The Elven Cultivator

Dusk fell like spilled honey, dyeing the Silver Moon Forest a warm, amber hue.

The crowds at the training ground had already dispersed, leaving only a few scattered figures finishing their last exercises.

Romance and Eleanor walked side-by-side out of the training ground’s main gate, heading toward the Eternal Tree.

”That was a satisfying fight.”

Romance stretched, her form-fitting hunting gear outlining her graceful curves.

Eleanor glanced at her and sighed softly. ”You’re getting strong so fast.”

She had clearly broken through to the Silver Tier before Romance, yet now Romance was catching up.

In their recent sparring matches, she could clearly feel herself starting to fall behind.

At this rate, it wouldn’t be long before Romance surpassed her.

This filled her with an involuntary sense of urgency.

Losing to Anton was one thing, but she really didn’t want to lose to Romance, too.

”It’s all thanks to Anton.” Romance grinned. ”The breathing technique he gave me is incredible. Ever since I started cultivating it, my body gets stronger every day. Even I can hardly believe it.”

As she spoke, she subconsciously touched her arm.

The Eight Desolates Prison-Suppression Scripture was absurdly powerful.

After cultivating for a mere seven or eight years, she had already advanced from the lower to the middle Silver Tier.

In the past, such a thing would have been completely unthinkable.

According to Anton, she had now reached the First Transition of Force.

Once she broke through to the Second Transition of Force, her power would be comparable to the Golden Tier.

Unfortunately, the Magic Power she had accumulated in her body had been completely absorbed and transformed, integrating fully into her flesh and bones. Her body’s refinement would slow down considerably from now on.

Cultivating the Eight Desolates Prison-Suppression Scripture required a constant intake of external energy to temper the physical body.

Magic Power was just the initial ”fuel.” Once it was used up, she would have to rely on external resources.

At this thought, Romance rubbed her stomach.

”The Eight Desolates Prison-Suppression Scripture is amazing, but it makes me so hungry.”

Ever since she started cultivating the Eight Desolates Prison-Suppression Scripture, her appetite had been growing by the day.

The amount of beast meat and blood essence the Clan supplied her with each day had already reached an astonishing figure.

On top of that, Anton would also provide her with some nourishing tonics.

Only the combination of the two could sustain her cultivation of the Eight Desolates Prison-Suppression Scripture.

Hearing this, Eleanor smiled, pursing her lips.

Romance used to be a little glutton, but now she was a bottomless pit.

The two walked a little further before stopping at a fork in the path.

”I’m going to get my tonics from Anton. You head back first,” Romance said, waving to Eleanor.

”Okay, see you tomorrow.” Eleanor nodded.

The two then parted ways.

Romance turned onto another small path, walking briskly toward Anton’s home.

Arriving at the treehouse, Romance raised her hand and knocked. After a voice from inside said, ”Come in,” she pushed the door open and entered.

A thick medicinal aroma immediately washed over her. Mixed with the fresh scent of herbs and plants, it was strangely invigorating, making her feel refreshed and lighthearted.

”It smells so good.” Romance’s nostrils flared. ”Anton, are you making potions?”

Anton, who had just stepped out of the Alchemy Room, smiled. ”You’ve got a sharp nose.”

”It’d be hard not to smell it,” Romance pouted, then looked at Anton with anticipation. ”Is it the tonic you’re making for me?”

Hearing this, Anton’s expression turned a little strange.

A faint, wry smile touched his lips. ”This isn’t something you should be taking.”

Romance looked confused. ”Why not?”

Anton just smiled without explaining.

The Pill being refined in the Alchemy Cauldron was a Fertility Pill, a recipe he had recently adapted for local use.

As the name implied, it was a Pill designed to promote fertility.

After the last meeting, Anton had been thinking of ways to increase the Clan’s birth rate.

A search through the Taoist Jade Scroll had led him to the Fertility Pill.

The Fertility Pill was inexpensive and easy to mass-produce, but it would require testing before it could be widely distributed, and that would take a considerable amount of time.

After all, fertility wasn’t like healing an injury; there were no immediate results. The observation period would be measured in years, at the very least.

In addition to this, Anton also planned to set up an Array of Proliferation in the settlement.

’An endless cycle of life, a testament to the world’s transformative and nurturing power.’

As the name suggested, this Array had the effect of promoting fertility and nourishing life.

The Array of Proliferation was a fairly basic Array, so it wasn’t difficult to set up.

However, considering it needed to cover the entire settlement, the area involved was vast, making the setup incredibly tedious and draining.

Anton planned to use the Spring of Life as the Array Hub, which would save him the trouble of forging an Array Disc and also reduce the difficulty of the setup.

To be honest, he had been ”eyeing” the Eternal Tree and the Spring of Life for a long time.

One was of the Water Attribute and the other Wood, and both contained incredibly dense energy. They were perfect to be used as Array Hubs for large-scale Arrays.

It was just that his skill with Arrays wasn’t high enough yet; he couldn’t set up an Array of that scale for the time being.

Otherwise, if he had been able to set up a Mountain Protection Array, the Molten Spike Tribe would never have been able to invade the Silver Moon Forest.

When Anton didn’t answer, Romance didn’t press him. She was already used to his mysterious behavior.

After a quick look around the room, Romance’s gaze was quickly drawn to a roll of sheepskin paper spread open on the table.

