568-583

568 Spending Time In Cultivation

The water issue was something I totally missed! At such high altitude, it would look amazing if we had a running river that would fall over the edges of these peaks, forming mighty and breathtaking falls.

Having ores here wouldn't be a problem. After all this was a mountainous nature. Having water might be a problem.

So I waited on the side, watching Isac taking samples from the rocks scattered over the peaks. I helped her jump from one peak to another until we visited all the peaks here.

I previously assumed there were a hundred here, but I was wrong! The number jumped up to reach three hundred and twenty-three peaks, making this place look more gigantic and enormous.

The real beauty of this place wouldn't be revealed until the construction process here ended. Yet that would take quite some time indeed.

As she said, we needed first to build floating fortresses and fortify them with sturdy shields. Also we needed to know the true nature of this world and see if we have water here or we had to find another way to get it.

"Let's get down there," as we finished here, I led her back to the underneath greenery world.

"Sigh! Can't believe such beauty is hidden by such a fierce show of nature," while we were passing through the lightning storm, she sighed..

"It's what makes that place more special," I laughed, "besides, what can bolts of lightning do to my chariot?"

"Like I said before, you are just damn lucky!"

"Hahaha!" I laughed while waiting for a few more minutes before we broke through the cloud layer. Once we got through, we returned to the big and empty place of land here.

"What do you think? Shall I make them stop?"

"There are many giant races here!" but unlike what I asked for, she noticed something else, "and there are two aquatic races… Come on! I asked you for these!"

She pursed out her lips, looking like a little girl complaining. With her male face, I couldn't help but laugh at her weird expression that never fitted a male.

"Ok, ok, I never said I forgot about that," I said while pointing at these races, "they are just doing their task here to clear land for you and my humans to start working here. So, do you think they should stop?"

"Stop? No way!" unexpectedly, she firmly shook her head, "we need a large, really large space to build our cities and towns at! This area is barely enough for one city and a couple towns! That's not even enough."

"Then…"

"Leave them here for a week or so," she thought, "that means almost half a day at our time, or less, right?"

I nodded and she continued:

"By then, the area we will clear will be enough. After that I'll take the races I need and lead them back to our world."

"What about…"

"Don't worry, drop me down and leave," she waved her hand as if this was a simple decision to take.

And when she noticed the weird look on my face, she added, "the time difference will play in our favour. Like this I can not only finish the drawings of the cities and towns here, but also can finish almost half of the designs of your kingdom."

"Ok," as she put it this way, how would I refuse. "Will you be safe?"

"Worried about me?" she acted in such a seductive way again, a way that wasn't even suited for her male face.

"Stop it, I'm worrying over my interests," I pushed her extended hand away from my face while rolling my eyes, "last time you got a cold feet, remember?"

"Humph! As if one time can be counted," she harrumphed, turned around and left. I could only sigh, watch her descend and stand on the faint pink ground that had a thick stream of water next to it.

"Go, I'll be fine," she waved her hand in farewell, before starting to move around and examine the place here.

I didn't hurry to leave, waited for an hour or so in the sky, watching what she was doing.

But soon I got to know she was going to be alright. There wasn't a single threat in this world, and there was everything she needed around.

Plus she had my races here to watch for anything surprising if such a thing happened.

"Come out," but before leaving, I took out a group of ten dragons, big and fierce ones, "take care of her for me," I pointed in her direction before they roared and started to soar in the sky.

It seemed these dragons felt how special this place was, as they started to rise and fall, like they were having fun or something.

Then it was time for me to return back.

As I didn't stay here for so long this time, so when I got back, the situation didn't change that much.

I looked at the all busy Angelica and her boys before sighing. I had to get used to such a weird time difference between the two worlds, also the difference between the peace there and chaos here.

As I had nothing else to do, I sat on my chariot and decided to start cultivating.

Just like before, once I closed my eyes and regulated my breathing, the gush of the outside energy came in torrents through my right arm.

The secondary dantian there was acting like a bottomless pit. I didn't know if it would lead to another upgrade of my spiritual energy in the end, or if this was just a benefit from making the connection with the black energy.

Anyway, I spent my time training for long hours until I felt it was enough. When I opened my eyes, I found out that the world outside was peaceful and quiet.

"You were sitting like that for long hours, so I felt it wasn't appropriate to wake you up."

Once I stood up, I heard the familiar voice of Angelica from behind.

569 Giving The Girls A Surprise

She stood there, leaning on the edge of my chariot while letting her hair fly with the wind. She seemed to be there for a long time already, as a tinge of boredom appeared on her face.

