The Black Sail has very high demands on the medicinal garden; these wood elves must carefully plant and maintain the garden to ensure its yield is not affected.

If the yield decreases even slightly in any given year, these wood elves will at least suffer some punishment and torture.

Should the wizard stationed here be in a bad mood, it's not uncommon for him to kill them all offhandedly.

Thus, every time the stationed wizard is replaced here, it's the most nerve-wracking time for the wood elves; they don't know what kind of temperament the incoming wizard will have.

After Duke arrived at the Black Sail's medicinal garden, he met a Level 2 Wizard named Deke.

Deke has been stationed at the Wood Elf Plane for many years, primarily to maintain stability here. He sits in charge of supervising the operation and transportation of magic potion materials.

Although he is a Level 2 Wizard, he doesn't put on airs, but rather says, "How do you find the Wood Elf Plane? The environment here isn't bad, right? Later, I'll call Old Rick over. You can just ask him about the garden's situation in the future. He is the elder of the wood elves here..."

Deke took Duke along all the way to a manor beside the medicinal garden, where only the wizards of Black Sail live.

Normally, Duke would also live here, but since the Giant Rock Commerce Association specifically prepared a residence for him, he doesn't have to stay here.

These are minor issues with no mandatory requirements.

Deke seems to enjoy his time here, brewing a pot of red tea with some freshly roasted coffee beans added for Duke.

He then took Duke around the manor, introducing him to the general work content here.

Duke's job is quite simple, checking the quantity and quality of the magic potion materials handed in by the wood elves every three months; other than that, he has no specific tasks and mostly arranges his own schedule.

He then also met the wood elf elder named Rick, an old elf seemingly on the brink of death.

Upon seeing Duke, Rick immediately knelt down and said, "The situation in the medicinal garden is still good this year, and we should be able to complete the task on time."

Duke nodded without revealing any emotion, silently flipping through a booklet Rick provided, which contained records of the medicinal garden for the past several years.

While Duke was flipping through it, Rick dared not even breathe heavily, clutching his cane tightly, as if awaiting Duke's verdict.

Duke heard that in the past, when the garden fell short, the wood elves would risk their lives collecting herbs deep in the mountains to make up the deficit, so as not to be punished.

The surrounding mountains are perilous, filled with various demons.

These wood elves, laboring in the garden for years, possess no combat skills, and entering the mountains to gather herbs is a life-and-death venture, resulting in significant casualties.

However, completing the task on time and in full also safeguarded the majority of the tribe's lives.

"Understood. In a month, I expect to see enough magic potion materials," Duke said nonchalantly.

In a month's time is the reception period, when some potion materials will mature in the garden, and the wood elves will be responsible for picking and storing them in the warehouse.

Old Rick, stooped, said, "Rest assured, my lord, we will complete the task. This is a gift from our wood elves, hoping you will like it."

As he spoke, he took out a carefully wrapped object from his simple linen clothing, unwrapping layer after layer to reveal a golden yellow plant root.

Duke's eyes lit up at the sight of this; he roughly guessed what it was but didn't dare to confirm, so he smelled it.

"So it's Phoenix Root! They actually have this!"

Upon detecting the faint sulfur scent, Duke confirmed it was indeed a Level 2 magic potion material, Phoenix Root.

Phoenix Root is an extremely rare magic potion material, even among Level 2 materials.

On the market, Phoenix Root is sold by the gram, with one gram priced at a thousand Level 1 Magic Stones.

This piece of Phoenix Root weighs at least a hundred grams, equivalent to ten thousand Level 1 Magic Stones.

Duke got ten thousand Level 1 Magic Stones just by coming here without doing anything.

More importantly, this item is typically unavailable in magic potion shops and often appears only at auctions, where it fetches a higher price.

"A very nice gift, I'll accept it." Duke placed the Phoenix Root into his space ring.

Seeing Duke accept the gift, Old Rick felt a bit more at ease, saying with a smile, "As long as my lord likes it."

This Phoenix Root wasn't easily obtained; the wood elves gathered it at great cost to many lives from the depths of the mountains.

The majority of it was already offered to previous wizards; this small piece was their last stock.

Then Duke asked Rick to lead the way to the nearby medicinal garden, as he needed to understand the situation here.

Yala followed alongside, and Rick, only slightly startled when he first saw Yala, thereafter dared not look her way again.

Rick kept feeling uneasy for glancing that one time, worried Duke might twist his neck out of displeasure.

In truth, Rick wasn't afraid of death, but rather the bizarre and unpredictable wizardry, bringing fear far exceeding death itself.

Yala observed Rick's state and listened to the conversation, without even looking she understood the living conditions of the wood elves here.

But she could do nothing, nor change anything; this is the misery of the defeated.

The wood elves' only consolation is their value, which spared them from being slaughtered.

The three of them strolled in the vast medicinal garden, amidst the fields of herbs, inhaling the fresh breeze and savoring the caress of the wind.

None of this, of course, involved the laboring wood elves. Nearly every one of them was utterly exhausted, with only three or four hours of sleep a day, sometimes going days without rest during busy periods.

Since many magic potions, like Moonlight Grass, need either to be picked at night or to be watered and nourished at night.

This means sunset doesn't mark the end of a day's work for them, but the beginning of another round of tasks.

Over the years, numerous wood elves have literally worked themselves to death from exhaustion, yet the wizards remain indifferent, viewing these slave beings merely as consumables.

Duke glanced at Yala and said, "You seem a bit different from these wood elves; care to tell me how?"

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.