Michael woke up the day after the feast to honor the deceased. The last thing he could remember was to fill his stomach with food equal to or higher than his own weight. It had been heavenly.
Relieved that his subjects took the news of the disaster in the Elementals Cave much better than he could have hoped for, Michael turned into the incarnation of gluttony. He was like a starving beast, devouring a portion of all dishes like there was no tomorrow. The feast to honor the deceased had been too good and sumptuous.
After eating way too much, Michael ought to feel like dying once he woke up. But Michael didn’t feel stuffy or bloated. If anything, he felt quite good.
His headache was no longer there to annoy him, and he was full of energy.
“Should I start Extracting now?” Michael asked himself as he left the bed to get a quick bath.
He washed up quickly and put on a comfortable set of clothes before he left his room. Outside the wooden manor he met Tiara, who had been waiting for him.
“Good morning, master! I forgot to hand over the Kitsun corpses I’d stored away when we went out raiding the settlements. Lilica and the others also have some bodies for you to extract,” She said with a bright smile on her face.
Tiara was probably the happiest that the Summons didn’t continue to blame Michael for the disaster in the Elementals Cave. She smiled vibrantly and was completely at ease.
“Can you get the Forest Elves and a hundred workers for me? I want to start extracting the Summons, Awakened, and the corpses of the bloodthirsty beasts,” Michael requested, which Tiara accepted with a nod.
She turned around and rushed to the archery parkour course where the EmeraldLeaf Adventurer team was currently practicing. After the battle against the Kitsun Lord and his forces, the Forest Elves felt that their archery skills had grown a little rusty. Of course, they were still excellent archers, but living in the Untamed Jungle where they had to fight their enemies at a close distance most of the time decreased their long-range accuracy considerably.
Observing Tiara as she ran through the thicket, Michael smiled faintly. He was glad to have Tiara by his side. Even if everything else would go south, Tiara would be by his side. That kind of reassurance was great to have. It fueled Michael with far more confidence than Tiara or anyone else could fathom.
In the meantime, Michael headed straight to the Alchemy’s Lair where he found a few alchemists working on a wide variety of potions and pills. They were too engrossed in their work to notice Michael, but that was exactly what Michael was hoping for. Alchemists shouldn’t be easily distracted.
He waited until one of the Alchemy Masters finished concocting a batch of Energy Nourishment Pills before he approached the Forest Elven Alchemist. She noticed Michael a little bit late and was surprised about the unexpected visitor, but the Forest Elven Alchemist regained her composure quickly.
“Good morning, my Lord. How may I be of service?” She asked formally and nodded politely.
“Good morning. It’s nothing. I am merely visiting the Alchemy Lair because I wanted to give you some resources to experiment with,” Michael said as he retrieved a batch of elemental crystals and a handful of element seeds.
The seeds could be planted to produce element-attributed fruits, but Michael had to know how valuable they were first. If his Alchemists couldn’t handle the element seeds yet, he would wait with the mass production and put the resources required to mass produce elemental attributed fruits aside for more important investments.
The Forest Elven Alchemist’s eyes widened when she saw the elemental crystals and the element seeds.
“These…Are those what I think they are?” She asked, her gaze flicking from the crystals to Michael.
“They’re elemental crystals. I have a decent stockpile of elemental crystals and wanted to split them up for the Alchemists, Blacksmiths, and Enchanters,” Michael responded.
“No no no. Don’t give it to the blacksmiths and enchanters. How about you give us your entire stockpile instead?” The Forest Elven Alchemist proposed, her eyes glimmering in excitement and desire.
‘So they’re that valuable…That’s good.’
Michael raised an eyebrow, but he didn’t say anything at first. He took his time to consider what to do and spoke his mind afterward, “I will split up the stockpile equally. There is no way I will favor anyone right now. Everybody will get an equal chance to prove themselves. Provide the best results, and I will provide you with more elemental crystals in the future.”
“There will be more in the future?”
“Of course. But your department won’t get as much as others if the results are not good enough,” Michael said, the corner of his lip tilting up.
The Forest Elven Alchemist pressed her lips together and nodded her head.
She then opened her hands with glimmering eyes, “In that case, can I get the portion for our department right now?”
