I don't want to be an elf!

Although they knew long ago that Lord Black Candle wouldn't interfere in the struggles between the orc kingdoms, they were still speechless when they saw him so oblivious to everything else and focused solely on his retirement.

"Oh! Welcome back! Human heroes! And beings from beyond the realm!"

Upon seeing William and Yatogami Tohka arrive, Kuroshio shook his head and handed his sunglasses to one of the beastman maids beside him.

The other orc maidservant, understanding the situation, pushed him, still in his wheelchair, in front of the two of them.

Although he didn't care about the orcs, he still cared a lot about the hero who had almost perished with him and the mysterious and powerful elf.

"You managed to get the Soul Crystal?"

Before Yatogami Tohka could speak, William asked first, as if he was even more eager than she was.

This is actually not difficult to understand.

Although he has let go of his past obsessions and is willing to spend the rest of his life with Chtholly, he would not hesitate to try if there were a way to return to the ground.

He also wanted to return to his homeland.

The only reason he refused Swann was that he didn't want to sacrifice the Golden Goblin.

Now that the Golden Fairies no longer need to sacrifice themselves, and the Soul Crystals can take their place on the battlefield, he naturally has no reason to refuse.

“Ah, of course. Before Swan died, he gave me the method for refining soul fragments. Although there were a few mistakes, I still succeeded after making corrections.” Black Candle Lord laughed rudely. “Who told me to be the Earth God? Only I could do this.”

That's certainly true.

No one was more skilled than Black Candle Master at handling the fragments of the Star God's soul.

The human heroes who killed the Star Goddess Eluk were unable to process the fragments of the Star Goddess's soul. As a result, even though they successfully killed the god, the large pieces of soul fragments were useless to them, and the humans eventually turned into the Seventeen Beasts.

As if showing off, Black Candle opened his mouth, and a dazzling seven-colored crystal appeared before them from his skeletal maw.

It does indeed look somewhat similar to a spirit crystal.

Feeling the abundant magic contained within, William was so excited that he could hardly contain himself.

"You can try it."

Sensing William's thoughts at a glance, Black Candle Master smiled like a salesperson promoting a product and said, "Although your body is already 'pineapple-like' (meaning you're physically weak), you can still use magic, right? You can try out its power."

"Are you sure this thing is ready to be used? Are there any strange side effects?" Although he was interested, William still asked with suspicion.

“Look at what you’re saying. This is something I, Black Candle Lord, personally created, the head of the three earth gods.”

"You did not answer my question."

Seeing that Black Candle was changing the subject, William raised an eyebrow and asked again, "Are there any side effects to using Soul Crystals?"

"Cough cough."

Black Candle Master coughed twice, looking slightly embarrassed, and replied with a wandering gaze, "Yes, there is, but it's not a big problem. As long as it's not used frequently, there are no side effects. So, in a sense, it really does have no side effects."

"What are you talking about, going around in circles like this? You're confusing me!" Tohka Yatogami glared at him. "Just tell me the side effects!"

"Well..." Black Candle Master chuckled twice, "The side effect is that the personality will collapse due to the erosion from the past life."

"Huh?!" William immediately became agitated. "Then what's the difference between building this thing and not building it at all?!"

“The difference is huge, of course,” Black Candle said matter-of-factly. “Before, you had to combine necromancy with soul fragments to create a golden fairy to fight the Seventeen Beasts. Now, with the Soul Crystal, anyone who possesses it can fight the Seventeen Beasts.”

After Black Candle Master's explanation, the usage and precautions of Soul Crystals were slowly revealed.

Humans are able to use magic because they possess fragments of the Star God's soul within them.

The Golden Fairies are able to use magic because they possess fragments of the Star God's soul within them.

Now, the fragments of the Star God's soul have been refined and become Soul Crystals.

Any orc who has fused with a Soul Crystal can now use magic.

Unfortunately, these fragments of the Star God's soul had all been used, recovered from the bodies of those dead Golden Fairies, and carried some of their marks.

Furthermore, because these soul fragments were refined, the marks belonging to the deceased golden fairies were strengthened. If the orcs wanted to use them, they had to be prepared to be affected by these marks.

“Before you arrived, I had some orcs fuse with Soul Crystals and conducted some experiments,” Black Candle Lord said. “If they use a total amount of magic power equivalent to a forbidden spell that destroys a nation within a day, they will face personality breakdown. However, different orcs seem to adapt to Soul Crystals to different degrees. For example, the adaptation of the Wuzheng species is higher than that of ordinary orcs. They need to use a spell that is half the level of a forbidden spell that destroys a nation before they will experience personality breakdown.”

“You… use orcs for human experiments?” William frowned slightly.

"I knew you'd care about this kind of thing. The experimental subjects I chose were all death row inmates who had committed crimes," Black Candle said casually. "They were people who deserved to die anyway. It's okay for them to contribute their remaining energy before they die, isn't it?"

Upon hearing this, William slowly nodded.

New eras always come with sacrifices.

However, if sacrificing the wicked can secure the future of the good, this is not an unacceptable outcome.

Chapter Sixty-Eight: The Princess of the Floating Continent Islands

Afterwards, Lord Black Candle explained all the information about the Soul Crystal in detail.

It must be said that this is indeed the best tool to replace the Golden Fairy.

