Chapter 10: Stationing at Four-Leaf Castle

“Burn it! Turn this place completely to ashes—scorch every inch of the ground.” Neo, with his hands behind his back, directed the soldiers to carry out the task.
It was already the third day since the Tree Mite Trap incident. Last evening, supplies, including a second Siege Spider, arrived at the camp, among which were 20 sets of flamethrowers. Now, Neo was ordering everyone to set fire to everything—the Spider Jungle had to be burned to the ground.
Of course, flames could only purify the surface; the real threat lay in the corrupt forces hidden in the soil. But Neo had other plans, and the soldiers just needed to follow orders.
Neo had volunteered for this cleanup task. While delving into the Poison Tooth Spider lair was indeed an exciting challenge, Neo was more concerned with a steady, methodical approach—taking things one step at a time. His vision stretched further than that of Aragon from Star 743 or Maxim from Moon 412. Well… that might not be entirely accurate. Rather, Neo saw the problems arising from the Poison Tooth Spider incident more seriously than others and was more wary of potential opponents involved.
On one hand, Neo felt that sending Star 745 in right away would make the task too difficult. Even if no heavy casualties occurred, it would still require immense effort and drain a lot of mental energy. On the other hand, constant pressure didn’t necessarily mean speed. Neo’s strategy was to strike, withdraw, strike again, withdraw again—slowly but powerfully, allowing him to target precisely and knock the enemy out in one blow, rather than chasing them relentlessly as Aragon and the others suggested.
“Chasing victory…” Neo smirked. “Have we won? At best, we haven’t lost. And even that’s more of a fluke for us.”
“Firstly, thanks to Star 745’s caution and Moon 412’s arrival, even if they fell into a trap, they were all top-tier fighters at levels 9 and 10. After this series of battles, Guardian Eric will also break through to level 10. It should take only three to five days for him to officially reach that level. With a level-10 Guardian and a level-10 Sorcerer, Moon 412 now has a solid shield and a sharp sword, boosting their team’s combat strength. It was such a elite tactical team, coupled with their own reliable support, that prevented them from being completely overwhelmed. If another group from 743 or 744 had taken on this seemingly simple task, they would likely have failed outright in the Spider Jungle. It might take days for the Temple to even hear about it.”

“Secondly, just by looking at the opponent’s determination and strategic planning, it’s clear these people aren’t easy to provoke. Yes, exactly as Moon 412’s Shadow Killer Manson said, they’ve been nothing but underhanded scoundrels from start to finish—never a single decent fighter in sight. But he forgot one thing: in both instances, wasn’t it a life-or-death situation each time? Didn’t we rely on extraordinary adaptability to stay safe? No strong or outstanding enemies? Ridiculous! If it’s the effect of some technique that allows them to harness the power of the region, causing ecological chaos and severe corruption, then who could be using such a technique? And if it’s some artifact at work, could such an artifact fall into the hands of an ordinary person? The Obsidian Guards—those puppets—are an important clue. Also, during the later stages of the Tree Mite incident, that monster leader could clearly call out Simon Windrunner’s name. If the enemy knows our personnel’s identities and can match names to people, what does that mean?”
Nio still remembered how Buckley, Star 743’s guardian who had almost failed due to following orders too rigidly during the Tree Mite incident, responded when he earnestly raised these questions with Maxim and Aragon: “That’s right. The Obsidian Guards are a representative puppet force among the dark forces, but that doesn’t mean there must be high-ranking demons behind them. Knowing your name could mean there are spies within our own ranks, or it could be that the enemy is lurking nearby and overheard the conversations of our team members. You stand out so much that it’s easier to guess you. In short, we must be extremely cautious. The enemy possesses powerful strength and is cunning enough, but that shouldn’t be a reason to slack off. We can’t give up just because of this. We must keep pressing them, making them struggle and make mistakes. Then, failure will be just around the corner!”
“Up to now, it’s been the enemy who’s taken the initiative. Talking about pressing them until they can’t breathe or hoping they’ll make mistakes is pure delusion!” Nio shook his head at the serious analysis Buckley had given. The reason he had assigned Buckley to lead the defense force was precisely because he feared the people in the camp would be overly eager to rescue them, leaving their positions to carry out a siege-and-rescue operation. They might even use tactics to trap Buckley’s group and lure Nio’s side to come to their aid, forcing them into a difficult choice where sacrifices would be inevitable, and quite numerous at that.
Nio believed this hadn’t happened because the enemy dismissed those soldiers in the camp as unimportant and wanted to focus entirely on wiping out the elite of the three Sky Combat Teams. Later, when he discussed their experience entering the cave with Maxim, Maxim recalled that the enemy had gone to great lengths to keep them there longer—creating a fake core to maintain the normal operation of those strange roots. They spent the longest time there, fighting against those persistent Bone Monster creatures. If Maxim hadn’t later realized something was wrong and used clever tactics to verify the core’s authenticity, they would likely have been trapped and killed by those Dark Rotting Tree Mites, whose strength increased at night.

