"Surprised, aren't you?"
Martin walked over with a smile and said, "This is the Four Seasons Secret Realm of the Four Seasons Garden, covering over a million mu in total area, with incredibly abundant resources of all kinds..."
"A million mu?" Leilin was very surprised. In his past life, that would be the area of several counties.
"Mm, not only are there all sorts of rare plants and magical creatures, there are also many ordinary people..."
Martin pointed toward some distant towns and villages. "We hire ordinary people to farm for us and plant some plants useful to wizards. It's been proven that organized, planned cultivation, coupled with more manpower, can produce far more resources..."
"The entire Four Seasons Secret Realm is the foundation of our Four Seasons Garden, an inexhaustible treasure!"
"Establishing a secret realm, cultivating resources, obtaining the yields—this is the primary source of resources for the White Wizard factions!" A hint of reverence flashed in Martin's eyes.
"A million mu of land, with such high energy concentration, plus dedicated management..." Leilin silently marveled in his own mind.
He felt, to some extent, that he had always existed in the shadows of the wizard world before, and here, he finally encountered completely different thoughts and philosophies from those of the Dark Wizards.
The White Wizards obtained materials by cultivating the various plants and animals within their secret realms.
The Dark Wizards, on the other hand, seemed to favor obtaining resources through more violent means.
"Leilin, do you know why the entry checks were so strict before?" Martin suddenly asked.
"Why? Was it because of Dark Wizards?" Leilin voiced his guess.
"Exactly! It's those damned locusts!" Martin said through gritted teeth when mentioning Dark Wizards.
"That bunch of bloody Dark Wizards, all they think about is getting something for nothing. They don't put effort into managing their own secret realms; instead, they're always eyeing the secret realms of us White Wizards..."
The short wizard beside him explained the reason.
"Every year, there are instances of Dark Wizards successfully ambushing a secret realm! Even though they only take most of the ready-made resources and the realm can recover its production, it's still a huge loss..."
Leilin understood some of the reasons behind this.
Although the Dark Wizards' growth environment was extremely bloody and cruel, it was undeniable that the Dark Wizards grown in such an environment generally possessed combat power surpassing that of ordinary White Wizards.
And according to the Dark Wizard theory of the strong preying on the weak, the resources of the White Wizards were, in their eyes, a fat piece of meat!
Furthermore, such low-intensity conflict probably served as training for their troops in the eyes of the Dark Wizard leadership.
If it weren't for the White Wizards' organizational advantage and greater unity, combined with the Dark Wizards' own shortcomings and low mutual trust, the entire wizard force on the South Coast would likely have been rewritten.
"Alright, let me assign the tasks!"
Martin stood to the side again, and only spoke once all the wizards had recovered somewhat.
"Our specific task is to clear a section of the eastern area, driving out some insect infestations and other blights. Pay special attention: currently, a plant disease has appeared on the eastern prairie. All the Mare's Milk Grass has developed black spots on its surface, requiring the use of Jacklin No. 1 Potion..."
"Next, Fireeye, Hofukefu—you go to Eastern Zone One! Leilin, Ouke—you go to Eastern Zone Two..."
Martin proceeded to issue assignments.
"Let's go!" The short wizard called Ouke said to Leilin.
After the tasks were distributed, the wizards of the third group left the platform in pairs and threes.
"It's still quite far from here to the east, but our organization has long arranged mounts here, so we can arrive quickly..."
Ouke had clearly been there a few times and led Leilin to a building nearby, where he obtained two green iron plates from a window.
"Controller for the Dragon-Crested Night Hawks?"
Leilin understood. It seemed the Four Seasons Garden had very high control over the entire secret realm.
With two loud, clear cries, two enormous Dragon-Crested Night Hawks spread their wings and took flight, heading toward the east.
After the night hawks flew a certain distance, several more identical night hawks took off from the original spot, carrying wizards who looked like small black dots, flying in various directions.
The whooshing wind roared in Leilin's ears.
Leilin sat on the broad back of the night hawk, constantly scanning the land below.
Within this secret realm dense with energy particles, the growth of various plants was extremely lush.
The green prairie stretched endlessly, dotted with several regular blue patches containing clusters of small blue flowers, their buds filled with sweet nectar.
This was Honey Milk Flower, not only a common material for many apprentice-level potions, but its nectar was also a favored food for many creatures of the wizard world.
Through the Chip, Leilin could also see several herder-like figures working diligently among the blue sea of flowers, like ants.
Near the flower sea, there were also several areas that were clearly human constructions, seemingly dedicated to guarding the flowers.
"Ordinary people cultivate these more common apprentice materials. As for the rarer resources useful to full wizards, the defenses are certainly much stricter, possibly even simulating the outside natural environment for specialized wild cultivation..."