Plague
Making sure that the emissaries understood what he was saying, Leylin confiscated all the riches that they had brought. He then showed them their chief who was still alive, and chased them out of the warship.
“Do you see this? There are riches all over this island, and the natives managing all this wealth are so cowardly and ignorant…” Leylin stepped on the gold, watching the greedy eyes of his men. He grinned, “Half of this gold and everything we get in the future will be yours. Divide it amongst yourselves…”
The pirates erupted into cheers.
Although the gold seemed to be a lot when piled up, how much would one person get when it was divided amongst three thousand? Still, this display served to increase their greed, and gave them a deeper impression of Debanks Island’s wealth. It would motivate them to fight!
Many of the pirates were now zealous, eager to take over the entirety of Debanks Island and willfully plunder its wealth.
If he asked people to believe in him without any benefits, they would not advance wave after wave in the face of death, at least not now. Leylin needed to show them profits, and the sparkle of gold was the best of them all.
“Will they really do it?” Isabel ignored the clamouring crowd behind her, standing on deck to watch the canoes leave. “Angodub is related to them by marriage, no? Their great relationship is what lets them govern this region together…”
“That depends. We aren’t natives, and don’t know how they think. Besides, how is it possible for two tribes to live so close to each other without friction?” Tiff brought up an opposing opinion.
“Mm. Besides, even if they don’t do it we can help. For example, we can spread news of them preparing to attack Angodub, or just pretend to be natives and attack a nearby village…” Leylin’s eyes glinted with intelligence. “Once seeds of doubt are planted, they’re not so easily removed. There will definitely be a war!”
Isabel now understood Leylin’s plan, and had to admit it’s feasibility. “Once both tribes are tired out, we can wipe them out with minimal cost, bridging our way into Debanks Island.”
Still, she frowned soon. She continued asking, “What happens if the Sakartes Empire finds out. This is a large operation after all. Considering our current strength, we’ll be chased away once they step in…”
Debanks Island was the size of several kingdoms, with the Sakartes Empire at its heart. A few tribes surrounded it. Although Leylin enacted his schemes in an isolated area, this was still a single island. There was no ocean to blockade it off, so news would spread quickly.
“Don’t worry. They’ll be too busy to bother with us soon…” Leylin smiled and shook his head, the hidden meaning causing Isabel and Tiff to shiver in fear.
……
Time passed quickly. Soon enough, the two tribes Leylin had chosen were immersed in war, without Leylin even needing to step in. After all, they were both occupying the same lands. How could there be true friendships between rivals for resources?
On top of that, the totem spirits of the tribes wanted to devour each other to strengthen themselves. With all sorts of factors favouring it, it was natural for war to break out.
To show his sincerity, Leylin’s fleet did not stop by the continent and instead sent away many of the ships. Some of those that were left kept away from the warzone, as if this had nothing to do with them.
Leylin even bought slaves from both tribes. They were sturdy, courageous natives, great for regular slave work at the Chihuahua Islands or as soldiers. He wasn’t stupid enough to pay in precious materials like gold or silver, instead providing weapons and ammunition.
These arms caused the natives to grow more powerful, and the selling of slaves continued. To avoid falling behind, the opponents had no choice but to do business with Leylin, which created a vicious cycle that caused both tribes to shed blood. Leylin’s side had a great harvest.
Amidst the flurry of activity, Leylin stayed holed up inside his lab. The trade was taken care of by his men, who had prior experience in capturing slaves from piracy. His own task now was extremely important, and that was to prevent the Sakartes Empire from meddling in his affairs.
He looked at a petri dish under dim light, at a half-rotten piece of meat. His eyes flashed with light as the A.I. Chip performed a scan.
‘Has it been nurtured to this state already?’ The piece of flesh in the petri dish was from a native’s body. Continuous experiments allowed Leylin to roughly understand the structure of their DNA, and create a toxin that would be extremely lethal to them.
