Published at 16th of July 2024 8:26 am

Chapter 2068 Mess After Mess

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Over the next few days, Rui tried his best to deal with the many things that were on his plate.

Among the more pressing matters was dealing with the mess that Master Reina had left behind for him.

"Why did you go even more crazy after the Martial Union discovered your deception?" Rui complained to her. "Well, if you must know," she sighed dramatically. "…It was because I got bored."

Rui slammed his face. "…Now, I have to deal with the fact this mess, bit by bit."

There had been more than one heartbroken young lady who shed many a tear when Rui began dismantling his harems one by one.

Not that there was anything wrong with them, of course. He even inwardly admitted that Master Reina had good taste in women. But it was something that he could not continue in her stead.

Many a father grabbed his collar.

Many a mother cursed him for taking their daughter's virginity while not also taking her hand.

But he gritted his teeth and bled through it.

Thankfully, he was rich.

Filthy rich even.

Almost all sobbing daughters froze as their eyes lit up with greed when they saw the number of digits he wrote on his cheques.

Ten minutes later, he had already departed from the place.

"Tsk, Master Reina found me a bunch of gold diggers," he grumbled.

Some cases, however, were not so easy to deal with.

This was especially the case for all of those that had plenty of wealth. For these people, merely wealth alone was not enough.

In such cases, he had no choice but to accept commissions.

Those who realized that he had broken through to the Master Realm were especially eager to obtain a promise of his services.

As for his faction, thankfully, he didn't feel the need to do much in that regard. As soon as his father woke, he would be fully within his right to disband his faction.

Maintaining it would only impede his father's return to power.

In addition to dealing with the mess that Master Reina had left him, he also began considering how to fulfill his promise to the Elder Tree.

He hadn't forgotten that he had promised the Elder Tree that he would enlist the power of the Kandrian Empire to aid the creature in its many operations to survive. He intended to fulfill that promise thoroughly. Not just because the Elder Tree was a highly important asset.

But also because he truly valued the creature as an ally.

Even when it was in a position of power, it had never done Rui any wrong and had always operated in good faith.

Allies that were both powerful and sincere were extremely rare and valuable.

"The beacon blood tree species?" A man sitting opposite Rui frowned. "Of course I know of it. What of it, Your Highness?"

"What can you tell me about it in so far as procurability and maintenance?" Rui asked nonchalantly. "Hmm…I can say that it is quite rare and challenging to find and procure," he pondered aloud. "And maintaining it is rather difficult as it has some truly extreme environmental requirements." "Oh?" Rui raised an eyebrow. "Like what?"

"Unlike nearly every other species in the plant kingdom," he continued. "It is highly hydrophobic. Water is highly toxic to it. Thus, it needs to be in an environment that is entirely devoid of water. Additionally, it is highly nutrient-demanding. That is why maintaining it is not easy. It is also why it is quite rare to find the first place."

Rui didn't care about the costs. The priceless value of the strategic intelligence of the Elder Tree on the Beast Domain far dwarfed anything that could possibly be lost in sustaining the species.

"Procure them at all costs," Rui instructed the Director of the Kandrian Institute of Biotechnology. "Budget is no matter. You will be given as many funds as you need."

The Director's eyes widened at those words. "…Your Highness?"

Rui got up. "Procure as many as fast as possible. I shall instruct my faction to aid you in any way possible. If you need me to personally intervene, then I shall do that too."

The man stared at Rui, flummoxed. "…Is it really worth it to go through all the effort to procure them, Your Highness? My institute does not evaluate them to have such high research value."

"That is no matter. Do as I say," Rui calmly instructed him. "I shall inform the Minister of Research and Development to also pursue this matter."

Rui had no intention of revealing the reason that he sought these trees, of course. The value of the Elder Tree network would have been maximized if nobody had known about it.

He needed to pursue it aggressively to ensure he actually got it, but not too aggressively such that those who saw him got suspicious and began digging deeper.

The easiest way avenue of procurement was the market. Although they were rare, the Ministry of Research and Development could very easily purchase them for whatever price was needed.

The Elder Tree had mentioned that the more they had, the better. It represented a greater bandwidth.

Rui wanted to maximize the bandwidth as much as possible to maximize the strategic intelligence that could be conveyed by the Elder Tree to them. The more intelligence he had, the more he could do with it.

Thus, ideally, he would love to have an entire forest's worth of beacon blood trees so that he could gain a massive connection to the Elder Tree. But he didn't know how viable that was.

Regardless, he would be grateful to have any.

'Once Father wakes up, I'll need to have a long and deep talk with him regarding this. We'll need to come up with some sort of task force that is dedicated to aiding the Elder Tree with its nutrition requirements and sustaining its needed chemical cycles,' Rui narrowed his eyes as he left the institute, returning home.

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