'It's not bad, but it's not where I want it to be either.'
That was Damien's conclusion after the past few days of meetings.
Only the first one was truly important.
After pulling a stunt like what he did with the traitorous Elders, there was no way he could continue on the same course without consulting the higher-ups of the palace.
On the day the impaled heads were revealed, Damien called a meeting with not only his mother and the other Grand Dukes, but also the 12 Swords.
The topic was easy to guess.
"Void Palace will begin preparing for war from today onward."
That was what Damien said to them.
"I have prepared to seal the border so news of what's happening here won't get out for at least a month. In that time, I will raise an army that can stand against anyone else in the world."
And that was the promise he made.
It was an extremely impractical thing. Even his own mother couldn't support such an out-of-pocket statement.
However, Damien made them approve without much of a hitch.
After all, he just needed to show them his trump card.
That meeting ended in success after he told them the details of what seemed like a reckless stunt on the surface.
Whether it be the Grand Dukes who tried to support him unconditionally or the 12 Swords who were only now forming their first impressions of their new "Young Lord," nobody in the room could argue against such a strategy.
As long as it worked, that is.
Therefore, Damien was given a chance. If he could prove his words in the coming weeks, they would accept his proposition and give him the reigns over Void Palace.
If he couldn't, then he'd need to find a way to fix the mess he caused with his own hands before it could affect the palace itself.
It was a bet with reasonable terms, and it was exactly what Damien wanted.
Trust didn't come easy, but if it was earned properly, it would become the most indomitable thing in the whole world.
That was the trust he wanted from them. Absolute unconditional faith. And to achieve that, he needed to accomplish things so grand that they developed such faith naturally.
He'd done it in the lower universe, and now the time had come for him to do it here.
The first thing he did after gaining the freedom to act as he pleased was put up the recruitment notice.
That notice gave a week of preparation and travel time for those involved, and also promised to waive travel expenses such as usage of teleportation arrays so people could be gathered at the fastest speed.
The wages were good, the conditions were extremely beneficial for those who passed the recruitment test, and the honor of becoming the palace's sword was great enough for countless men between the ages of 18 and 300 to apply without hesitation.
The only prerequisite was that they could absolutely obey the command structure of the army. If they defied orders or lagged behind, they would lose all the privileges they obtained.
It was somewhat commonplace for an army recruitment to have such conditions, so it was easy for people to underestimate what they were getting themselves into.
But it was fine.
Damien didn't want a ragtag bunch of soldiers. No, he wanted to pick the hidden gems and exposed diamonds out of the crowd and train them into an absolute elite force that couldn't be stopped.
As soon as the recruitment notice went out, Damien focused on preparing the venue for the test and other managerial duties before going through the rest of the meetings he had planned.
That was where his original thought came from.
The people he was meeting with were those squads under the 12 Swords. The current "army" of Void Palace.
They were definitely experts. He could tell that they were battle-hardened and powerful, but they were lacking something special.
They didn't meet his standards, standards set by the people around him and under him.
'It's fine. As long as I instill them with the qualities I want, there won't be a problem.'
Damien grinned.
Nobody knew it but him, the 4 Grand Dukes, and the 12 Swords.
The second the recruitment ended and the foundation of an army was built…
…Damien was going to turn Void Palace into a nightmare.
***
The time for recruitment came fast.
The venue was somewhere outside the main palace, a large field that could house several dozens of millions of people.
Yet, this field was filled to the brim, and the surrounding forest was also packed.
Damien may or may not have underestimated the scale of the Heavenly World.
He forgot just how massive this place was.
Even a single principality was larger than a solar system, and unlike a solar system that was mostly made up of empty space, the principalities were covered in inhabitable land from head to toe.
The population of the Brightmoon Principality was relatively small in comparison to the rest, but still, billions of people showed up to answer Damien's call to arms.
The crowd was bustling, conversations taking place all around to speculate what exactly the trials would be and how they would manage to accurately test every contestant here.
However, these people didn't know the man they were being tested by.
He who controlled Existence. He who mastered the Concept of Harmony.
If it was him, the space they currently inhabited could truly become anything.
Damien stood in the air above them and scanned the crowd with his eyes.
'Void Palace will be Void Palace, huh. Despite the size of the crowd, I can hardly sense anyone with bad intentions.'
It was nice to see, but even nicer were some of the peculiar souls he sensed among them.
'This will be a fun test.'
Especially because…
He glanced in a certain direction, at a certain group who was unnoticeable among the massive crowd, even if one paid close attention to them.
'Their disguises are nice, but they can't fool my eyes. I expected those two to come, but to think…'
Damien smiled.
Dominic Void, Darius Void, Yiren Void, and Hestia Void.
All four of his siblings were present, dressed and disguised as common people.
'I was already thinking of training them regardless, so this is great.'
He would get to see their skills, and he would get to see their worth.
They were the ones representing Void Palace's younger generation. There were some promising talents within the Grand Duke Clans as well, who'd been sent to participate in the recruitment by their Clan Heads who were aware of what Damien was planning.
These were people who'd eventually get far harsher training from Damien than anyone else.
Because if they didn't uphold the standard, then nobody would follow it.
They were the faces behind the name, the ones outsiders would use to judge the palace.
'I can hardly wait any longer. I'm really too excited for this.'
Damien clapped his hands together with a smile.
He was tired of waiting. Anyone who hadn't made it by now was just fated to miss the recruitment.
'Well then…'
He looked down at the crowd one final time before snapping his fingers and allowing his laws to work.
'Let's get started, shall we?'
