Chapter 38: Mountain and River Fairy: Shanyue

[You used the skill Enlightenment and Spirit Communication on the Stone Chessboard]

[Stone Chessboard spirituality awakening 1%…]

[You obtained Mountain and River Fairy: Shanyue]

[Mountain and River Fairy: Shanyue]

[Satiety Level: 100/100]

[Ability 1: Earth Manipulation]

[Ability 2: Spell (Earth)]

[Ability 3: Earth Vein Specialization]

“An earth version of Jianghu?” Chen Xiyi looked at the small rocky being formed from countless stones and soil before him. Since it had just been born, it wasn’t very big, only about the size of a hand. He couldn’t shake the feeling this thing seemed plagiarized from somewhere. Probably won’t get sued for plagiarism, right?

He’d felt this déjà vu scene before when looking at Jianghu. Now that Shanyue had appeared, this knock-off vibe got stronger.

[Shanyue corrected your statement. Every fairy was unique; there was no copycat version]

[Jianghu also agreed with Shanyue’s statement]

This left Chen Xiyi feeling like he didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. “Right, right, my mistake. Shouldn’t have said that.”

[Shanyue explained he was only making a correction with no hard feelings]

“I know, I’ll make you a Miniature Garden and some food first.”

Chen Xiyi said and got busy. He was actually quite pleased with Jianghu and Shanyue, especially the Water Vein Specialization and Earth Vein Specialization abilities.

Earth Manipulation and Spell (Earth) were similar to Jianghu’s Water Manipulation and Spell (Water). They had huge potential but also pretty big limits.

For example, Water Manipulation allowed Jianghu to control water, create water out of nothing, pull water from his Inventory to control, amplify, and so on. However, it couldn’t manipulate human blood, urine, or other bodily fluids.

It only worked on the vague idea of “normal” water. Toxic sewage? Probably okay. Liquid poison that just contains water? Nope.

Seemed this Water Manipulation depended on some specific concept of water.

If Water Manipulation could control the water-containing liquids inside people like blood or urine, Jianghu could achieve massive effects at minimal cost. Sadly, it couldn’t.

Therefore, Chen Xiyi figured Shanyue’s Earth Manipulation probably only applied to dirt/soil, not things like stones or iron ore. Though, if he compacted vast amounts of soil into something as dense as metal, it should still work.

But Earth Vein Specialization was the real prize here. While Jianghu’s Water Vein Specialization dealt with aquatic life, Earth Vein Specialization managed non-renewable resources: iron ore, coal, silver, gold, and so on.

With Shanyue present, Chen Xiyi could “nurture” these non-renewable resources using soil, causing them to multiply like living things for harvesting. Furthermore, similar to Jianghu’s water vein ecology, repeated nurturing and expansion would cause these minerals to evolve into Spiritual/Magical Items over time, forming a unique earth vein ecology.

In short, if Chen Xiyi had Shanyue perform this “earth vein farming” within the Homestead, he’d get vast amounts of mineral resources periodically.

Crucially, both earth vein and water vein ecologies eventually produced Spiritual/Magical Items used as materials for nurturing the fairies themselves.

Take dragon eggs. An advanced earth vein ecosystem could birth ecological life forms like ore dragons or crystal dragons – one source for those dragon eggs.

After all, this was a Sandbox Game, not just fighting. Even modded, its core was a life game focused on farming and cultivation. Combat? Just a means to farm better.

Chen Xiyi finished Shanyue’s Miniature Garden and prepared some calcined calcium-based substance as food.

[Calcined Calcium-based Substance (Fairy Spirit Food)]

[Satiety Level +100]

[Fairy/Spirit Growth +1]

[Fairy/Spirit Mood +1]

With that done, Chen Xiyi faced a problem: which fairy to take for protection.

He wasn’t limited to taking just one fairy away from the Homestead, but taking both Jianghu and Shanyue felt like a waste.

Leaving one behind was fine.

Between Shanyue and Jianghu, Chen Xiyi leaned toward leaving Shanyue. Shanyue’s Earth Vein Specialization could create the mineral-multiplying earth vein ecology, dealing with precious non-renewables.

He wasn’t currently lacking the resources made by Jianghu’s water vein ecology. He could have Jianghu start that whenever running the divine charade wasn’t needed anymore – say after getting a new fairy or moving to the next world.

Decision made, Chen Xiyi didn’t hesitate. He discussed it directly with Shanyue and Jianghu. As for Royal Authority? Still being the mascot.

Royal Authority’s ability was passive, always active, and applied to the Home Game itself. Add to that Royal Authority being a quiet loner who liked staying put, Chen Xiyi never considered taking it out for protection anyway. It couldn’t protect him; it was basically a potted plant.

[Shanyue accepted your suggestion and promised to diligently work on herding the earth for you]

“Okay, much appreciated. Feel free to hang out with Royal Authority if you’re bored. Moping around all day isn’t good,” Chen Xiyi advised.

[Royal Authority meekly objected, not liking to be disturbed. P.S.: Except by you]

“Alright, fine. Won’t force it. I come back daily anyway, and I can see what’s going on in the Homestead from outside,” Chen Xiyi conceded.

Shanyue crumbled apart, merging into the soil to begin building the earth vein ecology.

“Various resources are in the Wooden Storage Chest inside the house. If you need anything, just grab it later, no need to be shy. We’re not short on anything for now,” Chen Xiyi thought again and added.

[Shanyue heard your instruction from within the soil and signaled understanding]

With all settled, Chen Xiyi finally felt reassured enough to leave the Homestead and return to Prince Zhuang’s Mansion.

“Once I get the materials Emperor Li promised, I can go retrieve the damaged module. Too bad it’s damaged.”

“As expected, the map updated again.”

Opening the map, Chen Xiyi saw another dramatic change. Before, it was just glowing dots and water veins against a black background.

Now it was completely different.

Topography appeared – mountains, ridges, ranges. But that’s all it showed so far. Mineral deposits? Ground buildings? Plants? None. Just a skeleton map of the land’s structure.

Still, that was a huge improvement.

“This instantly boosted the map’s accuracy.”

Even with just ground structure, Chen Xiyi could make educated guesses based on it.

“Seems achieving a truly cheat-level map requires more fairies to keep adding layers of detail.”

Chen Xiyi felt a bit disappointed. Why were there only three historically significant items in this world? Adding a zero at the end would have been nice.

Of course, that was wishful thinking. You got what you got. Couldn’t force it.

The Spirituality module tied to history just had ridiculously high standards. The earlier promotion was basically false advertising.