Pestilence: Rise Of The Pure Undead

Watching knowingly over progress and action over all three remaining regions, Loimos could tell that things were steadily growing harder and harder for his two faithful knights, which was good news since this was the point of having the both of them lead the conflict with one hand tied behind their back, they were to be as skilled and flexible as Loimos himself in a leading position, and also capable enough to train other undeads to be leaders, so the great resilience of the livings of Belliste was welcomed, even if some might think that Loimos was perhaps going a bit too far to instruct his troops, the results were already showing.

"General Loimos? Why did you call me here?" greeting the champion, Yuolrt bowed slightly, the green crystal shimmering with a dark shine, looking like she was floating around in her ample robes.

"Yuolrt, I wanted to tell you about your future mission, as you probably know already, Ourlon is to be assigned to the conquest and occupation of another realm" explained the putrid skeleton, walking up to the minor lord.

"Of the eight known continents we have the conquer, Viridis is under our total control already, and Belliste is locked into conflict with our vanguard, leaving only six that have no direct experience of the empire's might, Yoreterre, Lefaux, Bermude, Durter, Dragonnerie and Verdoyante"@@novelbin@@

Most of those continent held sapient forces to defend them, if information was correct, only Yoreterre and Verdoyante were without organised living forces, the former being considered one of the most ancient land masses, yet, only populated by beasts and monsters, the regular animal there was said to be capable of slaughtering the average monster on Viridis, the former Viridis at least.

The latter however, was a mysterious land about which little was actually known about, as no one that had attempted an exploration deeper than surface level had come out, ever.

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So the concept that it was solely inhabited by plant life was questionable, but it seemed undeniable that its lush expanse gave this impression.

All in all, Loimos and the whole of the undead empire knew very little about what was to come, they couldn't even be certain that these were the only continents in existence, he had gotten an idea of what Belliste was all about many years ago from a certain carriage driver, and also from sending headhunters ahead, the other continents were much further away than the distance that had separated Viridis from Belliste, reaching them with the miasma would take decades even if going in a straight line.

Taking into account the strengthening of ambient life everytime death made the slightest of advancements, Loimos's calculations would actually be way off, not to mention that places were many livings dwelled were naturally much thicker in ambient life force, and the general believed that would come a time when getting this close to a continent with the miasma would be impossible in a short period of time.

"As you have probably thought about, Verdoyante should be the place where your capabilities would shine the most, and indeed, even if the idea that plant life is all that there is on Verdoyante is false, the sheer amount of it should still be far above anything we have encountered" Loimos pulled out a book, its cover the emblem of the vanguard, the Lithitree represented in all its pale glory.

"I naturally suspect that something is causing all those explorers to never come back, and although not your preferred field of study, I know that wildlife is also a big part of the druidic arts, so even if the threat turned to not be vegetal in nature, you would have the capabilities to study and take it down"

Offering the book to Yuolrt, who received it like it was a precious, weighty lump of gold, she felt compelled to ask :

"Sir Loimos… What is this book?" she herself was a big partaker in reading, having absorbed all knowledge in the library tower, and even read the writings translated by Loimos himself, her undead memory allowed her to know for certain that this was not a book she had ever seen before.

"It is a gift to wish you good luck in your preparations and future mission, I also had a special means of transport built, but it is more so a tool necessary for the well-being of the task than a present" he explained, placing his palm on the druid's back as he led her away from the tower top.

Walking Yuolrt across the main platform and across a few intertwined brides, they ended up oddly close to the minor lord's own quarters, only that they descended below it, the platforms were elevated over the waters and right beneath the greenhouses, something she did not recognise was to be found.

"To ensure the safety of this operation, setting camp directly upon the soil of Verdoyante is strictly forbidden, alongside Gharl and his whole department, we created this design according to some concept ideas that were discovered, you would not know about it since blueprints and such were not released into libraries just yet" he stepped on the surface of this gigantic construct, which was even larger than the naked eye showed, most of its mass was hidden underwater.

"To put it simple terms, this is a ship that can dive below the ocean, it should be capable of housing all of your adept with much room to spare, I made sure to have it be adapted to support much greenery, a variety of space to be made into greenhouses and such" Loimos gave her a tour, and indeed, many spots were clearly begging for trees to be planted.

"This is The Arbor, but as I said, this is naught but required material for you to do your job without unnecessary difficulties" he talked like he was handing her a shovel to better dig a hole and not an entire wonder of magical and mechanical genius.

"This book however, does not contain nearly as many words as its thickness suggests, some pages instead contain seeds, and at the end, a few sets of tools" he signed for her to try opening it and to flip through the pages.

Naturally excited to see what Loimos considered a gift, the druid carefully opened this book, which she assumed was the work of her general alone, and as expected, it was rather mind blowing.

She knew that what was inside would be great, but had not quite prepared for it, although her dream of reproducing the magnificent Lithitree in any capacity was not yet graspable, Loimos had managed to prepare things such lithibushes and lithibriars amongst many other things, this would serve as a great foundation for further researches.

This went without mentioning the tools kept toward the end, which she would treasure without fail, especially the billhooks, which was a tool of great renown amongst druids, as its blade was said to cut all that was natural without harm, and without hurting the quality of what was harvested.

Yuolrt repeatedly thanked Loimos, until she reached the very end of this book, embedded there was neither a tool, nor a page filled with words, instead, there was a dagger which blade was shaped like a leaf, and a particular seed.

"General Loimos, this-"

"This is the ultimate sign of a trust I can demonstrate, Yuolrt, I deem you worthy of dispensing justice in my name, make good use of it, if you ever need to"

"I won't betray your trust"