Above the mage!

Chapter 544 The First Batch of Technical Talents

Gaode quickly learned to pretend to ignore the doubts and grumblings of the "Master Yan Gang." Well, the identity of the "Master" is also temporarily in doubt.

In short, he nodded slightly and replied in a very "natural" tone, "To protect our clan's sacred tree?"

“Yes,” Yan Gang immediately stopped muttering, nodded, and his voice was so loud it sounded like a hammer hitting an iron plate, making Gao De's eardrums buzz and even causing the parchment on the table to tremble slightly.
"That kid Du Linhuo reported everything he found out in the Northern Territory to the master craftsman!"

"The extraordinary thing that can change the North is a tree, a sacred tree of your race that can bring life and hope to the North. For the master craftsman, it is the best thing."

"However, Dulinhuo also discovered that the chaotic forces from the eastern forbidden zone of the Northern Territory seem to be coveting your sacred tree. The master craftsman is worried that you will not be able to withstand them and that the sacred tree will fall into the hands of the chaotic forces. Therefore, he asked our clan to send people to help you protect this tree."

"If you ask me, why go through all this trouble? Just dig up the tree, transport it back to the melting ground, and plant it there. That would save me from making this long trip and having to guard a tree every day. I really don't understand the mind of the master craftsman..." As soon as he finished speaking, Master Yan Gang lowered his voice and muttered again.

"Elder." Du Linhuo's voice was full of helplessness. Is this something to be said?

He exposed his "evil" idea of ​​digging up the tree in front of the tree owner, while secretly criticizing the master craftsman worshipped by the Yang family in front of outsiders.

Grandfather, the fact that you've lived this long and safe is thanks to the master craftsman's truly good temper!
Gao De was much calmer than Du Lin Huo. He turned to look at Sunafa beside him, and the two exchanged a brief glance.

Then, Gao De spoke again: "Thank you for the Yang family's kindness, but I wonder how Master Yan Gang plans to protect us?"

"That's easy!" Yan Gang waved his hand dismissively and said casually.

"Just give me a spot next to the sacred tree, somewhere I can stay. As for those crooked, 'big-eyed' bastards to the east, I'll smash them one by one, and if a pair comes, I'll gouge their eyes out!"

"This..." Gao De seemed hesitant.

“If I had something to do with that damn tree, I would have gone there already. Why would I be here trying to reason with you?” As Gao De hesitated, Yan Gang muttered to himself, “I would have gone to find it myself long ago. It’s not like I don’t know where it is.”

This situation made Gaode (the map service provider) mutter to himself:
Was this Master Yan Gang acting, or was he really there?

Why do you look so wise yet foolish?

But just then, someone else arrived.

He is an adult.

Lady Flora.

The little figure fluttered its wings and slowly flew in.

"This is Lady Flora, the guardian of our clan's sacred tree," Sunefa immediately stood up and introduced her to Master Rocksteel.

Clearly, Flora was also summoned by Sunefa.

Firstly, Yoggathira and Flora have a symbiotic relationship and are closely related.

Anything related to Yugathira must be known to Flora, and only with her consent can it be agreed to.

Secondly, Flora has a natural talent for judging people, which allows her to easily detect the malice of others.

Given the doubts surrounding Yangang's intentions, letting her make the judgment is undoubtedly the safest option for assisting in decision-making.

"What is this thing? Is such a little thing a guardian?" Sure enough, before Flora could say anything, Master Rock Steel's loud voice rang out again, and his undisguised "muttering" made Dulin Fire want to find a crack in the ground to crawl into.

"Lady Flora, I've long admired your name." After unleashing his power, Master Yan Gang immediately changed his demeanor again.

However, this tactic of his did not work on a certain little person who claimed to be an adult.

"Lady Flora is no little thing! You are rude and unintelligent!" Flora stared straight at Master Rock Steel, one hand on her hip and the other pointing at his enormous nostrils as she criticized him.

A person who is impolite is not intelligent.

Yan Gang's nostrils were indeed large; a single nostril was even larger than Flora's head.

But Flora showed no fear in the face of this behemoth.

"Lady Flora, this is Master Rocksteel from the Sheep Clan. He has come specifically to help protect Yugathira." God waited a few extra seconds before interjecting, trying to help Master Rocksteel out of his predicament when he realized that the usual approach wasn't working.

"Stupid, you can't protect it," Flora said dismissively.

"I have strength, I have a lot of strength."

"Lady Flora should consider this."

The two did not try to hide their conversation from Master Yan Gang, so it all reached the master's ears, making his face twitch repeatedly.

He opened his mouth as if to retort, "I'm not stupid," but then seemed to realize that arguing with a "kid" about this would indeed seem foolish.

