Controlling the Peak Level 2 clone he possessed, Cedric activated the energy inside it and tried to summon a small tornado.
Most of the mana stored inside that clone's body began to flow out and turned into a ten meter tall tornado that sucked the surrounding items.
After a minute, the tornado disappeared while the clone's mana began to recover on its own.
"Well, this is quite disappointing. I could do much more with a wave of my hand." Cedric said while creating a massive tornado in Divine Space.
Seeing an area of the Divine Space that had been ruined by the tornado, Cedric rubbed his chin. "Except for an additional feeling of energy flowing out of me when I activated blessed power, there is no difference between them."
After testing the wind magic, Cedric removed the clone and all of the traces of his experiments. Although the clone is no longer there, its data has been stored in the godhood, so Cedric could create another one anytime he wanted.
Feeling a massive sense of achievement upon seeing the result of his hard work, Cedric controlled his mental power to enter the Crystal Cube world.
When his mental power arrived at the Winter City, Cedric found the whole city was in a state of tension.
Inside the palace, Lacius and many of his subordinates are hurrying about. From their conversation, they are preparing to deploy the army.
Cedric silently watched the scene while trying to understand the situation. It seems unknowingly, he has skipped another important event while he is focused on learning.
Although difficult and time consuming, Cedric's observation yielded results, as he has found the problem.
Staring at a small temple at Winter City that had been burned to the ground, he felt his heart tightening.
Not because he felt it was a pity that a temple worshiping him had been burned. But because he found out Lacius and Tsukiko had somehow split up and turned hostile against each other.
With his Divine Sight, Cedric saw the moment that the temple had been burned to the ground.
Following the clue, he continued to activate Past Observation until he saw a meeting inside Winter City's palace around four years ago.
Led by Lacius who has turned even older and has many wrinkles on his face. Several nobles with high standing in the human race discussed the temple Tsukiko has created.
They felt the influence of the temple had been growing increasingly stronger and it began to encroach on the king's authority.
Those nobles implore Lacius to disband the temple and show his authority as a king.
After a long meeting, Lacius decided to send a message to Tsukiko. The message consisted of his request for Tsuiko to surrender the temple's independence and place it under the direct jurisdiction of the kingdom.
Tsukiko who received that message is unwilling.
For her decade of hard work to be taken with a single word, she simply couldn't accept that. Although in the early stage, the temple indeed received much support from the kingdom. However, it has become independent and even returned the support many times over thanks to Tsukiko's hard work.
After a few years of peace that's more akin to the calm before a storm, the hostility between the temple and kingdom has begun to aggravate.
Deactivating his Past Observation, Cedric messaged his forehead.
While he is learning human anatomy and energy circulation, the human race has once more caused another trouble.
Luckily, he arrived just in time. If he found out about it a year or two later, things would've taken a turn for the worse.
Rubbing his chin, Cedric prepared his countermeasure for this event.
To be honest, he hasn't quite understood why this mess is happening.
Cedric might be getting better at creating things, but his knowledge in the study of the human mind is still pretty basic. It's like a biology major might not be good at sociology.
So, he decided to send a screen to Lacius to ask for further information.
Of course, he wished to keep some of his dignity, so Cedric asked as if he was questioning Lacius's decision.
[Why do you wage another war?]
Sitting on his throne, Lacius seems to be unperturbed by the message Cedric sent and calmly answers. "I must do it. Otherwise, more and more people will begin to slight my status as the king of the human race. At that time, the situation will be much more chaotic than it is."
He looked at the throne room that's currently empty. "Those nobles are testing me. I could see some of them have gotten restless since a long time ago. They think I am old and have become a pushover. If things continue like this, I am afraid an internal strife will happen and the kingdom will be split."
This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
Cedric feels Lacius's answer is pretty logical. He doesn't quite understand political matters. So, Cedric can only let things happen as it is while leaving a warning to Lacius.
[Alright. But don't cause too much death and misery to the people.]
"I understood." Lacius bowed toward the screen and sat back down on his throne.
Sitting alone in the empty throne room, Lacius rested his back on the throne while staring at the massive mirror next to him.
On it, the reflection of an old man with sharp and dignified eyes can be seen.
Looking at his own reflection, Lacius closed his eyes. 'I've been getting more and more frail. Time... what a fearsome thing.'
***
After giving his warning to Lacius, Cedric realized his [Divine Intervention: Word] had run out of energy.
Retrieving his mental power, Cedric purchased another [Divine Intervention: Word], and looked around the human territory for Alan.
In the fight between Lacius and Tsukiko, Cedric felt he couldn't decide which side he should take. Which led him to choose to be neutral and simply watch things progress on their own.
This time, he will focus on this matter and quickly take a move when the event has progressed in a bad direction.
Cedric has a gut feeling that he will get even more busy in the future, and a time when he couldn't constantly observe the world might come. So, he wished the race in the Crystal Cube world - especially the humans - to learn how to handle their own mess.
While lost in thought, he finally found Alan who actually has returned to Winter City after creating his training method.
It's been more than a decade since he last saw Alan when he successfully created the training method. The middle aged man at that time has now turned into an old man in his seventies.
In the Crystal Cube world with a low technological level. Even with Cedric's blessing, many disasters like famine and plagues still happen and greatly lower the average life expectancy of the inhabitants.
This made Alan who has lived for seventy years be among the oldest humans currently alive.
Right now, he lives idly while opening a small shop in the city.
Even though his business looks quite prosperous. Alan's face is constantly frowning from worries and confusion.
Cedric activated Divine Sight and checked Alan's progress.
[Life Level: Peak level 1
Potential: Lower level 1]
'As expected of the one who has invented the training method. He has reached the peak of level 1.' Cedric observed Alan's energy circulation and concluded. 'It seems he hasn't found a method to reach the second level.
Cedric rubbed his chin and decided to send a message to Alan.
[Greeting, pioneer.]
Inside the Crystal Cube world, Alan looked around when he saw the screen that appeared in front of him. "Who?!"
The people around him looked at Alan who shouted while staring at thin air.
Ignoring his customer's weird look, Alan's eyes are always locked on the screen Cedric sent.
