Above the mage!

Chapter 577 Earth Elemental Plant: Rock Ridge Giant Oak

After watching Leo leave, God bowed to the mage Eldrin and said sincerely, "Thank you for the demiplane spot provided by the chief mage. I have benefited greatly from this training."

He then left Emerald Valley without lingering.

Unlike Leo, he left completely satisfied.

In one month in the demiplane, the "Green Wood Longevity Scripture" went from the early stage of the second ring to the late stage of the second ring, and it was even a perfected state after being consolidated.

At the same time, driven by the [Zhenbing Bloodline], the liquid mana count of "Zhenbing Secret Transmission" has increased to 58 drops, just one step away from the late stage of the first ring.

Next, he planned to take the airship from Oak Harbor in Greenwood City to Karen, the county town of Solon County, to challenge the Solon Magic Hall.

But before that, there's one more thing to do.

Collect tree species.

Greenwood City is a special city built at the end of the Sword Mountain Range and surrounded by many towering ancient oak trees. It is also the location of the Wood Element Demiplane.

It is easy to imagine how abundant the plant resources are in Green Forest City.

The same is true.

Greenwood is a well-known "plant bank" throughout the Kent region and even Soren County.

Gaode returned to the Green Forest City area and first went to the Ancient Wood District in the city.

This is the residential area for ordinary citizens.

Most of the shops on both sides of the street have wooden signs and potted insect-repelling plants placed at their entrances.

Its pale green leaves emit an insect-repelling fragrance; it is a unique magical plant for the common people of Greenwood City.

As Gaode walked slowly along the street, he discovered that there were more seed shops here than he had imagined.

Every three to five shops, you'll find a small shop with a seedling pattern hanging on the wall. Some have wooden baskets full of seeds at their door, while others have dried plant specimens hanging on their windows.

Gaode even saw many mages wearing mage robes of unknown rank entering and leaving these ordinary seed shops.

This scene is almost unseen in other cities.

After all, for most mages, ordinary plant seeds can neither increase magic power nor make high-level potions, so there is no need to buy them.

However, due to geographical and environmental reasons, there are a large number of mages skilled in plant magic in Green Forest City, which has created this unique landscape.

Because many plant spells require fresh seeds as a medium to be cast.

Practicing plant magic also requires consuming a lot of plant seeds.

Over time, it became common for monks to buy ordinary seeds in the ancient tree area.

The monk was very wealthy, and he bought these ordinary seeds without batting an eye, let alone haggling over the price.

This led to a proliferation of seed shops throughout the city.

Gaode walked into a small shop called "Old Oak Seed Shop," which was clearly a shop that specialized in selling tree seeds.

The shop is small, with wooden shelves filled with cloth bags labeled with paper tags.

The labels, written in charcoal, list the tree species and their origins: "Beech (eastern hills, shade-tolerant, suitable for planting in garden corners)", "Silver Birch (riverside, fast-growing, light and soft wood)", "Black Pine (lowlands of the Sword Mountains, cold-hardy, hard trunk)"...

At the end of each label, there is a small note indicating its purpose, which is obviously added by the shop owner to make it easier for customers to choose.

The shop owner was an elderly man with a white beard. Hearing the door open, he looked up and glanced at Gaode Maps.

It's unclear what he discovered, but he immediately confirmed Gao De's identity as a mage and stood up respectfully, saying:
"Master, is there anything you need? We just received a batch of beech trees from the eastern hills; they're the freshest ever."

Gao De nodded, walked to the shelf, quickly scanned the labels, and then started picking: "This one, this one, this one."

He wanted a bag of all the tree species that the Flora Forest didn't yet have.

The old man quickly packed the seeds, and then handed him an extra small bag of light brown seeds:

"Master, these are the seeds of a moss fern. Sprinkling them on the wood will slowly absorb moisture. Local timber merchants use these in their warehouses to protect the wood. They are very practical. Consider this a gift from me; they are not worth much."

After paying for the goods, Gao De carried the seeds out of the store.

Afterwards, he took another stroll around the Ancient Woods area and reaped such a bountiful harvest that it was almost equivalent to the amount he had purchased in a year at the Walmart Magic Materials store in Dorn City.

After all, Dorne is a coastal city, and the variety of tree species it has is simply not comparable to that of Greenwood City.

After confirming that he had collected most of the local basic tree species, Gao De headed towards the mage district in the city center.

Unlike the commoners' district, the buildings lining the streets of the mage district are no longer ordinary wooden houses, but stone towers with pointed roofs.

The tower is inlaid with colorful magic glass, through which you can see the shimmering magic crystal lights inside.

