[Because of your Vow of Matrimony, "Embracing Under the Blue Sky," and for the sake of the warm world you envisioned in that vow, Natasha chose to cross her own lines, defying the very philosophy of the Path of The Abundance.]
[Natasha has prepared to carry out your plan with all her heart. She has earnestly agreed to your request and, at your urging, has left in a hurry for the Belobog prison to prepare the horrific proof.]
[Due to the trait "Symbiosis of Light and Shadow," your Favorability has increased slightly.]
[Current Favorability with Natasha: 130.]
[Natasha's Favorability with you: 130.]
[Due to the trait "Symbiosis of Light and Shadow," you have both received an all-attribute boost of 130%.]
Reading the text on the light screen, Ron couldn't help but let out a sigh of relief.
As the Emperor, Ron had more important matters to attend to. He was spread too thin and lacked the ability to personally handle the task he had just assigned to Natasha.
The last time he had asked Natasha to be his helper, to lead the Pioneer Group in killing the hidden resistance forces in Belobog, she had been reluctant.
And that was for the sake of establishing the empire, where the resistance was simply an enemy to be cleanly dispatched. It wasn't the severe persecution of a single individual like this time...
Ron knew that although his request was to torture a death row inmate—who naturally deserved to die—it absolutely crossed Natasha's personal lines.
The empire's laws, which Ron himself had personally reformed from Belobog's old code to maintain stability, stipulated that lawbreakers were to be punished by the law. Even Ron, in principle, should not interfere, let alone ignore a prisoner's humanity and inflict such grievous harm.
As a Pathstrider of The Abundance, it would have been perfectly natural for Natasha to refuse him outright...
But Ron hadn't expected that after he explained his reasoning, Natasha would agree to his plan almost immediately, even at the cost of defying the philosophy of her Path.
This is the power of a 130 Favorability rating after a Vow of Matrimony... Natasha has clearly reached the point where she's willing to cross her own lines for me.
The all-attribute boost from "Symbiosis of Light and Shadow," which had once been a drop in the bucket, had now become a massive bonus of more than double his base stats thanks to the increased Favorability.
Ron could scarcely imagine what would happen when he maxed out Natasha's Favorability to 200 points. The boost from their duo-trait would be a threefold increase over his base stats—
At that point, his attribute values alone would be an unimaginable number. Although his progress on the Path of The Preservation in this simulation was far behind the last, because of these bonuses and the power of two Paths, Ron's combat effectiveness would have a massive gulf over his previous self.
But even so, I still have no confidence when facing an Emanator of The Elation...
Ron rubbed the bridge of his nose with a sense of helplessness. The power levels in the world of Star Rail were somewhat vague, but one tier was extremely clear—the Emanators of the Aeons.
Every Emanator blessed by an Aeon undoubtedly possessed the power to destroy a star system. The great lords of the Anti-Matter Legion, led by Nanook of The Destruction, all had the power to burn galaxies. And in the game's lore, neither Herta, an Emanator of The Erudition, nor the Xianzhou Alliance, with its Emanator of The Hunt as a general, showed any fear towards the lords of Destruction.
They possessed combat power of a comparable level. And as an Emanator of The Elation, one of the most powerful Paths besides The Nihility, any of Aha's chosen, apart from that one insect that couldn't bear its power, were by no means weak.
Even with all his buffs, Ron was nowhere near capable of annihilating a star system... The power gap between him and an Emanator was like a chasm.
Unless...
Ron glanced at the eternally shimmering red trait on his screen. He hesitated for a moment before finally sighing.
Still no... It's still not time to pray to Yaoshi of The Abundance.
He didn't know if he could maintain his sanity after receiving the Apothecary's blessing. If he lost his mind the moment he gained that power, then the threat he would pose would be far more terrifying than the Seed of Calamity or Sampo.
It wasn't the final, desperate moment yet... He would continue with his plan and try to solve the massive problem Sampo had caused.
With this thought, Ron took a deep breath, looked seriously at the screen before him, and began to operate it.
[You have issued commands to all the loyal officials you trust, methodically assigning them to their posts.]
[The cable cars between the Overworld and Underworld are running at full capacity. For the first time, the mining teams have ceased production and have all come to Belobog, under the blue sky.]
[You command Seele and Bronya to lead the First and Second Pioneer Groups to clear the Belobog commercial district with maximum speed. They accept your orders without hesitation and, at your urging, lead the Pioneers to march into the Fragmentum.]
[The thresholds of the Fragmentum-corroded urban area are trampled by the uniform steps of the Pioneer Groups. Under the influence of the "Panacea" trait, the weakened Fragmentum, unable to expand, is severely debuffed. Its creations materialize from the shadows but are annihilated into dust under the iron heel of the Pioneers.]
[In just one hour, Seele and Bronya report back to you, informing you that they have led the Pioneer Groups to completely clear the Fragmentum-corroded commercial district of Belobog, reclaiming the entire area.]
[During this time, you and Cocolia have ventured deep into Everwinter Hill. At the command of the Lance of Preservation, the sleeping giant awakens from the snow. Its translucent red eyes slowly rise, looking towards Belobog, which sways in the blizzard.]
[The Creation Engine, which once flattened mountains and swept away the snows under the guidance of the Architects to build the eternal city, now relights its core. Its steel arms swing with great force, swiftly leveling most of the buildings in the commercial district, reshaping it into the quarantine zone you desired.]