After recalling a story, Alan's expression changed and he quickly closed his store. "Sorry, I've gotten older and felt exhausted today. The store will be closing for now, please visit again later."
When everyone had left the store, Alan bowed. "Alan has met the creator god."
Cedric isn't surprised that Alan knew about him.
Since the creator god's temple, which is the temple worshiping him, has been created. Tsukiko often wrote some sacred scripture and whatnot that shows his legends. Nowadays, many people in the Crystal Cube world know he will occasionally send revelations to the creatures in the world through dreams or screens.
After he bowed, Alan didn't wait for a response from Cedric. He immediately rambled on and on. "Respected creator, have I done the right thing? I want my discovery to bring goods to the world and advance the human race's power in case of another demon attack. Yet, if things go on like this, and internal war in the human race indeed happens, my discovery will only result in more deaths than even the fiercest demon attack …."
Cedric scratched his head upon hearing Alan's worries. 'I am just here to discuss the training method he discovered before. Why did it suddenly turn into a venting session?'
Although Cedric said so, he still listened to Alan who continued to talk to himself. "... by the time I returned, the two people I respected had gone astray from the right path. One of them got drunk in power while the other gave himself up to lust. Oo creator, have what I achieved been for naught?"
Cedric got a bit dazed amid Alan's rambling. But he still gets the gist of what Alan talked about.
Alan is basically in his late life crisis after he returned to human civilization a few years ago and found Tsukiko and Yuma had greatly changed.
Seeing Tsukiko focus too much on the temple, while Yuma has retired into a farmer while living with his wives in the countryside has shocked Alan senseless.
After returning to Winter City, he shared his training method with Lacius and Tsukiko in the hope they would teach them to their subordinate and help cull the demons in the world.
Although the amount and strength of demons has drastically decreased after they successfully defeated the demon king. But, it doesn't mean the demon has gone extinct. They still occasionally appear around places with slightly thicker NE density.
Tsukiko and Lacius gladly took it and taught their respective subordinates the training method.
Then, Alan retreated back to the gorge and trained until he felt he had reached a limit. Feeling he wouldn't be able to strengthen himself any further, he decided to return to civilization once more.
By the time he visited Winter City once more, the situation between the kingdom and temple had turned extremely tense. Now that war seems inevitable, Alan's worries increase once more. He is afraid his training method will cause the inevitable battle to be more intense than it should be.
To be honest, Cedric felt Alan had been thinking too much.
According to his research on the training method. The method Alan created actually requires suitable talent, a suitable place, and a bit of personalization to be used to their utmost potential.
The training speed of its user is limited by their potential, how much mana contained in the wind at the place they trained, their affinity with the winds, and how much they could personalize the energy circulation based on the condition of their own body.
Anyway, Alan is worrying too much. Even if he shared those techniques, only a limited number of people could follow it to increase their level. So, Cedric simply replied with some warm and comforting words.
[There is no need to worry. What will be will be. You've made a great contribution by selflessly sharing the training method you've discovered. After all, a society grows great when old men plant trees in whose shade they never sit.]
He even slapped some proverb he had heard in his past life to comfort Alan. He can only hope for the best and for Alan to quickly regain his vigor.
After giving Alan a word of comfort, Cedric recalled his main objective for contacting Alan and prepared to send the continuation of Alan's training method.
With the continuation, Alan should be able to reach level 2 and regain some of his youth to continue his experiment.
Cedric has a gut feeling that the training method Alan created can still be greatly optimized. Whether it's in terms of generalization, removing the limitation on geographic location, decreasing the requirement for wind affinity, changing the element affinity required to use that method, or other aspects.
At that time, the creature in the Crystal Cube world may use that training method to quickly increase their strength and contribute more GP for him.
It's just his creativity is limited and Cedric has reached a bottleneck on his research.
He needed help and inspiration from other people, and who else is more suitable to be the source of inspiration than the creator of that training method himself.
After calming Alan down, Cedric prepared to send his research results and shared the method to raise his level to level 2 with Alan.
He grabbed the [Divine Intervention: Word] but paused. Cedric couldn't think of how to send the method to Alan.
After all, the method also contained energy circulation method and whatnot, which require pictures or even videos to be understoofcorrectly.
[Divine Intervention: Word] indeed has the ability to send images by consuming more energy. But, the 'consuming more energy' part is worrying him.
What if his recently purchased [Divine Intervention: Word] got sucked dry after sending an image? He'll take a bloody loss.
So, Cedric asked the System. "Recommend me items that could let me share my research result with Alan."
[The System recommended 'Divine Intervention: Word', 'Divine Intervention: Images', 'Divine Intervention: Scenario', and 'Divine Intervention: Knowledge'.]
Cedric already knows about [Divine Intervention: Word]. So, he checked the three remaining choices.
[Level 5 Consumable Divine Item, Divine Intervention: Image.
Cost: 50 GP
Details: Send image(s) that has been captured, memorized, or imagined by the user to a target. The longer the image lasted, the higher the image's resolution, and the higher the user and target's level, the more energy is consumed.]
[Level 5 Consumable Divine Item, Divine Intervention: Scenario.
Cost: 50 GP
Details: Record scenarios the user imagined or saw and send it to a target as a soundless video. The higher the user and target's level, the more energy is consumed per second. The screen containing the video will immediately disappear upon reaching the end once.]
[Level 7 Consumable Divine Item, Divine Intervention: Knowledge.
Cost: 1.000 GP
Details: Send knowledge to targeted creatures and allow them to immediately learn part of the knowledge and mastery. The amount immediately learned depends on the knowledge's level of complexity and the target's level. The higher the target's level and the lower the knowledge's complexity, the more parts will be learned instantly. The more complex the knowledge, the closer it is to the law, and the higher the user and target's level, the more energy will be consumed.]
Cedric read through the three items' description and asked. "Among those three, which one do you recommend for my current situation?"
[The System recommended 'Divine Intervention: Knowledge.]
"As I expected, are you trying to trick me by introducing that item?! That's 1.000 GP! I need at least 1.000 years to gather that much GP. That amount is enough to summon 10 heroes. I couldn't waste it on something trivial like this."
[There is no need to get so worked up. The System is only giving advice. Furthermore, you're the one asking for it.]
