What's wrong with me, a mage, loving to farm?

Chapter 171. Underground Construction: The Concept of a Potion Production Line

Amidst a blanket of white snow.

Two carriages were arriving from the distant capital.

The horses pulling the cart were full of mechanical rhythm and the cold hardness of steel, and they moved forward steadily even in a snowstorm.

Those are golem horses, clumsy than monsters, but one of the best rides when facing harsh environments and weather.

The two carriages were engraved with the Mage Association's emblem and... the unique emblem of Archmage Celeste, a moon hidden beneath the sun.

As a Grand Mage of the Norland Kingdom's Mage Association, second only to a seventh-level Grand Mage, Celeste's orders were naturally absolute.

So Stein and his mentor Zell were simply packed up and locked up, with absolutely no chance of escape before they arrived at the Reef Island.

Of course, this emblem only symbolizes Celeste's will; it can stop people, but it cannot stop external magic and bombardment.

The carriage moved forward smoothly.

suddenly,

In the vast white sky, a black dot appeared, burning with flames and emitting a rich aroma, coming from the distant horizon.

It was flying rapidly, but it seemed to sense something and rushed straight down, crashing hard into the carriage and exploding.

"Boom!"

The remaining magic and pea seeds burst forth, and the resin covered the entire carriage. The poor carriage was swept inside by this sudden magical explosion.

It even nearly triggered a chain reaction of explosions within the internal spatial array.

A terrifying surge of magic swept through, and the two people inside the carriage instantly fainted. The golem horse had no choice but to stop after encountering this situation.

Its intelligence is clearly insufficient to handle this kind of situation.

Because it happened so suddenly, even Estner didn't expect such a thing to appear in this kind of place.

He quickly jumped down from another carriage, and after carefully observing the now-stopped carriage, his expression became increasingly strange.

"Is this a pea? And resin?"

Estner glanced at the sky, then at the vast expanse of white snow around him, and had no idea where these things had come from.

Could it really be that when the magical plant sprayed its seeds, it just happened to sense that there was plenty of magic here?

Are these two really that unlucky?

Or……

"It's Chloe."

It's no wonder he was suspicious; Chloe was the only mage in the entire Northern Territory, and as far as he knew, his friend had cultivated quite a few special magical plants.

He glanced in the direction of Hanjiao Island and silently calculated that, based on their speed, it would take them about four more days to arrive.

If he can hit the target so accurately over two days and thousands of kilometers, it seems his friend has truly cultivated an extraordinary magical plant.

He ignored the two unconscious men and immediately activated the golem horses, ordering them to continue following his carriage.

They've already reached the outskirts of the capital, and with Celeste's restrictive measures, there's no way these two can escape.

I'm dizzy, so be it.

……

the other side.

As time went by.

Kroya was also busy.

He was transplanting Flame Tree Stumps, Peas, and Hot Wind Thorns, setting up a magical plant defense line at the boundary between the inner and outer islands of Han Reef.

They also released the Bamboo Knights, a combination of Estella who had already learned the Thorn Sword Technique and grafted the Justice Thorn, into this forest.

This bamboo not only learned the Thorn Sword Technique, but Kroya also went to great lengths to feed it the gold that the Golden Butterfly had painstakingly produced.

After being enhanced, the bamboo leaves representing the sword and shield have shown signs of turning gold.

The sharpness and sturdiness of swords and shields have been greatly improved.

It could easily kill a level three or four mage or knight—after all, this thing was made by the Titans, and it was intentionally given to Kroa by the angels to expand his combat power, so its strength is certainly not lacking.

During the period when he continued to modify and transplant the magical plants.

The renovations on the island have been completed one after another.

At this time, Hanjiao Island was no longer the messy and impoverished island it once was; the entire island had been renovated and repaired through the hard work of the islanders.

Starting from the newly built and neatly arranged Hanjiao Wharf, the road is flat and wide. On both sides are various plants that are perfectly trimmed, and at each corner, there are the tendrils of the King of Woody Vines as guides and monitors.

If you look down from above, every road is perfectly straight, so orderly it's almost obsessive.

Apart from the wide roads, the rest of the area is covered with lush vegetation, making it almost impossible for humans to walk through the forest.

Without any trace of humans, it naturally becomes the domain of magical plants and magical beasts.

Various flowers and plants thrive on the roots of the grapevines, displaying a vibrant array of colors.

You can also see animals like deer and rabbits running and playing inside—thanks to the apprentices who have been returning one after another.

It turns out that when humans try to capture magical beasts in groups, unless the beasts are particularly high-level, they are all destined to be captured.

Not to mention they had Ice Rabbits and crows as spies, making it incredibly easy for them to capture those hungry monsters driven mad by the snowstorm.

Anyway, according to Kroya, they were capturing all the magical beasts and plants they could find along the way, including but not limited to wolves, bears, rabbits, deer...

They brought back everything they saw.

It's like a dog that brings things home.

While Kroya was happy, she was also a little conflicted.

Kroya really put in a lot of effort to arrange for these magical beasts to settle down on the island.

First, he had to consider the areas inhabited by carnivorous and herbivorous magical beasts, and also whether these carnivorous magical beasts, due to their violent nature, would harm the people on the island.

