Due to the legacy of history, the Temple of the Clouds remains a broken world. The dry, rainless desert environment is widely adapted only by special groups like the Uzis, who move around.
The vast majority of life needed water and food.
Lu Yao already had some experience of adding new rules, and it wasn’t difficult to recreate a few artificial lakes out there, except that these careful lakes couldn’t form flowing rivers into water sources that could evolve themselves.
This involved a higher level of complex geographic construction, requiring both the support of the weather and the feedback of the underground environment, which Lu Yao couldn’t do right now.
He could only start with the simpler ground.
How could he make the water flow, expand the scope of the oasis, and allow Sand City’s external radiation to spread further?
This was Sand City’s current pain point.
Relying on the residents of Sand City themselves couldn’t do it yet.
Although the elves and squirrels were very energetic, their personal efforts were too small in the face of the water shortage here, maintaining the greenery within the city was fine, but there was no progress in transforming it outwards.
】
Lu Yao thought of the cactus.
Cactus was a desert plant that could store a certain amount of water itself, and was better adapted to the harsh local climate than pine trees and symbiotic forests.
Relying on ordinary cacti alone wasn’t enough, it was necessary to give this plant some more magical powers so that they could better take root in the Gobi Desert and become the vanguard of the Yao Clan and Sand City’s transformation of the desert.
Lu Yao tapped on the props bar and considered them one by one from top to bottom.
His eyes rested on the [Calamity Branches].
This fire prop was an offering presented by the Pixies, and had a certain chance of breeding a Water Elemental Calamity, but only if it survived in water.
Unfortunately, right now, it needed to store water, not use it.
Lu Yao continued to scroll down, and soon, he locked onto the fire props that went with the cacti.
[Silver Buckle Lacquer Box].
This was an offering from Yao City to the Temple of God, with the ability to slowly restore life or durability to the props in the box, equivalent to a small repairer.
Its ability was more relevant to today’s needs than the Calamity Branches.
Lu Yao selected it and fused it with the Cactus.
The Fire Prop and creature in the box pulled back a straight line, extending a new box in which a green figure emerged.
The cactus that had been integrated into the fire prop changed its shape, its body becoming nearly humanoid, with a small handful of red flowers that looked like little hats on its head.
Under the pixelated painting, it had a pair of holey eyes, as well as a tiny mouth.
The cactus carries a wooden box on its back, and its legs are not long enough to look like a student on his way to school.
There are quite a few abilities that can be granted to the new style cactus, but again, you can only choose one for both positive and negative abilities.
Positive abilities include: [Wisdom], [Poisoning], [Disguise], [Off-road], and [Self-repair].
Negative traits included: [Cowardice], [Battle Shyness], [Fragility], and [Suspiciousness].
Lu Yao chose [Wisdom].
Cross-country was good, but Sand City had Earthbound Boats and would soon have Fire Vapour Carriages, and the ability to run long distances was of little use compared to these two carriers.
Self-repair should be an ability derived from [Silver Buckle Lacquer Box], but the long term value wasn’t high either.
Of course, I chose Wisdom, a trait with great potential.
Lu Yao didn’t want any of the negative characteristics and pulled them off directly.
After he settled on an official name, a brand new species that had never existed before made its appearance.
……
[Back Box Cactus lv1]
Life Value: 41/41
Mana: 1/1
Damage: 2
Defence: 2
Speed: 6
[Wisdom]
[Drought Tolerance]
Can adapt to arid environments, will store water in its body, and can survive for 30 days without drinking water.
……
The simulator floats subtitles.
[Please select the world where you want to drop this species.]
Lu Yao clicked on Cloud Temple.
Thus, there was this transcendent life outside of Sand City.
Although Backbox Cacti could move around autonomously, most of the time, they were rooted in the sand just like normal cacti.
What sets them apart from traditional cacti is that if they sense a lack of moisture, they will run next to an artificial lake and gulp it down.
Only when they start to move do the spikes on their bodies wrap around to form a box shape.
Most of the box cacti are quiet by nature and very passive in their external communication. Without being approached, they can remain motionless for a month, continuing the traditional life of a cactus.
Slemurd sets an example.
He instructs and encourages the citizens of Sandown to deal with the backbox cacti.
The first step is to bring some small gift, anything, to express the desire to get acquainted with the cactus.
The backbox cactus is intelligent and understands good intentions even if it does not understand the Yao language.
If the cactus doesn’t dislike a person, it will wave at them to show its appreciation.
Next, you need to prepare [Blasted Honey Wine] to [Know Your Heart] so that both parties can understand each other. After becoming friends with the cactus, it will be happy to help every friend.
Slowly, the residents of Sand City adapted to the existence of the Backbox Cactus.
