Tongque cleared her throat and began to report point by point, “First of all, Moon-Silver Wood itself is a top-tier magic-conducting material. Unprocessed Moon-Silver Wood can already be used as the shaft of a staff. After refinement, it can be made into a barrier array base, with a mana conduction efficiency second only to Moon-Silver Stones.”
Her voice sounded much more confident; this was clearly her true area of expertise.
“Moon-Silver resin can be extracted from the bark.” She flipped to the next page, which showed a sketch of a crude extraction device with the extraction steps annotated next to it.
“Once the bark is peeled off, it is simmered over a low heat. The resulting resin is filtered and settled, becoming a key raw ingredient for Moon-Silver ink. The enchanting effect of this ink is highly stable, making it the most popular enchanting ink during the mid-Silver Moon Era.”
“The leaves, when dried and ground into powder, can be combined with Tranquility Flowers and Moonlight Moss to brew soothing potions. Moon-Silver Wood flowers are also highly valuable, serving as potion ingredients, raw materials for spices, and ceremonial items.”
“The mana fluctuations they emit can soothe the emotions of living creatures. Some nobles will pay a premium for them to relieve insomnia and anxiety. It is said that during the Golden Age, witches also used Moon-Silver Wood flowers as a medium for Lunar Gathering rituals.”
As Wu Yao listened to Tongque report item by item, several thoughts spun in her head at once, her eyes shining as if she had laid eyes on a treasure trove piled high with gold coins.
Tongque took a deep breath and turned her notebook to a new page. This page was also densely packed with writing, with many notes highlighted in red ink.
“While the processing prospects are excellent, each has its own difficulties. The hardest part is the felling itself. Moon-Silver Wood is extremely hard; an ordinary axe striking it will only leave a white mark.”
“Our goblin trading company has specialized enchanted logging tools, but it still requires repeated chopping to fell a single tree. A skilled logger can only chop down two trees at most in a whole day.”
“Secondly, there is the loss of mana during the processing.” Tongque held up a second finger. “After a Moon-Silver Wood tree is felled, the mana inside will slowly dissipate over time. If left for a month, forty to fifty percent of the mana will be lost. Therefore, we cannot delay too long after felling; we must process it into finished products as quickly as possible before the mana dissipates, or preserve it using a special method.”
“How do you preserve it?” Wu Yao pressed.
“Airtight sealing and low temperatures,” Tiechui chimed in. “When our company transports magical materials, we use a specially made refrigerated cargo box. It has simple isolation arrays carved inside to slow down mana loss during transport. However, these cargo boxes are not cheap to make—each one costs a hundred gold coins.”
Tongque nodded, then held up a third finger. “The third difficulty is the processing technology. Extracting Moon-Silver resin requires specialized extraction pots and temperature control equipment. If the heat is even slightly too high, the resin will char and spoil, ruining the entire pot.”
“Grinding the leaves into powder seems simple, but the fineness of the grind directly affects the efficacy. If it is too coarse, the medicinal properties won't be fully released; if it is too fine, it easily oxidizes and spoils instead.”
“The hardest part is harvesting and preserving the flowers. According to the archives, Moon-Silver Wood flowers only bloom on full moon nights, once a year. I heard that in the past, whenever the Moon-Silver Wood flowers bloomed, neighboring witches and elves would rush over to harvest them.”
“When harvesting, iron tools cannot be used, and the petals must not be touched directly with bare hands. You must use silver shears to gently snip the flower stems, and then store them in containers made of Moon-Silver Wood. From harvesting to preparing the medicine, the entire process cannot exceed three days; otherwise, the petals will wither, and the mana fluctuations will dissipate.”
The last time Wu Yao had heard of something so ridiculously fastidious was the Cold Fragrance Pills that Xue Baochai took. She couldn't help but complain, “Why don't we also add rainwater from the Rain Water solar term, dew from White Dew, frost from Frost's Descent, and snow from Minor Snow?”
Full of curiosity, Tongque asked, “Is that some kind of recipe?”
This wasn't the first time Wu Yao had faced an NPC's intense thirst for knowledge. Fortunately, because this recipe was so ridiculously elaborate, she had memorized it deeply, allowing her to rattle it off smoothly now.
“It's the recipe for Cold Fragrance Pills—flower stamens from the four seasons, combined with the rain, dew, frost, and snow from their respective seasons.”
Tongque blinked and said thoughtfully, “That sounds like some ancient potion recipe, blending flowers from different seasons with water from different times of the year. It's very similar to the Forest Deer Clan's concept for their Four Seasons Balm—gathering pollen in spring, harvesting morning dew in summer, collecting ripe fruit in autumn, and gathering the first snow in winter. Every material must be harvested during its corresponding season.”
Beside her, Tiechui clicked her tongue in amazement. “There's actually a recipe like that? So what effect does this Cold Fragrance Pill have once it's made?”
Wu Yao fell silent for a moment. She couldn't exactly explain that it was a fictional pill from a novel, specifically meant to cure a fictional 'heat toxin'.
She quickly pulled the topic back on track. “Since we know where the difficulties lie, things become much simpler.”
“But there is one thing I must make clear first: I cannot chop down the Moon-Silver Wood.”
Both goblins froze at the same time.
“Why is that?” Tiechui had just started to ask when Tongque stepped on her foot.
Of course, it was because the great Lady Wu Yao would have her attributes penalized if she chopped down Moon-Silver Wood.
Wu Yao made up a random excuse on the spot. “This land belongs to the Moon-Silver Wood. Since I have established my territory on its domain, I cannot turn around and harm it.”
Tiechui and Tongque exchanged a glance, a complex expression appearing in both of their eyes.
They had seen far too many human nobles treat their territories in a certain way.
They would clear-cut all the trees to build houses, strip-mine all the veins to forge weapons, and treat the land beneath their feet as an inexhaustible purse, never once thinking about leaving anything for those who came after.
Yet this witch before them, when discussing how to develop her territory, made the very first point that she must not harm this forest.
“Your Ladyship is right,” Tongque said in a serious tone. “We goblins have a saying: ‘Leave the roots when mining, leave the forest when logging.’ Although we love doing business, we wouldn't do something as foolish as eating all of tomorrow's food today!”
Wu Yao blinked guiltily, playing along. “The logging of Moon-Silver Wood can be left to others, but for every tree cut down, ten must be replanted.”
“That's easy!” Tiechui patted her chest in reassurance. “Moon-Silver Wood can be propagated through root division. Just take a healthy segment of root from the base of an old tree, bury it in suitable soil, water it, and before long, it will sprout new shoots.”
Tongque took over from her older sister and added, “However, Moon-Silver Wood is different from ordinary trees. It has very high requirements for its magical environment. Root division will only succeed in places where mana is sufficiently dense.”
“Is the mana density in the territory high enough?” Wu Yao asked.
“Of course it is,” Tongque replied without hesitation. “This is a witch's dwelling. Wherever a witch resides, mana naturally gathers. Even if it isn't dense enough right now, as you live here longer, the mana concentration of this land will only grow higher and higher.”
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