Above the mage

Chapter 297 Reciprocation, Increased Lifespan, Enhanced Mental Strength

The sacred tree is Yogathhira.

The sacred object of the King of the Zhenbing Tribe is naturally the sacred tree of the Zhenbing Tribe.

In the eyes of the Zhenbing tribe, there was absolutely no problem with this form of address.

Gaode Maps did not try to correct this terminology, but rather accepted it readily.

Upon hearing the news brought by Sunaifa, Gao De's spirits immediately lifted.

Most of the miraculous effects of the "Green Wood Longevity Scripture," whether it's the increase in lifespan or the enhancement of spiritual power, actually originate from the sacred objects that are bound to it.

But Yugathira is still just a green sprout, its roots are not yet stable, so it is impossible for it to bestow high virtue and longevity.

However, waiting for Yugathira to grow naturally is too slow and not a viable option; it must be induced.

The method by which Yogathira induces birth is to plant trees and create forests.

The higher the rank, the more species, and the greater the number of trees around it, the faster the Yogathira will grow.

However, the environment of the snowfield itself is not suitable for tree growth.

Prior to this, the vegetation on the permafrost tundra was limited to mosses, lichens, and occasionally some low shrubs, with almost no trace of large trees ever existing.

At least for now, the only known large trees in the North are the Norse cedars, found in Viking territory.

The hope of planting trees against the environment depends on the power of Yugathira—it can gradually transform the surrounding land into a magical place suitable for plant growth, centered on itself.

Since Yugathira was only recently planted and is still in its nascent stage with weak abilities, its ability to transform the land is still very slow.

However, after a month of accumulation, the land that Yugathira had transformed was barely enough to plant some other trees.

Gaode's approach is simple: for now, they don't need to worry about planning or anything like that, and they don't need to worry about the dense planting of trees affecting the growth of Yugathishira.

Since there's space, let's plant trees first to provide growth boosts for Yugathira.

When the area of ​​the spiritual land transformed by Yugathira becomes larger in the future, we can re-plan it rationally, transplanting what can be transplanted, and cutting down what cannot be transplanted.

Gao De immediately pulled Elder Lanwen and "Minister Flora," who had been working non-stop lately, along with him, and gave her a public vacation. They left Phoenix without stopping and headed straight for Vallar Bay.

Even though they were already familiar with the route, it still took Gaode nearly four days to reach the destination, which is 400 kilometers away.

This road absolutely has to be repaired, and a tunnel has to be built too. This made Gaode (the map service provider) prioritize road repair even more.

Vallar Bay.

Compared to a month ago, there have been some minor changes here.

The most direct change was that dozens of simple tents were erected around Yugathira, forming a small camp.

Elder Gain's hundred-man tree-protecting team has never left during this time, guarding the sacred tree day and night. This small camp was built by them.

These are the superficial changes; deeper changes require a closer look.

The little green sprout, no bigger than a thumb, had hardly changed at all after a month of growth. It still had only three leaves, radiating a colorful glow.

For a tree known for its long lifespan, especially a high-level magical plant, a month is far too short.

However, within a circular area of ​​about ten meters in radius centered on Yugathhira, the land underwent a dramatic transformation in just one month.

The thick layer of snow on the surface has melted, revealing the soil underneath.

A faint magic is stirring within the soil.

The current Yugathishra is still "small" and its ability is not yet sufficient to directly transform the land into a sacred site in one step, but such land is already perfectly capable of growing ordinary trees.

A circle with a radius of ten meters, the total area is actually about half an acre.

Even with a small plot of land, you can only plant 30-50 trees of species with large canopies; any more than that would affect the trees' growth.

But in reality, the number of trees that can be planted is even less than that.

Although Yugathishira appears to be a seedling, its root system has already expanded outwards from the soil.

Therefore, the only land area that can actually be used to plant other tree species is the outermost ring, the area where the root system of Yugathira has not yet expanded.

According to Gaode Maps' rough estimate, these areas can only accommodate a dozen or so trees at most.

It's a bit few, but that's just right. He only has about ten kinds of trees on hand, so he'll plant one of each kind and harvest the "first recharge reward" first.

"My King!" Upon seeing Gao De arrive, Elder Gain, who was guarding the sacred tree, hurriedly came forward to greet him respectfully.

