Above the mage

Chapter 290 Planting Trees

The Vallar Bay is a deep-water bay, so vast that even seeing its outline on a map like Gaode Maps gave me a sense of its size, but actually witnessing it in person still evoked an indescribable sense of awe.

Although it's called a bay, according to Gaode Maps, it's actually a vast ocean with an endless coastline that blends into the horizon.

The seawater is deep and blue, like a huge sapphire set on the snow-covered, silvery permafrost, shimmering with a mesmerizing light.

Protected by the land on both sides of the bay, the seawater here is calm, like a mirror.

It was the early hours of the morning, but the full moon hung high, and its bright light shone down without any obstruction.

The sea reflects the full moon in the sky, making the water surface sparkle.

Along the edge of the bay, you can still see patches of scattered sea ice.

These sea ice crystals vary in size and color, ranging from crystal clear blue to deep, mysterious black.

"Most bays in the North are frozen for at least eight months of the year, but the Vallar Bay is an exception."

"Even during the frozen season when everything is dormant, it still maintains its unique vitality. I don't know the specific reason, but in short, the waters of the Vallar Bay are much warmer than the waters of other places, attracting a large number of fish," Sunaifa explained to Gaode, introducing the details and unique features of the Vallar Bay.

"Therefore, when the tribe occasionally faces food shortages, we will send people here to fish as a temporary measure."

Sunafa didn't know the reason, but Gaode understood immediately:

What else could it be? It's simply because the Vallar Bay is situated on a warm current.

Ocean currents that flow from low latitudes to high latitudes are called warm currents.

Although the exact origin of this warm current is unknown, the abundant heat it carries, after traversing a vast sea area, converges in the Gulf of Vallar, significantly raising the water temperature of the Gulf and forming a warm water layer beneath the surface, effectively preventing the direct invasion of the seawater by the frigid temperatures.

This is the so-called warm current effect, which should be the key to why the Vallar Bay remains ice-free.

"If we can really build a port here, it will be an ice-free port." Gao De's eyes lit up, and he was even more satisfied with Vallar Bay.

But his satisfaction is not important; what matters is that Flora is satisfied.

"Let's go down and take a look," Gao De suggested, knowing this.

The two followed the winding mountain road, leaving the Valar Mountains completely and arriving at the vast coastline.

The sea breeze was biting, bringing a chilling sensation as it brushed against my cheeks.

The frigid weather has left the mouth of the Vallar Bay and the land on both sides barren and desolate, with hardly any vegetation in sight.

But Flora didn't care about any of that.

The absence of weeds is actually an advantage for Flora, otherwise she would have to spend a lot of time and effort to clear them away.

What she cared about were those vast and flat tracts of land.

The land along the coastline is flat, as if it had been carefully polished by nature, with few hills and gullies, only a thick layer of snow covering it.

"Can all of these be used by Lady Flora to plant trees?" Her eyes sparkled, like a kitten seeing a truckload of dried fish, happy but also a little incredulous.

"Yes, whatever Lady Flora likes belongs to Lady Flora," God nodded affirmatively.

"Does Lady Flora like it?"

"like!"

"Then let's choose a suitable place here to plant Yugathishira?"

"good!"

Upon hearing this, Gao De also breathed a long sigh of relief, feeling as if a great weight had been lifted from his shoulders.

His initial purpose in entering the North was to plant trees. Who could have imagined that so many twists and turns would occur? Fortunately, he eventually got back on track.

"Has Lady Flora chosen a suitable location?" God asked again.

"There it is!" Flora said, pointing into the distance.

That's the location of the estuary, where the sea meets the land, the apex of the entire bay.

Whether you go left, right, or back, there are large tracts of land available for expansion, perfect for planting trees.

As an "expert" in the field of tree planting, Flora's judgment is naturally beyond doubt.

"My king, let's wait until Elder Gain's main force arrives before planting the trees," Sunefa suggested softly.

