Chapter 54 Harvest

Thanks to 【Leaping the Ocean】 for the generous tip!
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From the moment Karon’s army mobilized to the capture of Odoo City, followed by a swift retreat after plundering, the entire chain of events took a mere two days, all things considered.
Over these two days, the upper echelons of the Bourbon Kingdom truly experienced an emotional roller coaster.
Before this campaign erupted, very few believed that Karon would actually dare to fight.
They assumed Karon was merely leaning on the Silver Hand to put up a bluff, and that he would never actually dare to make a move.
Moreover, taking a step back, even if Karon did strike, based on their understanding of him, the Bourbon Kingdom did not believe they would lose.
Over the past half-year, the kingdom had not just sat idly by and watched Karon develop.
In fact, during these six months, the kingdom's reconnaissance forces had scoured nearly every inch of the Dead Lands, and they were exceptionally clear on Karon's strength.
They knew that Karon’s highest-tier strength was merely Tier 4 undead. For over half a year, his undead legion had hardly expanded, remaining stagnant at just over ten thousand, the vast majority of which were Tier 1 undead.
Although there were indeed Tier 2 elites, the overall strength of Karon's undead legion was actually not much different from that of the City of the Rising Moon.
Even when the number of Karon's undead legion expanded almost overnight to fifty thousand, the kingdom did not pay it too much mind.
They believed it was merely a facade temporarily cobbled together by Karon. After all, they had investigated that fifty thousand-strong undead army and found that they were basically Tier 1 or even possessed a massive number of Tier 0 entities.
Furthermore, lacking a [Small Crypt], Karon's display of a fifty-thousand-strong undead army gave off the impression that it could collapse under its own weight at any moment.
Therefore, the Bourbon Kingdom did not believe such a force could pose any real threat to the kingdom.
And to ensure absolute safety, the kingdom had even deployed the Black Legion.
Having reached this extent, the kingdom figured Karon could essentially stir up no further waves.
Yet before they could even react, Odoo City was seized and sacked, the Lord of Odoo City was captured, the kingdom's elite Black Legion was defeated, and what made it even more headache-inducing was that Karon had also taken a large number of the kingdom's young nobles captive.
The campaign that erupted over those two days felt like a slap straight across the face of the Bourbon Kingdom, nearly knocking the kingdom into a daze!
Upon snapping back to reality, the elderly king of the Bourbon Kingdom was practically driven mad with rage. Although the Bourbon Kingdom was indeed waning in power and its "neighbors" bullied it from time to time—with the kingdom's successive monarchs acting as punching bags in front of powers from other kingdoms—it seemed no other kingdom had ever bullied him quite like this, by a mere necromancer!
Unable to swallow this bitter pill, the enraged kingdom immediately summoned Klein.
Hysterically issuing commands, he ordered Klein to lead the kingdom's elites to annihilate the Dead Lands and destroy that odious necromancer!
However, not long after his hysterical orders were given, he found himself forced to swallow back those very commands and rescind them.
The reason was that upon returning after capturing Odoo City, Karon, through the matchmaking efforts of Silverglow, had a meeting with the High Speaker of the Silver Hand's Upper House.
Though the Bourbon Kingdom did not know what Karon and the Silver Hand had discussed, it was certain that after that meeting, the Silver Hand—who had originally sat on the sidelines to watch the show—suddenly stepped out to mediate!
From the perspective of the Bourbon Kingdom, this move by the Silver Hand was blatantly acting as Karon's backer!
Otherwise, why hadn't the Silver Hand stepped forward before Karon made his move and captured Odoo City?
This was clearly colluded with Karon. It was even highly probable that when Karon attacked Odoo City, the Silver Hand had provided considerable assistance behind the scenes.
At once, the Bourbon Kingdom lost its nerve.
Or rather, the crown of the Bourbon Kingdom lost its nerve!
In fact, after the Silver Hand stepped forward to mediate, a fiercely strong reaction erupted within the kingdom.
Led by Klein, the military faction stepped forward at this juncture, firmly declaring their intent to fight Karon to the finish. They proclaimed that the kingdom's dignity and honor could not be trampled upon, and that even if it cost them their lives, or led to a war with the Silver Hand, they would not hesitate.
Yet their standing out was useless. They were willing to fight for the kingdom, but the kingdom did not wish to fight this war.
Within the kingdom's interior, many people also hoped this war would not break out.
Whether they could win was one thing, but once a war began, the power of Klein, as the kingdom's Marshal, would inevitably increase further.
His influence within the kingdom was already terrifyingly vast, and no one wanted to see his influence continue to grow.
Thus, the menacing, bimming posture the kingdom had originally struck was pulled back. Though intensely unwilling, they ultimately obediently accepted the mediation from the Silver Hand's side.
……
While the Bourbon Kingdom bitterly swallowed this grievance and was forced to prepare for the Silver Hand's mediation, Karon's side was living quite comfortably.
As the victor, upon returning from Odoo City, Karon had been constantly busy digesting the spoils of the battle of Odoo City.
Aside from flexing his muscles and suppressing the arrogance of the Bourbon Kingdom, the spoils of the Odoo City battle fell mainly into two categories: one consisted of supplies such as money and books, and the other comprised corpses and territory energy.
Regarding money and supplies, Karon tallied them up upon his return.
In terms of currency, after converting various jewels, artworks, and similar items, it amounted to roughly 12,000 gold coins, which, translated into purchasing power, was roughly equivalent to 12 billion RMB.
Beyond currency, two other things caught Karon's greater attention: books and special magical items.
The books were rather miscellaneous, and Karon had not yet had the time to sort through them. He simply placed all 321 retrieved books into the Bone Tower, planning to organize them slowly when he had time.
As for magical items, those nobles were quite clever; since Karon's army had stormed in and made it difficult to move wealth like gold, they had instead carried away easily transportable and precious magical items. Thus, Karon's harvest in this regard was not massive, but he did acquire three items that left him quite satisfied.
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Spatial Ring (Small)
Item Classification: Magical Item
Item Quality: Excellent
Description: Contains a storage space of 3 cubic meters.
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Phantom Mask
Item Classification: Magical Equipment
Item Quality: Excellent
Description: Imbued with the permanent magic 'Phantom Illusion'. It can be activated once a day. Upon activation, the wearer enters a phantom state, granting immunity to attacks below Tier 6 for a duration of twenty minutes.
Ps: Entering the phantom state prevents attacking; launching an attack will immediately break the phantom state.
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Cruel Bloodstone
Item Classification: Magical Material
Item Quality: Unknown
Description: A somewhat eerie and special item. You may attempt to sell it to the Territory Store, or try using the [Corpse Fusion] function to fuse it with the undead.
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