It turned out he had worried unnecessarily.

Before he could even begin dividing the area.

The olive elf, along with its few magic crystal white mice, ran around the island every day, followed by the Phantom Cloud Serpent, owls, and swarms of thirsty sea glow algae.

Occasionally, sunflower fairies and lotus fairies also join in.

They spontaneously maintained order on the island, forming a "security team".

Whenever a monster tries to attack a human, it is immediately beaten up by the olive elf and its companions who descend from the sky.

Warcraft isn't stupid. After being beaten like that a few times, it runs away with its tail between its legs whenever it sees someone. It not only doesn't dare to provoke anyone, but it's also afraid of getting a beating if it accidentally bumps into someone.

The olive branch from which the olive tree originated represents "peace".

It is also filled with this power, and it can't stand conflict and chaos, so it is extremely enthusiastic about maintaining order and peace on the island.

Without any instructions from Kroya, they took action on their own.

As the island becomes increasingly peaceful, its own body is growing rapidly, seemingly drawing upon this power as its nourishment.

Of course, Kroa didn't know whether beating them up to calm them down could be considered a peaceful way of doing so.

Anyway, it was quite effective, so he didn't worry about it too much.

One more thing to mention is the Fiberglass algae from the Sea of ​​Thirst.

After the salvage operation in the waters near the triple mineral vein, the number of Thirsty Sea Luminescent Algae has become overwhelming. They are now mingling with the original group of Thirsty Sea Luminescent Algae that Kroa first imprinted.

As one of the most adaptable algae to their environment, they even quickly and spontaneously learned to absorb the magical power of foreign substances in the air, successfully transforming themselves from marine creatures into amphibious beings.

I just wander around the island every day.

After finishing his work, Kroya saw the algae and felt that it would be a waste of their abilities not to imprint some kind of spell on them.

So he bought a batch of "image crystals" and engraved and installed them inside the astral bodies of these algae, then threw some of the algae into the sea to let them swim around on their own.

Then, periodically, the image-recording crystals inside them are retrieved from the roots of the Woody Curved Vine King that extend to the seabed.

Then let Shark Tower handle it.

It serves as a patrol surveillance system, densely covering the entire sea area surrounding Hanjiao Island.

No matter what happens underwater, Kroa can detect it and prepare to deal with it.

After finishing these chores, Kroya was finally able to take a short rest.

So he arrived at the newly built "Aquarium" with great interest, intending to take a look around and then go downstairs to check out his "Potion Production Line".

……

The so-called aquarium is actually a building filled with misty blue springs, a huge building that is 30 meters high and has a radius of 3 kilometers.

It has a rectangular shape and is made entirely of a low-grade, cheap magical material called "Blue Crystal Magic Stone".

This blue crystal magic stone is a product of regions rich in water elements. For the Holy Spring Merchant Guild, this stuff is sold by the ton. You can even have it cut to size for you if you pay them.

Because it was exceptionally cheap, and because Kroya wanted to build a massive structure to satisfy his curiosity.

So in the end, this is what was built, a huge structure that looks like a piece of the azure seawater cut off and placed on land.

At least in a medieval setting, such a building is indeed quite large.

To oversee the construction of this building, Kroya personally supervised the work, assigning his mage apprentices to act as civil engineers to reinforce and stabilize it.

The result was that... from the initial preparation to the final completion, it only took three short days—which shows just how terrifying the productivity of magic can be.

If magicians were to act as infrastructure workers, the world would probably develop to a completely different level.

Of course, it's precisely because these mages were trained by Kroya and had never seen the outside world's esteem for mages that they were willing to be so obedient.

If you asked any other mage to be a construction worker, they'd be doing you a favor by not exposing themselves right there and then.

……

Standing inside the aquarium, a sea of ​​blue, Chloe saw fish swimming happily.

Not only are there common marine fish such as golden scale fish, golden arowana, and rainbow fish, but there are also common freshwater fish such as carp, sturgeon, and catfish.

There are also decorations simulating the ocean around—coral-shaped lamps, a beach made of white fine sand, swaying seaweed, and colorful seashells everywhere.

Apart from the lamps, all of these items were collected by the island's children from the beach or the seabed with dolphins and spontaneously laid out here.

Kroya was quite pleased with this.

Long-term contact with magical beasts and spending time in an environment filled with magic makes it a viable career path, whether it's becoming a mage apprentice, a beast tamer, or even a druid.

Hanjiao Island is his base, and he has enough time and patience to manage it well, which will bring him benefits and gains in the future.

He strolled through the aquarium, looking relaxed and carefree.

Fish would occasionally swim towards him, but he rejected them all; this wasn't an anime. Fish had so much foul-smelling slime on them, he would definitely feel uncomfortable if it got on him.

After wandering around for a while, he thought the place was quite beautiful, but it was strange that these fish didn't seem to have any desires or wants.

To this day, he has not modified a single fish, at most a sea clam. Don't these fish have any desire for evolution?

He found it strange and tried to communicate with many fish, but found that they had no desire to accept modification and evolution.

