Chapter 141. Peace?
After making a deal with Catherina, Lacius flew toward Elisa’s location.
Upon arriving near the city, Lacius simply flew straight to the center of the city.
Elisa spotted Lacius flying by and, without even stopping the drama she watched, Elisa casually asked, “What’s up?”
Meanwhile, with the elven drama playing in the background, Lacius repeated what he had said to Catherina before, “I want you to let the chaos go on. This way, the Level 3 blessed from other forces will be greatly consumed, while the forces under the three of us will retain our strength, making us the dominant forces for at least the next few centuries, or even a millennium.”
‘Three?’ Elisa dismissed Lacius’s main point and asked, “Hmm? Has that dragon also reached Level 5 like us?”
Lacius nodded, “Though slightly weaker, she’s also advanced to Level 5.”
Elisa then inquired, “Have you met her recently? Did you visit her before coming here?”
Lacius confirmed, “She agreed with my plan and will only share her training methods with those inside the Great Dragon Academy.”
Elisa became curious, “What kind of deal did you both reach? I don’t believe that greedy girl willingly go with your plan without asking for something in exchange.”
“She requested a monopoly right over every internet-related plant business in human territory for a few centuries. In return, she approved my plan and will share 30% of the profits."
Upon hearing it, Elisa was so absorbed in her thoughts that she didn't even notice the drama had ended.
After a moment, she suggested, “Let’s make a deal. I’ll accept your plan, but I have two requests in exchange.”
“First, I want to share my training method with the Peak Level 3 dwarves as well, not just the Peak Level 3 elves. Second, I want a three-century monopoly on the internet plant-related business in human territory, starting after Catherina’s monopoly ends. Like Catherina, I will relinquish 30% of the profit. “
Lacius fell some suspicions, ‘why are both of them so keen to monopolize the internet plant business?’
He knew the potential of the internet plant. Once it spreads throughout the land, information transmission will become incredibly convenient.
But he simply couldn't grasp how it would be profitable enough for two of the strongest people to actually desire that. The only way he could think of to make a profit was to sell some computer plant and related items.
‘However, both of them are from another world. There could be some secret involved.’ Lacius’s mind keeps working, but he still can't come up with any ideas.
At last, he decided to plainly ask, “Why does both of you seem eager for the right to monopolize internet plant business?”
Elisa simply made up a reason, “You know that dragon girl, she never made a loss, so following her footsteps is almost a guaranteed success.”
“The internet plant is also something my mother invented, so what's wrong with me trying to get involved with its development?”
The way Elisa answered made Lacius even more suspicious.
He decided to make a counteroffer. Both sides exchanged offers repeatedly before reaching an agreement.
Ultimately, Elisa can teach her training method to the elves and dwarves. In return, she will allow the dwarves and elves involved in the humans' chaos to further complicate the situation.
Regarding the internet plant, Lacius accepted the three-century monopoly but requested a 40% profit share instead of 30%.
‘I am not sure what their plan is, but fighting for my profit is the best step.’ Lacius thought as he returned to the Temple after reaching a deal with Elisa and Catherina.
A few days after Lacius flew away, Elisa sent her subordinate to contact Catherina.
Once Catherina arrived, Elisa immediately invited her to the city’s center, where she resided.
“Wait a moment, I’ll create a private area for us to chat.” After she said so, Elisa controlled part of her branches to envelop Catherina.
From an outside view, it appears as if a ball of plants is growing from Elisa’s tree crown.
Inside this ball formed by Elisa’s branches, Catherina waited patiently until Elisa’s voice announced, “Alright, I’ve ensured this place can’t be overheard from outside or through the ground."
Elisa then whispered, "So, girl, what’s your plan? When I heard you requested the rights over the internet plant business in human territory, I knew you were planning something big."
Despite multiple upgrades, the internet plant remains painfully slow in transmitting data. To watch a video, users must either download it for better resolution and frame rate or stream at a poor 144p and 16 fps, which is utter rubbish.
The drama Elisa watched used something akin to a CD, which provides much clearer resolution and faster data transfer. If she’s forced to watch those low-resolution dramas with a lot of stutter and buffering, she might have gone mad.
Catherina didn’t reveal her plan right away. Instead, she boasted to the senior transmigrator, “I’ve made a breakthrough in research on the internet plant. With it, the information transfer speed could increase several times over the current rate.”
“How did you do so?” Elisa said in surprise
Even now, Elisa has consistently invested resources in upgrading the internet plant, but the increase has been negligible. Although it mainly stems from the fact that the elves under her rarely focused on researching the internet plants. But she has already spent centuries of time on the research.
The fact that Catherina has somehow overtaken her progress is utterly mindboggling.
“Of course, I owe it all to my Great Dragon Academy. Unlike you, I dedicated most of my resources to researching internet-related things or the internet plant. I definitely didn’t waste the high-quality manpower I’ve struggled to develop."