Gaode's target is the Magic Plant Market within it.

The shops selling magical plants line both sides of the main street of the market, and their signs are much more exquisite and grand than those in the ancient wood area.

Green Leaf Workshop, Black Stone Nursery.
Gaode visited each tree species, but compared to the harvest from the basic tree species, the harvest from the magic tree species was rather lackluster.

First of all, the magic tree is a relatively rare analogy among magic plants.

Then there's the fact that although there are many plant shops here with a wide variety of products, most of them are "finished products".

Products related to the magic tree are either magic tree bark powder that can be ground into powder to make magic potions, fruits with various effects, or cut magic tree trunks.

Pure magic tree seeds and magic tree seedlings have become "niche products".

This is still somewhat different from his envisioned goal of collecting a large number of basic magic tree seeds.

However, compared to what they gained in Dorne, it was still a very substantial sum.

We received about twenty kinds of zero-level magic tree species and magic tree seedlings.

More than ten kinds of first-tier magic tree species and magic tree seedlings have also been received.

To Gao De's surprise, he also received four different types of second-tier magic tree seeds.

In particular, the seedlings of one type of magical tree called Stone Skin Wood are especially precious and practical.

Once fully grown, the tree trunk is said to be as hard as refined iron, and it is often used to make trial puppets for mages to practice their spells.

If this thing is successfully cultivated, it can be used to create teaching aids for the future popularization of magic education in the Northern Territory.

After browsing through the plant shop, Gaode didn't rush to leave.

In places rich in plant resources, the magical plant and magical potion industries tend to be particularly developed.

The same is true of Greenwood City.

Therefore, in addition to the dedicated magical plant shops, there is also a street for setting up stalls.

The permanent magical plant shops along the main road mostly sell wholesale goods, while the stalls on the edge of the market often have explorers or aspiring magical plant masters selling individual items. Although their level may not be high, the randomness is a major advantage, and you might even find rare varieties that are not available in the shops.

Turn right onto the main road and walk a few steps, and sure enough, you'll see a small alley lined with stalls on both sides.

The alley was much more lively than the main road, with many people haggling over prices at the stalls.

The stall owners mostly sat on small stools, with black velvet cloths spread out on their stalls, displaying all sorts of magical plants.
Some of them are magical plants picked from the Sword Mountain Range, while others are grown by magical plant masters themselves, but they are not sold in large quantities, so they are sold individually.

Most of them are cheap trinkets, such as Moonflower that can be bought for one Golden Bird Coin, and Fly Agaric that costs ten Silver Dragon Coins per plant.
Gao De strolled around leisurely, his gaze sweeping over the stalls.

Although there were no major surprises, there were quite a few small gains, including seeing seven or eight kinds of low-level magical plant seedlings that he had never seen before in the magical plant shop.

Until he walked to an inconspicuous stall in the corner of the alley.

The stall owner was a burly man with dark skin. His stall only had three palm-sized earthenware jars on it, and there wasn't even a decent sign, making it look particularly shabby.

The earthenware jar was completely wrapped up, so there was no way of knowing what it was selling.

Naturally, his stall was unusually deserted, and many people passed by without even glancing at it.

But it was this deserted stall that caught the attention of Gaode Maps.

Of course, what attracted Gaode was not the three pottery jars, but a wooden stick lying diagonally at the strong man's feet.

The wooden stick was about the thickness of an adult's arm and nearly a meter long. It was dark brown all over and looked like a stone pillar carved out of the rock.

The surface is covered with irregular grooves, as if it has been rubbed by rocks, or as if it has been formed naturally.

What's most peculiar is its texture. From a distance, it looks like ordinary dead wood, but upon closer inspection, you can see a faint metallic sheen within the wood.

There was also a faint smell of sulfur and rust mixed together, a smell that was not like that of ordinary wood.

With just one glance, Gao De recognized the origin of the wooden stick.

Earth Element Magical Plant among the Four Elemental Magical Plants: Rock Ridge Giant Oak!

The products of the Four Elemental Magic Plants are their fruits; their trunks themselves do not have any special effects and are naturally worthless.

The burly man probably just picked up the wooden stick out of convenience.

But for Gaode Maps, it has a different meaning.

The trunk must have been broken off from a tree!

Now that the trunk of the Rock Ridge Giant Oak has been discovered, how far can we be from the Rock Ridge Giant Oak itself?

The four elemental magical plants: Goddard obtained the Everfrost Oak in Phoenix and the Wind Element Azus Whistle Tree in Black Sails.

