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Chapter 249 - Refining War Tactics (2)

“Has anything special happened while I was gone?”

“No, I’ve kept the slaves in good condition just like you’ve asked.”

“How many are there left?”

“Surprisingly, only one or two have died.”

“I guess it was worth improving their meals.”

“Well, all they do is eat, sleep, and deal with Cyclone Hydra. They’ve gotten used to this by now, so they’re very efficient in farming the tails from the Hydra.”

“How much Black Tear have we made?”

“Haha, you might want to sit down for this. We’ve made over two thousand units.”

“Two thousand units, you say...? That’s really good.”

Henry had forgotten about it, but it was good to hear that they had produced over two thousand Black Tears.

Henry and Torian soon entered a room inside the lab with a glass window. This room was used to keep an eye on the slaves. The glass window was special because even though it allowed the people in the room to observe the slaves, the slaves couldn’t see anything through it.

Henry leaned back and looked through the window. Sure enough, most of the slaves were alive, except for one or two just like Torian had said.

Beyond the glass, the slaves were fighting the Cyclone Hydra, whose tails had regenerated.

“Wow!”

If their fighting skills had been lackluster in the past, now they were all expert hunters. They all dodged the Cyclone Hydra’s tail in a familiar manner and thrust their blades into it in the right spot with precise timing.

Slice!

Ten tails fell to the ground. After the men cut off the tails, the women picked them up, then all the slaves made sure to feed the Cyclone Hydra so that it wouldn’t starve to death and continue to regenerate its tails.

By all intents and purposes, this mansion was a tail factory.

Having shown Henry how things were going, Torian asked, “Well, what do you think? Aren’t they well trained?”

“I’m quite pleased. At this rate, I could keep them as tail slaves for the rest of their lives.”

“I’ve organized the Black Tear in the lab as you have instructed.”

“As expected of you, Sir Torian. By the way, aren’t you sick of this monotonous lifestyle?”

“What do you mean by that?”

“It’s just... Your life used to be different at the imperial palace. I’ve been busy and haven’t been able to update you on what’s been going on outside of Salgaera, but you can all leave this place if you decide to.”

“Leave? What do you mean?”

“The world has changed. Silver Jackson is dead, and Arthus has disappeared. Of course I intend to find Arthus and deal with him soon, but in any case, you don’t have to hide in Salgaera anymore.”

“...”

Everyone in this mansion, including Torian, had been living disconnected from the rest of the world, doing the same things every single day. Thus, Henry’s news was a lot to take in.

A million thoughts crossed Torian’s mind.

At the beginning of this, Torian had been grateful that a savior had come to save him from the dreadful life in the Exile Village. On top of that, that savior had not only offered him food, clothing, and shelter, but had also brought him Aubert’s entire family, one of the Three Great Families, which he had hated his entire life.

Thanks to that, Torian had been able to release the pain and anger caused by the oppression and persecution he had suffered onto Aubert’s family members.

Thus, Torian and everyone else in the mansion were content with that alone. As they had all lost their loved ones one by one in the Exile Village, they had all thought they would eventually meet the same fate.

However, Henry had just informed them that Silver Jackson was dead and that Arthus had fled.

Henry looked at Torian, who had a blank expression, and waited patiently for him to process the news and organize his thoughts. Finally, after some moments of silence, Torian came back to his senses and looked at Henry and said, “So... So this isn’t a dream, right?”

“That’s right. I apologize for informing you so late. So, if you wish, I can take you straight to the capital and make a new home for you there.”

Henry was being considerate. In the past, Torian and everyone else had no choice but to live in hiding in Salgaera, but that was no longer the case. Providing them with a new home would be a piece of cake for Henry.

However, Torian’s answer was unexpected.

“No, it’s fine.”

“Sorry...?”

“As much as we’d love to go back to where we came from right this moment, our old homes have probably been torn down... And even if we were to go back to our hometown, what would we do there? We’re all quite content with our lives here anyway.”

“...Are you sure?”

“Of course. If we were to leave this place now, who’s going to make the Black Tear, and who’s going to manage and supervise those slaves?”

“But...”

“Don’t you need the Black Tear right now?”

“I do.”

“See? In fact, our desire for revenge has pretty much vanished, and it’s all thanks to you. So, instead of venting our hatred for the slaves who are fighting the Cyclone Hydras, we now want to spend our days repaying you for what you’ve done for us.”

“...”

Torian was being honest. Just as he pointed out, Henry still needed a lot more of the Black Tear. Knowing Henry’s needs, Torian wanted to help him, purely out of the kindness of his heart.

“Leave it to us. One day, when you’re done with everything and you no longer need the Black Tear, then we’ll leave.”

