The Dark Elves naturally expressed dissatisfaction with the Light Elves unilaterally modifying the trade agreement without consultation. However, since the resources were in the hands of others, the Dark Elves, lacking sufficient bargaining power, could only grit their teeth and bear it. Nonetheless, despite their anger, the Black Magic Association didn't entirely oppose the Light Elves recruiting those Dark Elves who had abandoned further practice and increasingly resembled addicts.

This was because as they reached the bottleneck of their training again, more and more low-level dark magic learners were being eliminated. These Dark Elves, besides working in factories and mines every day, spent all their remaining time enjoying the pleasure of consuming Dume energy.

Although the Black Magic Association approved of their chosen new way of life, they couldn't tolerate their influence on Dark Elves who were struggling with the backlash of their magic. As more and more Dark Elves struggled but still attempted to practice dark magic, it was due to the influence of this group of Dark Elves that many others couldn't resist the assault of the backlash on their minds and ultimately gave up.

The Black Magic Association had long wanted to find a way to restrain these Dark Elves, who were more of a liability than an asset, to prevent more Dark Elves from abandoning dark magic under their influence and indulging solely in the pleasure of Dume energy, leading to a massive abandonment of dark magic.

After all, the Black Magic Association believed that practicing dark magic was the only way to help the Dark Elf civilization ascend to a higher era. Only then could they escape the increasingly barren map and rebuild a paradise world exclusively for them. Furthermore, based on the fervent worship of dark magic by the leaders of the Black Magic Association, the Twelve Pioneers of Dark Magic, they also considered the behavior of the Dark Elves who gave up practicing dark magic midway through due to minor setbacks as a serious disrespect to dark magic, which must be stopped with the utmost effort.

Moreover, if the Dark Elves stopped practicing dark magic, it would inevitably lead to a decline in the authority and power of the Black Magic Association. As the number of Dark Elves who gave up practicing dark magic continued to increase, it was possible that someone would eventually call on those Dark Elves to oppose the Black Magic Association, or even try to establish a new ruling power to replace the Black Magic Association.

This was certainly the last thing the Black Magic Association wanted to see, and they naturally wanted to find a way to nip it in the bud before such extreme circumstances arose. Therefore, when the Light Elves proposed at this time that, due to their shortage of labor, they hoped to hire Dark Elves to help them plant Amadeus flowers and Egan herbs to ensure the productivity of both plants, it was naturally seen by the Black Magic Association as the best solution to address their series of potential concerns.

So, with both the Black Magic Association and the White Magic Association holding their own agendas, they both signed this bilateral agreement for labor cooperation.

Then, as expected by the White Magic Association, a large number of Dark Elves who had abandoned dark magic were attracted to the Light Elves' plantations, starting to plant Amadeus flowers and Egan herbs for them. Meanwhile, the Black Magic Association diluted the density of their own Elves who had abandoned dark magic by extensively sending them out for work. In addition, citing the shortage of personnel in their factories and mines due to Elves working outside, the Black Magic Association further increased the workload of those Elves.

This resulted in a significant reduction in the rest time for these Dark Elves, leading them to enjoy the pleasure of Dume energy even more in their spare time. Therefore, in the days that followed, they rarely influenced other Elves who were still persevering in their practice, and the Black Magic Association's control over the entire Dark Elf society was further strengthened.

Due to the Light Elves using the Dark Elves to plant Amadeus flowers and Egan herbs, they also built several small mines in the territory of the Light Elf tribe with their help. Consequently, this further reduced the cost of making Elven biscuits and enabled them to provide more generous rewards for the Dark Elves who worked for them.

With the lure of higher rewards, the Dark Elves worked harder and harder in the plantations. This accelerated the growth of wealth for the Light Elves compared to before. Having tasted the benefits, the Light Elves naturally wouldn't easily pass up the opportunity to gain even more substantial wealth in such a high-cost-effective way. Therefore, after gradually mastering more effective ways to manage the hot-headed Dark Elves, they gradually opened their borders and actively recruited Dark Elves who came for higher rewards.

No one would dislike a wealthy and leisurely happy time, but it couldn't be denied that after enjoying the daily life of handsome men and beautiful women, endless fine wine and food, the Light Elves began to feel tired. So, they began to seek greater pleasure in other aspects.

For example, the Light Elves started to create more exquisite armor and weapons, making these equipment not only practical but also look more like exquisite artworks. Furthermore, they also began to strengthen their bodies and practice white magic actively because they wanted to find more excitement from conquering nature in adventures. The Light Elves, who had always pursued a peaceful and leisurely life, gradually cultivated a more competitive and martial gene because of this.

In addition, after managing the Dark Elves for these years, the Light Elves found that those Dark Elves, due to consuming too much Dume ore, were often in a depressed state, making them more easily enslaved than imagined. Therefore, the Light Elves gradually lost their awe of these addicts who were deeply affected by the backlash of their minds.

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Moreover, the Light Elves had always held grudges against the Dark Elves who had often insulted, provoked, and even bullied them in the early years. So, the Light Elves, who believed that their overall strength had reached a level sufficient to crush the Dark Elves, began to hope to engage with the Dark Elves in a direct confrontation once again.

Chapter 79: Contradictions Resurface

The purpose of the Light Elves in doing so was not only to repay the resentment they had suffered from the other party's abuse in the past, but also to seek real excitement from real battles. In short, the Light Elves were just too wealthy now, living too comfortably, leading them to start looking for trouble when they had nothing else to do.

