Michael used some of the resources he had amassed to expand his territory.
Following his orders, Michael’s subjects constructed enough residencies for 150,000 subjects. The domain of the Greater Nature Spirit expanded and the farmland flourished. Small patches of farmland were created everywhere to plant and grow the rare herbs and plants Michael procured from the Tritan Alliance.
The Trilance imported some of their races’ unique flora as well, granting Michael more access to resources. Due to the influx of herbs and plants, the Alchemists in his territory managed to come up with new recipes and practice some of the rare potion recipes that had been collecting dust for a while now.
The Mystic Alchemists found a way to replace some highly valuable gases with Kitsun Clouds, which had been stored for quite a while now. It wasn’t an easy feat to experiment with Kitsun Cloud but most issues could be solved with some effort and determination.
The Mystic Alchemist’s finds and experiments intrigued Michael. It was worth paying more attention to their work in the future, especially with their research into Chaos Pills and similar dangerous concoctions.
Michael was still at the Lowest rank of Tier-3 despite receiving a large number of energy shares from the Savanah Expedition’s hunts. It wasn’t going to be that easy to refine his War Rune. Once he upgraded Extraction and Soul Grimoire, his War Rune would require even more energy to breakthrough to the 4th Tier.
His ascension to a Higher Lifeform would take a while.
It was a good thing that Michael was not in a rush to become a Higher Lifeform. His foundation was far from perfect, and to generate the most benefits from his ascension, Michael would have to spend a lot more time, effort, and resources on his foundation, either way.
Other than the recently constructed residencies and the Mystic Alchemist’s research results, many other things changed in Michael’s territory. The canopy bridge network had been expanded. It spread across the majority of the Untamed Jungle’s middle area and outer ring at this point.
The Enchanters ensured that the canopy bridges were well hidden, using Camouflage, and Presence Distortion runes to cover the canopy bridges with great precision. Even Michael would have difficulties pinpointing the canopy bridges with Spirit Eyes if he didn’t know where to look for them.
The work efficiency within the territory improved drastically since it was not as cumbersome as it used to be to move through the Untamed Jungle.
Unfortunately, the renovation of the Sacred Knight Temple wouldn’t finish anytime soon. This slowed down the progress of the Blessed Squires and Holy Knights, who stayed back in the Untamed Jungle instead of moving out with the Savannah Expedition. Even the number of newly promoted Blessed Squires decreased drastically.
That was a shame, but everyone knew that renovating the Sacred Knight Temple was going to bring more long-term benefits. It was not like the temple was going to collapse and disappear.
The Blessed Squires and Holy Knights were dedicated to their craft. They trained tirelessly and motivated the Warriors, Archers, Assassins, Vanguards, Knights, Berserkers, and other Summons to train hard even though they couldn’t use the benefits of the Sacred Knight Temple right now.
It was nice to see that his Summons worked hard. Michael gained more motivation to work even harder watching his subjects.
Therefore, Michael used his now-vast knowledge about a wide variety of techniques to create some upgraded versions of the neutral techniques his summons used to refine their bodies and minds.
It was unusual for Summons to be able to refine their souls, but Michael opted to give his Summons a Neutral Soul Refinement technique as well. He heard that a few selected Summons could refine their souls. It was just that finding those selected few wasn’t easy.
Michael would have loved to give his Summons his techniques, but Wisdom Breaker was too dangerous, and Consirat of War wasn’t going to work on most Summons. Consirat of War required a strong, near-flawless, physique to show its true effect. Furthermore, the technique was too expensive for the masses. Michael’s wealth of resources would disappear in a single day, maybe even hours if his Summons began practicing a technique like Consirat of War.
Techniques that were cheaper to practice, and highly efficient for unrefined physiques and minds were the most useful for Summons. Their strength increased drastically without the need to drain their Lord’s entire fortune.
If his Summons showed talent toward Body Refinement or Mind Refinement, Michael could always upgrade their benefits and reward them for being dedicated and talented by giving them better techniques. These techniques would be more complicated and require more resources to practice but their efficiency and effects would be much better.
Since Immortal Knight was on the battlefield, the other Instructors had to work even harder to train the territory’s military. Their training was not as efficient as the training regime of the Sacred Knight Temple’s Leader, but it was better than letting the Summons do as they pleased. Some might be capable enough to train on their own, but others would learn certain movements wrong, turning the flawed movements into habits.