"How long since you finished?" I looked outside, and the world was quiet and peaceful and empty.

The people who filled this place went to the capital to take part in the work there.

"Almost six hours… Or was it ten? I dunno," she shrugged, "now we can work over the next batch."

"Next batch?" I thought before checking my messages. The nymph lady already sent me a message of her readiness to deliver the next batch. She also asked about the wood.

From her question, I got the feeling that she spoke with one of the experts she sent over to me. Or else why would she ask in such enthusiasm about the amount I could deliver and start mentioning price tags?

She didn't even ask if I got enough high grade woods or not!

"Bring your boys over here," I said before adding, "we are going for a ride somewhere else.".

"North or south?" she asked, but I simply smiled in a mysterious way.

"Just bring them here, and make sure to bring more if you can."

"Ok…" she was about to ask about where we were going, but for a second there she hesitated before seemingly dropping the question.

From my face she seemed to get a rejection before even asking! Girl, don't blame me for keeping my surprise a surprise.

I waited, and during the next hour, she returned back with a large number of her boys.

Last time she had a few thousands helping her. But this time the number grew to be in the tens of thousands.

"This won't work," if they were a few thousands, then my chariot could accommodate them. But right now it feels impossible to do that.

"Listen up, a portal will open and you will have to pass through it first. Once there, don't wander around before my arrival, got it?"

I motioned for Angelica to come on board. Yet while she was doing that, I saw a flying dragon coming fast with two silhouettes on its back.

"I heard you are preparing a surprise," Hilary was the one sitting with the dragon rider girl. Once she came near the chariot, she jumped and added, "so why not inviting me? Or did you forget about me?"

"Girl, how can I ever forget about you? I was just going to hide things until I complete the gift," I rolled my eyes while she stood beside Angelica.

I had to know it from the beginning. These two were now considered so close. So if Angelica knew something, she wouldn't delay to deliver the news over to Hilary.

"Don't try to give reasons, I'll first see the surprise before deciding," she crossed her arms in such a childish way while Angelica nodded from the side like a fool.

These two girls… "Fine, stay here and be prepared to see something you have never seen before."

I opened a portal from the Krishn world interface. "Enter now, and don't forget to not wander around until my arrival."

I feared they would move for a long distance when I arrived. After all, the races didn't get to know my boys, and the time difference would have turned chaotic if I didn't warn them about this.

"Why are you stressing over this?" Hilary just heard this once, but it was the second time for Angelica to hear me say this, "where are we going exactly?"

"You'll see," I mysteriously said while watching the tens of thousands of their men go through the portal. It took roughly an hour for them to pass through my portal, which meant twenty hours passed back there.

"It's time," once everyone vanished through the portal, it was our time to move as well, "prepare yourself to see… This heaven!"

I paused intentionally for a few seconds as we passed through the portal. And the moment the Krishn world came into sight, the two girls gasped.

"This…" Angelica looked at me before looking at Hilary. Hilary was more shocked than hers, as she knew more than Angelica.

She knew how hard it was to get a single decent piece of wood. And in front of her were lots of logs, an ocean of trees rising at the horizon in all directions.

"This… It's a new world, right?!!" Hilary was fast to reach such a conclusion, and she guessed it right.

"It's our world from now on," I said, "I heard it's known as a singularity world, one that's located in the heart of a black hole."

I just said what I heard from Isac, as if I knew such deep information from the start.

"Damn! This… This…" Hilary was deeply moved by this world. I could relate to how she was feeling. After all this wasn't just a world of trees and wood.

A new world meant endless possibilities.

"And there is one more bonus… The time here runs differently from our world," I said while pointing at the far away groups of humans, "we waited an hour for them to get here. But to them, twenty hours passed."

"…!!!"

I could see the shock over their faces. However I was concerned with the force we sent here before coming.

They walked away and didn't listen to my warnings. The result was as expected! They were surrounded now by many races, and a fight would erupt at any given moment.

"Stop!" I moved fast and appeared on top of their heads, "we are all on the same side here."

My words landed and the one to get terrified with them was the races. My humans already were familiar with me. But those races only saw the brutal side from me.

"What's going on here?" Hilary asked while pointing towards the chaotic situation that I just solved.

"The humans, your forces didn't listen to my warning even when I repeated it twice," I rolled my eyes while the look on Angelica's face was priceless.

570 [Bonus chapter] Moving Ores To Build The First City

"Go, go and gather your boys," I pointed towards a place void of anything, "let them stand there and wait."