When she heard this, Elisa rolled her nonexistent tree eyes and thought, ‘Spending so many human resources to upgrade the internet is definitely a waste of manpower. If those people focused on studying magic, a four-element spell might have already been developed.’
Elisa didn’t speak her thoughts out loud. Instead, she asked Catherina another thing, “So, what do you intend to do by spreading the internet plant across the human territory?”
“Of course, it’s for business,” Catherina replied immediately. “I’ve been monitoring my subordinates’ research progress, and if developments continue, the new version of the internet with high-capacity data transfer could be invented soon. The earliest might be in a year, while the latest could be around a hundred years from now.
“Once I develop the internet to reliably transmit 10 Mbps on average, I plan to leverage my monopoly to introduce paid internet subscriptions, online shopping, spam advertising, and other services. This will allow me to control the global economy thoroughly, ultimately making me the wealthiest person in the world.”
At last, Elisa planned to work together with Catherina, “Actually, when I heard Lacius said you requested monopoly right over internet business in the human territory, I’ve also asked him another 300 years of monopoly, starting after your monopoly right ended.”
” I want us to cooperate. I’ll give you my monopoly rights in return for 30% of the profits over the 1.000 years you hold those rights, and to ensure the internet plant you spread on the human territory is connected to the elven territory.
Catherina rolled her eyes at Elisa’s offer, saying, ‘Although that 300-year monopoly right is tempting, exchanging it for 30% profit is still too much.’
Once again, both sides negotiated until they reached a satisfying deal.
After Catherina returned, she stopped hiding her internet plant research and openly collaborated with the elves Elisa had sent.
While the human world is in chaos, with Peak Level 3 individuals scheming to advance their levels, the Great Dragon Academy and the Temple remain remarkably peaceful.
Time quickly passes by, and it has been over fifty years since the mana density in the world increased.
During this time, the Temple remained calm as the High Priests focused on studying the note Lacius left behind. Meanwhile, the other members gathered numerous water element resources to support the High Priest's progress.
After several decades of hard work, the High Priest finally succeeded in reaching the fourth blessed level above Level 4.
After secretly improving his level and developing several three-element magic spells, the High Priest took action.
Amid the chaos and the Temple’s silence, the demon cult has grown increasingly reckless. After all, half a century was enough for the newer generation of the demon cult to forget the Temple’s power.
Thanks to this, the Temple has gathered information about several key demon-cult hideouts. Led by the High Priest, tens of Level 3 blessed and thousands of Level 2 blessed elite forces split up to target multiple important demon cult hideouts.
The surprise attack caught the demon cults off guard, allowing the Temple to annihilate several hideouts simultaneously with hardly any demon cult members escaping.
The Temple captured many surviving demon cult members and interrogated them for days, which helped them find more demon cult forces.
Among the Temple’s attackers, the High Priest is particularly terrifying.
With the power of a Level 4 water element blessed, the High Priest, assisted by several others wielding water spells and blessed water magic, successfully diverted a nearby river to create a small tsunami that destroyed the demon cult’s hideout.
The tsunami wiped everything on is path before crashing directly toward one of the biggest demon cults’ secret hideouts.
After wiping everything on its path, the tsunami left a small lake where the cult’s hideout once stood.
Still unsatisfied, the High Priest once again activated his blessed power and controlled the small lake, causing it to rapidly rotate into a deadly vortex.
The High Priest departed satisfied after the vortex had penetrated several meters into the ground, guaranteeing the destruction of any secret passage in the hideout.
The Temple’s massacre of demon cult members lasted an entire month. During this time, the demon cult lost 80% of their low-level cultists, many Level 3 fighters, and even one of the hidden locations used to store the demons they had been creating.
During the massacre, not only the demon cult but also the Magic Association, human kingdoms, and Empires were caught off guard. Meanwhile, the elves, dwarves, and the Adventurer's Guild, which had also been involved in the chaos, withdrew calmly under the orders of Elisa and Catherina.
The Temple’s massacre marked the late phase of the chaos.
With a newly born Level 4 blessed, the situation has now become much more subdued.
Although many factions still sent spies to scheme against each other and secretly focused their power to infiltrate the Temple in search of a method to reach Level 4, their actions are more subtle. Especially the demon cult, which has lost much of its combat strength.
Beginning with the Temple’s High Priest, other forces' Peak Level 3 experts also began to advance. About every decade or two, a Level 3 individual successfully progresses to Level 4.
Within slightly more than a century, two council members of the Magic Association, the vice leader of the Adventurer Guild, the Vice Principal of Great Dragon Academy, several elves and dwarves, the ancestor of the two human empires, and the leader of the demon cult have advanced to Level 4.
As the situation settled, a Dragon V.2 from the far northwest of the continent finally arrived at the main continent and discovered signs of other civilizations.