Edward looked over and recognized the petite figure that appeared before him. He immediately smiled as he said:
"Mother Cronai, it's always a pleasure to see you."
Cronai paused, not expecting such a reaction. This nigh omnipotent creature would be shocked if she was capable of such a thing.
"Although I know you're only saying these words without meaning them, I'm still happy," she replied with a lovely smile.
"I meant every word," said Edward. The future in the Empire will go smoother with Croani on their side. So, there is no downside to pleasing her. Furthermore, she is considered the mother of all sentient creatures in the Cosmic Faith Plane, so it's nothing to call her that.
Cronai calmly nodded. Upon learning of her existence, most creatures will react in two main ways: worship her as their mother or become revolted by the idea they have a creator.
So, she was used to being called [Mother] along with many vile names.
"You said you knew why she could summon me here?" asked Edward.
"Yes. The High Elves had a contract with me long ago when they ruled over the universe, allowing them to borrow my power. Over the years, the contract has pretty much been annulled.
"However, there is still a connection in their bloodline. So, over the years, they have used that connection to curse their enemy."
Edward immediately frowned after hearing that, "That sounds like a dangerous ability to have."
"Not really. The curse can only be directed to the person who killed them. Furthermore, not every High Elves have this ability–their bloodline and knowledge must reach a certain standard."
"I see. So, Queen Mirthal used her Sun Elf Bloodline and the connection with you to summon me and fulfill her last obsession before death."
"Correct," nodded Cronai. "I was surprised by her actions. No High Elf has been able to use my power to such a degree."
"How long, exactly," he asked.
"12 million years, to be specific."
"Really," muttered Edward with a frown. He did not think Queen Mirthal was special. The reason for such power was most likely due to her soul, mind, and spirit sublimated to an unprecedented level before her final moment.
And with such an increase, her ability to control her magical abilities reached a new height. Of course, he also gave her credit. If not for her love for people and unwillingness to give up at the very last moment, she would have never succeeded.
However, his focus was not on Queen Mirthal but on the fact that no High Elf could use their bloodline to such a level.
Cronai suddenly sighed, showing emotions of anger, disappointment, and helplessness. For a moment, Edward could not tell she was a powerful consciousness that worked purely on logic and did not have any emotions.
"Now, do you see why I'm so invested in your success," said Cronai, having guessed Edward's mind.
"Now only have the Gods been disappointing, but even the other powerful races have been on a downward spiral. The only ones with some prospects are these greedy and lustful dragons.
"However, even after blessing them with luck and prosperity for millions of years, their progress has been subpar at best."
Cronai looked in the distance, somewhat distracted, "There is not enough time left. And this place needs drastic change."
She previously believed that maybe she should take things slowly, correcting the issues of the current Faith God's Civilization. However, after many failed attempts, she realized she needed to overthrow the board and start over.
Otherwise, her fate will be to be swallowed by other planes.
"I'm glad you chose us. I promise you won't regret it."
"I know I won't," replied Cronai with a smile. "If not for the rules, I would have granted you much more help."
"Rules?"
"I've said too much," she replied calmly. "I'm sure you have plenty of work to do. Let's not waste time."
"Indeed. Once again, the pleasure was all mine."
Edward opened his eyes and was in his lab, taking a break and drinking tea with a screen before him. He checked the temperature and discovered not even a second had passed.
He took a sip while contemplating his experience. In that short conversation, he learned a great deal of things, some of which could affect the fate of the entire Empire.
So, he needed to analyze and store them in his mind to help him make future decisions.
He finished his drinks before summoning someone. A few seconds later, a shadow manifested before him, half kneeling on the floor.
"You did a great job for your first mission," praised Edward.
"Thank you, your majesty," replied Itachi.
"Do you think what I did was cruel?"
"Yes," replied the Shadow Ninja without hesitation.
"No hesitation, huh?" calmly said Edward.
"It's indeed cruel. However, in this world, cruelty has become the norm."
Itachi thought he had seen the cruelty and darkness of the world. However, in the short few months since arriving in this place, he truly understood what true cruelty was.
In his home world, war only affects a few villages. And if lucky, the entire continent. However, even in times of war, civilian casualties are usually kept to a certain level while mostly ninjas suffer.
However, in this place, entire planets are usually the casualties in small-scale confrontations.
So, he understood that people need to be cruel to survive in this environment. And if they want to achieve grand causes like the Emperor, cruelty has become a tool for them.
"Well, it seems you're adapting quite well," said Edward.
"I tried my best."
"Keep up the good work, but don't be too complacent after one mission. The climax of this war is about to begin. And I have a feeling things will not go smoothly."
Edward dismissed Itachi and prepared to continue his study of the Advance Dragon Language. However, he soon received another call.
"Another emergency? What is it this time?"
Planet Verdant:
Guzznad stood in a ship outside of the planet's space. Many people thought he only sent a clone, but only a few people knew that his main body arrived.
He watched Queen Mirthal's last stand and the fall of the Elf Kingdom.
"So, he did not take the bait? It's not like him," commented Guzznad. "Did someone leak our plan?"
"It's very unlikely," replied the Lich Servant.
"Huh, even if our plan were revealed, the Arcane Emperor would never pass the chance to incorporate the elves into his Empire," continued Guzznad. "Could it be because of the strange elves that suddenly appeared on the new continent?"
He knew a new continent was added to the Empire's home world–Earth. So, he theorized maybe the Arcane Empire was satisfied with these elves and abandoned this one.
"I'm afraid it might be something else."
"Oh, did you find something?"
"A few of the new companions were members of the Elf Council. We recovered some deleted memories where someone forced them to vote for a project that would gather the blood of most of the population."
This information was not easy to get as the mysterious shadows did an excellent job of ensuring no one discovered the tempered memories. However, they were not good enough, so they could retrieve some memories.
"Blood? I see. He took their blood so he could clone them. Now that he had what he wanted, he had no problem discarding these people."
Guzznad understood the thinking behind such an act. Integrating such a bunch of unruly elves into the Empire would cause trouble, so he found another way to do it through cloning technology.
"Lord, what should we do now?"
They spent so much time, effort, and resources on this plan. And now, it was totally useless.
"We will use plan B," replied Guzznad.
"And that is?"
"Force him into this quagmire."