Chapter 1247

Chapter 1247

Duke Vakkaman was speechless and unable to respond to the Beyond the Heavens Empire’s unilateral declaration of war against the Luvien Empire. His reaction was proof that the Beyond the Heavens Empire had already become a massive threat to them after its rapid expansion of power.

After everything ended, Minhyuk was back inside his audience hall. This time, the kings of all three races were bound tightly before him and his throne.

“The three races will live for the sake of the humans and the sake of the Beyond the Heavens Empire. Not only will the surviving troops of the Allied Races’ army always be at the frontlines in the event of a war, but they will also be placed in high-ranking mines where humans could not mine.”

Slavery. It was the word that matched the life that the members of the three races had to live from here on out. Even so, the three kings did not argue.

“I have seen and learned a lot of things through Reikan’s diary.”

However, Minhyuk did not feel any sympathy for them. Why?

“You have returned murder with murder. Do you think what you did is something that should be forgiven?”

The Allied Races’ army had killed a lot of humans. The bereaved families would have agreed with the Luvien Empire and would have wanted the slaughter and death of the three races. However, the Beyond the Heavens Empire did not do so because they believed this was an inhumane action.

“Let me put it simply. You will be our dogs.”

They all remained silent. To be honest, the kings were already very grateful for the fact that Minhyuk had kept them alive. Nevertheless, there was still one thing that weighed down their hearts.

All of them believed that the Beyond the Heavens Empire would enslave not only the men but also the women, the children, and the elderly. They had not even processed the grief of losing Reikan, the person that they cherished the most, but they had to suddenly accept the sorrow brought by their incompetence and be persecuted.

Even if they had ten mouths, they still had nothing to say. There was just one thing that they wished for, one small wish.

‘The medicinal herb to cure the epidemic...’

Nevertheless, they all kept their mouths shut. They had killed a lot of humans and did not deserve to demand anything.

‘Please give us something to eat...’

Yet they could not even say that. They could only lower their heads in resignation.

Meanwhile, Haze turned to Brod and said, “Sir Brod. Please go and bring the Gainady’s Herb to their lands.”

The kings looked up at Haze in surprise.

“And please distribute food and accompany Great Spirit of the Earth Rend and some of our outstanding farmers so they can grow grain and fruits in those wastelands.”

The three kings stared at Prime Minister Haze blankly.

‘Why? Why is she...?’

“These are His Majesty’s orders.”

“I have received the orders.”

“...!”

“...!”

“...!”

Surprisingly, the orders did not come from Prime Minister Haze. Instead, they were from the human emperor sitting before them and looking down at them contemptuously.

Minhyuk frowned. “Don’t be mistaken. The women, the elderly, and the children are not guilty. They are now my people, and I am just caring for them.”

At this moment, the three kings realized that only those who participated in the war would be enslaved.

“As for you all. You will all remain by my side for the rest of your lives. You will have to work for me without being paid or rewarded for your hard work...”

However, Minhyuk was not able to finish his words. Orc King Borlon had kowtowed, slamming his head on the ground so hard that it caused a huge tremor.

THUD–!

“Thank you! Chwiiiiiik!”

Thud–

“Thank you! Chwiiiiiik! Thank you! Chwiiiiiik! Thank you! Chwiiiiiik!”

Green blood flowed from Orc King Borlon’s forehead, splattering the ground beneath him. Although the Dragonkin King and the Werewolf King did not react as violently as Borlon, the expressions on their faces displayed that they were also feeling the same.

“If you tell us to bark, we’ll bark for you. If you tell us to bite, then we will bite.”

[Orc King Borlon swears his eternal loyalty to you.]

[Receiving the Orc King’s eternal loyalty is equivalent to receiving the eternal loyalty of all orcs.]

[All of the orcs will be loyal to you.]

[Dragonkin King Hadon swears his eternal loyalty to you...]

[Werewolf King Deinen swears his eternal loyalty to you...]

Despite their fervent reactions and firm determination, the expression on Minhyuk’s face did not change.

“If you’re truly grateful, bring me unusual or special food or ingredients that your races are proud of.”

“Chwiiik. I will select the greatest and most outstanding things we have.”

The kings of the three races showed expressions that screamed about their determination to bring something that would help the Beyond the Heavens Empire.

As they stepped outside, Haze said, “Every race has an advantage and way of living and survival unique to their race. It’s like how humans have discovered and started using fire to improve our lives.”

Haze released a trembling breath as she continued, “It doesn’t matter what they bring. It will bring a huge and unimaginable boost to the Beyond the Heavens Empire’s growth. I believe Your Majesty already knows about this.”

Minhyuk nodded. “The Luvien Empire produces the iron called Four Seasons Iron. It is being distributed all over the continent and is why they have become what they are now.”

