Chapter 354: A bunch of birds and one stone

By the time Michael finished digesting the memories and thoughts of the dead Kitsun, Blaire and the first scouting team had returned.

"My lord, we came back with the information you asked for," Blaire reported, her breathing still rough from running through the Untamed Jungle for the last few hours.

Blaire and the first scouting team scouted the area between Michael's territory and the territory of the Kitsun Lord to gather intel and to make sure that the Kitsun Lord couldn't initiate a surprise attack.

"Go on," Michael indicated to Blaire, who was still panting heavily to catch some air.

"We didn't discover any more Summons, or Elementals between our territories. However, the first scouting team told me that two of their members were able to infiltrate the Kitsun Lord's territory without being discovered," Blaire began her report. She took a few heavy breaths and continued.

"The scouts reported that they know where the Kitsun Lord's main base is located, and that the Awakened working for the Kitsun Lord didn't consider the death of a few dozen Lesser Elementals and Summons as unique. Either they don't know about our existence and think that a group of monsters killed them, or they don't consider us dangerous enough to act against us...."

15 minutes later Blaire finished her report. It was very detailed considering that her team and the first scouting team had only been sent out scouting for a few hours. Blaire only stopped talking during her report to breathe. Afterward, she stood in front of Michael, her back straightened and her eyes shining with an unwavering spirit.

"Good job. You, your team, and the first scouting team can rest now. Everyone in your team and the first scouting team deserves to be praised for your courage and stealthiness. Don't hesitate to request an additional Energy Nourishing Pill and a Body Strengthening Pill. You guys deserve it," Michael was generous with his praise of the scouts.

He rewarded them handsomely, which caused surprise, excitement and a trace of disbelief to appear on the faces of the people around Michael. Even Tiara and the Forest Elven Awakened were a little surprised at Michael's generosity. The pills he handed out so lightly were expensive and in high demand. Not even Michael had enough Body Strengthening Pills and Energy Nourishing Pills to use for himself.

Michael ignored the reaction of the people around him. Instead, his mind drifted to something else. Blaire's report affirmed that the dead Kitsun's memories and thoughts had been correct.

Michael had been a little worried that the memories and thoughts had been falsified through brainwashing, or the aftereffect of the Soul Contract between the dead Kitsun and the Kitsun Lord. However, that didn't seem to be the case.

Thus, Michael could confirm the truth of the dead Kitsun's information.

'Even if the Kitsun Lord's territory manifested in the Untamed Jungle at first, why didn't he move his headquarters to the savannah after he expanded his territory? Why was it better for him to create several settlements across his territory instead? They should have moved if they really hated the environment of the Untamed Jungle. It's not like his territory is small...'

Given the information Michael procured from the dead Kitsun, the Kitsun Lord had multiple settlements spread across his territory. However, there was only one big headquarters in the Untamed Jungle. The headquarters was also where the Summoning Gate and the wooden manor were located. It was also the place with the tightest security alongside the cave filled with Elementals.

Even though the headquarters and the Elemental cave were protected the best, the Kitsun Lord didn't neglect his territory in the savannah. It was also well protected - his people split up evenly to ensure that no other Lord could attack his settlements easily. The dead Kitsun informed Michael about various means of defense the Kitsun Lord had installed in the savannah, including thousands of traps and special monster ranches that breed bloodthirsty monsters trained to hurt everyone but the members of the Kitsun race after they were released for the hunt.

At first, Michael thought that it might be necessary to gather his forces immediately and attack the Kitsun Lord in a rush. But that wasn't the case apparently. According to the dead Kitsun's memories and thoughts, the Kitsun Lord knew about the issues between a Lord in the Untamed Jungle - Michael - and the Zentika Empire. However, the Kitsun Lord couldn't be bothered to interfere.

The Kitsun Lord didn't even bother to send scouts to check Michael's territory - not even after Michael emerged victorious against 50,000 members of the Jungle Expedition.

The disinterest of the Kitsun Lord was quite confusing until Michael learned that he commanded roughly 1000 Awakened Kitsun, more than 35,000 combatants and that he had a few bloodthirsty beast ranches spread everywhere across his territory with thousands of beasts that had been starved and were thirsting for fresh blood and flesh.

