This Lich is a Better Landlord Chapter 111

Traveling south from the City of Alchemy, the scenery became increasingly breathtaking with every step.

The desolate wilderness gradually faded, replaced by a riotous sea of colorful flowers. The road, maintained to perfection, struck a balance between artistic beauty and travel efficiency.

Further ahead, the landscape became even more enchanting. Rolling hills and lush greenery blended seamlessly with the architecture hidden within the forests. It was the ultimate example of harmony between natural landscapes and architectural aesthetics.

This was the Silvermoon High Court, the kingdom of the elves.

In the past, an endless stream of tourists would flock to the Silvermoon High Court every year, just to catch a glimpse of the scenery within.

But that was a long time ago.

Ever since the price of magical materials began to skyrocket, the Elven race had entered a state of semi-isolation. Outsiders were generally forbidden from entering, and those who forced their way in were detained within the elven lands, never to return.

Recently, the only ones walking this beautiful floral road were elves—fully armed elves.

The Twilight Guards had been fully mobilized, splitting into elite squads to infiltrate the territory of the City of Alchemy. These elites easily breached the defenses of the local lords, delivering magical contracts right to their faces.

As more lords signed the contracts, many Twilight Guards successfully returned to the Silvermoon High Court to report.

In the Queen's Palace at the highest point of the Silvermoon High Court, the Elven Queen, Catherine, was draped in a simple white robe. Her unadorned face made her look less like a queen and more like an ordinary elven maiden who had just woken up and hadn't had time to groom. Yet, even without any makeup, the Elven Queen's beauty was enough to make any other beauty feel ashamed.

Elves were a race blessed by nature; every elf possessed beauty that other races found hard to match. Catherine, however, was a stunning beauty whom even other elves envied.

From the moment she was born, the Elven race knew they were welcoming a new queen.

This wasn't because the elves were superficial, but because the more beautiful an elf was, the more favored they were by the gods. The facts supported this: Catherine displayed extraordinary talent from a young age, far surpassing her peers in both magic and the arts.

Later, she successfully ascended to Legend rank. amid high expectations, she was personally crowned the new queen by the old king.

The Elven Queen did not disappoint her people. During her reign, she brilliantly solved many troubles for the Elven race. Events like the Phaerimm disaster and the War of Magical Beasts—catastrophes for other kingdoms—were easily resolved by her.

Originally, Catherine could have been written into the annals of the Silvermoon High Court as a great queen.

However... there is always a "however" in this world.

Catherine sat on a long bench made of gold, staring dazedly at the map before her.

It was a map of the entire City of Alchemy territory, looking like a somewhat irregular parallelogram.

To the north of the City of Alchemy was the vast Golden Desert; to the south lay the Silvermoon High Court.

Now that the City of Alchemy existed in name only, sandwiched between two great kingdoms, its annexation was only a matter of time.

On the map, many small sections had been dyed emerald green. These were the territories that had already signed the magical contract. Although they looked fragmented, they already accounted for one-fifth of the entire land.

The plan was proceeding smoothly, yet there was no joy in Catherine's eyes as she looked at the map, only an indelible, faint sorrow.

The elderly elf standing aside spoke to Her Majesty, "Catherine, you must pull yourself together. If you remain trapped in self-blame, the Elven race will face its doomsday. You are our queen; you must shoulder the responsibility."

Catherine pursed her lips tightly and said to the old elf, "I wish I hadn't taken the crown from your hands back then."

The old elf was the previous king. After abdicating, he had become a subject of the Elven Queen, assisting her in managing the Silvermoon High Court. Elves did not have a strong desire for power, nor did they have a strict custom of bloodline inheritance. This method of dual governance by two generations of rulers greatly reduced errors in decision-making.

But that only applied to normal circumstances.

"Catherine, stop blaming yourself. This decision was approved by all of us collectively. We were the ones blinded by greed. Now is not the time to assign blame. This war is the only way for the Elven race to survive. Throw away those useless emotions and do what you must."

Catherine closed her eyes and shook her head. "Is this really the way to save the Elven race? Even if we conquer all the territory of the City of Alchemy and acquire those alchemy production lines, can we really solve the problem of Magic Addiction?"

*Magic Addiction.* Hearing this term, the old king shuddered.

This was the greatest crisis facing the elves, a secret they had hidden for a long time.

The Elven race, usually aloof and without ambition for external expansion, suddenly raised the prices of magical materials drastically and then directly deployed troops to invade the City of Alchemy. Why?

The vast majority of elves did not know the true meaning of this war. They thought they were simply seeing ownerless land and preparing to occupy it.

But if it were an ordinary war, how could they force the indigenous inhabitants to migrate before the war even started, without any room for negotiation? The elves were not fools; they wouldn't make such a stupid mistake.