But remaining silent implies acquiescence.

This frustrating feeling of wanting to say something but not knowing what to say was more painful than anything else for Yan Gang, a master craftsman who had been known for his loud voice his whole life.

Standing to the side, Du Linhuo watched his grandfather's humiliated appearance and couldn't help but smile slightly, secretly pleased.

"Okay, but you need to read more books." After careful consideration, Lady Flora finally convinced herself and nodded.

"If you're not smart, you should read more books," she said earnestly and with utmost seriousness.

This sentence, of course, was "copied" from Gaode Maps.

Flora, a person who loves to use Pinduoduo, relies heavily on Gaode Maps for most of her language system.

Master Yan Gang, who always managed to humiliate others, was truly helpless against Flora this time. In the end, faced with Flora's burning gaze, he could only nod stiffly.

"Young Master is teachable," Lady Flora said with satisfaction.

“He is a promising young man,” Gao De corrected.

"His hair is all white, how can he still be a son?!" Flora wondered.

"That seems to make sense." Gao De remained silent.

Flora nodded; her approval at least indicated that Yan Gang harbored no ill will towards Flora.

Moreover, as Master Yan Gang said, Du Lin Huo already knew where Yugathira was.

Given this context, the fact that Master Yan Gang, with his immense power, personally visited to express his wishes and seek consent speaks volumes about his attitude and goodwill.

Most importantly, the threat of Void creatures is ever-present, a constant source of worry for Sunaf and God.

With Master Yan Gang in charge, they felt much more at ease, receiving an extra layer of protection.

"Then so be it. I will make arrangements for you as soon as possible. If we find that the void creatures have invaded again, we will have to trouble Master Yan Gang." Gao De nodded and made the final decision.

"Don't worry, with me here, no matter how many eyes come, it won't make a difference." Yan Gang's voice was still loud and clear, so loud that even the quill pen on the table jumped slightly. His confidence didn't seem like he was just bragging.

"By the way, I wonder if Master Yan Gang has any requirements regarding his place of residence? We will try our best to meet them if we can," Gao De asked again.

"I'm here on a mission ordered by the master craftsman, not to take advantage of you small tribes. Just give me any place you like," Master Yan Gang replied outright, his tone carrying the toughness of the Yang family.

Gao De was about to nod when the master muttered under his breath, "What other answer can I give to that question? Even if I'm shameless, I can't disgrace the Yang family... Besides, I'd like some good wine to satisfy my craving, but I'm afraid you guys can't offer any..."

Sunefa: "."

After finalizing the arrangements, Master Yan Gang didn't waste any more words and took Du Linhuo's leave.

Du Lin Huo gave Sunaifa and Gao De an apologetic gesture and then quickly followed Master Yan Gang away.

Watching Yan Gang leave, Gao De rubbed his ears, which were still sore from the loud noise, and remarked earnestly, "Elder Yan Gang's voice is really loud."

"Perhaps that's why the Sheep family entrusted this task to him," Sunefa said casually. Though it was a joke, upon closer examination, it was quite plausible.

Such a loud voice is unusual for someone of such high seniority within the clan.

Most of the sheep family members cannot ignore him or say anything to him. They have probably been "victims" for a long time, and now that they have the opportunity to send him away, they are naturally eager to do so.

"Then shall we place this Master Rocksteel in Flora Forest?" Sunefa asked God for his opinion.

"Not good." Gao De shook his head. Putting everything else aside, putting fire and wood together is inherently not a good match.

He thought for a moment, then walked to the huge map hanging on the wall of Sunafa's office and pointed at it with his hand.

"Let's arrange it here."

Sunafa glanced at the dot on Gaode's finger and was somewhat surprised.

That's precisely where the planned exit towards the Vallar Bay would be after the completion of the Vallar Tunnel.

"Being close to the water tower, we might get the moon first. Perhaps we can even borrow the help of this Master Yan Gang," Gao De said frankly, answering Sunaifa's doubts.

A hint of agreement flashed in Sunafa's eyes, then she heard Gaode add, "Also, didn't he want wine? We'll brew some for him. If he's happy drinking it, he might even get a chance to try the Yang family's forging skills later."

"Brewing wine?" Sunefa's eyes lit up slightly.

"It's brewed from grain," Gao De said.

Even if Master Iwao hadn't appeared, brewing would have been on the agenda sooner or later.

The North now has abundant food reserves, and its grain production is sufficient to support daily consumption. There is indeed a surplus of grain that can be used to develop sideline businesses.

Moreover, it is only natural to appropriately enrich the diet and provide people with entertainment.

Once he made up his mind, he immediately summoned Deputy Minister Grant.