Michael scoffed but didn’t reject her request. He retrieved a large pile of elemental crystals before putting the last elemental crystal of their portion into her cupped hands.
“What about the element seeds?” Michael asked the distracted Forest Elven Alchemist, who shook her head to get back to her senses.
“Since I don’t know what fruit will grow from the element seeds, I cannot say anything for sure. But the fruits should be useful one way or another. All elemental attributed fruits can be used to create potions. The only question is whether the potions will be useful for our purposes or if the potions can only be digested by certain races, who use them to temper their elemental attribute.”
Michael considered her response and thought about it for a while. The Forest Elven Alchemist was very knowledgeable about the utility of various potions and ingredients. Thus, he thought about something that may or may not be useful.
Michael retrieved the corpse of a Kitsun and pointed at the gaseous lower body that was still intact even though the Kitsun was long since dead. Somehow, the gaseous black cloud was still hovering around the dead Kitsun’s waist.
“I am not sure if you have ever seen something like that, but can this gas be used somehow? I could extract it for you if you want. It’s mainly made out of oxygen and energy. The Kitsun race’s body naturally absorbs enough energy and oxygen to maintain the cloud so they can float around. Maybe we can make use of that. What do you think?” Michael asked without any expectations.
He was pretty sure that the Kitsun’s black cloud couldn’t be utilized easily. There might be ways to make use of it, but it was more likely that the processing would require too much time.
“Floating you said? We could try to use the gas as a substitute for a Siburus Cloud and concoct a Siburus Swiftness Potion. I am not sure if it will work, but if it does, we will be able to create potions that can temporarily lighten the user’s weight, thus increasing their swiftness,” The Forest Elven Alchemist said after a minute of reconsideration, “If the cloud is potent enough, we might even be able to process it into a levitation potion. That way we can temporarily levitate over the ground, which could be useful for our archers to swiftly move through the Untamed Jungle.” .
Michael didn’t expect the Forest Elven Alchemist’s knowledge to be that vast. He thought that she would ask a few more questions or focus on experiments before coming up with possible uses of the Kitsun Cloud, which was what Michael decided to call it.
Of course, the Forest Elven Alchemist had yet to analyze the Kitsun Cloud, but her train of thought had proven useful. The Alchemists would most definitely find a way to make use of it. Therefore, Michael found another use for the tens of thousands of Kitsun bodies. Not only would the loot generated by the Will of the Origin Expanse be highly valuable, but the Kitsun Cloud might actually be just as valuable.
That was great news.
“Do you have a container in which I can seal the Kitsun Cloud upon extracting it? I don’t really want to waste the Kitsun Clouds since our stockpile will be limited.”
Michael’s question was legitimate. He had yet to hunt the remaining Kitsun within the Untamed Jungle, but their number would decrease quickly as well. Once annihilated, Michael wouldn’t be able to replenish the stockpile of Kitsun Clouds. Therefore, a container that could be sealed was a must.
“I don’t have a container big enough for a large amount of compressed gas. But if you give me three to four days, I will have something ready. That is if the stubborn Enchanter doesn’t fail me…again.”
The Forest Elven Alchemist could tell that the Kitsun Cloud possessed great potential as a material. Thus, she didn’t want to disappoint her Lord, and herself by wasting such a precious resource. The only problem was that she couldn’t create a sealed container on her own. She could create a liquid that could temper glass containers to create near-perfect seals. However, to have a perfectly sealed container, the Forest Elven Alchemist would require the help of Enchanters and Blacksmiths.
“They will help you. Just tell them that I gave you an order that has to be prioritized above everything else. If they trouble you, just report to me and I will take things into my own hands. But that…will be ugly for those who disobeyed my orders.” Michael said as a matter of fact.
His voice was nonchalant, but that was exactly what caused goosebumps to spread all over the Forest Elven Alchemist’s body.
“I will make sure that you will be satisfied, my Lord!”
“Of course, you will,” Michael smiled before he turned around, apparently done with the discussion.
He stored the Kitsun’s corpse away again and left the Lair.
Now that he finished his task, Michael could finally focus his mind on Extraction. It was time to progress!