Miss Witch Doesn't Want to be a Diva

The arborist by her side was very understanding, handing the girl a pair of small scissors, "Just use these to snip them off, and then place them in the small basket."

After finishing his instructions, he passed her a carrying basket, and the girl's companion also received the same items.

The group of people were snipping strawberries as the lead arborist started to talk about the cultivation process of these strawberries.

"Actually, strawberries are a fruit that we have only made progress with in the past two years," he said with a hint of emotion in his voice. "Before that, watermelons were more mature. The yellow-fleshed watermelons produced by the Withered Tree Garden underwent six generations of improvement before we gradually eliminated the toxins absorbed during growth and got permission to enter the Federal Market." His voice was filled with reflection; a single sentence seemed to carry a multitude of hardships and difficulties.

"Cultivating plants in this desert isn't difficult, but the challenging part is how to prevent the toxic substances from the toxic rain from accumulating in the crops."

"Chemical toxins can be filtered out with current technological means, but the toxic rain that corrodes the Jade Skirt isn't simply a matter of chemical pollution," he slowly began to address the root problems that plague the planet today.

"The production of transcendent creations also brings about transcendent effects as by-products. Hundreds of years ago, in the process of synthesizing the rare Four-leaf Crystal, vast amounts of water were extracted and added into the ritual reactions."

"If we were to completely discard these wastewaters, they'd have to be thrown into outer space. This method is extremely cost-ineffective and a huge waste of resources," he explained. "Back then, there was no room for such luxury; the industrial sector wouldn't allow such practices to reduce production efficiency, so the issue was shelved."

"As the civil war became more urgent and production pressures increased, these wastewaters were ultimately discharged directly into the oceans. It was from that time on that the fish resources in the Jade Skirt began to die out."

"Nowadays, it's hard for you to see fish on the dining table, or to put it another way, the variety of fish is quite limited because of this."

"Physical and chemical methods can filter out the toxins in the physical and chemical aspects, but it's not so easy to clear out toxins related to transcendent concepts."

"If it were just a matter of drinking water, the impact wouldn't be too significant; middle-rank transcendent individuals could withstand it. But the accumulation of toxins in plant fruits and animal bodies is another story. If consumed carelessly over time, it could slowly lead to bodily exhaustion, as if afflicted by a curse."

"That's why, today, the market within the Jade Skirt conducts strict testing of all kinds of foodstuffs, and only those that meet the standards are allowed for sale."

"Where do the food ingredients in the market mainly come from now?" the girl asked with curiosity.

"The ingredients from within the Jade Skirt, if they are of the low-rank and commonplace variety, are mostly sourced from the less polluted regions in the south, where there are specialized plantation gardens capable of cycling clean water sources internally, providing a favorable growing environment."

"Then there are imports from other Star Domains. The 'T4 grade' ingredients we see on the market, most of them come from these sources."

"The higher the grade of the ingredients, the higher the requirements for the place of origin, the degree of pollution, and the quality. It's virtually impossible for ingredients produced in the Jade Skirt to be exported," he expressed with a sense of regret.

"In fact, in the past, the Jade Skirt was a respectable exporter of food ingredients. Here, 'T3' and 'T4' grade ingredients were abundant, and there were even a few incredibly rare 'T2' grade ingredients."

"In today's era, high-grade food ingredients with transcendent effects are commodities with an exceptionally high market demand. Everywhere, people wish to attain advancement in the Transcendent Sequence, to gain some kind of enhancement effect, and there is a big gap in the consumption of high-grade ingredients—it's a market that never runs out."

"Losing this once-important source of income has led to a significant economic downturn for the Jade Skirt. Today, we can only rely on the remaining industry for support. Yet, industry will continue to bring pollution, creating a sort of vicious circle," the arborist clearly disliked the vigorous industrial development scenario of this planet.
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Seeing that some of the group appeared to disagree, he then led everyone to a vast and grand hall. The architecture here was ancient in style, as if it was a temple where giants dwelt.

"This is the place," he said, stopping inside the spacious temple and lifting the Withered Wood Staff in his hand.

A halo of light spread from the top of the staff, followed by the temple lights turning on one by one, until the inner walls of the dome were fully illuminated.

The gorgeous, colorful frescoes depicted arborists dressed in colorful leaf garments gathering together; among them were Elves, humans, and even several from the Beast Race. The leading arborist had a badge of a golden flame rose on his chest, indicating he was a follower of Isenisha, standing under a great tree with hands raised high. Behind him, in the center of the temple wall, the immense canopy of a huge tree gradually became visible.

The entire gigantic tree was outlined in golden lines which were beautiful and, as the lights shone upon it, the lines glittered with a special kind of resplendent gold, as though woven from rainbow silk threads.

The tree was surrounded by countless colorful birds. This towering tree bore many fruits, each of differing shapes, some looking like solidified gold, dazzling and eye-catching.

This was the World Tree, or to be precise, one of the descendants of the World Tree. This tree was undoubtedly a descendant of the legendary World Tree from Elven mythology.

It is said that whenever the Elves ventured onto a new planet, they would plant a seed of the World Tree and nurture it carefully. If the tree survived, it would gradually improve the environment of the entire planet.

Undoubtedly, this planet once also had such a World Tree, and these arborists were the ancient guardians who gathered to care for it beneath its branches.

"This is the World Tree, isn't it?" a companion in the group murmured, gazing at the magnificent tree on the wall.