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

Chapter 294. Rock Ape Village, Earth Wine Jar

I always said the Kingdom of Norland was doomed!

Kroa barely managed to suppress the urge to complain; what was in front of her was a dragon!

Your Kingdom of Norland truly lives up to its name as a "hidden dragon and crouching tiger," always coming up with new ideas and tricks.

There's a dragon-raising keeper in the south, a god-favored one in the east, a dragon emerging from the west, and in the north... well, that's even more complicated, best left unsaid.

"With your control over the country, how dare you call yourselves kings? You don't even know what's in what places."

And isn't the duke here a useless piece of trash?

He muttered to himself for a while, then looked up at the enormous creature and sensed its mental energy fluctuations: "If you don't come soon, I'm going to destroy these boring toys."

The surrounding mist spread as if it were alive, separating everyone else from Kroya, making it impossible to touch or hear them even when they were right next to each other.

"But you've shown up anyway." Kroya looked directly into the dragon's eyes. "Mist Dragon Lady, you really should think carefully about how to live in the Western Regions."

"I will change the environment; I believe adapting to the environment should be your instinct."

His tone was calm.

Want to take apart my big toy? Even without using astrology or other powers, I can still dismantle you right now.

He genuinely wanted to coexist harmoniously with nature as much as possible, but if some troublemakers wanted to cause trouble, he wouldn't mind making an example of them—or rather, making an example of them.

Upon being told that his race was revealed, the Mist Dragon was immediately shocked.

The sheer number of dragons is enough to drive even the most dedicated monster researchers crazy, not to mention that it's a sub-dragon species, making it an extremely rare breed.

After fleeing Dragon Island, it came here and lived for so long, yet it was never recognized by even a single mage.

It stared at the young mage.

Kroa watched it calmly.

After a while, Wu Lanlong turned his gaze away and invited, "Please take a look at my nursery, the home of these rock apes I keep."

"Humans..."

As its spiritual energy fluctuated, the surrounding mist immediately began to change.

The magical rise of the water vapor actually created a kind of spatial teleportation ability, taking everyone who entered the fog to a very special place.

This place seems to be located deep in a mountain valley, filled with all kinds of fruit trees, such as pears, apples, bananas... in short, common and uncommon fruit trees are everywhere here.

The magical plants were planted together with ordinary fruit trees.

Surprisingly, the fluctuations and attributes of the magic power haven't changed much.

In addition, next to the fruit trees, there were some fields that looked like they had been cultivated, and some crops such as corn and wheat were planted in them.

The small rock monkeys were casually watering the fields with gourds or lotus leaves, looking as if they were playing.

"..."

"My lord! They're actually farming?"

"These magical beasts can farm too?"

In fact, the magical beasts of the North have already learned to farm, but that is basically under human intervention and control. However, these rock apes in front of us have never been tamed.

So it's normal for these people to be surprised.

The merfolk mage noticed something different.

She looked up at the mist flowing down the mountain peak like droplets and explained, "Although the rock apes are highly intelligent, they still need a powerful being to issue commands."

"There is a very powerful magical beast here."

She secretly glanced at Chloe, who was standing silently to the side, and felt a little flustered.

She hadn't even noticed how she was transferred here, which meant that the monster here was more powerful than she expected, and she couldn't handle it!

If it weren't for Kroya being there, she would have already activated the spatial magic device to call for help.

Kroa received the mermaid's plea for help, gave her a reassuring look, and gestured for her to lead the group forward to explore.

With Kroya's permission, she immediately became bolder and waved her hand, saying, "But you can rest assured, there won't be any problems with me here."

"This special environment greatly helped us build the western border."

"Everyone, calm down and observe carefully. Write down anything you notice, and I'll apply for magic crystal rewards for you when we get back!"

The mention of the magic crystal reward, coupled with her calm demeanor, suggested there was no danger. The others, naturally, became as if under a spell of excitement, carefully observing their surroundings.

They were just hired laborers, not people from the North. To get them to work diligently, you had to offer them enough benefits.