She was extremely cautious and thoughtful in this matter.

When they left Phoenix, Sunefa instructed Elder Gain to bring one hundred elite Iceborn mages with them to this place.

Because Sunaf knew how important Yggdrasil was to God, and was afraid that something might happen to her.

Although she was very confident in her own combat abilities, she was still just one person, and there would always be times when she couldn't take care of everything. Therefore, she still needed a large enough guard team to protect Gaode from planting trees so that she could feel at ease.

However, Gao De was eager to investigate the situation on the ground, so they went ahead without waiting for Elder Gain's main force.

Now that we've decided to plant trees here, it would be safer to wait until the main force arrives before taking action.

Now that the location had been found, there was no rush, so Gaode nodded in agreement.

After waiting for about half a day, figures began to appear on the mountain path they had come down from.

It was Elder Guyon who led the hundred-person "tree protection team".

"My King, War Mother!" Elder Gain led his men to God and Sunefa and bowed respectfully.

Everything is ready, and we're all set; it's time to start planting trees.

Gao De took a deep breath to calm his slightly excited emotions.

Then he nodded to Flora.

Flora fluttered her little wings and flew off God's shoulder. A flat, dark brown, oval seed had appeared in her palm without her noticing.

The edges of the seeds have gentle ridges, and the surface is covered with a thin seed coat.

It looks like an ordinary ash tree.

But Gaode knew it wasn't that simple.

It is Flora's seed of life, the seed of Yogathira's tree, and he has fully felt Flora's extraordinary nature.

"Mage, you should form a bond with Yugathira first. Lady Flora has already spoken to it, and it won't refuse you," Flora said to God with an unusually serious expression.

Gao De nodded slightly, stepped forward, and took the tree seed from Flora's hand.

Then, he took a deep breath and used the spirit communication technique attached to the Green Wood Longevity Scripture.

Gao De slowly closed his eyes, immersing himself wholeheartedly in communicating with the tree species.

A mysterious and profound energy emanated from Gao De's body and then permeated into the tiny tree seed.

This fluctuation, like a gentle stream, softly seeps into every part of the tree species, establishing an indescribable connection with it.

As a result, Gaode began to receive various subtle emotions deep within his mind.

That's the emotion expressed by the tree species.

There is welcome, friendliness, kindness, and vigorous energy, as well as the joy and anticipation of hatching.

These emotions surged like a tide, infecting Gaode and causing the same emotions to arise within him.

Flora had already communicated with Yugathira, and since Yugathira was Flora's life seed, they were inherently connected. Flora, in turn, was God's familiar, sharing a deep historical connection.

From this perspective, Gaode and Yugathira are naturally close.

Therefore, the entire process of forming the bond was smooth and without any setbacks.

Just moments later, Gao De felt an indescribable and profound connection with the tree species. He could even feel its faint "breathing," as if the tree species and he were one, with their life forces constantly merging and resonating.

Gao De opened his eyes and nodded gently to Flora. "All done."

He handed the tree seed back to Flora.

Flora carefully held the tree seed and flew lightly onto the snow.

"Mage~"

Gao De immediately responded, using his mage's hand to dig through the thick snow, and then used his clay magic to dig a suitable tree pit for Flora.

Flora carefully placed the tree seed into the pit as if it were a precious treasure, and then gently covered it up.

After doing all this, Flora stretched out her right index finger and drew a circle in the air.

As she moved her fingers, a circle of green aura formed and solidified around Flora's index finger.

Flora flicked her wrist again, and the ring of green aura swirled out, like a shooting star with a long tail of flame, and burrowed into the soil where the tree seed was located.

The next instant, a ripple spread outwards from the buried Yugathira tree seed, like ripples on the surface of water, spreading across the vast snowfield.

This ripple expanded rapidly at an indescribable speed, instantly affecting every inch of the northern lands, not only the western region, but also the central region and the absolutely forbidden eastern region.

