Three long months later, Rino wondered how they survived so many babies.

By now, Town Zera was looking every bit like a town with all sorts of people. The generation gap wasn’t an issue, and anyone could request children from the gods. The border between dead and alive was erased as his people learned to co-exist.

To be honest, Rino was simply too lazy to offer those children soul contracts. Only those who were willing could opt for it. He wasn’t going to implement it on every new fruit created by the tree of fertility. It was much too troublesome. Besides, he trusted Zerg to be able to manage it.

The lesser vampire evolved into the first true blood vampire in his shadow army. It made Rino proud and a little concerned because true blood vampires had more weaknesses than lesser vampires. Zerg could absolutely not go under the sun anymore, even with protection charms and magic enchantments on his clothes. It weakened him too much, and Rino felt slightly sorry for the tanned vampire.

However, everything that he built for the last few months came to fruition at this very moment when Rino never thought he would hear this familiar sound notification in his head again.

Ping!

For as far as his eyes could see, all the mountains and fields in the area belonged to him. Rino extended the barrier and borders of Town Zera so much that it would require two days on a car to reach from one point to the other, even with the speed buff.

===

Side Quest #23 (complete)

Objective: Increase Town Zera’s Population

10,923/10,000 Population

Reward: Harvester Information

Claim your reward here.

===

This was it. However, Rino refrained from claiming it even though every bone in his body was screaming at him to do so. The curiosity about this world and the creatures known as Harvesters that everyone feared was just one click away. Yet, Rino held back. He wanted to resolve everything before he made his decision. 

Those from Noir Province already made their prayers, and those who wanted to have children now had children. There were no more couples who desperately wanted children now with the drastic increase in his population.

The children did grow up at an exceptionally fast rate, and none of them was undead. Rino wasn’t a fool. The gods gave him this because they wanted to use blessing as an excuse to repopulate the extinct creatures in this world. Rino was sure that most of whatever came from the tree of fertility were new species of extinct species that could not be brought back no matter what the people of this world did.

That meant Rino wasn’t going to only build a kingdom for the undead. His plans must start including the unborn living and endangered species to come. The war between him and the harvesters suddenly became complicated. Death would happen if the living were involved. His barrier remained strong but only around the marked territories of his town. The area outside of the town was a danger zone to many other species.

Thinking about it this way, Rino’s job wasn’t only to protect those living within his town. The species in the jungle of doom could become targets of the Harvesters again, and like Zerg’s village, once they were wiped out, there was no more hope.

Rino needed to grow a potato from a potato. Even if it was just one, he needed to preserve the species whenever possible so that the world would not succumb to an unfortunate end.

Gathering his trusted leaders, Rino took a look at them and wondered who would eventually wield Staff Zeraphina to lead the shadow army on his behalf.

“I’ve gathered everyone today to bid farewell for a while. Just like how I had to leave Noir Province to build Town Zera from nothing, I will do the same to create a fortress for a war coming up.”

Unsurprised by his announcements, the leaders merely assured Rino that all would be taken care of. Zerg was given the official title of a Baron, while the other members were given their official titles. Rino knew he should have done this earlier, but he was too busy procrastinating to do them earlier. They just had too many babies to handle and too many logistic matters that needed his attention.

Sheila was promoted to the Mines manager. Deezer and Bink were promoted to the left and right engineers. Deezer was in charge of the town’s creation and matters related to the magic web array, while Bink remained in the mines, creating things useful for the new generation of Town Zera who do not have magic.

Kamiya humbly accepted his position as the special ops captain while overseeing certain defence and courier arrangements. Quasimodo remained as the farm manager even though Rino also assigned him the task of mill master and basically anything related to food production. He worked closely with Jenna, a lady in charge of the cookhouse and Kamiya’s subordinate, the store manager.

Acht was still the shadow spectres’ leader, but he had a more official title as the baron’s secretary in Town Zera. The capable shadow spectre assisted from, well, the shadows.

Giving his subordinates official positions used some of Rino’s mana, and he dismissed them quickly, giving an excuse that he had to pack for his solo journey. Truth be told, there was nothing he needed to pack. He simply wanted some privacy to check on the new reward.

Thanking Rino and leaving, the lich watched as his capable minions shut the door behind them. Truly along now with no reason to delay further, Rino claimed the reward.

Beep!

A visual image of the harvesters greeted Rino on a new screen, and Rino confirmed his doubts. The harvesters were indeed those weird-looking jellyfish floating in the air in the jungle of doom.

===

Harvesters:

Appearance: Blue jelly-like creatures that travel in big groups.

Diet: Knowledge and experience. Loves attaching themselves and feeding on Cannibals on Cannibal Island the most.

Habits: Travels in groups following the direction of the wind. Appears usually only at night. 

Known weaknesses: Is weak to intense fire and sluggish during the day. Will turn red and latch onto the nearest living object host if it is split from the group or injured. If no nearby hosts are detected, the lone Harvester will disintegrate into a water puddle and evaporate. It can be harmed by weapons made of metal but will disintegrate metals into brittle rust.

Known predators: Roc. Harvesters rich in knowledge and experience are the Roc’s favourite source of food and what turns Rocs into mythical and legendary birds required to keep the balance of this world’s lore. Rocs will hunt for Harvesters every year when they pass by the Roc’s nesting grounds on their way back to their deep underwater chasm den to reproduce.

Known prey: Any living creature with enough knowledge and experience accumulated. Only full-blooded faes born from wisps, monsters born from legends, undead and living creatures with the protection of artefacts are unaffected.

===

The shocking images of Harvesters turning red, disintegrating and attaching themselves to living hosts fascinated Rino. It wasn’t what he was expecting of the most feared creatures in the world. However, he could understand why nobody wanted to be in its path when they were spotted. These things looked harmless, but they attacked indiscriminately.

He could finally understand why Zerg’s villagers behaved the way they did and raised their children with as little information as possible. It also made sense why the villagers he had resurrected from Zerg’s village and the raided ones from the graveyard were different.

Erika remembered how to count, and Fronzo knew how to farm even after death because they did not die from having their knowledge and experience siphoned by harvesters. The dwarves could not win the harvesters because metal corroded and rusted unusually quickly when they contacted the harvesters. Intense fire was difficult for non-magic users to conjure, and apparently, having mana in a person or object made them safe from harvesters.

He finally understood why harvesters existed. Cannibals were creatures with a special condition that allowed them to inherit the experience and knowledge of those they ate. In other words, they were specially made for the purpose of feeding harvesters by the crazy developer of this world. At the same time, the harvesters were designed to feed the Rocs, who were the managers of this world’s existence. However, something went wrong when the power balance of Harvesters surpassed the expectations of the gods who created this world. The other species were dying out faster than they could feed the harvesters, including the cannibals.

It was why Rino was tasked to save this world by building a kingdom and increasing knowledge. It was all for the sake of feeding the harvesters and raising the Rocs.

He thought about the joy of his people when they found out it was possible to have children after death. Rino did not need to consider much. He already knew his decision. There was no way he was going to build a kingdom and watch those who were not under soul contracts with him become food for those birds.

There was only one solution, and that meant war.