Above the mage

Chapter 356 Changes

Just like the last time he teleported to the astral plane, Gao De's first feeling after the teleportation ended was still dizziness.

The strain on bodily functions caused by long-distance transmission remains.

However, compared to the first astral teleportation, Gao De was quite at ease this time.

Since this is the return trip, there's no need to worry about safety.

The return point for astral teleportation is fixed at Yggdrasil.

Gao De's chaotic eyes gradually focused.

The crisp sound of leaves rustling overhead sounded somewhat like the tinkling of wind chimes.

This is Yogg-Sarah welcoming God back, like a mother waiting for her child to return after a long absence.

Gao De looked up and saw that Yugathhira was growing as lushly as ever.

The leaves shimmer with iridescent light, sometimes blending into dazzling spots of light, and sometimes scattering into beautiful ribbons, like a dream.

A thought struck him, and he activated his Mandora Eyes to observe Yugathira. At the same time, he took a step forward and pressed his palm against Yugathira's tree trunk.

Details about Yogg-Sarah were instantly transmitted to God's mind via the link.

Soon, the changes that had taken place in Yggdrasil during the two and a half months he had been away from the North became clear:

【Yogathhira】

Rank: Tier 1 Magical Plant (619.5/1200 Months)

Growth gain coefficient: 1.4 → 1.42

Astral Teleportation: 1 (17/60 days)

Lifespan: 1/3600 years

Land reclamation area (land transformation): 14 mu --> 29 mu

Height: 15 feet --> 16 feet

Land magic concentration: 10-15 (basic spiritual land) --> 24-35 (basic spiritual land)

The most obvious change is the progress of Yugathira's rank advancement.

When Gaode left the North, it was 196/1200 months. Only two and a half months have passed, and now its rank advancement progress has already jumped to 619.5/1200 months.

While Yugathira can improve its growth rate by planting new tree species, such a significant improvement is truly remarkable, especially considering that Phoenix's initial potential has already been fully exploited.

It is clear that Phoenix has made some unusual gains or changes in the past two and a half months.

The growth gain coefficient did not change significantly compared to the progress of the grade improvement.

This is because the increase in this value is mainly due to the number of trees in the natural domain opened up by Yugathira.

In the North, where communication with the outside world is impossible, the number of ordinary trees is often less than that of magical trees.

Ordinary trees simply cannot grow in such an extremely cold environment, but the magical tree, with its extraordinary characteristics, can survive in all kinds of extreme environments.

The number of astral teleportation attempts has accumulated once more.

This was expected, as Yogg-Sarah currently completes its astral teleportation recharge every sixty days.

The area of ​​the natural realm opened up by Yugathira has doubled.

The magic concentration in the land has also increased to 24-35. In the core area closest to Yugathira, the magic concentration is not far from 46, which is the level of a first-tier spiritual land.

Having learned about Yugathira's situation, God's gaze left it and swept around the surroundings.

Visibly, about a dozen new magic tree saplings have sprouted nearby.

They should be the key contributors to the significant improvement in Yugath's growth rate.

Further away, the camps and sentry posts that Gaode was building when he left are now taking shape.

The camp's outer wall, constructed of ice blocks, was more than two people high. Inside the ice wall was a ring of tents covered with thick animal hides.

Not far from the camp, there is a newly built sentry post.

The sentry post was made of huge blocks of ice and hard rocks, with a circular observation tower on top, surrounded by railings. In the center of the observation tower was a small shed made of animal hides, providing the sentry with a shelter from the wind.

From the sentry post, one can overlook a large area surrounding the camp and be more aware of the movements of wild animals and even ley line creatures in the distance.

There were many people coming and going in the camp. Apart from those on guard duty, everyone was busy. Some were processing food, while most were carrying out construction.

Because this place is where the sacred tree is located, its future plans have already been set. It will become the largest and most important port in Phoenix and even the North, as well as the second northern city after Phoenix.

It is foreseeable that a large number of people will flock to the site when construction actually begins, so building the camp now is a way to prepare for the future.

It is clear to the naked eye that there are now more than a hundred people in the camp.

Gao De's gaze swept across the entire camp.

Under normal circumstances, a person's number sense ability is limited, below 5.

What is number sense? It is the ability to instantly and accurately judge the quantity of objects without counting.

In other words, if there are only five people in front of you, you can immediately get the answer "5".

But once there are more than five people in front of you, for example, seven people, you have to count them, going through a process of "1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7" to get the final answer.

