"119,529 Starless Summons, and 26,071 1-Star Summons," Michael stared at the list of newcomers, a smile blossoming on his face, "It looks like today's summoning session was pretty good. The number of 1-Star Combatants is disproportionally low, but that can be solved."
Michael didn't expect his newest Summons to fight against the armies of the Zentika Empire, either way. He wouldn't send his subjects into a death trap as long as he could avoid it.
Nobody below Tier-2, except those who were strong enough to fight against a Tier-2 Summon on their own, would be allowed to join the fights against the Zentika Empire and join the future battles in the Savannah's Regional War.
Michael was satisfied despite the low number of Combatants among today's summoning batch. His territory's population skyrocketed from 105,000ish to more than 250,000 in the blink of an eye. The recently established Links of Loyalty were also much firmer than Michael had anticipated, generating a considerable amount of Soul Power for each of his Soultraits.
Michael was confident that he could deal with far more powerful opponents now that Extraction reached 7-Star and that his Soul Power had increased.
However, he used the six Legendary Summoning Scrolls nonetheless. Having more powerhouses by his side couldn't be bad!
Michael tore the crimson seals apart and watched the Legendary Scrolls in anticipation. The golden parchment unfolded and ascended into the air slowly. His eyes darted to the intricate letters and runic symbols engraved on the inside of the golden parchments, but the parchment disappeared before he could get a good view. The Legendary Scrolls disappeared inside the energy pool.
The Summoning Gate's frame lit up, and it was only a matter of seconds before four golden stars illuminated the Gate.
'Hmm…four 4-Star Summons? Well…' Michael's first reaction was disappointment when he saw four outlines appear in the energy pool, but he quickly regained his senses when he noticed something.
The Links of Loyalty with the new Summons were created even before they appeared in his territory.
'Awakened? Why am I summoning Awakened?'
There was a distinct difference in the Links of Loyalty with Summons and Awakened. First of all, Links of Loyalty with Summons forced obedience. Summons would naturally trust their Lord and be loyal to him. Awakened had to obey their Lords as well, but they had more freedom than others.
In exchange for the freedom, their Links of Loyalty would provide more Soul Power.
And that was happening right now. Michael sensed a substantial growth in Soul Power from the six Links of Loyalty that had been established even before the Legendary Summons emerged.
However, once the first 4-Star Legendary Summons emerged, everything seemed to make sense.
Two young men, a teenager, and a youthful woman emerged from the energy pool. But they weren't Humans, Forest Elves, Berserkers, or Warlock Centaurs.
No, the four Awakened had a second pair of fluffy ears protruding from the sides of their heads and long, silver, black striped tails growing from their tailbones
The four Awakend were members of the Silverfang Tigerfolk!
But they were not the only members of the Silverfang Tigerfolk that emerged from the portal. A fifth star lit up on the Summoning Gate's frame and a burly man stepped out. The burly man wielded a spear and his muscles flexed while his eyes darted in all directions. He was ready to fight in an instant.
"Legion. Calm down," A silent voice that commanded obedience resounded behind the burly man of the Silverfang Tigerfolk as a sixth star manifested on the Summoning Gate's frame.
An old man, also from the Silverfang Tigerfolk, emerged from the Summoning Gate. He walked past Legion and ruffled through the teenager's hair before heading straight to Michael.
Michael's eyes widened in surprise, confusion, and disbelief.
'Tiara's people…I can summon them? They didn't die tho. And how is that kid here? He shouldn't have Awakened yet.'
His eyes traveled to the teenager, the youth's War Rune, to be precise. The War Rune was much smaller than ordinary War Runes. It looked more like a mole than an actual War Rune.
"You seem surprised, yet not." The old Silverfang noticed, "We had to use up the achievement points our Clan accumulated to allow everyone, even our youngest, to seek asylum in the Origin Expanse. A fraction of their War Rune awakened, just enough to bring them inside the Origin Expanse. However, they didn't manifest a Soultrait, and it will be harder for them to procure an Awakening Stone. Most won't be able to procure an Awakening Stone."
Sadness overcame the old Silverfang.
"We were too weak to protect our people and the youngest have to suffer because of that. We're seeking asylum within the Origin Expanse, but we are not even allowed to wander around. It was our only option to escape our enemies, but we never expected that we would end up imprisoned and at the Will of the Origin Expanse's disposal."