Cedric ignored the [Divine Intervention: Knowledge] and focused on the other two.
While reading the description of those items, Cedric suddenly got an idea. "System, can't I just write or draw the thing I wish to share on an item or book shaped Divine Items before sending them to the world? I am pretty sure there are some cheap books and pen Divine Items in the store right?"
The System fell silent for a few moments before replying.
[You can, but that item will contain your unfiltered will and information, which will damage the balance in your world. The main function of all 'Divine Intervention' item series is actually to filter and suppress a god's information and turn it into something that won't cause much damage to the world's balance.]
"Then, what if I record that information on items while I am being sealed just like the time I visit Earth? My appearance should also contain my information, right? But Yuma could still recall my appearance, and even made my statue without causing damage in Crystal Cube world's balance?" At the end of his sentence, Cedric's tone changed into one of uncertainty.
The world's balance hasn't been damaged is just his guess. After all, he isn't sure whether the world's balance he thought of is the same as the one that the System mentioned.
[You're half right. But, the reason Yuma could still remember your appearance and even sculpt a statue with your appearance is because of the 100 GP you spent to transfer him to your world. A part of that 100 GP are used to purify and remove the divine information he has about you, and turn it into normal information.]
[If you wrote, drew, or recorded something on a normal item while visiting another world, and brought it to your world. The material you used to record those will begin to glow with sacred light before combusting to smithereens upon entering your world.]
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[As for recording information in Divine Items while on another world before bringing it to your world. The information recorded inside will regain their 'vitality' upon being in contact with traces of your GP. Then, your will and information contained inside that item will burst and damage your world's balance and stability.]
"Things are pretty complicated and strict. I thought I had found a loophole to cheat." Cedric said while creating a glass of cold soda to freshen his mind. "Can you explain it in much simpler terms? I want to make sure I understand your explanation correctly."
[Have you ever read xianxia novels?]
"Huh?" Cedric is a bit confused as to why the System suddenly mentioned Xianxia novels. But, he still nodded his head in acknowledgment.
[On some xianxia novels, there are 'techniques that can't be recorded through normal means', right? Every word and will of a god is basically equal to that kind of technique. The universe will try to wipe it out one way or another.]
"Why would the universe do that?"
[Dunno. It might be because creature at Divine level are too powerful and has too much destructive power, or it might be caused by some other random reason.]
"Oh, okay. By the way, you keep on mentioning the world's balance and stability. But what does that even mean?"
[You've not met the criteria to receive detailed information regarding world stability. Anyway, just remember that a world's balance and stability are incredibly important! ]
"Alright then, just remind me when I already met the criteria."
From the time when Cedric tried to haggle regarding virtuous energy, he already knew how inflexible the System could be. So, he just shrugs it off for now and waits for later. "Alan has been waiting for my response anyway."
Cedric contemplated between the Divine Items the System has mentioned before and bought one [Divine Intervention: Image].
He hasn't forgotten his main reason for checking on Alan.
***
Inside the Crystal Cube world.
Alan who had been left alone after receiving Cedric's comforting word, decided to rest and calm his mind. When suddenly, he received another message from Cedric.
[It seems you've calmed down.]
When he saw the word Cedric sent, Alan felt a bit embarrassed, and his old face slightly blushed.
If Alan is still in his youth, that blushing face should be enough to make many women fall head over heels for him.
[I came here to reward you with the continuation of the training method you've invented and spread to the world.]
[The method you've created and practiced right now can only be practiced up to Peak Level 1, which is your current level.]
Alan's eyes widened when he read it. "Is that why I haven't been able to feel any progress?
[Correct. So, first, I want you to go toward a place with a strong wind that fulfilled the criteria for the method. Then, I shall send you an image containing the explanation for the continuation. Try to remember it as quickly as possible.]
Although Alan isn't sure why the god requires him to remember the technique as fast as possible, he still nods his head.
Alan picked up some necessities that should allow him to survive in the wild and went towards the gorge where he first created the training method.
Upon arriving at the gorge, Alan sighed in melancholy. The gorge is still the same gorge where he invented that training method. But right now, there are a few young people that trained using his method.
After replying to the youngsters who kept on enthusiastically greeting him, Alan found a slightly deserted area and closed his eyes.
The surrounding people saw Alan closing his eyes and seemed extremely focused. So, they returned to their own training.
With his eyes closed, Alan felt the strong wind blowing from the gorge and sat down, "I am ready."
Following Alan's cue, Cedric sent the images containing the energy circulation path with [Divine Intervention: Image] and added some explanation with [Divine Intervention: Word].
Cedric hasn't tested whether or not it's possible to activate both items on the same target at once. Luckily, his attempt succeeded.
A screen densely packed with pictures of human anatomy, energy circulation diagrams, and explanations written in Divine Language appeared in front of Alan.
When he saw the energy circulation, Alan tried his best to remember it while also trying to understand the diagram at the same time.
At first, he gets a bit confused about how to read the diagram Cedric made. But slowly, Alan began to understand it and his comprehension speed steadily increased.
The more he analyzed the diagram, the more he felt it was similar to the technique he had created, while also being different at the same time. So, he mainly focused on those differences, which once again increased the speed he could analyze the image Cedric sent.
Once he was sure he had remembered all of it, Alan nodded and said in a low voice. "I am done."
Cedric dispersed the image he had sent to Alan and checked the remaining energies inside [Divine Intervention: Image].
Seeing more than half of the energy had been lost, Cedric felt his heartache.
He took a deep breath and thought optimistically. 'More than half of [Divine Intervention: Image] is only around 30 GP. Spending 30 GP in exchange for sending a method that could allow someone to reach level 2 is pretty cheap.'
Once he calmed down, Cedric focused once more on Alan.
After doing a review to make sure he has understood the knowledge Cedric sent. Alan began to circulate his energy and created a cyclone of mana. That cyclone siphoned the mana inside the wind blown by the gorge, which Alan absorbed into his body.
Slowly but steadily, Alan's life level began to elevate. Although he is still in Peak Level 1, but he is getting closer and closer to Level 2.
Feeling the increase in his strength, a smile couldn't help but creep up on his old face.
