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

Chapter 173. Not just shrinking...

These magical plants have a very unique appearance.

It is a full 1.8 meters tall.

At first glance, it looks like a standing skeleton, and a very complete human skeleton at that, with a large frame. Judging from its appearance, it is probably a male skeleton, radiating a chilling white glow and exuding a strong aura of death.

"Why do these skeletons look so fresh..." Kroa felt a little uncomfortable.

However, at its top is a small, emerald-green gemstone, which contains a life force that is completely opposite to the aura of the dead.

It looks like dewdrops rolling on tender green leaves.

"The Emerald Bone Tree".

"The name doesn't seem particularly special, Emerald Fruit, Bone Tree."

Kroya was a little puzzled. He picked up the letter the baron had given him, which described in detail the scene when the bone tree was discovered.

Simply put, one of the baron's guards boldly stepped forward, only to be immediately sucked dry by the bone tree, leaving not even his bones behind.

The tree skeleton that Kroya is seeing now is actually the skeleton of that guard—his skeleton has been absorbed by the tree.

"..."

After reading the letter, Chloe finally understood.

So this skeleton really is fresh. It absorbs human life force and bones, and finally bears fruit full of vitality. To be honest, this is quite in line with necromancy.

Many necromancy spells have the ability to drain life force.

Vibrant life force is a good source of nourishment for the dead, helping them maintain their physical and mental health and preventing them from collapsing. The vast majority of the dead need to draw on life force.

"Then what use are you?"

"Absorbed the life force of a living person..."

He reached out and picked the jade-like fruit, which was no bigger than an apple core. Surprisingly, it wasn't hard in his hand, but soft and bouncy like slime.

But as soon as he squeezed it, he felt something was wrong.

Because inside this soft fruit, there are hard protrusions that feel like haphazardly growing branches, which is quite strange.

Kroya was slightly taken aback. In order not to rely too much on his cheat ability, he originally planned to sense it.

But he couldn't care less about that now. He used the Astral Body Imprint Technique to examine it carefully and was surprised to find that... the astral body of this thing was actually in the shape of a person.

No, it's just one person!

This man was tall and had a slightly rugged appearance; he was the typical soldier whose muscles were more developed than his brains.

The soldier was covered in translucent emerald green threads, bound inside the fruit, and his eyes were tightly closed.

If that were all, Kroya would probably suspect that the soldier's soul had been replicated by this Emerald Bone Tree.

But the truth is... this soldier with his eyes closed is alive, or rather, according to the Astral Imprint Technique, he is "human".

Because the Astral Imprint Technique could not see through his physical structure.

This had never happened in all the time that Kroa had possessed the Astral Imprint Technique—the Astral Imprint Technique could see through the astral structure of all magical plants and beasts, but it was ineffective against humans.

"What level of magical plant is this? It's actually able to trap a human soul inside... and even create a body for it."

His interest was immediately piqued.

The necromancer involves a special kind of death magic, a kind of magic he had never encountered before—the power of the ghost owl is no longer simple necromancer magic.

"Let me give it a try..."

Kroya tried to extract the magic from it, but the result was very disappointing. The usually powerful magic of the Rainbow Poem showed a clear rejection when it came to the magic of the dead.

The sunlight could not penetrate the magic of these spirits, no matter what.

This was his first failure.

But this did not disappoint him; on the contrary, his interest grew even stronger, as he had anticipated this situation.

Even the most peaceful sunlight is still a form of "positive energy," and it will definitely cause some trouble when facing the "negative energy" of the dead.

"Since my magic isn't enough, what about this?" Kroya reached out and summoned the power within the Orpheus Swan Flute Tree.

That was a special magic from the etheric realm.

With the help of this magic, he quickly extracted the power contained within the fruit.

But... the instant the power came into contact with the outside air.

"Sizzle!"

The magic enveloping it evaporated rapidly, and as the magic evaporated, the fruit quickly filled up as if it had been inflated.

It is absorbing the magic of the etheric realm!

"magic……"

The emerald-like fruit conveyed a sense of longing.

"Then I'll give you magic."

Kroya reached out and drew in more magic, pouring all of it into it.

As the magic of the ethereal realm was continuously poured into it, the fruit grew from the size of an apple core to the size of a soccer ball.

Finally, it exploded in a burst of light, and a small human figure emerged from the fruit.