The old man was quite talkative, probably because he hadn't been able to talk to someone for quite a while.
"Fortunately, our time stopped. Years passed but it felt like seconds. Our bodies didn't age while we were waiting…waiting for the Will of the Origin Expanse to release one of us…to create an opportunity for us to regain our freedom."
Michael nodded slowly. The old man's words made sense, to some extent. He knew a little bit about Tiara's folk and their sacrifices.
"I don't know if you're truly free because the Links of Loyalty bind you," Michael pointed out the obvious, but the old man just smiled.
"That's true," Old Silverfang said, "But there must be a reason you managed to summon us. You should have some connection with the Silverfang who has been released by the Will. May, I inquire where our kin is?"
Michael raised one eyebrow. Legion, the burly Silverfang approached the old man and added,
"Where is our kin? Did you torture our kin? If that's the case, I will ki–..."
Legion couldn't speak any further. His mind was assaulted by a severe headache. Saying that he would kill his new Lord and Master wasn't exactly a smart move. The Link of Loyalty assaulted Legion for a while, while his questions remained unanswered.
'They don't know that the Will sent Tiara to me as personal Battle Maid. Maybe, I should keep that a secret.'
Tiara wasn't really his maid anymore. She was more of a warrior, in the first place. Michael also knew that Tiara held a high position in the hierarchy of the Silverfang Tigerfolk. If he wasn't mistaken she was their Leader's–....
"Master Tigris!!"
Tiara's voice interrupted Michael's train of thought. Her exclamation reverberated through the territory center, her shock apparent.
Michael turned to Tiara, whose expression lit up. She had dark circles under her eyes because she hardly slept in the last few days. Her entire focus had been to grow stronger and prevent an incident like the deaths of Liopham and Pheli.
Tiara had been gloomy all day and her mood expanded even worse knowing that Michael was busy dealing with other stuff. She, Mika, and Opars felt like staying close to Michael all day, but Immortal Knight shooed them away. They would only distract him.
However, seeing a familiar face from the past changed Tiara's mood instantaneously. She charged toward the old man and embraced him tightly.
Legion received back to his senses, the headache subsided and stared blankly at the young woman.
"Princess!"
'Right. Tiara uttered she was the Chief's daughter or something like that.'
Michael nodded subtly. He didn't care whether Tiara was a Princess, Queen, Empress, or a normal civilian. Tiara was a good girl. Her personality was great, she worked hard to grow stronger, and she improved everyone's mood with her presence.
The latter hadn't been the case in the last few days, but that was only obvious. Tiara had been in a foul mood since Liopham and Pheli died. She felt miserable. Of course, her presence wouldn't improve everyone's mood when she felt like that.
But that changed all of a sudden. The four Silverfang who'd emerged from the Summoning Gate first rushed to Tiara. They circled her and embraced Tiara while bursting into tears.
Legion stared at the intimate scene in front of him, a single tear trickling down his cheeks.
"As you can see, your kin is alive and well. Tiara is a bit tired, but that's it. She's working hard to grow stronger, to help her people and protect this place." Michael told Legion before pointing at the spear, "I can take the spear for a moment if you want to join them."
The corner of his lips curled upward when he noticed Legion twitching. He glared at Michael, but his expression softened quickly when he saw that Michael smiled amiably at him. Michael had a nice smile, and his eyes were clear as well. There was no sign that he mistreated Tiara or one of his other subjects.
Taking a good look at the surroundings, Legion caught sight of that multiple races lived in the territory. They lived together like the Demi-Humans in ancient times. It brought back memories of the past.
"I'm fine. It's enough to know that they're all alive and well."
Michael shrugged. He didn't comprehend everything about the Sivlerfang Tigerfolk's situation, their traditions, and values. There was no need to nudge Legion into doing something he didn't want.
"But I'm curious about something," Legion uttered all of a sudden, his following words attracting the attention of the hugging Silverfangs as well.
"How did you manage to Summon us? You're only a Tier-3 Lord, and I don't believe you've accumulated enough achievement points to summon us. Meanwhile, our Princess has yet to reach the 3rd Tier. I doubt she has enough achievement points either. She was too surprised to be related with this."
Michael rubbed his head and smiled dryly.
"To be honest, I am not sure either."