They are shed from the cactus, but do not leave the cactus community, preferring to live and dwell in the dry desert.
After some time, Slymod announced a decision outside the temple, “Citizens, Sand City has entered into an official partnership with over thirty Backbox Cacti, who will become Sand City’s newest residents.”
“Next they will join us and begin planting cacti towards the surrounding area to open up a new oasis.”
“I now announce that the Northern Oasis Transformation Plan is officially open!”
The Northern Reform Plan aimed to start from the north outside of Sand City, first expanding an oasis as a living area outside of the city, as well as a pilot for large-scale desert transformation in the future.
Lu Yao saw that the backbox cacti really did play a key role in the entire North Reform Project.
They have good endurance, and the cactus’s fruits or stem pieces are slightly treated and buried in the sand, then slightly watered.
Other labourers, such as the squirrels & pixies, not to mention the efficiency of planting, are busy for a while and then have to take a long break due to lack of water and strain.
The backbox cacti, on the other hand, are much more energetic under the harsh sun.
They love the sun’s rays.
At night, the Backbox Cacti become depressed, as if heavy iron weights have been tied to their bodies, and their steps become very slow.
This is when the squirrels and pixies come alive, and the coolness allows them to work longer.
To increase the motivation of the backbox cacti, Slemod thought of a solution.
He had a couple of custom-made hanging lamps made from the lamp maker’s lamp multiplier, plus equipped with a fire steamer to create light and heat artificially. The light from the hanging lamps was naturally no match for sunlight, but it more or less gave the cacti a sense of light, which, combined with the heat from the fire steamer, had a very refreshing effect on the backbox cacti.
The backbox cacti have also developed new uses for the cacti in the Northern Reform.
“…… If you are particularly thirsty in the desert and are already drying out, you can rehydrate with a cactus.”
The backbox cactus gets some water by sticking its thorns into the cactus, and other inhabitants in need of water have followed suit.
This turned the cacti into a sort of mobile water storage point, like a pillar of life rooted in the barren desert, allowing the Yao to build roads and surrounding amenities from them.
As these thorny green plants continued to spread outside the city, the footsteps of the residents of Sand City became farther and farther away.
In addition to being employed by Sand City for desert remodelling, the Backbox Cactus has been well received by the Uzis.
Most of the Wuzhi people operated alone in their ground boats, travelling deep into the desert to conduct underground surveys and mapping, but it was inevitable that one person would lose track of what was going on, and there were many places where it was inconvenient to do so.
But the residents of Sand City could not live away from Sand City. Even for transcendent beings, most of them would become unconscious after seven days of water shortage and fall into an extremely dangerous situation, and food supplies were also a big problem.
The backbox cacti turned out to be the best assistants for the Uzi people.
They are quiet, reliable, tolerant of loneliness, sensitive to sunlight and temperature, and can live without water for thirty days, as long as the sun.
The Uzis were able to take the cacti into the very depths of the desert, and when they wanted to do underground surveys, they placed the back box cacti and some survival supplies on the ground dunes – not only could they survive, but they could also serve as a natural coordinate.
Seeing the backbox cacti glowing, Lu Yao couldn’t help but look towards the presentation of a cup of coconut juice and a bowl of evenly sliced coconut fruit granules.
The cactus clan were all good helpers indeed.
At this time, Slymod’s doppelganger reported, “Lord God, the first batch of applicants from the Spectral Ghost Realm and the Bamboo Reed Kingdom have already arrived, and I’m in the process of examining them.”
Lu Yao switched to the Divine Kingdom Bonding Body.
At the foot of Pillar Mountain, Slymod got down from the fire-vapour carriage and looked at the first applicant.
Lu Yao took a look.
This is a familiar face.
The number one warrior below Apostle of the Bamboo Lu Kingdom, Bamboo Tiger.
“My strength is still, not bad, I can fight, I want to go to Sand City for further training, I am good at …… fighting.”
Bamboo Tiger was inexplicably nervous today, and his speech stuttered.
“I’m sorry, Sand City doesn’t need pure combatants at the moment, we’re a city of peace. The Martial Arts Convention is also just a competitive event, it’s not meant to create disputes or violence.”
Slymod asked him, “Is there anything else you’re good at?”
Bamboo Tiger thought for a while and said somewhat hesitantly, “I also know how to …… plant bamboo, cut bamboo, cut bamboo and build bamboo houses.”
“Congratulations! You are the talent we want, welcome to Sand City.
”
Slemod shook his hand.
“Really?”
Bamboo Tiger was still a bit unresponsive, a question mark surfaced on his head and then turned into a smiley face.
Just like that, the first warrior of the Bamboo Reed Kingdom entered Sand City to work as a bamboo builder.
