Chapter 457: My Lord, please bestow upon me the Holy Light

Leaving the Warlock Ladder, Anthony wiped the cold sweat from his forehead and hurried back to report: "This Eye of Truth is formidable; it almost saw right through me."

Negris asked in confusion: "Saw through you?"

"He possesses a certain divine power that can discern what is true and what is false. However, there are many limitations when he uses this power. I suspect it functions through questioning; as long as I don't answer with the truth, there's a possibility he could see through me," Anthony said.

"So magical?" Negris was shocked: "Isn't that just like a lie detector?"

"Correct, a lie detector. My heart was pounding the whole time I was talking to him, terrified of saying the wrong thing," Anthony said.

Negris asked in surprise: "Then how did you fool him?"

"How is this fooling? I was speaking the truth," Anthony said indignantly: "He asked if I was truly the Pope; I said yes. He asked whom I serve as my Lord; I said the God of Balance. So, he believed me."

"Pfft—no matter how true an eye is, it would go blind if it ran into you," Negris burst out laughing.

Having gained Cabrera's trust, Anthony also inquired about the situation of the Undead Monarch.

"The Silence Barrier has trapped His Majesty, but His Majesty has also soul-locked the opponent's Silence Warlock. Now, neither can do anything to the other. Cabrera says they are currently accumulating energy, preparing to activate the Starburst Array and adjust it to Soul Impact mode to bombard His Majesty inside the barrier," Anthony said.

"What? Activate the Starburst Array? When?" Negris was shocked.

Ang also raised his head. Under normal circumstances, when everyone was chatting, he would be lost in his own thoughts, doing his own thing. Previously, he would reach into the space to farm, but now that he couldn't farm, he had to play with other things.

Recently, he had been practicing forming arrays—forming the Starburst Array. The entire Starburst Array had about two thousand magic imprints, and he had already combined over thirteen hundred of them.

Even Ang, who didn't like listening to their chats, raised his head.

"I don't know. Cabrera didn't answer that question. However, judging by his appearance, it might take quite a long time—months or even years—depending on when the Starburst Array accumulates enough energy," Anthony said.

"That's not right. The God of Life said not long ago that the Starburst Array was broken. If it's broken, can it still fire?" Negris asked in surprise.

The Starburst Array was a massive creation. Even if it were damaged, it wouldn't be apparent for a while, but how could it possibly fire again?

The God of Life emerged blankly from Ang's shoulder and said slowly: "I don't know. It was the plants that told me."

It seemed that relying on the God of Life to determine the state of the Starburst Array was unreliable; everyone could only prepare for the worst.

How to prepare for the worst was something for Anthony and Silver Coin to ponder. Ang didn't need to think about these things; he could just happily reclaim wasteland and farm.

As long as there was an ample supply of food, no other problem could stump Anthony and Silver Coin; only food was something they couldn't conjure out of thin air.

Tailoring to the desert climate, the crops Ang chose were mainly Go-tubers. These tubers, which grew underground, could slow down the evaporation of moisture. The ground looked sparse and dying, unremarkable, but when they matured and were dug up, there would be large clumps in the soil.

Once planted, Ang didn't bother with them, nor did he use the Speed-Death Aura to accelerate them, because there was too much wasteland waiting for him to reclaim.

If he used the Speed-Death Aura, he would be stuck in one place, planting and harvesting, harvesting and planting; besides wasting divine power, the total harvest wouldn't be much.

The southern part of the desert was filled with unremarkable Go-tubers, while the banks of the dam irrigation area and the New River, lacking no water, were planted with rice and wheat.

They could handle the reclamation and sowing, but once the crops grew, managing such a large area was too much for just the few of them. The Pale Sea Plane required one hundred thousand farmers, and the desert would need even more manpower.

A large number of farmers were organized by Fivo to enter these areas, settle down, and tend to the crops. The original Desert Town was also rebuilt, and the entire North Wind Desert entered a period of intense production and construction; the North Wind City actually began to face a labor shortage.

"This is a huge anomaly. Do you know how wide the slave traders' eyes went when I sent out the purchase invitation?" Fivo felt incredibly pleased whenever he talked about this.

"How wide? As wide as this?" Negris widened his eyes with effort, forcing them to become as large as an ox's.

"Uh, not quite that wide, Lord Negris. Don't tease me; who can compare their eyes to a dragon's?" Fivo said helplessly.

"That's not very wide then." Negris said triumphantly, hands on his hips: "What did they say?"