The Four Seasons Iron was created by the Luvien Empire’s most outstanding blacksmiths, who processed and smelt special ores and minerals they discovered using their unique method. The Four Seasons Iron was ten times more expensive than ordinary iron, and its sales filled the coffers of the Luvien Empire.

“The Beyond the Heavens Empire needs something like that. Our empire is considered the empire of cooking, but we don’t have anything like the Four Seasons Iron. And one of the reasons we haven’t been able to develop or produce something like that until now is because we have been on guard against the Luvien Empire.”

“Even though the Luvien Empire is keeping to themselves, war can break out at any time. We must move quickly and help the Beyond the Heavens Empire grow even further...”

Knock, knock–

At that moment, the kings of the three races came back.

“Your Majesty, we want to repay the grace and mercy you have shown us.”

“Speak.”

The three of them had a serious discussion outside. Nevertheless, Minhyuk’s reaction remained lukewarm.

“Your Majesty, we believe you have obtained the Seeds of Propagation. Right?”

After Minhyuk killed Reikan, not only did his level increase by two, but he could also obtain quite a few things. Among those things was something that he considered useless, the Stat Transposer, and the Seeds of Propagation.

Although Minhyuk deemed the Stat Transposer useless, it was quite unusual.

‘It allows me to transfer some of my stats to someone else.’

Which player would be crazy enough to do such a thing? That was not the only reason why he deemed it useless. There was still one more.

‘Even if a Level 1 player obtains the power of a Level 600 player, they still will not be able to show much power.’

And the reason for that was simple. It was because they could not keep up with the agility and speed of a Level 50 player even if they had the power of a Level 600 player. However, what was more dangerous was that once the Stat Transposer was activated, it would not stop until the skill user transferred 90% of the chosen stat.

Then, there was the Seed of Propagation. The Seed of Propagation was the source of Reikan’s power. The power allowed Reikan to reproduce more of the other races. Unfortunately, after being transferred to him, the effects had changed completely.

‘I can no longer reproduce and propagate the other races.’

After all, it would not make sense for a player to use the Seed of Propagation and breed and reproduce more humans.

‘In exchange, I can reproduce and propagate ores, ingredients, scrolls, and many more.’

Of course, there were restrictions. First off, Minhyuk could only reproduce one item. This item should be produced or grown in the land of the orcs, the dragonkin, or the werewolves.

“In our home, a tree called the Nine Fruit Tree exists. However, it’s the only one of its kind.”

“It’s called the Nine Fruit Tree? Then, does that mean that it grows nine fruits in one tree?”

“That’s right. It grows apples, pears, grapes, plums, mandarins...”

Some could be considered vegetables rather than fruits, but they glossed over that fact for now. When Minhyuk heard about the tree, his mouth immediately began to water.

‘I want to plant one at my house?’

Goodness! A single tree could grow nine different things?! It would definitely be one of a kind in the world. Regardless, that was not the point.

“Each of the nine fruits has different effects.”

“...?”

“We’re talking about buff effects.”

“...!”

Minhyuk and Haze both jumped to their feet.

“Wait. Are you saying the fruits can give buff effects just by eating them right off the tree?”

There were a lot of types of buffs in the world. There were buffs from scrolls, potions, dishes, priests, and many more. Once Minhyuk thought about it, he realized that all of these things had one thing in common. They were produced. Mages made scrolls and parchments, alchemists made potions, chefs made dishes, priests and many more gave blessings.

However, the Nine Fruit Tree was different. It could give out buffs just by standing still and bearing fruit.

“Let’s check it first.”

Minhyuk was eager to see how much power the newly accepted kings of races would give him and his empire.

***

There were countless religions in the world of Athenae. Based on the statistics, there were around eighty-seven religions in existence.

Surprisingly enough, even if the eighty-six other religions and churches combined, they would still be smaller than the Athenae religion. This showed how prominent, powerful, and influential the Athena religion was.

Saintess Loyna was the chosen person to lead the religion and the church. The people hailed her as Athenae’s Daughter and the Holiest Being. In reality, Saintess Loyna was a woman with questionable origins.

The word "born" was only appropriate if the child was conceived and nurtured in the womb and passed through the birth canal. However, Saintess Loyna, although considered the most sacred, noblest, and purest being on earth, was created by the God of Origin, Athenae, on the spot.

Saintess Loyna, who was kneeling with her hands clasped into a prayer, was like the cleanest and whitest flower in the world. Standing before the purest white flower, the pope declared, “Hear ye, Saintess Loyna.”

Standing at the highest position, the pope looked like a presiding judge as he said, “You are guilty of the following sins.”

The sins that the purest and holiest flower had committed were announced.