However, with the blessing of Mandora's Eye, Gao De's mathematical perception was enhanced in another way. He could obtain accurate data with just a glance.

167 people.

The original tree protection team of 100 people has grown to 167 people.

"My King!" Elder Gain noticed God's return the moment God appeared and rushed over to pay his respects.

"Elder Gain, there's no need for such formalities," God waved his hand and asked, "Are there any spare snow wolves in the camp right now? I need to return to Phoenix."

"Of course, Your Majesty. Elder Grant's pet has been waiting for your return at the camp all this time," Elder Gain said respectfully.

"Okay." Gao De nodded.

"My king, are you returning to Phoenix now?"

"Yes," noticing Elder Gain's hesitation, God asked, "What's wrong?"

"The situation has been a bit tense lately. The War Mother specifically instructed me that if the King wants to return to Phoenix, I must personally accompany and escort him."

"I see." Gao De nodded thoughtfully and said, "Then let's go together. Tell me what has happened during this time."

The biting wind cut like a knife across my face, whipping up the snow on the ground, creating a vast expanse of white.

As Gao De rode on the back of the snow wolf, he discovered that another new change had occurred during the two and a half months he had been away.

Between Vallar Bay and Phoenix, a slightly rough road has been added, which was created by the ice-born mages of the Zhenbing tribe, who solidified the snow to form an ice road.

The road wasn't very wide, just wide enough for two snow wolves to walk side by side. From a distance, it looked like a winding ice snake coiled in the snow and ice.

Such a road is naturally extremely slippery, making it very easy to slip and fall when walking on it; it is not a qualified road.

However, by simply adding a spell like "Ice Skating" or a similar spell to eliminate the adverse effects of the difficult terrain, it can be used as a normal road temporarily.

At least after this ice road is completed, the time it takes for Gao De to ride the Snow Wolf between Vallar Bay and Phoenix will be reduced from the original six days to less than three days.

To further shorten this time, a formal transportation network needs to be built, and it would be best to excavate through the Valar Mountains, build a tunnel, or purchase an airship.

After all, the straight-line distance from Vallar Bay to Phoenix is ​​only 200 kilometers. The reason why it takes so long to travel back and forth is because the Vallar Mountains lie between the two.

The majority of the time is spent climbing and descending the mountain.

For Phoenix, the former is more likely.

As they traveled, Elder Gain, as requested by God, gave a detailed account of what had happened in Phoenix during his absence.

In fact, most of these were within Gaode's expectations, because he was the one who spearheaded the design.

Just as expected, the appearance of Northwest Barley No. 1, and with the deliberate spread of the Zhenbing tribe, quickly caused a great stir in the northern region.

Food is the most precious resource in the North, even surpassing the oil resources of God's previous life.

In this icy and snowy northern region, having a stable food source is practically a guarantee of survival.

This is something the people of the North have sought for millennia but have yet to obtain.

Faced with the overwhelming power of the Zhenbing tribe, small and medium-sized tribes dared not do anything, no matter how many ideas they had, and could only choose to wait and see.

However, the Frostwolf Clan and the Winterhammer Clan, two large clans sharing the same name as the True Ice Clan, still have the confidence to challenge the True Ice Clan.

Not to mention, after capturing the "rat" from the Frostwolf Clan, the Zhenbing Tribe made an outrageous demand, asking the Frostwolf Clan to pay twenty drops of fourth-tier ice marrow to ransom him.

Finally, it is unknown what kind of communication or agreement the Frostwolf Clan and the Winterhammer Clan went through, but in the end, the Warmothers of the two clans came to Phoenix together under the guise of a visit and redemption.

It was ostensibly a visit, but in reality, it was an attempt to exert pressure.

"They claimed that the people of the North share the same roots and are one family, and demanded that the War Mother provide them with the seeds of Northwest Barley No. 1 and share the corresponding planting techniques." Elder Gain's voice was weak in the cold wind, but it clearly reached Gao De's ears.

"I underestimated them. I thought they would join forces, but I didn't expect them to be so shameless." Hearing this, Gao De couldn't help but sigh.

"The War Mother naturally and decisively rejected their request. Then they began to accuse the War Mother of being cold-blooded and heartless, saying that the people of the North have always been of one mind and one heart. They struggle to survive in the icy and snowy land and should support each other. Now that the Zhenbing tribe has discovered Northwest Barley No. 1, they are hiding it and unwilling to share it with them."