But actually, they don't need to observe.

Because soon, the most robust rock ape from before came over, like a mountain, and roared at the people twice.

Everyone present possessed some ability to communicate with magical beasts, and given the giant rock ape's exceptionally strong mental power, they were all able to understand its meaning.

"Come with me."

After the Rock Ape King finished speaking, he waved his huge arm, and a group of strong rock apes sprang out from around him, standing on either side like a guard.

The crowd was thus forced to move forward.

Along the way, they were naturally surrounded by the rock apes for quite some time, and it was only at this moment that people felt it was incredible.

The number of rock monkeys here seems rather alarming; they live a very comfortable life in the trees and caves.

There must be several thousand of them just from what we can see.

It's important to understand that these magical beasts, which are roughly the same size as humans, require an extremely large amount of food to survive in certain places.

A rock ape needs to eat at least three to four times more food than a human of similar size every day, and possibly even five or six times more.

The fields they cultivate here... can they sustain so many rock monkeys?

Also, what exactly is this place?

Why has no one ever discovered the Western Regions before?

Kroya frowned slightly, looked up at the clear sky, and his magic surged within him, using the positions of the constellations to pinpoint his location.

Then he was surprised to find that this place was a full 300 kilometers away from the front line of the expedition, located in the deepest part of the western mountains.

"That dragon's abilities are quite unique."

He glanced at the distant mountain peaks, knowing full well that the creature was lurking there, watching them intently.

So, was it really just to show off that it went to such lengths to bring this whole group of people here, and even to show off its fields and orchards?

He didn't understand, but there must be a reason why Mist Dragon did this, and hopefully this guy would show him something interesting.

The group walked along, observing the rock apes as they worked in the fields.

These rock apes cultivate the land in a way that is completely different from that of the North, emphasizing a carefree and survival-of-the-fittest approach.

They will decisively crush all the fruit trees and crops that are not growing well, and then bury them under the crops that are growing well.

The planting method was also barbaric, as if the crops were being told: If you don't live, I'll dig you all up and crush you!

This farming method would make any farming mage from the North heartbroken, yet the crops here just happen to grow exceptionally well.

The principle of natural selection and survival of the fittest is vividly demonstrated here, with every crop thriving.

What's even more surprising is that in some streams and rivers, the rock apes are actually raising magic fish and slimes.

The captured magic fish and slimes will be made into dried fish and dried slime, along with dried fruit and dried meat... making it seem quite abundant.

This is aquaculture! The rock apes have actually learned how to raise fish.

The adult rock monkeys were busy farming, while the young rock monkeys either helped out or played and frolicked.

The atmosphere in the entire valley was incredibly harmonious, almost like a dream.

"These rock apes..."

"They are so smart."

"Why are you so smart?"

The druids and beast-speaking mages were puzzled. Although ape-like magical beasts were considered to be highly intelligent, they couldn't possibly be this intelligent.

They've even come close to being human.

With growing doubts, they continued onward, finally leaving the village of the rock apes completely.

After walking for about ten more minutes, the Rock Ape King led everyone into a cave, where there was an extremely rich aroma of fruit wine.

Streams flowed on both sides of the cave, filled with clear liquor. Continuing along the streams, the aroma of the liquor grew stronger and stronger, until finally…

What appeared before everyone was a waterfall formed entirely of wine, several tens of meters high, flowing and splashing with fragrant wine.

The alcohol content of the drink shouldn't be very high, at least Chloe didn't feel dizzy.

"Monkey wine, one."

After observing, he discovered that wherever the wine flowed, the discordant sounds and magical fluctuations in the earth would be soothed by the aroma of the wine, turning the land into arable land.

What exactly is going on? Is it some kind of special magic in these drinks, or is it some kind of sacrificial ritual that even Kroa doesn't know about? This is clearly just fruit wine, yet it can soothe the earth's disturbances.

He immediately became interested, walked directly to the waterfall, reached out and used his magic to retrieve a handful of wine, and carefully sensed it.

