The death of the Drakna, Glorack, and Petra people set Daniel’s heart at ease.
He didn’t possess the powers of a Lord anymore, but he could be considered the sole ruler of the hidden region, at last. It felt great.
“Rebuilding the Summoning Gate will take a while. It might not be done before the Primedival Pyramid will collapse with the treasures inside it,” The Lamia Queen pointed out reluctantly after she saw that everyone was overjoyed, and eager to celebrate emerging victorious against the other Lords whom they had fought for years.
“I will instruct the citizens to return. They can repair the Summoning Gate, and I’ll reactivate it with the Lord Seal once it’s done. But just as you said, it might take a while. That means I should spend most of my time inside the Primedival Pyramid. After all, the Pyramid is for us to loot now that the other threats have been eliminated,” Danny responded with a wide grin.
Now that he was in possession of various Summoning Cores, his Summoning Gate and the Lord Seal, Danny could become the sovereign of the ownerless hidden region. That was what he had worked tirelessly for the last four years, to the extent that he even neglected his dear brother.𝑛𝑶𝚟𝓮𝓵𝐍𝖊xt.𝗇𝓔t
When he recalled his brother, Danny felt apologetic. He knew that Michael would never think badly of him, but that didn’t mean he should have neglected Michael’s training that much.
‘If I find a Legendary Artifact or something equally valuable he needs, I will give it to Michael!’ Danny swore to himself, upon recalling their last meeting where he sensed that Michael’s territory was extremely dangerous.
It was at least equally dangerous compared to the hidden region of the Sacred Desert, but Danny had a bad feeling that it might actually be a lot more dangerous. Thus, as a good elder brother who wanted to repent his mistakes, Daniel Fang had to collect a few treasures to hand over to his little brother.
“We will celebrate today with everyone, and don’t have to rush back to work,” Daniel announced as he saw the expressions on some of his subordinates’ faces.
It was evident that they didn’t want to jump from the battle against the Undead of the Sacred Desert to the final fight against the other Lords, just to continue working tirelessly. They deserved some rest, and to celebrate their final victory. Danny supported that as well.
He would still get back to the Primedival Pyramid from tomorrow onward, but that didn’t mean he would force the others to join his raid.
Given the first few trials, Danny could tell that the Primedival Pyramid was not too difficult to conquer. Using brute force and dirty tricks to destroy Guardian Statues before they would awaken, and triggering all the traps while being at a safe distance, Danny was not in too much danger.
Of course, the Primedival Pyramid wouldn’t be too easy to conquer the deeper he went, but Daniel was currently a mere Adventurer now that he lost his Lord powers. That meant he couldn’t force anyone to follow him, even if he wanted to.
“I notified the citizens in the underground bunkers that the threat is negated and that they can return. Meanwhile, we could clean up and prepare everything for the celebration,” One of the Awakened working under Danny said. He was clearly excited about the prospect of partying wildly and didn’t even bother about hiding that fact.
Danny smiled lightly upon seeing his excitement. Since he lost his Lord Power, the contract established through the Link of Loyalty between him and the Awakened working under him had been broken. The Awakened could leave him behind, or even attack him if they desired to do so. But given their excited expressions as they talked to the other Lamia and Human Summons about celebrating their success, Danny sighed in relief.
One of his worries had been that this strategy would stir trouble in his own rows. He trusted his Summons because his bond with them was different than his connection and contracts with the other Awakened. The other Adventurers might desire to take one of the Summoning Cores, and a broken-down Summoning Gate of the other Lords to regain their Lord powers as well. All they required was time, effort, and a Lord Seal.
It was not easy to regain one’s Lord Power as a single individual, but it was not impossible.
Fortunately, it looked like the Adventurers working under Daniel didn’t desire to become Lords again. Being a Lord restrained their freedom. It cost a lot of money, effort, and it was a hassle overall.
Of course, the benefits were great. If you were a good Lord, your Soultrait’s power would skyrocket, and your military prowess inside the Origin Expanse would reach new heights, creating more openings to collect treasures and claim ore mines, and other resourceful places that could generate a small fortune. Last but not least, being a Lord made it much easier to refine one’s War Rune.
The War Rune of Lords required a lot more energy to progress the refinement rank and advance to the next Tier, but by fighting large-scale wars, it was easier to obtain a vast amount of energy from the subjects’ Links of Loyalty.
Every kill would provide a trace of energy to the Lord. In small numbers that might seem insignificant, but fighting armies with hundreds of thousands of enemies would turn the small traces of energy into vast streams– which would naturally allow the War Rune to progress.
Since everyone was excited and high in spirits it didn’t take long to collect all the corpses and to clean up the surroundings. The Sahirat Elephants bulldozed the collapsed buildings before huge tents were set up all over the former settlement of Danny’s territory.
Everyone worked hard for the next hour or two before the first barrels of wine and beer were retrieved from the spatial pouches and spatial storages.
When the citizens of the settlement returned to their homes, they were shocked about the fact that their homes had been destroyed at first. However, Danny and the others calmed the flabbergasted citizens, telling them that it was only a matter of days before their houses would be standing tall once again. After all, Danny already had a spatial pouch filled with enough raw materials to create a new settlement – using more valuable construction materials than earlier!
In the evening the true celebration began. A huge tribute was offered to bid a final goodbye to the souls of the deceased humans and Lamia. After that, Danny and the others feasted on plenty of dishes that had been prepared by the best chefs in the settlement. Afterward, some citizens began to play instruments, filling the surroundings with great music and an exceptional atmosphere.
Drinking beer and wine all while partying and rejoicing in their victory, the celebration of sovereignty could be considered a complete success. Dancing hand in hand with the comrades in arms and drinking all night until the first sun rays of the next morning peeked out from the horizon made everyone feel happy.
All the tension and stress accumulated over the last four years of unending hard work and tireless efforts to stay alive had finally dispersed.
For the first time in what felt like an eternity, Daniel’s heart fell at ease.
He finally did it.
He fulfilled his first big goal!