Gao De wasn't an expert on the specific brewing process, but he understood the general idea, which consisted of three main steps: saccharification, fermentation, and purification.

He only needed to tell Grant the general idea, and Grant would organize people to try it out.

With their strategy in place, and given their capabilities, it's only a matter of time before they produce a premium barley wine.

Having just finished speaking with Grant, and watching Grant hurriedly leave with the brewing plan, Sunefa, who had left earlier, returned.

“My king, I have completed the identification of these void creature relics.” She gently placed a cloth bag on the table.

The bag wasn't completely tied shut, revealing several strangely shaped eyeballs.

It was a remnant she had taken when she and Dulinhu killed that void creature.

At that time, Gaode used the "Identification Technique" to try to identify these eyeballs.

However, because their ranks were too high and his mage level was too low, he was unable to determine the result.

He then copied the spell recipe for the [Appraisal] spell to Sunefa, hoping she could master the spell as soon as possible and thus identify the specific effects of these eyeballs.

However, because the materials for the spell potions required for the [Appraisal] spell still needed to be purchased from outside sources, it took a long time.

The results were only recently announced.

“This thing is called the Eye of the Void, a fifth-tier transcendent material,” Sunefa said, picking up an eyeball the size of a fist.

Judging from the name, it's certain that the monster's identity is indeed related to the void.

However, this was already expected, so Gaode didn't react much.

"It possesses the characteristics of a void field of vision, enabling it to autonomously capture images from all surrounding angles without being limited by light. Even in a completely dark environment, it can clearly capture movement within a 100-meter range."

"Moreover, it can also store images. A Void Eye the size of a fist can store all the images captured within three days. You can play these images by simply inputting magic power, but you need to check them in time, because these stored images will be automatically overwritten."

"Even the smallest Void Eye can store half a day's worth of continuous images."

“I think that while that void creature was alive, it should still be able to autonomously select the images it needed for archiving,” Sunefa concluded.

Clearly, the void creatures with this ability infiltrated Phoenix to obtain crucial intelligence.

If it cannot save the footage on its own, by the time it returns, the crucial information will likely have been covered by useless everyday scenes, making it impossible to achieve its spying objective.

Therefore, it is highly likely that it can retain useful image fragments through conscious manipulation.

Meanwhile, Gaode was already invigorated:
Isn't that just a surveillance camera?

He immediately glanced at the bag and determined the exact number of eyeballs: 34.

"This is a good thing." Gao De picked up an eyeball, already having many ideas in mind.

Arctic Lake.

Led by Deputy Minister Grant, God came to inspect the Water Lotus that Flora had guided in planting.

Flora was truly extremely busy, so the subsequent cultivation of the Water Lotus was taken over by staff from the Ministry of Agriculture.

The Ministry of Agriculture has been established for a year and a half, and has the largest staff of all departments. It has already cultivated a group of skilled farmers.

Even without Flora's hands-on care, these water lotus roots are growing very well.

Only two months have passed, which is just a drop in the ocean when it comes to the cultivation of Shui Ling lotus root.

However, the widespread practice of the "Green Wood Longevity Scripture" allowed Phoenix to develop agriculture at a speed that was difficult for any other power to match.

Therefore, with the assistance of the art of nature, the idea of ​​the Water Spirit Lotus Forest is already beginning to take shape.

Two months ago, all Gaode gave Flora was a section of water lotus root.

Now, in the water lotus planting area under the Arctic Lake, the number of water lotus roots has exceeded one hundred.

Although they are still in their juvenile stage, with the thickest stems no more than the thickness of a finger, it is already quite remarkable that they have been able to expand their numbers to this level within two months.

At this rate, the lotus forest beneath Beibing Lake will begin to show results in another year.

After visiting the Water Lotus Root, Gaode Maps then toured the Ice Lizard Blood Fungus Industrial Park, where the development was also progressing very well.

It is worth mentioning that the Frost Monitor Lizard has been listed as a key breeding species by the newly established Livestock Office.

Quentin, the director of the livestock office, is searching the snowfields for a male Frost Monitor Lizard in an attempt to breed with Phoenix's female lizard.

However, creatures living in the ley lines are already rare, and the Frost Giant Lizard is even rarer.

Whether it will succeed or not depends somewhat on luck.

Afterwards, Gaode visited several key Phoenix projects, including Bingyuguo and Chengjian, before returning to his office at the City Hall.

As soon as he sat down, the Ethernet key on the table lit up and emitted a slight buzzing sound.

This is a spiritual signal that someone is calling to you.

A thought struck Gao De, and he logged into the Ethernet.

It was a "call" from Vallar Bay.

(End of this chapter)