When Alan is only a few moments away from entering the level that Tsukiko and Yuma have reached, his eyes widen as his mind goes into panic. 'Oh no!'
Alan slightly lost his focus because of his happiness and accidentally circulated his energy through the wrong path. It immediately caused all energy in his body to fall into disarray.
After trying to calm down the energy but to no avail, Alan coughed and spewed out a mouthful of blood. Among the blood he spews out, pieces of his lungs can be seen.
Another blood filled cough later, Alan's body fell down and he lost all of his breath.
The surrounding people who had been training got disturbed by the noises and saw Alan spewing a lot of blood. They ran toward him while panickedly shouting, "Lord Alan, what happened to you?"
"Someone, call a blessed with healing power or give lord Alan magic herbs that could heal wounds!"
The surrounding people kept on trying to help Alan while in panic. But it's already too late.
Inside the Divine Space, Cedric watched with his mouth agape as Alan fell and breathed his last.
After a moment of silence, Cedric shouted. "I knew it! Although it's a few years late, this is definitely the repercussions of my good luck before! I already said it before, being that lucky makes me feel uneasy!"
After blowing some steam, Cedric sighed and silently stared at Alan's corpse.
He has been constantly observing Alan as he practiced the training method. So, Cedric knew Alan had taken a wrong step while circulating the mana in his body.
Based on Cedric's experiment with his clone, that kind of thing should only result in energy disarray and some internal injuries. So, he doesn't immediately intervene.
But who knew why the damage caused by that small error suddenly became so exaggerated.
Before Cedric could ask the System to buy a Divine Item that can heal Alan's injury. Alan has coughed his internal organ out and died.
Watching the surrounding youths who are busy trying to resuscitate Alan, Cedric sent his mental power to thoroughly study Alan's corpse.
He even copied Alan's soulless corpse into the Divine Space and studied it.
After thoroughly checking the body, Cedric can only give his respect to Alan and silently burns the corpse he has copied in the Divine Space.
From studying Alan's corpse, Cedric has found out why such a small misstep caused him to die.
A long time ago, before Alan found the correct training method, he had been experimenting on his own body. As an experiment, it's often accompanied by failures which lead to his injury.
Although every failure in the experiment will only cause small injuries to his body. Those small injuries still left a mark on his body. The kind of mark that still left a trace even with the help of healing power.
Coupled with his age and weakened body, the misstep Alan made while following the energy circulation diagram Cedric shared is simply the straw that broke the camel's neck.
The chaotic energy attacked Alan's organs which had been scarred by the injuries from his experiments, and those organs simply couldn't hold on any longer and burst open, which him.
Cedric closed his eyes while mumbling in a low voice, "Without my intervention, Alan should be able to live happily until his old age. Has what I done only caused him misery?"
Cedric felt his body lose its strength and slumped to the chair.
Somehow, seeing Alan die gives Cedric a melancholic feeling that's even worse than when granny Maude dies.
If granny Maude's death causes him to feel depressed due to the loss of an acquaintance. Then, Alan's death makes him truly feel that all life in the world is transient.
He has watched Alan from the time he was a part of Yuma's party until he achieved the brightest glow in his life and invented the training method in his old age.
Alan's deaths truly show Cedric that humans have a short lifespan compared to the current him.
Even if they trained and increased their lifespan after their life level increases. Cedric doubted those people's lifespan could beat his.
Except for that, Cedric also began to feel fear.
"By the time I've collected enough GP to visit my Earth, I fear what kind of person I would've changed into. Will my family and friends still know me? Or will I change so much and become indifferent to them instead?"
Cedric dejectedly said. "Somehow, I am feeling lonely."
[Don't worry, you still have the System. You can think of the System as your friend.]
Cedric slightly opened his eyes, "Thank you, but talking with you makes me feel my GP is in danger."
[What a hurtful word to say. You can forget about getting friendship discounts forever.]
Cedric rolled his eyes, "I doubt such a discount ever existed."
[...]
"Eh? Did I hit the mark?" Cedric asked.
Although the System ignored his question, Cedric must say he felt slightly better after chatting with the System.
Now that he thinks about it. Everyone will slowly change based on what they have experienced in life. His change might be a bit drastic due to his infinite lifespan. But, it simply can't be helped, can it?
Cedric also has done some basic equations about the whole personality change thing.
If less experience in life equals to smaller change in personality. That means he should be lazier and experience fewer things than a normal human!
"Sometimes my genius… it's almost frightening."
Now that his mood has returned to normal, Cedric focuses on the Crystal Cube world and sees Alan's funeral.
Due to the death of their acquaintance, even the preparation for the battle between Tsukiko and Lacius has paused. But soon after, the war preparation began to intensify with the Sacred Kingdom being the first one to make a move.
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Most of the temples in other cities were the first ones to bear the brunt, with many being immediately destroyed, while only those who had retained some connection with the city lord or had trained many temple knights remained barely standing.
Luckily, the main temple has taken absolute control over River Stone city. Even the city lord appointed by Lacius has a much lower political status compared to the temple inside River Stone City.
After greatly damaging the branch temples around the kingdom. The Sacred Kingdom started economic sanctions which forbid any trade to and from the River Stone City.
Because trade between cities just became a trend a few dozen years ago. The number of daredevils willing to ignore the law for profit can only be counted on one hand.
Without merchants who traded goods between cities, the economic sanctions effectively caused the River Stone city to fall into isolation and slowly descend into chaos.
Unlike a few years ago, when Lacius is still the city lord of River Stone city. The amount of population in the current River Stone city has greatly increased, which requires some import to fulfill the population's needs.
If things go on, the temple will fall even without much bloodshed.
Cedric watched all the events and felt confusing emotions. It's a mix of relief, pity, happiness, and other feelings.
Although he is happy that Lacius has truly listened to him, Cedric still feels a bit sad upon seeing Tsukiko's effort slowly end up getting destroyed.
No matter what, Tsukiko is someone he has accidentally sent from Earth.
Although Tsukiko and Yuma came from different Earths than him. Cedric still felt some camaraderie as fellow earthlings.
***
Inside the Crystal Cube world, Tsukiko roamed back and forth around the temple.
She knew she was in an extremely precarious situation. If things go on, the temple will fall even without a fight.
