Chapter 268 Rejuvenation
After waiting for a little while to make sure that Faxul had left to his chamber to get ready, Daneel came out again and left the Palace.
Teleporting back to the location where the carnage had just taken place, he looked around at all the blood that was now flowing into the ground.
The Ravens had apparently flown back to their Kingdom on seeing that they couldn't penetrate the barrier, and the soldiers had ordered to leave.
Bending, he put his hand on the earth before asking the system, "Is everything okay? Has the rejuvenation process started?"
[Affirmative. Rejuvenation process has begun. Precise distribution is necessary for efficient rejuvenation. Host must cast the spell after the blood has permeated properly.]
Hearing the answer, Daneel stood up and sighed with relief.
Because this was such an important matter, it had had to be double checked.
Making his way back to the Palace, he thought back to everything that had led to this moment.
One year ago, when the Black Raven King had given the deal with the Echer seeds, the analysis by the system had given the shocking revelation that the way to rejuvenate the land was to soak it with the blood of Fighters or Mages.
After all, Fighters and Mages absorbed Energy themselves to grow in power. It only made sense that the earth which was starving due the Energy being sucked away from it by the Echer plants would be able to absorb this Energy to bring itself back to life.
According to the system, this sort of rejuvenation would only be possible once, and that too only after he cast a specific spell which was developed by the system. It was similar to the spell which modified the honey for the honeytrap solution; basically, it was to allow the Energy to enter the soil the same way it entered the Honey. The reason that it could only be done once was that the earth would apparently change permanently after being subjected to this process.
The spell technique which he would be able to learn if he accepted the deal was something that was very very important to Daneel. Yet, he had hesitated because he knew that there would be a lot of bloodshed to bring the earth back to what it was.
The fact that the Black Raven King had given this deal knowing that it would lead to a devastating loss for the Lanthanor Kingdom had led him to make the decision to accept it, planning to lure the Black Raven Kingdom soldiers over and kill them.
It was only due to the expedition that he had been able to find out that the old man was in desperate need of Ker Gems, which led him to use this ruse of a fake Ker Gem mine in order to bring the soldiers over.
Indeed, the mine had actually been fake.
Daneel had had to work on it for a long period of time in order to make it authentic enough to fool the mine hunters.
Using the data collected by the system about the types of Ker Gem mines, he had found that there was a particular one which had a sort of metallic enclosure that had to be carefully pierced.
After teleporting over to the location where he wanted the mine to be, he had dug earth out and made the cave using metal that he brought over and melted.
Next, he used the assembly line blacksmiths to make Gem shaped objects which could give a red reflection.
Making sure that they were as identical to Ker Gems as possible, he had embedded them around the fake mine in order to fool the soldiers who came. After all, these were all soldiers who had never seen Ker gems in their life and only had a rough description of them. They would also be in a hurry, so they wouldn't pause to check whether it was the real thing. Just for safety, the first few gems were actually real Ker Gems that had been formed by the Natural Energised Training Chamber.
As for the earth above which the mine hunter had spotted, Daneel had modified it using a technique developed by the system. Finally, the two people in the inn who spoke about the incident were actually spies.
In this way, he had fooled the Black Raven Kingdom into thinking that there was actually a Ker Gem mine so that they would risk everything in order to obtain the gems.
Explosion trinkets were placed everywhere under the ground which would be detonated remotely in order to kill whoever came.
The only reason he had given one last chance for them to turn back using his plea through the display trinket had been to make Faxul witness their choice.
He knew that his friend now had a soft spot for this Kingdom, and he did not wish to make himself look like the villain who killed people without any mercy.
Hence, he had brought Faxul over to watch as he gave the chance.
By killing them, he was actually hitting two birds with one stone.
One, he was getting the materials needed in order to make the land fertile again.
Two, he would be able to cause unrest in the Kingdom which they were soon going to take advantage of.
As for the 1000 people who had marched towards the western border gate, they were clearly just a distraction to pull away the commanders so that the Black Raven Kingdom strike team could leave without any hindrance. Those 1000 people had actually teleported away a few minutes after the explosion.
After getting back to the palace and finding Faxul ready to go, the two departed to the Black Raven Kingdom.
…
After hearing the explosion and receiving no coherent communication from the soldiers except screams of pain, the Black Raven King and the old man looked at each other with shock realizing what had just happened.
After a few seconds, the display trinket which had gone blank shattered as the old man put his fist through it.
He was burning with rage, making the Black Raven King step back as he felt the air around them heat up.
As the old man turned around and was about to say something to the King, a cough interrupted him, making him spit black blood which he stared at with the fury on his face only increasing.
Knowing that his emotional state would only increase his suffering, the old man calmed down before closing his eyes and assessing everything that had happened.
The Ker gems were now in the hands of the Lanthanor Kingdom, and with their army now short of so many mages, there was no way that they could even hope to mount an attack.
How had that darn King been able to place such effective countermeasures??! He resolved to find this out as soon as he could.
Taking out a communication trinket, he first sent a message saying that the mission was over which made the 1000 people at the western border gate teleport away.
After this, he tried to decide what to do.
If he wanted to continue living, he needed Ker Gems at all costs. With his power, leaving the kingdom wasn't an option because he wouldn't have time to establish himself somewhere else before dying.
Right now, he was sustaining himself using Ether blocks and the situation was stable for at least six more months.
Hence, choosing to slowly take drastic measures, he said, "Handle it," with a cold voice before striding out of the room.
Handle it?
How?
As the Black Raven King gritted his teeth and almost wondered aloud in this way, he felt the communication trinket vibrating telling him that there was a message incoming from the Lanthanor Kingdom.
Having no mood to converse with the bratty King right now, he told the messenger to stop the communication and closed his eyes, imagining the soldiers who had just been sent to their deaths.
Had there really be no other way? Did they all have to die?
Such questions were actually useless because he knew that he would have slaughtered his enemies in the same way if he were the King of Lanthanor.
What was he even supposed to do now? The bulk of the mages were now gone, and thousands of families would soon come to the Palace asking what happened to their family members.
What answer would he give? That they died because of a pursuit for wealth?
No matter what he said, it would only worsen the public favor which was against him.
To redirect the people's hatred and pain, an enemy had to be found. An enemy whom they could point at with their fingers and blame for their loss.
Of course, the best candidate was the Lanthanor Kingdom. The only risk was that someone might have recorded everything that happened.
If there was no proof, it would be quite easy to make up a story and say that the Lanthanor Kingdom had slaughtered the soldiers.
But, it was too much of a risk. If proof did come out, his credibility would completely be destroyed.
As he tried to think of alternatives, the communication trinket vibrated again sending a message which shocked him and made him sprint towards the old man who had just left.