Industrial Revolution of the Mage Lords

Chapter 527: Stone of Life
The ritual of creating the Stone of Life was not completed in the alchemy laboratory, but was temporarily moved to the nearby Magical Potion Botanical Garden... which is also the pharmacy research center of the Spark City Medical Institute.

According to the requirements of the elves and dwarves, the Magic Potion Botanical Garden is also the area with the richest natural elements in the entire Spark City. For the production of Life Stone, human intervention in the ceremony is not the main thing. It relies more on the natural attraction and stimulation of magic and natural elements after the fusion of the two rare materials.

Harvey had no intention of participating in the entire manufacturing ceremony. Although he had obtained the specific ritual process from ancient texts, he was not an elemental spellcaster after all, and his ability to perceive and control natural elements was far inferior to that of dwarves and elves. What's more, the people sent by the two tribes to assist him this time were young and high-level people who had been carefully trained by each tribe, so there was no need for him to work alone.

"Your Majesty, the ritual described in the text isn't that complicated at all," Chris muttered, puzzled, as he accompanied Harvey on the scene. "Why do these elves insist on playing and chanting... to a crystal tree heart?"

Egno frowned and explained in a low voice, "Nature Mass is an ancient tradition of the Golden Forest. They believe that the Golden Tree is an intelligent being of equal status to the elves. Therefore, fusing the Life Stone is equivalent to sacrificing a living soul of one's own kind. Therefore, the chant is filled with sorrow and reluctance."

Asdalen chuckled and said calmly, "That's because His Majesty hasn't given them enough. If the benefits were tempting enough... they would probably be more than happy to cut down large tracts of golden trees and send them to Spark City for firewood."

In comparison, the dwarven ritual was much simpler and more brutal. Lava held the pottery jar containing the liquid crystal core and placed it on a huge volcanic rock found in advance. After muttering an ancient spell quickly, he decisively raised an exquisitely shaped brass hammer to smash the jar open, revealing the jelly-like earth crystal core inside.

An invisible wizard's hand picked up the earth crystal core and gently dropped it into a metal cauldron used to prepare potions... Then the elves also carefully threw in the golden tree heart.

Strangely, the crystalline tree core disintegrated and shattered into a handful of fine sand the moment it came into contact with the liquid core, and merged evenly with the core without any human stirring, causing tiny star-like brilliance to appear in this mass of translucent jelly.

Then the dwarves and elves began to take out various magic plant crystal ores that even Asdalen and Chris could not recognize from the material boxes they brought. They seemed to be in disorder but actually followed a certain process rhythm... and put them into the metal cauldron one by one.

Subtle magical fluctuations gradually began to appear inside the Potion Research Center. Even Harvey and others who were not elemental spellcasters could clearly sense the natural power that was constantly gathering in the botanical garden.

However, this is not the case that the Life Stone actively absorbs the magic contained in the surrounding plants during the ritual. These natural forces are more like they are generated out of thin air and suddenly escape from other planes.

Harvey nodded thoughtfully, then turned to Egno, who was standing beside him, and said, "You guessed right. The natural power of the Life Stone comes from the magic network space. It is essentially an element converter that can transform pure magic power into natural power!"

Since the form and properties of magic can be converted, the carrier of the converter itself can naturally be manipulated and edited, and there is no need to use magic reducing agents such as magic spirit extract.

……

About half an hour later, everyone felt that the violently fluctuating natural forces in the botanical garden began to gradually stabilize. If they listened carefully, they could clearly find that the natural magic power that had just escaped from the invisible plane rift had now all condensed into the metal cauldron in front of the elves and dwarves.

Harvey led his men slowly closer, and in the cauldron held up by Lava and Windtalker, he saw... an ordinary gray-white stone?
It was indeed a grayish-white stone, partially covered in the dark green moss most common in the wasteland. Even if it were dropped onto the riverbank right now, no one would recognize it as the Life Stone, a fusion of the rare treasures of the elves and dwarves. "Your Majesty, don't be surprised. I believe that even in human texts, there's no specific record of the Life Stone's appearance," the Windtalker explained with a proud yet reserved smile. "That's because the Life Stone has no fixed form. Forged in the Golden Forest, it could be a broad leaf, while in the Underground City, it becomes a piece of raw metal ore."

Lava added in a muffled voice, "Indeed, when it was created in the wizard's tower in the southern region, it even became a brick used to build the city wall. That's why it's said to have an independent consciousness and cannot be controlled."

Today, it was created in the Magical Botanical Garden, also in a huge city with human activities. However, it did not turn into bricks or metal ingots, but was born in the most primitive and natural form of pebbles.

"This also proves that the wasteland is originally a place with rich natural forces and full of vitality." The Wind Talker flattered Harvey subtly. "Your Majesty, the variety of magical plants cultivated in your magic potion botanical garden alone far exceeds that of the southern border. I even found several species that I have never seen or heard of. I wonder if..."

The elves have an innate affinity for plants. When they see rare or unknown magical plants, they naturally won't let them go easily. They quickly begged Harvey to give them a small number of seedlings to take back to the East, or to exchange them for other magical materials of equal value.

There are indeed many magical plants that are unique to the northern wilderness planted in the botanical garden, but in fact they are not rare and precious. Many ordinary residents of Spark City go out for hiking on weekends and occasionally discover some magical and unknown plants. They pull them up by the roots or mark them and then come back to inform the medical center. Only after their use and value are clarified will they be gradually transplanted and introduced into the botanical garden.

"The potion garden is managed by Mr. Egno. If you want to exchange for magic plant seedlings, you should beg him, not me..." Harvey said lightly.

The elves immediately felt embarrassed. They had expressed their disgust and contempt for these hybrids in front of His Majesty yesterday, and now they turned around and asked them to do things. No one would do such a thing.

Although Harvey had deliberately given him an opportunity to slap him in the face, Egno had no intention of completely antagonizing these purebloods. He said calmly, "According to the botanical garden's regulations, you can simply apply for an exchange with a magical plant seedling of equal value."

He neither tried to please nor to make things difficult on purpose, but instead seemed to be more magnanimous than these pure-blooded elves.

The Windtalker was silent for a moment, then coughed dryly before saying, "Well, the most important thing now is how to control the Stone of Life. Once you can fulfill your promise and show us a more powerful way of nature, we can discuss equal exchange later!"

After putting the Stone of Life into a box and handing it to Harvey, the elves immediately bowed and took their leave. They had no intention of staying in the hybrid's "territory". Anyway, the agreed time to fulfill their promise was one week later. This period of time was just enough for them to obtain Harvey's permission and freely sightsee around Spark City. Compared to the prosperous and wealthy city full of novelties... they still preferred the wild but vibrant wilderness.

After the elves left, the dwarf Lava walked up to Harvey with a smile and said anxiously, "Your Majesty, please...please allow us to freely enter and exit those public chess and card rooms you built in the city. By the heavens! The card game you invented, Dragon Quest, is truly entertaining!"

It was all because of the dwarf "foreign students" living in Spark City who brought them playing cards. A group of dwarves played cards all night long in the hotel, which naturally caused complaints and protests from the elves. However, ID cards need to be checked to enter the public chess and card room. The original intention was to prohibit minors from entering, but who knew that this group of "out-of-town card players" were also stopped.

(End of this chapter)