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

Chapter 321. Ether: "Vegetative State"

Sun City.

William sat at his desk, the morning sunlight streaming into the simple room. He couldn't help but squint, seemingly a little uncomfortable with the overly bright sunlight.

My eyes are a little sore after staying up all night.

He sighed softly and glanced at the news in the battle report:

"Another city has been captured."

Good news like this has been coming more and more frequently lately. The Papacy and the Church of Mother Earth, which he once saw as shining with eternal light, now seem like building blocks being washed away by water, teetering on the verge of collapse.

It went so smoothly it was almost unbelievable.

News from within the Church of Light and the Church of the Earth Mother Goddess indicates that divine blessings are becoming increasingly scarce, and even some lower-ranking priests are finding it difficult to perform divine spells smoothly.

"It seems the war should be ending soon."

William felt genuine joy at the thought.

For the past six years, he has been thinking every moment about how to coordinate the ever-growing army and various factions, which is no easy task.

To be honest, even with divine guidance and blessings, he was no match for the bishops of the Goddess of Wisdom and the God of War on the real battlefield; any mage from Star Town or an apprentice from Reef Island could easily crush him in magic; and his combat skills were utterly pathetic.

Even so, he remained firmly in his position, with everyone obeying his orders and supporting him—he knew this was partly due to his powerful logistical support and partly due to the lord of the Great Reef.

He knew perfectly well that he had been put in this position, but so what? Too many people were crushed in the fury of war, not even worthy of being called dust.

To become the leader of the allied forces and to leave a legend in the songs of bards is truly incredible.

Now that this job is about to end, all he can think about is how he can finally work on infrastructure projects with Professor Jamie after it's over, to atone for the sins he committed in this war.

Thinking this, he gathered all the battle reports on the table, pushed open the door, left his residence, and went to the Sun City construction site, which was undergoing large-scale construction.

Skyscrapers are slowly rising from the ground, and all sorts of magical earth plants are using their power to awaken the soil and deep rocks. After a series of magical processes, the buildings are essentially "growing" from the earth.

Before the buildings could grow, all sorts of pipes had to be laid, the druids had to painstakingly cultivate the magical plants, and defensive structures to prevent spying and, most importantly, the city's mobile array had to be built...

Despite being called Sun City, it is actually a huge military camp, and a mobile one at that, capable of moving with the army at any time to provide logistical support.

Not only do they have to meet the needs of extraordinary beings like knights, warriors, and mages, but they also have to meet the housing needs of elves, mermaids, dwarves, and orcs... He couldn't help but feel grateful that he had Doraemon the little blue cat and the "unknown construction worker" with him.

Otherwise, it would be really difficult to build such a city, let alone carry out infrastructure work on the villages and cities occupied along the way—in fact, he didn't quite understand why Kroya required so many resources to restore the areas destroyed by war and locust plagues.

Just like he never thought he could truly defeat the Church of Light and the Church of the Earth Mother, wouldn't these places still be occupied by them? Wouldn't their infrastructure projects just benefit those "servants" of God?

In his view, if the Church of Light and the Church of Mother Earth were to be dealt a severe blow, all the cities must be burned to the ground, so that the despicable gods would feel pain.

But when he told Doraemon about his doubts, Doraemon stared at him with a very unfamiliar look for a long time.

"You've really grown up."

Before he could even feel happy, Dora said again, "It also feels unfamiliar to me."

His heart clenched painfully at that moment.

"Where do you live?" Doraemon asked. "When you survive the flames of war, only to find that the city where your ancestors lived for generations has been burned to the ground, how will you survive?"

The little blue cat pointed to its pocket with its paw: "Do they have this?"

William, of course, could not answer—he was horrified, he did not know why he had become like this, that he would cause countless ordinary people to die for the sake of war.

What's the point of such a war?

From the moment he uttered the thought of burning the city to the ground, a vast chasm, an insurmountable gap, was created between him and ordinary people.

Even now, thinking about it makes him feel like his heart is pounding and he can't breathe.

He felt that if he couldn't restore the land ravaged by war, he would be letting down his humble origins!

So he immediately began to inspect the construction site with great enthusiasm, carefully checking every part, striving to nip any uncertainties and ambiguities in the bud.

By the time he had finished inspecting all the areas, it was already noon.

"Let's go check out the lab."

He wasn't hungry, but after thinking for a moment, he instinctively reached for the pocket on his stomach—the "spare pocket" that Little Blue Cat had given him, which was said to be connected to Little Blue Cat's pocket.

However, he never took out any unfamiliar items from it; he could only obtain basic items such as the "Anywhere Door," "Memory Bread," and "Food Tablecloth."

Although it was still a tiny bit different from the cat's ability to casually pull out a giant golem, these basic magical items were still quite incredible to him.

