32

The Witcher: The last King of the elves

Chapter 32 – Improvements

The next morning, Thranduil woke from a deep sleep. After a night of rest, his weary spirit had fully recovered.

Sensing the magical power within his body, he discovered it had increased significantly compared to his reserves from the day before. If all went well, without a doubt his magic would grow further, and then he would try another type of magic.

Every mage knows that as their magic becomes stronger, it also becomes more difficult to increase that power.

At that moment, Thranduil seemed to think of something and murmured:
“It is necessary to investigate the outside. It wouldn’t be a bad idea to visit a human kingdom.”

He was unaware of the power of the realms nearest to the Elven Empire, so before attempting anything, he needed to learn from humans.

If he saw their weaknesses, he would better understand how to crush them.

And he needed to find the woman of destiny, the one who would share with him the crown of the elves.

“Your Majesty!” At that moment, an elf mage entered the wooden house carrying a wooden tray with various items.

“Leave it there.” Thranduil got out of bed, dressed quickly, and while looking at the elf, asked:
“Has everyone gone hunting?”

The elf mage stepped aside with a pretentious air and respectfully replied:
“Yes, Your Majesty. Except for the elves in charge of building the wall, repairing the city, and guarding the posts, everyone else is out hunting.”

Then Thranduil, interested, asked:
“How are the results going?”

“We have experienced craftsmen, all of them are rebuilding the wall, and we expect that in a short time we will be able to repair everything.”

“That is good news!”

“Your Majesty, when will the attack occur?”

“According to my calculations, the Blood Moon will arrive the day after tomorrow, and without a doubt there will be a great battle. Let the elves work harder and hunt more wild monsters to nourish the Ancient Trees.”

“Your orders will be communicated.”

If Thranduil wanted to expand his territory, he would not be able to do so without magic crystals.

But once he established defensive outposts connected to the north where humans were active, he could finally leave these lands and witness the prosperity of mankind.

The elves would understand everything, for to them, his decisions were always correct, and none would fail in their duties.

The loyalty of the elves was beyond question. After cleansing his body, he went to the dining table.

His breakfast was placed on the wooden dining table: a plate full of fruits, moon bread, and a drink made from honey with Water of Life.

“Eating this every day is becoming a little boring. I must find a way to improve the food when I can. At the very least, we need variety in our meals.”

To be honest, eating fruit with bread in the mornings and barbecue in the evenings was perfect, but the dishes were far from perfection.

The meat should be juicy, slightly fatty, but not to the point of overwhelming the flavor of the meat.

The taste was not bad, but it lacked several seasonings—especially spices. Although the ruins were vast, resources were scarce, making it difficult to find such seasonings.

As for the condiments Thranduil was thinking of, finding them here was absolutely impossible.

“There should be resources in the Plains of Chaos, but it is too far.” After quickly finishing breakfast, Thranduil took a white handkerchief handed to him by the elf mage, wiped his mouth, and said:
“Have you calculated the harvest from last night’s hunt?”

“Your Majesty, the statistics have been compiled,” the elf mage replied respectfully.
“Last night we collected a total of more than 124,800 magic crystals and 145 energy cores.”

“So many?” Thranduil was a little surprised.

This had been the most rewarding night so far.

The elf mage said in a low voice:
“Thanks to the influence of the Blood Moon, a large number of magical beasts and monsters appeared at night, especially the giant swamp rats, which were countless. Combined with the undead that roam at night, the harvest was also greater than before.”

Of course, there was another reason: the sudden increase in the number of elven troops. The more soldiers and monsters there were, the greater the harvest.

“Very good, keep up the good work!” Thranduil praised warmly and prepared to leave.

He had to make good use of the hundreds of thousands of crystals he had gathered at once.

…

Once outside the wooden house where Thranduil had spent the night, the first thing he saw was the wall being built in the distance.

After just one night, the wall had been largely repaired, and on top, the elves had placed watch posts.

The entrances had been sealed, some repaired, giving them full control over this area.

Moving away from the site, Thranduil thought it would be a good idea to improve the War Tree to its best level.

He used 50,000 magic crystals to raise it by one level. With the arrival of a brilliant golden light, the body of the Ancient War Tree grew rapidly. In the blink of an eye, it reached more than two hundred meters, matching the height of the Tree of Life not far away.

A massive shadow was cast.

The air throughout the plaza also became noticeably fresher.

Most importantly, the magic of life and nature grew even more intense.

The elves beneath the tree, as long as their qualities were in order, would be able to achieve excellent results.

“[…

Ancient War Tree.

[Building Information]: The military professions building of the elven camp.

[Unlocked Elf Professions]: Elf Archer, Elf Swordsman, Elf Hunter, Elf Mage.

[Upgrade Requirements]: 500,000 magic crystals.

[Special Notice]: Increasing the level of the Ancient War Tree will unlock more professions for the elven camp.

[Elf Hunter]: Training requirements: 500 magic crystals, 1 elf.

[Elf Mage]: Training requirements: 300 magic crystals, 1 elf.

[Elf Cleric]: Training requirements: 1,000 magic crystals, 1 elf.

[Griffin Rider]: Training requirements: 5,000 magic crystals.

…]”

The new troops that Thranduil obtained in his army branch appeared shortly after.

“These are the new troops?”

The cost was far too high.

“The more expensive the training, the stronger the troops!” Thranduil could only console himself that way.

The last unit caught Thranduil’s attention, for he had no aerial troops.