?Tatjana spent a long time using Eyes of Evolution to find as much as possible about the tamed monsters in Michael’s territory. She noted all the details without leaving anything. Even the most, seemingly, useless pieces of information were written down.
That was helpful as it allowed various monsters to find rather rare Elite Evolution Paths and some Superior Evolution Paths. The biggest downside of some rare and powerful Evolution Paths was that their requirements were extremely complicated. Most monsters would never have the opportunity to unlock these Evolution Paths given their environment and wild instincts.
However, the situation was a little bit different with Tatjana and Michael by their sides. Tatjana could aid the monsters and pinpoint the evolution requirements and the resources needed to stimulate their evolutions, whereas Michael could burn holes into his wallet to procure everything needed.
It was a bit unfortunate, but Tatjana’s proficiency with the Eyes of Evolution was not good enough to learn much about Sun Demos’ Evolution Series. That was not a problem for the time being because Tatjana managed to find out enough details to initiate Sun Demos’ first evolution in the Infernal King Evolution Series. All Sun Demos had to do was unlock the Evolution Series properly and consume the right resources.
Resources.
That was also a big problem. The Infernal King Evolution Series required exotic resources that couldn’t be procured easily. They were rare to find in specific regions, regions with powerful High Beasts. It was no surprise that the materials for Sun Demos’ first evolution would be expensive.
Unfortunately, the same applied to the evolutions of the other tamed monsters.
It was only obvious but Michael – like everyone else – was hoping to give the tamed monsters the best possible evolutions to strengthen them and, in retrospect, his territory.
That led to the biggest problem, a problem that was prevalent for all Lords; Their lack of resources.
No matter how wealthy a Lord was, there were always huge expenses in their territory. Someone would always be asking for new resources, tools, blueprints, and so forth.
It was no surprise that many people considered Lords both filthy rich and overwhelmingly poor.
Interestingly enough, Tatjana managed to procure some information about the Evolution Paths of Elementals as well. The Lesser Elementals desired to evolve and expand just like everyone else. 𝘪𝘦.𝘤𝑜
They desired to grow stronger and to be more integrated into the territory. That was also why they had become more proactive in their means to show support and reach out their helping hands for a while now.
The Elementals split up to help keep the soil in the herb gardens and farms nutritious. They supported the construction of all kinds of structures and reinforced the Grandmaster Smithies with their Elemental Might, which made it much easier and faster to forge high-quality Armaments.
Until now five Grandmaster Smithies had been constructed and each of them received support from a Pyro Bilrox and several Lesser Fire Elementals. The Master Blacksmiths and the Grandmasters felt a little bit weird, at first, but their opinion of the support changed quickly when they realized how useful the Pyro Bilrox and Lesser Fire Elementals were.
But the Lesser Elementals were not only good at helping in the territory. Their aid in combat was even better after they learned how to integrate a portion of their Elemental Might into weapons and other objects, allowing Awakened and Summons to access and wield a portion of their power.
That way, the Lesser Elementals were not forced into a replicate of Taming’s fusion. Instead, they could join the battle actively while also having a portion of their power stored within their allies to strengthen them even further.
Using the ability to store Elemental Might to their advantage, the Untamed Army was forced into a large-scale training session. It was no surprise that everyone was willing to give their utmost to grow stronger. However, that didn’t mean everyone could control Elemental Might easily.
Most Summons had issues controlling Elemental Might. It was a foreign power to everyone and therefore not easy to handle.
At the end of the day, most Summons had to train their Elemental Might control for a few hours every single day before they managed to use it actively in sparring sessions.
But now that they learned to control Elemental Might to a certain extent, one could see Humans, Forest Elves, Berserkers, Warlock Centaurs, and even some Silverfangs swirling blazing flames, water bubbles, wind blades, and pebbles around their bodies. Beads of sweat formed on their foreheads as they controlled the Elemental Might as precisely as possible, but they managed to do it.
Siegfried Dracoon’s talent was extraordinary. He managed to wield multiple types of Elemental Might simultaneously. This increased his combat prowess even further, earning him more respect from all sides. The Immortal Knight didn’t like the extent of their respect. He didn’t think that he deserved to be this respected, not after disappointing his new Lord and the members of the Sacred Knight Temple like that.
