NOVEL NEXT Chapter 42. The Ultimate Sales Pitch
While Lacius spent most of his time managing and stabilizing the situation in the Sacred Kingdom, six years quickly passed by.
Inside the Divine Space, Cedric stood in front of a floating elven body he had just copied from a random elf in the Crystal Cube world.
After years of study, he has finally attained a preliminary understanding of elven and dwarven anatomy.
As a race with a longer lifespan compared to humans. Although all three of them are similarly humanoid species, their internal organ and energy circulation pathways are quite different from each other.
Let's take the dwarves as an example.
Cedric found out that their muscles and some organs recover faster than humans, which should allow those dwarves to train their muscles faster. Their livers are also much more resilient and stronger than average humans which should be one of the reasons they could live much longer than humans.
Except for their organ, the dwarves' energy circulation paths are also wider and faster around the body while being slightly slower around the head area compared to the average humans. He isn't sure why that happens at all for now and might study it more in-depth in the future.
As for the elves, their overall energy circulation path is wider than that of humans. However, the speed of energy circulation is much slower and less turbulent. Their energy circulation is also more integrated with their body which should be able to repair their body and increase their natural regeneration more than the humans.
Compared to humans, the elves and dwarves also have a better DNA protection thingamajig whose exact official name Cedric doesn't know. He suspected those things should be the main reason for them to have much longer lifespans compared to humans.
No matter how he saw it, humans seem like some kind of cheap knock off product compared to elves and dwarves.
While thinking so, Cedric digested the knowledge he had just learned and waved his hand to disperse the elven body floating in front of him.
He turned his head towards the clock near him and checked the date.
"It's been half a year since I last checked the Crystal Cube world. So, let's do a check on every race." Cedric closes his eyes and sends his mental power into the world.
First, Cedric glanced through the human's territory.
When he is sure it isn't in chaos, Cedric changes his focus and searches around the palace to look for Lacius.
Like the last time Cedric saw him, Lacius is currently busy managing the kingdom while occasionally doing some experiments on a blessed.
To be honest, Cedric is a bit concerned with Lacius's experiments, as he actually used many high level blessed as experimental material.
However, the result of Lacius's experiment has greatly satisfied Cedric. He has actually found two other training methods and has even created what's basically alchemy by mixing magical plants and beasts in the world.
Because the result from Lacius's experiment greatly satisfied Cedric, although he felt a bit in a dilemma, he finally chose to ignore Lacius's inhumane experiments.
Cedric has previously done a preliminary study on the method Lacius invented, which is one of the reasons he hasn't finished studying the elven and dwarven physiology. He has even created the continuation for the earth element method that can be used up to level 2.
But this time, he decided not to share the Level 2 training method with Lacius.
It's mainly because he is still a bit traumatized from Alan's death. Especially since Lacius has a much higher status and seems to be much more talented than Alan.
He doesn't want such a genius to die from a magical version of qi deviation, and Lacius's death will definitely cause massive chaos in the Crystal Cube world.
Furthermore, Cedric realized that when he tried to meddle in things, the situation would often spiral beyond control. So, he is curious how things will change when he doesn't intervene during important moments.
***
After another check around the Sacred Kingdom, Cedric's mental power left the human's territory and moved toward the dwarf's magical mountain.
When observing the dwarves, Cedric found their place is currently full of commotion. Occasionally, there are fire and explosion noises coming from the mountain's surface and interior.
After observing the dwarves for an hour, Cedric has seen five big explosions coming from several buildings. One of the explosions has even heavily injured a dwarf at Mid Level 0.
Cedric activated Past Observation and found that the dwarf had somehow created gunpowder-like explosives when he hadn't seen them.
Different from gunpowder on earth, the gunpowder those dwarves created is mostly blackish red, dark purple, or green colored. It's made using a mixture of magic metals, coal, some magic plant seed that could generate air, and other random things, and those materials caused the color of the dwarf's gunpowder to be much more varied.
Another important thing to note is that the dwarf king who Cedric once pulled into the Dream Space is the one that has first crafted a magical gunpowder.
What a pity though, that dwarf has already died during one of his experiments.
A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.
Cedric saw the dwarf king had added too much certain extremely precious magic metal that somehow amplified the explosion by several thousands of times.
Although the explosion it caused isn't enough to cause a mushroom cloud to appear. But, the stone house of the dwarf king has exploded into smithereens from the explosion.
Even the armor he often wore has been turned into broken metal pieces that are currently displayed in the dwarf's council hall as a warning to other dwarves when they play around with explosives.
After the death of the current dwarf king, the other dwarf elders discussed for a long time and decided to not nominate another king. Instead, they'll use a council system to manage the kingdom.
Cedric closed Past Observation and rubbed his forehead. "Guess I need to check the dwarves more often too. I am afraid they might accidentally go extinct after starting an uncontrolled explosion."
"Everyone in the Crystal Cube world is getting more and more troublesome," Cedric said as he moved toward the elves' territory. "I just hope the elves haven't changed much. My heart can't take any more surprises."
Once he arrived at the elven magic forest, Cedric looked around the place where many elves gathered and saw they were currently busy crafting potteries, singing, weaving grasses, crafting clothes, or smithing metal accessories.
He looked at several other elf gathering spots and found all of them were pretty much still the chill elf he knew.
Cedric then activates Past Observation and skims through what the elves have been doing while he hasn't seen them.
When he saw those elves were still doing the same boring thing, Cedric closed his Past Observation and finally breathed a sigh of relief. 'As expected of the elves, they're indeed dependable.'