It was precisely because the enemy, seeing that seemingly just one more blow could crush the three combat teams, fell for the trap of the Neon Flame Blood Formation that things became simpler, ending in their humiliating defeat. But undoubtedly, they wouldn’t have such luck next time. If direct confrontation is too difficult, who wouldn’t try to find a weak point first?

“Well! Everyone saw the glory and miracles, but failed to realize that from another perspective, these were actually extraordinary efforts born out of desperation. So, the old method—perhaps suffering heavy losses will teach them a lesson. Conflict inherently involves bloodshed and casualties; viewing it coldly isn’t wrong either.” Neo sighed. Moon 412 and Star 743 had gone to investigate the Spider Jungle incident in depth; he had provided them with the clues. Wasting time on trivial matters now would only make him seem pretentious.

Time smoothly entered the fifth day. Destruction was always easier, so by this day, the outer areas of the Spider Jungle had been completely burned to ash. The special fertilizers and tools ordered by Neo from the supply team had also arrived, along with the expensive laborers hired by Armed Farm No. 5.

“Alright, we can start!”

Neo’s order sparked a planting frenzy. Star 745’s 28 camels were all put to work, plowing the land. This was a joint military-civilian farming effort, involving as many as 120 people and over 40 large animals. With Neo even hiring Deep Earth Mages, there was no reason not to be enthusiastic. Seven days later, over 5 square kilometers of cultivated land appeared before Neo.

The Deep Earth Mages had no idea what could be planted in such land, which was severely eroded, lacking the scent of soil and instead having a foul smell. They weren’t very curious either—having just passed the planting deadline yet still receiving a substantial payment was what mattered to them.

After the Deep Earth Mages left, the Tide Mages arrived. Driven by the promise of gold coins, they were already eager to get started. As mere laborers using basic spells like those of the Earth Mages, gold coins weren’t easy to earn for them. Limited by their talents and personal inclinations, they specialized in low-level water spells. Though their spells were quite advanced, they were mostly used for watering forests and gardens, enough to ensure a prosperous life for themselves and their families.

Neo had already sent people to plant the seeds. To cultivate enough seeds, he had endured an extremely tough week, nearly giving up several times, but he persevered due to the promising “financial prospects.” Interestingly, this continuous strain on his life force unexpectedly elevated it to a much higher level, something he hadn’t anticipated.

The Tide Mages summoned rain by manipulating water clouds—not out of nothing, but because water had to be present first. In other words, they were like sprinklers, turning watering into a highly even and precise process. At the same time, they could also absorb some free-floating water elements in the air, improving the quality of the water.

This water has additives and appears green. The main ingredient in it is the sap collected by the medical soldiers back then from those poisonous green trees in Spider Valley using loggers. Now not a single such tree can be found in the valley; even several were completely uprooted and piled up along with those from the Spider Jungle for use as firewood.
When rain fell, seedlings sprouted that very day—not green, but black-purple in color, looking highly poisonous. After watering for three consecutive days, the Mage Tide members left with full pockets. What appeared before everyone was a 5-square-kilometer forest of black thorny plants, which grew as tall as sword grass and were quite spectacular to behold.
One day later, the thorny plants blossomed. On that day, a large number of farmers were brought in to manually pollinate them—working themselves crazy. But with high pay and good food and drinks, the farmers had no complaints; in fact, they were quite happy. Working for this wealthy boss,Neo, a few times had already earned them as much as they made in a whole year. Besides, their own lands weren’t affected, and selling the harvest brought pure profit.
Another day passed, and the plants bore abundant fruit—black berries that reminded people of the specialty black grapes from Erdrite. Yet no one dared eat them. Ordinary thorny plants didn’t produce such berries. Anyone who knew what had happened on this land knew these things were neither usable nor edible—eating them could be fatal!
Really?
Really!
For ordinary people, these black thorny plants were dangerous, but for Нио, they were the fruits of hard work—large amounts of gold coins.
Every berry was picked without exception, juiced, filtered, and then poured into large wooden barrels like those used for wine—34 barrels in total. The residue left after juicing was dried in the sun and baked over fire, then ground into powder—17 bags in total.
Then, the people from the Sky Temple were called. Besides Spencer, the fat administrator from the Hylfanis region whom they had dealt with before, there was also a mysterious high-ranking figure from the Church hierarchy. By then, there were 18 barrels of juice and 8 bags of powder.
Apart from Нио, no one on Star 745 knew what agreement those two had reached with their captain. Anyway, from then on, Star 745 always received supplies at full cost, no matter how absurd the requests or how excessive the quantities.
On April 28th, 2,000 people arrived in large numbers—not including the 1,000 soldiers for protection. It took two days to uproot all the thorny plants, which were then taken away to an unknown destination.