With Lacius destroying the temples outside and killed many priests. The enmity between the temple and the kingdom has been aggravated beyond repair.
This makes Tsukiko's situation even more difficult under both internal and external pressure.
When she arrived in a room without any person, Tsukiko frowned while massaging her head. "What should I do? What should I do? Is it really wrong to wish for the temple's independence? What I wished for is only to advance this world and nothing else."
"Although I do so mainly for the sense of achievement that I've never felt before on Earth. But, these should still count as good things I've done. So, why are so much bad things happening to me?!"
Tsukiko slumped on the floor for a long time while trying to think of a countermeasure.
'No matter how I think about it, this is definitely a dead end.' Even after she thought hard for a long time, Tsukiko still failed to think of any plan. 'I just hope the seed I've planted in case of my failure will successfully bloom.'
Amidst Tsukiko's indecisiveness and distress, time passes with the temple barely keeping the order in River Stone city.
When everyone thought Lacius would wait for the civilians inside River Stone City to start a revolt and for everything to fall into chaos before starting his attack. Lacius instead immediately attacked the temple while it still hadn't made a move.
After a battle against the devout believers and the temple knights trained by Tsukiko. Lacius's army breached the city's wall and went towards the temple.
Upon arriving at the temple. The priests who stayed inside the temple, which mostly consisted of noncombatants, easily got defeated by Lacius's army. Some of them successfully fled the city, while most of them were killed by the soldiers brought by Lacius.
While most of the soldiers went and slaughtered the priests and temple knights that remained inside the temple. Lacius led twenty Level 1 blessed toward the temple's main hall.
Inside the temple's wide hall, Tsukiko stood in front of Cedric's statue together with three other priests.
Upon hearing a step coming from outside the hall, she raised her head toward Lacius and said. "You caught me by surprise. But, long time no see."
Looking at Tsukiko who still seems beautiful even though she has almost turned eighty years old, Lacius nodded his head to return her greetings while constantly locking his eyes for any movement Tsukiko made.
"How many years has it been since we last talked. Twenty? Thirty? Fifty?" Tsukiko said with a melancholic look. "You know, when we were young, I once had a crush on you."
While she talked, Tsukiko sent eight bolts of lightning without a change in her expression. Three of the bolts went toward Lacius while the other five were sent toward five blessed around Lacius.
The sudden lightning bolt attack caught the blessed that has lowered their guard upon hearing Tsukiko's shocking love confession. Among the five bolts sent toward those blessed, four of them hit their target and charred them from the inside.
Only one of the blessed with divine strength barely survived. He has a good enough reflex and raised his wooden shield before the attack hits him.
Although the lightning bolt has caused the shield in his arm to explode and gravely injured him, he still survived the attack.
As for the three bolts of lightning that have targeted Lacius. He quickly raised a thick earth wall and blocked the attack coming from Tsukiko.
Upon coming in contact with Tsukiko's lightning bolt, several dents appear on the wall he raised. But, the wall still stably stood in front of him.
After blocking Tsukiko's greetings, Lacius and the other blessed around him immediately launched their attacks. But, the three priests around Tsukiko stopped standing still and also showed their power that had reached Level 1.
When the fight started, Tsukiko's group which only consisted of four people quickly fell into disadvantage.
Even though she is someone who has reached Level 2 and has power that surpasses everyone present. But, the amount of people on Lacius's side is simply too much.
Their different power synergized with each other and became a headache to deal with. Blessed that could summon flames will have their flames strengthened by being blessed with wind elements. While blessed with divine strength kept on trying to engage Tsukiko in a melee.
Furthermore, there is Lacius who kept on creating holes or changing the terrain around Tsukiko and the other priests. This makes them fail to evade some attacks during important moments.
Tsukiko has truly felt how annoying having to fight against Lacius is. 'No wonder the demon king immediately charged at him upon sight. Although according to the news I've dug, there are also other reasons for that.'
After seeing the three priests around her getting killed, while also killing five more blessed on Lacius's side with her lightning bolt. Most of the mana inside Tsukiko's body has been spent and she got hit by a sneak attack launched by Lacius.
From her blind spot, an earth spike pierced through Tsukiko's abdomen.
Looking down at her bleeding waist, Tsukiko knew she couldn't be saved and bitterly smiled. "I must agree with Yuma. My taste in men is indeed cursed."
She glanced at Lacius who stood behind the protection of several blessed and fell to the ground after using the last bit of her mana to destroy the earth spike piercing her. "Goodbye, my 31st crush."
When the blessed around Lacius saw Tsukiko had fallen, they finally relaxed.
But suddenly, three lightning bolts shot from Tsukiko's 'corpse' toward the location where Lacius's group gathered.
One of the lightning bolt failed to hit anyone. While the other two successfully hit two blessed and charred them.
"Pity." Tsukiko's 'corpse' opened its eyes and muttered when she saw the lightning bolt only killed two random blessed, while Lacius still remained unharmed.
While staring at Lacius, her eyes slowly turned cloudy and lost their luster.
When Lacius is sure Tsukiko has completely died, he regrouped with the people cleansing the temple and soon finds Hars among those groups.
Lacius told Hars who has also turned old and has a slightly hunched back. "Collect the corpse and bring them into the palace."
Before dying, Tsukiko only wished for the seed she had planted to successfully bear fruit in the future and kill or at least annoy Lacius. She is simply unwilling to take this loss calmly.
A few years after creating and stabilizing the situation in the temple, Tsukiko has dug into the history of mankind in the Crystal Cube world.
Initially, she wished to look for any trace of Cedric to create a more convincing sacred text for the temple. But instead of history regarding Cedric, she dug out the secret regarding Lacius and Gratian.
She also finds out the mad woman who has previously caused massive destruction is actually one of Gratian's wives who has escaped the slaughter Lacius has done.
When the situation between the temple and the kingdom already seems irreparable. She secretly investigated traces of Gratian's lineages and believed they shouldn't have been entirely killed.
After spending time investigating, Tsukiko indeed found several people who were suspected to be his descendants hidden throughout the human cities. Currently, most of them are having a hard time and barely live each day in poverty.
Although among those people some of them might not truly be Gratian's descendants, but she doesn't care about it.
