The elves' greatest blunder was casting a divination on Anbaixiu.
Not only did it alert Anbaixiu to their little scheme, but more crucially, Catherine had poured her own magical power into the Wheel of Fate to stop him.
To a mage versed in divination, this was practically stripping naked and presenting herself on a platter.
Using Catherine's magical signature as an anchor, Anbaixiu could effortlessly "see" everything that had happened in the past. Because the past was already immutable, looking back was far simpler than foreseeing the future.
"Mana addiction... To actually engineer something like this, the elves truly have a death wish."
Anbaixiu couldn't fathom how the elves had managed to dig their own grave to the brink of extinction. It was like the child of the world's richest man: if you just stayed a proper, useless trust-fund heir, enjoying the luxuries and squandering the wealth, you wouldn't exhaust the family fortune even in a century. Yet this particular heir, completely devoid of skill, insisted on taking the family enterprise to new heights... and ended up blowing an unspendable fortune in a matter of years, faster than if they had squandered it on drugs.
Catherine's actions were much the same. The elves were already the realm's premier aristocracy, possessing looks, status, history, and military might.
At a time like this, instead of investing in philosophy, art, mathematics, and other humanities and sciences, why bother pouring points into military upgrades? What was the point?
No wonder the elven pantheon had completely washed their hands of the matter. If Anbaixiu were an elven god, he would have wanted nothing more than to slap these lunatics to death.
With this intelligence in hand, his attitude toward the elves needed a thorough recalibration.
Anbaixiu bellowed directly inside the Elegy Poetry Society:
[Ultraman Tiga: The elves have really stepped in it this time. I'll message you privately. Friends, the Silvermoon High Court is practically a slab of meat on the chopping block now. Let's discuss how we're going to carve it up.]
[Rose of Decay: I just saw your private message. This... I find it hard to believe. I recall that the Elven Queen, Catherine, was never one to act so rashly. How could things have spiraled so completely out of hand?]
[Crown of the Headless Horseman: It truly is terrifying. The survival of an entire race, yet it's escalated to such grand theater. The Ryan Empire had better take notes.]
[Pale Little Skeleton: I heard this Elven Queen never married. It's probably because she had no one to consult with, and no one to pull her back at the crucial moment. Women, you know—once they get it in their heads to prove they're stronger than men, it's so easy for them to go to extremes.]
[Dislikes Humans: Wait, what are you all talking about? Where's my private message? Why didn't anyone message me?]
[Ultraman Tiga: You're aligned with the desert dwarves. Telling you is the same as telling them. I'm currently acting as the middleman for both sides, so I have to keep things balanced and fair.]
[Dislikes Humans: Balanced and fair? How much gold did you take from me? The elves haven't even gifted you a single female slave, and now you're talking about fairness? Have you been bewitched by the Elven Queen's beauty?!]
[Rose of Decay: Not every undead harbors desires toward food.]
[Ultraman Tiga: Well said. Perverts who lust after food deserve only the deepest contempt.]
[Crown of the Headless Horseman: Well said. Perverts who lust after food deserve only the deepest contempt.]
...
[Dislikes Humans: That's slander! I didn't, I haven't! I am an upright vampire; I have never lusted after food!]
[Crown of the Headless Horseman: Upright, my foot! Back in the day, I watched with my own eyes as you kissed a dwarf woman, which is how you ended up being marched to the stake!]
[Dislikes Humans: That was my lover from before I became a vampire! Stuff from before I turned into a vampire counts as perverted?!]
...
After a round of bickering, the conversation finally pivoted back from vampire gossip to the matter at hand.
The elven race was doomed, and their assault on the City of Alchemy was merely a bid to stave off their collapse. Thus, the elves harbored two real objectives:
To expend mana addiction sufferers through warfare, and to use the City of Alchemy's comprehensive alchemical infrastructure alongside looted resources to mass-produce magical potions in the short term, mitigating the effects of acute withdrawal.
How to seize on this vulnerability of mana addiction to extract the maximum benefit was not a problem Anbaixiu could handle alone.
At the end of the day, a solitary legendary figure was simply too insignificant when measured against the entire Silvermoon High Court.
Even if the elves swung open their treasuries and let Anbaixiu haul away whatever he pleased, how much could he actually carry?
Even stuffing his private dimensional pocket to bursting would amount to a billion or two gold coins at most—little more than a bad debt on the Silvermoon High Court's balance sheet.
A crisis concerning the survival of the entire elven race came with colossal stakes and rewards. Anbaixiu couldn't swallow it alone, and pushing too hard risked provoking the elves into fighting him to the death out of shame and desperation. If the elven race truly mobilized to hunt Anbaixiu down without regard for consequences, he would have no choice but to flee.
That was why he had deceived Catherine from the start. Claiming it was a "token of sincerity for negotiations" was actually just stalling for time so he could find a way to maximize his gains.
The only entity capable of digesting benefits on this scale was the Elegy Poetry Society.
Rose of Decay was the first collaborator Anbaixiu thought of. As the Queen of the Underdark, she stood on equal footing with the Elven Queen, Catherine, and commanded an appetite large enough to swallow this prize whole.