On May 1st, the farmers from the 5-Good Armed Farm were hired again and spent several days planting alfalfa brought by the Thousand-Man Squad. It was during these days that the camp originally built by Star 743 was completely dismantled, and a simple stone fortress of modest size was constructed. This became the later rather famous Four-Leaf Castle. Alfalfa usually has three small leaves, and among 100,000 plants, you might only find one with four leaves, making the four-leaf clover a symbol of luck recognized by Emira. But here, one in every thousand plants had four leaves. Moreover, with this vast alfalfa jungle untouched by war or ravaged by wild beasts or monsters for hundreds of years, its reputation as a place of luck gradually spread. Legend has it that each leaf of the four-leaf clover symbolizes something one desires in life: fame, wealth, love, and health.

The Four-Leaf Castle became the gateway to Spider Valley. A path stretched through the strangely lush alfalfa jungle until it reached Spider Valley. For a long time, this valley served as the headquarters of the Celestial Temple Star 745. That was many years later, when Star 745 had a more well-known name—Star Radiance, the greatest of all stars.

“We started with siege spiders. Our captain’s unique combat technique is the Spider Battle Dance. Our first mission after formation was to take on the Poison Tooth Spiders in the Spider Jungle and Spider Valley. It’s clear that spiders are deeply connected to us. I’ve decided that from now on, our team emblem and battle flag will both feature spiders. Let’s all be like spiders—weaving intricate webs, laying out broad strategies, and becoming shrewd and powerful hunters.”

These words seemed reasonable on the surface, but in reality,Neo made this decision for three reasons: first, he was attracted to the spider nests; second, he suspected there were secrets in the valley and the nests; third, as the most severely corrupted area, Spider Valley hadn’t been purified yet.

Walking through the cave passages of the spider nests,Neo glanced around while talking to Nancy.

“It doesn’t seem as wonderful as I imagined. First of all, the ventilation is poor.”

“To drive away wild beasts and take over their nests, different living habits require different nest conditions, so modifications are necessary.”

“But to improve this place, the changes needed are too extensive!”Neo shook his head. Excrement, mucus, rotting matter, bones… the management of the Poison Tooth Spiders’ and the Dark Ones’ nests was truly unsatisfactory. Just cleaning it up wouldn’t be possible in a short time.

“Use it as is—quick and efficient. This isn’t a temporary base. It will become a long-term, stable, and valuable asset, which meets your needs too. You can’t just stay adrift like floating weeds.”

Neo was surprised. He knew living a carefree life was nice, but it wasn’t in line with long-term interests. He hadn’t expected Nancy to value this place so much. Even places like the Howling Caverns were only seen by her as training grounds.

“Is it because of those root vines?” Neo vaguely grasped the key point. Judging from the layout of the spider nest and the terrain, there were no particular highlights, so there were only a few possible reasons. The most likely one was the exotic root vines that Nancy had been studying and analyzing since their last visit. According to Neo’s detection, it was through these root vines that the Dark Ones had corrupted this region and drained its energy—similar to how mosquitoes inject venom first to dilute the blood before feeding. Of course, compared to this place, the “mosquitoes” no longer existed, at least not in their main form; only some “leg hairs” and “suckers” remained, with the most prominent being the toxin, or the force of corruption.

“Yes, it’s those root vines,” Nancy explained. “I must say, you have quite a connection with the Divine Lord. You always manage to encounter related objects. Most people might not even come across one in their entire lives. After all, the Divine Lord was extremely cautious back then, and later, the Holy Church carried out thorough and meticulous cleanup under his orders. There aren’t many sacred relics left on the Aemera continent.”

