Winter came, and snow began to fall in the Small Magic Plane, covering the entire Moonlight Forest.

The autumn harvest had long since ended. All the grain grown in the Small Magic Plane this year had been sent to the granaries of the various cities. In the Neutral City closest to the Moon Elf Main City, Elf Corps Commander Feiyana and Guard Army Commander Rethof were holding the line. With the help of Director of Intelligence Stuck, they had managed to avoid a major war this winter.

The Moon Elves in their Main City knew something was wrong with the small elf tribe to the south and the Neutral Elf City in between, but with Director of Intelligence Stuck managing the flow of information, they didn’t know the specific details of the problem. According to reports from the Dark Elf spies under Stuck, the Moon Elf Elders from various factions in the Moon Elf Main City were currently locked in a heated debate. They were divided on whether to send elves to investigate the situation again or to dispatch a large army to suppress it by force.

Meanwhile, Zhang Yi’s correspondence with his other ally in the Moonlight Forest, Lin Aoxue, had become increasingly frequent. According to a recent letter from Lin Aoxue, she had already convinced the Elf Corps stationed at the border. When Zhang Yi launched his counterattack against the Moon Elves, not a single one of those border corps would be mobilized.

However, she had one condition: she wanted to take all the captured Dark Elf and Moon Elf prisoners from the Moon Elf Main City after its defeat.

Of course, Zhang Yi couldn’t agree to that. Zhang Yi’s philosophy for his Divine Realm was to be all-encompassing, but elves, at the very least, had to make up the vast majority. If I don’t get any Dark Elves or Moon Elves, how am I supposed to tap into the opportunities hidden behind them?

So, Zhang Yi argued his case forcefully. Ultimately, the two reached an agreement. Lin Aoxue would receive seventy percent of the Moon Elf and Dark Elf captives, and she would also receive thirty percent of the revenue from the five cities. Next year, which was the final year, Lin Aoxue would also send a legion composed of Dark Elves and Night Elves to assist Zhang Yi, if possible.

But that was just a nice way of putting it. Sending a legion to assist me? In reality, it’s just for supervision. It was even possible that Lin Aoxue herself would use a Descent of the Divine Soul or a Saint’s Descent to hide among this group of elves. As long as she didn’t reveal herself, Zhang Yi would be none the wiser.

However, this was a game of one-upmanship. Since Lin Aoxue wasn’t recalling her entire Elf Corps, the troops responsible for allocating the elves and receiving the assets would be Zhang Yi’s own Elf Army. As long as I keep my mouth shut, what constitutes thirty percent and what constitutes seventy percent is entirely up to me, isn’t it? As long as the Elf Corps Lin Aoxue sends doesn’t amount to a third of my own, there will surely be blind spots in her supervision.

Zhang Yi wasn’t doing this just to sabotage Lin Aoxue. It’s just that resources are limited. If you take more, I get less. Besides, Lin Aoxue isn’t the one responsible for the sieges—the part that requires the greatest sacrifices. Thirty percent of the profits is still too much for her. You can’t handle it. Let me handle it for you!

***

Outside the Small Magic Plane, within the Divine Realm, the Elf Griffin Cavalry Corps, which Zhang Yi held in the highest regard, was training diligently.

Zhang Yi had also addressed their equipment, ordering the Dwarf Blacksmiths to forge a completely new set of gear for them. It wasn’t that the equipment the Elf Griffin Cavalry Corps had when they first appeared was bad. Rather, Zhang Yi now controlled nearly half of the Moonlight Forest, and all sorts of magical wealth were continuously being sent to his Divine Realm. He now had enough Magic Materials to craft even better gear. The equipment for the regular Elf Corps could be updated later, but the gear for the elite of the Elf Corps, the Elf Griffin Cavalry Corps, had to be upgraded as soon as possible. Zhang Yi was counting on this Elf Griffin Cavalry Corps to play a major role in the battle against the Moon Elves next spring.

In addition, Elf Corps Commander Feiyana had previously instructed Rethof to search the treasuries of the various elf elders. The Nine-tailed Shadow Cat specimen they found, along with its matching Semi-Divine Artifact, the Shadow Dagger, and the five hundred corpses obtained from the attack on the Neutral Elf City—Zhang Yi had Elf Corps Commander Feiyana arrange for an army to deliver them all back to him.

He had great use for them.

[Event]: During a sacrificial ritual held by Elf High Priest Shamiel, the corpse of a Nine-tailed Shadow Cat and its matching Semi-Divine Artifact have been detected. The Golden Finger has now refreshed, providing three options for the host to choose from!

[Option 1]: Extract the Source of Shadow. Extract the Source of Shadow contained within the Nine-tailed Shadow Cat’s corpse. After extraction, transfer it into the Lower Class Semi-Divine Artifact, the Shadow Dagger, to upgrade its quality to a Middle Class Semi-Divine Artifact.

[Option 2]: Revive the Nine-tailed Shadow Cat Clan. Extract the bloodline source from the Nine-tailed Shadow Cat’s corpse to generate a clan of about ten Nine-tailed Shadow Cats. As long as they continue to reproduce, the Nine-tailed Shadow Cat clan will continue to expand.

[Option 3]: A Top-Tier Dark Elf Assassin and a Matching Middle Class Semi-Divine Artifact. Extract the Source of Shadow from the Nine-tailed Shadow Cat’s corpse and convert it into a Dark Elf bloodline. This will create a Dark Elf with the Talent of a top-tier Assassin and generate a matching Middle Class Semi-Divine Artifact—the Kiss of Death!

Note: This matching Semi-Divine Artifact cannot be used by anyone without a Dark Elf bloodline!

Just as I thought. As long as Elf High Priest Shamiel performs a ritual, making a sacrifice to the great God of Nature, and the quality or quantity of the offerings is sufficient, my Golden Finger will be triggered!

Although one of his theories had just been confirmed, Zhang Yi had more important things to accomplish. He looked at the three options before him, feeling that this was the easiest choice he’d ever had to make.

Of the three options, only [Option 3] was useful to him; the other two were completely useless in his current situation.

[Option 1] was to convert the Source of Shadow within the Nine-tailed Shadow Cat corpse and transfer it to the Shadow Dagger, upgrading its quality. Zhang Yi shook his head at this option. While the Shadow Dagger is indeed a Semi-Divine Artifact, it’s exclusive to the Nine-tailed Shadow Cat clan. Without their bloodline, no one else can use it. Both the Elf Mages and the Dark Elves had already tried everything they could to use it before, to no avail.

As for [Option 2], sacrificing one Nine-tailed Shadow Cat corpse in exchange for ten living Nine-tailed Shadow Cats was, in theory, a very good deal. If Zhang Yi could trade the corpse of one elf for ten living elves, he would definitely agree. But the question was, what could ten Nine-tailed Shadow Cats do? Even if he chose this and provided a suitable environment for them to reproduce, it would take several hundred years for the Nine-tailed Shadow Cats to grow into a tribe of a few hundred members. That was far too impractical for him.

The bloodline of the Nine-tailed Shadow Cat isn’t particularly precious to me. It’s only considered precious within this Small Magic Plane. From the perspective of the entire Multiverse, the bloodline of the Moon Elves is far superior to that of the Nine-tailed Shadow Cat!

So, considering all three options, only Option 3 was the most useful to Zhang Yi. A top-tier Dark Elf Assassin could be of great use in his future plans to besiege the Moon God or on the battlefield against the Elf God. And a Middle Class Semi-Divine Artifact exclusive to Dark Elves would provide even more assistance.

The next moment, Zhang Yi chose [Option 3].