Chapter 1101: Taking A Small Break
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I had heard that the forests surrounding Evergrace had Lesser Dryads, descendants of the Ancient Spirits of Nature, but it seems that we were too late. Most of the forests were burned, leaving behind nothing but ugly deserted landscapes. There were pools of miasma everywhere as well.
Well, that was going to change right now anyways. With the help of Erika, Eric, and their Spirits, plus my Divinity, the surroundings began to rapidly fill with nature and life. Elizabeth used her Purifying Light Waves to quickly purify the area from miasma too.
Slowly, as we rested from the battle, the surroundings were filled with beautiful greenery. The forest that they made reached all the way to the mysterious Tower of Trials, which seemed to be eagerly waiting for my arrival.
"And done… Phew! That was more exhausting than I thought!" Erika said. "But at least the surroundings look a bit prettier, right?"
"Indeed they do," I nodded with a smile. "Now, we should try to reconstruct some of these areas if possible…"
Using my Domain of Creation, I quickly reconstructed most of the houses we ended wrecking, alongside the castle. I also used Dragon Tongue to experiment such things, and it worked, but it drained Mana very fast.
By simply saying "Rebuild back to normal", the entire castle, brick by brick, returned to its original form, and even more strengthened and tougher than before, though that took almost 600.000 Mana out of me.
"Hmm, as long as I have a lot of Mana Elixirs stocked, that's not a problem anyways."
With the Alchemy Dragon Spirits feeding me Mana Elixirs by converting them into shockwaves of azure light and without the need to drink the potions even directly, my Mana rapidly regenerate back.
We decided to quickly take residence in the Evergrace castle for the moment, cleaning it from everything that was inside and leaving the place completely clean and pristine.
"It's ready! This place is finally something we can call a residence!" said Elizabeth, nodding. "Ugh, I'm so hungry though… Too tired to cook."
"Yeeaaahh… Ugeeehh…" Erika groaned, sitting over a sofa with Elizabeth.
"Same, I'm exhausted," Erdrich rested over the floor. "What a tiresome day…"
"It sure was…" Eric sighed. "And I'm always just fighting in the backlines, yet I get this tired… Alberta, how are you feeling?"
"Me? I'm fine, don't worry!" said Alberta with a gentle smile. "Though piloting the golem spirit is pretty tiring too, it's not too bad! You always worry about me, Eric, aren't you a nice boyfriend?"
She sat by his side and started kissing him, Eric began blushing until he became as red as a tomato.
"W-Wait, Alberta, you're kissing me too much…" he said nervously.
"Heheh~ You're so cute when embarrassed! Come here!" Alberta became more assertive, as she started snuggling with him on the other sofa of the resting room within the castle, close to the kitchen.
"Is that even necessary?" Chris glared at the scene and then elsewhere. "Well, Frederica is waiting for me back home so I gotta work hard… Man, and there's three more cities to go?!"
He suddenly recalled what I said, groaning as he usually does.
"We might finish those quickly," I said. "I've amassed enough units so I believe we can start splitting my forces to conquer many cities at the same time."
"Oooh? Really?!" Elfriedden wondered. "That would be really convenient… The capital is where Fafnir's nest is, right?"
"Yeah, it would be our last stop," I nodded. "Though I was also planning to send you and bring to me some of the Ice Elves. I would gladly have their help. Seeing how potentially powerful they could be."
"Right, you did have such a plan… If they're truly alive, because of how low the population is right now, adding them to the main population would be a must," Elfriedden nodded. "…Fine, if the opportunity comes, I'll try to help."
"Thanks, Elfriedden," I said. "Anyways, I'll cook something for everyone, so just sit down and relax."
"Really? You're too nice…" Erika yawned. "Ugh, I feel sleepy even."
"Perhaps using too much mana does that to you," said Elizabeth. "Let me help you, Blake. I don't want you to do everything right before going to that Trial, if possible."
"Thank you," I nodded.
We cooked together, also with the help of several of my Vampire Spirits who joined us today. Eleanora, Saphira, Hendrick, and Eriant loved cooking, so they happily helped.
The rest not so much, they were rather clumsy at best, or terrible at worst… But they did bring proper ingredients when asked, and also could wash the dishes.
"Hah! I can't believe my master would put me in such a simple task as washing dishes! What is this? Should an Elder Mindflayer be doing such a thing?" Azahuk wondered, as he washed the dishes anyways.
He did look rather creepy to the rest of my friends, but his tentacles were very useful and grabbing many things at once.
"Azahuk, you are quite dexterous with your hands, so I required your handwork," I said. "After all, you're a true master of the craft."
"Oooho! Of course master! I totally understand now!" he nodded. "This does indeed put my hands to work, and my various tentacles! Now, now, what is this cooking you're doing? Isn't it like Alchemy?
The art of mixing things together… But to eat instead? How odd! My kind usually just eats brains and nothing else! Though now that I am a Spirit, I require no such substances. Albeit I do enjoy the lizardmen brains you feed me, master. They're smarter than usual, quite the exotic delicacy!"
"W-What is that octopus even talking about?" Elizabeth wondered, looking at Azahuk with disgust.
"He likes to talk a lot, just bear with him," I shrugged. "Azahuk, want me to teach you how to cook? Perhaps your brains will taste better cooked."
"Hm?! I had never considered that before! However, fresher brains do give the best amount of neurons and brain cells. We usually require them alive after all, cooking would kill them instead…" he said.
"I see…" I nodded.
"You're enjoying this conversation!" Elizabeth reprimanded me.
"Hahaha! Sorry, I used to talk like this with him before," I laughed. "Anyways, it should be mostly ready… Let's eat."
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