He took out the pink wooden door and gently pushed it open—

On the other side of the door was a laboratory filled with crystal pillars.

Some strange, almost paper-like, wolves, sketched with simple lines, are running around here, and with each run, you can find some delicate moss.

That was bluish-purple moss.

"Mr. William."

The laboratory owner, an apprentice named Mil, noticed his arrival: "Our experiment is not yet fully completed; you have arrived a bit early."

At this moment, Mil was wearing a pure white mage robe. Logically speaking, this color of robe should be very holy, but for some reason, there was always a gloomy feeling about him.

Even William, who was used to seeing dismembered limbs and bloody battlefields, felt a little fear, and naturally a well-timed smile appeared on his face: "I wanted to come and see your experiment."

After all, you didn't have Lord Kroya's permission.

This statement is quite meaningful—the Ether Mage program, which trains ordinary people to become mages, is actually somewhat cruel.

As the war progressed, more and more "victims" were discovered. They were no longer limited to mines with deep contact with the earth; these special beings appeared even in ordinary towns and cities.

Upon learning of the large number of prisoners, Mil rushed over, carrying Tarling's permission, and asked William to provide him with enough prisoners for his experiments.

William was initially reluctant to agree, but Tarling's permission was, in a sense, equivalent to Kroya's permission. However, he still felt that something was amiss without Kroya's direct order.

So he basically had to come in person every few days to prevent Mil from turning those already pitiful people into test subjects and a pile of cold corpses.

Fortunately, Milton understood that conducting experiments was acceptable, and voluntary participation was also acceptable, but if someone was truly so depraved as to use human lives to produce experimental results...

Well, the day Kroa comes out will be the day he dies.

Mir's expression remained unchanged. "But we have Lord Tarling's permission."

"You know, if Lord Tarling could agree, Lord Kroya should be able to agree as well."

As he said this, he made a gesture of invitation.

William immediately followed. As the two walked inside the laboratory, they saw a group of young men and women lining up, their upper bodies bare, preparing to be inoculated with the Ether Magic Moss.

They all looked quite well, showing no signs of malnutrition or emaciation, and their eyes were full of eager anticipation.

Here, in this laboratory, they can become mages, they can rebel against their enslavers, and they can make the high and mighty clergy and gods taste defeat—that is enough.

"The Orpheus family has provided us with ten Swan Recorder Trees," Mil said, pointing to the trees that were using music to control magic and plant moss on people's wounds. "This is the first step. Lord Kroya's music can suppress the restlessness of the wounds and allow more moss to grow."

He led William forward, past the people who were excitedly waiting to receive the moss, and arrived at the second area—

"Those who have been inoculated with moss will enter into huge lotus flowers that shimmer with pale blue starlight to hibernate. The duration of their hibernation depends on when they can fully adapt to the surge in magic power."

"These lotuses are peculiar," Mir remarked. "They seem to be able to absorb the concept of pain—it's as if pain is also a kind of desire."

"Pain? Desire?" William suddenly felt that his knowledge was somewhat lacking, and looked at the distance with a surprised gaze.

The surfaces of those enormous lotuses, each as tall as two people, faintly shimmered with extremely complex magical patterns, flickering slowly like breathing, with occasional flashes of red flame.

"In the abyss, pain is also a kind of desire."

Mir explained, "We also have to thank the priestesses of the Painful Maidens. They 'kindly' responded to the fallen angels' 'invitation' and handed over the magic that transforms pain into pleasure."

"..."

William knew that the Painful Maiden was a little-known god in a lower plane whose priests would dismember their own bodies under the dim moonlight, using their bodies and pain to please their god.

But isn't that divine magic?

Why can you get other people's divine magic so easily? This isn't something you can just steal through war, is it?

But Mil really didn't know about this. In order not to affect his image, he simply pretended not to hear it and quickly led William through the area to the third, which was the largest area.

There are an absurd number of crystal pillars here, and next to each crystal pillar is a petri dish in which all sorts of different magical plants are grown.

Each magical plant has a text and video introduction next to it, and many people who have completed the second step are choosing one.

"Those who have accepted the Ether Moss and can endure the pain it brings must choose their favorite magical plant here and plant its seeds into their wounds."

Mir casually pointed to a boy with somewhat ethereal, pale golden sunflowers growing on his back and said, "That's the offspring of Teacher Sunflower. Its power is healing and protection."

In the distance, the boy was gently stroking a sunflower growing from a hideous wound, wreathed in blue-purple light and a golden halo.

That product of the perfect fusion of nature and magic grew on the gruesome wound, like a flower blooming from ruins, showing off its existence to the whole world.

It's actually quite bizarre. Why would such a plant grow inside a human body? Even druids at most stuff some soil into their hair to grow some plants, but this one grows directly inside flesh and blood.