"How has it been this past month?" Gao De asked casually.

In fact, Elder Gain had been reporting the specific situation here in a timely manner through Sunefa's magical falcon "Azure".

But often, the purpose of asking questions is not to get answers, but to give the other party an opportunity to take credit.

"My king, apart from the occasional leyline creatures and beasts wandering nearby, there has been nothing unusual. As for those leyline creatures and beasts that have appeared nearby, we have killed them all, never giving them a chance to get close to the sacred tree, to ensure that no accidents will happen."

"Thank you for your hard work." Gao De patted the latter on the shoulder with satisfaction, and then led Flora to Yugathira.

The closer one gets to Yogathira, the stronger that mysterious connection becomes.

In Phoenix, God had absolutely no connection with Yugathira.

At this distance, through the connection established with Yugathira, God could clearly sense its joy and a certain longing for his and Flora's arrival.

Gao De bent down and gently stroked the seedling, also expressing his affection.

What he could sense, Flora, with her even closer connection to Yugathira, could naturally sense as well, perhaps even more clearly.

"Yogathila desires the tree seed from Lady Flora," Flora said.

With a flick of her small hand, several tree species of different shapes appeared in her palm, all collected by God when he was in Ellaheim.

The oval-shaped, brown variety with irregular stripes on its surface is a pine species.

Slightly larger than pine seeds and with a smoother outer skin are cedar seeds.

In contrast, the birch species is slender and small.

Upon seeing the tree seed, Yugathira was overjoyed, and her desire intensified.

"Don't worry, I'll plant it for you right away," Gao De said to the seedling.

The little seedling seemed to understand human nature and could comprehend what Gao De was saying; its intense emotions actually subsided considerably.

Gaode didn't just make empty promises; it immediately took action.

He used [Sculpted Soil] to dig a ring of tree pits of appropriate depth and size on the outermost edge of the land transformed by Yugathira.

Flora took the tree seeds out of her small space, flew to the tree pit that Gaode had dug, and put the tree seeds in one by one.

Gaode then uses "soil-plasticizing" to cover the tree species with soil, making the soil loose and breathable yet tightly adhered.

This is the advantage of magic.

Seeing that all the tree seeds had been planted, Gaode immediately used his "natural arts" to encourage the trees to grow.

These large trees are all very long-lived. If they grow in a suitable environment and are not affected by natural disasters or diseases, they can easily live for more than 500 years.

Long lifespan also means that the growth time required is extremely long.

It generally takes more than ten years for a tree to grow from a seed into usable timber, unlike barley, which can be harvested in three or four months.

However, Gaode doesn't need to force them to grow to that extent; it's enough to let the seeds germinate, break through the soil, and grow steadily.

At this point, Yugathira will gain the corresponding growth bonus.

As the "Nature Arts" continued to be cast, the tree seeds that had been planted in the soil began to sprout as if summoned by nature.

At first, there was a slight tremor, then tiny cracks began to appear on the soil surface, and finally, accompanied by a soft "plop" sound, tender green shoots broke through the soil.

As these saplings sprouted from the soil, Yogathira began to change.

In Gao De's consciousness, he could feel a strange power emanating from the newly sprouted buds, flowing into the roots of Yugathira through the soil.

This power was like some kind of special nutrient. After Yugathira's roots absorbed it, they immediately began to extend and grow rapidly, burrowing deeper into the earth.

As the root system expands and grows, the seedlings of Yugathhira that have emerged from the ground also begin to grow rapidly.

What was originally just a small green sprout the size of a little finger has grown rapidly in size and height.

The stems of bean sprouts are also getting thicker.

Four inches, five inches, six inches, one foot.

In an instant, Yugathira grew from a green sprout into a sapling over three feet tall, and its leaves increased from three to fourteen, all shimmering with multicolored light, an indescribable wonder.

However, at this point, Yugathira's rapid growth also stopped.

This means that the growth bonus that the newly planted trees bring to Yugathishira has come to an end.

Next, Yugathira returned to its previous state, drawing power from its roots to grow slowly.

Just as Gao De was about to say something to Flora, his expression changed slightly.

Because an extremely pure life force was flowing into his body.

