"A total of 220 daily Summons have been added to my territory since I last checked. Half of them are 2-Star Summons as well. That's pretty neat," Michael mumbled, closing his eyes to sense the most recently established Links of Loyalty.
The newest Links of Loyalty were already firmer than ordinary Links of Loyalty, but that was something Michael expected. He spent a fortune to create various facilities to entertain his subjects and make them comfortable. Close to 200 Starless Summons had been taught to become guides for new Summons. They took care of the confused Summons when they stepped through the Summoning Gate and introduced them into their new home before giving them a warm and comfortable place to sleep and delicious meals to eat.
Their needs were taken care of the moment they stepped into his territory. That was something Michael paid attention to. It was one of the easiest ways to improve his subjects' Links of Loyalty from day one, and it made his subjects happy. Therefore, Michael was happy as well.
"Finally I got some 2-Star Combat Summons again. There are Knights, Berserkers, and Sharpshooters among them. Hmmm…other than that there are 2-Star Forest Walkers, Scouts, Master Artisans, and Shadow Panthers. That is interesting. Using the Shadow Panthers in the Untamed Jungle will be amazing. Good, Good!"
Other than the 2-Star Summons Michael obtained, there were also many 1-Star Summons that attracted his interest. Among the 1-Star Summoners were Farmers, Gardeners, Botanica Researchers, Cooks, Artists, Pub Owners, Surveyors, Enchanter Novices, Mythic Alchemy Researcher, Spearmen, and Archers.
Whereas the number of Combat Summons was not that high among 1-Star Summons, Michael found Summons with two new occupations. Botanica Researchers and Mythic Alchemy Researchers were new to his territory. Both were Forest Elven Summons, and Michael hoped that they would turn into valuable assets in the near future.
However, the most interesting Summons among 1-Stars were three Titan Pigs!
Michael didn't even know that he could summon 1-Star Monsters. He always thought that he could only summon 2-Star Monsters as Summons. Anything weaker was usually livestock, just like the Titan Pigs. But that was where the confusion started. Titan Pigs were livestock. They might be special because of their size and the uniqueness of their energy-rich and highly nutritious meat, but they were widely known for being used as livestock. Yet three of those Titan Pigs turned out to be linked to Michael's War Rune via Links of Loyalty. Killing the Titan Pigs would destroy the Links of Loyalty.
'That is actually weird. Not that it matters much, but it's just weird.' Michael thought, happy that he didn't have to purchase any Titan Pigs to create a Ranch for them. Now all he had to do was build his second ranch and start breeding the Titan Pigs.
Once Michael got hold of the required resources, he would start constructing the Titan Pig Ranch first. That wouldn't take long, fortunately.
But for now, Michael turned his attention to the daily report where he was notified about some pleasant news.
"6 Starless Summons from Siegfried's classes switched to archery upon noticing that bows were more comfortable to wield for them. They worked hard and were promoted to Archers. They read the Memory Crystals about the Archery technique that stimulated the promotion of Archers. Very nice!" Michael smiled right before his attention switched to the Immortal Knight's achievements, "Exactly 150 Starless Summons advanced to Blessed Squires since Siegfried joined the territory. The Basic Sacred Knight Temple is not yet done but there are 150 Blessed Squires already. That's amazing!"
The Basic Sacred Knight Temple would probably finish in less than two months. Until then, Siegfried would have trained close to 500 Blessed Squires. After the Temple's basic level was completed, the number would only increase, alongside the number of Blessed Squires with the potential to advance to Holy Knights.
Michael couldn't wait any longer. He was excited about the news and curious about the development of his territory in the next two months. His territory's population expanded by 11 daily Summons a day and the overall strength of his subjects was slowly rising as well. More and more Starless Summons found their passion and received enlightenment with every passing day. Several Starless Summons were promoted to Miners, Cooks, Potters, Masons, Warriors, Archers, Scout Rookies and even Settlement Guides. Their passion, diligence and desire to help the territory grow stimulated their potential. It ignited something deep inside their being, something they hadn't felt in their first life. And Michael noticed that.
His territory expanded slowly but steadily. He didn't rush summoning hundreds of thousands of Starless Summons to increase his Soul Power drastically, and it was not in Michael's interest to establish more settlements either. Instead, he strengthened the foundation of his territory and expanded at a steady pace.
Michael decided to spend some time with his new Summons. He met up with them and got to know more about their expertise. The experiences and knowledge of every Summon was different. They were of different ages and had witnessed different events in their past lives. The locations they hailed from were different as well as the opportunities to procure more knowledge and grow stronger.
Thus, Michael had a lot to learn. After all, every single one of his subjects was likely to be able to teach him something, even the Starless Summons that were considered useless by most.
