Chapter 527, Section 526: Prevention Dilemmas and Divergences
Elf Royal Council.
Since there is no suitable candidate for Elf King at the moment, Queen Galadriel is in charge of affairs under the guise of acting as regent, but this is essentially a measure to stabilize the people's hearts.
She does not have the power to make decisions unilaterally on important matters; they are all decided through discussions with other elves in the council, as is the case here.
A young elf dressed in light hunting attire was deftly twirling a delicious, bright red mushroom between his fingertips.
He looked around and said in a clear voice, “Now, these delicious mushrooms are everywhere in the forest, and their yield is much higher than that of the Moon Tree, which only bears fruit once every three years. Most importantly, they don’t require any care at all! Our children can enjoy this delicacy every few days. It’s a gift from the forest, so why should we bother with them?”
His words elicited slight nods from several other, relatively young, members of parliament.
However, the older druid sitting opposite him, draped in a dark brown robe adorned with fresh vines and dried seeds, shook his head: "Then, young Eros, when you enjoy this 'gift,' have you ever lowered your head to carefully observe the original skin of the forest beneath the carpet of fungi?"
He paused briefly, and without raising his voice, the entire room's attention was firmly captured.
"Since the large-scale appearance of fungal carpets, moonshoe moss, which relies on a specific humus layer and weak light to grow, has completely disappeared from the eastern forest area. Shadow moss, which prefers moisture and dislikes light, has also not been found again. This is just the beginning. According to our continuous observation, of the original 127 species of low-growing plants in the forest, the number of 43 species has decreased by more than 40%. These include song ferns, which provide shelter for young birds and animals in the forest, and rootgrass, which can stabilize the magic in the soil."
“But fungal carpets can replace their function!” another elven craftsman representative, who was more pragmatic, spoke up. “They decompose rotten wood ten times faster than natural decay, are extremely efficient at clearing pests, and the mushrooms they produce can feed the animals. In addition to the plants you mentioned, the forest will become much more lush!”
"And the price?" the older druid who spoke first countered. "Learn more about nature, young man. The price is that the forest becomes monoculture! It is efficient and productive, yet it is monoculture and exclusive. This is a dangerous sign."
“Furthermore,” the druid turned his gaze to Salian, who sat to the side, “do you all know what the land beneath our feet looks like now?”
Salian stood up upon hearing the sound, raised his hands, and a soft, pale blue light flowed from his fingertips, connecting with the reconnaissance array in the Elf Forest.
The next instant, a huge and detailed three-dimensional magical image unfolded in mid-air.
Above the image is the well-known City in the Trees, where you can even see elves strolling between the covered bridges if you look closely.
However, when all the elves followed the image downwards, focusing on the deep soil beneath the roots of the giant tree, they saw countless intricate, layered underground tunnels, far more complex than the multi-layered bridges of the tree city.
"These were all... dug out by Puji?" one of the elves asked in disbelief.
“Obviously.” Salian lowered his hands, and the image stabilized and hovered. He then added objectively, “However, there is no need to worry about collapse or soil loosening. Those puddles can reinforce the tunnel walls while digging, and to some extent even enhance the stability of the local land.”
Even so, no elf wanted their home to become a maze of crisscrossing mazes.
This undoubtedly poses a huge security risk and is easily exploited by malicious individuals.
Parliament then shifted its focus to how to effectively prevent and control the disease; however, the discussion quickly reached a stalemate.
Fungal mats are fire-resistant, but difficult to ignite. Forests are also unsuitable for fire, not to mention that the mycelium in the network cannot be dealt with by fire.
Druids' nature magic can solve this problem well; as long as the magic in the creep is activated, the creep will burst into mushrooms and then wither naturally.
This is quite an energy-consuming and large-scale project. Are we to expect the Druids to do nothing else but prevent and control the fungal carpet every day?
Some people also mentioned the mushroom clan member, Number One.
But Number One can only manage things like the burrowing of the fungal carpet; it can't control its spread.
As requested by the fungus master, it neither supported nor opposed the restriction on the fungal carpet, letting the elves do as they pleased.
Lin Jun was not surprised by the elves' reaction, and her reasoning was quite simple.
If the elves can't find a solution, then they'll have no choice but to accept it.
If the elves find a way, it will allow them to realize the weaknesses of the creep and take countermeasures.
In fact, the spread of fungal carpets on the west coast of the kingdom has indeed been contained.
The reason is that there are more slimes over there!
Even after the mist cleared, some changes remained, one of which was an increase in magic concentration, to the point where slimes could be created naturally.
In addition, the area had just gone through war and was sparsely populated, so the number of slimes easily increased because no one was specifically cleaning them up.
They not only eat the fungal carpet on the ground, but also burrow into the tunnels and eat everything in their path!
As expected, another war between Puji and Slime is about to begin.
However, slime control is clearly not suitable for the Elf Forest.
That thing is a pure pest; it decomposes everything.
Lin Jun's fungal carpet will at least leave some plants, but if there are too many slimes, it will be completely bare, with nothing left but slimes.
Of course, slimes are not very strong, and under normal circumstances, unless someone raises them, their numbers will not increase.
The situation on the west bank is a special case.
Ultimately, the council formally assigned the urgent task of developing a plan to control the fungal carpet to the Druid community, hoping they could find a solution that was both practical and efficient as soon as possible.
However, when the two appointed Druid representatives left the council hall, the worry between their brows was even deeper than when they arrived.
The difficulties they face go far beyond the technical aspects.
Not only are they unsure how to deal with the creep, but what worries them even more is that there seem to be some disagreements within the Druid community recently.
Some druids began to examine creep with a completely new perspective.
They believe that this life form, which efficiently converts energy and builds symbiotic networks, may represent another possible evolution of the natural way, and is even worthy of in-depth study and acceptance.
This view has even gained some acceptance among older druids, and there is a growing trend towards the formation of a new research society.
They worry that if a proper way to handle the fungal carpet cannot be found in the short term, proving the resilience and wisdom of the traditional approach, then these dissenting voices will likely grow louder.
The two druids exchanged a glance, both knowing that this was a task that could not be delayed!
...
Everyone else had left the meeting, but Galadriel couldn't go down to rest yet.
Internal affairs are discussed in the council, but when it comes to foreign affairs, she still represents the face of the elves and needs to show her face to the delegation and inform them of the time for formal discussions.
She was also somewhat curious about Inanna.
This girl, not even twenty years old, actually earned the title of war hero. She was so young and accomplished that her reputation even surpassed that of the twenty-year-old sword saint.
At least when Elwin was twenty, there was absolutely no record of him in the Elven Forest.
Upon entering the side hall where the delegation was resting, Galadriel saw Inanna with bright pink hair, and then noticed the strange puji with four swords tucked into her arms.
For some reason, in this situation where they should immediately exchange polite greetings, she couldn't take her eyes off the seemingly stiff Puji.
(End of this chapter)
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