He was still too weak.
If their Lord and the Untamed Awakened hadn’t been there, the Untamed Jungle would have fallen prey to the Heart of the Blazing Lion army. He and his Knights would have died miserably. Not even their strongest Holy Formations worked against them.
Why?
Because they were too weak. All of them!
Of course, Siegfried could give excuses. He knew that he hadn’t been that long in Michael’s territory and that a Native Empire was not a usual enemy, but would that help him? No.
Instead of getting a big head from the respect and praises he received, Siegfried Dracoon channeled the respect to transform into a role model for the other Blessed Squires, Holy Knights, and others.
The week that had been assigned to honor the deceased ended a while ago, but nobody started training only now. Nobody was able to rest. Everyone was dissatisfied with their power. They felt insignificant and useless.
Nobody wanted to feel the same desperation and helplessness as they did against the forces of the Zentika Empire. Never!
At last, Michael emerged from isolation once again. He was satisfied with the results of his hard work, but it was even better to observe how much about his territory had changed. Nobody stagnated. Everyone gave their utmost to progress and improve their lives within the territory.
Surprisingly enough, Michael met Frederik, Hiraku, and some others in the wooden manor’s living room.
“Michael is back!” Frederik said, jumping up and pointing at Hiraku, “Hiraku asked me a really good question, and I got no clue how to answer it!”
Michael raised an eyebrow and glanced over to Hiraku, whose emotionless expression hadn’t changed much.
“I was just curious about your territory’s name. Because nobody knows what your territory is called. This place, your main settlement, has no denominate either,” Hiraku pointed out calmly.
“Hmm?” Michael tilted his head, “A name? I…never thought about that, honestly.”
Frederik stared at Michael in disbelief, “You cannot be serious right now.”
“Are you sure?” Hiraku asked, also a little bit surprised that Michael never thought about giving his territory and settlement a name.
“Well…” Michael scratched the back of his hand, “We were always busy fighting with our lives on the line or working tirelessly. I think nobody cared about a name until now.”
“Or…” Hiraku continued, “You didn’t care and others didn’t mention it because they were sure that you would denominate the settlement soon.”
Michael looked at Hiraku, not quite sure. .𝘤𝘰
“Is that so?”
Lilica was also there and broke into laughter, “I contemplated you were joking, but you didn’t think of a denominate for the settlement?”
She had to wipe a tear from the corner of her eyes from all that laughing, yet she turned slightly more serious after a few minutes of enjoyment.
“You have to start naming some things, you know? At least your settlements should receive some proper names once you start expanding,” She pointed out, “Since this is a jungle, you’ll probably have some tribes spreading throughout it in the future as well. Calling them by numbers wouldn’t be nice, would it?”
Forest Elves didn’t hate large settlements, but they were more comfortable about smaller places that hadn’t been touched and altered much.
They loved the raw sides of nature quite a lot.
“That…sounds about right…” Michael murmured.
“I heard some people call me Lord of the Untamed Jungle. That sounds pretty nice. I like it,” He said, causing the others to groan.
It might be a little bit early to call himself the Lord of the Untamed Jungle, but Michael felt that it was suitable. The Untamed Jungle was a major part of his success. It deserved to be praised and to remain in his name. He didn’t want to leave the Untamed Jungle anytime soon either. It was a good name.
However, it was a little bit more difficult to give his settlement a name. Calling it anything random wouldn’t be nice. Most people might not be bothered if the denominate sounds interesting or cool, but Michael felt that it might be nice to give his main settlement a meaningful name.
That made it even harder.
“How about we call the settlement….Arx?”
Michael was unsure, at first, but as he called out the denominate it felt right. Almost as if the settlement had always been supposed to be called Arx.
“Arx?” Frederik frowned deeply, but Hiraku raised an eyebrow.
“Arx like the invincible fortress?”
Michael merely smiled in response, whereas Hiraku nodded slowly.
“Sounds good to me.”
This content is taken from 𝑖𝘦.𝒸𝘰𝑚