CHAPTER 1575: CHAPTER 289: THE WORLD’S ATTENTION

This was Ian’s speculation ever since the Fiery Flame Land began extensively using the Demon Legion.

After all, with such a large force as the Fiery Flame Land, how could they not realize that their actions would antagonize Dragon Island and even have a great chance of being targeted, perhaps by calling in the Voidrealm Machine God to be destroyed?

But they still used it, which proves that they have reasons for taking such tremendous risks.

Around the Abyssal Dragon, not even a single Fifth Energy Level from the Fiery Flame Land went over to haggle, not even to trash-talk. You could see from this—they probably couldn’t wait for the Abyssal Dragon to leave.

However, it left far too early this time. Fiery Flame Land definitely has many related plans and experiments that haven’t been completed, and the Abyssal Dragon undoubtedly has many technologies that haven’t been handed over, but they’ve been messed up by Ian calling in the Dragon King prematurely.

Ian believes that now he’s truly become an eyesore and thorn to the Fiery Flame Land, a character they want to kill as soon as possible.

As for now, competing with the Heart of Terra for the Demon Souls... it’s probably the real backup plan related to the demonic technology of Fiery Flame Land.

The one independent from the Abyssal Dragon... the Abyssal Consciousness.

Without any hesitation, Ian fused himself with the Heart of Terra, increasing output, fighting for the ownership of this batch of demon souls with the Abyssal Consciousness.

This is the most important harvest of Silverpeak Domain, worth the calculation base of a million ordinary human souls and the growth material of the Heart of Terra—at this moment, the Heart of Terra can already provide Ian with a considerable degree of enhancement. Who knows how powerful it will become after a million souls upgrade.

Concerning the future snowballing speed, he will absolutely not give up.

And from afar, the traction of the Abyssal Consciousness was not as strong as imagined—the destruction brought by the Dragon King’s arrival to the Abyssal Cursed Soil Network apparently also severely damaged the Abyssal Consciousness, and now it is instinctively recovering demon souls to replenish itself.

Although the hard strength of the Abyssal Consciousness is certainly stronger than the Heart of Terra, the Heart of Terra is undamaged, and its essence is a Source Quality Calculating Chip of the Fifth Energy Level, naturally more formidable than the already heavily battered Abyssal Consciousness.

Thus, after a struggle, Ian took back the Heart of Terra and kicked away the tentacles extended by the Abyssal Consciousness, completely safeguarding his spoils of war!

Not only that.

"For things like this, we need not take the lead."

Ian said to Adalbert without hesitation: "Our South Ridge suffered a Demon Legion attack, vital energy was seriously injured, and the various cities and territories suffered massacres. Now it is all in ruins—and we just happened to find the enemy’s incomparably powerful backup in the Domain of Void. To prevent the destruction of the South Ridge, we immediately reported this information."

"Ah?"

Hearing this, Adalbert nodded dumbfoundedly: "We indeed have suffered a lot, but it wasn’t particularly severe, right? Even without soul recovery, most of those who died were those minor nobility lords who didn’t listen to our advice... Not to say they deserved it or not, but most of them were on the Golden Plains and do not hinder our South Ridge productivity."

It’s not that Adalbert doesn’t care about the death and injury of the civilians, but in life, you have to make choices. The propaganda of Silverpeak Domain cannot be said not to be relentless, but if people insist on staying in their hometown and dying with it... and theoretically do not fall under the governance of the South Ridge, what can be done?

"I mean, we have to act like that. Just learn from Scott. He hears the beginning of what I say and can help me write the complete report."

Ian helplessly knocked on Adalbert’s head: "In any case, we absolutely will not get involved in matters related to the Abyssal Consciousness."

Adalbert could understand this: "Feign weakness to the enemy, this I understand."

"The Imperial Center is not quite an enemy yet... but localities concealing reports from the center is commonplace."

Ian didn’t expect Adalbert to comprehend political dealings, like feigning poverty and crying for resources. Perhaps he would have to teach this like an educational Green Tide and change it into ’about funding needs’ for Adalbert to grasp?

What kind of people are these...

Slightly shaking his head, Ian diverted his attention and reported the information about the Abyssal Consciousness to the Southwest Legion Headquarters, which is Second Prince Michael’s side.

Soon, Ian received a reply: [Very important information, Silver Peak Earl is truly a model for Naling Nobility, and even in great victory does not forget to be vigilant of enemy situations!]

What followed was a long article full of praise, which Ian skipped over.

But in the end, he saw a line of critical information.

[... Now, the situation of attack and defense has reversed. We are to launch a major counteroffensive against Fiery Flame Land’s homeland under the guidance of the Imperial Capital in late July]

[A sincere invitation to Silver Peak Earl to attend and observe the counterattack scene near Quinmalian Mountain!]

"Counterattack scene?"

Ian chewed on this phrase, tasting a variety of implications: "I knew the Empire has retaliation measures, but to enjoy it... what, is it a nuclear bomb?"

This was a joke—when nuclear bombs were first invented on Earth, they did indeed invite a large number of military and political dignitaries to watch, and back then, there was no awareness of radiation protection, and everyone partook in a nuclear radiation baptism.

And because the nuclear yield wasn’t high and the radiation wasn’t serious at that time, nothing major happened. Otherwise, there would have been a big fuss.

The Empire inviting him, a noble who just won a major victory in South Ridge, to observe clearly indicates the same nature, also implying that Ian has indeed reached that status and can start participating in some of the Empire’s upper-echelon games.