Boom!
A row of neatly aligned Explosion Spells detonated across the shooting range.
"First row, kneel! Second row fire!"
Boom!
Another round of explosions echoed through the outskirts.
Old Charles's second and third sons stood within the private troop formation, holding their Element Guns, still maintaining their aiming posture toward the distance.
After the morning training session ended, several buses designated for the private troops arrived, picking up the hundred-man unit and taking them back to Tansen City for lunch.
Sitting on the bus, the third son held his Element Gun, his rough palm gently stroking the weapon's body, eyes full of affection.
"These Element Guns are really amazing. Even ordinary people like us can use magic."
"I heard before that when mages cast spells, they have to consume the mana inside their bodies. That stuff is what's stored in our mana cartridges."
"When mages use magic, they consume mana, so they have to replenish it, right? But for us, we can just swap between two mana cartridges—we don't need to replenish anything ourselves."
"What do you know? His Highness Ron is a Chosen One, just like Emperor André the Great, who founded the empire. Making something like this isn't surprising at all."
"It'd be nice if the Element Gun's magic had more variety. Using the same move all the time gets boring."
"You think this is a game? We're training for beast tides, not to satisfy your curiosity."
The bus was filled with lively discussion, and the second and third sons eagerly joined in.
They had been in the private troops for a week now and had already grasped the basics of using the Element Guns. They could hit stationary targets within a hundred meters and accurately strike moving targets within twenty meters.
As long as they didn't panic in real combat, facing a single beast posed almost no danger—it was basically a guaranteed win.
This result made the troops extremely excited, and they treasured their Element Guns like prized possessions.
Aside from handing them in after nightly training, they practically never let go of them.
Even while eating, they'd rest the guns on their laps and sneak a glance or two.
The bus entered Tansen City.
The third son looked out the window.
"They've started road expansion here too," he remarked as he watched excavators and other magic machinery moving along the streets.
The bus drove along the newly expanded road, with pedestrians walking along the sidewalks on both sides.
At intersections, traffic lights engraved with Light-element magic arrays stood in place, while newly appointed "traffic officers" directed both vehicles and pedestrians.
"To be honest, the new rules His Highness Ron put in place are pretty complicated, but the roads do look much more orderly now."
"I heard that after reorganizing the patrol teams, ordinary people can apply to join. There are different divisions too—like traffic control and street cleaning."
"Some of those jobs don't pay much, but with so many new positions, the expenses must be huge, right?"
"More than huge… it feels like His Highness Ron didn't come here to be a lord—he came to hand out money."
"Who knows what he's aiming for?"
The bus arrived at the private troop camp, and everyone got off to eat.
After another round of training in the afternoon and dinner in the evening, the staff came to distribute the first week's wages.
The third son held five silver coins in his hand, feeling a surge of emotion.
In the past, his whole family worked the farmland. Although selling crops once a year brought in far more than five silver coins, this still stirred something in him.
Looking at the coins, he felt a newfound sense of stability.
"Turn in your Element Guns. First squad, return to rest. Report back the day after tomorrow," the squad leader announced.
The second and third sons said their goodbyes and headed home, clutching their coins.
At home, their eldest brother and his wife were in the courtyard. Seeing them return, they immediately asked about life in the private troops.
When they saw the total of ten silver coins, the eldest brother's mood instantly brightened.
If not for the farmland needing his care, he might have tried joining as well.
"Where's Father?"
"He went out to the fields alone after dinner. Probably just clearing his head."
In the farmland—
Old Charles stood in the middle of the field, trembling as he took out a small pouch from his chest and removed the only scale-like leaf of the Divine Tree inside.
He crouched down, dug a small hole, placed the leaf into the soil, and covered it.
Then he traced the symbol of a sheaf of grain over his chest repeatedly, offering prayers. Only after half an hour did he slowly stand and return home.
…
Emperor André III's assassination attempt, followed by the Sixth Prince Soren's attack—
These consecutive incidents made the atmosphere in the Royal Capital even more tense.
After learning of Emperor André III's poor condition, aside from the beastfolk, the other major races all sent Legendary-level figures to the Royal Capital.
On the surface, they claimed it was because their diplomatic envoys had been detained, and they came to inquire about the situation.
In reality, they wanted to confirm Emperor André III's true condition.
Over a hundred years ago, the major races had united to resist the brutal beastfolk, driving them to the far northern Frozen Tundra and severely weakening them.
After that, the human race rose rapidly, accumulating strength far beyond the other races.
And so, the vigilance once directed at the beastfolk had now shifted toward humans.
However, humans weren't as unreasonable as the beastfolk had been. Aside from Emperor André II's invasion of the Dwarven Kingdom, they hadn't launched external wars.
The winter wars had always been initiated by the beastfolk.
Although this was due to food shortages, the Human Empire still held the moral high ground.
Even so, the growing strength of the Human Empire made neighboring races uneasy.
So when news spread that Emperor André III had been attacked, possibly seriously injured, and only recently resumed court under concealment, they could no longer sit still.
If not for fear of suspicion, the beastfolk's Legendary figures would have come as well to investigate.
"What exactly is going on?"
Within the elven diplomatic delegation, a newly arrived Legendary elf priest asked.
"We still don't know the details of the initial assassination attempt on Emperor André III."
"It's said to have happened inside the palace, and all information has been completely sealed."
"We only know that he remained in the palace to recuperate, without attending court or appearing publicly."
