Above the mage!

Chapter 531 Ice Lizard Blood Fungus Industrial Park and Livestock Office
Flora's presentation of her work is not yet over.

After viewing the 100,000 mu (approximately 6,667 hectares) of Northwest Barley No. 2 seed fields, she pulled Gao De towards the direction of the Weskar Mountains.

After walking for about half an hour, completely away from the bountiful farm, they finally arrived at the foot of Mount Weskar.

Ahead appeared a huge entrance, five or six meters high, completely covered by massive logs and thick felt blankets.

In the North, timber is a rare resource.

The felt was made of snow wolf fur and was used to completely cover the entrance.

Two Iceborn mages stood guard at the entrance.

Compared to the laxity of the guards when Gao De first joined Phoenix two years ago, these two sentries have sharp eyes and are in much better spirits.

Such high-level treatment speaks volumes about the importance of the food inside.

Grant strode forward, nodded slightly to the two guards, and whispered, "Our King, War Mother, and Lady Flora are on an inspection tour."

The guards immediately understood, and the two lifted the heavy felt and wooden curtain.

A bone-chilling cold air instantly rushed towards me.

Grant went in first.

Flora, unfazed by the heat or cold, flapped her wings and followed closely behind.

Needless to say, Gaode followed them in without batting an eye.

This is a huge man-made cave carved into the mountainside, with the highest point of the cave ceiling reaching ten meters.

The interior of the cave is cleverly divided into several areas, with the walls and dome covered with layers of ice that constantly emit cold air, maintaining a stable internal temperature.

At the top of the cave, there are some lighting stones that emit a soft white light, simulating the dim ambient light.

Most striking is the center of the cave, where two frost giant lizards, one large and one small, are lazily lying on a pile of "sand" mixed with metal scraps and ice.

The smaller one is the juvenile Frost Giant Lizard, which was retrieved from the Snowfield Guardians.

Now its body length has increased from half a meter to more than a meter, the ice-blue patterns on its gray-white scales are clearer than before, and the small spikes on its back have also begun to take shape.

At this moment, it is affectionately rubbing against the scales of the giant monitor lizard beside it.

The giant monitor lizard, eight or nine times the size of the juvenile Frost Monitor Lizard, lay there like a small ice mound.

Its scales gleamed with a cold light, each scale the size of a palm, with edges as sharp as knives;

The spikes on its back are as thick as a forearm, with tiny ice crystals condensed at their tips. They occasionally make a soft "tinkling" sound when they shake, exuding a sense of intimidation.
It slightly raised its head and exhaled two streams of white, frigid air containing ice crystal fragments from its nostrils.

The chill air fell on the surrounding sand, instantly condensing into a thin layer of frost, making the air inside the cave even cooler.
The monitor lizard looks to be in excellent condition and has clearly been well fed and cared for.

As Gao De's gaze swept across the cave, he could see that surrounding the two Frost Giant Lizards were rows and layers of neatly arranged ice cultivation racks.

The shelf wasn't covered with soil, but rather with a thick, dark, almost inky black "culture medium" mixed with countless silver metallic glitter particles.

Gao De could recognize that it contained crushed giant lizard feces, fragments of its shed old scales, metal ore powder, and some crushed ice-attribute magical plants.

On these peculiar "culture media," strange fungi are quietly growing.

Their stems are short and thick, with a cold, silvery-gray color and a texture that looks somewhat like frosted metal.

What's most peculiar is their cap, which isn't the common umbrella shape, but rather resembles layers of irregularly blooming metallic scales or ice crystal clusters.

Overall, it presents a magnificent silver-blue color with a metallic sheen.

Each fungus has a surface naturally covered with fine and intricate silver patterns.

Illuminated by the dim light from the cave ceiling, it gleamed with a mysterious and cold glow.

It is indeed the Dragon Bird Blood Fungus, but a lower-spec version, which is why Gaode Maps named it the Ice Lizard Blood Fungus.

Some staff members are carefully using a specially designed long-handled sprayer to evenly spray a "nutrient mist" that is a mixture of extremely fine metal mineral powder and ice element extract onto the bacteria.

Every time the "nutrient mist" finishes spraying, the two frost giant lizards lying on the ground will slowly raise their heads and spray a white blast of cold air towards the cultivation rack.

A chill spread out and settled on the fungal clusters, causing the slightly closed caps to slowly unfold.

The silver patterns on the surface instantly brightened, as if greedily absorbing the energy in the aura.

Gao De observed carefully and found that each cultivation rack was tilted towards the habitat of the baby lizards, which allowed the cold air to be evenly distributed.