"For what?" Angelica asked, seemingly in a tone that was filled with regret and guilt.

"For what you were doing so far, receive the next batch of humans and prepare them."

"Prepare them for… what exactly?" It was Hilary this time that asked, and I could only sigh.

"We will inhabit this world, build cities and towns. The races here will be left over for our humans to order. Arrange them so we can build big cities and towns, get use of this world's vast and untouched resources…"

I didn't know why, but I thought the task of being here was clear. Yet I had to speak for an entire half an hour about plans here, what humans should do, and about preserving the world as well.

I mentioned Isac being here, and told the two girls to select a few of the girls of their trusted group so I'd also repeat the dragon rider experience here as well.

As I let them take care of the forces down below, I took out a group of fifty dragons and assigned them to fifty girls.-.

Then I went to the location I specified before, and sent a message to the lady.

[I have eighty million this time, I hope you are satisfied with this batch]

[Send them over] I paused before adding, [What about the cultivation recipe?]

[Will have it in half a day. Once got it, I'll inform you about it]

[Cool!]

I didn't just want to build cities and towns, I wanted to use the time difference in this world to my advantage.

I wanted to get the full benefits out of this time difference thing. Cultivation was a long process that would take time and effort. So doing it here would be more suitable than doing it back on Earth.

I just had to get the recipe and study it. Such a recipe wasn't just going to let my humans step into that path, but it would also help me in better understanding my cultivation path.

[By the way, about that betting world invitation… When do you want it?]

[Not now] I didn't have a single human open his cultivation base yet. When I get tens of millions, then I'd think about taking such a move.

[Inform me when you are ready]

I closed the chat with her while portals appeared here. Large number of humans popped out from them, and I left things here for the two girls and their boys to handle.

Before leaving, I checked over Isac. This girl was really something! She used the logs and built a small cabin in the middle of the empty space here.

When I came inside her cabin, I found a bed and a closet, a place looking like a bathroom. She used wood to do everything, and the look from inside looked as luxurious as any expensive lord mansion at my time.

"You know how to entertain yourself," I said in greeting while standing at the door, looking at the space inside.

"I just loved the world here," she raised her head over a wooden table where she was busy drawing something on a large sheet of paper, "I didn't expect you to visit me so soon."

"I came to deliver the first batch of humans," I shrugged, "they are outside now, getting sorted out by Hilary and Angelica's people."

"The two are here? Terrific!" For some reason, I felt like Isac didn't warmly welcome their presence.

"Once they are done," I jumped over what she was feeling and went straight to business, "they will come and ask for your guidance. I hope you can finish the outline of the first city for them to start working on it."

"I already have it done," she rolled her eyes, pointing at one pack of papers on the ground, "not only one city, but also a group of smaller towns next to it."

"Amazing!" I honestly commended her diligent work here.

"But we lack ores," she gave me a meaningful look, and I nodded.

"Leave this to me," we already got an endless supply of ores from the Bringold impact. I'd just have to assign people to bring these here.

"I'd also recommend sending out groups to look for ores here," she raised her head as if she was looking through her wooden ceiling to the sky, "this world has high grade woods. So why not have high grade ores?"

"Tell them yourself then," I didn't feel like doing this task, "you three will handle things here."

"What about the defensive construction at the eastern coast?" she asked about Hilary's previous task.

"I'll assign it to someone else," I shrugged, "just focus on developing the world here. This is a golden chance that I don't need to tell you about its importance, right?"

"Uhm," she nodded in agreement while I had to return to Hilary to get the name of one of her trusted subordinates to take care of things back on Earth.

She gave me the name of a man called Lack. Once I returned, I sent a dragon rider girl to fetch him.

Then I went to the ore location as I paused, thinking about how to move these ores to the Krishn world.

The easiest way was to assign humans to move these to that world. Yet that was time consuming.

I had to put in my consideration the time difference.

"Why not take them through a portal directly then?" I thought about summoning many portals above a large pile of ores and forcing them towards that world.

Of course I'd pay a price for that, but who cared? I got nothing more than my green bones anyway.

So I started summoning many portals and let them pass through big piles of ores, taking them all into Krishn world.

For a few hours I kept doing that until I moved enough to build ten cities. During which, that Lack guy came and I assigned him with the new task, Hilary's old task.

571 [Bonus chapter] Get Me The Recipe Now!

As I sent all the ores needed to build the cities and town at Krishn world, I had to let things take its time then.

