Odys's First Pot of Gold

Not far west of Backlund lay the Balchis Mountains. This north-south range divided the Backlund Plain from Tuckwell Plain and formed the final barrier to Backlund's west.

Odys's laboratory had been built deep within these mountains.

It was more than fifty kilometers from Gall Herbal Shop in the West Borough, already at the limit of the "Teleportation Array."

Though it was only fifty-odd kilometers away, it was far enough from the city. With no particularly good farmland, only a few small villages were scattered through the mountains, making the place extremely remote. Many nobles chose this direction for their estates.

However, no noble would choose to build an estate near Odys's laboratory, because the entire area was hilly and transportation was highly inconvenient.

For Odys, however, it was a wonderful place where he would not be disturbed.

Odys's laboratory looked like an ordinary house, but since it had only one room, it was quite spacious.

There were three workbenches, a small smelting furnace, and two pedal-operated engraving machines Odys had made himself, used to inscribe Occult Symbols onto hard objects.

There were also two tall cabinets filled with various herbs and Spiritual Materials.

There were Beyonder traps in both the yard and along the walls, so Odys was not worried about villagers intruding.

Odys did not linger in the laboratory. After temporarily disabling the traps in the yard, he quickly headed deeper into the mountains.

There were already few residents where he had built the laboratory. If one continued farther into the mountains, it was possible to walk an entire day without encountering another person.

After crossing a mountain peak, he saw fences, wooden cabins, and other signs of human activity on the mountain ahead.

Odys had bought a large stretch of land around the area.

There were no mineral deposits here, no dense forests, and it was unsuitable for farming, so the land had been cheap.

For Odys, it was ideal for growing herbs and low-level spiritual plants, as well as raising spiritual animals of modest rank. Such as his destination today: the Mutated Flamingo breeding area.

Large-scale cultivation of spiritual plants and breeding of spiritual creatures were patents unique to Odys.

It was said that the Church of the Earth Mother had previously conducted extensive research into raising spiritual creatures, but the results had been far from satisfactory. They had indeed managed to raise a batch, but required Demi-Gods to provide constant assistance.

In the end, they found it too uneconomical and stopped researching it.

They could never have imagined that a herbal shop owner in Backlund had successfully achieved what they envisioned, cultivating and breeding Spiritual Materials on a large scale without the aid of high-level Beyonder powers.

For such a large operation, Odys had also hired seven villagers to help watch over it.

The villagers did not know these were spiritual animals and plants. They only knew that some rich man was raising and growing them.

Odys felt that his pace had become much faster after his advancement. A journey that had originally taken three hours now took him only an hour and a half.

This was a fenced area built halfway up the mountain. Inside, not only was a flock of Mutated Flamingos being raised, but so were Red Bees and Flame-marked Martens. Blazing Red Maple Trees, Red Comb Balsam Herbs, Crimson Lilies, and other spiritual plants were also cultivated here.

The caretaker was old Anlier. After learning that Odys wanted a batch of Mutated Flamingos, he put on the protective gear Odys had provided, took a catching pole, and entered the enclosure to capture them.

These spiritually endowed creatures were merely smarter and more aggressive than ordinary animals. With professional tools, even ordinary people could capture them.

While Anlier went to catch the Mutated Flamingos, Odys followed the fence and inspected the Magic Formation around its perimeter.

Almost no grass grew around the fence, forming a bare path.

Not only the immediate surroundings, but the vegetation across the entire hill outside the fence looked somewhat withered and yellow.

The Magic Formation consisted of blocks of hard granite, inscribed with Occult Symbols using special materials.

Just as Odys was concentrating on his inspection, a woman's voice suddenly sounded by his ear. "This is the first time I've seen a Magic Formation in this style!"

The sudden voice startled Odys. "Could you give me some warning before you speak next time?"

As he spoke, he looked around, but still did not see any trace of Bernadette.

"I could have an Invisible Servant pat your shoulder or back first."

"Forget it!" Odys hurriedly said. That would be even more frightening.

Especially when he could feel someone patting him but could not see them, as if he had stumbled into a ghost story.

Odys thought for a moment. "How about this? You can write 'I'm here' anywhere in front of me. At least then I'll be somewhat prepared."

"No problem." Bernadette sounded quite easygoing. "Let's continue our previous topic. If I'm not mistaken, this Magic Formation can gather the spirituality of the entire hill inside the enclosure, correct?"

"That's right." Odys admitted it openly.

After all, she was an expert too and had already seen through the purpose of the Magic Formation.

He found a rock to sit on and took out his pipe. "More precisely, it gathers most of the spirituality within the enclosure, not all of it."

Bernadette immediately understood. "The issue lies in the material used to carve the Occult Symbols."

"Exactly." Odys said as he packed tobacco into his pipe. "If I used materials that were too good, the cost would be too high and the gains wouldn't justify it. It would also easily attract the attention of Beyonders.

"This is just right. Although the spiritual creatures it can raise are limited, it is enough."

Aside from materials for experiments, it could also earn him a small profit.

At first, Odys had only developed a Magic Formation for growing herbs.

Others had tried cultivating those herbs as well, but no matter how they fertilized them or how robustly the herbs grew, the results could not meet the requirements for occult applications.

Thus, the herbs used in occultism and the Beyonder world had always been gathered from the wild.

This was because no matter how much fertilizer there was, the area did not have enough spirituality for the herbs to absorb.

Without spirituality, they naturally had no effect in occult activities.

If herbs lacking spirituality were used as supplementary ingredients for potions, they would severely affect a Beyonder's advancement.

The principle behind Odys's Magic Formation was simple. During one of his studies in the Knowledge Moor, he discovered that the effects certain Magic Formations had on spirituality could be used to concentrate it.

This Magic Formation had actually existed long ago, but its effects were extremely limited. It was an ordinary Hexagram Magic Formation that only worked over a very short distance.

Odys improved this traditional Magic Formation and used the abundant concentrated spirituality to grow many quick-growing herbs, earning his first pot of gold.

Then, through gradual improvements over the next three years, the concentrated spirituality became fully capable of cultivating spiritual plants and raising spiritual creatures.

After several seconds of silence, Bernadette spoke again. "The Church of the Earth Mother's research direction was wrong!"

Odys lit his pipe and took a puff before smiling. "You've heard about that research too?

"That's right, their direction was wrong. They had been trying to use Beyonder Abilities to gather enough spirituality and create an area where spiritual plants could be cultivated on a large scale.

"That line of thinking wasn't necessarily wrong, but the cost was too high. It would be better to buy them directly."