Shave off 10 to 50 years of life from all the people on the continent, or drive 10% of the population insane?
This was the choice presented to him, but instead of focusing on these negatives, he read again about the power that was now within his grasp.
Get an army of millions of mages, or use the core of the continent as a weapon?
He knew for a fact that either one would be devastating. Activating the Basilisk's Breath, Daneel began to think about each of them, in turn.
First up was the army of mages. He had to say that it was enticing, especially as he was ignoring the negatives right now. The main limitation behind the zeal of the citizens to serve and defend their country for their future generations was the natural talent they were born with. True, he had begun the process of improving it by using the food that they had eaten during the celebrations, but if they wanted to be competent mages, then there was a long, long way to go.
