Chapter 288: A Welcome Plea

"The Ghost fleet. Another secret out in the open."

Cassian let out a quiet breath.

Ever since Divine Province had made enemies of the Jade Court, the Black Banner, and the western powers, one war had followed another. He had tried to keep a low profile. His friends had worked hard to mislead anyone watching. Still, each new enemy forced him to show more of his strength.

At least they had cleared out most of the hostile Lords hiding in the Province. A few spies might remain, but Gates could only carry so many people at once. An army large enough to invade Divine Province had to build a fleet and cross the sea.

That gave him room to act.

If the seven-nation coalition landed, the consequences would be disastrous. Even relocating the Five Elements Temple and using every advantage he possessed would not guarantee victory.

Revealing his navy to keep them offshore had been the right choice.

"But sooner or later, they’ll have a Legendary fleet of their own. And next time, they’ll bring something that can break through a Legendary Mirage Ship."

He could not cover everything with his own strength forever.

Elara, Nessa, and the others could already rival ordinary Divine Scions. That was impressive. It still was not enough.

Cassian stepped into the Enlightenment Enclosure.

Sylvara was there, tending the Tea Tree. Green light flowed from her hands in careful pulses as she worked Heavenly Garrison Farming Art, the Grade-A skill he had given her.

The tree had reached five meters. A soft sheen lay within its branches, and with his sharp eyesight he could make out tiny runes flickering beneath the surface.

He waited until Sylvara finished.

"How much longer before I can taste the tea?"

She considered the tree before answering.

"This is the first Mythic plant I’ve tended besides the Ancient Tree of Life. Judging by its condition, it could flower in a month and bear fruit a month after that. If growth is slower, perhaps one more month in all. I mean time outside the Enclosure."

A Legendary Nine-Star Hero with a gift for farming could judge these things far more precisely than Farmer One had.

The Advanced Aether Vein, the Farming site, and Sylvara’s art had made an enormous difference. A growth cycle that had once required more than a year of Realm time had shortened to less than half a year.

The first crop should come just in time for the Provincial Ranking.

By then, he intended to bring the Five Elements Temple home. A World Wonder’s arrival would cause a sensation. It would also attract every kind of greedy enemy, perhaps even Legions from other races.

He was looking forward to that tea more than ever.

"This tree is important, Sylvara. I’ll be relying on you. Don’t hold back on Life Water. Use Life Essence too, if it will help."

He withdrew more than a hundred bottles of Life Water and ten bottles of Life Essence from his accumulated stock and gave them to her.

Sylvara pressed her lips together.

"Lord, the Ancient Tree of Life is important as well. You mustn’t play favorites."

He blinked. She could be jealous on behalf of a tree?

"All right. They’re both our children. I’ll go and see it now."

Her smile returned, and she followed him out.

She soon regretted it.

The Ancient Tree had grown beautifully. Thirty meters of trunk and spreading branches rose above them, its foliage covering the Fountain of Life below.

The two Mythic trees developed differently. The older the Tea Tree became, the stronger its leaves would be; there was no single moment when it became fully adult. The Ancient Tree had to reach maturity before it could offer the full range of Elf troops, from Elite to Legendary.

That took far longer. It would probably be years before he could recruit an army from it.

Looking at those healthy branches, however, Cassian found another possibility.

"Sylvara. I’ve heard branches from an Ancient Tree of Life make excellent staffs. Expensive ones."

His fleet was burning Aether every second. Lately, the first thing he wondered about anything valuable was how much it might sell for.

Sylvara flashed in front of the trunk.

"Lord! You are not cutting branches off this tree."

"Don’t be nervous. I’m only asking about the market."

The market?

Her expression became even more watchful.

Under that stare, Cassian began to feel like a thief caught reaching over a garden wall.

"You carry on. I have training to do."

He left her to it, privately wondering whether he could snap off a few branches when she was occupied elsewhere. There were so many. Surely the Elves of Florentia would pay handsomely.

——

With the coalition approaching, Cassian put most of his time into training and arranging more high-grade fuel purchases through the Exchange.

He paid to keep the Enlightenment Enclosure running at fifty times the outside rate. As naval rewards came in, he also paid the Battle Essence to raise his own Level from 65 to 75.

Three Realm Days passed.

Beneath the Tea Tree, Cassian suddenly opened his eyes. For a moment, he looked lost. Then his stomach growled, and he put a hand over it.

"I actually had an insight."

Concentration had never come easily to him. When he tried to train, his mind wandered or he became sleepy. Even settling into a steady flow of practice was difficult. Reaching the deepest state of insight had seemed far beyond him.

Yet the Tea Tree had brought him there.

What would its leaves do when they were ready?

A sharp crack sounded inside his body.

It felt as though something long closed had opened. Strength surged through him, followed by a pain that drove the breath from his lungs. Pale golden vitality poured through his pores and washed through every part of his body.

He had no time to prepare. His teeth clenched.

"Damn it. The first time... didn’t hurt... this much."

For ten minutes, the golden force kept tearing through him. Only then did it sink back into his body and grow quiet.

Cassian let out a long, unsteady breath. Resolve, understanding, Fortune—after that, he could believe every warning about what it took to train an art like this.

"Next time, I’m finding something for the pain before I break through."

Months of accumulated training, supported by the Enclosure’s fiftyfold time, had finally carried Warbody into its next stage.

[Warbody Foundation III → Warbody Foundation IV]

[Stage Breakthrough: Physique +12,000 | Spirit +4,000]

He drank two bottles of Life Essence, then opened his attributes with his equipment bonuses excluded.

[Cassian Vale]

[Level: 75 | Aptitude: A]

[Physique: 45,082 | Aether: 31,528 | Spirit: 29,123 | Load: 16,380]

[Warbody: Foundation IV]

[Selected Skills — Grade A: Origin Divine Fist — Proficient / Cloudstride — Practiced / Disarming Toast — Beginner / Seven-Star Release — Beginner / Grain God — Practiced]

[Combat Rating: 30,528 stars]

The pain began to seem much more worthwhile.

"What an increase."

Warbody’s gains surpassed those of Mistveil March. Even Aurelia’s Radiant Body fell short by comparison.

If he bought himself a full set of Level-75 Legendary equipment, his combat rating could pass forty thousand stars at once. Physique alone could exceed sixty thousand. A Level-90 Legendary One-Star monster would be an easy kill at that strength.

The breakthrough was only part of it. Grain God, which he had learned for himself, had continued turning his food into growth. That skill was why his attributes had climbed so far beyond those of an ordinary Aptitude-A Lord.

After getting used to his new strength, Cassian resisted the urge to find Aurelia and settle a few old training grievances. He checked the naval battle first.

In three days, the coalition had traveled more than ten thousand kilometers. It was now less than ninety thousand kilometers from Divine Province.

With its ships scattered, the formation stretched more than a thousand kilometers from front to rear. The Ghost fleet could no longer sink thousands of ships in a single concentrated strike as it had at the start.

It had still earned him thirty billion Battle Essence over those three days.

Darian had taken his own Epic fleet out to raid as well. From the reports, his haul had been excellent.

A notification sounded. Someone had mentioned Cassian in the Homeworld Channel.

He opened it.

[Orrick Selwyn: Lord Cassian, are you there? Talassar yields! We’ll leave the coalition immediately and never invade Divine Province again. Please, let us go!]

Cassian smiled. With Talassar setting the example, the rest would be much easier.