[You order the mining teams to enter the reshaped quarantine zone and begin simple renovations.]
[Loose gravel and large chunks of debris are quickly excavated by the mining teams and methodically transported out of the zone.]
[They swiftly lay down modular wooden isolation huts. Inside, they place simple wooden planks for tables and chairs and lay down fabrics for beds, systematically constructing an entire quarantine zone.]
[The rough outline of the zone, constructed by the Creation Engine, gradually takes shape under the hands of the mining teams. Although it looks extremely crude and simple, and offers no insulation, serving only as a shelter to provide privacy, it is still capable of housing the infected.]
[You arrange for the Pioneer Groups to transport a full one-third of the national food reserves from the treasury and place them under strict guard in the Silvermane Guards' logistics area outside the quarantine zone, preparing to supply it.]
Looking at the text, Ron let out a small sigh of relief.
The preliminary preparations had gone off without a hitch. The construction of the quarantine zone, the "Belobog People's Hospital," was a step Ron had anticipated to be somewhat troublesome. To reclaim the commercial district and convert it into a containment area, even a barely functional one, in such a short time was extremely difficult.
But to Ron's surprise, because the empire had not undergone a full mobilization before, he hadn't been fully aware of its capabilities, only having a rough estimate... He had thought the current empire would only barely be able to accomplish this.
He hadn't expected the Pioneer Groups to be so much stronger than he imagined, nor that Bronya and Seele's leadership abilities would be so much improved from previous simulations.
The mining teams' execution was also far more efficient than he expected, and Cocolia showed no signs of betrayal, instead reliably joining him to find the Creation Engine and helping him with the initial remodeling of the district.
It was a good start, but Ron did not let his guard down.
This was only the beginning... The real difficulty would be stabilizing the infected who had consumed the Seed of Calamity, ensuring that these landmines were all buried deep, completely stripped of their potential to explode.
There was still a long way to go...
He couldn't help but sigh softly, then braced himself and looked at the screen.
The text faded, and new lines appeared:
[Late at night, an exhausted Natasha finds you.]
[She informs you that she has completed the task you assigned her. In the Belobog prison, there is now an infected individual whom she has fed dozens of Seeds of Calamity, a person who has completely lost their sanity and is dominated by desire.]
[She provides you with an experiment report—after consuming just one Seed, the infected individual feels good, believing they have undergone a true evolution.]
[The infected person is transformed by the Seed. Tiny vines crawl out from their pores, but only in very small amounts, at most appearing as tendrils or moss on the back of the hand or cheek. The infected person does not feel these parasites affecting them in any way.]
[Within three hours of consumption, the infected person will feel a certain degree of hunger. Although they can clearly control their appetite at this stage, due to the influence of hunger, they will become irritable and more aggressive than before, but still within the range of normal human behavior.]
[After six hours without food, the infected person's aggression increases drastically. The parasitic vines become active, and their body becomes somewhat withered, as if the vines are draining their nutrients. Rationality fades significantly, and they begin to try to eat anything that could possibly be edible. Their aggression increases again.]
[Natasha fed the infected individual a normal adult male's daily food intake. After eating, the infected person's body immediately filled out, and the parasitic vines gradually quieted down, no longer writhing on their body.]
[The infected person quickly regained their sanity, and their physical attributes were further enhanced.]
[However, their hunger only partially subsided. They remained in the same state as an infected person who had been hungry for three hours, still irritable and quick to anger.]
[Due to a lack of time, Natasha then fed the subject dozens of Seeds of Calamity.]
[According to her observations, with each Seed consumed, the infected person's hunger seemed to decrease significantly, and their physical attributes would also increase dramatically, undergoing another evolution.]
[After dozens of consecutive evolutions, the feeding was stopped. The infected subject, who was initially rational and calm, was completely consumed by desire in just ten minutes, losing all sanity.]
[Vines and moss grew wildly on their body, completely binding and parasitizing them.]
[By Natasha's estimation, an infected person who has consumed dozens of Seeds of Calamity is no weaker than she is. If not for the fact that the subject was a prisoner from the start and the experiment was conducted in the most secure cell in Belobog prison, she and the infected would have had an extremely fierce battle, and she might even have lost.]
Looking at the text, Ron stroked his chin.
"So the appetite never truly goes away once it appears. They need to keep eating to maintain their sanity, and they evolve after eating..."
He made a decision. "This is basically consistent with my previous predictions."
The infected were very similar to the Progeny of Abundance, but they didn't lose their sanity immediately after consumption. They would become crazed after six hours without food, and perhaps completely lose their minds and turn into monsters after seven or eight.
As for the final subject, who went mad in just ten minutes, that situation was unlikely to occur in the general population and didn't need to be considered.
An infected person who had consumed dozens of Seeds was like a Progeny of Abundance who had received dozens of blessings—a very rare occurrence...
After all, although Sampo had distributed the Seeds, he had only given one to each citizen. As ordinary people, it would be difficult for them to obtain more.
And for that very reason... they still had a chance to stabilize their condition, to remain un-detonated and continue to be members of the empire.
His previous painstaking efforts to devise a plan had not been in vain... The situation was developing exactly as he had planned.
With this thought, Ron tapped the screen.
It was time for the next step.