Another day passed in the blink of an eye. Michael's Links of Loyalty grew firmer and he decided to return to Piloq – not before devouring more than ten plates filled with various delicacies. Michael's plates were as large as the jumbo-sized trays, yet Michael finished a total of ten of those before he felt full. The nutritious and energy-rich ingredients used in each dish he ate were a blessing to his soul, stomach and pillar of light. His entire body was finally filled to the brim with energy and nutrition. It was the perfect state to start refining his body and mind.
However, instead of doing so and thereby emptying his body's nutrition and energy storage in the process, Michael decided to leave the Origin Expanse once again.
Back in the Library of Piloq, Michael felt pretty good.
The library was still unscathed, but it looked like some normality had returned to Piloq. At least, the receptionist had returned to the counter. That meant Piloq was not in danger anymore. The emergency state had been revoked.
Michael greeted the librarian, who was a little surprised to see that someone had been inside the library. However, he recalled a small note on the counter the day Piloq had been attacked and nodded faintly in Michael's direction. It didn't look like the receptionist wanted to talk to him.
'Why is he so tense?' Michael wondered, not sure what to think about the receptionist's awkward behavior.
He left the library and stepped into the open street where he saw construction sites in all directions. The streets had already been fixed, and it was pretty easy to tell that most destroyed buildings would be repaired in a day or two. Piloq would be fixed soon enough, but the dead couldn't be resurrected.
'The mood is really low…well, that's expected…'
Michael strolled through the city to take a look at the condition of some Ancient Structures. He wondered if they could be repaired, or if they had been damaged beyond repair. Unfortunately, it looked like the Perses Missiles did a good job in totally demolishing most Ancient Structures. Only two out of dozens were under repair. The remaining Ancient Structures had been abandoned since nobody present possessed enough expertise to repair them.
It was a sad sight. However, even worse was the ever-increasing gloom permeating the air. The closer Michael stepped to the Colosseum, the worse the despair and sadness hanging heavily in the air. It pressed hard on Michael, who was even more confused when he found the source of the dull, melancholic atmosphere. Zeke, Lincoln, dozens of other Descendants, and the prodigies of the Berserker and Warlock Centaur races were standing in front of a huge building – the source of the heavy mood.
But other than the building the prodigies of the Tritan Alliance didn't seem to feel much better. Some of them had an even worse mood than the people inside the building.
Zeke was one of them. His heterochromatic eyes glowed brightly and compressed energy oozed out of him uncontrollably. His energy was intertwined with intense bloodlust, something Michael had never seen Zeke unleash.
"What is going on with Zeke?" Michael asked once he arrived next to Lincoln.
"Oh. Hey, Michael. You're back already," Lincoln greeted him. His expression didn't light up. If anything, he looked over to Zeke upon hearing Michael's question.
A heavy sigh escaped his lips.
"To put simply, Zeke is angry. Why? We found out which organization was behind the attack on Piloq. It was one of the terrorist groups that came into contact with another human race. They call themselves Hyuman and want to connect the human races all over the Universe to rule the Universe as the Supreme race, or something like that. I don't know how much you know about the 'Supreme Human Alliance'...soo…" Lincoln explained, waiting for Michael's reaction before he continued to speak.
Michael pressed his lips together. He heard quite a lot about other human-like races and races that look just like humans, but it was the first time he heard about the Supreme Human Alliance. Lincoln noticed Michael's hesitation and confusion. Therefore, he revealed more information to guide Michael a little bit.
"It's understandable that you don't know much about it. This information is a secret of the High Society. Either way, as I already told you the Supreme Human Alliance wants to rule the entire Universe. Their views of other races are pretty…bad. They consider themselves the Supreme race because humans exist all over the universe. In their opinion, humans are the origin of all races, and those who mutate and evolve into different races are inferior. Therefore, they want to get rid of all other races and eliminate the 'fools' who're idiotic enough to think that being at peace with other races, and establishing Alliances was acceptable."
"Wait…so the organization is a branch of this weird Supreme Human Alliance?" Michael asked, his eyes narrowing, "You want to tell me that the Traitors of mankind teamed up with other human races and are now attacking us for being in an alliance with the Berserkers and Warlock Centaurs? What is that bullshit? Supreme Race? The beginning of all races? I've never heard something more delusional…"
Michael was not sure why but Lincoln's revelation infuriated him more than it should have. Of course, it was messed up, but Michael was not someone who reacted in such an overblown manner under normal circumstances.
Yet, Michael felt miserable, as if something deep inside revolted at the mere reference of the Supreme Human Alliance.
It was almost like his entire existence loathed the Supreme Human Alliance to the core.
The essence around Michael grew heavier and stronger. Golden sparks crackled all around Michael, compelling Lincoln to retreat.
A red glow flashed through Michael's eyes, causing Lincoln's hair to stand up on its end.
'What is going on?!'
