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Path to Prosperity - B3 Chapter 56
🕑 Added 2025-01-01 11:00:12 +0000 UTC“It’s a present from the Beast King and the Imperial Head. I do not recall their exact words, but it was something about the teamwork of two nations and a gift of appreciation,” The King told Percy in a whisper, but he wasn’t really present. He stared blankly at his sword and maintained it before doing the same with his armor.
King Phillip would join the frontlines at the edges of the Meiso Plains soon. The kingdom’s forces needed their king.
“How is the Beast King doing?” Percy asked, his eyes lingering on the King’s equipment. They were all high-ranked Artifacts, but something about them bothered him.
Are the runic enchantments worn out? The enchantments didn’t destroy the Artifact, but the mana flow is a mess.
Percy was certain his father could sense his Artifacts’ problem, so he didn’t tell him about it. The King knew what he was doing.
Instead of saying something, Percy checked the Silverium Bracelet’s storage, where the corpses of the Demon Lord and the Greater Demons were kept. Nobody wished to drench the royal palace in demon blood, after all.
Everything combined is worth more than 300 million Prosperity.
Percy was grateful for the Three-headed Hellhound’s corpse and the 40-ish Grand Hellhound carcasses. Any demon body helped Percy progress and earn a small fortune.
The more demons emerged from the Moonlight Forest, the more demonic creatures could Percy consume. That would have been extraordinary if something like that would have been enough to solve all issues. But it wasn’t, especially not after news of the Beast King’s injuries spread like wildfire.
That wasn’t great. Not at all.
The Beast King had been seen mindlessly rushing into the Moonlight Forest after a wave of endless hunger flooded the battlefield. Nobody could tell what exactly happened after that because the power of the demonic forces increased. Lesser Demons grew more resilient and aggressive all of a sudden, whereas the innate powers of the Elite Demons improved considerably. The worst enemies left to deal with would have been the Greater Demons if the strongest members of the Beast Legions hadn’t killed them in time.
Nobody was prepared for a sudden boost in the demonic forces’ power, but nobody had to be worried with the Beast Legions joining the battle.
Reports stated that there had been massive explosions in the Moonlight Forest and that the Beast King didn’t return until the waves of demons had been taken care of. However, the Beast King wasn’t unscathed. He was injured, his army hanging down his shoulder, mere threads of flesh and skin connecting the arm to the shoulder.
Rumors of the Beast King’s injuries spread like wildfire, and they affected the nations’ morale as expected. It plummeted drastically.
If the Beast King couldn’t deal with the Devil, who could?
“The Angy family and the Mythic Healers put their heads together and devised a proper treatment plan for the Beast King. They reattached the Beast King’s arm and tended to his other wounds with great care,” The King sighed, “He is fine now and still not scared of the Devil. If anything, the Beast King wants to return to the Moonlight Forest and deal the finishing blow to kill the Devil once and for all. His confidence is remarkable, but the armies are… Morale is at an all-time low. The Devil’s move instilled fear in their hearts.”
“At least the Beast King isn’t afraid. He must have fought the Devil on equal footing. Somewhat. If not for that, the Devil would have killed the Beast King to shatter the Beastlands and the Kainesh Kingdom alliance. He wouldn’t have missed the chance to tear our forces apart,” Percy noted, “The Devil is still not strong enough to fight our strongest forces openly.”
Percy was glad his father acknowledged his theory with a nod. The Devil was not weak, but it was also logical to conclude that he wasn’t strong enough to deal openly with the allied forces of the Beastlands and the Kainesh Kingdom.
The Devil was still not as strong as he had been when he fought the Old King head-on. That was their only advantage.
Thinking of his grandfather, Percy’s head tilted to the side, “I have been wondering about this for a while now, but what is the Old King doing?”
“You know that he’s been reaching something in the royal crypt, right? He returned yesterday and has been seen running around, preparing…something. I’m not sure what he is doing, but it must be something important. Father is the only survivor in the fight against the Devil two hundred years ago. He must be worried,” Phillip answered before pulling back to the main topic.
“It’s our greatest fortune that the Devil is still weakened. But we don’t know how long that weakened state will last now that the Devil is back in the mortal realm. The Moonlight Forest is dying. The abundance of nature and life is withering.”