[Beep! Number 2’s infection is stable, beginning extraction of data…] The A.I. Chip sent a large amount of information to Leylin, which left him nodding his head.
“Very well…” Using a pair of tiny tweezers, Leylin clipped the piece of flesh and placed it in a test tube with clear liquid.
[Beginning experiment 17642, recording data…] the A.I. Chip’s voice intoned. Leylin looked at the piece of flesh dissolve, shaping up like a tentacle before bubbling up.
‘Alright, the fission is stable. The chances of success this time are extremely large!’ Leylin nodded his head, and spells glowed forth from his hand on occasion, using the radioactive energy to catalyse the reaction.
After the violent reaction, Leylin looked at the test-tube which was now red as blood, and smiled.
[Beep! New lethal virus completed! Give it a name?]
“Number 1 Pathogen!” Leylin named it nonchalantly.
[Beep! Name recorded! Storing data…] The A.I. Chip carried out Leylin’s instructions, before reflecting the data back to his eyes.
[Number 1 Pathogen: Weapon to target genes, extremely strong contagious effect! Able to thrive in weather extremities with a lifespan of a hundred hours! Ability to spread through the respiratory tract, pathogenic effect of 90%, lethality 90%! No available cure! Transmission of up to a second degree! (Note: The pathogen is extremely effective against the specimen used, the first wave of natives as per stored in the data!)]
Only effective against the natives with a high contagious, pathogenic and lethal effect. This was like smallpox combined with influenza. Leylin did not doubt for a moment there that once it was released, it will strike fear more than the devils or demons would!
Furthermore, giving the 10% chance of not being affect was not due to Leylin being kind. If all of the natives were to die, there would be no one left to provide him with the power of belief.
“Although I can’t let all of them die, but I don’t need a large population. The remaining survivors will be enough to provide me with power for be to ascend into a god…”
Leylin stroked his chin and pondered.
If this pathogen was released on his previous world, it would be a total wipeout for the natives on Debanks Island. However, the rules in this world was different. Taking into consideration the existences of gods and extraordinary abilities, and the 10% chance that Leylin had given, there would still be a small number of survivors.
“Once the plague is released, what will follow next are special medicines and vaccines…”
Although there is no immunity to this plague, but immunity granted from external powers are still effective. This was a backdoor that Leylin left for himself.
If the natives were to die waves after waves, how would they react after seeing the cleansing done by Kulkuhan (which was in fact just the vaccines) that could grant them the ability to survive?
It would already be a blessing if those totems and demigods could protect their nobility. There was simply not enough spell to go around to save the commoners.
Hence, Leylin was extremely sure that there would be a big harvest for his power of belief!
“The death of those worshippers of the totem spirits would cause their power to drop. Even as demigod they would not be able to do a thing about it… Much less these spirits who are unable to leave their grounds, as they would suffer a huge decline in their strength. This is checkmate to them!”
Brilliance flashed in Leylin’s eyes.
With a simple wave of his hands, he would now determine the life and death of several million natives. Evil would not begin to describe the state of his actions right now.
If he were to sieve the power of belief, he could turn into a god of plague or god of biolife, immediately usurping the throne of the goddess of plagues. But he was not interested the slightest.
“While I must not congregate the belief of plague and diseases, there is one that I cannot miss… Death!
Leylin’s plans were always layers atop layers. On one hand, he could conquer the whole Debanks Island in the most time and energy efficient way through the plague and vaccine strategy. While on the other, he would comprehend the domain of death through the sheer amount of people dying.
Massacre and Death! These two domains were exceptionally powerful and suited Leylin’s needs, which left him coveting for it.
As the millions of lives were obliterated, the power of death will definitely reached a frightening degree. By then, comprehending the domain of death will not be an impossible thing to do.
Compared to this, the other trivial matters could be neglected.
How Leylin saw it was, only after chaos would peace come. After a period of suffering, the people of Debanks Island would only choose to be under his rule, welcoming the revolution he had created!