Chapter 758: The Calamity Begins

Faced with Rawkins's plea, Phoebe Crow sighs. "Of course I know how important this is."

"But I've truly done everything I can!"

"I had to transfer a large number of people out of my department just to create those three thousand enhancement slots."

"If I transfer anyone else, my department won't be able to function."

"Do you want the development of Peace Haven's Enhancement Potion to stop here?"

Rawkins turns to Victor. "Send people from the hospitals to help Phoebe Crow and open more slots!"

Victor snaps, "Impossible! Hospitals everywhere are already short-staffed. Are we supposed to stop treating the public?"

"And you have the nerve to suggest that?"

"Every time a class graduates from the medical academy, you lead the military in snatching them up."

"The army already has enough military doctors. What do you need so many medical graduates for?"

"They study for years and beat overwhelming odds to become doctors."

"Then they join your army and sit idle. It's an appalling waste!"

Seeing another argument about to erupt, Henwell cuts in again.

"Enough! Every numbered legion and formally organized legion will contribute twenty military doctors, and I want the best you have!"

"Send them to the Enhancement Center for training, then establish enhancement centers of your own as soon as possible."

"Twenty people are exactly what one enhancement procedure requires."

"For your soldiers' safety, you will send your finest military doctors!"

"Once their training is complete, the full enhancement procedure will take roughly one month. Each team will be able to supervise five people at a time."

"That will let each legion enhance at least fifty soldiers a year. Nothing beats being self-sufficient."

"The hospitals will also send personnel here for training, then establish enhancement centers for the civil administration."

"Once we can enhance our own people, we'll gradually open the procedure to outsiders, first to Peace Haven's citizens and then to people from abroad."

"When you start charging them, show no mercy."

"We've spent an astronomical amount developing this potion. We need to earn at least some of it back."

"Phoebe Crow, support staff from every side will be in place before year's end. Adjust your arrangements and decide how to allocate them."

"They will all answer to you and obey every arrangement made by the Enhancement Center."

"I'll have Victor arrange another expansion of the facilities. There should still be time."

"Now give me a firm number. How many enhancement slots can you provide?"

Phoebe Crow runs the figures through his head. "Five thousand! Not one more!"

Just as everyone begins to celebrate, Henwell continues, "Good. Two thousand slots go to the military. The Administrative Office and Military Intelligence Office will divide another thousand."

"The final two thousand will all go to the Central Military District, and Dominic will distribute them."

To everyone's surprise, no one objects. Something serious must have happened for Henwell to reinforce the Central Military District so heavily.

Rawkins asks, his expression grave, "My lord, what happened?"

Henwell surveys the room, then sighs. "Arius sent me a secret message. The Northern Mountain Raider Calamity has begun!"

"Five days ago, a breach opened in the defensive line. The Twentieth Legion was completely wiped out!"

"Arius has taken the First Guard Legion and Lion's Pride Legion to hold the front."

"The Second and Third Iron Wall Legions in the west are also marching north."

Everyone's expression darkens. The kingdom reduced the size of its army after the military reforms, but its combat capability improved dramatically.

The Twentieth Legion was no easy target. It distinguished itself as a principal legion in the Battle of Cellarwine City.

Rawkins asks, "My lord, do you mean to send reinforcements north?"

Henwell nods. "Sooner or later, we'll have to fight the creatures of the Hundred-Year Calamity. We need experience, and now we still have a defensive line to support us."

Rawkins asks, "Then do you intend to mobilize the Central Military District, my lord?"

Henwell rises. "Prepare to receive your orders!"

Everyone stands at attention.

"My orders are as follows! Transfer the First and Second Garrison Legions of the Central Military District, add two garrison warbands, and form the Northern Expedition Left Army Group under Dominic's command."

"Transfer the First and Second Mixed Legions of the Northern Military District, add two garrison warbands, and form the Northern Expedition Right Army Group under Agnico's command."

"The First Cavalry Legion will march north as well and stand ready in the war zone to support either army group."

"You depart in half a month. Reach the war zone as quickly as possible and take over the defensive sectors assigned to us."

Several legion commanders salute and accept their orders. Henwell adds, "There is one point I need to remind you of again."

"Arius is no mediocrity. His strategy and battlefield command are no worse than mine."

"Both army groups will obey his orders without reservation. Don't entertain any private schemes."

"This concerns the safety of the entire nation and, on a larger scale, the survival of humanity across the continent. You cannot afford the slightest negligence."

Dominic and Agnico immediately promise to obey Arius's command.

Henwell motions for everyone to sit. "You don't need to worry too much. Arius won't deliberately waste your troops."

"Peace Haven will keep military supplies flowing to the front, and Victor will personally manage the logistics and supply trains."

Rawkins says, "In that case, give all of next year's enhancement slots to the Central Military District."

Henwell shakes his head. "No need. They'll already be at the front, so it will be too late."

"I reserved those two thousand slots as rewards for soldiers from the two army groups who distinguish themselves in battle!"

"Many of you know I secretly left Peace Haven for a time."

"During that journey, I learned part of the truth behind the Hundred-Year Calamity."

"There is much I can't tell you. It involves gods, and knowing too much would do you no good."

"But I believe I can share one piece of intelligence about the Hundred-Year Calamity."

"This information must remain secret. No one outside this meeting may learn of it!"

As he finishes, faint light glows beneath Henwell's feet. Hundreds of Chains of Civilization spread outward, sealing the entire conference room.

As Henwell's dependents, those present can faintly perceive the illusory chains.

A chill runs through the room. Everyone immediately realizes how important this intelligence must be.

Henwell gathers his thoughts, chooses what he can reveal, and begins.

"The Hundred-Year Calamity is connected to the gods. Its monsters, and the humans it affects, draw their power from minor planes that resemble spatial interstices."

"You may already know that our continent's extraordinary properties are far weaker than those of the Abundant Continent."

"That makes extraordinary awakening and advancement much more difficult here."

"There are exceptions, and the Hundred-Year Calamity is one of them."

"When the Hundred-Year Calamity erupts, extraordinary properties across the continent can rise to match the Abundant Continent, or even surpass it slightly."

"The closer you are to an outbreak's source, the more concentrated those extraordinary properties become and the greater your chance of advancing into the extraordinary."

"Intense fighting releases human potential. Combined with the sudden surge in extraordinary properties, it becomes much easier to set foot on the extraordinary path."