Only the Earth element's Rock Ridge Giant Oak and the Fire element's Angmar Flame Spell Tree remain to be collected.

However, although the four elemental magical plants are not of high rank, only second rank, they are very rare because they can only grow in special environments.

Even though I've been keeping an eye out, I haven't received any news about the remaining two elemental magical plants.

But I never expected to run into him in such an unexpected way in a corner of Green Forest City today.

However, it shouldn't be entirely attributed to good luck.

Rock ridge giant oak is actually a type of oak.

The most famous and abundant tree species in Greenwood City is the oak.

From this perspective, the discovery of the Rock Ridge Giant Oak in Greenwood City is actually quite reasonable.

Gao De suppressed his excitement and casually walked to the stall. His gaze fell on the pottery jar, and he asked with interest, "What's in this pottery jar? It's sealed so tightly."

The burly man was wiping the stains off his hands with a rough burlap cloth when he heard this. He looked up and introduced Gao De somewhat stiffly, "This contains rock moss, nothing special."

Rock moss is often used as an auxiliary material for magical potions.

"Oh? This kind of thing is quite rare. Let me see its quality," Gao De said, raising his eyebrows.

The burly man hesitated for a moment, but still lifted the burlap seal on one of the earthenware jars.

A fresh, earthy fragrance wafted out.

When Gaode looked inside, he saw that the bottom of the jar was covered with a layer of dark green moss, and there were small rock fragments stuck to the leaves. It was indeed rock moss.

He doesn't need this thing right now.

But he feigned surprise, picked up a bit of moss, and smelled it: "The quality is good, much better than what's sold at Green Leaf Workshop next door."

These words clearly struck a chord with the burly man, and his harsh tone softened considerably:

“You know your stuff! This rock moss is definitely better than what you buy in stores. It grows on fissures in the earth's veins, where energy is abundant, and absorbs that energy every day. How could its quality not be good?”

"I rushed back as soon as I finished collecting the moss, and I made sure to cover it with burlap the whole time to prevent it from getting damp."

Gao De picked up another earthenware jar, opened the seal, looked at it, and pointed to a mold spot on the bottom of the jar, saying, "However, you didn't store this moss very well; the bottom of this jar is a bit moldy. How about this, I'll take all the moss from the three jars; give me a fair price."

Seeing that Gao De really wanted to buy, the burly man quickly waved his hand: "These mold spots are just unsightly, they don't affect the efficacy of the medicine. I'll give you a discount."

After some haggling, Gaode finally acquired three pottery jars of moss at 80% of the original price.

The burly man quickly wrapped up the three pottery jars and handed them to Gao De.

Gao De took the heavy pottery jar, deliberately pressing his arm down as if he hadn't held it properly, and his toes "inadvertently" brushed against the wooden stick beside him.

The sole of the boot struck the wooden stick with a dull thud, sounding more like a rock than wood.

He immediately stopped what he was doing, raised an eyebrow in feigned surprise, and looked at the wooden stick with a hint of curiosity in his voice: "This wooden stick of yours is quite interesting. It looks like wood, but it feels like a stone when you kick it. Where did you pick it up?"

The burly man paused for a moment, looked down at the wooden stick at his feet, and waved his hand. "You mean this thing? I picked up some dead wood when I passed by Black Stone Canyon. There's nothing special about it, it's just sturdy and has a rough surface, so it feels good to the touch."

The location for collecting moss is a closely guarded secret for the strong man; he would never easily reveal it to outsiders.

The location where the stick was found was irrelevant. Gao De, a big customer who bought three cans of rock moss in one go, had no intention of hiding it and just blurted it out.

"Black Rock Canyon?" Gao De was delighted to find the location, but remained calm on the surface, remarking, "Although there's nothing special about it, I reckon that this kind of wooden stick is hard to find."

“No, that’s not it,” the burly man said without thinking much of it, scratching his head and continuing, “I saw a lot of these wooden sticks in the Black Stone Canyon’s stalagmite forest, but there are often cave spiders there, so it’s best not to go near them.”

"Crypt Spider?!" Gao De exclaimed softly.

Crypt Spiders are second-tier leyline creatures, with elite individuals reaching even third tier. They typically inhabit hidden rocky burrows.
Information about the Cave Spider flashed through Gao De's mind in an instant.

It can be done.

Having obtained a specific clue, he smiled with delight and said to the burly man, "Thank you for the reminder. If you have any more rock moss of this quality in the future, I will buy it from you again."

"No problem, no problem," the burly man replied cheerfully, watching Gao De's figure disappear into the alleyway.

(End of this chapter)