My Weekly Refreshing Mentor Spirit-Chapter 287 - 268: No Money? How Can You Study Magic? (Double-Length 6K Bonus - )
The bizarre long halberd in hand slowly said, "Thank you, my Lord."
"By the way, give your new form a name," Xue Dili said, "Let’s call it Frost Signal Halberd! This name inherits the entire concept of patricide, surely it will give the Heart Stealer a big surprise."
...
Xue Dili left the school and set foot on the Divine Capital.
The streets of the Divine Capital were sparsely populated, or rather, the only people visible were branch family nobles. They needed to go door to door to collect infants and distribute gold coins and food according to the infant registers.
Eventually, these infants were traded for more materials and money from the hands of the godly nobles, who would then hang the infants on the Divine Tree to nourish its growth.
Over thousands of years, who knows how many bodies have already been hung on the Divine Tree. Its buds have started to form slowly, and maybe it won’t be long before they bloom.
Xue Dili had once asked members of the Interstellar Corps why the Divine Wood must "consume people" to bear fruit.
The response was that "humanoid" forms are primates that evolve closer and closer to the Venerable King. Whether their ancestors are dragons, loosely born rats in cave holes, fairies in the forest, or some bizarre demon beasts, eventually, they would all evolve to look more like the Venerable King.
The closer to the Venerable King, the more "spirituality" they possess, which enables the Divine Tree to produce more powerful fruit.
In other words, the Divine Tree absorbs not souls, blood, or energy but the power of the Venerable King.
This means only the Venerable King Fragments are its best nourishment. Without them, those creatures gradually evolving to resemble the Venerable King are the second-best nourishment.
This is why the Mist Council plants trees in all civilized societies; non-civilized societies can’t produce good fruit, possibly only some poor-quality, low-value fruit, or they may not bear fruit at all and even attract the wrath of the World Consciousness.
The entire world’s structure is designed to sustain the Divine Tree’s existence.
Similarly, the policies from the world’s nobility are based on this standard. Degenerate humans receive only one-third of the subsidy, while half-beastmen receive none and may even be hunted.
Xue Dili saw the killing squad in action. It was in an alley, holding a dead infant, a half-beastman resembling a hairless baboon, which was akin to the appearance of demon beasts like the "Ghost Demon," a human ancestor in this world.
"Another half-beastman, how come there are so many in that factory?" one of the killing squad members remarked, looking at the dead half-beastman.
"Who knows, but rumor has it they’re using banned beast drugs, which is why the proportion of half-beastmen to degenerate humans has increased. Whatever, it’s not something we can deal with," another squad member said, incinerating the body on the spot.
If it were the body of a degenerate human, they’d pinch their noses and recycle it, but half-beastmen had completely lost any recycling value.
"They say she wasn’t even a half-beastman before; she was a degenerate human mother who gave birth to 57 children, and one of them has the potential to be a Mage, currently studying at the Magic Academy," a member of the killing squad shared after burning the body.
"Honestly, these lower-class people fooling around has led to decreasing quality in children, and the rampant use of beast drugs, it makes you wonder which bored noble sold these things to the birth factories down there."
"Shh, keep it down, this isn’t for us to handle, so don’t bother," replied the other squad member, before the two left, and Xue Dili, hiding in the shadows, poked his head out.
"Birth factories?" Just hearing the name, Xue Dili seemed to know what this place was.
This was where the lower class worked, and their work method was... 𝙛𝓻𝒆𝒆𝒘𝙚𝓫𝙣𝙤𝒗𝙚𝓵.𝙘𝙤𝙢
Reproduction...
The boss provided lodging and food, and people worked for reproduction, but the majority of the reproduction subsidies were taken by the boss, leaving only a small portion for the laboring mothers.
This small subsidy was their capital to survive once they grew old and could no longer bear children.
But now it seems the most pressing concern for these lower-class individuals before they’re unable to bear children is how to avoid the reversion into half-beastmen.
Xue Dili slipped back into the shadows, heading towards the birth factory.
It was just as he imagined, and even worse. Everyone seemed like chickens in a coop, locked in designated rooms with their bellies protruding and their lower bodies exposed.
Special personnel would assist in childbirth and classify the newborns into degenerate humans, ordinary humans, and the extremely rare Mages.
Those born as half-beastmen were killed on the spot.
Women who had just given birth were administered large doses of animal drugs, after consuming nine types, followed by an oral potion to speed up bodily recovery.
Possibly by the very next day, they would be ready for the next cycle.
Xue Dili closed his eyes, suddenly understanding the girl who sold her body for gold coins and wished to continue her studies at the Magic Academy.
Compared to the factory here, studying at the Magic Academy in the sunny noble district was such an enjoyable life. They could even have their own hobbies, private dorm rooms, and dreams of signing long-term contracts to become maids or wet nurses for the noble families’ young masters.
