Chapter 105: Lotus Flowers
Now then... let’s find out what’s wrong with you Elves.
After Rios gave the order, the Nine Lotus Leaves Array began spinning at an incredible speed, drawing the natural energy in the surroundings toward itself.
The Nine Lotus Leaves Array gradually refined that energy at an astonishing rate, one that even surpassed Rios’s own refining speed...
Even while using the Nine Lotus Leaves technique!
Once the energy had been refined, the array began directing it into the second array—
The Awakening Array.
The four circles on the ground began to glow, channeling the energy toward the children at the center without causing them any harm...
Only a slight amount of pain.
The moment the energy entered their bodies, the children experienced mild convulsions.
Frightened, most of them burst into tears.
This combined array is what the Cosmic Red Lotus Empire uses to awaken their children. If even this array can’t bring out the full potential of these Elves... then I doubt anything else can.
Rios stroked his chin as he watched the awakening process.
The awakening method originally used by the Elves was unbelievably primitive and wasted an enormous amount of resources.
They would ferment countless high-energy plants inside the Cradle Well left behind by the Immortal Tree of Cradle, a well carved into one of its roots, then have every child drink a single sip of its water, forcibly awakening them.
All of that...
Just to awaken one out of every hundred children under normal circumstances.
And in rare cases...
Two out of every hundred.
If Rios relied on such a pathetic success rate, it would take him at least an entire century to build a respectable kingdom.
Nor was he willing to waste such an enormous amount of precious resources for such miserable results.
Had the Elves lived on another planet, they wouldn’t have dared commit such a wasteful act even once.
But because of the overwhelming abundance of energy in this world...
And because high-quality plants were so plentiful...
It was possible for them.
Besides...
Rios simply didn’t have the luxury of waiting for his kingdom to grow at such a sluggish pace.
The punishment for failing the mission to conquer the world loomed ever closer if he failed to accomplish it within fifty years.
After returning from his first visit to The Eternal Night Heaven, he had immediately realized this problem.
Because of his special status within the Red Lotus Palace, there were items available for purchase that no one else could obtain.
And because the palace administration knew he was beginning to build his own kingdom, they had personally recommended this array to him.
Surprisingly...
It was perfectly compatible with the Nine Lotus Leaves Array.
"It’s starting!"
Rios narrowed his eyes as he watched the children.
Once the Awakening Array began operating, steadily, smoothly, and gently pouring energy into the children’s bodies...
Lotus flowers began appearing above each child’s head!
Of course...
This phenomenon didn’t occur for every child.
Many of them displayed no phenomenon whatsoever.
Those were the children with no hope of ever awakening their power.
But the pleasant surprise was that...
Instead of the awakening rate being only one or two percent at best...
The new rate had surpassed fifty percent...
Reaching approximately fifty-five percent.
Many children manifested only a single lotus flower above their heads.
However, most of them displayed two lotus flowers.
And a very small number displayed three lotus flowers above their heads.
"Shit!
Exactly what I feared has happened!"
Rios gritted his teeth in anger and clenched his fists even tighter as the veins on his forehead bulged.
As the controller of the array, Rios knew exactly what was happening inside.
Beside him, Elena, Thandria, and Etham stared with eyes wide open in utter shock.
They had known Rios would perform a miracle...
But not to this extent.
Even in their wildest imaginations, they had expected him to increase the awakening rate by perhaps tenfold at most.
But this...
Had far exceeded every expectation they had.
Yet amid their astonishment and overwhelming joy, they noticed the sudden change in Rios’s mood.
Elena approached him anxiously, gently tugging at the edge of his robe.
"Is something wrong?
Are you dissatisfied with this success rate?"
Elena knew how absurd her own question sounded.
Even she didn’t believe it.
But she also knew that her limited perspective could never be applied to Rios.
"It has nothing to do with the awakening rate.
The problem is that some fucking bastard has been tampering with us and sealing the Elves’ bloodline.
If it weren’t for this array, which shatters those restraints and forcibly awakens these children’s power...
This would have continued forever."
When Rios realized it was Elena tugging at his robe, and saw the concern on everyone’s faces, he suppressed his anger slightly and spoke as calmly as he could.
"Our bloodline is sealed?!
But... how?!"
Elena and all the Elves around Rios were stunned by that shocking revelation.
Elena hurriedly added,
"Could it be the same person... or the same thing... that sealed both my bloodline and the bloodline of the Immortal Tree of Life?"
Upon hearing Elena’s question, Rios narrowed his eyes and looked back at the children inside the array.
"I don’t know whether it’s the same person.
But look at those children.
Those with only one lotus flower possess Ordinary-grade talent.
Those with two lotus flowers possess Basic-grade talent.
And those thirty children with three lotus flowers possess Legendary-grade talent.
People with talent comparable to Thandria’s...
The kind of talent that appears among your people only once every century at best.
But the worst part..."
Rios gritted his teeth once again in anger and pointed toward six children.
"Those six children, the ones who manifested three complete lotus flowers...
They possess mutated Legendary-grade talent...
Only a single step away from reaching Heaven-grade talent."
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