"They said: 'Why are you buying so many old, weak, women, children, sick, and disabled? Has the food at home gone moldy?'" Fivo spread his hands and said.

If the food at home hadn't gone moldy, the slave traders couldn't understand why anyone would buy so many old, weak, women, children, sick, and disabled people. Buying them back, besides wasting food, what else could they do?

Their productive value might not even be as high as the food they ate. Under conditions of rationing, a normal person needed to consume one jin of rice or flour every day, which was over three hundred and sixty jin a year, plus clothing and housing costs.

Yet their labor capacity might not even yield a few hundred jin of grain a year from farming, and if they got sick, one would have to pay extra—a total loss.

In the eyes of slave traders, this was a cold, hard math problem. They really couldn't understand why Fivo would risk a loss to acquire so many worthless people. Was there some profit point they couldn't see?

Could it be because the Undead Empire and the Warlock Alliance were both distributing food, thus lowering costs? Or perhaps they could exchange for some preferential policies?

Unable to get any key information from Fivo, the slave traders moved with half-belief. While sending people to Fivo, they also started treating the remaining slaves better themselves.

He was terrified that if the slaves died of hunger or illness in the meantime, he wouldn't be able to get his hands on whatever benefits were being distributed from above.

No key information could be asked from Fivo because there simply was no key. Ang really only needed the old, weak, sick, disabled, and pregnant.

Of course, he could take strong labor, but it wasn't necessary. After all, the most strenuous reclamation work had already been finished by Jadeligo. The newcomers only needed to tend to the crops in the fields, occasionally weeding and dealing with field mice and pests—even children could do that.

Moreover, the old, weak, sick, and disabled would soon be full of vitality once they reached Ang's place.

"This is an upgrade bean, right? You're adding it to the rapeseed cakes; aren't you afraid everyone will get nosebleeds from eating it?" Negris asked, watching Ang toss upgrade beans into the mill.

"No, control, appropriate amount." Ang had controlled it and chosen the appropriate ratio.

After finishing the rapeseed cakes, Ang poured potions into the holy water. Every slave who arrived would have their drinking water replaced with holy water, which was top-tier for cleansing the intestines and stopping diarrhea. Now, he was adding potions to it as well.

"What potion is this?" Negris asked.

"Hemol, saliva." Ang said.

"Pfft—the Bug God's spit? Why add this?" Negris was shocked.

"Deworming." Among the newcomers, most had problems with parasites. Some had round bellies like pregnant women, but their limbs were extremely thin; some had patches of different colors on their faces.

The Bug God's saliva wasn't an ordinary insecticide; it was a substance possessing divine power. It would only drive out and kill the bugs without being toxic, and it wouldn't harm the body.

After pouring in the Bug God's spit, Ang poured in a few more bottles of essence liquid. The vast majority of people had damage to their intestines and stomachs; the essence liquid could accelerate the healing of internal injuries.

Negris understood this, but it hurt a bit—eight thousand magic crystals per bottle of essence liquid. These few bottles alone cost twenty or thirty thousand magic crystals. They hadn't even spent that much money buying these slaves, and now a few buckets of water had used it all up.

The price of slaves was very cheap, one could even say half-sold, half-given, because there were too many of them.

Admittedly, the Undead Empire and the Warlock Alliance had both started relief efforts, but the turbulent situation still resulted in piles of bankrupt farmers. Take Drogo City, for example; there, Ang had taken in over ten thousand disaster victims.

Throughout the entire plane, there were countless cities similar to Drogo.

Not long ago, the Warlock Alliance took in a batch, but they only wanted healthy children under ten years old.

Strong labor was highly sought after and was invited away early. Nobody wanted the remaining old, weak, women, children, sick, and disabled. Slave traders would come over and shout: "Food and housing provided!" and a crowd would swarm over.

Thanks to the relief from the Undead Empire and the Warlock Alliance, otherwise, these people might not have survived until now. However, everyone knew that relief couldn't last forever. If there was another way out, they certainly had to plan ahead.

Buck and his mother arrived in North Wind City under these circumstances.

Buck was not even ten years old this year. Originally, at his age, he could have been selected by the Warlock Alliance, but his right hand was disabled, so he was rejected.

His mother also had a severe lung disease and would be out of breath after walking a little fast. So, when he begged those slave traders to give him a job, saying he would work very hard, it only drew mockery: "What can you do, being sick and disabled like this? Wasting food, go beg instead."