After secretly sending people to check their condition and invited those still young and without any guardian into the temple's orphanages. Tsukiko sent her trusted aide to tell them of the 'truth' and hope they'll be able to regain what's rightfully theirs.
She also implemented whatever brainwashing technique she has learned into those children to believe they're the descendants of Gratian and must slowly but secretly take their revenge against the current king.
Still, Tsukiko knew her brainwashing ability wasn't all that good. So, when she heard many of the priests and priestesses managing the orphanage in other city's temples had been killed. She felt a mixed feeling of sadness and also schadenfreude.
The hatred of killing the kind sisters that managed the orphanages should have increased those children's hatred against the kingdom.
Actually, Yuma and Alan's opinion on Tsukiko has indeed hit the mark. Since becoming the high priestess of the creation god temple dedicated to Cedric, she has been having more and more screw looses. The kind that can't be screwed back in place.
But Cedric doesn't know about all that. Right now, he simply felt sad while glad that the battle had ended.
After making sure the human kingdom has stabilized Lacius is too busy handling the aftermath of that battle. Cedric went to learn the anatomy of elves and dwarves while occasionally spending some time researching the training method of the human race every time he gained inspiration.
If someone told Cedric he would turn into someone who loved learning while he was still on Earth, he would've spit at those guys until they drowned in saliva.
But now that he already gained a godhood, Cedric found that learning new knowledge has never felt easier. Every knowledge that entered his brain gave Cedric a sense of pleasure that might rival having intercourse.
Actually, he doesn't know how it feels to have intercourse with someone. After all, he has been single during his life on Earth.
When he arrived at that thought, Cedric suddenly paused. "Maybe I should go and date someone the next time I visit Earth. But things will get quite awkward in terms of the age difference. After all, I am already a hundred years old single guy. Although my appearance remained as a handsome twenty year old guy, I am already old enough to be their grandfather or even great-grandfather."
While Cedric is spending his time researching and getting distracted over some useless things. Lacius has finally finished handling the aftermath of the battle. At least for now.
After the battle, there are simply too many problems that can only be slowly resolved by time.
For example, with the death of Tsukiko and more than ten other level 1 blessed. The amount of high level combatants in the human race has been decreased by close to half.
The battle between the temple knight and his soldier also caused quite a lot of casualties in the strength of human races.
That means the human resources to guard the human territory from demons and other beasts have decreased.
It's estimated that in the next few years, the amount of demons will begin to increase. Furthermore, the Sacred Kingdom will not be able to expand the amount of villages.
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While preparing for future headache-inducing problems, Lacius slowly went towards his secret laboratory while being followed by Hars.
After several sleepless days of hard work, he finally has time to enter his secret laboratory and begin another round of research.
The two old men walked through several corridors and arrived inside a secret room.
Upon entering the laboratory, several huge tubes made of glass can be seen. Those are special reinforced glass tubes that have been imported from a merchant group from another city. On the bottom of the tube, the word 'produced by Kame & Liana Merchant Group' can be seen.
An opaque liquid solution filled the tube to the brims, while inside every tube, there was the corpse of a strong blessed that had died during the battle inside the temple.
There are twenty such tubes inside the laboratory, with fifteen of them being filled with human corpses, including Tsukiko's. While the remaining are filled with the corpses of magical beasts.
After standing in front of a flat marble table with many tools strewn around it, Lacius said. "Hars, refill the solutions to keep those corpses fresh, and help me retrieve a prisoner with earth element blessing from the dungeon."
"Alright." Hars slowly refilled the tubes containing Tsukiko and other's corpses with another opaque liquid.
Once he is done, he exits the laboratory to retrieve a living blessed for Lacius.
Meanwhile, Lacius sat in front of the table and pulled a book with a copy of Alan's training method written on it.
While slowly turning the page of that book, Lacius begins to get lost in thought.
'Slowly surrendering more authority to the temple this past few years is truly a correct step. Those young nobles took the bait and 'forced' me to attack the temple. Giving me enough excuse to target Tsukiko.'
'Although the creator god seems to focus more on Yuma among the people from another world. Giving the god a satisfying excuse when attacking Tsukiko indeed made my plan go smoother. Although the god might have the ability to listen to my thoughts and see through my deception, the success of my attack means they gave me a silent admission, which is even better.'
Lacius focused his attention on the book inscribed with Alan's training method in his hand. 'I must say, Alan is indeed a genius for thinking of such a method. Based on my experiment, I am already extremely close to creating a training method suitable for myself.
'What a pity, I've concluded this method can only be used to push someone up to my level, and can't allow me to reach a higher level and regain my youth like Yuma and Tsukiko. Otherwise, I wouldn't need to bet on angering the creator and targeting Tsukiko.'
Then, Lacius slightly moved his sight toward the tube containing Tsukiko's corpse. 'Sigh, Tsukiko is simply too strong and can't be captured alive. Just experimenting with her corpse will be much less efficient than experimenting on a living person.'
'If I'd known, I would've taken a different approach and tried to befriend Tsukiko instead. Although I won't be able to do a destructive experiment on her that way. At least the research subject is still alive. I guess I am still too greedy.'
'Nevertheless, I am finally one step closer to my goal of eternal life.' Lacius woke up from his trance when he sensed Hars slowly walking toward his position while grabbing an unconscious blessed.
Hars easily grabbed that blessed and placed him on the marble table in front of Lacius.
Lacius nodded, "Good job, Hars."
"That's thanks to Your Highness's potions. Otherwise, I would've been just a frail old man on the verge of death." Hars said while placing several restraining devices on the blessed he just brought.
Lacius just nodded and started mixing several herbs to create a potion.
Since he got stuck at the peak of Level 1, Lacius has been ceaselessly searching for a way to continue advancing and began to dabble on many things.
One of the things he dabbled and focused on is regarding mixing magical materials gained from magical plants and magical beasts to achieve a greater end result. Which he called Alchemy, based on some stories he had heard from Tsukiko and Yuma a long time ago.
Although the two of them keep on saying whatever they're talking about is just fiction in their world. But Lacius knew their world was one without blessed power, or as they often call it, magic.
Yet, the Crystal Cube world is a world where magic and magical creatures exist.
