Elf Infrastructure Handbook

[Upcoming novel: To Save My Medicinal Lover, I Went Into the Occult Business. The blurb is at the end. If you're interested, please add it to your collection, mua~]

Fuguang was still young. In his previous life, he had struggled through hardship and suffered discrimination. Fortunately, he was resilient by nature and wasn't consumed by hatred. He embraced what he believed to be a perfect ending.

Then, with a splash, he was reborn in another world.

'Go, Administrator. Begin your second life!'

So said the System.

Fuguang felt the sharp ears that had inexplicably appeared on his head and struggled to force a smile.

Haha, your luck stat is pretty good. You actually encountered an incredibly rare event like being reborn. How wonderful, how wonderful. But you also fell into a death zone, thanks to your terrible luck, so I guess that balances things out.

He had only just started to get a feel for the wilderness survival life when a group of intelligent humanoid creatures with the same pointed ears as him suddenly appeared and collided with him face-to-face.

By the time he came to his senses, Fuguang had gone from a rough-and-tumble wild man to an elf child in need of tender care in elven territory.

...But he'd been an adult for many years. He gave a cold laugh.

*

Behold: the grand entrance of an elven child who isn't actually a child. (Sort of.)

Your battle-axe may hurt people, but construction isn't something you can solve with force alone... right?

Fuguang scratched his head. No problem. If the tech tree is lacking, magic can fill the gap!

Things you might want to see:

Plant-growth magic: Agricultural science students rejoice! Breeding crops doesn't take 365 days, or even 30 days. It takes just one day, only one day!!

Plant-shaping magic: An elegant way of building urban water supply and drainage pipelines, one construction worker could only dream of. No more getting up in the middle of the night to pour concrete!!!

Fire magic: A chemist tapped you on the head and asked in bewilderment, "Are you saying this amazing magic can extract large quantities of phosphorus ions in various forms from the soil, efficiently, just so you can synthesize elemental phosphorus to burn? Hey! What a waste of a precious resource!!!!!"

Fuguang waved a hand again. "Sigh, that's not all. I have something to say about the elves' urgent population crisis."

'What do you mean, A Study of the Correlation Between the Endangerment of the Elven Race and the Malformation of World Tree Fruit: The Enrichment of Pollutants in the Fruit Nutrient Chain????' the System cried.

That's hilarious. Is this so-called scientific research even scientific?

*

The World Tree once bore two golden fruits.

But during the century-long war, both were lost without exception.

Loss is the first step toward the spread of loneliness, while habit is the second step toward the heart becoming a wasteland.

Amid a future woven from endless possibilities and diversity, the World Tree knew that it had forever lost the chance to hope for something.

Until, in a long, dim slumber, a gray shape brushed lightly against its outstretched tendrils.

It awoke with a start, breaking through the chaos, confusion, and darkness.

Its... fruit.

Winter should end, and suffering should have an end too. Immense joy was wrapped in immense fear.

'Bring it back... the fruit...'

The forest heard its murmur.

Flesh and bone blossomed, while branches linked with the beating of a heart made of flesh and blood.

This time, it would not be separated from its fruit again.

*

"Hatred is easier to maintain than love, because it requires no effort at all."

So discrimination is simpler than tolerance, and following violence is easier than seeking a path toward coexistence.

Fuguang met elves, merfolk, beastfolk, dwarves, and then wingfolk.

"I don't like this world."

Famine and low productivity were only some of the urgent problems to solve. Even harder to unravel were the complicated hatred and prejudice between people.

So Fuguang left the forest and headed for the snowy plains.

He went to seek a possibility he believed could be created.

Magic was so wondrous. It could do so many things he could hardly have imagined in his previous life. But why was it used only as a weapon of violence, rather than to build a beautiful home?

The elves could nurture flourishing ecosystems, the beastfolk had talents in every field, the dwarves were peerless in metallurgy, and the merfolk had built their own thriving economy. So why were they scattered and divided, while the people of the land remained trapped in war and hunger day after day?

The gods had long since fallen silent. Then whom, exactly, was the clergy of the holy city worshiping?!

'What does the Administrator want?'

As a child, Fuguang had once wished he could be born somewhere nobody would bully him, where he could eat his fill every day.

But now, he wanted...

He had experienced the taste of hardship himself, and the countless lives before him, trapped in an endless cycle of suffering, deserved to see that suffering come to an end.

-------End of section-------

1. A fantasy magic-world infrastructure-building story. The love interest is the World Tree (the kind that can control vines; sorry, I'm vulgar and lowbrow).

