This time again, Michael wasn't really lucky. The small summoning session didn't lead to exceptional results.
He didn't really expect a lot so he wasn't too disappointed that he didn't summon a single Summon with combat-related occupations. That was weird, but also something he could accept now that he had the Immortal Knight, the Warrior Enlightenment Potion, and the Archer Book that taught a technique on how to stimulate Starless Summons to become Archers.
Therefore, it might actually be more useful if he didn't summon any Combat Summons.
Michael greeted his new Summons, introduced himself, and gave a short explanation about his territory. Then he told his other subjects to guide the new Summons through the territory and to explain all the rules to them.
'Since it's already late, should I just focus on practicing Pandemonium's Requiem?' Michael wondered as he sensed the massive unrefined energy inside his body. The War Rune wasn't working fast enough to refine the energy inside him faster than his subjects hunted Kitsun and monsters during the last few days. The unused energy resided within Michael and kept on amassing, forming an uncomfortable reserve that had to be removed sooner rather than too late.
Using Pandemonium's Requiem would aid the War Rune's refinement progress, which in turn would take care of the uncomfortable mass inside him on its own.
Michael made a decision and returned to his room in the wooden manor. He sat down on the bet cross-legged and closed his eyes. In the next moment, he started practicing Pandemonium's Requiem while simultaneously entering his consciousness where he saw the pillar of light and the massive amount of unused energy that had yet to be utilized to refine the War Rune.
Michael cleared his mind and focused on his technique. He had yet to reach a higher mastery of Pandemonium's Requiem, but he could tell that he was slowly getting closer to the Profound Mastery. The effects of Pandemonium's Requiem would improve drastically with higher mastery, therefore allowing him to refine his War Rune faster and absorb more energy from the surrounding area.
With that in mind, Michael spent the next 12 hours focusing on the individual steps of Pandemonium's Requiem. He controlled the energy that surged through every nerve of his body with great precision and willed it to revolve around the pillar of light where it was pulled inside and digested. The pillar of light brimmed with great vigor. It shone brightly as it expanded ever so slowly.
Refining his War Rune was not an easy task that could be rushed. It had to be done slowly if one wanted to avoid sustaining injuries. In the worst case, rushing to digest a large amount of energy could crack the War Rune, breaking it in the process. That was not worth the risk.
Hence, Michael stayed focused and only channeled as much energy as he wanted his War Rune to digest in half a day. He was done accelerating the refinement process of his War Rune for the night when the darkness shrouding the Untamed Jungle was replaced by the first rays of the sun. Happy with his day's efforts, he went to sleep peacefully. The sun had risen above the horizon when Michael got up from his bed.
He quickly took a bath put on some comfortable clothes to walk around his territory and left his room.
'If I keep going like this at night I should be able to finish digesting the rest of the amassed energy in a week…maybe 10 days,' Michael concluded with a wry smile.
Since he was still a Low-rank Tier-2 Lord, Michael obtained far too many energy shares and energy influx from Awakened and Summons of a much higher rank and Tier during the last few days. His War Rune was not accustomed to digesting the energy of hundreds of Tier-3 Summons and Awakened, let alone the energy influx of enemies at the Peak of the 3rd Tier.
Thus, Michael was actually quite happy with his plan. Spending 10 days to sweep through the Low rank and advance straight to the Mid-rank in a go was quite amazing. It would propel his combat prowess to the next level.
'I wonder how far I can go in the Battle Exchange. Will I be able to take away the Flag War Token from someone in the top 100?' Michael wondered, smiling at the thought of showing off his combat prowess as soon as he left the Origin Expanse.
But that wouldn't happen anytime soon. Michael had too many unfinished tasks to leave the Origin Expanse now. First and foremost, he had yet to digest the amassed energy within him. Before that was done, Michael wouldn't return to Piloq.
He left the wooden manor and received the daily report from one of his hardworking assistants. Reading through the daily report that included the content Michael had missed out on in the last few weeks, a smile crept up on his face. In the last few weeks, Michael had either been busy dealing with the Tritan Alliance, or invading and killing the Kitsun Lord and his subordinates. That is why he hadn't gotten time to look after the development of his territory.
