Of course, there were also differences in quality even among Clans that controlled the same number of universes. For example, both the Golden Crow Sect and the Flaming Lily Sect controlled exactly 25 universes, but the former was much more powerful than the latter.
This was all to say that Dyon didn't feel relaxed now that he had conquered the weakest of forces within his home quadrant. There was too much work to do.
First, he had to stabilize the commoners of Universe One through Eighteen. Someone of his stature would usually ignore these people because they were seemingly of no use, but Dyon understood that if he had the hearts of the commoners, it would be far more difficult for the Five Beast Clans to betray him.
He had 5 months remaining until the Gates opened, so he set off to complete a few major tasks.
He wanted to vastly improve their quality of life, ensuring that they had proper food and water. He wanted to provide them opportunities, and that was linked to opening academies across the eighteen universes as well as businesses for the Sects. And, he had to protect them, not allowing them to be bullied by a perceived lawlessness.
5 months wasn't nearly enough to do this perfectly, but it was enough to show the commoners that being ruled by him was far better than what they had experienced previously, and that was just what Dyon wanted.
...
Dyon first split the army.
After conquering the remaining four core universe and renaming them Eighteen, Seventeen, Sixteen, and Fifteen, he gained an additional 8 billion warriors.
Though the four core universes had the same 2 billion total of warriors the Raven Clan had, their overall quality was far inferior.
In comparison to the Raven Clan's 5 dao experts, each remaining Clan only had 2. In comparison to the Raven Clan's 10 000 Pseudo Dao Experts, the remaining Clans only had 2000 each. And, in comparison to the Raven Clan's 500 million celestials, each remaining Clan only had about 100 million.
This left Dyon with elites that totaled in 900 million celestials, 18 thousand Pseudo Dao experts, and 13 Dao Experts. Of course, this was in addition to about 9 billion Saints.
When coupled with the 1.5 billion strong army Dyon entered the original Raven Universe with – 150 million of which were celestials – it was a great improvement from his previous middling 30 million strong army.
However… Dyon didn't hesitate to do away with the vast majority of them.
First, he directly expelled any saints below the pseudo celestial realm out of the army.
Giving them the title of Guardians, they were the first among the new population the receive Soul Tags. As Guardians, their duty was the wellbeing of the people, and they were used by Dyon to ensure that the Laws of the Mortal Alliance were followed.
Considering Saints, especially the Saints of the elite five beast clans, held special statuses. Dyon knew many would feel dissatisfied in being used as glorified bodyguards. So, he took two steps in mitigating this displeasure.
The first step was holding a Selection. Using their own abilities as a gauge for who could and could not make the main army diffused much of this displeasure immediately.
The second step was the previously mentioned Soul Tag. The Soul Tag's original purpose was both to act as a Census of the people and to monitor merits and demerits.
Dyon informed them of the demerit system in order to deter their thoughts of subterfuge. But, he then lay the merit system down as a carrot. After learning it was possible to earn prestige through even their jobs, much of the dissatisfaction diffused with the wind.
Second, although Dyon dispelled the Saints from the army, he didn't ignore their improvement. He set in place training regimens that included regular visits to Chaos Universe and mock campaigns to be held when Gates opened.
He split the Guardians into teams by regions designated by the planets they guarded and added a ranking system that was contingent upon commoner satisfaction and their performance in these mock battles. He hoped that over time, new talents would begin to bloom all while commoners led safer lives.
Third, Dyon began to train the main army once more. Unlike Guardians, their training would be held on a real battlefield against true opponents that would only seek to eradicate them.
Now, Dyon had a total of just over 1 billion celestials, 18 thousand Pseudo Dao Experts, and 13 Dao experts at his disposal. Of course, this Dao expert count didn't include the Title Spirits or Glorianice and Amphorae. Nor did it include the former Weapon's Guild Head of Sapientia City.
Dyon began to drill them in the same way he had drilled the earth grade beasts just a few days back. However, they responded to his training far better. Maybe it was because many of the beasts here followed the human path, but they were much less cowardly in comparison to the lesser beasts.
Dyon nodded with satisfaction. The elites of the Five Beast Clans didn't disappoint him.
Still, what shocked these Clans was that it wasn't just them who had to train, but they also had to witness their Clan Heads and Grand Elders training under Dyon as well. The experience was far too surreal.
The months began to tick by one after another, and soon the fifth month was upon them.
**
"How are you feeling?"
Dyon wrapped his arms around Madeleine's waist. They were currently only Planet Fourteen-One, the former Planet Raven. Many had gathered here because the Gates would open in just a few more days. This time, Dyon's wives would participate in the war as well… For now, there would be no more large schemes, it would be a battle of who had the largest fist.
The night sky was quite beautiful. Planet Fourteen-One had 9 moons, and each seemed to reflect different colors. To the left, there was a beautiful red moon that reminded Dyon of mars, but to the right, there were a few silver-blue moons that reminded him of Ri's soft hair. It was truly a gorgeous sight.
Dyon and Madeleine stood on the planet's tallest mountain. It seemed to have great cultural significance to the Raven Clan, and considering the sight you could behold on its peak, it was worthy of such praise.
Madeleine had only come here on a whim, but considering Dyon's divine sense range, was it really difficult for him to find a person on a single planet?
Madeleine's hands lightly gripped Dyon's forearms, a light smile playing her face as she leaned back into his chest.
"It's hard to believe." Madeleine said, instead of answering Dyon's question. "Just 30 years ago, we lived on a small planet that had to put forth its whole effort just to hold back a small portion of the Uidah's strength. Our fates were played with by the Ragnors as though our lives weren't worth much of anything. But now… We actually control so many universes."
Her light giggle filled Dyon's heart with warmth.
"Who would have thought the little boy who serenaded a sick little girl like me would ever hold the world in the palm of his hands like this?"
Ragnors? Pakals? The Uidah? Even if the enemy was the Nephilim Alliance, Madeleine couldn't ever see Dyon losing.
