Chapter 1214: Slowly gaining the strength back

If he hadn’t done anything and they still dared to disturb him, Souta wouldn’t have bothered listening to these people at all.

"What do you want?" Souta asked calmly.

Countess Emiline’s eyes flickered. She briefly glanced at her subordinates and, judging from their expressions, it was clear that they couldn’t comprehend this monster at all.

Monster language.

Those words were meant for her alone.

"Are you the ruler of this area?" Emiline asked.

"What if I am?" Souta replied.

Emiline paused for a moment before a faint smile appeared on her lips. "Then I would like to negotiate with you. But first, allow me to introduce myself. I am Countess Emiline Whitehall, Head of the Whitehall Household of Nature Zone City."

Nature Zone City.

It was one of the five cities of the Everlasting Kingdom, located to the east of the Royal Capital, with an estimated population of fifteen million.

Souta already knew about the five cities. He had learned of them while gathering information from the locals.

"You’re a high-level monster, so you should be able to understand my words," Emiline said. "I want you to know that the mana stone mine is of great importance to us. You may not care, but the entire kingdom is on the verge of collapse."

"So?" Souta replied indifferently.

"If war breaks out, the entire Land of Fire Light will be affected, including your land," Emiline continued. "Once the others obtain this information, the nobles of the kingdom may turn their eyes toward you."

"I’m not afraid of them."

"I wanted to bring you to our side. Of course, there will be benefits to this."

Souta sneered inwardly.

Are the benefits greater than the mana stone mine?

Even if their conflict spilled into his territory, he would simply fight back and plunder anyone who dared stand in his way.

Suddenly, Souta froze.

A sharp sound echoed inside his mind.

Ding!

[Quest Triggered]!!

[Crisis]: The Land of Fire Light is in a state of chaos. Stop the calamity in this land from reaching the overseas land.

Reward(s): 40 skill points, 40 free attribute points, 40,000,000,000 experience points, 3 random cards, and a shard of Origin Seed

[Please proceed with caution!]

[Please proceed with caution!]

[Please proceed with caution!]

Souta stared blankly at the quest interface. A deep sense of unease welled up within him.

He had a very bad feeling about this quest.

He closed his eyes for a brief moment before opening them again, fixing a deep, unreadable gaze on the woman before him.

"I’ll consider it," he said, "after you give me all the information."

’Why did you change your mind? I thought you were going to reject it,’ Saya asked.

Souta didn’t answer her right away. Instead, he kept his eyes on the Countess in front of him.

Emiline studied him in silence for a moment before nodding. "Alright. Let’s find a place where we can talk."

Souta nodded in response.

The two of them left the area, leaving Emiline’s subordinates behind, surrounded by hundreds of monsters. Despite the situation, her subordinates remained calm. They were strong in their own right, and the lesser monsters posed little threat.

The real danger lay with those at the fourth evolution stage.

And there weren’t many of them present.

Half an hour later, Souta and Emiline returned.

They reached an agreement.

Souta decided to join their side. He would also give up half of the mana stones in the mine to them. In return, Emiline would gradually transfer his share to him whenever they made new discoveries, even those he had no direct involvement in. They would compensate him at twice the value, which was a favorable deal for him.

However, Souta didn’t care about that for now. What truly concerned him was the situation of the kingdom. This quest, in particular, gave him a deeply unsettling feeling.

"I’ll go down first," Souta said to Emiline before turning toward the tunnel. "Don’t disturb me for the time being."

Emiline watched as he disappeared into the tunnel.

After a moment, one of her subordinates stepped forward and asked, "My Lady, why did you bring him to our side?"

Emiline glanced at her subordinate before replying, "He’s strong. I can sense danger from him. His strength will be a great asset to us."

Her subordinate was visibly shocked by her answer.

Countess Emiline was a Third Degree Ascension Knight. No fourth stage monster should have been able to make her feel threatened.

...

Deep within the tunnel.

