Necromancer, summoning 055? What the heck?

Chapter 249 Expert Analysis: The Drums of War in the Stars - Overture to the Southward March
The bloody video recorded by soldiers of the Jasmine Kingdom, although heavily censored on the internet in Dongxia, was presented to a global audience in its most primal and bloody form outside the Great Firewall.

While sparking heated discussions in the media, it also triggered widespread public panic.

As someone who has always prided himself on having the most "in-depth" research on "radiation mutants" and the longest period of attention, the bald eagle naturally wouldn't miss this opportunity to "in-depth analyze" the event.

Soon, several carefully selected "authoritative experts" appeared on a prime-time news interview program broadcast live to the entire planet Earth.

"Without a doubt, this is a tragedy, but it also confirms our judgment once again."

A marine biologist, wearing gold-rimmed glasses and with his hair neatly combed, pointed to the volatile image of "Afu" on the screen, his tone somber.

"From a behavioral perspective, this creature exhibits exceptional strength, agility, and motor skills for most of the time, but its emotional state is relatively mild, even somewhat timid, and its behavior shows a clear avoidance characteristic when facing crowds."

"So, Professor McKinley, how do we explain these two extremely destructive attacks?" the host asked at the opportune moment, her slightly forward-leaning posture and furrowed brows perfectly expressing the audience's doubts.

The biologist adjusted his glasses, tapped the analytical graph with his fingertip, and explained, "I believe the root cause lies in exposure to pollution."

“My lab conducted extensive in-depth comparisons and, through analysis of its series of behaviors, we were able to determine that high-intensity pollutants interfered with its nervous system function, causing it to quickly enter an uncontrollable state of high stress once it encounters a polluted environment.”

"It's unfortunate that the area where the incident occurred is such a heavily polluted zone."

Another ecologist immediately chimed in: "Yes, Professor McKinley, I completely agree with you. Based on our laboratory's past satellite monitoring and ocean current data analysis, we can clearly see that this stranded vessel is not only severely corroded, but has also been leaking fuel and carelessly dumping garbage for a long time, causing devastating damage to the local coral reef ecosystem."

"If our previous assumption is correct, and this creature is a victim of nuclear-contaminated water, then its extreme aversion to the act of pollution is entirely understandable."

"This is a physiological aversion and a conditioned reflex stress!"

"And the firing of the Jasmine Kingdom soldiers ignited the final fuse!"

The magnanimous blonde host let out a slightly affected exclamation, but her words still maintained a good standard.

There's a teleprompter!
"Therefore, the professors all tend to believe that this was a humanitarian disaster caused by environmental pollution! The rampant pollution of the seawater, as well as certain inappropriate actions, gradually provoked this mutated creature that is extremely sensitive to pollution, thus triggering this... uh... defensive overreaction."

"So, the root cause of everything is still the environmental problem?"

"Yes, we believe this is a tragedy, a tragedy orchestrated by humanity!"

As a team of experts from a long-established empire, these renowned professors maintained a very high standard in their speeches, managing to analyze the overall event in a way that the public could understand.

The final summary further elevated the overall tone of the matter.

Although the president has never liked environmental protection, that's because environmental protection costs money. If environmental protection can be profitable while shifting blame, then environmental issues will be the president's most loyal ally.

The program ended in an atmosphere of "the truth coming to light" and "responsibility being clarified," as if everything had been "reasonably" explained.

At the headquarters of Project Cynthia, Director Walker watched the live broadcast with great excitement.

Although so far, not a single hair of the "Hatching Multi-Clawed Monster" has been caught, Director Walker found an outstanding person like Alvis Dyson, who is fearless, willing to take the blame, and capable of getting things done, at a critical moment when the Empire needed him most. He also successfully achieved the unmanned lunar landing and return as planned. It can be said that the Director of the Space Agency has completed his mission perfectly.

It escaped because of a quality issue with the company that manufactured the lunar return capsule.

The reason they failed to capture them was because the navy's incompetence was too low.

In short, the problem lies with other people.

Chief Walker can't be wrong!

After listening to the experts' arguments, Director Walker nodded repeatedly, picked up his ice-cold Coke, took a big gulp, let out a loud burp, and exclaimed in admiration.

"The expert's analysis was indeed different. I had been wondering why this little guy suddenly attacked the black monkeys' boat. Now I understand. It makes perfect sense!"

Alvis clutched his forehead in pain.

He had a feeling that he would most likely end up like that government efficiency department that was chopped off after doing the dirty work, saddled with the blame at some point when it was no longer needed, and thrown into the bald eagle's garbage dump or a mass grave.

After all, performing one's duties within the imperial system, especially performing them diligently, is a tremendous challenge.

The bigger challenge is these incompetent leaders.

Although Alvis had been trying his best, he often felt tormented by his incompatibility with the imperial bureaucracy, as the stupidity of these officials always exceeded his imagination.

For example, a former bureau chief once made a famously outrageous statement: "There is no light on the far side of the moon, and we don't want to go there in the dark. You know, we already have enough black people here!"