But he couldn't afford to neglect it any longer. Now that the population of his territory had expanded once again, more work was waiting for Michael. The piled-up work had to be dealt with, otherwise, all his hard work so far would go down the drain if Michael kept pushing work aside.
Michael took that into consideration and went to his small office where some files were waiting for him. He didn't really like sitting around doing nothing except reading through reports, but it was necessary…or was it not? Questioning the necessity of his work in the office, the young Lord's eyes widened.
His eyes began to gleam brightly and he shot up from the chair when he recalled an easy way out. Michael utilized Extraction to release a golden tendril of extraction from his palm. The tendril of extraction shot toward the stash of paper. In the next moment, the tendril began to extract the wisps of knowledge weaved into the paper. Michael's mind was filled with information about his territory's needs, the tasks of his workers, the stashed-up goods from the warehouse, the proposed development path of his territory, and much more.
His smile turned even more vibrant than before. He retracted the tendril of extraction once he was done and glanced at the now blank sheets of paper. The wisps of knowledge weaved into the paper had been extracted, therefore removing the ink in the process.
Michael grabbed the stash of paper to look through them and ensure that he had extracted all wisps of knowledge. Then he placed a blank paper in front of him and retrieved a pen. If he didn't have too much piled-up work, Michael would have told his assistant what they would do now. However, since he had a lot to catch up on, Michael would have to write down the orders for each task.
Digesting the newly gained pieces of information wasn't too difficult. Caesurium Menta and Memory Lane guided his memory and accelerated digestion while he wrote clear instructions for his assistants.
–-The duplicated blueprints stored in the warehouses can be reorganized and moved to the wooden manor. The Lord will sell them alongside the next batch of Agriculture Blueprints to our human business partner. The distribution of the funds will be decided later.
—As the number of applications who want to become Warriors and Blessed Squires skyrocketed, the territory will hold a tournament to determine the first batch of Summons to be trained by the Immortal Knight. Once the Basic Level of the Sacred Knight Temple has been completed we will alter the rewards given out in the tournament. Energy Nourishing Pills, Body Strengthening Pills, and a wide variety of Potions can then be won in the tournament.
—The treasury of the Kitsun Lord brought forth various treasures. New potions will soon be brewed. We need to find out how effective these potions are for Humans and Forest Elves.
–The Alchemy Lair is allowed to use more funds than before to experiment with the newly procured materials. The Alchemists shall be rewarded for successful experiments.
–The Craftsmen, Carpenters, … shall be allowed to create new inventions. However, they must take prior permission from their higher-ups so that the necessary precautions are taken beforehand to ensure that no accidents occur.
…
..
.
The list of tasks and orders Michael scribbled down in the next hour or two was astounding. He used every single piece of paper on the desk to write down the orders before he called the assistant who rushed towards Michael.
"How may I help you, my Lord?" The assistant asked hesitantly. He knew that the amount of pending tasks was a lot and that the Lord was likely to spend the entire day in the office. But not even two hours had passed yet. Was their Lord tired already?
"I am done here. Take these and forward my orders. If you need something, I'm either here studying the maps of the surrounding regions, or moving through the territory to take a look at the territory's development."
"My Lord…you are done? But there was so much to–..." The young assistant began but closed his mouth abruptly when his eyes fell on the papers Michael handed to him. He noticed that the sheets were not the daily reports and information given to their Lord to read through. Instead, the sheets had an exhaustive list of tasks their Lord wanted him to forward to the others.
'He is already done? It has only been two hours?!?' The assistant stared at his Lord blankly, not daring to speak his thoughts aloud.
He felt like he was looking at a whole different person.
'The Lord hates staying inside the office…why is he suddenly so focused on the office and studying?' The assistant wondered, finally realizing that their Lord was not only powerful, and kind, but that he was also learning from his past mistakes.
Instead of hoping that nobody would attack him and his territory in the near future, Michael wanted to know all about his potential enemies.
Therefore, he began to study the Maps plundered from the Kitsun Lord's treasury and the memories of the Kitsun Lord.