Clearly, the diffusion range of the aura was precisely calculated when the cultivation racks were set up to ensure that each Ice Lizard Blood Bacteria could absorb enough energy.

Before Gaode left the North, there was only one Frost Lizard, so the amount of its droppings and the area it could cover with its daily breathing were relatively limited.

Therefore, the cultivation area for Ice Lizard Blood Fungus is only a very small area, and the Ice Lizard Blood Fungus has only just sprouted.

As a result, the cultivation site for the Ice Lizard Blood Fungus has now been moved to this cave, and the scale has been expanded more than tenfold.

Moreover, they all grow extremely vigorously.

“This big one is…” Gao De looked at the enormous Frost Giant Lizard in surprise.

How come there's suddenly an adult Frost Giant Lizard in the tribe after only two months of leaving the Northern Territory?
“It’s all thanks to Quentin.” Sunafa knew this very well, and her cool voice rang out at the right time, solving the mystery for him.

After completing the immigrant integration program, Quentin stayed in Phoenix, saying he was willing to contribute to the city's development.

Sunafa did not refuse and gladly accepted his joining.

Based on his abilities and strengths, Sunefa assigned him the tasks of becoming a hunter leader and improving the map of the North, marking undeveloped resource points and dangerous areas.

She paused, then turned her attention to the cultivation of Ice Lizard Blood Fungus: "Back then, Ice Lizard Blood Fungus was just starting out. As you know, the feces and scent of young lizards were limited and simply couldn't support large-scale cultivation."

"I mentioned it to Quentin, telling him to keep an eye out for Frost Giant Lizards when he goes out hunting or searching for resources. If he can find one and bring it back, it will be of great use to Phoenix."

Sunefa had only intended to try her luck and didn't have high expectations.

Firstly, frost monitor lizards are already rare, and most live deep in remote, icy plains, making them incredibly difficult to find. Moreover, monitor lizards are untamed and wild, so even if you find one, bringing it back is another question.

Unexpectedly, after Quentin found out the purpose of the Frost Giant Lizard, he went to inquire about the movements of the Zhenbing tribe hunter team that had captured the Frost Giant Lizard hatchlings.

Then, based on his own experience, he gradually deduced the original habitat of Phoenix, the young Frost Monitor.
He followed the predicted route deep into the ice field on the northern slopes of the Weskar Mountains, searching for ten days, and finally found the Frost Giant Lizard.

The mages of the Snowfield Guardians are skilled at taming beasts, and Quentin, as the chief of the Guardians, is an even better expert, deserving the title of beast taming master.

Quentin didn't go into the details of the process, but in short, he successfully tamed the female lizard and took her back to Phoenix.

Here, she could not only reunite with her children, but also no longer worry about food.

Every day, they ate, defecated, slept, and ate again. Occasionally, they would leave the cave to bask in the sun, and naturally, they lived a very comfortable life, with their condition improving day by day.

On Phoenix's side, all they need to do is provide food for the mother lizard, and they can then use her to expand and cultivate the Ice Lizard Blood Bacteria on a large scale.

Despite their enormous size, female Frost Monitor Lizards have a voracious appetite and are particular about the quality of their food.
But Phoenix has gem berry trees!
After the seedling stage, Sunefa personally intervened to encourage growth, and with the help of Elder Gain of the Forest Rangers, a fruitful Gemberry Tree was successfully cultivated.

One gem berry can meet the energy needs of a medium-sized creature for a day. Even though the Frost Giant Lizard is a large creature, it can only eat a maximum of five berries a day.

Young lizards have small appetites; one is enough.

In addition, jewel berries are naturally very attractive to animals, and both mother lizards and their young love to eat them, so there's no need to worry about them being picky eaters.

Therefore, by simply spending six Gemberries a day, one can obtain most of the resources needed to cultivate Ice Lizard Blood Fungus. Naturally, the Ice Lizard Blood Fungus cultivation field has entered a period of rapid expansion.

This is such a great deal!

This can actually be seen as the strong getting stronger: as Phoenix gains more and more resources and talent, it often unintentionally creates various unexpected synergies.

"So that's how it is," Gao De murmured.

Unexpectedly, the cultivation scale of Ice Lizard Blood Fungus has expanded so dramatically.

Thinking of this, Gao De suddenly had an idea.

"Quentin shouldn't have any position in Phoenix right now, right?" he asked.

“No, although he is actually the leader of the Hunters, the Hunters were not incorporated into the city hall after you reorganized the Phoenix management system,” Sunefa said.