The result surprised him slightly—the magical structure of this drink was very special, with the magical power of at least a hundred different magical plant fruits flowing through it, yet it was extremely harmonious.

If I had to describe it... it's like a furnace, enveloping all magic within it, and forging it into a special kind of magic.

As he was examining the drinks, the Rock Ape King suddenly crouched down and roared at Kroa twice.

That means "Come up."

"Are you going to carry me up there?" Kroya didn't hesitate; he was genuinely curious about what was up there.

Flying up there wouldn't be difficult, but it would expose him, and he still really wants to continue the disguise.

So he climbed directly onto the Rock Ape King's back.

Then, the enormous ape grabbed onto the surrounding vines and climbed up with incredible ease, reaching the top of the waterfall on the smooth rock face.

The things on it were then exposed to Kroya's eyes—

In a pool, there was a huge wine jug, about seven or eight meters high and three or four meters wide, woven from countless vines and branches.

Nearby, rock monkeys were putting some ripe fruit into the wine jug.

Around it grew some translucent vines, like water pipes, which wrapped around the wine jug, and water rippled inside, filled with some special spring water.

the most important is……

This wine jug is actually a kind of magical plant.

Its name is "Earth Wine Jar".

Through observation using the Astral Imprint Technique, the magical runes inside this wine jug are very complex, including not only purification and fusion runes, but also magical runes full of vitality.

If this thing weren't a magical plant, but some kind of sophisticated magical device, then Kroya might be able to accept it a little better.

But this is a demonic plant.

"Did this thing grow naturally, or was it cultivated by someone?" Kroya glanced at the Rock Ape King.

This creature is already a level four magical beast, and its intelligence is no less than that of some adults. In addition, it vaguely senses the powerful aura emanating from Kroya.

So it genuinely let out a series of "woof woof woof" sounds.

The gist of it is that the dragon discovered this place, and then, together with them, gradually brought out the power of this mysterious magical plant.

The land irrigated by the wine brewed in this wine jug seems to become extremely suitable for crop growth, which is why they have been able to live here for so long.

It was clearly uneasy when answering Kroya's question. This was the very foundation upon which its rock ape clan depended for survival, and it was very worried that Kroya would take the wine jug away.

It couldn't even... compete with Kroa.

In fact, its concerns were not unreasonable. As a mage, Kroya was indeed somewhat similar to a dragon in some ways.

For example, they all like to hoard treasures.

Kroya's treasure room is now overflowing with treasures, all acquired during this period of exploration. Seeing those treasures gleaming makes him feel great.

For a moment, Chloe really considered whether to pack it up and take it with her, but after thinking about it, she gave up.

He could see that the "Earth Wine Jar" had completely merged with the surrounding magical environment, and forcibly taking it away would have a huge impact on both it and the Rock Ape Clan.

Is the formation of the Earth Wine Jar related to the Rock Ape Clan's love of brewing wine? How was it formed, and how can magic soothe the disharmony of the earth?

These are the things that Cloa is concerned about.

So he reached out and patted the rock ape's muscles, which were as hard as rocks: "I will arrange for someone to come and trade with you. These drinks will be very useful to us."

"Tell me what you need."

In just a few short minutes, he had already figured out how to use these drinks to cultivate magical plants and repair the earth.

The only question is: can this beverage resolve the disharmony of the earth in one go, or does it require continuous irrigation to achieve the same result?

If it is the latter, then the amount of alcohol needed would be astronomical. Could the rock ape village provide that much?

"Awoo awoo!" The Rock Ape King's eyes lit up, and it reached out and grabbed a small bag from the rock ape next to it, showing the contents to Kroa.

That was... a bag of salt.

To be precise, it was a bag of yellowish coarse salt, which appeared to be mineral salt.

"Are you short of salt?" Kroya asked, puzzled.

Since he built several salt ponds by the sea, the North has never lacked salt, not even magic salt.

"Awoo!" The Rock Ape King nodded.