None of the Awakened Kitsun working for the Kitsun Lord was a Tier-1 Awakened at this point. Most were at the 2nd Tier with some being Tier-3. The only good thing was that none of the Kitsun - not even the Kitsun Lord - broke through the threshold to become a Higher Lifeform. None of the Kitsun was a Tier-4 Awakened, and that didn't seem to change anytime soon because the Kitsun Lord was more focused on his business than anything else at this point.

The Kitsun might be treacherous, merciless, and bastards, but they were not actually powerful either. That was also the reason why they let the Lesser Elementals fight the monsters in the Untamed Jungle - because they were too weak!

However, that was also a problem. The Elementals were the reason why Michael didn't charge at the Kitsun Lord's headquarters with his entire army right off the bat. After all, not even the dead Kitsun knew how many Elementals had been bred, how strong the strongest Elementals under the Kitsun Lord's control was, and what exactly the Kitsun Lord was planning with the Elementals he didn't need.

It was commonly known among the Awakened Kitsun working for the Kitsun Lord that he ruled over the Elementals in the Elemental cavern. However, nobody truly knew how the Kitsun Lord brought the Elementals to the Untamed Jungle, or how he subdued all of them. Some rumored that the Kitsun Lord was the one who brought the Elementals to the Origin Expanse, but that was never affirmed or denied.

Michael felt bad for the Elementals. If he could avoid the Elementals' capture and slavery in the cave just to get rid of the Kitsun Lord he would do it.

Lilica and the others felt the same. She told him in detail how badly the Elementals were treated in the Elementals cave, and the things she saw had merely been the tip of the iceberg. The exhausted screams and desperate cries deeper down in the cave still made her shudder.

But the pity he felt for the Elementals was not the entire reason why he decided that it would be a shame to annihilate the Elementals enslaved by the Kitsun Lord.

Sure he felt pity, but Michael wouldn't endanger the safety of his army just for the sake of a noble cause of freeing the caged, after all. However, the benefits of keeping the Elementals alive and rescuing them exceeded the potential risk by far.

Elementals existed not only as monsters but also as intelligent lifeforms. Once their intelligence developed far enough they could learn how to communicate using the tongue of the Origin Expanse. They even created societies much larger than some civilizations.

Despite that, many considered Elementals as lowly lifeforms because they were formed from the elements. A simple rainstorm could devastate a society consisting solely of fire elementals, a drought could weaken water elementals, and so on. Their powers were exceptional, but their weaknesses were even more apparent.

Last but not least, most intelligent lifeforms couldn't help but consider Elementals as lowly lifeforms because they were not chosen by the Will of the Origin Expanse. Every race incapable of manifesting War Runes and entering the Origin Expanse on their own accord was considered a lowly lifeform - just like the human race more than 500 years ago.

But Michael didn't think like that. On the contrary, it was much better for him if the Origin Expanse didn't allow them to manifest War Runes. After all, that meant the Elementals living in the cave were desperate to survive and create their own foothold in the Origin Expanse - the Untamed Jungle to be precise.

The mere existence of Elementals in his proximity was already enough reason to give his utmost to save some of them from the Kitsun Lord's control. After all, their presence was already enough to create elemental crystals in caverns, and elemental spirit seeds. Both were common products for the Elementals and they were both helpful and valuable especially for Michael and his territory since many potions could be concocted from the ripened products of the elemental spirit seeds. Fertilizers could channel the elemental energy of elemental crystals to grow plants that would usually only grow in other environments than the Untamed Jungle.

And that was not even all. Elemental crystals could also be used for Armaments, and they could be given to Mages to amplify their strength in combat.

Last but not least, having amiable Elementals next to him would mean that Michael had to worry less about enemies. Elementals were quite powerful, and everything Michael read about them indicated that they would repay good deeds a hundredfold, and hatred ten-thousandfold.

Rescuing the Elementals and fighting side-by-side against the Kitsun Lord could propel Michael's territory development further ahead all while getting rid of potential danger.

A plan slowly formed in Michael's head - A plan to kill as many birds as possible with one stone.