Their greatest desire seems to be simply to stay in such an environment and swim freely; they seem to crave nothing else.

"..."

Well, I guess this is also a kind of desire.

Kroya could only shake his head and leave.

He quickly toured the aquarium, playing with the fishtail ducks and dolphins for a while before heading down into the lower part of the aquarium.

Since the ocean project has to be put on hold for the time being, he will definitely have to consider the development of his own Hanjiao Island, and the underground of Hanjiao Island is another key area of ​​his development.

He used most of the profits from magic crystal mines and water crystal ore for the development of the underground of Hanjiao Island.

First, he planned to build some magic laboratories underground on the island of Hanjiao so that apprentices and magical beasts could refine potions and magical artifacts.

This requires an absolutely stable environment.

Things like the underwater areas are clearly not suitable; the magic is too chaotic. Setting up some basic factories is fine, but for things that really require fine processing, it has to be done on the islands.

Second.

He plans to install some magical artifacts beneath the island to see if he can detach the island from the continental shelf and make it an island that can be moved at will.

Hanjiao Island is currently in a fixed location, which is fine initially, but it might become dangerous later on.

Although it's still early for him, he must plan ahead and make preparations, at least leaving enough room for the upgrading and transformation of Hanjiao Island.

Just as a meal must be eaten one bite at a time, an island must be built step by step.

Items and plans for island transformation like this are actually sold at the Holy Spring Merchant Guild, but currently, Kroya only has access to basic plans.

This involves installing magical propulsion devices to ensure the island floats on the sea, and then using these devices as propulsion to move forward.

This requires spreading magic conduits throughout the entire island, and Kroya is indeed very curious about what else might be hidden deep within the island.

Among his initial suspicions, he had wondered if Hanjiao Island was the crashed ark, which explained the many scattered items around it.

But after thinking about it, he felt it was unlikely.

Because the Archmage Eurydice spent a long time here, if it really is the Ark, he would definitely have discovered it.

……

He went underground.

No one comes here to excavate or carry out construction.

In the future, this place will not only be a laboratory and a potion workshop, but also a place to install island thrusters. He absolutely does not want people to come and do the construction.

The digging work was carried out by earth-stealing rats and wind-eroding sandworms—Kroya bought several hundred more earth-stealing rats and had the original two rats train them.

Groundhogs are natural-born civil engineers; they know how to dig burrows without causing them to collapse, and they can even enlarge their burrows dozens of times over.

So when Kroya arrived here, what she saw was a sand thief riding on the back of a wind-eroded sandworm, holding a magic chain, and ordering the sandworm to dig and expand its burrow.

They worked together, digging and expanding as they went, and soon dug a tunnel large enough for two carriages to ride side by side, about five meters high.

The stairs and steps were also formed by the erosion of the land and rocks by wind-eroded sandworms.

There is an entrance/exit in the basement of the aquarium, and another entrance/exit on the castle side.

The passageways and rooms will be interconnected and spread throughout the entire island.

After observing their progress for a while and confirming that they were being built well and that he didn't need to worry about them, Kroya got up and walked towards the completed laboratory.

My steps were light and expectant.

Inside that laboratory are the Solid Magic Hanging Bottle Grasses that he inscribed.

The laboratory, built with magic crystals, has only one Solid Magic Bottle Grass growing inside, which is the original Solid Magic Bottle Grass.

When Kroa entered, it was extending its magical tentacles, placing the ingredients on the table one by one into its bottle, and then blending and stirring them.

Allow the potion's original liquid to fully blend inside the bottle.

A bottle of Sea Ganoderma lucidum potion was soon created inside its magic bottle.

It carefully tilted its magic bottle with its tentacles, poured the blue potion into the crystal bottle, and finally sealed it with a cap and a magic seal.

Once it was completely finished, it emitted a sense of joy and happiness.

He is clearly very satisfied with this job and enjoys it.

"Just as I thought."

He nodded in satisfaction. The Seven Luminaries Separation Technique he had imprinted on it was now being fully utilized by it.

It became its means of separating and fusing potion ingredients.

"Now you need to give birth to an elf, so that you can control the other Solid Magic Bottle Grass... My Sea Spirit Mushroom potion production line will then be complete."

Kroya took out the remaining Fountain of Life, opened the bottle, and poured a drop into the Solidified Vase Grass.

This drop of vibrant spring water was quickly absorbed by it, and the spirituality of the spring of life gradually transformed its magic until it gave birth to its own spirit.

Once it develops sentience, I will move all the remaining Demon-Stabilizing Bottle Grass here to build a Sea Spirit Mushroom Magic Medicine production line.

This is the first one, and it won't be the only one.

Next, he plans to teach the Kaba beasts blacksmithing and the bees how to brew potions. These are things that are their hobbies and instincts, so they will definitely put in much more effort than humans.

Just as Kroya was waiting for it to develop sentience, the Woody Vine King's voice sounded excited.

"Master! I sense my kin; they're at the docks on Han Reef Island! They've returned with Samir!"

"Um?"

Kroa's eyes lit up.

This is just in time! He was worried that the growth rate of the Woody Curved Vine King wasn't fast enough. If more came, that would be wonderful.

(End of this chapter)