Although they are intelligent magical beasts, and have the help of the Mist Dragon, refining salt is still a very difficult task.

Salt is actually a necessity for Warcraft.

Therefore, it is very eager to obtain enough salt.

Kroya couldn't help but chuckle: "Salt is easy to obtain. I can arrange for someone to examine your bodies and provide you with salt that will be beneficial."

In such a magical world, even the types and effects of salt are diverse.

There's table salt for ordinary people, herbal salt for elves, moonlight sea salt favored by mermaids, and radiant crystal salt used by nobles for showing off and health...

Salt, as the most basic seasoning, has evolved into many different varieties.

In order to build a good relationship with these rock apes, Kroya was willing to specially make some salt for them—of course, once they liked the salt, they were at Kroya's mercy.

Well, this is roughly what a monopoly is like.

The poor Rock Ape King was overjoyed to hear what Kroya said and immediately allowed Kroya to take away the stockpiled wine.

It also told Kroya that as long as there is enough fruit and clear spring water, fruit wine can be brewed continuously without the need for fermentation and aging.

"That's great!"

Both sides were very satisfied with the deal, and the Mist Dragon never reappeared—it seemed to be very afraid of Kroa.

……

After the Rock Ape King sent Kroya down below, the rock apes sprang into action, beginning preparations for a feast—

They carried their dried fish, dried fruit, and drinks, and came out of their little nests. They built a campfire in an open space at the front-line base and invited their friendly human friends to enjoy it together.

In fact, their only conflict with humans is that humans want to transform the Western Regions, which will shrink their living space, but this is no longer a problem with Kroa's help.

They certainly wouldn't be foolish enough to go against humans.

The best way to maintain the relationship is to throw a party and invite human friends to enjoy the happiness with them.

It was getting dark, and after a busy day, it was time to rest.

The warriors who piloted the golems were already starving, so how could they resist such food?

The rock apes' food actually tastes pretty good.

Although they don't have enough salt, they have gifts from the mountains and forests: the juices of flowers and plants, the powder of minerals, and even the blood of some magical beasts are their seasonings.

Take, for example, those seemingly insignificant dried fish.

Kroya saw that the dried fish had at least three different layers of pickling marks on its surface. When he took a bite, the taste of the fish itself, the sweetness of the fruit, and an indescribable spiciness ran rampant in his mouth.

At first, it felt a little strange, but the more you chewed, the more fragrant it became, especially the fish bones inside, which were processed in a special way to become chewy and tough, like eating beef tendon.

A single fish made Kroya taste like several different kinds of meat.

"That's really good."

He slowly chewed the fish, looked up at the stars that were gradually twinkling in the sky, and then looked at the rock apes in the distance pulling people together in a dance that was meaningless but extremely joyful.

The huge campfire flickered with warm light and emitted a fragrant resinous aroma.

Kroya watched quietly, his eyes clear and deep, and he even felt a little drowsy, something he hadn't felt in a long time.

A level six mage's energy and stamina are fundamentally different from ordinary people; sleep may already be a luxury for them.

However, he didn't want to fall asleep right away with this hard-won sleepiness, just like a poor office worker looking forward to a holiday.

So he took out his harp and played with the beastmen and druids who knew some music and were holding harmonicas and flutes.

He still didn't possess any magic power; he even suppressed his mental energy, simply playing suitable tunes to match the lively atmosphere.

All sorts of music blended together, with no distinction between primary and secondary sounds, only a joyful mood.

The firelight danced in his eyes, reflecting the figures of people who were jumping and leaping joyfully with the rock apes.

The joyful atmosphere was like the bonfire burning brightly in the center of the venue, its flames shooting into the sky.

Kroa's lips curled up slightly.

He thought...it was really nice.

So he simply joined the dancing group while playing the harp.

Put aside all the complicated and trivial matters, let go of everything, and fully enjoy the joy of this moment.

Thank you so much to Yuehua for the generous donation, and thank you to everyone for your monthly tickets and recommendations!

(End of this chapter)