The Mighty Pug

Soaring high in the sky on Shaz's back, Enzo mapped out the territory surrounding his castle piece by piece.

So far he had come into contact with seven Castle Lords and two native forces.

In the past two days, Enzo had been wiping out these Castle Lords and had just cleared the last one.

His harvest was rich, and he wished, with just a little guilt, that there had been more Castle Lords in his immediate surroundings. Since the battles lasted just a few minutes, it was just the travel time, not the competition, that was hindering his efforts to gather resources.

Yes, to Enzo these Castle Lords were resources. It's not that he was cruel, but that he was realistic.

On Apeiron, it was kill or be killed and if anyone was slow on the uptake they were just asking to die.

Enzo surmised that the territory currently mapped out was just around 500 kilometers, but he had only found 7 other Castle Lords. This proved exactly how big Apeiron was if almost 6 billion Castle Lords lived on Apeiron.

Yes, the number shrank from 14.8 billion to 5.9 which meant that a little less than 40% of Castle Lords survived the first siege.

In these past two days not only had Enzo acquired a lot of materials, but he had also gained 7 Troop Buildings. These were extremely valuable resources to Castle Lords.

Deciding he didn't want to build any of the Troop Buildings, he put all but the Top-Tier blueprints up for auction.

What Enzo needed now the most was resources. So knew that to upgrade to a Duke-Tier power, he needed 1 Duke-Tier Castle Core, 10 Level 5 Buildings, 100,000 Wood, 100,000 Stone, and 10,000 Iron.

With his forces growing larger and larger by the day, and with his new level 2 Dragon Phoenix Pavilion, he would soon take on the task of attacking someone in the List of 1 Million. This would grant him a Duke-Tier Castle Core, but before that power move, he needed a lot of resources.

Exiting out of the Trading Channel, Enzo glanced around while riding on Shaz's back. It was sometimes hard to see everything but after upgrading himself to Tier-5, he noticed that his eyesight had improved, and he could now see the smallest detail even miles away.

Noticing something on the ground he called to Shaz who plunged through the clouds, his wings retracted to his sides, and his nose pointed towards the ground.

Abruptly Shaz's back straightened and his wings fluttered out to the side, elegantly landing on the ground. Shaz landed right in front of a creature that stood 3 meters tall and had horns protruding from the front of his face.

His skin had a taut gray-green rubbery texture stretched over massive muscles that defined his barrel-shaped chest, his trunk thick arms, and his boulder-sized thighs. A long snout, much like a pig's snout, anchored the middle of his face. Pointy ears, long sharp nails, and lacquer black hoofs completed his gripping presence.

The Boarman snarled in a deep voice, "Flying beasts of the Sun, we ask why you come here?"

His teeth were permanently barred, and his demeanor was anything but friendly. Even though the warrior was only Tier-4, his confidence made Enzo's hairs stand on end.

No one was stupid enough to act like this in front of a superior warrior like the Tier-6 Shaz without proper backup, even if he was three meters tall.

Also, he used 'Flying beasts of the Sun' which was a little alarming. "Does he know that they are Phoenixes and Dragons?" Enzo thought. "But how is that possible? They haven't existed on Apeiron for a million years! No one should be able to recognize them, much less be this calm about it."

Clearing his thoughts he dismounted Shaz and stared at the pig-headed man. With a commanding voice, he barked, "For whom do you speak?"

The Boar's stout head tilted and his horns turned slanted, "I am a great warrior of the Dark Boars of Shanhun Valley! We are strong! We are many! No flying beast can defeat our kingdom."

At the last words, Enzo's ears perked up. None of the other tribes had used the word kingdom, to use it you must have a Castle Core of at least the Duke-Tier which meant that Enzo had finally found his targeted Duke-Tier Core.

Wanting to get more information about the kingdom, Enzo pretended to fawn over the Boarman with great enthusiasm.

"Oh, mighty and strong warrior I didn't realize that you were of the fearsome and… illustrious Dark Boars, you will have to forgive my rudeness," Enzo said with a wave of his hand and a deep bow.

Tormu, Kai, Shaz, and the rest stood there with weird looks on their faces, "What do you think the Lord is doing?" Tormu whispered to Shaz.

Shrugging, Shaz replied in his normal low enthusiastic voice, "No idea."

Sighing, Tormu turned back to watch the Boar's reaction to the overly dramatic and totally fake show of respect.

The Boar tilted up his head in acceptance and gave a snorty laugh, "Haha! Yes, I am strong!" He said flexing his biceps and beating his hands on his chest, "Very good, you must be very talented to see my skill! Yes, yes you are very smart! Very smart!" He continued nodding his head in an energetic and sincere manner.

Enzo, trying to contain his laughter, asked, "My name is Enzo, what should I call you?" He figured since his flattery had worked before, he might as well try to get to know this Boarman. Maybe he could...

The Boar puffed out his chest and said with confidence, "My name is Pug!"

If Enzo had water in his mouth he would have spat it out. How could he say that name with such pride and confidence?

Enzo continued, "What did you mean when you said that you were the Dark Boars of the Shanhun Valley? Is that this continent or…?"

Pug tilted his head and pointed at the ground, "This is Shanhun Valley. Shanhun Valley is one of the 10 Known Regions of Apeiron."

Unexpectedly a prompt appeared in Enzo's vision.

[Hidden Achievement: Explorer

Requirements: Be the first in the region to unlock the region's name.

Effect: Gain a Map of the Region]

[Note: Hidden Achievements are available to all Castle Lords but only the fast and creative will achieve them!]

Storing the Map in his Castle Bank, Enzo looked at Pug with a mischievous smile.

"What does your excellency know about the Sun beasts?" Enzo said nonchalantly, he doubted this guy had two brain cells he could rub together much less figure out that these were actual phoenixes.

"They are the same color as the sun… duh!" Pug said emphatically, slapping his forehead and looking at Enzo like he was a dunce.

Enzo on the other hand was relieved that he was not found out and that this idiot was even dumber than he gave him credit for.

Thinking of something a small smile crept onto his face, "What position does your excellency hold in your prestigious kingdom? Captain, General, oh no I guess those must be too low, you must be Royalty!"

Pug stiffened and let out a little cough, "Well I am friends with a Captain…"

Enzo's smile got even wider and when his smile stretched ear to ear he said, "Well do you want to be King?"