Then, Cedric activated Divine Sight to check their progress while frowning. 'It's just that their progress is much slower than humans.'
Actually, the progress of both the dwarves and elves has greatly fallen behind the humans who have received a boost in life level from surviving a demon king attack.
Compared to the human race which has close to fifty Level 1 blessed. The amount of Level 1 blessed in the elven race or the dwarven race hasn't even reached 5.
With how messed up the humans in his world are, Cedric kinda fears what would happen when they meet the dwarf and elf.
He has read enough fantasy novels where elves became an expensive slave for mankind, and knows things definitely won't end up peacefully.
Luckily, the area surrounding the human's territory is filled with some escaped demons.
Although they keep on generating NE by killing and torturing the animals in the wilderness, the amount isn't too much. So, Cedric didn't warn the human kingdom for now. He even hoped those demons could get stronger. In that case, the humans won't be able to enter other race's areas anytime soon.
But Cedric knew that was just a delaying tactic. He still needs to find a way to balance the three race's combat power.
After checking the situation of all three intelligent races in his world, Cedric somehow lost the will to continue studying and became stressed over the power balance between the three races instead. 'How do I increase the power of the two races so they could contend against the humans when the inevitable first contact began.'
While Cedric was spending time in thought, the System suddenly appeared.
[When your world leveled up, the balance of your world will greatly increase for a short time and allow you to do more things like using GP to create or move things in your world.]
[At that time, you can just send a few NE infected creature into the elves and dwarves' territory to start a NE calamity. You can even create a monster that will fight and kill those races so they can generate Negative Energy.]
"Eh? I can do that?" Cedric contemplated. "Are you saying I should artificially increase the NE density in those areas and summon demon kings to wreak havoc so the dwarves and elves can increase their level by killing demons infected with NE?"
[That's pretty much it. Anyway, do you wish to see a suitable monster in the shop?]
"Damn it, so you're just pitching your product?!" Cedric rolled his eyes and sprawled in his chair.
With a wave of his hand, Cedric created some pizza to eat while watching the explosion show on the dwarves' mountain to pass the time and relax.
After he felt more relaxed, Cedric created a copy of a dwarf's body and began studying it.
***
While Cedric is busy studying dwarven anatomy.
Inside the Sacred Kingdom, Hars has returned to the Winter City.
Right now, he successfully reached the peak of Level 1.
The moment he returned, Hars immediately visited the palace's throne room.
When Lacius saw Hars who had tanned after being weathered by the sun, he asked everyone else to leave the throne room.
Once everyone left, Lacius smiled and greeted him. "Well, it's good that you've finally reached the limit too. Now, we only need to finish the last step and wait for those blessed to reach a suitable level. Then, we'll have a chance to be reborn!"
Hars looked a bit exhausted but still nodded with a smile. "It's good then, you're finally getting closer to your dream."
"Yeah." Lacius nodded "I have checked those blessed, and the first batch consisting of three people should be ready in around two more years. Then, the second batch with even more people should be ready in another eight to ten years."
Hars nodded and walked toward the place where he usually stood.
Seeing Hars standing next to his throne, Lacius asked the guard to recall the nobles and continue their meeting.
While Lacius and Hars managed the kingdom and occasionally researched alchemy, two and a half years have passed.
On this day, the third and final Level 1 blessed he has sent to train has finally reached Peak Level 1.
When the blessed returned to Winter City, Lacius sent a messenger to that blessed and summoned him to the palace.
After Lacius concluded the day's audience, he ordered everyone except Hars and that blessed to leave the throne room.
Staying alone with Lacius and Hars, the blessed quickly kneeled and said, "Jonas has met Your Majesty."
"Mmhm." Lacius just nodded his head and said toward Hars, "Give him the gift I've prepared."
Jonas immediately locked his eyes on Hars and watched in anticipation as Hars walked towards him.
Once he stood in front of Jonas, Hars pulled a vial of potions and handed it toward him. "This is a bonus reward for your hard work. After you drink that, we'll let you meet the other two blessed who've arrived before you and then all three of you shall be rewarded with a noble title at the same time."
Jonas thanked Hars and took the vial of potion. Once he drank it, he felt his body and mind turn heavy.
Before Jonas could ask what was happening, he fell forward and turned unconscious.
The next time he opened his eyes, Jonas found himself inside a dim room.
He tried to move his body but found most of them had paralyzed and turned numb. All he can do is slightly move his eyes to check his surroundings.
While he tried to look to his right side, Jonas saw the corpse of a late middle-aged woman. The woman looks quite familiar, but he can't exactly remember when or where he saw her.
Suddenly, Jonas recalled who the woman was. 'Is that… high priestess Tsukiko from creator god's temple?! Where am I right now? Someone help me!!!'
He felt a great danger and tried his best to continue observing his surroundings and looking for clues to escape. But suddenly, he felt an extreme pain akin to having all of his organs shattered. It's extremely painful to the point he unconsciously lets out a scream.
When he screamed, Jonas could hear a familiar voice nearby him.
"Eh? He woke up already?" Lacius stopped circulating his energy inside Jonas and looked toward Hars.
Hars quickly prepared two potions and fed them to Jonas.
One of the potions quickly healed all of his wounds, while the other one knocked Jonas unconscious.
"Well, now he has continued to sleep, let's continue the experiment." Lacius studied Tsukiko's corpse and then tried another circulation method on Jonas.