With this thing, the floating continent islands no longer need to force any golden fairies to fight. They can simply give these soul crystals to the orc warriors who are willing to fight for their homeland, and they can perfectly replace the golden fairies.

This is not a bad thing for many races that love fighting; on the contrary, it is a good thing.

Even with the risk of personality breakdown, it is believed that many orc warriors in the Winged Army would be willing to try fusing with Soul Crystals.

However, the appearance of the Soul Crystal brought new problems to the Golden Fairy.

Will the Golden Fairy race be wiped out?

Since the floating continent islands no longer need the protection of the Golden Fairies, and both the Golden Fairies and Soul Crystals require fragments of the Star God's soul to create, will the Golden Fairies gradually disappear as all the Star God's soul fragments are put into the creation of Soul Crystals?

The answer is no.

According to Black Candle Lord, although the Golden Fairies do not need to fight on the front lines, their existence is still necessary.

Soul Crystals allow orc warriors to use magic, but they cannot restore the magic stored within them.

In other words, once the magic power stored in the Soul Crystal is exhausted, it becomes useless.

Unless a race that is born with the ability to use magic infuses magic into them, orc warriors will lose the right to use magic.

Therefore, some golden fairies are still needed on the battlefield.

However, their role will change from combat to logistics.

That's about all I wanted to say.

After William had finished playing with the Soul Crystal in his hand, Black Candle took it back and put it back into his mouth: "You can take this news back to your little girlfriend. Of course, I don't mean to force the Golden Fairies to stay in the army. It would be best if they wanted to stay, but if they don't, I don't mind taking some time each week to replenish the magic of the Soul Crystal when it runs out of magic."

"If Chtholly and the others are willing to stay in the Wing Guard, will they receive the same treatment as other soldiers?"

"Of course."

"Hmm, I can let them think about it."

William nodded, neither agreeing nor refusing outright.

Tohka Yatogami stood to the side without offering any opinion.

However, he had decided that he would go back and persuade the golden fairy in the fourth fairy warehouse to stay in the Winged Army.

The number of Star God's soul fragments is limited, and it's conceivable that when the floating continent islands launch a counterattack on the ground in the future, they will definitely need a large number of soul crystals.

There are even instances where all the soul fragments of the Star Gods are used in the creation of Soul Crystals.

At that time, the golden fairy who possesses a fragment of the Star God's soul but lives on the floating continent islands like an ordinary orc will definitely be criticized.

Tohka Yatogami could certainly solve this problem, but she would have to leave one day and couldn't help the Golden Fairies forever.

Therefore, even though she had regained her freedom, she still believed that it was best for the Golden Fairies to stay in the Winged Army, so that the floating continent islands would have a reason not to lose them.

"By the way, there's something we'd like to discuss with you."

After finishing the topic of Soul Crystals, William brought up a question he had been preparing for a long time: "I want Tohka to replace Swan and become the Great Sage of the Floating Continent Islands, stabilizing the Orc Kingdom while leading them to launch a counterattack on the ground. What do you think?"

"I think it's okay."

After introducing his work, Black Candle Master seemed uninterested in everything else, saying perfunctorily, "However, I think you should change your address. This girl doesn't seem to be sage material."

"What do you mean by that?" Yatogami Tohka asked, somewhat displeased. "What makes me unsuitable to be a sage?"

"Cough cough!"

William coughed twice, forcibly changing the subject that was bound to start a fight: "We'll rethink the issue of address. Since you think it's fine for Tohka to replace Swan, that's good."

"To be honest, it doesn't matter to me who replaces Swan," said Black Candle. "As long as you don't destroy the floating continent islands, I'll be happy if you're willing to take on this troublesome work."

"Then can you hand over the Soul Crystals to us for distribution?" William got to the point. "Tohka's power is enough to intimidate the Beastman Kingdom, but mere intimidation isn't enough. Since Tohka hasn't accumulated enough prestige yet, we need a way to entice her..."

"Oh! You're willing to help me process the soul crystal?"

Before William could finish speaking, Black Candle Master interrupted him excitedly, saying, "I was just wondering who to entrust the Soul Crystal to. Your willingness to take it on is a great help!"

After saying that, as if afraid that William would change his mind, Black Candle Master opened his mouth and spat out dozens of soul crystals.

Upon closer inspection, there were actually fifty of them.

“Aside from the soul fragments in the Fairy Pools that nurture the Golden Fairies in the various Fairy Warehouses, the creation of these Soul Crystals has consumed about a quarter of the available reserves,” said Black Candle Master. “If all of them were used to create Soul Crystals, we could make about two hundred in total. Give me another two weeks and I can make them all.”

"Hmm... two hundred-man squads, that's a bit small, but it should be enough."

"Then it's settled."

As he spoke, Black Candle Lord gave the orc maid a look.

The orc maid bowed slightly, walked to the garden gate, and called over Baron, who was waiting there.

"grown ups."

Before the Black Candle Master, Baronny appeared extremely respectful: "What are your orders?"

"I need you to pass on a message to the guys on the first floating island: starting today, this girl will take over Swan's position." Black Candle nodded toward Tohka Yatogami's position. "The distribution of Soul Crystals will also be handed over to her."

"she......?"

"Any questions?"

"No, I will obey your will."

Baronie bowed respectfully.

As one of Swann's right-hand men, he naturally knew something about the existence of the Black Candle Master.