He stared blankly at Chloe, his little face full of bewilderment.

"A petty person?"

Kroya was a little surprised for a moment.

He stared at the tiny figure, which was at most five centimeters tall, and carefully scanned it with his mental power. He discovered that the figure's body structure was exactly the same as that of a real person.

How is that possible?

Creating humans?

He certainly believed that some mages could create tiny people through all sorts of unimaginable means, but this magical plant in front of him could do it...

If someone else had told him this, he would never have believed it, but the truth is right in front of him now.

A tiny, living person, with a complete body and full of vitality, was standing in front of him, looking at him with a terrified expression.

"Aaaaaah!"

The little man let out a sharp cry.

I don't know if his voice was originally like this, or if it changed as his body shrank.

In short, the sound was truly awful.

Kroya frowned. "Silence!"

The little man immediately shut up, just like a chicken with its neck being choked. Although he was still terrified, he obediently shut his mouth.

After the horrible screams stopped, Kroya was certain that the creature was intelligent enough to understand her.

"Can you speak?" he tried to ask.

"My lord, I...I know you."

The little man knelt down timidly and bowed: "I am the Baron's subordinate, and I have seen you once before."

Kroya's expression remained unchanged, but he was increasingly shocked. This guy could actually talk, and he even had his previous memories.

As it stands, apart from his size, he is almost indistinguishable from an ordinary human.

This Emerald Skeleton Tree... is it really a demonic plant that turns people into tiny beings?

To resolve his doubts, he conducted numerous tests and inquiries on the little man.

After spending two hours, he was finally able to confirm that the guy's body had shrunk, but otherwise he was exactly the same as a normal person.

The only regret is that he has no recollection of how he became like this.

"This tree is truly amazing... I need to inquire with the Holy Spring Merchant Guild."

Faced with something she simply couldn't understand, Kroya had no choice but to seek help from outsiders.

Before that, however, he reached out with great interest and took some white clay, and made a small house for the little people to live in.

They also put up a crystal dome on the outside that allows people to see inside, but prevents people inside from seeing outside.

He wanted to observe whether the little man would change over time, and how long he could live.

After settling the little man in, he took out the Holy Spring Crystal Card and inquired about the Emerald Bone Tree.

The moment the question was posed, the Holy Spring Merchant Guild immediately replied: "Respected Protoss, the master codenamed 'Puppet' wishes to communicate with you. Would you like to answer?"

"..."

The doll? Wasn't that the dwarf who wanted to buy the simulated magic tree? He even knew about the Emerald Bone Tree?

Answer the call.

"Please wait a moment..."

The intellectual female voice from the Holy Spring Merchant Guild transformed into a rough male voice—it was the same dwarf from last time.

"Oh, my friend!"

The other person's voice was full of enthusiasm: "You've received news of the Emerald Bone Tree again? May Mother Earth bless your journey."

"I have received some information, but I am still working on it. Is there anything the Puppet Master wants to tell me?" Kroa asked calmly.

The doll replied, "My Protoss friend, if you can really find the Bone Emerald Tree, I would like to buy a branch from you."

We all know that it can shrink and recombine living beings inside its own fruit. I really have too many things that require the help of a clever and capable little man.

As for the price, I'm willing to give you a bottle of Mother's Spring, or a mineral vein core, a treasure our race inherited from our Titan friends.

To be honest, it's really tempting.

He had learned that the so-called Spring of the Earth Mother was a miracle bestowed upon the dwarves by the Earth Mother Goddess. As long as the spring water was poured onto the earth, a fertile land blessed by the Mother Goddess would be formed.

No matter what kind of crops you plant there—except for undead plants—you can get a hundredfold harvest.

It is said that in the core ancestral land of the dwarves there is a vast field irrigated by the spring of the Earth Mother, which produces a continuous variety of grains.

This is also the main reason why the dwarves are the most famous food supplier on the Zemurian continent.

If one possesses a divine miracle, then one can truly do whatever one wants.

However, since he also brought out the core of the mineral vein... does that prove that the core of the mineral vein is more precious than the Earth Mother's Spring, and by this inference, the Emerald Bone Tree is also more precious than the Simulated Demon Tree?

The last time I wanted to buy the simulated magic tree, it wasn't priced this high.