“... I understand, and since you put it that way, I won’t insist any further. Thank you, Sir Torian.”

“No, thank you,

Archmage. Your kindness is something we’ll never be able to repay you for in our lifetimes, but we shall try nonetheless.”

Henry had come here to settle some unfinished business, but he had been treated with unexpected consideration. He hadn’t felt so touched in a while.

After finishing his conversation with Torian, Henry closed the lab door behind him; he was alone now.

He walked up to the desk, and there were over two thousand Black Tears, neatly organized by Torian. Henry picked one up and checked its condition.

‘Pure Black Tear. Very good.’

Now that they had improved in producing the Black Tears, most of them were just as good as the ones Henry had made.

Henry proceeded to divide the Black Tear into two concentrated batches of one thousand units each. After he was done, he carefully placed the two bottles on the desk and snapped his fingers to summon the subspace.

‘Hmm, let me see...’

Henry stuck his hand in the subspace and dug around for a while. After fumbling around for some time, he finally found what he was looking for.

Thunk-

He took out Elagon’s egg, which had entered the second stage of evolution, and placed it on the desk.

Crack!

Elagon’s egg shook once, possibly because Henry touched it.

“It’s taking a while.”

It had been a long time since Elagon had turned into an egg in order to evolve, but despite that, he still showed no signs of evolving. Thus, Henry decided to speed up his evolution.

Without Elagon’s healing properties, Henry wouldn’t be able consume the Black Tear by himself, no matter how much of it he had.

Henry took out a brush and drew a giant magic circle on the floor of the lab using his blood. With each stroke of the brush, a pale emerald light radiated from the crimson blood. Henry’s blood contained more mana than any other living creature.

It didn’t take him long to finish drawing the circle.

The technique was similar to the Rapid Growth that he had previously used to get Klever to evolve. However, the difference was that Klever was technically a demonic beast, while Elagon was a spirit, which was much weaker than a demonic beast. Therefore, Henry had taken many extra safety precautions for this process.

Henry’s preparation didn’t involve just a magic circle; he also placed the Mana Stones he had grabbed from the subspace throughout the circle and poured some of the Black Tear he had left over it.

If Henry was right, Elagon would need much more mana than Klever to evolve.

With the extra Black Tear, Mana Stones, and the magic circle made from Henry’s blood, everything was set for Elagon’s rapid growth.

Henry placed Elagon’s egg in the center of the magic circle and then took three steps back from the circle and proceeded to cast the Rapid Growth spell.

Oong!

The magic circle responded to the spell, and everything seemed to be going smoothly. Henry finished casting most of the spell, reaching the last words of the incantation.

“...Rapid Growth.”

Henry’s chanting was quiet, barely louder than a murmur, and the moment he uttered the last words of the incantation, the magic circle released an emerald-colored light and all of the mana accumulated in the circle rushed into the egg.

...!

The world’s most radiant yet silent evolution ritual had just begun. The magic circle made the Mana Stones stand upright as it drew mana from them, and the Black Tear let out a kind of mist that enveloped the egg.

Crack-!

The surface of the egg cracked, but the surface quickly regenerated, the cracks disappearing completely. This happened several more times.

Soon, another small crack formed on the surface, and this time it seemed like the egg would give in.

Crack!

CRACK!

Henry observed all of this quietly and attentively. It seemed like Elagon broke the surface of the egg faster in order to meet Henry’s expectations.

Crack!

Finally, the entire eggshell cracked and the bits fell on the floor. However, Elagon’s appearance turned out to be quite peculiar. Henry had expected to see Elagon emerge from the egg, but instead of him, there were some large jewels.

- Khu?

“Huh?”

At that moment, Henry clearly heard Elagon’s endearing voice that always called out to him. However, he hadn’t physically heard the voice; rather, Henry had heard it inside his head, as though he and Elagon were linked telepathically.

“It really is you.”

Hearing Elagon’s voice, Henry looked closely at the remains of the egg.

- Khu!

Elagon cried out again in response, and upon hearing this, Henry felt a tremendous amount of mana being drained from him.

“Huh, I was actually wondering why you weren’t absorbing my mana.”

Klever had used up a lot of his mana as well back when he underwent evolution. However, just when Henry was wondering why Elagon wasn’t absorbing his mana, the spirit proceeded to drain the mana out of him, an amount incomparable to that of Klever.

“Agh...!”

Henry felt dizzy as Elagon kept absorbing a tremendous amount of mana from him. The more mana he took, the larger and smoother the jewels became, and the more they took the form of a human.

When Elagon finally reached the size of what looked like a nine-year-old child, its transparent outline became more opaque.

Paaaat-!

When Elagon finally stopped absorbing mana from him, Henry found himself facing a child with jade-colored eyes.