As a king who has access to a lot of magical resources, Lacius felt it was a shame not to take them into use.
This is how he successfully proved the existence of alchemy by tirelessly mixing different magical plants, magical beasts, and even magical ores that can occasionally be found.
After innumerable failures, Lacius slowly learned from his failure and finally crafted several potions.
Although the rate of failure is pretty high, he often only gains a defective product after wasting precious materials. It doesn't matter to him, as long as he could see the hope of achieving his dream.
From Tsukiko and Yuma's story regarding alchemy. Lacius couldn't care less about turning stone into gold or finding the philosopher's stone. But, the chance for crafting the elixir of immortality hit him right in his weakness.
***
Inside the secret laboratory.
After several failures, Lacius mechanically crafted a potion and quickly focused when he found it hadn't exploded and turned into smoke after reaching certain phases. 'It finally succeeded.'
He poured that potion into the mouth of the restrained blessed and waited patiently.
After drinking that potion, the blessed's eyelids twitched and he slowly woke up.
Kanon opened his eyes and looked around. After surveying his surroundings, he found out there were only two old men calmly standing around him.
Although he isn't sure how he ended up in his current situation. Seeing the ones around him were just two old men, Kanon tried to circulate the energy inside him and activated his blessed ability to escape the place.
Such a weak defense is definitely a miracle granted by the god of creation for him. He can finally escape the palace's dungeons that are filled to the brim with strong guards.
But soon, Kanon's expression changed.
When he tried to move his energy and activate his blessed power. He found the energy in his body had turned unreceptive.
The energy that has always followed his will has turned stagnant.
While trying his best to calm down, Kanon tried to move his limbs but found they had turned extremely weak and were restrained by metal shackles.
"Whah is hafenin?" He asked the two old men around him but found out his tongue had turned numb and unable to move like normal.
Lacius and Hars calmly watched Kanon's struggle.
The potion Lacius just fed Kanon will cause the mana inside a blessed to stagnate while also slightly paralyzing their body. The weaker the blessed, the longer the duration it could cause their energy to stagnate.
But as the resources used to craft that potion are incredibly precious, he hasn't had the time or resources to increase his mastery.
Coupled with how the recipe he created is also still in its infancy, to the point it only has an extremely short shelf life. So, although the potion hasn't shown any result of failure, Lacius still needs to check whether the effect he intended has taken place.
After making sure the potion had taken effect, Lacius calmly pressed his hand on Kanon's abdomen. He gathered the mana inside his body and slowly injected Kanon with it.
Unlike activating blessed power, which has become the instinct of every blessed, releasing pure mana and controlling them to enter someone else's body requires some training and also extreme control over their own energy.
The moment Lacius's mana entered Kanon's body, his expression slightly contorted in pain. But, Lacius ignored it and continued to send his energy into Kanon.
While sweating from the extreme focus required to control his mana, Lacius controlled his energy to circulate inside Kanon's body.
The circulation path he used has some traces from Alan's training method. However, it has been extremely modified and barely has any similarity with Alan's method.
Halfway through circulating his energy inside Kanon's body, Lacius said to Hars, "Prepare the healing potion."
Hars took several vials of potions from a drawer and opened one of them.
When Kanon's expression distorted in pain as blood began to seep out of the skin in his arms, Hars poured a vial of healing potion into Kanon's mouth.
Seeing blood seeping out of Kanon's skin, Lacius mentally crossed another possible energy circulation path and circulated his energy inside of Kanon once more. This time, he used a slightly different energy circulation.
For the first few minutes, this energy circulation didn't cause any negative symptoms in Kanon. But, when Lacius controlled his energy to pass through the path around Kanon's neck, his eyes began to widen as blood began to seep out from the eye socket.
Lacius stopped controlling his energy, while Hars fed Kanon several vials of healing potions.
The two consecutive experiments caused Lacius to feel quite tired. So, he sat on a chair and slightly dozed off while lamenting the power of time over his old body.
On the side, Hars also sat down and slightly closed his eyes.
***
While Lacius and Hars rested, the potion's effect had already worn off.
Kanon saw the two old men around him had rested and tried to control his energy that had stopped being stagnant.
For the first few minutes, his attempt at moving his energy came to no avail as Lacius's experiments had caused the energy inside Kanon's body to turn chaotic. Kanon only barely able to control a small amount of earth after attempting to do so for five whole minutes.
What a pity, Kanon's small movements entered Lacius's sight and he used his power to nullify Kanon's blessed power. Every time Kanon tried to pull a stone from the ground, Lacius used his blessed power to push the stone back.
While playing 'whack a mole' with Kanon, Lacius regained his vigor and continued his experiment.
When he saw Lacius standing up, Kanon began to scream at the top of his lungs.
Ignoring Kanon's scream, Lacius injected his energy into Kanon's body and circulated it once more.
Every time Kanon seems like he is on the verge of death, Hars calmly fed Known with potions or poured a vial of potion on Kanon's wound.
Although the healing potions require a lot of expensive material to craft, and have a much weaker effect than the healing power of a blessed. But, Lacius can simply make his target chug more of those potions.
Among all the potions he has crafted, Lacius has been focusing on refining the recipe for healing potion the most. Right now, he already has several recipes for healing potions, which use different materials to achieve similar results.
Lacius continued his experiment for a week straight while taking turns with Hars to stop Kanon from fleeing.
He only stopped when Kanon's body couldn't last any longer. Even after being fed with hundreds of healing potions, Kanon's body has been riddled with wounds to the point he could barely breathe.
When Lacius saw Kanon who had turned into a corpse, he shrugged and asked Hars to cleanse the table.
Hars brought Kanon's corpse away and asked, "Do I need to bring another blessed?"
Lacius shook his head, "There is no need for now. I've found what I'm looking for."
After years of experiments, he has almost found a method suitable for earth elements blessed to advance their level. Currently, he only lacks a suitable place for the training method.
The gorge that Alan used as his training place is unsuitable for the method Lacius has just created. Because, unlike the training method Alan has created, the training method he has created is intended for earth element blessed.
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That means he must search for a place where a lot of energy is gathered on the ground instead of in the air.