For example, a well-known scientist hired a sex worker as a technical expert and confidently declared: "Having witnessed her skillful masturbation techniques, I believe she can greatly facilitate our rocket launch!"

Right now, it's only because there are no reporters or insiders present that Director Walker will be recorded in the history of the Imperial Space Agency's fools.

Alvis suppressed his anxiety and offered a friendly reminder to his superior.

"Director Walker, that little guy was brought back from the moon by us, and has absolutely nothing to do with any pollution!"

"You haven't forgotten, have you...?"

Walker stared at him for a long time, then suddenly slapped his thigh: "That's right!"

"But the expert's analysis really makes a lot of sense. How can this be? It's a bit amazing..."

"Could it have mutated due to pollution and been sent to the moon?"

Arvis, unable to contain himself any longer, directly confronted his superior: "Wake up! Right now, only we and Dongxia are capable of going to the moon. Do you think Dongxia sent this thing up there?"

"..."

Chief Walker was speechless, opening his mouth but ultimately just awkwardly picking up his Coke and taking another sip, mumbling indistinctly, "Okay, okay, you decide... but I still think the experts have a lot to say..."

"..."

-----

The storm on Earth is unlikely to subside anytime soon, while at the same time, a storm is about to begin in the world of stars.

Chen Mo is very busy.

Busy guiding the construction of the "Return to Cemetery", comforting the "shack sorcerers" who had just moved here and were still a little uneasy, they also had to comfort and settle the undead creatures;
Busy planning the seaside embassy district for the sea tribe, striving to reflect the style of the vast ocean while taking into account the special needs of the sea tribe members, further implementing comprehensive friendship with the sea tribe, and laying the foundation for future entry into the deep blue sea;

Busy remotely guiding the progress of various tasks in Xuan Shui City within the orc-controlled area, organizing equipment, training troops, and preparing for a new round of turmoil in the north.

Of course, the top priority right now is to actively promote trade with the elves.

It seems that Lord Chen's entire schedule has nothing to do with the neighboring human countries; he's been dealing with these non-human races the whole time...

At this moment, the Starry Continent is at a very delicate juncture.

There is only about a month left until the human race's full autumn harvest. And once the harvest is over, war will most likely break out.

For human nations, especially those on the offensive, once they have enough food and manpower, they should go on to build up their merits.

They need to give an explanation to the powerful country that supports them. The nobles need more land, and the lower-class people also need a seemingly easy path to upward mobility.

Similarly, for the wasteland beastmen, the harvest season of the human nation is their plundering season.

In the past, due to a lack of food and clothing, they had to plunder before winter to stockpile food. Now, although the White Deer Plain has been built up and the food problem has been largely solved, they have become accustomed to plundering over the years, and there is also the practical need to clear out the beastmen of the plain. Therefore, when the time comes, they will still head south.

And the elves are longing for the land bathed in sunlight.

Now a "supreme elder" of the elves, Eona is about to embark on a gamble-like war.

The old elves set their sights on the Stream Moon Federation in the south.

Regarding the choice of the direction of the war, the pro-war faction within the elves actually had little disagreement. To the north and south of the Dark Forest, there were three neighboring countries: the Green Pine Kingdom, the Mirror Lake Kingdom, and the Stream Moon Federation.

The Green Pine Kingdom is the strongest and best-equipped. It is the vanguard of the attack on the Moonlit Forces with the support of the Mist Moon Divine Court. In recent years, it has been continuously launching wars of external expansion. It has a group of battle-hardened generals and veterans. It is too tough!
The Kingdom of Mirror Lake is also tough. That place is relatively poor, but it can still produce offspring and exports a large number of mercenaries to other countries year after year. The most important thing is, why would you want to conquer such a poor place?
The Creek Moon Federation is completely different.

The federal system, composed of numerous tribes and city-states, was inherently loose, and the country's organizational and mobilization capabilities could only be described as mediocre.

With a relatively favorable geographical environment, the north is a physical barrier formed by the Dark Forest and the Desert, so others generally don't attack it. To the south is Silver, a nearly neutral country, which poses no threat. This has fostered the extremely lazy national character of Xiyue.

When it comes to backroom deals and corruption, Xiyue ranks among the top in all continental countries.

Back when Chen Mo had just escaped Black Crow Castle and entered human society, he learned all those unspoken rules from Xi Yue.

What about giving gifts to Baishi Outpost to buy travel permits? What about bandits and mountain thieves forcing people to rent carriages? What about shady dealings to get mercenary status in a day? What about taking a winding, circuitous route to impersonate someone else to gain admission to the Magic Tower?

Not to mention the absurd incident of Frostfall being openly attacked by orcs within human territory.

In short, the unspoken rules of the Xiyue Federation cannot be called unspoken rules. Rather, they are an independent set of norms that run parallel to the national laws and regulations, serving as an effective supplement and organic extension of the national system and laws.

This country is undoubtedly much easier to fight than those tough nuts to crack in the north.

Therefore, although the old site of the Elven capital was north of the Dark Forest, the Elven Silvermoon Elders decided to first reclaim their homeland to the south, and deal with the capital in the north later.

