Chapter 25 old friend, it aint a dream, cause of the decline

No matter how many times Mikhail sees this, it never gets old.

Four more turrets were made in this kingdom by foreigners; they had never properly communicated with; why are they not suspicious of these turrets?

Why do they not even think of a chance that it'll bite them in the ass later?

Were beastmen just that naive, or do they just hold that much trust in him, or was it because they were that desperate?

Meh, regardless of whatever it was, they were making his plans move smoothly~

But the most interesting part was that a little birdie came along and tweeted away the plans of someone.

As for what those plans were?

Someone was planning on either recruiting him or assassinating him.

Since this often happened in the other dream worlds, he grew numb to it, especially the different kinds of deaths he had to experience, from ejaculating to death to slow, painful deaths that people could only dream of ever happening he had experienced a different one each dream until he learned how to properly manage his armies, which is also why he was able to provide such insightful guides to the society as a whole.

By the way, as blissful as the first one sounded, it was not as pleasant as many would think while the body feels good, your spirit won't feel the same, but enough of that, let's have a closer look at the conference room that the beast king was using to talk to his officials and that dragonkin.

Durel, was it?

Once his phantom ant got close enough, An old wisen voice muttered.

"-Desperate times calls for desperate measures."

One of the generals of his kingdom voiced their worries.

"But my king, as much as it seems safe, what if those turrets one day began aiming at us?"

Many of the officials looked at the general as if he was a fool, but the smarter ones also had this worry before all of them looked to the king with was an old fox beastman who looked so tired from enduring so many things throughout his lifetime.

But the psychic was smiling as not only was Someone was talking about the stuff Mikhail was contemplating about, let's hear the answer then~

He posed a question for all to hear and think about.

"Tell me, if the humans and other kingdoms decide to point their blades at us finally, how will we withstand that?"

This made the conference room deathly silent as none could answer, then the king continued.

"We lack the resources to reach a higher tier; we lack the wealth to support this kingdom; we lack the land to keep everyone fed; with this in mind, how much longer will this kingdom stand? even more so when my time comes?"

The officials had no proper answer to challenge that question.

Their kingdom was dying; their lands are incredibly infertile; they produced fruits and vegetables that dwindled with every harvest, no matter how much they improve the land, the livestock as thin and weak, as were the people of their lands.

They usually fought for food or to defend themselves and rarely for revenge; with the king being the last 8th tier aura user in the kingdom without him, the other kingdoms could easily lay claim to their lands and people.

What was the most troubling part was that the second strongest was only at the 6th tier so they needed to do something soon or everything they had would crumble.

Many respected the king as he always did what he could to preserve their home, even if it meant being under another powerhouse that wouldn't treat them like slaves.

Since none of them could answer the old fox ordered.

"You are all dismissed; my orders are to treat the builder with care and respect; I no longer wish for my people to suffer anymore, nor do I want to have another enemy because of someone's foolishness!"

Once they left after bowing, the room was silent, and the beast king leaned back on his chair, looking more tired than ever.

The king looked towards where the phantom ant was at, then said.

"No need to hide from me, young one; I already knew you were there as soon as you arrived~ hohoho."

He felt like a kind old man that was looking for someone to talk to, his fur graying with age, his body growing weaker with every passing day; the old fox grabbed his crown then hung it on the side of his chair as he asked.

"So other than eavesdropping, what brings you here, child?"

The phantom ant moved closer as Mikhail wished before forming a telepathic link between him and the king.

Mikhail replied.

"Nothing much. I was simply curious as to what your answer would be for allowing my turrets to be placed on your walls."

The king leaned against his hand with his elbow resting on the armrest before continuing the conversation.

"well, I lived in this world for a very long time, and there is always a risk of betrayal or something along those lines no matter what deal is made."

Mikhail chuckled before introducing himself to the king.

"I am Yuri, the psychic master that leads the little group that you had gotten along with; what do they call you old king of the beastman kingdom?"

The king smiled as he closed his eyes.

"I was once a human called Michael Thatch, but since the time I was born into this world, I was named Greimor of the fox tribes."

The name made the psychic flinch as did the phantom ant since the connection got disturbed by the faint memories of the good times that made Mikhail smile.

Greimor was a username of a fellow red alert 2 gamer that he often played against someone from the united states.

Still, there was a low chance of that, at least until he began scanning his mind of all the dreams that Mikhail ever had; this was one of the few times he came across someone of the same world as Greimor said something that made his eyes widen in surprise.

"Are you truly Yuri that owns an army of initiates, brutes, lasher tanks, and the like? or are you a reincarnated person like me?"

Mikhail, thanks to his mind-reading abilities, managed to skim through the memories of Greimor; sure enough, he was an old friend, so to rattle some old yet good memories, he said this to the beast king.

"To think I'd be meeting you here, tell me, do you still continue to use your battle fortress methods it? Did you finally grow out of it?"

Greimor's eyes widened in surprise before he started to laugh in amusement.

There was only one person that talked about his methods while playing someone that he often played against, a player that he missed dearly as he was a fellow disabled man at the time.

"Mikhail, you lucky bastard, how did you manage to get such troops under your control? did you have to make it on your own or-"

Mikhail cut him off by mentioning.

"My cheat, apparently."

Greimor exclaimed in surprise!

"WHAT!?"

"well, I always had a strange dream eversince the game came out, venturing into different worlds, losing and dying so many times or until I finally conquered one every time I went to sleep throughout my dream I lived in each one until my dying breath."

Thanks to Mikhail's ability, he knew that his friend and rival missed him bitterly so causing him to be honest and have a chat with him; it has been so long since he had an honest chat, and Greimor had been waiting for a chance to talk to 'yuri' since the day when the first turret was made!

The chance of 'yuri' being a fellow reincarnated person was too hard to pass up; even if there was a chance of it being a terrible person, he was on his last legs; Greimor never wanted to be the king.

Still, the duty, as well as the safety of his wife and the younger generations, pushed his decision to do so.

With all the problems that this kingdom had, Greimor needed something to preserve this land and protect the people; not only did he hit the jackpot but also an old friend came along~

Their conversation was long and enjoyable as two nerds of red alert 2 talked about the game so much that there were a few times that the servants were worried about his health since he was talking to a phantom ant!

Which, by the way, are known to be one of the few monsters that cannot think for themselves.

But once they were done, with The king being familiar with his friend's tactics, he bit the bullet and asked.

"So, are you still going to use this kingdom as bait?"

Mikhail sighed before replying.

"no, not anymore; I changed my mind; if you need any help to live longer, let me know the cloning vats can do wonders for old farts like you~."

The king made a forced scowl.

"Oh yeah? while I won't reject such an offer, I'll still kick your ass later after the treatment!"

Mikhail replied with a chuckle.

"Yeah, I'll take your word for it since you can do it this time~"

It was a jolly mood old friends meeting once again.

Around this old fox of a friend, this was one of the few times he was genuinely happy and relaxed, so with the help of the engineers, the first thing he made in the king's chambers to ensure the life of his friend was a cloning vat, while he didn't give him all the other fancy abilities he mostly focused on the brute ability to lengthen Greimor's lifespan further as according to the others he eavesdropped on thanks to the other phantom ants he had less than a month left to live!

A fellow gaming brother was something he didn't want to lose again, but there is always a friggin problem that pops up at certain times or moments Greimor's wife was the reason for the constant setbacks as she was a spy that took the place of his real wife.

Where was she from?

From the public enemy of all the regular races.

Demons!