"Only recently did he attend court again—but behind a curtain. It doesn't look good."
An elf in the delegation continued:
"In addition, the Sixth Prince Soren was also recently attacked and seriously injured."
"It's said the assassin had a beastfolk aura."
"Afterward, the beastfolk delegation was detained, and the Human Empire has already sent a formal inquiry. The beastfolk haven't responded yet."
The Legendary elf priest tapped the table thoughtfully, his gaze deep.
Similar conversations were happening among the dwarves, gnomes, and goblins.
On the surface, the Royal Capital remained calm, but the First and Second Princes were already on their way back.
Then, on May 10th, shocking news reached the capital—
The Fourth Prince had been assassinated while traveling north… and had died.
Clear traces of beastfolk were found at the scene, placing a heavy accusation squarely on them.
The Duke of the Southern Region was enraged and arrived in the capital via teleportation, requesting an audience with Emperor André III to launch a campaign against the beastfolk.
This time, the beastfolk finally sent a Legendary figure—but only communicated from beyond the three northern passes: Zhenbei Pass, Beast Abyss Pass, and Snowfall Gate.
The situation instantly became extremely tense.
The Fourth Prince's body was transported back to the Royal Capital. Ron attended the funeral of his brother, whom he had barely interacted with in recent years.
After returning to Ron's Wonderful Flower Shop, he still felt dazed, as if something enormous had happened without him fully realizing it.
And the situation was becoming increasingly difficult to understand.
Emperor André III had been attacked. The Sixth and Fourth Princes were also targeted, and the Fourth Prince had died.
Everything happened so suddenly. Before Ron could fully grasp one event, another followed, leaving him overwhelmed.
After the two princes were attacked, Ron and those around him became far more vigilant.
Yuna remained on constant standby, using special methods to recover her energy, ensuring she could react instantly if an assassin appeared.
And during this tense period, a system notification sounded in Ron's mind.
[System: "Congratulations, host, for completing the task. Reward: Silver-Iron Pine and its cultivation method have been stored in your inventory."]
[System: "Triggering upgrade task."]
[Upgrade Task] — [Plant Silver-Iron Pine]:
["Objective: As stated."]
["Reward: System Level +1. Unlock virtual 3D skin functionality for the system interface. One free selection to convert into a virtual 3D skin."]
The task… was completed?
Ron was momentarily stunned upon hearing the notification.
He remembered that after completing the previous main quest, the side quest "Exploring the Relationship Between Mana and Elements" had become the new main quest.
And now, in just over half a month, it was completed?
Had Illya and the others made a breakthrough?
Thinking this, Ron entered his dimensional space to complete the upgrade task, while simultaneously controlling his puppet in the private experimental area and walking out of the lab.
The moment he stepped outside, Edith ran up excitedly. Without even explaining, she grabbed his hand and pulled him toward Illya's laboratory.
"Is there good news?"
As Ron hurried along, he saw Harper being led over by another researcher at a run.
The group gathered and entered Illya's lab together.
"Everyone, I've found a way to stably convert mana into elements," Illya said solemnly.
Since Ron had already received the system notification, he wasn't too surprised—but Harper's eyes widened as he rushed forward to examine it.
Illya picked up a magic array from the table and presented it to them.
Ron leaned in out of curiosity, not expecting to understand anything—
But the moment he looked, he froze.
He actually recognized the pattern.
"永."
A single Chinese character.
Ron's eyes widened, wondering if he was seeing things.
After observing more closely, he realized it wasn't perfectly written.
The top dot looked more like a slanted stroke, and the hook below lacked sharpness.
The overall structure was awkward.
In short, it was ugly.
Anyone unfamiliar with Chinese characters would never make the connection.
Meanwhile, Harper was already breathing rapidly, staring at the array in disbelief.
He wasn't recognizing a character—he was sensing the mana flowing through the array, gradually transforming into the six fundamental elements.
The very thing he had been experimenting with… had been solved by this small array?
"If mana is forcibly reversed into elements without following a specific path, it causes a massive explosion," Illya explained.
"But if it flows along the correct magic array pattern, it can be directly and stably reversed into elemental form."
Harper shook his head in amazement.
"Incredible… Illya, where did you get this array? From inside some organism? Could it be something within Element Potato?"
Asked this, Illya looked embarrassed and lowered her head.
"This… this was derived from the special pattern His Highness Ron provided…"
She had secretly been studying the mysterious "Hoeing Grain at Noon" pattern ever since obtaining it, never giving up.
Ron had known about it—but never expected her to actually discover anything.
And now…
Had she solved mana-to-element conversion using simple strokes?
This was pure blind luck…
Feeling everyone's gaze, Ron's lips twitched.
"It's all a blessing from the Goddess. I don't really know what those patterns were for either…"
Back to the Goddess it goes.
Ron muttered inwardly.
Illya was a bit puzzled that Ron didn't question her, but Ron quickly accepted the situation and changed the topic.
"So this array can stably convert mana into elements."
"What… practical applications does it have?"
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If you've been following my translations for a while, you might have noticed that 'We Agreed to Make Trashy Anime—So What's with Attack on Titan?' has been taken down from Webnovel due to copyright issues, so I won't be able to continue working on it 😔🙏
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I've just realized that another translator is already working on t'I Made Millions Cry with Anime', so I will stop posting. If you have any novels you'd like me to translate, please let me know or share the titles 📚. Kindly ensure that no other translator is currently working on them or that the project has been abandoned 👍.