Gao De involuntarily sat down cross-legged, began circulating the "Green Wood Longevity Scripture," and entered a state of focused concentration, earnestly absorbing and digesting this vitality.

Highly nourishing!

He let out a sigh without thinking.

This vitality, like a warm current, flowed throughout his body, merging into his flesh and blood, making him full of energy and vitality.

As time went by, a layer of moist glow began to appear on Gaode's skin, and his already youthful body radiated a vibrant vitality.

"Longevity." A very clear feeling surged into his mind.

He could sense that, under the infusion of this vitality, his lifespan had increased by ten years, from the upper limit of 150 years for a first-ring mage to 160 years.

This is the ability of the "Green Wood Longevity Scripture" to extend lifespan.

It may not seem like much, but you should know that the sacred object can only give up one-tenth of its life force to convert into the lifespan of the person who forms a bond with it, and the conversion process only accounts for one-tenth of the total lifespan.

In other words, at this time, Yugathishira possessed a lifespan of a terrifying one thousand years.

This is just a small sapling, only three feet tall.

It's hard to imagine how terrifying vitality the fully-formed Yugathira would possess.

And that's not all.

Besides lifespan, Gao De also sensed a strange spiritual power contained within this vitality. After enhancing his life force, this power directly surged into his mind and began to nurture his soul.

Immediately afterward, Gao De discovered that his spiritual power had surged to 132 after drinking the Ice Jade Wutong Water, reaching the limit of an early-stage first-ring mage, where it could no longer be improved. However, under the nourishment of this strange vitality, his spiritual power began to increase slightly again.

Given Master Yihuan's precise control over his own condition, this perception is absolutely correct.

After a long time, his mental strength, which was 132, finally increased to 133.

It may seem like just a 1-point improvement, but it's actually much more than that. A mental strength value of 133 is normally a level that only a mid-stage first-ring mage can achieve, which is a bottleneck.

It was clearly visible that after overcoming this hurdle, Gao De's mental strength increased dramatically.

134, 136150.

This strange power was only exhausted after it was raised to 150.

Gao De opened his eyes at the opportune moment, stood up, and a look of surprise flashed across his face:

Lifespan: 160

Mental Power: 150

Mana: 21 drops of liquid

This is his current state. Although his mage level hasn't increased, there has actually been a significant change.

"Giving back," Gao De murmured.

He knew that the vitality that had appeared within him was a result of the feedback that came from Yugathira as she grew to a new stage.

As Yugathira grows to each new stage and advances in his life, Yugathira, as the one who forms a bond with him through the "Azure Wood Longevity Scripture," receives a return of support from him.

However, if something happens to Yugathira, the life force he gained through feeding back will also disappear completely.

This is a case of shared prosperity and shared loss. After forming the bond, the destinies of God and Yogg-Sarah became intertwined, forming an inseparable link.

While enjoying the many benefits that Yggdrasil brings, he must also remain vigilant at all times, protect Yggdrasil, and do his best to help Yggdrasil grow and advance quickly.

"One hundred and sixty years old, and I'm only sixteen now, so I've only lived one-tenth of that lifespan. I can't possibly live that long!"

This is just the beginning. If one advances to the second-circle mage level, their lifespan can be increased by 75 years.

As Yugathira grows, it can continue to replenish life force, constantly increasing God's lifespan limit.

"Moreover, the more I diligently plant trees and create forests, the more abundant the essence of the plants will be, and the faster my cultivation speed will become. Coupled with a long lifespan, my future potential will be unimaginable!"

Shh! Shh! Shh!

Just then, all fourteen leaves of Yugathira began to tremble, making a rustling sound, and a faint emotion followed, reaching Gao De's mind.

"Also needed: Advanced abilities."

It also wants Gaode to plant more saplings so that they can continue to grow.

As it grows to the next stage, Yugathira will awaken certain unique abilities, and it yearns for new ones.

"Then you must first work hard to improve the land so that I can plant more tree species." In a great mood, God was also looking forward to Yugathira's new abilities, but he still gently stroked Yugathira's leaves to soothe its anxious emotions.

"Grow up quickly."

Now that Yugathishra has grown into a three-foot-tall sapling, there is no doubt that its speed in transforming the land into a sacred place will increase significantly.

What a thriving scene!

(End of this chapter)