However, this ripple was too faint and too calm.

It is like a gentle spring breeze sweeping across the earth, without any noise or ostentation. Moreover, it is underground, spreading only in the soil, so it does not attract much attention.

But weak does not mean useless.

Beneath this land, frozen for countless years and seemingly asleep, a vigorous life force is now beginning to gestate and grow.

"Awaken the slumbering earth!"

"Oh, North Wind!"

"If winter comes, can spring be far behind?"

It didn't attract much attention, but that doesn't mean it didn't cause any ripples.

The North, the eastern region considered a no-man's-land.

A dark underground space.

A pair of eyes suddenly opened, their deep blue light resembling two blue fireflies in the darkness of the underground.

"What is this feeling? It's faint, but it's making me uncomfortable." A cold, ethereal voice, seemingly not of human origin, echoed through the underground space.

"It seems to come from the far west?" the voice murmured, "but it vanished in an instant, and we can't trace its source anymore. We must send someone to investigate."

The northern border, the central region.

Inside a towering volcano.

The magma was flowing like molten metal.

The clanging sound echoed incessantly inside the volcano, reverberating day and night.

But at that moment, the sound of forging iron suddenly stopped for a few seconds.

"It seems something extraordinary has appeared in the west." A moment later, an extremely powerful and deep voice rang out, spreading throughout the entire volcano and beyond.

Vallar Bay.

pat.

The trees were clearly planted just now, but the next moment, the soil that had been buried was pushed aside.

A tender green sprout broke through the soil and grew rapidly at a speed visible to the naked eye, its appearance somewhat similar to that of the Ice Jade Wutong when it advanced.

A moment later, the new sprout grew into a green shoot the size of a little finger.

The bud has only three leaves, but all three leaves radiate a colorful glow.

Even more strangely, the stem, which is as thick as a bean sprout, is engraved with intricate and tiny runes, which flow with mystery and wonder, and contain a mysterious power.

Part of its roots have emerged from the soil, winding and coiling like a dragon. Although small, it has no trace of immaturity, but rather a sense of vigor and strength, as if what you see is not a newly sprouted green bud, but an ancient tree that has stood for thousands of years.

The other half of the tree roots extend deep into the ground.

As his sacred relic, God could sense that Yogg-Sarah's roots had extended to extremely deep underground, far exceeding what was on the surface.

Although it is only a small green sprout, its root system is already comparable to that of a century-old tree.

These roots are constantly drawing power from the earth, and at the same time, they are also releasing a special kind of power.

The whole process is somewhat similar to photosynthesis in plants, but Yugathira releases something far more mystical than oxygen.

This thing can not only change the geology of the land, transforming it into fertile soil, but it can also fix the surrounding magic within the land, turning it into a sacred place.

And this change is already happening.

Around the small green leaf, in a small circle of snow about the size of a pizza, the thick snow had melted away, revealing the black soil.

And this circle is still expanding.

Of course, since Yugathira is still in its early stages and its abilities are not yet apparent, the expansion of this circle is very slow and almost imperceptible to the naked eye.

"In just one year, Yugathira will be able to grow into a sapling."

A year is neither a short nor a long time.

Sometimes, haste makes waste, and patience is a virtue.

Having waited for Elder Gain for half a day, it was exactly from the early morning until dawn.

The sun had just risen from below the horizon, and the sky was cloudless, with the morning glow painting the sea and sky a golden hue.

Gao De raised his head, shifting his gaze from the saplings of Yugathira to the horizon where the sea and sky met, his eyes shining brightly.

At this moment, with the planting of Yogg-Sarah, all the repression and frustration that had been building up in Gaudí's heart over the past few months—the death of his mentor, being forced into imprisonment, being bound, and being threatened—vanished completely.

A divine tree rose from the earth, clearing away the dust from the vast sky.

A surge of boundless pride welled up within him, and before him lay a bright and cloudless sky.

(End of this chapter)