But William didn't find it terrifying; instead, he found it beautiful.

Further away, there was more—vines growing from his body woven into armor, surrounded by brilliantly blooming fiery red roses, white feather grass forming wings behind him, and pea cannons and gun barrels.

It wasn't just beauty; it also represented powerful magical plants that had frequently appeared during wars, leaving the Holy Knights and War Priests of the Church of Light and the Earth Mother Goddess helpless.

With a smug look on his face, Mill said, "This is my masterpiece so far."

"Let the wounds bloom, let the pain become nourishment."

As he spoke, his white robe, which William remembered never changing, was suddenly pushed open from below by something, and deep purple vines grew out from it.

Each vine is wrapped with a tool—knives, forks, wrenches, beakers, test tubes, staffs… basically anything that has appeared in wicked stories, Mil's vines have it all.

"..."

"What are you going to do?"

Looking at it this way, it looks just like a strange sorcerer surrounded by countless tentacles. William had already calmed down, but now he's tense again.

Could this guy be getting so obsessed with researching that he wants me to do some research too?

"Oh," Mil said nonchalantly, "I'm just a little too excited, you know, they can sense my excitement."

The vines slowly retracted, but there were so many of them that as they shrunk back in, they inevitably lifted the white robe again. This time, William keenly saw Mill's body—it had completely crystallized.

He wisely avoided bringing up the topic: "What are the magic levels of these ether mages? When will they be able to join the battle?"

"It depends on what kind of magical plant you choose and how much Ether Moss you accept." Mir's expression turned somewhat grim when he mentioned this: "If you accept too much Ether Moss, it will affect the stability of your body structure and turn your body into a magical crystal."

In this situation, flesh and blood become the "nutrients" absorbed by the magical plants. Theoretically, the more flesh and blood there is, the more powerful magical plants they can absorb.

But they will also lose themselves more quickly, becoming less like humans.

—His friends, some of the earliest prisoners to arrive at Hanjiao Island, had been completely crystallized. Powerful magic flowed in their veins, and their bones and flesh turned into magic crystals.

Are they still considered human?

As the years passed, he increasingly hoped that Lord Chloe would appear soon. He had so many questions he wanted to ask, and his companions... couldn't even enter Valhalla and Eden.

But Lord Kroya did not appear. The only message he conveyed, which was the message from the mermaid prince, was only four words: "End the war."

Mil sighed softly, noticing the change in William's expression. He didn't bring up the matter again, but instead took out his staff and tapped it lightly.

"Take a look."

"This is what's going to happen next."

The ground rapidly changed; the crystal ground transformed into a screen, revealing the silhouette of a city—the city used by the Holy See to store "forbidden artifacts" and "external scriptures."

The so-called forbidden artifacts are creations of demon gods from lower planes, as well as powerful magical tools made by mages and sealed demons. The external tomes are similar to "The Buried Magic" that Kroa obtained.

Such an important place is naturally heavily guarded.

"You sent these ethereal mages to attack this city?" William immediately understood Mil's meaning and exclaimed in shock, "There are three bishops and a legendary cardinal overseeing this place!"

But his shock was not over yet when he saw a group of about three hundred people, covered with all sorts of magical plants, arrive outside the city.

Immediately afterwards, various magical lights flashed, and the one in the lead, with bubbles of white-gold light swirling around its body, withstood all the attacks.

Even legendary-level divine spells could be blocked with ease.

With such an indestructible shield, the others could practically unleash magic at will—sunlight rays, feather barrages, lightning storms, freezing storms…

In just a moment, this place became a chaotic land shrouded in magic. The pure white towers and radiant holy statues were suppressed and destroyed in the brilliance of magic.

The enraged bishops and cardinals unleashed even more divine spells, which only provoked more counterattacks—one of which, a fluffy white mushroom, seemed capable of reflecting the spells.

"..."

William's first reaction was: "Didn't you say you wouldn't directly intervene in this war? Is this really okay?"

The Han Reef Island side has never explicitly intervened in the war. Even though they sent construction apprentices and the Magic Plant Warband, they were basically just cooperating.

So now they've actually taken the initiative?

“It’s not just us.” Mill shook his head. “William, the weakened Church of Light and the Church of the Earth Mother are like a piece of fat meat.”

In places you may not know, gods are also fighting, and there's even a predecessor who returned from the astral plane.

William frowned: "Why didn't I know?"

"This was instructed by Lord Kroya, and also passed on by Prince Treden."

"He promised you that you could live well. Now you have done enough. The rest should be discussed and concluded by the higher-ups."

"His intervention now is to give you people as many options as possible."

Mill patted William on the shoulder: "I envy you."

The white-robed mage swayed away, leaving William staring blankly at the scene beneath his feet.

Thank you everyone for your monthly tickets and recommendation votes!

(End of this chapter)