Even the slave traders didn't want him.

His mother had already expressed several times that Buck should ignore her and go save his own life, but Buck refused. He could still go and collect food now; if he left, his mother might not even be able to squeeze into the crowd collecting food and would starve to death.

So, hearing that someone had no restrictions and would take anyone who could breathe, Buck brought his mother over without a second thought.

Buck had a habit: he liked listening to others talk, and his hearing was also very good. So, while waiting in line, he heard two people behind him whispering: "The buyer this time seems so rich; they're actually using a teleportation array to take us over?"

"Are teleportation arrays expensive?"

"Of course. I heard my previous master say that teleporting one person costs four or five magic crystals. Selling me wouldn't even be worth one magic crystal, and you want to sit in a teleportation array?"

At this moment, another voice interjected: "Not really. When we gather enough people and teleport over together, it costs about one magic crystal per person, depending on the distance and weight."

"One magic crystal is still a lot. In our village, one magic crystal is enough to marry a wife."

The whispering of others gave Buck an important piece of information: the person who bought them seemed very rich.

Gathering enough people, the teleportation array activated. With a flash of white light, Buck found himself in a brand-new place.

"Come, come, new friends, please follow order, leave the teleportation array in an orderly fashion, come this way, come this way." Jamie, holding a megaphone, shouted enthusiastically and generously, guiding everyone.

This little boy he had met on the road had changed completely from when he first met him; Anthony really knew how to transform people.

Buck looked curiously at this older brother who wasn't much older than him. Jamie also noticed him because the disability on Buck's hand was very conspicuous.

Jamie smiled at him in a friendly way and continued shouting: "Please move in an orderly fashion. We have prepared food and water; you can get them once you go over."

Food and water attracted everyone, and everyone's movements became much faster.

Perhaps because they were walking a bit too fast, Buck's mother suddenly started breathing rapidly, gasping for air, her lips turning purple.

Jamie discovered this situation, ran over quickly, and pressed his hand on Buck's mother's forehead: "May the Holy Light protect you."

Buck's mother's condition eased significantly. Jamie then had someone push over a wheeled cart, put Buck's mother on it, and pushed her along; she really wasn't out of breath anymore.

From the moment the Holy Light shone from Jamie's palm, Buck's gaze fell on his hand from time to time, his heart shocked beyond measure.

Seeing him like this, Jamie smiled and raised his hand to show him: "This is the power bestowed by my Lord Ang; you can have it too."

"I can have it too?" Buck's eyes lit up.

"Of course. Three months ago, I almost starved to death on the side of the road, even worse off than you are now. It was the Lord and the Crowned One who saved me and bestowed power upon me. By the way, what's wrong with your mother?" Jamie asked.

Buck's mother had recovered. Hearing that they were asking about her, she said with some difficulty: "It's an old ailment. I get out of breath if I walk too fast. Just now, thank... thank you."

"Out of breath just from walking? That should be a decline in lung function. What caused the decline? I'll take you to find the Crowned One and see if he has any way to help." Jamie said, pondering.

Buck's eyes lit up: "Can it be cured?" Not to mention a complete cure, even a partial recovery would be fine. He didn't dare hope to run or do heavy labor; as long as she could walk normally, Buck would be very happy.

Jamie, as if hearing some joke, showed a strange yet polite smile: "My Lord is omnipotent."

If Lord Ang took action, he could even change a body...

A number of patients had already gathered around Ang. Wearing gray ritual robes, he was treating them non-stop. Originally, at his speed, no one would have been able to accumulate around him, but Anthony strongly requested him to treat them more slowly.

"Why?" Ang asked, puzzled.

Clearly, he could cast twenty or so Cleansing Arts in a second, but now he was asked to cast one every few seconds or ten seconds; he wasn't quite used to it.

"My Lord, if no one sees your might, how can your glory be spread? Achievements must be made visible to all." Anthony explained.

"Oh." Anyway, he didn't understand, so Ang just did as he was told.

Despite slowing down his speed, it was soon Buck's mother's turn. She was cured in a few moments, and for this, essence liquid was even atomized for her to inhale into her lungs.

Watching his mother stand up with unprecedented ease and even jump twice without being out of breath, Buck knelt before Ang with a thud and said piously: "My Lord, please bestow upon me the Holy Light."

A thick soul flame merged into Ang's soul, winding around it and forming an imprint. Instantly, Ang felt as if something had been opened up between himself and his main body. ===== CHAPTER 458 =====