Souta sat cross-legged, two monster orbs resting in his palms. His eyes were closed as he focused on guiding their energy into his body.

He had learned quite a few things from Emiline.

The Everlasting Kingdom was on the brink of an all-out war between two factions. The King had lost half of his power and was now on the verge of death. Seizing this opportunity, numerous nobles attempted to overthrow the kingdom and elevate themselves to higher positions. Those who still supported the Royal Family were doing everything they could to suppress the dissent.

However, the situation only worsened when the mana density surged and resources began appearing everywhere.

It became a battle for resources.

Simple in nature, yet the resulting conflicts spread across the kingdom, affecting countless citizens.

Still, something felt off.

It shouldn’t have been this easy.

There had to be a powerful being hiding in the shadows... something capable of bringing true disaster.

Even though Souta hadn’t confirmed it yet, he wanted to prepare for such a scenario. As long as he recovered enough, he would use his accumulated energy to evolve. Moreover, his evolution was different from that of ordinary monsters. It was guided by the system, and each time, he would fall unconscious afterward.

This was unlike monsters such as Doranjan, who could immediately fight after completing their evolution.

His evolution had to be handled with extreme care. Otherwise, it could bring disaster upon himself.

On the surface, Countess Emiline and her subordinates waited for nearly four hours before Souta finally emerged. They did nothing during that time—simply standing in place, keeping watch over the monsters surrounding them.

"I’m finished with everything here," Souta said.

Countess Emiline nodded, then glanced at the monsters nearby. "Are they your subordinates?" she asked.

"No." Souta shook his head.

He had only claimed this area as his territory because of the mana stone mine. He hadn’t had the time or intention to take these monsters under his wing.

Souta narrowed his eyes and said coldly, "Go back to your nests, or I’ll kill every single one of you."

His words carried immense killing intent. The monsters instinctively stepped back before finally fleeing the area.

Souta and Countess Emiline spoke for a while longer. In the end, they decided that some of her subordinates would remain behind while the rest returned. Afterward, they would dispatch more people to mine the mana stones here in large batches, converting them into strength as quickly as possible.

Once everything was settled, Souta and Emiline departed together with a few others.

Countess Emiline owned land just several kilometers away from the Great Wave Trench. Together, they arrived at a massive settlement known as River Tree Village, home to nearly thirty thousand people.

The Whitehall Household ruled this land.

Souta couldn’t help but feel a hint of surprise at the sight of the village.

Trees filled the area, some towering thirty to forty meters high. Houses were built around these massive trees, with several constructed atop their branches or even hanging from them, seamlessly blending architecture with nature.

"What do you think?" Countess Emiline asked, a faint smile on her lips.

"It’s good," Souta replied.

They proceeded directly to the Whitehall Mansion.

Inside the mansion, Emiline continued her discussion with Souta. She informed him that she intended to introduce him to the Crown Prince, which meant they would need to wait for some time. She dispatched messengers to deliver word to the Crown Prince, while other members of her household departed for the mana stone mine.

Countess Emiline swiftly arranged everything, while Souta remained in the guestroom. He had no intention of interfering with her plans unless he deemed it necessary.

Souta sat inside the room, quietly contemplating the state of his recovery.

’How much strength can you exert now?’ Saya asked.

"It’s enough to fight a Sixth Shackle Realm," Souta answered.

He closed his eyes.

He could now use his physical abilities at their maximum capacity. Inside the mana stone mine, he had remained there for nearly four hours, during which he managed to awaken his parasites. Once awakened, he used them to devour a massive amount of mana stones within the mine.

The absorbed energy was refined and strengthened repeatedly until his physical body fully recovered. After that, he began slowly repairing his damaged inner consciousness.

’Are you going to evolve?’ Saya asked.

"Not yet." Souta shook his head.

This still wasn’t enough.

However, it wouldn’t take much longer, especially since his recovery speed had increased due to his douion.

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.