?The Lord Seal and the Claim Note were an extraordinary combination. Michael could be acknowledged by the SacredBeast, who reigns over the mountain range. He wouldn’t have an issue controlling Paradise Valley if he’d used the Lord Seal to transform it into his territory.
“What do you think? Should I use the Intermediate Summoning Gate properly starting today?” Michael asked while his attention remained on the Claim Note and the Lord Seal.
[You want to set up a Summoning Gate in the valley? Are you not busy enough with your territory in the Untamed Jungle?] Daniel asked, but Michael merely shrugged.
“Of course, I’m busy in the Untamed Jungle, but you told me enough about Paradise Valley to know that this place is worth it. Since the Primal Phoenix won’t attack me, I will have no problem claiming the entire valley. The Undead Pharaoh got rid of all potential enemies. Not many were left after you and the other Lords died…”
Since it was possible to connect an Intermediate Summoning Gate to two Basic Summoning Gates, it wouldn’t be an issue to create a second sub-territory in the Sacred Desert.
The Basic Summoning Gates could be used like the Intermediate Summoning Gate. There wouldn’t be any difference.
Usually, multiple Summoning Gates were established when a Lord’s territory expanded into a Dukedom. The Portal Attachment would be added to the Summoning Gate to allow all subjects connected to the Lord to teleport from one Summoning Gate to the others. Each teleportation cost a considerable amount of energy, but the price would be worth it as it would make traveling through large territories much easier.
The Portal Attachment was especially useful for warfare on multiple fronts.
But Michael didn’t want to use the Summoning Gates like that. It would focus on teleportation arrays to transport his subjects through his territory while using the Summoning Gates for other purposes. Of course, teleportation arrays were more expensive to create and use than the Portal Attachment. Still, the increased energy consumption was a low price if he could use the Summoning Gates to create sub-territories in other regions.
The Sacred Desert’s Paradise Valley was a secret region with various valuable resource deposits required to mass-produce teleportation arrays. Several business partners required the resources acquired within the Sacred Desert as well. Michael could procure them using his workforce to lower the production cost of the Sacred Desert’s product. Improving the business cycle with an even lower budget wouldn’t be an issue. That was perfect!
Only a few Lords would be daring enough to establish a second territory far from their main territory, but Michael was not afraid of enemies. In the first place, the Sacred Desert was almost void of enemies. Only a few Human Lords near the edge of the Sacred Desert were still alive. Some of them were somewhat ‘powerful’ but couldn’t compare to Michael.
Now that the Undead Pharaoh was dead, only the Primal Phoenix was stronger than him. No other entity in the Sacred Desert should be able to hold a candle against him.
Michael could expand freely in the Sacred Desert for quite a while.
Even if trouble occurs in the future, Michael will be able to defeat the Monster Overlords and the Lords in the surrounding regions by utilizing the advantages of the Sacred Desert and the Untamed Jungle. Michael wasn’t afraid of a good fight.
The corner of his lips curled upward.
[You can destroy the teleportation chambers leading to Paradise Valley before claiming it. If you do that, nobody will notice your presence in the Sacred Desert. After all, nobody should know that Paradise Valley exists.]
“Except for the family who betrayed you,” Michael added, his expression changing slowly.
He tried controlling his emotions, but the anger boiling at the mere thought of the traitors was enough to enrage him. His brother was with Michael again, but everything would have been so much easier if Danny had never been betrayed.
[Don’t bother about that family for now. You can find and punish them when you’re a little bit stronger. Either way, it won’t be long before you are strong enough to control High Society. If you persist like this, you’ll be able to deal with the old Tier-6 powerhouses of High Society in a few years at most.]
Michael didn’t calm down instantly. He had to close his eyes and take a few deep breaths before his boiling anger subsided.
“Removing the Teleportation Chambers will severely affect my only routes into Paradise Valley and outside. I don’t think I should do that,” Michael murmured after he considered about Danny’s proposal.
[That’s not true. If the Sacred Beast, the Primal Phoenix, accepts you as the rightful owner of Paradise Valley is mentioned in the Claim Note, everything should be fine. You can establish a secure path through the Blazing Sand Mountain Range. The Primal Phoenix won’t attack you or your subjects while you’re passing through the Blazing Sand Mountain Range while protecting the path from invaders. You can turn the Primal Phoenix into the Guardian of Paradise Valley!]
[You won’t have to leave Paradise Valley for now, either. It will take a while to claim the entire valley and transform it into a properly working territory. Establishing a territory in the desert is a little bit harder than in the jungle. You might not struggle as much as I did since you won’t have many enemies, but it won’t be easy!]
It was interesting to see how quickly Danny changed his opinion. At first, his brother was skeptical, only to be convinced that creating a sub-territory in the Sacred Desert was the best possible choice.
What else would Michael do with the Lord Seal? Sell it? That would be wasteful. The Lord Seal and the Claim Note were incredibly valuable for Michael. The brothers doubted that High Society could afford to purchase the Claim Note and the Lord Seal. It was too valuable in their hearts.
“What do you think, World Serpent? Wolf Curse?” Michael inquired them lightly, ignoring that they crunched on the Undead Pharaoh’s bones to suck him dry of curse power.
[Don’t care. Please tell me when you tame the Primal Phoenix. I want to make fun of it.] The World Serpent replied, disinterested, whereas the Wolf Curse didn’t even bother looking up from the Undead Pharaoh’s corpse.
Michael didn’t expect much from those two. He used Cosmic Stride to teleport high up into the sky, and he used Spirit Eyes to search for an intact Summoning Gate.
Since the Lord in Paradise Valley died roughly simultaneously, Michael had no problems finding an intact Summoning Gate nearby. Many Lords in Paradise Valley were killed before their Summoning Gate had been damaged.
Reactivating them was fairly simple as the Summoning Gate was intact, one Summoning Core was installed, and a Lord Seal was present.
Michael found a few Summoning Gates with inlaid Summoning Cores, but Spirit Eyes detected some damage in their interiors. Therefore, he removed their Summoning Cores and continued searching for a perfectly intact Summoning Gate.
It took him two hours to land on a small mountain of sand, the frame of a Summoning Gate peeking out of it. He unleashed a torrent of wind, stirring up the sand mountain and dispersing it into the surrounding area.
An intact Summoning Gate emerged from the mountain.
Spirit Eyes detected that there was no issue with the Summoning Gate. It merely missed a Summoning Core, which was solved quickly as Michael opened the hatched to the Summoning Gate to install all Summoning Cores – after purifying them thoroughly.
The Summoning Gate hummed soundly after the Summoning Cores had been installed.
It was time for Michael to become the Lord of Paradise Valley.