"They say we've betrayed the bonds of kinship among the Northern peoples, that we're selfish and self-serving." Elder Gain's tone was full of disdain, showing utter contempt for the high-sounding words of the two war mothers.

"How did Sunefa deal with it?" Gao De asked curiously.

"The War Mother said that if they are selfless, then they should first share the techniques for taming Frostwolf, the Winter Hammer, and the forging craft with the Zhenbing tribe and many other northern tribes." Elder Gain's lips curled up slightly.

"Then they were speechless. Verbal accusations were useless, so they resorted to threats."

"But..." Elder Gain spread his hands, a smug smile on his face, "The War Mother is not afraid of verbal criticism, much less threats!"

"Faced with the threat of the two, the War Mother did not tolerate them at all. She directly turned on them and took action. Right outside Phoenix, in front of many clansmen, she fought the two of them one by one and suppressed them without breaking a sweat. In that scene, they didn't even have a chance to escape, let alone struggle. They could only be subdued obediently."

Gao De couldn't help but chuckle upon hearing this.

Threatening Sunefa is like an old man committing suicide.

As the last pure-blooded Iceborn in this era, Sunefa awakened True Ice Magic, and with her exclusive magical weapon [Blizzard], she was already a near-invincible existence among the fourth ring.

With the [Breath of the Wild], he even accomplished the incredible feat of defeating a fifth-ring opponent from a fourth-ring opponent.

The Frostwolf Clan and the Winterhammer's Warmother were merely two fourth-ring mages, so Sunefah's suppression of them was as easy as cutting melons and vegetables.

"However, the War Mother had a long-term perspective. She believed that indiscriminate killing would not solve the problem, but might instead cause more hatred and conflict. Therefore, after suppressing them, she offered a reasonable price, requiring the two tribes to provide corresponding resources to ransom them back."

"Once the ransom arrived on time, Mother War kept her promise and released the two women," Elder Gain continued. "Many people praised Mother War for her kindness."

This decision was actually made after discussions between Gaode and Sunaifa.

To outsiders, material resources like food and ice marrow might be more important, but in Gaode's eyes, population is the most valuable resource.

Population represents productivity and signifies development potential.

Therefore, unification must never be achieved through force, as it would result in casualties and too many population losses. Conflict should be avoided as much as possible.

If these two war mothers were killed, it would inevitably provoke strong anger from both tribes, potentially leading to a brutal war.

With Sunefa as the absolute force in the North, and the upgraded Ice Jade Phoenix, Phoenix is ​​indeed not afraid of war, but casualties are inevitable.

The top priority for the Zhenbing tribe right now is development. War would not only cause development to stagnate and force the orderly agricultural construction to be interrupted, but it would also consume a lot of human, material and financial resources, affecting production. It is unnecessary.

"After they were released, they were afraid of the War Mother's terrifying strength and certainly wouldn't dare to retaliate. However, their covetousness for the Northwest Barley No. 1 could not be eliminated, so they sent a large number of rats to keep an eye on Phoenix."

"Although Deputy Director Catherine and Deputy Director Lanvin have caught quite a few rats, there are always some who slip through the net. That's why Mother Zhan instructed me that if you are returning to Phoenix, you must accompany me on this journey to ensure your safety."

"After all, everyone knows how important you are to the Zhenbing tribe. Since they don't have the ability to attack the War Mother, they are very likely to turn their attention to you," Elder Gain said earnestly.

Sunefa's concerns are quite reasonable.

"In addition, just half a month ago, Zhanmu took the initiative to send out a signal, announcing that the Zhenbing tribe had solved the food problem and was capable and willing to accept other tribes to join."

"Subsequently, six smaller tribes located around our Zhenbing tribe sent envoys to contact us, expressing their strong desire to be incorporated into our Zhenbing tribe."

"These small tribes have long struggled to survive in the harsh environment of the North. All they wanted was a strong ally to protect them and a stable food supply, so the whole process went very smoothly and they quickly reached an agreement. These six small tribes soon became part of the Zhenbing tribe."

"I don't know the specific details, but their arrival has brought more than ten new magic trees to Valar Bay."

No wonder Yugathira's growth rate has seen another significant boost; it turns out it has reached the stage of annexing smaller tribes and consolidating resources.

Gao De nodded secretly.

Although he temporarily left the North via astral teleportation, the more than 500,000 people of Phoenix were not just NPCs waiting for his command. Sunefah was an excellent ruler with outstanding talent and decisive decision-making ability.

So even without Gaode Maps, Phoenix is ​​still developing rapidly.

(End of this chapter)