Habits were cumbersome to remove. It was an unnecessary waste of time to remove bad habits if one could learn everything properly from an Instructor instead.
The number of high-ranked Instructors in his territory was still a little low, but that was something Michael could solve over time. The Hunter Academy would open some spots to train higher-ranked Instructors to instruct the students of the academy thereafter. .
The more training facilities Michael created in his territory the easier it was to train Instructors for specific occupations. It would take some time, but the Instructors required to fill the Sacred Knight Temple and the Hunter Academy were bound to be promoted naturally or summoned sooner or later.
The Greater Eagles and the Bilrox were also having a good time. Their numbers kept increasing, and so did their relationship with the remaining citizens of the territory.
Michael learned that a dozen mutated Bilrox joined the Underground Forging Hall to stay near the forges. Their mutation manifested a Seed of Fire deep inside their bodies, attuning them to hot environments.
The exterior of the Untamed Jungle was still suitable to the Pyro Bilrox, but they were even more comfortable near the burning forges. They supported the Blacksmiths of the Underground Forging Hall and received the best food, beverages, and a personal hut to sleep in in return.
The Underground Forging Hall Expanded. Grandmaster Smithies and antiquated forging methods reached the Forging Hall. The Blacksmiths studied the Grandmaster Smithy Blueprints and spent several weeks recreating them with the materials they had. The final result of the first Grandmaster Smithy was not as exceptional as it could have been, but the following Grandmaster Smithies were extraordinary.
The Blacksmiths hired some Lesser Elementals to become temporary Spiritual Flames for the Grandmaster Smithies. Spiritual Flames were ever-lasting flames that couldn’t be extinguished. It was not impossible, but most researchers said that it was near impossible. Spiritual Flames could be bound to the Soul where they would grow alongside their contractor.
Lesser Elementals couldn’t be bound to the Soul like Spiritual Flames, but the Blacksmiths could communicate with the Lesser Elementals, allowing the Blacksmiths to use several new forging methods that required precise control of the flames’ temperature and properties.
The Pyro Bilrox, the Lesser Elementals, and the Blacksmiths developed into a team to utilize the Grandmaster Smithies’ potential. They couldn’t unleash the Grandmastre Smithies’ full potential, but their working efficiency improved drastically. The results of their work were also much better.
Studying the antiquated forging methods Michael obtained from the Soultrait Symbol Auction wasn’t easy. Most 1-Star Blacksmith Apprentices and the majority of 2-Star Blacksmiths had to give up any attempts to study the ancient methods because their comprehension was not high enough.
They were blacksmiths but they didn’t understand the Heart of Forgers, nor the True Essence of Forging properly. If they ever managed to comprehend the Heart of Forgers and the True Essence of Forging, they might attain insight and understand the antiquated methods of forging.
Some 2-Star Blacksmiths were elevated to 3-Star Disciples of the Ancient Forge.
Michael had never heard of a name for a Summon’s occupation like that, but he predicted that it was similar to 1-Star Blacksmith Apprentice, or 1-Star Enchanter Novice. Mastering the craft of the Ancient Forge to a certain degree would probably be enough for the 3-Star Disciples of the Ancient Forge to be elevated to 4-Star Summons.
That was very intriguing, and it was something Michael looked forward to.
Overall, Michael’s territory expanded quite a bit. He managed to start more than a dozen new projects last week and finished more than a hundred mid-sized projects that had been bothering him for quite a while.
Some of the projects were related to his territory’s defenses, residencies, and the supplies his territory would require once he started another summoning session. However, other projects were for younger and older subjects in his territory. He built a large-scale retirement home for older Summons, who wanted to help somehow, but were too weak to help anywhere. They shared their vast experience of life and their craft in exchange for being tended to until they died in old age.
The youngest received a kindergarten and an elementary school. The kindergarten helped families to go to work without having to worry about their child’s safety. The children attending the kindergarten would socialize with each other and learn to live in the community before they would learn some basic knowledge in elementary school. 𝘪𝑎.𝘤𝑜𝘮
They would get to know more about the Origin Expanse and the necessities to survive in the world. Teaching the young generation would help the territory survive for eons to come.
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