Of course, despite the fact that the Dark Elves were perennially struggling to practice dark magic, which made their economic and daily life situations very poor, the reason why the social system of the Dark Elf tribe had not completely collapsed was because their original foundation was extremely solid.

Moreover, there were still many Dark Elves persisting in practicing dark magic, and although they had never achieved any significant success, they did possess a certain level of combat power. Therefore, if the two tribes were really going to war, the Dark Elves might not necessarily be as passive as soft persimmons, letting the Light Elves manipulate them at will. It was also considering these factors that made the Light Elves always eager to fight with the Dark Elves, but they never dared to act rashly.

However, although they couldn't fight a real battle with weapons, it didn't mean that the Light Elves couldn't find another way to provoke the Dark Elves. Thus, the increasingly greedy Light Elves, in order to disgust the Dark Elves while gaining more benefits, began to constantly find excuses to either raise the prices or make more demands when selling Amadeus flowers and Egan herbs.

Although the Black Magic Association had protested against the White Magic Association many times, due to their critical period of breaking through the second bottleneck of practice and the continuous growth of various forces of the Light Elves, the White Magic Association had to insist on standing up for these wealthy Light Elves to maintain their own interests. Therefore, the Black Magic Association had to compromise time and time again for the greater good.

Unfortunately, in the face of the greedy Light Elves, the compromise of the Dark Elves was seen as a sign of weakness. Therefore, their increasingly reckless behavior in secretly raising prices during transactions inevitably escalated the conflicts between the two tribes. Protests from the Dark Elves, dissatisfied with the Light Elves arbitrarily raising prices during transactions, once again appeared at the border between the two tribes. While the Light Elves continued to recruit Dark Elves willing to work at the border, they also amassed troops at the border to be prepared for any conflicts with protesting crowds.

At this point, the true intentions of the Light Elves were completely exposed. They wanted to harvest the wealth of the Dark Elf tribe by raising prices. Moreover, by raising the prices of raw materials, they forced the Dark Elves to reduce the production capacity of Elven biscuits. As a result, the decrease in the supply of Elven biscuits not only affected the progress of Dark Elves in practicing dark magic, but also caused dissatisfaction among those Dark Elves who needed Elven biscuits to enjoy the pleasure of Dume energy.

Meanwhile, the Light Elves continued to attract Dark Elves to work for them with high rewards to further reduce the population in the Dark Elf tribe's territory. They also used their more generous means to direct the anger of the Dark Elves towards the Black Magic Association for reducing the production of Elven biscuits. Consequently, there would be enormous internal conflicts among the Dark Elves, while the Light Elves could sit back and wait for the Dark Elf tribe to weaken in internal conflicts, laying a more solid foundation for further devouring their wealth.

As for the Black Magic Association, since the dispute with the Light Elves over the purchase of Amadeus flowers and Egan herbs began, in addition to spending a lot of time guiding the Dark Elves in practicing dark magic, they also had to expend a lot of energy dealing with the Light Elves' constant obstruction in transactions. During this time, they also had to appease the Dark Elves who were causing trouble internally due to the reduced supply of Elven biscuits, affecting others' practice of dark magic. Influenced by the incidents deliberately caused by the Light Elves inside and outside the Dark Elf tribe, Archbishop Anshelin had been exhausted in recent years.

What made Anshelin even more angry was that the Dark Elves who went to work for the Light Elves actually started to help the Light Elves build mines and mine Dume ore. The most outrageous thing was that since there were no Dume ore veins in the territory of the Light Elf tribe, and the quality of the stones there was not as good as that in the territory of the Dark Elf tribe, they dug a tunnel into the territory of the Dark Elf tribe and mined various ores there, and then transported them back to the territory of the Light Elf tribe along the underground tunnel for the use of the Light Elves.

Although Anshelin, as the Acting Archbishop, had extremely excellent temperament, she couldn't help but curse those Dark Elves who were eating inside and out, colluding with outsiders to steal their own resources when faced with such blatant theft. Therefore, upon finally learning that the Light Elves had secretly started mining ores under their own territory, Archbishop Anshelin immediately sent soldiers to block the tunnels of those mines. At the same time, all the Dark Elves who helped outsiders steal their own mineral resources were arrested and would be tried at a later date.

Ah, trouble just kept coming. Just as Anshelin finished dealing with the matter of the Light Elves stealing ore, she received another message from the Light Elves—they were planning to once again reduce the volume of raw materials from today onwards. Their reason was to fallow some of the land in certain plantations to ensure that these lands could further increase the yield of Amadeus flowers and Egan herbs next year.

"Boom!" Anshelin's fist slammed heavily on the table as she cursed, "Those damn bastards! They want to reduce the supply of Amadeus flowers and Egan herbs again? This is the seventh time in the past few months that they have announced they will fallow the land! They are clearly trying to stir up trouble!"

Just as Anshelin was angrily rebuking those Light Elves as shameless scoundrels, the doors of the council chamber were suddenly pushed open. Then, Anshelin saw a group of elders accompanied by a squad of guards, their faces grim, walking in.

"What's happening again, elders?" Anshelin immediately frowned upon seeing them. She had just resolved one trouble, and now the third trouble had come knocking at her door.

Ah! This morning was destined not to give me a moment's peace, it's truly headache-inducing! Anshelin sighed helplessly in her heart.

"Yes, Archbishop. We have another problem, and this time, it concerns you," Elder Boray said in a low and unfriendly tone.