The choice of this goal was made decades ago; the key questions are when to launch it and on what scale.

Iona's opinion was very clear: the sooner the better, and in any case, they had to act before the humans finished their autumn harvest.

In the solemn Silvermoon Council Hall, beneath the enormous dome, moonstone emitted a soft white light, illuminating the ancient elven epics carved on the surrounding walls.

For a long time, these elven epics were shrouded in veils, signifying that the elves had failed their ancestors. Now, it is time for them to see the light of day again and rewrite their legends!
Iona stood in the center, while the Grand Elder had abandoned his usual loose elder robes and instead wore a sharp, dark green hunting outfit, looking dashing and spirited.

"Elders, over the past few hundred years, I have mentally rehearsed this war countless times!"

“We are different from those green-skinned, hairy beastmen. They want to plunder, so they attack when the human nations have finished their harvest; we want to reclaim our homeland, so we should attack when the enemy is not ready.”

"Humans need to harvest, but elves don't. We can step out of the plains at any time and strike with all our might before they've finished their harvest!"

Despite the fact that the council of elders has undergone a major purge and is now almost entirely dominated by Iona, one elder still couldn't help but ask, "The enemy... the enemy wasn't prepared, and neither were we..."

Iona scoffed, "With bow in hand and leopard on my back, I'll venture out of the forest to slay the enemy. What more preparation do I need?"

War is certainly not something that can be simply talked about. Some elven elders mustered their courage and raised objections to the Grand Elder, who had already shown a tendency toward "rage" and "going it alone."

"Elder, for so many years we elves have suffered from the blockade and suppression of the human race, and we can only buy expensive weapons, especially longbows and armor, which are in short supply. Many young warriors are still using weapons passed down from their fathers or even their ancestors..."

"I have already made arrangements for this matter. Lord Han Hai and I have an agreement. The 12,000 composite bows he promised us are on their way and should arrive in about ten days at most!"

Iona is right about this. Although the "Moon Spring" and "Source Essence" delivered to the Vast Ocean have only just set off from the Silvermoon Forest, the team transporting the composite bows in the Vast Ocean territory had already set off south on the night the Grand Elder invited the Queen to take control of the situation.

Iona's gentle reply emboldened the elders, who cautiously continued to ask, "Then, what about the arrows? Our reserves are running low..."

The elves' arrow reserves were sufficient for self-defense, but far from enough for a large-scale offensive.

"It's alright. The Lord of the Vast Ocean promised me three million standard feathered arrows and ten million fine iron arrowheads. The first batch of arrows will be shipped with the bow!"

"Elder, what about the provisions..."

"Let's use the clan's reserves first. Our granaries should be able to support a war that lasts for several months without any problem. If the war drags on and supplies become scarce, I will personally ask the Lord of the Vast Ocean for help again!"

"..."

The elven elders were soon speechless.

The Grand Elder's fighting style is extremely unreasonable. In short, you may have a thousand questions, but I have a vast ocean!

For most of the elders present who had never been to that desert, they simply could not imagine how that small pioneering territory could support a large-scale war between elves and humans behind the scenes.

However, Iona's consistent practice of keeping her word left them no choice but to believe her.

However, what price will the elves have to pay, and can they afford such a high price?
Queen Vera Moonshadow, who had been sitting on her throne, crowned and silent until now, turned her inquiring gaze toward Iona.

Sensing the Queen's doubts and the elders' unease, Iona turned to the throne, bowed slightly, and offered an explanation.

"First, the Han Hai Territory can afford it. In the past two years, they have not only supported the construction of Tian Shuang City, but also never stopped mining, road construction, and dock building within their territory. In terms of financial resources, I think they are no less than the Silver Kingdom."

"Your Majesty, elders, all we need to know is that they have the capability and are willing to make a deal with us. As for how they acquired the Vast Ocean, I think it's best not to investigate!"

"Secondly, regarding the cost."

Iona continued her analysis: "The value of the first batch of weapons and arrows provided can be fully compensated by the elders and warriors we previously sent to the Vast Ocean to 'learn'... or rather, 'atone'."

"I have made an agreement with the Lord of the Vast Ocean. In the future, if the war requires it, the Vast Ocean is willing to provide us with additional support, allowing us to take it in advance on a debt basis, and repay it after we have recovered our homeland."

"Everyone, it was I, Aiona, who made all these agreements with the Vast Ocean! I will bear all the terms alone. In the future, if any problems arise, or if this debt becomes a burden on our race, I, Aiona, will shoulder it all!"

"I will go to the Vast Ocean Territory at that time to explain everything to my allies, take full responsibility, and never implicate the Elven race or Her Majesty the Queen!"

Everyone panicked and tried to comfort him, saying that they had already said so much, and if he asked any more questions, it would be like he had a brain bug or an itchy neck!
"Of course, the most important thing is."

"The Xiyue Federation rejected the request from the Hanhai Lord to dismantle Xiasha Port. The young lord of Hanhai felt sorry for our Liushuang and wanted to punish Xiyue."

"They've offered our people an incredibly generous deal!"

(End of this chapter)