NEC Chapter 93: The Accidental Might of Summoning

The halfling's endless accusations, old mercenary Lynn's impassive blame-shifting, steward Herlan's harsh scolding, and mage Downs' leisurely observation all gave Chen Mo a very unpleasant feeling.

Don't they know this bull is under my protection?

In a bad mood, Chen Mo decided to be willful for once.

He raised his right hand and coughed lightly.

The entire scene immediately fell silent. No matter how much they looked down on this lord in their hearts, he was still a genuine lord, someone who could crush those who defied him with a mere gesture.

Chen Mo slowly surveyed the circle, finally fixing his gaze on the halfling head chef who still had his mouth open, "Just some spilled seasonings, is that right?"

"Yes... yes, respected Lord!" The halfling shuddered, his shrill voice carrying a crying tone, "Those were treasures I bought at great expense from Blue Swallow City! They were my lifeline..."

"Your lifeline is really not worth much!"

Chen Mo curtly interrupted the halfling's lament, "Wait, seasonings will be delivered immediately!"

He pointed at the completely rigid Simple Bull beside him, "This is my guard, a guard I'm very fond of. You should show him full respect!"

"In the future, I don't want to hear the word 'stupid bull' again. Otherwise, I won't be happy, and I'm sure you won't be happy either."

Striding to the center of the area, Chen Mo raised his hand and began calling forth the spell model.

The entire scene was dead silent. Mercenaries and servants looked at each other in dismay, the steward and guard captain frowned deeply, only Grand Mage Downs watched this lord with somewhat playful curiosity as he outlined what appeared to be a quite simple summoning altar.

Apprentice-level summoning magic? What was he trying to do?

Chen Mo, as usual, first recited a long string of incantations used for public summoning:

"Great Cyber King, Mechanical Emperor!"

"Eternal Lord of Lightning, Fearless Steel Sovereign!"

"Silicon-based Intelligence Leader, Great Prophet of Quantum Technology!"

"Nuclear Fusion and Fission Commander, Industrial Cthulhu God!"

As the lord's voice grew louder, everyone naturally felt a sense of solemn respect.

After all, anyone who could bear such a long string of titles must at least be a great lord dominating one realm.

However, what relationship could such an existence have with their lord, and what connection could it have with seasonings?

Under everyone's puzzled and uncertain gazes, Chen Mo spoke another long string of language that no one could understand, then threw some small unknown object into the center of the altar's magical model.

"Oh right, almost forgot, haven't given the offering yet!"

Chen Mo pulled out a small piece of mana crystal from his collar and threw it into the altar.

At that moment, Mage Downs and Steward Herlan, these two individuals with some understanding of summoning magic, felt a huge sense of absurdity rising in their hearts.

If this string of titles wasn't nonsense, then this feeling was like calling His Majesty the Emperor of the Resting Moon Dynasty before you and throwing him a copper coin, full of tremendous insult.

There seemed to be only one possibility, that Lord Chen Mo was communicating with some subordinate's subordinate's subordinate's subordinate under this great lord, some small minion?

White smoke rose up.

Chen Mo looked at his watch and beckoned to the Silver Armor minotaur, "Simple Bull, come here!"

For the next period, the camp was completely silent. Everyone could only hear their own breathing. This lasted for about ten minutes before the void model reorganized again.

"Take this thing and send it over to them!"

After briefly scanning the altar's feedback, Chen Mo casually waved his hand, like dusting off a small speck of dust, drawing everyone's attention to that patch of white mist.

Minotaur guard Rock Hoof looked at his lord again, received an affirmative nod, then carefully stepped into the smoke-shrouded area.

Soon, he emerged carrying a huge box of strange material. The box didn't look heavy, but it was quite large. The old bull stepped carefully, steadily placing this strange creation before the halfling head chef.

"Lord... Lord, what is this?"

"Press that button on top! You'll get the seasonings you need."

"Alright, that's it. I'm going back to rest for a while."

Watching the lord leave, the halfling looked at this box over a meter tall and two meters square with disbelieving eyes, tremblingly extending his finger.

