Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

  Kovitan’s Palace

  King Avic sat sideways on the throne with his face rested on one hand, as he looked at the reporting ministers and noblemen. Boredom and disinterest was written all over his face.

  "…… to date, there is a severe resource shortage throughout the empire. There is no food supply and we are relying on the surrounding warehouses. This will not last for long. I suggest building terraces in the surrounding hills. If we do not execute this plan as soon as possible, we will face severe consequences." The agriculture minister was a short white-bearded man. Although he had a wrinkled figure, his voice was full of energy.

  "I oppose!" The military minister stood up to speak. He was a middle-aged fierce looking man. "The uses of weaponry totems are incredibly varied. If we continue like that, we will have depleted all our stored resources within a few years. Our primary mission should be forming squads to secure new resource points. Not doing that will cause us to be unable to withstand the attacks of monsters and all will be for naught."

  "Is there a possibility to take the flesh of the foreign creatures as meat?" The industrial minister suggested. "I’ve heard that there were totem users who directly ate the flesh of the creatures, but there weren’t any problems."

  "We can give this a shot." Avic tapped the armrest of his throne with his fingers. "Health department, do some tests and get back to me with the results within a month."

  "Yes, your majesty." The health minister bowed his head.

  "Your majesty, Dragonfield Black Prince will be arriving at the kingdom’s capital in two months. What level of protocol should we greet him with?" The protocol minister asked.

  "Protocol?" Avic furrowed his brows. "The black prince established Dragonfield. In this era of chaos, his position should be only slightly weaker than mine. Welcoming him excessively would be detrimental, but it wouldn’t be polite to take him lightly as well. Greet him according to the Foreign Prince Protocol. As long as has not ascended the throne, he is not the King of Dragonfield."

  He paused. "The Black Prince’s visit will heavily facilitate the alliance between Dragonfield and Kovitan. Although Dragonwell used to be Kovitan’s vassal state, it is different now. Ministers, please be attentive towards your behavior."

  Following after that were the daily trivial discussions. There were some faults with the kingdom’s drainage system which required funding. The repair of the air defence network totem needed more resources and workers. There were a few children of nobles who got into fights on the streets and what should be done about it.

  The more Avic listened, the more he frowned. Gazing at the chaotic meeting hall, he took up his golden scepter beside the throne, and exited through the right.

  ********************

  Garen sat to the side of the dual headed salamander. He set up a table and a chair beside the nutrient pool. As he was waiting for time to pass, he was organizing the reports on his desk.

  The flickering of light from the lampshade caused the shadows on his face to shake.

  He carefully looked at the asset statistics in his hand.

  Out of all of Trejon household’s foreign businesses and their two manors, only twelve farms were still operating. The majority of their wineries, bands and mines were unable to operate because of the creatures. As they were located out of West Farm’s line of defense, giving them up was the only option.

  In the kingdom, other than the manor he was staying in, there were three other bungalows and a long closed down totem repair shop.

  Because of his recent heavy spending, he sold off some of his family businesses. Two out of the three bungalows were sold, leaving only one bungalow and the totem repair shop, which was not worth much.

  Military resources were currently being heavily controlled by the government. Hence, nothing could be sold in the shop and its only value was the land.

  Lala, who acted as a maid, was the one governing the assets. She made everything concise and neat.

  Not only were the assets were in a depressing state, the family guard too was dismal.

  Maxilan and Edney led the family guard. The household initially had two second form totem users and fifteen first form totem users. These forces had independently nurtured over the years. The battle at Vanderman’s manor had heavily depleted the forces; some of them had ran away, while only a minority who felt a sense of belonging to the Trejon’s household had remained.

  Their current forces were only made up of ten first form totem users. Led by Maxilan and Edney respectively, they took part in the kingdom’s defence circle patrol mission for some hard-earned money. Only on the weekends did they return to the manor to report to Garen.

  Instead, it was the Hunting Group who managed to enlist in different departments in the war guild once they reached the capital. Because of their alliance with Garen, they became the biggest influence in the Trejon’s household apart from Garen.

  Garen placed the family status reports at a side, and finally looked at the two invitations at the bottom. The two invitations were from Earl Baxy and Viscount Lavel.

  The Trejon’s household had a certain level of network and kinship in the capital. The noblemen often had abnormally complicated marriage relationships. Earl Baxy’s wife was Vanderman’s cousin’s sister’s daughter. One of their daughters had married to Vanderman, becoming his second wife. Both parties maintained a close relationship.

  Viscount Lavel was Vanderman’s brother’s adopted son, who’d managed to climb the social ladder with the family’s support. His roots were in the Royal Luminarist Academy, where he was one of the vice chancellors. There were rumors about his intimacy with the Royal family’s third princess, and there would be a wedding soon.