“Instead of offering the money donated by the several kingdoms and empires to the great God of Origin Athenae, Saintess Loyna used it for the sake of a mere human being.”

Most of the money the Athenae Religion received was spent on the church's decorations and embellishments. The donations were supposed to be used solely for the sake of Athenae. Alas, they were used to decorate the church and embroider it with jewels while filling the pockets of the popes and the high priests.

Loyna, however, took the money and spent it elsewhere. She used it to fund and feed the starving children who would become the future priests of the Athenae Religion. Even though she was being slandered, she remained the brightest and most beautiful flower.

Despite being wrongly accused, Loyna continued to murmur her prayers. She said, “God Athenae, please care for the church's children. Please do not let them go hungry and allow them to continue on the path of learning...”

“Loyna!” the pope shouted furiously. “You are not praying for God Athenae! You are praying for the children! The fate of the children will naturally be under the jurisdiction and care of God Athenae...”

Unbeknownst to them, the most beautiful flower had already grown thorns.

“So, did you use the money raised by the Athenae Religion to feed the hungry children?”

Seeing her hands still clasped in prayer, the pope growled, “The saint is the purest and holiest instrument created by God Athenae for her sake and her sake alone. Yet, you are not doing anything for the sake of God Athenae. You are even praying for the sake of mere humans!”

Loyna glared coldly at the pope. “When the church children were wearing rags and praying with their frozen hands to God Athenae, you were buying jewelry with the money that was supposed to clothe them, no?”

The pope wanted to punish Saintess Loyna because she was the most beloved person in the Athenae religion—even more so than Athenae herself!

“I will now sentence you.”

In any religion, the one with absolute command was the pope.

“Tomorrow, Saintess Loyna will be deprived of all of her holy power and be sent back into the arms of God Athenae.”

A saintess’ life force and vitality was their holy power. A saintess who lost her holy power will face extinction, an eternal death. In other words, it was the death penalty.

Right now, the purest, holiest, and whitest flower was being broken.

***

The land where the three races were forced to live was a small wasteland. Surprisingly enough, the Nine Fruit Tree grew in this wasteland. And it was indeed a tree that could produce different fruits.

Minhyuk quickly checked and identified each of the fresh and juicy fruits.

‘Eating the apple will increase the EXP Acquisition Rate by 8%. Eating the mandarin will increase DEX by 9%. Eating the pear will increase STM by 7%.’

Haze, who also checked each fruit, looked at Minhyuk in disbelief. She sputtered, “Your Majesty...”

“Yes, that’s right. Haze.”

The two were exactly on the same page.

“This discovery has enough power to rival the Luvien Empire’s Four Seasons Iron.”

The two of them came to that conclusion for many reasons. First, these buff fruits possessed extraordinarily high power.

“These fruits, we only need to grow them. If we can successfully propagate and reproduce hundreds of these trees, we will be able to harvest many buff fruits. We only need to monitor their exposure to the sun and water these trees appropriately to harvest the fruits. The value of these fruits is definitely beyond imagination.”

“Furthermore, it completely bypasses the process of creating a buffed item. There will be no need for chefs to cook buff dishes, for priests to bestow blessings, and for mages to create scrolls. We’re completely removing the cost of labor.”

Indeed. These fruits would give the same buff effects without any additional labor. And with the cost of labor to produce buffed items removed, they could easily sell these for half the price.

“These fruits are also easy to eat. We can take it out and eat it at any given time.”

The appearance of these fruits will allow the Beyond the Heavens Empire to monopolize the market for buffed items.

The Orc King, the Dragonkin King, and the Werewolf King all sported satisfied smiles on their faces when they saw the excitement on the faces of the two.

Minhyuk quickly applied the Seed of Propagation to the Nine Fruit Tree.

[To use the Seed of Propagation, fulfill one of the two conditions set.]

[The first condition: Kill and harvest life to create and gather the power of propagation.]

[The second condition: Use a portion of the noblest and purest power to create and gather the power of propagation.]

“In many forests, what they call a Mother Tree exists. The Nine Fruit Tree can become the Mother Tree and create a forest. To turn this Nine Fruit Tree into a Mother Tree, you need to obtain the noblest and purest power, a power similar to a mother's love.”

[You chose to create and gather the power of propagation using the noblest and purest power.]

[The number of trees that can be reproduced and propagated and the amount and type of buff effect the fruits can have will be determined by the amount of the noblest and purest power the chosen person has.]

Only one person flashed in Minhyuk’s mind when he heard the notifications—one with the noblest and purest power, like the Mother Tree.

“Haze. I’m going out for a bit. I have to go and meet Loyna in the Athenae Religion’s church,” Minhyuk said as he headed straight to his chosen destination.