14 – Tulip Sprite Worm"s New Home
The flower farm had a longer history than Flower Town.
Starting eighteen years ago, not long after Leewilliam Tulip had obtained Coral Island, he had mobilized his knights to explore the entire island. Among others, he had discovered a flower field.
Among the flowers, two new types of tulips were thriving.
For Tulip Family, tulips were their lifeblood. As a result, the count had moved his subjects over to grow them. However, because of the inconvenience in transportation, the count had ultimately moved the new types of tulips into Coral City. Then just a few years later, the flower farm had fallen into disuse.
Nowadays, besides the few tulips in the flower field, the vast expanse of flowers had been rooted, giving way to other crops – barley, wheat, and others.
Therefore, once Liszt arrived, what met his sight was not a rainbow of flowers but just the verdant of wheat and barley sprouts.
“Sir Lord, only 20 mu of tulips remain. The red ones are the Sundance Tulips, they serve to commemorate Sir Lord"s elders; the yellow ones are the William I Tulips, they serve to commemorate Sir Lord"s supreme glory.” The grizzle-haired manager, Victor, sighed incessantly.
At its peak, the flower farm was 800 mu in size, but now, it was only 200 mu, with wheat being grown on 180 mu.
“There are no magic ingredients?”
“It is a pity, but there are no more magic ingredients here. As a result, later on, Sir Count had rather seldom picked tulips here. But now, the tulip field shall be revived! Sir Lord, look over there, do you see the Black Tulip in the middle of the tulip field, I have never before seen this purple-black flower before!”
Liszt looked over, and indeed, the color of the tulip surrounded by the yellow and red was out of tune, it was purple-black.
Alike a proud black swan quietly grooming its feathers amidst a flock of geese
“Is it a magic ingredient?”
“I do not know, Sir Lord.”
“I will go take a look.” By brushing aside the ordinary tulips, Liszt arrived before the Black Tulip. He touched a purple-black petal with his fingers. Immediately after, he perceived a strange and familiar aura.
His eyes suddenly lit up.
Liszt revealed a satisfied smile: “It is a magic ingredient!”
Magic ingredients were ingredients with magic power.
The mysteries of wizards" spell casting and knight"s qi cultivation were inseparable from the a.s.sistance from magic ingredients. All kinds of mystical treasures required magic ingredients as auxiliary materials to some degree.
Although the prices varied greatly due to different effects of magic ingredients, but even the cheapest magic ingredient could be sold for at least 1 silver coin.
Liszt had never heard of a magic ingredient being cheaper than 1 silver coin.
Taking control of a type of magic ingredients was equal to taking control of great wealth.
Now that the Black Tulip grew in Liszt"s territory, this wealth certainly belonged to him. According to the aristocratic system and laws, even the count had no right to forcibly seize a lesser lord"s property. Loyalty was one thing, while interests were another. Once the lord enfeoffed the lesser lords, then everything inside the lesser lords" territories was theirs.
“It seems that not only have I gained a fortune, but I have also found a new home for my tulip sprite worm.” Liszt took a deep breath, “The flower farm shall be revived!”
With a hint from Liszt, the manager, Victor, and the retainer knights withdrew themselves from the tulip field.
He squatted next to the Black Tulip by himself.
He focused his mind.
Shortly after, faint smoke appeared before his eyes and twisted into symbols.
“Mission completed. Reward: a new type of tulips.”
Next.
The smoke distorted, and the symbols changed.
“Mission: the deteriorating flower farm seems to have its fate changed by the new type of tulip. Together with the tulip sprite worm, you must take on the heavy responsibility of reviving the flower farm. Please help the tulip sprite worm to settle down its worm stalk. Reward: one magic beast cub.”
The mission had already been updated.
There was no difficulty involved, just ripping the benefits.
What made Liszt"s eyes brighten was that the reward was a magic beast cub.
The most common low-ranked magic beasts were already as strong as Apprentice Knights and could even contend with Earth Knights. The Windblade Wolf Liszt had run into a while ago was such a low-ranked magic beast, slightly inferior to the Earth Knight Marcus. Some low-ranked magic beast were even capable of going toe to toe against Sky Knights.
