Chapter 355 – Master’s Got Treasures

Mo Lan sat on Zhizhi’s shoulder, practicing Energy Conversion over and over to convert the energy within Ferocious Rat magic crystals into elemental power. The task of traveling was left entirely to Zhizhi.

Originally, she had thought that although Zhizhi was clever, it was still too naive about many things. So she only gave Zhizhi a general direction to prevent it from doubling back, and left the rest up to it.

Given Zhizhi’s temperament, it certainly wouldn’t let any magical beasts it encountered get away. As for other magical materials, well, it would probably have a hard time noticing those.

Mo Lan planned to pay some attention to the surrounding magical plants during the gaps between processing magic crystals and collect whatever she spotted.

Even if this inevitably meant a smaller haul than if she were constantly using Wind Sensing to survey a wide area, there was nothing she could do about it.

She figured that once she became more proficient with Energy Conversion, she’d be able to process magic crystals and monitor her surroundings at the same time.

But just as she failed to process a crystal and shifted her attention away from it, she noticed that Zhizhi had stopped.

It was crouching beside a large tree, staring at a blue-green flower in the distance.

When Mo Lan got a clear look at what kind of flower it was, she sucked in a sharp breath, filled with lingering dread.

“Zhee?” Mistress, are you done? That flower is really strange—I’ve never seen it before. Do you want it, Mistress?

“Yes! But don’t go near it!” Mo Lan said. “That’s a Green Phantom, and it’s in bloom right now. Its petals and pollen carry a rare psychic toxin!”

The Green Phantom was a relatively rare Advanced magical plant, highly valuable but equally dangerous.

Thankfully, Zhizhi hadn’t rashly approached it and was only watching from a distance. If it had actually gotten closer, it might have been poisoned without even realizing it.

Psychic attacks happened to be Zhizhi’s weakness.

And Mo Lan could have been affected right along with it.

Zhizhi wasn’t surprised at all. “Zhee zhee zhee~”

“You knew it was toxic?” Mo Lan asked in surprise.

So Zhizhi not approaching wasn’t just a coincidence?

Zhizhi looked confused. “Zhee?” What’s toxic?

“Then why didn’t you go closer?” Mo Lan asked, puzzled.

“Zhee zhee zhee…” Zhizhi gesticulated wildly as it tried to explain.

“You feel like it’s a treasure, but it’s not at its most valuable yet, and right now it’s dangerous, so you need to wait?”

After translating Zhizhi’s words, Mo Lan found it even stranger.

Its explanation was vague, yet remarkably accurate.

The Green Phantom’s value lay not only in the potent psychic toxin of its flowers, but even more so in the fact that its fruit could enhance psychic power.

This magical plant was most beneficial to human mages.

In the central regions of the continent of Valen, mages had nearly driven it to extinction. Rumor had it that they could only still be found in the Wilds, the Elven Woods, and around the Heaven’s Peak mountain range.

On the human side, a single Green Phantom fruit would fetch an astronomical price—and even then, you couldn’t find one for sale.

So it was correct that the plant was precious. Its most precious moment was after the blooming period, when it bore fruit. And its most dangerous moment was right now, during the flowering period.

Zhizhi had said earlier that it had never seen a Green Phantom before.

If it had never seen one, how had it made such an accurate judgment about seeking the benefit and avoiding the danger?

When Mo Lan asked, Zhizhi couldn’t explain it clearly either, only saying it was a “feeling.”

Mo Lan set aside her doubts for now and went to dig up the Green Phantom first.

Ever since the Book of Cards had analyzed Earth Source essence, she could now create material cards for every growth stage and every part of a plant she placed whole into the Book of Cards as raw material. So she didn’t need to wait for the Green Phantom to bear fruit before harvesting it—digging it up now would still let her produce a {Green Phantom Fruit} card.

With this card, her Card Magic could absolutely make a killing off human mages!

As the largest group of spellcasters on the continent, they deserved some special “attention”!

She first used the Psychic Magic spell Mind Ward to set up psychic defenses, then wrapped herself in a Wind Wall spell to prevent Green Phantom pollen from drifting in.

Only after making these preparations did she walk toward the Green Phantom.

Once she was within casting range, she used the Earth-Turning Spell to dig up the entire Green Phantom along with its soil, then used the Levitation Spell to float it into the air and sent the Book of Cards over to swallow it whole.

【Book of Cards: Quality crafting material +1】

Mo Lan didn’t forget to use Wind Vortex to blow all the air in that area far away before returning to Zhizhi’s side.

“All done! Let’s head in a different direction from here!”

“Zhee!” Zhizhi answered, scooped Mo Lan up and settled her back into the crook of its neck, then continued walking in another direction.

Mo Lan had only practiced Energy Conversion two or three more times—wasting two or three low-level Ferocious Rat magic crystals in the process—when Zhizhi’s attention was drawn to something else again.

This time, it was attracted to an oddly conspicuous boulder covered in moss beside a stream.

Mo Lan watched it punch the boulder over and over, and even she couldn’t tell what for.

When she asked, Zhizhi said, “Zhee zhee zhee!” There’s treasure! Hidden in the rock! I’m digging it out for Mistress!

“Treasure?” Mo Lan looked at the stone in bewilderment. “Isn’t this just an ordinary rock?”

Zhizhi insisted. “Zhee!” Treasure!

Mo Lan cast a Metal Detection spell to probe it, and sure enough—inside the very center of the stone was a fist-sized piece of moonstone!

This was no ordinary magic ore!

It contained the power of luck—it was a type of Fate Stone!

It could be used to craft magical items with fortune-turning effects.

Those gifted in magic involving the power of fate were rare, and magical materials carrying fate-type power were even rarer.

The value of this moonstone was even higher than the Green Phantom from just moments ago.

“Zhizhi! Don’t tell me you also have the legendary Gold-Seeking Treasure Rat bloodline! You’ve found two rare magical materials in such a short time!” Mo Lan exclaimed in delighted surprise.

Zhizhi looked bashful. “~()~”

Mo Lan used Mining Magic to extract the moonstone.

Zhizhi sensed something and immediately let go of the boulder. It looked at the boulder, then at the “little stone” in Mo Lan’s hand. “Zhee?” The treasure is out?

“Zhizhi, it’s much easier for me to use magic to mine stones than for you to do it by hand. If you find treasure hidden in stones again in the future, just wait for me to extract it,” Mo Lan said.

Zhizhi nodded obediently.

This time, after climbing back onto Zhizhi, Mo Lan didn’t rush to process magic crystals. Instead, she observed Zhizhi’s behavior.

After two or three days of observation without interfering at all, Mo Lan discovered that Zhizhi’s exploration pattern was completely random—yet as it walked, all sorts of things kept catching its attention.

Magical beasts aside—that was just its combat instincts at work.

The remarkable thing was that a flower it had never seen, an oddly shaped stone, or an unusually thick tree would all send it running over for a look.

And it wasn’t spotting these things with its eyes first. Sometimes from very far away, it would be walking along and suddenly veer off, heading straight for whatever it was.

It was as though something were guiding it.

And every time this happened, what it found was never anything ordinary—at the very least, it was a mid-to-high-grade magical material.