“Then let’s set up a new Livestock Office under the Ministry of Agriculture,” Gao De decided immediately, his tone resolute.

"He is mainly responsible for guiding the structural adjustment of Phoenix's livestock industry, researching livestock development plans and major technical measures, and other livestock-related work, such as breeding livestock breeds adapted to the North and formulating breeding standards."

"In addition, they are also responsible for the guidance and management of beast taming on the extraordinary side, such as the taming and breeding of exotic beasts like the Frost Giant Lizard, as well as the utilization of other leyline creatures that may appear in the future."

Gao De looked at Sunaifa and asked, "Ask Quentin if he'd be willing to take on the role of director of the livestock office?"

"As for the specific responsibilities and plans of the Livestock Office, I will compile a document later."

The Ministry of Agriculture is composed of two main categories: crop cultivation and animal husbandry.

However, the primary task at the time was to ensure that the people of Phoenix had enough to eat, so the Ministry of Agriculture was only responsible for planting for the time being.

Now that the food problem has been initially solved, it is only natural to supplement it with animal husbandry.

It can not only enrich the residents' diet, but also help Phoenix's development by domesticating the creatures from the ley lines.

This is an important step for Phoenix in moving from "survival" to "development".

“Okay, I will communicate with Quentin as soon as possible,” Sunefa replied immediately.

Sunefa has always maintained an extremely open-minded attitude towards accepting outsiders into high-ranking positions within Phoenix's official system.

"Thank you for your hard work, Lady Flora." After roughly settling the matters concerning the livestock office, Gao De did not forget to give Flora his thanks.

He also instructed, "From now on, let's call this place the Ice Lizard Blood Fungus Industrial Park. List it as a key project of the Ministry of Agriculture, and expand its scale as much as possible."

Since setting the development plan for Phoenix, he has always had a plan in his mind that is extremely bold and almost "unbelievable" compared to the world: a plan for all people to become mages.

He knew perfectly well that to cultivate a high-level mage capable of moving mountains and filling seas and delving into the fundamental truths of the world, one would undoubtedly need exceptional talent, a vast amount of resources, and a bit of luck, which could not be forced.

However, if the requirement is merely that citizens master basic spells, such as [Illumination], [Mage's Hand], and [Repair], be able to read magical texts, understand basic spell theory, and become "civilian mages" serving production and daily life, then the goal is to achieve this.

Gao De believes that this can be fully popularized, just like the nine-year compulsory education in his previous life.

This idea is not just wishful thinking.

Just like in his previous life, while getting into a top university certainly required talent and hard work, he successfully popularized basic literacy, arithmetic, physics, and chemistry knowledge.

And this is precisely the cornerstone of modern civilized society.

It transformed countless potential illiterate individuals into qualified industrial workers, drivers, accountants, and programmers.
These seemingly ordinary roles together form the framework of industrialized society and lay the foundation for the entire industrialized society.

Now, what Gaode wants to do is to replicate this miracle on this northern land, which is considered backward and primitive, and build a social foundation for "magical industrialization".

To achieve this goal, the obstacles to overcome are far greater than those of compulsory education in the previous life: mandatory legal and institutional guarantees, a standardized supply system for legal professionals, a systematic teaching and training system, and universally accessible infrastructure development.
The large-scale cultivation of Ice Lizard Blood Bacteria is a component of the standardized mage resource supply system in the National Mage Project.

If the Northwest Barley No. 2 variety can improve the physical fitness of the entire population.

This Ice Lizard Blood Fungus cultivation area can rapidly improve the Phoenix Iceborn Mage's progress in cultivating the "Azure Wood Longevity Sutra".

Promoting the "Green Wood Longevity Sutra" as a universal practice in Phoenix is ​​already an established policy.

Once all four elemental magic plant trees are collected, Flora can cultivate the four elemental magic plants.

The three-piece set of Northwest Barley No. 2, Ice Lizard Blood Fungus, and Tier 3 Four-Element Magic Plant Tree will constitute a complete "Mage Growth Path," paving a smooth road to becoming a mage for the people of the North.

After Flora finished showcasing her work, Gaode Maps was not to be outdone.

After leaving the Ice Lizard Blood Fungus Industrial Park, he immediately took Flora back to the City Hall and showed her the things he had brought back from his trip to the Blue Flame Islands.

At this moment, Gaode is like an old father who has been working away from home for many years. He finally returns to his hometown for the Spring Festival, bringing a bunch of good things for his little daughter who was left behind, and is eager to show them off.

(End of this chapter)