After cleaning his laboratory, Lacius passed through several corridors in the palace and arrived at a room.
Inside the room, a massive topographic map has been laid on top of a table.
Most of the locations are quite vague with only a few marks to symbolize the approximate location of a mountain, rivers, caves, and other natural landscapes.
Except for the location of cities and the area around them that has been drawn with some details. Only the location that has been marked as a place with precious resources like a magical ore vein, or forest full of magical herbs has quite a detailed map.
Lacius stared at the map while contemplating, 'Based on my guess, the place that's suitable for my training method should be either deep underground, at the core of a mountain, or in a place with many magic ores.'
'But, I am still not sure which one is the most suitable. Furthermore, whether it's deep underground, the core of a mountain, or a magic ores vein, any one of them will require a lot of resources and manpower to visit.' Lacius sighed as he envied those blessed with wind power. They have it easy thanks to the gorge that can blow winds with enough energy density.
Because he is afraid to waste too much time, Lacius decided to take a three-pronged approach while focusing on one of them.
When a new day arrived, he issued a new order that asked people to explore caves that lead to the core of a mountain or deep underground. Anyone that succeeds will be granted a noble title and a huge fortune.
When the order Lacius gave was announced to every human city and village, it caused a huge sensation.
Since many people have begun to awaken their blessed power, not all blessed have the opportunity to become a noble that stood above the masses.
Those blessed who felt their potential had been wasted by cooping inside the city began to form a group to travel in the wilderness with the hope of encountering a suitable cave.
Meanwhile, after Lacius had sent that order, he rode a horse and traveled to a place that had been marked on the map to contain a lot of magical ores.
Based on the report he collected, the ores at that place actually are incredibly durable and have the ability to cause the surrounding space to become heavier.
When he arrived on the site together with Hars and several others blessed, Lacius could feel his body turn heavy.
He took an ore that contained a magic metal and brought it a few hundred meters away.
Although the heaviness had decreased, he could still feel his body being heavier than usual.
'It seems this odd heaviness is indeed caused by the magic metal.' Lacius returned to the place where he took the ore and tried to circulate his energy following the training method he had created.
After one cycle, he was barely able to absorb a small portion of energy. Although the amount is small and doesn't have the ability to push him to a higher level, Lacius is still glad. His success at absorbing energy means his training method is correct.
As for the small amount of energy absorbed, he guessed the energy would be denser the deeper he was. So, Lacius gathered a group of people and made them open a path on the ore vein as deep as possible.
After the two order to look for caves and mine a magic ore vein, Lacius also begins to recruit talented blessed with earth power and water power in preparation for the next part of his plan.
His three consecutive orders have caused the situation in the Sacred Kingdom which has just stabilized after the destruction of the temple, to fall into chaos once more.
This made Lacius waste a lot of time and effort to stabilize the situation and make sure his plan wouldn't go south.
While dealing with the problem in his kingdom and waited for the people to finish digging deep into the ore vein. Lacius once again began experimenting.
This time, he tried to create a training method suitable for blessed with water elements.
Because Lacius couldn't feel the energy inside water as well as he could sense energy inside the earth. This time, Hars is the one leading the experiment, while Lacius helps and guides him on the side.
After spending three years and killing dozens of low level blessed with water elements in their experiment, both of them finally created a method for blessed with water elements to increase their life level.
During the time spent on the experiment, Lacius also received several reports regarding the location of several caves which he immediately visited.
After testing the amount of energy gained inside those places, Lacius found the amount of energy was barely sufficient for the training method. But, it's still not enough for his next plan. This means he can only bet on the magic ore veins that's still being cleared.
Thankfully, the requirement to use the water element training method isn't as difficult as the one for earth elements. Lacius and Hars simply brought a few guards and tested every water body in the surrounding area. After visiting more than twenty rivers and lakes, they finally found a suitable place.
The place they found is a massive river that has an incredibly turbulent flow of water.
As the water flows are simply too turbulent, Hars can only train by absorbing the energy from water near the river bank. Even so, the amount of energy he absorbed is quite considerable.
Lacius injected a tiny bit of pure energy into Hars's body and sensed the increase in Hars's strength. He calculated that Hars should be able to reach his current level in about five to eight years.
After counting their age, Lacius began to worry. 'By the time Hars reached my level, he should be around eighty five years old.'
'I hate to admit it, but we are running out of time.' The feeling that both he and his only friend are slowly walking toward their end makes Lacius feel anxious.
After commanding several guards to protect Hars as he trained on the river, Lacius left and began to prepare another plan while visiting the ore vein he had requested to be cleared.
Upon arriving at the ore veins, he walked through the path leading deep into the ground and started circulating the energy inside him.
After circulating his energy once, Lacius stopped and compared the energy with the other cave that led deep underground or the core of a mountain.
Compared to the other places he has visited, Lacius found the speed of energy increased while training inside the ore vein is at least five times faster.
'This should be enough.' Lacius said and quickly returned to the Winter City.
Once he arrived, Lacius gathered several blessed with earth and water element power. Most of those blessed are only at Level 0 while only three people have reached Level 1.
He gave them the training method he had invented and said it could strengthen them. Lacius also promised those who have reached a certain level of strength can return to Winter City and be awarded nobility.
Amidst the hopeful stare of those blessed, he sends them to the ore vein and river while being accompanied by guards who are absolutely loyal to him. Those guards will make sure none of the blessed will escape or spread the technique.
What he does might seem generous, but Lacius's goal is actually simple and crude.
Currently, he needed strong blessed to be an experiment material.
Tsukiko's corpse is his only chance to reach a higher level. He needed to increase his understanding of blessed power before he could confidently begin studying her corpse. Otherwise, Lacius is afraid his chance of reaching the next level will disappear.
Actually, except for Tsukiko who has reached a higher level, there is also Yuma which he could pull into the experiment. But, after he has killed Tsukiko, Yuma should've hated him. This makes the chance for cooperation between them to be quite low.
It's not like he hasn't thought of capturing or killing Yuma. But, Yuma's strength and the creator's favor for him made Lacius have some reservation.
Although he isn't sure how strong the creator is. But just their ability to pull him into the sky and locate every demons is beyond what a blessed could do.
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.
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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.
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