Now that the Summoning Gate was repaired, Michael could resume summoning more Summons. He'd hoarded the Ordinary Summoning Scrolls procured from trading Mythic Summoning Scrolls at the Bartholomew Corporation and combined them to 1-Star Named Scrolls whenever he had enough Scrolls to spare.
After several months of anonymous trading at the Bartholomew Corporation, Michael had hoarded more than 100,000 1-Star Named Scrolls and 400,000 Ordinary Summoning Scrolls.
He didn't hesitate to break their seals, summoning 500,000 Summons.
At last, Michael could expand his territory properly. He had enough resources to support the rapid expansion of his population. It was a happy day.
Michael spectated the spectacular summoning process. Dozens of Starless Summons emerged from the Summoning Gate's energy pool at a time. A tour guide approached the batches and welcomed them into the territory. They introduced the new Summons into Michael's territory and shared all necessary information as they strode through Arx.
Not all Summons would stay in Arx, but most would be introduced to Arx before they could move to Brynud, the second settlement in Michael's territory.
Arx was Michael's main settlement for now, but that was only for now. Michael had already planned to transform Arx into an indestructible border settlement. Therefore, Arx wouldn't continue to expand at some point. Instead, it would be fortified until it was near-indestructible.
Brynud was similar. However, instead of being a border settlement, Brynud would transform into the second line of defense. It would develop similar to Arx. The sole difference was that Brynud was bound to grow into a much larger settlement.
Arx was the first border settlement, but it wouldn't be any more than one of many in the future. Michael was not in a rush, but he planned to conquer the portion of the Untamed Jungle that bulged out of the True Untamed Jungle in the next two years. If his subjects continued to work as hard as they worked currently, two years should be more than enough to claim the entire bulging part.
All he needed was enough workforce, which was not a problem thanks to Extraction and Insert, resources, and measurements to block and eliminate all threats.
As long as Michael had enough space and resources to provide for his subjects, he could summon as many as he wanted. The anonymous trading of Mythic Summoning Scrolls was far more lucrative than he had expected.
He didn't lack resources anymore, either. The trading cycle generated mountains of resources. For now, the mountains of resources were utilized to expand the trading cycle. Still, it was only a matter of months before he could use the resources to expand his territory rapidly.
The only thing Michael 'lacked' was military might. That was not entirely true. Michael had enough military might to man four to five settlements with guards. However, Michael was not satisfied with the bare minimum. He didn't want to expand his territories and construct several settlements if he couldn't ensure that invaders—whether Monsters, Summons, or Awakened—couldn't enter his settlements and harm his people.
Michael desired to protect his people. He was responsible for them. Therefore, he wouldn't summon more Summons than he could handle. 500,000 new Summons were a lot, but Michael was confident he could take care of them. Among the 100,000 1-Star Named Summons, 50% were Combat Summons. Michael would add them to the Untamed Army and have them undergo hellish training to advance to Tier-2 as quickly as possible.
Once they reached Tier-2, they would be perfect to guard his settlements as ordinary Guards. The Elite Guard position would be staffed by Tier-3 Summons, preferably Holy Knights or veteran combatants unwilling to continue fighting at the frontlines.
The Regional War against the Savannah's rulers ended half a year ago. That was more than enough time to take care of one of the most important tasks: finding suitable Awakened to bring to Arx.
Because the Summoning Gate had been broken, it wasn't possible to bring the second and third batches of Awakened to his territory. However, that didn't mean Michael didn't take care of them. On the contrary, Michael ensured that they used the last three months – six months passed in the Origin Expanse – to study, practice and grow stronger.
Michael had Rebecca Zauber and her friend take care of the Awakened Agency. She tested the most suitable candidates multiple times and gave them enough resources – Michael's – to grow stronger. Their progress, determination, and willpower were tested several times until they were found suitable or unsuitable for becoming Michael's subordinates.
Now that the Summoning Gates had been fixed, Michael welcomed 175 Awakened into his territory. They had to be flown to the Saphirelake Military Academy to establish the Link of Loyalty and allow the Awakened to anchor in Michael's domain before they used the Silver Tokens of Transportation to appear in Arx.
The transportation fees and the cost of training the Awakened were not something everyone would be willing to pay. A single Silver Token of Transportation was already extremely expensive, yet He hired a spaceship to pick up 175 Awakened and bring them to the Saphirelake Military Academy, which was a 30-day-long trip across the Stellar System. However, Michael was willing to invest that much into his Awakened.
They may look weak in other people's eyes, but to Michael, they were unpolished diamonds…and he had the only means to polish them. After all, he was the only one who could give these 'failed' Awakened what they lacked the most. He could reward them with Soultrait Symbols and Soultrait Upgrades!
Michael granted the newcomers a huge loan of Jungle Points, allowing them to purchase two Abilities and the means to upgrade them to 4-Star right away. The Awakened's Links of Loyalty were growing much faster than the other Links of Loyalty. They never expected that Michael would give them several Soultraits and the points required to upgrade them. In the first hour of being in Michael's territory, they transformed from weaklings with useless Soultraits into Elite Awakened with several Soultraits. Their Soultraits weren't even at a low rank.
Their lives changed instantly. Nobody would frown upon them anymore. That was all thanks to Michael.
Their trust, gratitude, and loyalty toward He skyrocketed.
Michael could sense that, but he was too overwhelmed by the massive influx of Soul Power and the creation of 500,000 Links of Loyalty to focus on the Awakened.
Newly established Links of Loyalty were fragile and known for getting stimulated the most 24 hours within their creation. Population would get to know their Lord through other subjects, and they would learn a lot about the territory, dangers, and the territory's condition in the first few days of their summoning. Every bit and piece of information would affect the firmness of their Link of Loyalty and their opinion of their new Lord.
Michael was not worried about that. If anything, he was curious how strong everyone's Link of Loyalty would grow in the next few days.
Maybe the Soul Power generated by the firmest Links of Loyalty would reinforce his Abilities enough to resurrect Danny without their mother's help.
But He doubted that. He would have to approach his mother soon.
Unfortunately.