“Wow! No wonder it’s so domineering—turns out it has a strong background. What’s it this time?”

“Evil Plants,” Nancy continued. “They’re products of demonic distortion that need to absorb the life force of flesh and blood to grow. They can even create energy-consuming beasts to hunt.”

“It sounds similar to the Golden Tree Demons.”

Golden Tree Demons, though rare, aren’t exactly uncommon. They’re said to be plant mutations caused by energy disorders. Powerful Golden Tree Demons can even rule entire mountain ranges. Not only do they have numerous tree spirits and other derivatives under their control, but they also possess nightmare abilities, using psychological weaknesses to create illusions to attack opponents—a typical tactic of exposing weaknesses and inflicting pain. If one wants to test the strength of their will, they might as well give it a try.

“Evil Plants don’t have nightmare abilities, but their reproduction rate is over a thousand times that of Golden Trees. They grow by consuming energy—intensely so. Without complete energy isolation devices, anyone below level 15 who enters their range doesn’t even have a chance to struggle.”

“Huh…” Neo began to take in breath.

“What’s truly terrifying is that in later stages, Evil Plants combine with crystal technology, with smarter AI controlling their growth. Along with specially cultivated energy-sucking plants like siphon flowers, they form vast swamps that devour all energy in the area. Inside, there are element pools, energy condensation devices, and beast breeding nests, along with crystalization and active crystalization processes. The entire Evil Plant is a powerful war fortress. According to records, the most glorious battle took place in Aemera, where they seized the Magic Crystal Jungle of the Rainbow Dragons. At that time, there were over a hundred Rainbow Dragons and 100,000 Abyssal Guards—demons stronger than level 15 who protected the realm of the Evil God. Yet the Evil Plants, fighting one against two, still reproduced rapidly and destroyed most of the Magic Crystal Jungle.”

Neo was so shocked and excited that he forgot to laugh. “Are you saying we’re going to get this kind of plant?”

What is a magic crystal? How formidable is the Church of Glory? The number of magic crystals they possess is counted in the single digits. Even having just one would make one seem suspicious in the Holy Land, as they are extremely valuable. Just from this, one can imagine how overwhelming and dominant those evil plants were back then—they must have been the ultimate plants in Neo’s eyes. If one could obtain them, it would be a game-changer!

Nancy denied it. “Through research and tests, I am convinced that the culprit causing the energy disruption in this region is likely a remnant of those evil plants from the magic crystal incident. Of course, even if those remnants remain unchanged and active after thousands of years, no one can reconstruct the full power of those evil plants. As for crystal technology and artificial intelligence technology, even the sage philosophers of the first generation only mastered very basic aspects of them.”

“Mm-hmm! But I know you have good news to share, right?”

“Yes.” Neo was now qualified to know secret information, so Nancy didn’t hold back. “You know, I was part of the Research Ark, built by visitors from the God Lord’s world—powerful beings from the Source of Celestial Vessels. The main technologies used were advanced science and the stonecraft skills of the Winged Ant Demons.”

“Winged Ant Demons?”

“Ant Demons are an important branch of ancient demonic species, most of whom are skilled at construction. Winged Ant Demons are no exception, though detailed information is limited.”

“Oh, it seems the God Lord’s world is a place that integrates technologies from multiple dimensions, races, and civilizations.”

“The Research Ark was upgraded several times under the God Lord’s modifications. I am a product of crystal technology. Initially, the users of the energy therapy chambers needed to access information while inside, leading to interactions with the artificial intelligence core. To address data feedback delays, a temporary information storage device—the memory crystal unit—was added. I currently can’t access the authorized encryption and energy level encryption information, while the rest is still being activated and restored. However, due to high energy consumption, this process will be slow.”

“Are there many beings like you with memory crystal units?”

“There were 3 energy therapy chambers. During the God Lord’s rule, they were operated under strict protocols. Apart from the core artificial intelligence, the other intelligent systems didn’t have temporary information storage devices. The later user, the Moon Goddess Saliye, had a preference for using Chamber 2. My predecessor was part of Chamber 2’s intelligent system.”

Neo nodded. “Unique—this is good news in itself. Well, let’s get back to the main topic. I believe even if you have some backups of crystal technology, there aren’t many, and they’re encrypted. This technology is also a taboo. If even a hint gets out, the Church of Glory will surely send a Holy Land tactical team to invite me to their headquarters for tea, and I’d never be able to return to the human world again. So what else can be utilized? A low-level combination of artificial intelligence and plant-based technologies, along with integrating the construction skills of Winged Ant Demons—skills that are second-rate for the God Lord but first-rate or above for this ordinary world?”