It was a map.

A detailed map of the Eldron Plain, to be precise.

Silver Moon Forest, the Thousand-Rock Hills, Bishui Port, Kresol Dragon City... Familiar place names were marked on it, their positions precise and the lines clear.

The edges of the map were also densely covered with symbols, like some kind of notation, encircling the entire map.

”A map of the Eldron Plain?” Romance leaned in for a closer look. ”What are you looking at this for?”

”It’s a map I found in the Root Library. It looked pretty detailed, so I brought it back to study.”

Anton’s expression remained unchanged as he casually rolled up the map, his tone as nonchalant as if he were commenting on the weather.

’In reality, the map showed the locations of the various military outposts along the Dragon’s Teeth defensive line.’

’He’d stumbled upon it in the Root Library and felt as if he had found a priceless treasure.’

’Not long ago, he’d been worrying about how to find the locations of the Dragon’s Teeth outposts, and now the answer had practically fallen into his lap.’

’Anton suspected the map had most likely been drawn by the Second Elder.’

’After all, it wasn’t long ago that the Second Elder had secretly passed through the Dragon’s Teeth defensive line to leave the Eldron Plain.’

’The map detailed all the mountain passes and strategic routes surrounding the Eldron Plain, as well as the location, garrison size, and commander information for every single military outpost on the Dragon’s Teeth defensive line.’

’With this map, Anton could choose his targets with precision and begin the hunt.’

’But there was no need for Romance to know about any of this.’

Romance didn’t think much of it. She just said, ”Oh,” and looked away.

She had never been interested in such things; eating more meat was far more practical to her.

Anton put the map away and handed Romance a fairly heavy box.

”Here are this month’s tonics.”

”Thanks!” Romance beamed as she took the box.

Anton asked Romance a few questions about her cultivation and reminded her of a few things to keep in mind, then waved his hand. ”I need to make a trip to the Eternal Hall. If you want to cultivate here, you can use the quiet room.”

He needed to go find the three elders to discuss testing the Pill and setting up the Array.

”Okay,” Romance agreed cheerfully.

Too many people in the Clan were always waiting to use the Spirit Gathering Rooms; demand far outstripped supply.

Even though she was a Wind-Talker and received special privileges, she couldn’t use the Spirit Gathering Rooms every day. So, she had to come and borrow Anton’s Spirit Gathering Array from time to time.

The Eight Desolates Prison-Suppression Scripture relied more on external medicines to temper the body, but it could also absorb worldly energy. The efficiency was lower, but something was better than nothing.

Leaving the treehouse, Anton hurried toward the Eternal Hall.

When he arrived, all three elders happened to be present, so Anton got straight to the point and stated his purpose.

When he finished, the three elders looked at each other in bewilderment.

”Will this really work?”

The Third Elder looked at the Pill Anton presented, his expression hesitant.

It wasn’t that he didn’t trust Anton, but no one on the Dawn Continent had ever specifically developed a potion to promote fertility.

After all, the shorter-lived races, like humans, the Sea Race, and the Beastmen, had little need for such a thing.

As for long-lived races like the Elves and Dwarves, developing such a thing was extremely difficult, and the effects weren’t even guaranteed to be significant. It was a classic example of a thankless task.

In truth, if it weren’t for the ready-made Pill formulas and array diagrams in the Taoist Jade Scroll, Anton wouldn’t have bothered researching it either.

It was simply too time-consuming and laborious.

”It will definitely be useful,” Anton said, confident in his Fertility Pill. ”The only question is how effective it will be. We’ll only know after testing it.”

”Can we test it on the Lizard-men?” the Second Elder asked.

”I’m afraid not.” Anton shook his head.

”The Lizard-men aren’t a long-lived race. They’re intelligent beings, but completely different from Elves. Data from testing on them would be worthless.”

The Great Elder pondered for a moment before making a decision. ”We’ll recruit volunteers from within the Clan to test it.”

The Second and Third Elders exchanged a glance and both agreed with the decision.

The low birth rate had always been the Silver Moon Clan’s most pressing problem. They were willing to try anything that offered a glimmer of hope for improvement.

The Clan’s future was at stake.

With the matter of the Pill settled, Anton then proposed his idea of setting up the Array of Proliferation, using the Spring of Life as its Array Hub.

The three elders were stunned. They hadn’t expected Anton to have also come up with an Array for promoting fertility.

His actions were always so unexpected.

But along with their surprise came great joy, and they agreed to Anton’s idea without a second thought.

Even if setting up the Array consumed some of the Spring of Life’s energy and reduced the output of Life Spring Water, it was an acceptable price to pay if it could increase their birth rate.

Anton’s plan to use the Spring of Life as the Array Hub was also intended to leverage its rich life energy to enhance the Array of Proliferation’s performance.

As for the energy needed to sustain the Array, they could use Spirit Stones as a substitute to reduce the drain on the Spring of Life.

In that case, however, they would first need to accumulate a supply of Spirit Stones before setting up the Array.

The Gemstones they had previously obtained from the Flame Trade Association would be perfect for this.

Afterward, Anton discussed the details with the three elders for some time, not leaving the Eternal Hall until it was nearly evening.

Gazing at the afterglow that spread across the horizon, Anton let out a soft breath, a glint in his eyes.

’Now, the hunt can begin.’