“What sort of magic beast"s cub will it be? Can it be raised or should it butchered?” Liszt was very much looking forward to it.
……
“My Lord, I brought the tulip sprite worm.” The butler, Carter, was escorted to the flower farm by a retainer knight before solemnly handing Liszt a jade box.
After receiving the jade box, Liszt could feel that there was a a small life form connected to his bloodline inside it.
The box was opened.
Inside, he saw a light yellow silkworm-like life form with cyan stripes on its back. The sprite worm was shorter than an index finger and as thick as a thumb. It had a jade-like l.u.s.ter to it, looking like a long and wiggling jade strip. It was extremely pretty.
The sprite worm was currently sleeping lazily inside jade powder.
During its transplantation period, the worm stalk inside the sprite worm"s belly had no way to supply it with nutrients; therefore, to preserve its vitality, it had to gnaw on the jade powder. Jade, also known as magic jade, was a stone with magic power. Although it was much cheaper than gems produced by dragons, it was none the less a rare treasure-grade mineral.
“Little fellow, you have rested enough, take a look at your new home.” Liszt reached out with his index finger.
In response to Liszt"s mental urge, the lazily sleeping tulip sprite worm slowly climbed up his finger before resting on his palm. Its sesame-sized shining black eyes looked about, as if examining its new home.
“What a beautiful life form. Regardless of how many times I look at it, I cannot get enough.” Gort sighed aloud as he watched the sprite worm.
As a dest.i.tute chevalier, he could not possess sprite worms.
Chevaliers, as the lowest-ranked members of the aristocratic system, often had their own fiefs. Those that did well could purchase a sprite worm. However, Gort"s fief had declined and had to be sold off, while he became a dest.i.tute chevalier without a fief. Naturally, he could not afford a sprite worm.
Liszt went to the middle of the center of the tulip field, and the pointed to the Black Tulip, saying softly: “Little fellow, just set up your worm stalk here, okay?”
With the link established by the contract, the sprite worm understood Liszt"s meaning.
It slowly opened its mouth and released a green ray of light. The light fell onto the open s.p.a.ce next to the Black Tulip. Immediately after, a tulip sprouted, growing a stalk and leaves. The cyan stalk and leaves culminated in a light-yellow flower. This was its worm stalk, capable of influencing the growth of nearly 10 mu of the surrounding tulips.
As a sprite worm, it could make the tulips sprout two times a season.
Besides, the quality of the tulips would be improved to some extent.
Liszt placed the tulip sprite worm on the flower of its worm stalk, which was its home. It seemed like the release of its worm stalk and the consequent implantation had greatly consumed its stamina. The tulip sprite worm lazily reclined inside the flower, not budging. Liszt could not help but to urge it: “Little fellow, there is a new type of tulip nearby; how about having a taste of it?”
The tempted tulip sprite worm slowly crawled out of the flower, climbed along the stalk until it reached a leaf, then continued to climb until it reached the tip of the leaf.
It was going to fall, yet instead, it started crawling midair.
There was a faint glow beneath it. As if crawling on something transparent, it ‘crawled" little by little towards the nearby Black Tulip, before finally entering inside its flower.
It twisted its fat body.
The tulip sprite worm sent back a sense of ‘excitement". It rolled about inside the purple-black flower, performing a.s.similation.
It symbolized the tulip sprite worm gathering the Black Tulip"s ‘pheromones" as well as applying its abilities to the Black Tulip.
Of course, Liszt was more willing to think that the tulip sprite worm was gathering different genes, improving itself.
After it gathered enough, it would have a chance at evolution.
In Tulip Castle, there were three tulip sprite worms which had evolved into tulip lesser sprites relying on this method. One of them was given to Liszt"s sister, Lvera. In his memory, there was envy, jealousy, resentment, and even more envy by the time he was conferred the t.i.tle of baron.
Because he did not get a lesser sprite.