Chapter 187: Prototype of a Civilization

Chapter 187: Chapter 187: Prototype of a Civilization

"Now I understand why those famous Master Alchemists don’t just accept any Potion order."

"Just processing Magic Plants is enough to work a person to death."

Karina snipped off the root system of a Windflower and tossed it to the ground.

"Every Alchemist goes through this stage. If you want to be revered by all, you have to suffer in private."

"Every Master Alchemist is forged from thousands and thousands of Potions."

Andre picked up the Windflower Karina had discarded.

"Before this expedition, I thought it would be an easy job. Just use our Power to subjugate them, and that’s it."

"I never expected it to be a huge mess of miscellaneous chores."

Jessica held her shears, looking utterly spent.

"Use Power to subjugate them? Have you forgotten what kind of world we’re invading? It’s a Level 2 World. Even you could be in over your head!"

Seeing Jessica’s state, Rote patted her on the shoulder.

"Ugh, why do things like world consciousness even exist? If they didn’t, we could just conquer this world with our Star Realm Battleship."

Even after Rote’s pat, Jessica kept on grumbling.

"Without world consciousness, how many worlds do you think would still exist in the Star Realm?"

Andre looked at Jessica and shook his head.

"What’s that supposed to mean?" Jessica asked, stunned for a moment.

"What do you think it means? Wizards absorb Magic Power into their bodies—Magic Power that should be part of the world’s natural cycle."

"From the perspective of a world’s consciousness, Wizards are obstacles impeding its function. A small number of these obstacles is manageable."

"But once there are too many, the world can’t sustain itself and gradually begins to die a slow death," Rote explained to Jessica.

"There’s lore about that?" Jessica blinked.

"Of course. Why else do you think the Homeworld divides worlds into different Levels and constantly sends Wizards out on expeditions? It’s to ensure the sustainable growth of all Wizards and to replenish our resources."

Andre’s hands didn’t stop moving as he spoke.

"But we can’t just stay here brewing Potions forever, right?"

Karina picked up a stalk of Wisdom Spirit Grass, snipped off the withered leaves, and then tossed it to Andre.

"Of course we can’t. I’ve already sent Piedra and Sander to find new kingdoms suitable for attack."

"We need to conquer a few more kingdoms before the Second Expeditionary Corps arrives. It’ll count toward our accomplishments."

"Technically, our mission as the First Expeditionary Corps is to gather intelligence and survey the terrain."

"But every little bit we can do extra is a plus. It’ll add to our list of achievements."

Andre nodded.

"That’s all well and good, and I don’t mind conquering new kingdoms, but we’re not getting much out of it! The reward isn’t proportional to the effort at all," Karina complained to Andre.

The kingdom they had conquered hadn’t yielded any real rewards.

They had originally agreed to attack this kingdom partly due to the pressure from Andre’s grandmaster, and partly out of wishful thinking.

They had fantasized that the treasuries of the Multi-Body Race would be filled with countless treasures.

Things like Magic Plants, minerals, or at the very least, piles of Magic Stones.

But as it turned out, they were wrong. The Multi-Body Race of this world relied on their Bloodline inheritance to Passively absorb Magic Power from the world.

They had no need to search for Magic Plants or minerals, and their treasuries held barely any Magic Stones.

What they found instead were the skulls of enemy chieftains they had killed and the carcasses of Magical Beasts, which were symbols of Power.

But since the natives didn’t know how to preserve them, these Magical Beast carcasses were in terrible condition.

"I really have no idea what their Bloodline inheritance is even for!"

"No Power, no treasures."

Frustration was written all over Jessica’s face. Whenever the five of them conquered one of those cities,

she was always the first one to charge into the City Lord’s Mansion to search for loot.

But the loot she found was nothing more than a few Magical Beast carcasses and, at best, a handful of Magic Plant species.

And those were just Magic Plants the Multi-Armed Race had discovered over their long history that could enhance their Power.

Other than that, there was nothing. Plus, the Magical Beast remains were all in exceptionally poor condition.

The only parts they could use were the Magical Beasts’ bones, but they weren’t Casters.

So, these Magical Beast bones could only be handed over to Andre to handle.

"This is what primitive worlds are like. You should be thankful we ended up in a relatively primitive world."

"Although the remains of a Divine Spirit started the age of the Multi-Body Race, there aren’t many developed civilizations in this world."

"If we had been assigned a world with a developed civilization, our lives wouldn’t be anything like this."

"We’d be fighting an Otherworld civilization all day long. Just the six of us and our servants? We’d be running for our lives every single day. Is that the kind of life you want?"

Jessica stuck out her tongue at Andre’s words. ’She definitely didn’t want to live like that.’

And so, after two more days of this work, Piedra and Sander emerged from their respective Star Realm Battleships with grim expressions.

The moment they stepped out, they called everyone together for a meeting.

Everyone had just sat down when Piedra spoke, his words causing all their hearts to jump. "There’s been a change in the situation."

"What happened?" Andre’s expression darkened.

Piedra said nothing. Instead, he took out a Memory Crystal, infused it with Magic Power, and projected the images stored within.

"Are they forging artifacts and brewing Potions?"

Rote frowned as he watched the scene in the projection.

The projection showed members of the Multi-Brain Race, their heads the size of coconuts, preparing basic Potions.

Others had begun using the bones and blood of Magical Beasts to craft crude, primitive Witchcraft Artifacts.

This development was not a good sign for them.

"Yes. I discovered this in one of the Multi-Brain Race kingdoms."

Piedra’s expression was grim.

"The Multi-Brain Race is the most intelligent branch of the Multi-Body Race. It’s not surprising that their civilization would progress in this way."

Andre watched the shifting projection, his eyes narrowed.

"It may not be surprising, but it’s a huge problem for us. It means they’re developing the Ability to arm themselves."

"Once these things become widespread, conquering this world will come at a heavy cost,"

Sander said with a nod, looking at everyone.

"If one has appeared, then more will appear. The only thing we can do is eliminate their key forces."

Andre nodded.