Chapter 351 - 312: Old Friends
Gray gave it a quick scan.
There were at least a dozen Magic Plants in the flower field!
’Could each one really be worth several dozen Gold Coins?’
At that thought, Gray’s mood soared, matching Zelir’s excitement. It felt as if the fresh, floral scent had turned into the smell of Gold Coins.
’We’ve struck it rich!’
Even Zelir’s movements grew much lighter.
He took the harvesting tools he had prepared from his Storage Pouch, which included a professional shovel, special silk pouches, and small wooden boxes.
In addition, Zelir called over Valles and Hill, who were known for being deft and meticulous, to help.
Gray and Marcus stood by on guard duty.
"Let’s start with this one..."
Zelir squatted before the few translucent, emerald-green Vitality Orchids and taught Valles how to harvest them.
"Be careful. Its roots are very fragile, so don’t break them..."
"Dig the shovel into the soil around it... Yes, right there."
He pushed the edge of the shovel into the earth and, with a slight turn of his wrist, loosened the entire block of soil.
Then he lifted the ball of earth containing the Vitality Orchid’s roots and patted it gently.
Soon, all the excess soil was patted off, and the complete Vitality Orchid had been extracted.
After entrusting this task to Valles, Zelir went to guide Hill.
She was standing before a trellis where a row of Gale Wind Golden Bells grew.
Miniature whirlwinds, visible to the naked eye, swirled around the golden fruit.
Whenever Hill’s fingers drew near, the fruits would swing away as if repelled by a magnetic force, pushed by the currents of air.
"This one requires even more care."
Zelir walked to Hill’s side.
"If you try to force your way closer, the opposing air current will push the fruit right off the branch. It’ll fly all over the place, and you’ll never catch it."
"You have to do it like this..."
Zelir demonstrated.
"As you approach, use Magic Power or Fighting Qi to disrupt the airflow field around it."
As he spoke, Zelir reached out, his hand enveloped in a faint blue glow.
His Magic Power disrupted the field of air.
The small whirlwind protecting the fruit suddenly faltered.
Seizing the opportunity, Zelir reached out and snatched the fruit, holding it securely in his grasp.
"Oh..."
Hill nodded, the realization dawning on her.
She copied Zelir, wrapping her palm in Fighting Qi.
After disrupting the airflow field around the fruit, she successfully plucked it.
Watching from the side, Gray was puzzled.
"You need to use Magic or Fighting Qi...? So if you didn’t have a Middle Level Warrior or a Mage and ran into a demon plant like this, could you only stand there and stare?"
"That’s right."
Zelir said, turning back to harvest the Firethorns.
"Harvesting certain Magic Plants requires meeting specific conditions. Brute force will just destroy them... This work isn’t as easy as it looks."
After harvesting all the ordinary Magic Plants, Zelir shifted his gaze to the three clusters of Magic Plants in the very center of the garden.
One look at their quality was enough to tell that these three Magic Plants were, without a doubt, the most precious.
The first Magic Plant’s petals looked as if they were cast from liquid gold.
Its stalk was a translucent dark gold, and its three leaves resembled the tail feathers of a phoenix about to take flight.
The second Magic Plant was shaped like a translucent lotus, like a work of art carved from Crystal.
The edges of its petals were extremely sharp, like blades.
The remaining Magic Plant didn’t look special, resembling a common rose.
But the aura of life it radiated was the most potent.
Just taking a couple of deep breaths of it made one feel several years younger, full of vitality.
Zelir studied them carefully for a good while but couldn’t recognize what they were.
They weren’t even recorded in the illustrated guide.
’I should take them back for Instructor Manlin to see. If there’s one she likes, I could give it to her... a small repayment for all her help. She’d be happy, wouldn’t she?’ Zelir mused.
Since he didn’t know the species, he wasn’t confident about the right harvesting technique.
Zelir simply adopted the most conservative approach.
He shoveled up a large patch of soil around the Magic Plants, including their roots, and placed everything into the wooden boxes for preservation.
Luckily, these three Magic Plants did not wither and die after being removed from the flower field.
After storing all the spoils, Zelir made a rough estimate.
Excluding the three unidentifiable special varieties, their haul this time was worth at least eight hundred Gold Coins!
The fields at Moon Bay were nothing compared to this.
"I’m getting more and more excited about the rest of this treasure hunt," Marcus said with a smile.
After everything was packed up, the group prepared to leave.
There was another exit in the botanical garden, located opposite the main gate they had entered through.
This saved them the trouble of going through the trapped corridor again.
As the stone exit door slid open, a breath of fresh air from the outside rushed in.
The doorway was heavily concealed by layers of weeds and shrubs, making it very well-hidden.
But before leaving, Gray suddenly spoke up.
"Actually, I’m a little curious."
Gray tossed a stone in his hand, looking back the way they came. "You guys think... will the traps in that corridor really trigger?"
"What are you thinking?" Valles sensed a hint of trouble.
"I want to try and see what that so-called high-temperature steam trap is really like," Gray grinned.
"..."
"Seriously... could you stop being so childish?" Valles sighed.
"Let’s not tempt fate, okay?" Marcus also felt it was a bad idea.
"C’mon, let’s try it. We’re leaving through here anyway, not going back that way. Aren’t you even a little curious to see it?"