Chapter 171: Already Won

Cassian accepted the call. Darian appeared on the screen, frowning.

"I’ve compared the reports. The top five Black Banner Marches should each have an Agriculture Index of at least a hundred million. Some may be as high as a hundred and fifty million."

He sighed.

"I’ve put everyone I can spare into farming, and Ironwake is still only at two point three million. Leaving your Region out, our Marches should have somewhere between forty and forty-five million. And there’s something else."

Darian paused before delivering the worst of it.

"A Lord in Ashvale Marches obtained a Time-Space Farm. That much is confirmed. It’s already running at full capacity with Epic crops. Supposedly, it adds over a million to their Agriculture Index every day."

He sounded thoroughly discouraged.

Cassian, meanwhile, had relaxed the moment he heard a hundred and fifty million.

His Enlightenment Tea Tree was already as tall as a person. He had kept paying for accelerated time in its enclosure and in the growing section of the Deep Layer, without stinting on the expense. The Legendary Fields had yielded five harvests. So many spiritual plants had come in that he had built several more warehouses to hold them.

Even the ordinary Eclipse soldiers ate nothing below Epic quality in their daily meals.

Keeping his expression neutral, he opened the Marches and Region panels.

[Marches Agriculture Index: 280,000,000]

[Region Agriculture Index: 237,000,000]

Darian’s intelligence was remarkably good. Subtract Riftward Region, and the rest of their Marches came to forty-three million—right in the middle of his estimate.

That made Cassian even more confident.

"A Time-Space Farm? Interesting."

It was a Legendary item, and one he did not own. He had seen it among the Glory Battlefield’s exchange rewards, but had not been willing to spend the Glory on it.

If a Black Banner Lord had one, though...

He would have to find time to take it.

Darian was still curious.

"With your Legendary Fields, Riftward Region must be worth at least ten million by now," he said. "How much is it really? Can’t you give me a figure?"

Cassian sighed. "You’d be better off not knowing. You might lose all motivation to keep working."

Three days remained until the results. Every Lord in Riftward Marches could stop farming right now, and Cassian would still be sure of first place. He had never felt more certain of a Ranking.

The Mythic Enlightenment Tea Tree was simply that powerful.

Darian took his answer entirely the wrong way.

"I understand. You’re afraid I’ll give up if I hear how bad things are." He sighed again. "Fine, I won’t ask. We still have three days. Even if the top three are out of reach, we have to hold on to the top ten. We can’t let those attribute rewards slip away."

Cassian gave him a thumbs-up. "If we take first place, you get the credit."

Darian rolled his eyes.

"Enough jokes. I’m going back to my fields."

They exchanged a few more words before he ended the call. Almost immediately, messages began pouring into the management group.

[Seraphine: Cassian! I just checked the other three arrival points in the instance. They’re all sealed. Don’t tell me that was you!]

Her astonishment came through even in writing.

As they grew familiar with the instance, the Regions had split into separate farming parties. The seven Valcrests went together. Darian took Gareth’s Stoneward party along with Ironwake, while Elara led Riftward’s party together with Mira’s Northwatch Lords.

[Tobias: Already? It’s only been a little over ten days. Have you been doing twenty runs a day?]

Cassian’s face darkened.

[Cassian: You think everyone spends all day fooling around with their Hero, like you and Eva?]

[Tobias: We’re in love! I intend to marry her!]

Elara had apparently sent someone to check the other arrival points as well.

[Elara: They’re really closed. You cleared it two hundred times! No wonder you had so many Sword Dancer Sigils to sell.]

Cassian kept quiet about the fact that more than half his Sword Dancer Sigils remained unsold.

[Cassian: The other races can’t get in anymore. Mira, take charge of allocating entries. Starting today, I don’t want those thousand daily entries going to waste.]

[Seraphine: At this rate, Rare troops could be common throughout our Marches in less than a year. If everyone stands together, we might really be able to hold off the Lords from the older sectors.]

Cassian smiled and opened the betting pool on the Exchange.

[1. Ashvale Marches: 380,000,000 Aether]

[2. Kelshore Marches: 310,000,000 Aether]

[3. Coldridge Marches: 220,000,000 Aether]

Only eight Marches had attracted bets so far, yet the pool already exceeded a billion Aether.

Free Will’s reputation for technology and aggressive production methods had won Coldridge plenty of backers. The other seven were all Black Banner Marches.

There wasn’t a single Crown Marches on the list.

Cassian was hardly surprised.

"A billion already. By the time betting closes in three days, that should multiply several times over." His smile widened. "Enough to cover those forty Legendary Fields, with plenty left over."

After checking that everything was in order, he stretched.

"Fifteen days of Lord kills. Three days on the Glory Battlefield. Another ten-odd days clearing an instance. I really am the hardest worker in this Domain."

He had fought enough for a while. It was time to enjoy himself.

Cassian paid to open the existing link to Ghost One, stepped onto the Gate, and vanished in a flash of light.

Aboard Ghost One, Rhea and Liora were enjoying the Clearjade Pool.

"I envy your figure," Rhea said. "Do you think men all prefer women built like you?"

"Men?" Liora laughed. "Why not just say our Lord? Though I have to admit, whatever art he’s been practicing has done wonders for him. The last time—"

Light flashed from the Gate at the bow. Cassian stepped onto the deck.

Both women sprang up.

"It’s our turn to rest. We aren’t shirking!"

Cassian’s eyes brightened. Rhea wore Summer Cool; Liora had chosen her pink swimsuit. Each suited its owner very well.

"Where’s Aurelia?"

"She just went out hunting," Rhea replied.

Cassian frowned briefly, then smiled at himself. He really had spent too long doing nothing but fighting.

"If you’re off duty, enjoy yourselves. Don’t mind me."

He changed into shorts and entered the pool, settling comfortably onto one of the warm-jade dragon couches.

Rhea seemed a little shy. Liora watched him for a moment, then swam over.

"You’ve been working so hard for the Domain, Lord. Let me help you relax."

"I can do that," Rhea said quickly. "Leave the massage to me."

She had always considered that her particular job.

"Then join me," Liora said with a laugh.

Her idea of helping Cassian relax soon proved rather more intimate than Rhea had expected.

Rhea stared.

"That’s not a massage I’ve ever seen."