[Ultraman Tiga: Lady Rose, how much do you think we should carve out of the elves?]
Looking at the word "we," Rose of Decay felt that strange sensation welling up again.
The last time Anbaixiu had said "we," she had assumed he was dragging her in as a shield to deal with the elves. Yet only a few days later, this "we" meant Anbaixiu was laying an astronomical fortune right before her.
Shifting from a minor player seeking shelter into a titan offering an entire kingdom... The change had happened so fast that Rose of Decay could hardly process it.
Yet one thing seemed increasingly certain: this lich was genuinely sincere.
From handing over his phylactery to delivering the elven race into her hands now, his intentions were unmistakably clear, beyond any shadow of a doubt.
It even sparked a pang of guilt within Rose of Decay. To this day, she remained incapable of generating similar emotions; despite reading so many vampire research treatises, she still hadn't managed to summon that kind of affection. In any case, Rose of Decay would never hand over the entire subterranean kingdom to Anbaixiu. That was entirely out of the question.
Reason told Rose of Decay that such one-sided devotion was exceptionally fragile, prone to collapsing in an instant rather than squabbling and making up daily like the bone dragon couple.
Even if it didn't stem from love, Rose of Decay still wished to preserve a good relationship with Anbaixiu. Thus, she took the initiative to reply:
"Whatever benefits we gain from the elves, we will share between us."
Seeing this line, Anbaixiu was instantly delighted. He truly hadn't chosen the wrong ally. Queen Rose was generous, fair, and reasonable—the perfect partner.
[Pale Little Skeleton: Hey, you two, don't be in such a hurry to show off your affection! You're making it sound like the deal is already done. The elves are facing an existential crisis right now; they'll drag down anyone who stands in their way into the grave with them. If you want a cut, the prerequisite is helping the elves resolve their crisis, right? Otherwise, why would they give you anything?]
Show off affection?
Reading that phrasing, Anbaixiu couldn't help but sigh inwardly. This bone dragon miss truly had a romance-addled brain, turning every single thing into a love story. Aside from that bizarre undead couple, who on earth had time to brood over romance?
Still, the bone dragon miss wasn't wrong. If they couldn't resolve the mana addiction, the elves wouldn't entertain any talk of concessions. Facing death either way, they would certainly choose to go out in a blaze of glory, taking down as many enemies as possible rather than sitting down to negotiate.
All potential rewards depended entirely on Anbaixiu's ability to produce a remedy for the mana addiction; otherwise, possessing this secret was utterly pointless.
Anbaixiu replied with complete confidence:
[Ultraman Tiga: No need to worry. I already have a preliminary idea regarding the elven issue. Give me a little time, and I should be able to resolve it.]
[Pale Little Skeleton: For real? The elves haven't managed to find a solution in all these years, and you just found out about it and already thought of one?]
Anbaixiu offered no detailed explanation, as it was merely an intuitive hunch.
When one abandoned resistance and accepted the bindings of fate, one also received the gifts that fate bestowed.
Anbaixiu's intuition was remarkably sharp. The moment he learned of the elves' mana addiction, he had already envisioned the direction toward a solution. Though it was still only a vague concept, he believed he couldn't be far off the mark.
Exactly how long it would take was uncertain, but it shouldn't take too long.
Magic was essentially a specialized science. A conundrum that had vexed the world for years could easily be unraveled by a single genius in a single night—such was the power of inspiration.
And right now, Anbaixiu was in a state where inspiration felt practically boundless, making it the perfect time to conduct research.
[Dislikes Humans: Even though I have no idea what you're talking about, when it comes to splitting up the spoils, could you count the desert dwarves in? I'd like to make a little profit as the middleman too.]
[Pale Little Skeleton: Yes, yes, yes! Even though our dragon clan is far across the seas, there are plenty of treasures in the Silvermoon High Court that catch our eye.]
The members of the Elegy Poetry Society began deliberating over how much profit they could squeeze from the elves and how to divide the spoils in detail.
Anbaixiu watched for a short while. Just the thought of it was exhilarating, but he didn't join the discussion, knowing his perspective was insufficiently broad.
The three currently conversing were debating the division of spoils from the vantage points of the Kingdom of Gold, the dragon clan, and the undead empire. Anbaixiu had never possessed experience managing a country, and many opinions he offered would sound naive. In any case, none of the three factions could bypass him; once they reached an agreement, they would naturally allocate a generous share to Anbaixiu.
Such were the perks of holding both intelligence and technique: one never had to fear being cast aside by these mighty powers.
Exiting the discussion, Anbaixiu walked over to his library and pulled a volume from among the dust-covered tomes—*Nightsinger, Goddess of Darkness: Shar*.
Shar was a goddess born from the primordial chaos after Ao created the world, making her one of the realm's oldest deities. The subsequent birth of numerous gods bore an intimate link to Shar, including the Goddess of Magic.
And when speaking of the Goddess of Magic, one could never overlook a certain construct that all spellcasters regarded with a mix of love and dread—the Weave.
Chapter 115