2. The story has currently reached the part where they enter the snowy plains, in volume two. The main infrastructure-building arc begins here~

3. The content of chapters 51 to 78 has been revised. Some logic issues have been corrected, the narrative order of the first half has been adjusted, and the second half has been mostly rewritten, with the event's ending added. I'm truly sorry for being away for so long. Updates will be every other day or every two days from now on.

Updates at noon.

-------Upcoming novel-------

Upcoming novel: To Save My Medicinal Lover, I Went Into the Occult Business

Ye Zhiqiu closed and opened his eyes. One moment he'd just resolved the ultimate crisis in the martial world, and the next he'd fallen back into a modern city with his medicinal companion.

He looked at the traffic and crowds around him. His mind flashed back, and half a lifetime seemed to have passed.

But before he could even reflect on this abrupt return...

Ye Zhiqiu frantically searched his pockets, then showed an expression of grief and shock.

The life-extending pill for his medicinal companion, which he'd just snatched from the final boss, hadn't come back with him!!!!

Behind him stood a man nearly two meters tall, wearing clothes that showed off his beautiful muscles. His wild, rugged aura was impossible to miss, yet his dark eyes were remarkably clear.

Ye Zhiqiu met his gaze for two seconds. The taciturn medicinal companion stared at him, a hint of innocence inexplicably appearing in his eyes.

That familiar, intoxicating feeling...

Aaaaaaaah!

No matter what, he would find a way to keep his medicinal companion alive, damn it!!!!!!!

Good news: Even though you've returned to the modern world, there's still a way to save the medicinal companion you brought back from that incredible martial world, despite him having died and come back to life!

Bad news: The herbs needed for the life-extending pill are outrageously expensive. Even if you spent your entire fortune from your previous life, you still couldn't make one!

Ye Zhiqiu collapsed in despair. Before he transmigrated, he had cried as he worked himself to the bone just to survive. So why, after coming back with a wealth of special skills, did he still have to bust his ass to make money?

Why is life so bitter?

Come on, brain, think! Which of the skills he learned in the martial world can he turn into money the fastest?

Alchemy? People in modern society think it's old-fashioned to dabble in superstition!

Medicine? Hospitals require master's or doctoral degrees to even get started, while anyone with just a bachelor's is treated like a stray dog. Most importantly, Ye Zhiqiu's degree in civil engineering isn't relevant at all!

Poison and parasites? Please don't let that rose-gold bracelet kiss me!

Then, then...

"Master! Are you the expert my dad hired? You really are so... tall!"

A silly guy with a chunky gold chain and rainbow-colored hair jumped out of his limited-edition supercar and grabbed the medicinal companion's arm, bawling at the top of his lungs without a care in the world!

Hey! Where did that yellow... rainbow-haired guy come from?! Don't go touching someone else's medicinal companion!

In a flash, Ye Zhiqiu...

pulled out the item in his pocket... a mini portable alchemy furnace.

"Wow, look at those deep marks left by history! This must be your family's ancestral magical artifact!" The rainbow-haired guy clapped enthusiastically.

Ye Zhiqiu rubbed the tip of his nose. Actually, he'd just dropped it by accident a few times...

The rainbow-haired guy didn't give either of them a chance to object. He dragged them both off, started up the supercar, and burned through the tires until the rubber was nearly bald.

After getting out, Ye Zhiqiu looked at the imposing mansion in front of him. The explanation he'd been about to give got stuck in his throat.

He glanced at the big guy behind him, the medicinal companion, shut his eyes, and steeled himself...

For the sake of the life-extending pill, he could sell his conscience and pretend to be a shaman!

A strange story has recently been circulating through the occult world.

Apparently, some young upstart from nowhere carries around an unremarkable, battered bronze cauldron wherever he goes, along with his hulking, slightly dim-witted lover.

He punches vengeful spirits and kicks evil demons. He even saw through the techniques of one extremely dangerous occult master from the Association, causing the master to suffer a backlash and go into seclusion.

The Occult Association was abuzz with debate over whether to admit him, but couldn't reach a consensus.

Then the secret recipe for the Living Person Pill, which had been lost for nearly a thousand years, suddenly resurfaced. They immediately made up their minds: Unite every force that can be united!

Not long after, Ye Zhiqiu received a letter from the occult organization. He looked at the three words Living Person Pill in black and white, then instinctively glanced at the medicinal companion beside him.

It was both a Living Person Pill and a Dead Person's Poison.

Heaven and earth have their own laws, and yin and yang belong on opposite sides.

The boundary should not, and cannot, be broken at will.

Theme: Everyone should be able to walk the path they choose