On the last day of the first quarter... in other words, on the last day of spring, a large-scale beast tide that simultaneously formed around the world brought significant losses to all intelligent beings and non-berserk creatures.
Among them, the regions with the least losses were those with controlled magical creature populations, such as the Silver Moon Tree Court and the Dwarf Kingdom... The first two managed because their residents were abundantly martial, whether they be magical creatures or elves, they were all very capable of fighting.
They were able to crush the rampaging magic beasts head-on.
As for the Dwarf Kingdom, their environment wasn’t conducive to forming beast tides. While the hills and meadows had their share of wild beasts, magic beasts were indeed rare there... only there were troubles caused by rodents in quite a few mines.
But that was merely a nuisance; the dwarves’ hammers were no joke.
However, other countries, be they small countries, duchies, or empires, all these nations with large populations of civilians were greatly affected, which could directly result in a sharp decline in autumn harvests.
Unlike the blue mushrooms that kept growing after spore propagation, wheat, the staple food of human nations, very much depended on a normal annual harvest. If they encountered unavoidable natural disasters, then some people were destined to go hungry.
For example, civilians and peasants... No, actually it would likely only be the civilians and slaves.
This year might be the hardest year for the empire and the duchies to endure.
However, compared to some small countries, the losses of the empire and duchies seemed trivial. Although it felt like they easily avoided the disaster brought by the magic beasts... about a dozen small countries perished in the beast tide just a few days ago.
Some places Yila had never heard of but which indeed existed, with a fair number of citizens—those small countries with only a few cities surviving in the cracks... vanished from the world.
This was quite a terrible natural disaster.
"Teacher, what is the exact situation?"
In the forest, Yila asked this, and the only person who could be called his teacher was undoubtedly Qiara Rudnev. She nodded her head as she recorded the surroundings of the trees, answering, "The riot has subsided... for the time being."
On the evening the riot started, the Three Towers sent out a team of mages to investigate the disaster named the "Four-Legged Uprising," and it just so happened that Teacher Qiara was responsible for collecting data in Grier Forest with her students.
In other words, the ones investigating were Teacher and Yila’s junior fellow students.
"Cough, cough, cough, the overall situation is not optimistic. The magic beasts seem to have become natural nodes of the Magic Net. During the flow of mana, at a specific time, emotions accumulate, breeding and strengthening, which then get defined."
Qiara said this, seeming like she wanted to continue, but she choked on her own saliva... coughing vigorously, almost gagging.
"Cough, cough, cough... cough cough cough cough cough cough..."
"Cough cough cough cough cough cough..."
Under Yila’s worried gaze, Qiara shook her head apologetically, saying, "Sorry, don’t worry about me, I just choked on my own spit... This time, it happens once every four quarters, starting on the first day of spring and erupting on the last day."
Watching Qiara cough again, Yila patted her back, hoping she would feel better. He then looked at the female mage researching a report on parchment nearby and said, "Let me take a look at the data... Cecilia."
The female mage called "Cecilia" looked helpless as she glanced at Yila, who had broken her newbie king’s dignity back in the Tower meeting, correcting him, "I am Severia Alroyo, Senior Yila."
Although saying this, Severia still handed the report to Yila.
"I understand, Severia."
Yila responded, reading the data in the report. Having graduated smoothly from the White Tower, he was good at all subjects except Magic Armor Studies, so there was no way he would not understand the data.
The report indicated the data cycle, the nature of the mana anomaly...
"Does it happen every spring? But not necessarily... although the possibility is high."
*Yila muttered to himself,* returning the file to Severia, analyzing, "The report says, ’The mana knotted anomaly, the total mana staying on the peculiar nodes is fixed, and the number of magic beasts will strive towards this fixed value,’ right?"
Thinking this, Yila immediately came up with a feasible solution. He led everyone deeper into the forest, responding with waves to the magic beasts greeting him... apparently, his respect had extended beyond the Demon King Territory.
In the future, coming to the forest would be like returning home, and *his redemption would continue to be sung in the forest.*
"When spring arrives, we could large-scale hunt those four-legged magic beasts, continuously reducing their number until the peculiar mana is exhausted. Even if it can’t be eliminated, it can minimize the power of the spring-end beast tide.
"Yila said, thinking of the past spring hunting events, feeling a bit fortunate that hunting had been ongoing, so the impact might not be as severe as other countries, he said, "Is that right?"
Regarding Yila’s words, the finally recovered Teacher Qiara nodded and said, "It sounds feasible, but we won’t interfere with specific plans. The Three Towers only handle investigation and disaster disclosure; we won’t participate in specific dealing."
Yila entirely understood this point.
"However, as your teacher, I have something to tell you..."
Qiara said this nonchalantly: "The theocratic country suffered significant losses this time and issued a commission for professionals through the Three Towers Wizard... Someone specifically requested your help."
This was typical of the theocratic country, given they were quite wealthy.
Yila chuckled lightly, nodding to show he understood. *He didn’t really think he had any reason to help... The other party likely couldn’t offer him anything of interest.*
"They are willing to exchange information about the ’Underground Demon King City’; I don’t know what that is..."
Qiara said, watching as Yila, who had suddenly stopped and looked interested, helplessly shook her head and added, "But I do not recommend you participate... those religious groups seem to have some ulterior motives."
*Yila nodded slightly at this, seriously pondering...*
"Thank you, I will consider it carefully, Teacher Qiara."