mountains and forest, besides a city called Ariwen, are scattered various fortresses… originally, these fortresses under the hands of the Black Terror Beastmen protected the integrity of Kalinsan, but now these fortresses have also completely destroyed this plain.

Ariwen City had long turned into ruins, as most of the fortress owners were fire element warlocks… the powerful fire element spells used against the beastmen have now turned into raging flames burning on elemental giants.

Life is always so unpredictable… now the only remaining large city in Kalinsan is Manshaka City, protected along the flow of the Karin River by Amanata believers.

Indeed, the Undead Tribe’s fleet passed by that coastal city… but no one spared a glance at that city, which was fully prepared for battle, with massive golden cannons mounted on its walls. To those used to seeing starry sky battleships, this metal-laden little city seemed less appealing than Luskan… at least the buildings there are exotically styled.

They’re least interested in skyscrapers, especially since the high-rise buildings in this city, which Kalinsan had intended to surpass Deepwater City with, are only five stories high, arranged row upon row—regular people wouldn’t be interested.

However, Toril people might still appreciate these rows of high-rise buildings, with even the windows made of crystal… but unfortunately, during wartime, Toril’s trade caravans simply bypass this city unless someone sails a small boat onto the Sea of Radiance to trade with these fleets.

Fire god beasts and air god creatures are not very willing to go to the sea… Hill, though somewhat puzzled as to why air god creatures dislike water, can only suspect them of having been critically struck by the Storm God Talos when they reigned supreme in Kalinsan millennia ago… the Lord of Destruction hates it most when someone acts like a boss in his territory.

Hill has read several books of Talos believers… stating that this storm god once fought a massive qi vortex thousands of years ago, and of course, the Storm God won a glorious victory, after which he used some war trophies to craft a subartifact capable of summoning tornadoes.

Anyone with a slight understanding of air god creatures can guess that they used their crystal cores.

Even Shaer, upon seeing the city wall, let out a cold laugh: they all knew that the good-natured Acreber would never use lethal weapons.

Even his followers mainly focus on healing magic, and attack magic mostly only works on the evil faction… it’s estimated that among those who went to Manshaka, there are less than 100 true Acreber believers.

The Undead Tribe is currently planning to transform the long mountain tops of the Alamir Mountain Range into the Great Wall while the little fairies gradually plant flowers and grass on the mountains.

But Vila is somewhat reluctant to spend this money…