Candlelight flickered in Veylin's study in the Lord's Residence.
[You need not worry about the raw blood essence powder. Its value has far exceeded my expectations.]
Veylin tapped his fingers against the desk without thinking. Diana was smarter than he had imagined, and more decisive.
The letter also mentioned the story about the "sheepdogs."
[Your story was very useful. Now those "sheepdogs" are loyally guarding my borders for a little glory I casually promised them. My territory is much more secure.]
Veylin was not surprised at all. To those struggling in games of power, this way of turning others' strength to one's own advantage was like a miraculous stroke from beyond the heavens.
He continued reading. When his gaze fell on the letter's final section, his pupils abruptly contracted.
[...To express my gratitude, I consulted the ancient records in my family's collection. One passage concerning Graysea Marsh may be of help to you.]
[A hundred years ago, one of my ancestors hunted a Level Five Magical Beast, a Marsh Serpent Dragon, in the deepest reaches of Graysea Marsh. The battle was extraordinarily brutal. According to the records, it directly disrupted the previously active intermediate "ether-rich zone" deep within Graysea Marsh, which eventually fell dormant.]
[Following the pattern of the ether tides, I calculated the timing. By now, a new "ether-rich zone" should have begun... to coalesce.]
Veylin's breath stopped short.
The only sound in the room was the faint crackle of the burning candles.
He sprang to his feet, moving so quickly that he knocked over his chair!
He paid it no mind and strode to the window, greedily breathing in the faintly brackish marsh air.
The abnormal flooding during the Weeping Moon.
The displaced Gray Swamp Crocodiles.
The mysterious magical beast.
And the ether-rich zone that had fallen dormant