Click!

This ultra-light polypropylene storage box from East Xia opened a gap from the top. The four walls slowly dropped down, and internal storage layers stacked upon each other unfolded like petals in an orderly fashion.

The sharp-eyed halfling leader immediately spotted those crystalline substances of various colors on the top layer.

"This is... this is sugar. The lord really sent us seasonings?"

With a whoosh, the mercenaries and maidservants who had been afraid to approach earlier all crowded over, each craning their necks.

Then they watched the halfling's face change from excited flush to terrified pallor, performing an epic transformation.

Standing to the side, Steward Herlan also clearly saw the densely packed small text in rows within the storage compartments.

It was Resting Moon Dynasty script, also the mainstream official common script currently used in the Emerald Duchy.

The topmost compartment had a transparent cover sheet at the highest position with an embedded label reading two large characters: [Sugar Types].

Each small compartment below had an individual label.

[White Sugar], [Brown Sugar], [Red Sugar], [Black Sugar], [Rock Sugar], [Golden Sugar], [Powdered Sugar], [Raw Sugar], [Molasses], [Beet Sugar], [Coconut Sugar], [Palm Sugar], [Maple Sugar], [Agave Sugar], [Date Sugar], [Malt Sugar], [Corn Syrup], [Fructose Syrup], [Invert Syrup], [Acacia Honey Sugar], [Linden Honey Sugar], [Vitex Honey Sugar], [Lychee Honey Sugar], [Longan Honey Sugar], [Rapeseed Honey Sugar], [Honeydew Sugar], [Compound Honey Sugar]...

Under each category, there were one or two lines of small text annotations, striving to use language comprehensible to this world to explain the basic usage of each sugar.

In the adjacent [Salt Types] compartments, there were equally dense layers of labels: Flake sea salt, sun-dried sea salt, refined sea salt, highland powder salt, black salt, red salt, well salt, lake salt, traditional refined salt, coarse salt, garlic salt, onion salt, celery salt, smoked salt, lemon salt, citrus salt, herb salt, chili salt, truffle salt...

Those who saw this far couldn't close their mouths, and this was just the tip of the iceberg.

In the compartments below, there were dozens of liquid seasonings, dozens of umami enhancers, hundreds of various spices, numerous sauces, cooking wines, fermented products, seasoned nuts...

Packed to the brim!

The halfling head chef vigorously rubbed his eyes, almost rubbing his eyeballs out.

Unwilling to give up, he leaned forward, nostrils twitching, vigorously sniffing the complex aromas that made him dizzy, trying hard to discern the possible uses of these things.

After looking several times over, the head chef tremblingly used the transparent small spoons provided in the compartments to scoop out tiny amounts of powder or crystals from several compartments marked with names, carefully placing them on his tongue to taste.

The next moment, tears streamed down the halfling head chef's face.

They were indeed seasonings! He had prided himself on being the best chef on the continent, yet here he didn't recognize more than half of these seasonings.

He'd never even heard of them!

Several halfling cooks followed suit, sniffing and tasting, nearly going mad.

Some lamented, "By the gods of corn and hearth fire, I've lived in vain, lived completely in vain!"

Others knelt and kowtowed, "Oh, this must be the workbench of the greatest chef god under the stars. This is true immortality, eternal immortality!"

The head chef was the first to come to his senses.

To be called "head" required not just outstanding skills but also some management ability. Since the lord had already returned to his carriage, he grasped the main issue and began hugging the bull's small legs, desperately apologizing to Simple Bull.

"You're a truly great bull. Without you, I would never have witnessed such a miracle in this lifetime."

"I think the supreme divine gently nudged your arm at that moment, causing your firewood to collide with my crude seasonings, delivering such an incredible miracle to us!"

"Yes, this is divine arrangement. Please forgive our ignorance and stupidity!"

The minotaur warrior was somewhat at a loss with such enthusiasm.