“Well, that’s the ideal goal. Otherwise, even if you master the techniques of the Winged Ant Demons, using them would be extremely laborious—almost as difficult as building a fortress out of pure gold.”
Neo nodded. Advanced technology wasn’t necessarily better; what mattered most was practicality and cost-effectiveness. He had already warned Nancy about this—anything too esoteric shouldn’t be told to her, lest it arouse unnecessary desires, just like those evil plants. If not for this incident, there might have been some minor benefits, but mentioning them would only lead to feelings of inferiority and disappointment, so it was better not to say anything.
After Nancy provided this information, Neo quickly understood why she had chosen this location. In general, to simulate the system of those evil plants, even at a basic level, Neo and Nancy faced two major challenges:
The first was the organic integration of artificial intelligence with the plants. Since the evil plants were already hybrid crystal-plants, Nancy should be able to build on existing foundations.
The second was network expansion. Neo didn’t have anything as powerful as those evil plants for energy processing, making it difficult to create a large energy circulation network. Initially, they could only inject energy rapidly and cultivate slowly. But here, that problem was largely solved.
With the Dark Ones extracting energy, there were already extensive networks beneath the land, controlling the entire Spider Jungle. By utilizing these networks, they avoided the hardships of the early stages, saving a great deal of effort. As for the cave structure, the plants could be grown and shaped as needed. The existing caves could be used if possible, or filled in if not—there was no need to worry too much.
That day, Neo completed a feasibility test and designated the Spider Nest as a heavily polluted area, prohibiting entry. In fact, people had no interest in that gloomy, stinky cave—even the Spider Valley wasn’t appealing to them. They only went there a few hours a day to carry out labor tasks, such as building large elevator passages. From then on, Neo visited the Spider Nest several hours a day, claiming to purify it, but no one knew the real reason.
Soon after, the juice and powder derived from the Black Thorny Hemp were also brought to the Spider Nest. It was said to be used to combat the land’s ailments with poison. The people on Star 745 didn’t have any extra thoughts. Although they worked hard every day, they ate well, slept soundly, and their strength grew rapidly. As Neo had taught them: “Worry about what’s within your control; don’t worry about what isn’t. So they led a very simple life, unaware that those 16 barrels of black juice were high-quality materials for creating dark energy potions, and those 9 bags of powder were advanced materials for magic, especially suitable for powerful black magic—having nothing to do with purifying caves at all.”
Seemingly because Star 745 had been idle for too long, on May 7th, Neo received orders for a new task, one related to the Spider Nest incident.

“Everyone gets two days off. Handle any personal matters as soon as possible. My orders are: don’t get caught fighting, don’t get involved in prostitution, and return to base on time—or face military punishment. Alright, disband!”
Before this mission,Neo was quite lenient, granting everyone a well-deserved break and even paying their salaries in advance for June. As a result, the soldiers, who had been either fighting or training since April, each had twenty to thirty gold coins in their pockets—a substantial sum that would allow them to return home in style. However, the roads were unsafe, soNeo required them to return in groups. The soldiers, happy about this, agreed without hesitation.
On the same day, a squad of 3 mercenaries arrived at Four-Leaf Castle to take over its defense. These mercenaries came from a small group called the Fire Roses; they mostly helped women who had suffered tragic misfortunes—family destruction, being sold, separation from loved ones, and so on.Neo valued them because of their difficult experiences, their appreciation for hard-earned work, their diligence, and their lack of the bad habits common among most mercenaries. In fact, Four-Leaf Castle was still in its early stages of construction, located near Refuge Valley Town and not far from a secondary road. Once Star 745 set out, there would be little to defend—just the need to declare sovereignty. By the time they returned, the stone materials used for the castle’s construction would have been stolen and resold, and the newly planted alfalfa fields would be in ruins.
That same day,Neo, along with Zanjin and five others, went to Refuge Valley Town. A letter from the Sky Temple mentioned a meeting to discuss a mission. ButNeo guessed that it was likely because those who had been investigating the Spider Jungle incident had failed, hence the need for such a meeting. Otherwise, they would simply carry out orders and find their own ways to complete the mission—there would be no need for the Temple to organize a special meeting.