Chapter 101: Now, we plan

[The Protagonist came back, and Lilith began to feel depressed as she slowly realized that her only merit was her dubious mind and mind. Her flat-chests became a testament to her defeat, and slowly, she wallowed in the feeling of defeat and then proceeded to commit not alive: her extraordinary System Adviser survived and then she went back to the Divine Realm bef—]

'You better shut your mouth before I really try and kill you.'

[Bah, you can't do that — can you?]

'I don't know, but remember, I can talk to Letza, so… she has many ways to kill you. Letza, if you are lazing around again, can you send me a process to threaten this woman. Goddess, are you lazing around somewhere? Answer my question if you are!'

Lilith awaited the Useless One's response but received nothing for a good while — in disbelief that Letza was actually working, the Apostle offered her a prayer, for she thought something had gone terribly wrong with her.

That was until….

[System Notification: You have received a letter from one of the three Ophanim (High-Seraphs)]

Lilith raised her brows as she saw this notification in front of her; she opened the letter.

[The Goddess is currently unavailable, as she is currently dealing with something of importance… please do not find her in the next three months, and if she ever contacts you, please inform me — Gariel.

[P.S, you cannot kill Alpha, and as for you, Alpha, hope that you the Apostle doesn't die… that is all, have a pleasant day, and I wish you good luck in conquering the World.]

'What was that? Rather, who was that?'

Lilith raised her brows at this letter, she had many questions, but then, Alpha spoke with a trembling voice, [T-that's one of the Ophanim! A High-Seraph, one of the three beings that existed with the Goddess before she created the Universe! She's the direct secretary of the Goddess.] Alpha was fangirling about this person known as Gariel.

But Lilith scoffed as she thought, 'If she's in charge of making Letza work, then she's doing a rather shitty job.' Lilith thought and buried this idea in her mind. She returned to caring for what truly mattered.

She was currently in the Temple, and adjacent to her was Sylva, sleeping her drowsiness away after drinking the Divine Wine and improving her LVL to 60. Luna was taking care of her sister as she carefully placed her in a corner where Cerberus joined her.

"Take care of her, okay?" Luna said to Cerberus. The three-headed dog had already taken a liking to Luna, and as it came to learn she had a sister, it decided to give it a thumbs up to assure its humanoid helper.

'I shall look after my future caretakers, this one time.' It thought and slept near Sylva's pillows.

Luna, who had just finished tucking Sylva into a soft bed made of the pelt of a beast and dried leaves, she heard Lilith's voice, "Luna, what is the current situation from Eve's report?"

Luna brought out her HNP, "Eve had made contact with several Tyrant Apes. As per your order, we are only observing them; we have not engaged in combat."

"That's good; make them create a graph of the Ape's movement for the next three weeks; how about Dhampy? Is she okay?"

"Big Sis reported that she had already located the Tyrant Blood Gorilla; it lives in the deepest parts of the Central Region; we can initiate an attack now if you want us to."

"No, that would be too early; we first need to prepare. Hammer and Anvil had asked of me a Fire Source so they can start smithing the items I asked of them, correct?"

"Yes, but I fear there is no such a thing in this area; we cannot provide them such a thing, Priestess." Luna argued as she reminded Lilith of the place they built their village on.

However, Lilith only smiled, "Well, this place is indeed lacking in any particular known heat source. We are surrounded by fruit trees, rivers, and a good deposit of ores, so we turn on the region down below us."

"The Scorching Forest? The temperature there is indeed above average, but I fear that is not enough, Priestess, there is no volcano or anything like that…" Luna grew confused by Lilith's words.

However, Lilith only smiled, "That Region has a weird ecosystem, correct? The leaves on the trees burn as hot as fire when plucked, and the land is as red as flames, but do you know the reason for that? It is something called the Fire Core…"

"Fire Core?"

"It is like a Meat Crystal or Dungeon Crystal, but instead of releasing daemon, it releases effects on the environment. It spews flames and is called an Environmental Crystal." Lilith only learned of the Meat and Dungeon Crystal from the daemons, but that did not have any humans knowledge she could give them.

The Scorching Forest was a region affected by this Environmental Crystal, and to put it simply, the crystal's affinity changes one place to something else entirely.

These Crystals were rare, and many different kinds had been reported.

There was Soul Core, Water Core, Earthen Core, Acid Core, and even Poison Core… if one of these cores embedded itself on land, after ten years, the environment will mutate.

It was once seen as a valuable treasure, but it had been well-documented that it would result in the affected region's death if an Environmental Crystal was taken away.

People didn't like this, so they petitioned for such an act to be stopped… environmentalist exists even in these times.

That would be the reason why the Scorching Forest was spared. Lilith didn't want to destroy the Scorching Forest as she had plans for it, but at the moment, she had to temporarily take the Fire Core.

Lilith sighed, for sacrifices would have to be made. However, after a while, she smiled after realizing something rather nice, "Wait, I thought of a better plan. Forget everything that I have said and contact, Dhampy to return. Oh yeah, step out for a while and do not let anyone in unless we are being attacked."

"Yes, Priestess, I shall be with the Dwarves to inform them to wait."

"Yes, that would be good."

Luna stepped out and then closed the curtains on the door. She left for the Dwarves, but before that, she ordered the four Shadow Troop members to watch over the Temple.

Inside the Temple, Lilith was smiling, 'Alpha, contact her.'

[Got you… do you want me to apply a voice changer?]

'Nah, don't need it.'

The System began dialing someone, and then, Lilith waited…

After three rings, someone picked up from the other side, "Hello?"

"How have you been, human?"

Lilith had finally contacted Mirsha, the sole survivor of her wake.

'It's time to begin conquering the Stronghold.'