Of course, while the halflings looked at seasonings and the slave mercenaries and maidservants watched the excitement, the three leader-level figures, steward Herlan, guard captain Lynn, and magic instructor Downs, were the ones who truly understood the implications.

They exchanged glances, each seeing suppressed terror in the others' eyes.

Honestly, even if Chen Mo had summoned a bone dragon here, they might not have been so surprised.

After all, netherworld lords provided such services anyway. No matter how excessive the level crossing, it was still within everyone's understanding.

But this seasoning storage box was completely outside the mainstream cognitive scope of the Starry Continent.

Due to different experiences, the three leaders each had their own focus. While the halflings tearfully began preparing "the most delicious dinner in history," they moved aside for a brief exchange.

There was a hierarchy for speaking. Among the three, Lynn, who had the lowest status, spoke first.

The old mercenary wiped the deep nasolabial folds on his cheeks, "Uh, we, we're very sorry, Master Steward. Rock Hoof is a good child. I didn't intentionally want to tease him."

"He's a bit stronger than others, you know, can bring back firewood faster... someone has to do this work..."

Herlan waved his hand to stop his explanation, "How I view it doesn't matter. Lord's opinion is what matters. But it's fine. Before reaching Salt... reaching Vast Sea Territory, and even for a long time after reaching Vast Sea Territory, the lord will still have to rely on your protection."

"You have plenty of time to make up for your mistakes."

"Now, what I want to ask is, how do you understand Lord's summoning today."

Lynn placed his hand on his chest and respectfully saluted toward the lord's luxury carriage before turning back, "This is the greatest summoning I've ever witnessed."

"I've seen countless necromancer summons. They're always for killing, endless killing. Their eyes are always gray and dim, completely unlike our lord who radiates such brilliance. I once thought the lord wasn't actually the legendary necromancer."

"But seeing our noble lord perform such a summoning for everyone's dinner, I can only call it great!"

"The lord's own meals are very simple, even crude. So I don't even know what words to use to describe the lord's compassion and greatness!"

"Enough!" Herlan heard Lynn's voice getting louder and understood this old fellow's intentions.

Remote loyalty display, what nonsense!

Not wanting to deal with this cunning old man anymore, Herlan turned to Mage Downs.

Based on respect for high-level professionals, although Herlan was nominally the second-in-command of the current team, he still spoke his thoughts before Grand Mage Downs.

"First, this summoning wasn't a long-prepared summoning, but a temporary summoning caused by an accident. So I believe there's probably no possibility of acting."

"I sensed somewhat that the existence of unknown level in the void simply grants our lord whatever he asks for. Any strange request will be fulfilled as much as possible."

"Second, the complete disproportion of the offering."

"I once followed my steward teacher in managing a certain duke's banquet. All seasonings combined might not have as many varieties as one type of sugar this Cthulhu god sent to our lord."

"In my understanding, even in the imperial palace of the Sky Empire, they probably couldn't afford so many varieties of seasonings."

"But our lord only paid a small mana crystal, and combining the lord's actions before and after, I strongly suspect that was just a show for us. Even if the lord sacrificed nothing, he could obtain everything he wanted."

"This is supreme favor or blessing toward our lord!"

After completing his rigorous and detailed analysis, Herlan looked toward Grand Mage Downs, who had been watching that "petal-style" storage box.

He didn't think this person could add much fresh content, but he was happy to hear what flattering words about the lord this always calm old fellow might say.

Downs extended his left hand and lightly pinched. A small piece from the storage box flew up and landed in the old mage's hand.

Lightly weighing it, Downs asked, "Do you think this great existence from afar has any relationship with the Resting Moon Dynasty?"

Herlan and Lynn both shook their heads in confusion.

Ninety-nine percent impossible. The Resting Moon Dynasty had always been called a culinary desert.

Why did the halflings of the Emerald Duchy have to go to Sky Empire for seasonings? Wasn't it because staying in Resting Moon territory was too stifling?

"Then," the old man pointed to the text above, "who do you think wrote these Resting Moon characters?"

Herlan felt as if struck by lightning.

Immediately after, Lynn also reacted, his lips beginning to tremble slightly.