  "These are the typical nobleman households." Garen’s head hurt as he thought about these family relationships. The nobleman circle was not big. In order to preserve the noble bloodline, marriages would often be between one another, or with royalty of other kingdoms. Because of this, there would be relationships between noblemen everywhere, like a spider web. By tracing the Trejon’s bloodline, there could even be a connection with the king.

  "Complicated network." Garen thought for a moment, and threw the invitation aside.

  After thoroughly clarifying all the matters, Garen lifted his watch and looked at the time, 5:12pm.

  Calmly, he stood up and walked towards the edge of the nutrient pool. He crouched down and tapped lightly.

  Piak!

  With a crisp sound, a stone on the edge of the pool slowly lit up.

  At the same time, a total four white lights coming from four stones illuminated around the round-shaped nutrient pool.

  In a flash, straight white beams shot out from the tip of the rocks. They met in the air above the pool and merged into a single point.

  The beams fluctuated slightly, letting out a hissing electrical sound, and illuminated the whole underground cave.

  The dual headed salamander opened its eyes and looked up. The glaring white light narrowed its eyes. It moved its body slightly, then returned to its calm state.

  He laid out the transplant apparatus on the table and started to use disinfectant grease to sterilize them. Then he got ready the diluted glory potion and anti-inflammatory drugs, gauze, bandages, suture needles and other instruments that may be of use.

  The preparations were complete.

  With his eyes shut, he stood still on the ground. As he meditated, he slowly operated his Divine Statue Technique. According to the subtle sense of the resonance stone, he carefully sensed the dual headed salamander’s frequency.

  In the process of sensing the resonance stone, Garen realized that in fact all beings, including all plants and humans, had their own unique resonance frequency. Only by finding that resonance frequency could numerous unimaginable key functions be realized.

  In the past few days, he had sensed many times, finally able to faintly grasp the dual headed salamander’s unique frequency. This was the frequency of the vibration of its life force. The dual head salamander’s life force vibration seemed to be in sync with its heartbeat. But in fact, every heartbeat was completely different from the subtle vibrations. One beat contains thirty five totally different vibration frequencies.

  These thirty five frequencies combined to form a unified vibration. There was no interference between the frequencies. All of them were independently clear and distinct.

  Some of the vibrations had big frequencies, close to the rate of a heartbeat. Some of them were small, they could beat up to a thousand times in one heartbeat.

  As Garen quietly sensed the thirty five different vibrations, he gradually stopped operating the Divine Statue Technique. After a moment, he abruptly opened his eyes.

  Taking the surgical band from the table, he plugged in the necessary surgical apparatus. He strapped the band to his arm by winding a few loops. Garen directly walked into the surgical pool which was surrounded by white beams.

  At the same time in the underground cave, Komodo quickly turned and leave according to Garen’s previous orders. If he continue to stayed there, there might be danger. Furthermore, as there were preset defence tactics, there was no need for an outsider’s protection.

  He bowed towards Garen’s direction from a distance, then quickly turned and left the underground cave.

  Garen drew his surgical knife and carved a deep wound on the dual headed salamander’s abdomen. Scarlet blood instantly flowed out from the wound and dripped into the nutrient pool. It dissolved into the white nutrient liquid.

  Shriekk!!

  Garen applied force, slashing the knife from top to bottom, opening a wound at the salamander’s abdomen. The length of the wound was more than a man’s height.

  He put down the knife and held the edge of the wounds with both his hands, and gave it a fierce tug. The wound completely tore open and he squeezed his whole body in.

  In the fishy and stuffy salamander belly, the huge, heavy beating sound of the heart filled his ears. The sound of beating was abnormally muted.

  Garen passed the arteries and veins with familiarity, and once again arrived at the heart, which was about a man’s height.

  He withdrew a tube of diluted glory potion from his surgical band. After filling a syringe with it, he injected it into the salamander’s arteries.

  He then withdrew another tube, and injected it into his carotid artery.

  As he injected the cool potion into his neck, there was a faint sense of excitement in Garen’s heart. It was as if his senses were abnormally alert, much more than usual.

  He felt numbness spreading throughout his body. It was as if there was a thick layer of stratum corneum on his skin. He completely lost his sense of touch.

  Garen stood still for a couple of minutes, waiting for the effects of the drug to kick in.

  After he was sure that the drug was in full effect, he then took up the surgical knife and made gentle cuts on the surface of the salamander’s heart.

  A dual headed salamander’s heart had unique hematopoietic abilities. It was a unique, machine-like biological tissue, which was a humongous source of life, endurance and strength for the salamander’s gigantic body.

  Garen carefully removed some flesh on the surface of the heart. The removed flesh was around the size of a man’s head.