Although elves were xenophobic, they weren't to the extent that they couldn't stand the sight of other races; otherwise, they wouldn't have opened the Silvermoon High Court for tourism in the past. Now, they were acting even more decisively than the Ryan Empire. The reason for this was "Magic Addiction."

This was a special condition known only to a few for now, but the Elven race was actually infected on a massive scale.

It all had to do with the ability Catherine gained when she ascended to Legend rank for the second time.

Catherine was originally a Legendary Ranger. Her Legendary Boon allowed her to use a small amount of magical material to create powerful Spell-Breaking Weapons. This allowed her to achieve many military merits in her youth, leading the elves to glorious victories in one disaster after another.

As time passed, her proficiency in the School of Transmutation deepened, and she eventually ascended to Legend a second time with this identity.

Although elves, due to their long lifespans, often multiclassed, ascending to Legend twice was extremely rare. Everyone felt even more strongly that Catherine was a uniquely gifted Elven Queen, a true darling of the gods.

The problem lay in the Legendary Boon Catherine received upon her second ascension.

*Selfless Sharing.* That was Catherine's Legendary ability.

She could choose a power she possessed and selflessly share it with others.

There was no threshold. As long as the other party was willing to accept it, they could receive the gift of power. She would not be weakened by it; the only issue was that it could not be revoked.

This sounded incredible, like infinitely copying Legendary power. Catherine was a double Legend. If she selflessly shared her power with others, couldn't she mass-produce Legendary powerhouses for the Elven race?

At first, everyone in the Elven race thought so. The first time she used Selfless Sharing, Catherine granted a loyal Twilight Guard the power of a Legendary Ranger. He could easily create Spell-Breaking Weapons, and his various ranger skills reached a new level.

Simply because the power came from the Queen's gift, when actually utilized, it was slightly inferior to a true Legend.

But the result was still shocking. Legends were extremely rare existences, and even within the Legend rank, there were many who were unworthy of the title. To be able to reliably grant someone the power of a Legendary Ranger—this was practically the power of a god.

The elves cautiously observed for a few years and found no side effects in the Twilight Guard. What surprised them even more was that when the Twilight Guard's child was born, they seemed to have inherited some of the related power. The newborn elf had keener eyes than others and stronger arms. This Legendary power was actually hereditary.

A few more years passed. The child grew up slowly, and the elves still found no problems. The child was stronger, more talented, and seemed to have a larger appetite. But that wasn't a problem; strong children were supposed to eat more.

At that time, the elves had not yet realized the severity of the problem.

The old king even suggested to Catherine to weaken the Selfless Sharing ability a bit, not to transmit the complete Legendary power, because doing so required a long cooldown period each time. The old king suggested that power sharing should be targeted.

Catherine agreed to the old king's suggestion. She shared the ability to create Spell-Breaking Weapons with many elven craftsmen and shared weakened ranger-related abilities with many young elves.

The Twilight Guards began a full-scale recruitment expansion during those days. Because the Queen was so generous, there were simply too many geniuses.

The Elven race was becoming stronger day by day. Catherine's prestige reached its peak at this time. Who could refuse a queen who could benefit all elves?

However, the real tragedy soon appeared.

The first Twilight Guard to accept the Legendary power sharing began to have problems. His body felt as if something had poked a hole in it; his vitality and mana were constantly being swallowed by this hole. At first, the speed was so slow that no one noticed, but as he continued to use the acquired Legendary ability, the hole grew larger and larger.

He not only needed to binge eat to maintain his physical needs, but the deficit in mana was also extremely severe. If he wasn't provided with a large number of magic items to replenish his mana in time, the black hole would drain all the mana from his body, making him wish he were dead.

Even more terrifying was that his child also showed this condition.

The child, hailed as a natural-born Legend, died from magical deviation before even growing up.

It was only then that the Elven race discovered that all power requires a matching level of control to be prepaid.

Acquiring Legendary power without reaching the Legendary realm, even just a tiny bit of it, would result in severe consequences.

The essence of Legendary power is the laws of the world. If you use it forcibly without understanding the law, you must pay an extra price.

For mortals, borrowing Legendary power meant constantly paying mana as the price.

All elves who had their power shared by Catherine were infected with "Magic Addiction" to varying degrees. Their demand for mana increased drastically. Once they couldn't replenish it in time, they would die in agony.

By the time this was discovered, half of the elves had already received Catherine's "Selfless Sharing."

Although the subsequent sharing had weakened the effects by more than half, it still belonged to Legendary power.

Even if the vast majority of elves hadn't reached the severe stage of a "Magic Addiction" flare-up, Catherine knew very well in her heart.

The Elven race was on the brink of doom.