What did this represent?

It represented that the mysterious king from afar, to make their lord eat more happily, not only gathered seasonings from possibly several continents or even several planes in a short time with amazing speed, but also specially arranged for someone to learn the language and script of the lord's local area on the Starry Continent, actively translating the names and functions of seasonings.

This was no longer a matter of favor or not.

To be fair, Herlan believed that even if his own father were alive and had such ability, he couldn't possibly support him to this degree.

Herlan didn't immediately realize this because of a cognitive blind spot. Most people don't initially notice anything strange when seeing familiar text.

But Mage Downs was different. He had a fishing rod given by Lord Chen, with usage instructions written in Resting Moon script.

At the time, he thought Chen Mo had written it himself or found someone to write it. Only after seeing today's scene did he suddenly realize that not only might the written instructions have been provided by the other party, but even this fishing rod might have been custom-made for him by that Mechanical Emperor.

Just to lure the fishing-loving him to the lord's territory.

Of course, the old mage decided to keep this to himself.

Naturally, Herlan also had his reservations.

Traditionally, necromancers communicated with netherworld leaders.

Which necromancer cooked and ate? Then where did the seasonings come from?

This was truly terrifying upon reflection!

In any case, there were many clever people. Even the mercenaries who didn't initially understand gradually began to taste something.

Correspondingly, the minotaur's status in the team skyrocketed first.

This wasn't a slave mercenary, this was the lord's beloved pet! A divinely blessed bull!

Now, grooming Simple Bull, polishing his armor, and trimming his hooves became jobs the mercenaries competed to do.

Second, the team's cohesion and unity were greatly enhanced. Everyone's work enthusiasm reached unprecedented heights, and almost no one mentioned that one-year agreement anymore.

After all, the more capable the master, the more promising it was for those below.

Everyone privately discussed that this pioneering lord of desolate lands was surely just a transition. After not staying long at the Saltwater Flats, their lord would definitely return to a great nation.

The vision of the several team leaders was another level higher.

Previously, they didn't quite believe the rumors that the lord came from Sky Empire.

Chen Mo choosing such a terrible place was at most a nouveau riche eager to join noble ranks and enter high society. How could truly Sky Empire-born nobles be so lacking in foresight?

Now, they still didn't believe the lord came from Sky Empire.

Are you kidding? If Sky Empire had such a world-shocking genius, would they bear to let him out as a pioneering lord?

Behind this was at least an existence equivalent to a netherworld monarch. Sky Empire? Stop trying to ride our lord's coattails.

At least Herlan had begun considering whether to bring his family over once they settled at the Saltwater Flats and had decent accommodations.

Previously, he feared his family would suffer, but looking at this big box of seasonings, Herlan felt that leaving them in Cloudmist might be the real suffering.

In short, Chen Mo's momentary bad mood, his summoning of some worthless seasonings to protect his favored minotaur guard, completely reshaped the team's perception.

The lord's authoritative image soared and became unshakeable!

Surrounded by the enthusiastic team, the noble new lord of Vast Sea Territory led his loyal convoy at lightning speed to his currently not-so-loyal Vast Sea Territory.

This day was the beginning of year 1427 in the Sky Dynasty calendar, the start of the Resting Moon Dynasty's Year of Storm, and the first sacrifice day of the Mistmoon Divine Court's Year of Insight.

Wild winds from the endless desert, carrying coarse sand and dust, swept across this desolate territory seat, freely circling and howling over the bare alkaline land, the low and dilapidated adobe houses, and the rust-covered flagpole that symbolized lordly authority.

This land was desperately barren and desolate.

However, a blank slate was the perfect opening.

Just as that song later sung repeatedly by wandering bards proclaimed:

Wild sands howl, sweeping the red flags of Vast Sea.
Salt-alkaline wasteland buries ancient silence.
The old dynasty's whispered murmurs vanish in the wind,
The new god's thunder light forges a land of myriad races' prosperity.
Decaying authority will wither in the roaring, History's long river turns a fresh page here!

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