The Moonlight Forest’s lifeforce was being drained, and the process accelerated right after the Beast King returned to the frontlines.
“The Devil forcefully extracts the Moonlight Forest’s life to lick his wounds and to grow stronger,” Percy murmured, “So, that’s why you’re moving to the frontlines.”
King Phillip nodded slowly, “We need to stop the Devil before it is too late.”
That was an obvious remark if Percy ever saw one.
“I can join the frontlines as well. If someone needs me in the capital, I can return through a portal,” Percy offered. He wasn’t itching for a battle, but Percy was unwilling to stay back and let others risk their lives if he could do the same.
“Not yet,” the King said, looking away. He couldn’t meet Percy's eyes and cleared his throat instead, “I need you for something else.”
Percy’s brows arched, “How can I help you?”
“I heard you can use your Ego on the Cards you’ve loaned to your employees. Can you Ego-enhance my Monster Cards too?”
The King knew all about his Ego, including how it was supposed to work.
“I sell you the Monster Cards in exchange for your service, and you loan me my – your – Monster Cards until the day I die in exchange for my emergency fund,” The King explained when he saw Percy’s expression.
He retrieved a paper, a binding contract with various clauses explaining what the King had just said.
“You’re prepared,” Percy noted calmly, “But didn’t you use your savings for the Moonlight Wolf Cards already? I’m sure the Minister of Finances didn’t give you access to the treasury’s emergency fund.”
Phillip Kain smiled confidently and lifted his arm, exposing a Silverium Bracelet Percy had never seen.
“An emergency fund and savings aren’t the same,” he pointed at the Silverium Bracelet. This is my personal emergency fund.”
Smart.
Percy flashed his father a smile and retrieved a quill and ink to sign the contract. The King had already signed the contract and smiled even after the interfaces emerged before Percy.
Four Interfaces belonged to the King’s Cards, and a fifth interface revolved all around the emergency funds.
The King removed the Silverium Bracelet and handed it to Percy, who accepted it with a smile.
“Do you want me to consume the bracelet as well, or do you want to keep it?”
“The bracelet as well?” King Phillip winced but nodded slowly after a few seconds, “Do it. It'll be worth it if it helps me defeat the Devil.”
Thus, Percy did exactly what he had been asked for. He used [Consume] on the King’s Silverium Bracelet and everything stored within.
The Abomination burst out, cracking Percy’s hand without actually harming it, and swallowed the Silverium Bracelet whole. Yet, rather than digesting the Silverium Bracelet in one go, the Abomination had to extract everything slowly to avoid harming the spatial storage before everything had been consumed.
Several seemingly endless minutes passed before the Abomination was done. Everything had been consumed and digested, resulting in a food of mana and a series of notifications.
[Goods worth 726,836,236 Prosperity have been consumed.]
[Your Tier increased by one rank.]
Percy’s hair stood up to its end as the two notifications popped up.
“What…exactly did you put in your emergency fund? I saw a dozen Imperial Coins and piles of gold coins, but…”
The King smiled, but it seemed sad, “It contained almost everything I collected since I gained access to mana. I never had to use my coins for anything until you started with your Ego-enhancement service. There were probably a dozen Guardian Monster Cards and two Overlord Monster Cards. The Overlord Monster Cards are probably the most valuable. I would have replaced them with two Cards of mine if I’d ever advanced to an Exalted Gifted, but…I gave up on that.”
Realizing that he would never make it to the Exalted Tier like his father was painful, but it required courage. The King was brave enough to understand what his limit was. He comprehended what was best for the Kingdom and sacrificed two of the strongest Monster Cards in the kingdom to help Percy and enhance the Monster Cards he could use right now.
“Do you want me to focus on the Boost Augmentations and push them as high as possible, or should I focus on unsealing all locked Augmentations? I don’t know how fast you’ll comprehend the new Augmentations or if they will distract you,” Percy explained.
“What do you want me to do?”
The King looked at his son, his vibrant azure eyes glimmering vibrantly.
“You know what you’re doing, son. I trust you,” Phillip responded with a smile, “Help me grow strong enough to survive– to defeat the Devi.”
Percy swallowed hard, realizing what his father had wanted to say. His hands trembled all while mana flooded every inch of his body, and he nodded.
“I will make sure you defeat him!” Percy declared, the confidence in his voice overflowing.
“Trust me.”