He thought about it for a moment and didn't reply to him for the time being. Instead, he bought a simple guide to the Emerald Bone Tree for one hundred magic crystals.

After examining it carefully, he seemed to be deep in thought.

This... was actually a magical plant created by the mage Ilister during her travels among the elves, together with a grand mage from the Orpheus family.

It is said that some power from outside this world was used, which is to reorganize life through the power of the tree and create a small body for the soul.

Here, the Holy Spring Merchant Guild emphasizes that although the created body looks no different from the original body, it is in fact a kind of magical plant fruit.

From the moment it is born from the fruit until the end of its life, it needs to draw power from the Emerald Bone Tree to survive.

However, the amount of magic power required to form such a body is astronomical, and it must be transformed by the unique magical plant power of the Orpheus family.

After Archmage Illist left, this magical plant completely disappeared. In conclusion, the Holy Spring Merchant Guild was willing to purchase a living specimen at an extremely high price.

The price is...

"One hundred level-three magic crystals."

Kroya took a deep breath and suppressed the urge to sell the tree immediately.

That's a million level one magic crystals!

Although it was indeed a huge sum of money, Kroya knew that if such a high price could be offered, it meant that the tree had such value.

Based on the information we have so far, this thing can give a person a new body. But what if it's a terminal illness? Or an incurable injury?

Even if I shrink, as long as I can survive, I can absolutely accept it. Besides, I can do even more things after shrinking.

To extend this further, this thing can reliably transfer a soul into another body. If one could learn this method and technique, it would be no less valuable than a million magic crystals.

When it comes to the soul, everything becomes extremely expensive.

Finally, can the bodies created in this way reproduce? If so, it would be equivalent to creating a completely new race out of thin air!

However, there are some points of doubt: if the life forms it creates are magical plant fruits, then Kroa should be able to see the celestial spirits.

But in fact, he couldn't see it at all.

At least the Astral Imprint technique treats it as a "human".

After brainstorming, he replied to the doll, tentatively agreeing to exchange it if he could find one.

He planned to study the magical plant thoroughly before making a transaction, since he didn't yet know if a branch could be propagated through cuttings or similar methods.

……

After putting away the Holy Spring Crystal Card, Kroya tried to recharge the tree with magic—the magic of the Orpheus Swan Flute Tree flowed continuously into the Emerald Skeleton Tree.

During this process, Kroa discovered that the tree could actually convert pure magic into necromantic magic, and this ability to convert magic came from the entire Emerald Skeleton Tree.

Its astral body is extremely exquisite and complex. Rather than being a magical plant, it is more like a collection of magical runes, with branches and bones as its carriers.

Its extremely regular arrangement of magic patterns gave Kroya, who had a slight obsessive-compulsive disorder, a great sense of satisfaction, but he had no way of studying it.

Because it's just too complicated.

With his current level four mage magic and mental strength, trying to analyze it would feel like there were countless threads to unpack and no way to begin.

Given the extreme difficulty, he had to temporarily abandon the project and instead began researching the conversion of other species.

Thanks to the boundless magic he obtained from the tortured within the Orpheus Swan Flute Tree, he successively tried the Fishtail Duck, the Sea Spirit Dolphin, the Rock Sheep, and the Ice Demon Rabbit...

The result was a bunch of shrunken monsters.

The amount of magic power required to create a body varies depending on its level, size, and the abundance of magic power—the Ice Rabbit consumes the most, while the Rock Goat consumes the least.

Kroya placed them in her carefully crafted bonsai, observing and testing whether spells such as the Celestial Imprint spell would be effective.

The answer is absolutely yes.

They can even mate and reproduce normally.

This truly shocked Kroya, who was still in a state of bewilderment.

The long-dormant Wood Curved Vine King awakened, stretching out its vines.

The first thing it said after waking up was...

"Master, two carriages from the capital have entered the area of ​​Hanjiao Island's dock."

"The royal capital?"

Kroya then glanced at the time and realized that he hadn't paid attention to the time at all because of his research, and five days had already passed!

His guests and his enemies have both arrived.

"Perfect timing, I've been needing a mage to try this out..."

Kroya glanced at the towering Emerald Skeleton Tree and smiled expectantly.

Thank you all for your monthly tickets and recommendation votes! I'm almost back to normal, and I'll be back to my previous update schedule in the next couple of days!

(End of this chapter)