"I didn't check over Lily and others," I thought about the training going on under the hand of that fierce female Hector.

Last time I saw her taking them into an old ship and letting them fight aquatic monsters. But when I got near the river, I could see the training grounds there had changed a little.

The digging process ended and instead, there were long deep trenches, covered in ocean water, and even had lots of monsters in them.

On the ground, I saw lots of humans wielding their weapons and fighting monsters in the water. With the narrow area of the trenches dug by my forces, the monsters didn't have much space to fight properly.

So there was no real threat over my forces, and instead the forces here got the chance to taste monster blood and got a glimpse of their fierceness.

Such a way of training was simple and effective. Most of my human forces didn't fight properly before. Also there were lots of newly acquired slave humans who just got to fell the wind of freedom over their faces.-.

On another side, I saw a larger trench that could be considered as a small pond. It was filled with ocean water as well, but monsters here had much room to move in, making it much harder to fight them.

It wasn't just one pond, but a group of around a hundred. Around each one, a large number of humans stood there, fighting in teams of three, five, and even a hundred against fierce monsters.

And on their heads stood a bunch of Hector elites, shouting orders, giving instructions all the time. I got the feeling that this place was designed for my forces to learn how to fight in large groups.

From what I saw before at the last battle here, the Hector forces did extremely well thanks to their team work. If my forces managed to learn that, then they would become fiercer.

At the distance, and just a few miles away from the shore, I saw a group of old ships standing in the middle of the ocean, with people on their boards fighting deadly battles against all kinds of aquatic monsters.

Lily was indeed fierce in her training! She didn't only develop the training fields here to be like this, but she also expanded the deadly way of training to allow many humans to get a taste of such an intense battle atmosphere.

"They are doing fine," as I saw all this, I decided to not disturb their training and just watched from far away using my Hawk Eye skill.

I spent an hour or so watching the fighting going on all the training grounds. Lily and her men did a great job in absorbing that much number of my forces and let them all train without missing anyone.

Also they arranged training to be in such a stepwise approach. Just during that hour, two groups of hundred humans did well at fighting monsters at the ponds, and they were sent to a gathering place at the shore.

There I spotted two more groups waiting. It seemed they waited to gather enough numbers to board a single ship before throwing them into the heart of hell.

This was… A very brutal and well thought of training method that I doubted Lily could come up with on a whim. It must be a standard way of training at Hector race worlds, making me inwardly sigh out of envy.

Compared to these races, my human race was so behind.

As I saw enough and got to crack down this training method, I decided to go and start my own training as well.

I had to not neglect the cultivation training. However when I thought about it, I had to consider the new option I had.

Time difference was something alluring for me. Spending weeks there for a single week here was really enticing.

It would save me lots of time here. After all, I was bound with the upcoming fourth quest, the clash of lords.

Each lord would get a bonus to attack nearby lords. As I was kicked off the quest race, I was deprived of such privilege for sure.

Besides, those races would all gain stat points much more than my boys! The difference would be big, and I had to consider how to defend against such a threat.

The Hectors at that Eastern continent were acting calm. I knew this calmness was just for preparation for the fourth quest.

Once the quest would start, they would try everything they had to come and burn my capital to the ground. I didn't know if the defences would be finished by then, so I had to think about something effective.

A plan must be put, especially when I had lots of forces at my disposal at the moment. Seeing the clear progress my boys had under Lily's instructions made me feel we had hope.

And there was also something else that we could rely on, that cultivation recipe!

So before leaving, I decided to go out and see if that lady got the recipe.

She delayed it for so long, and I wouldn't wait any more.

[Tell me you got it!]

As I reached the outer zone, away from the sealed area, I sent this message to her.

[Got what exactly?]

[What else? The recipe!]

[Why being in such a rush?]

[Come on! You have been delaying it for days now! Give it now or I'll search for another way to get it!]

[Wait… Ok, I'll go and see if I can get it for you]

I closed the chat with her. I knew she was just delaying, but I didn't know why.

This recipe was important, not only for me but for our future deal with the betting world. I knew she wanted that deal to be done, so why delay delivering the recipe?

572 Boss... We Found Something Interesting!

[Boss… Are you here?]

Just as I waited for ten minutes, I got this message out of the blue. When I saw the name of the sender, I got curious about why they contacted me.

[Yes, what's the news?]

[We were tracking her, but still didn't get a glimpse of her]

He was Leo. I knew that Karoline wasn't here, wasn't in this world. But I still didn't recall them. I just wanted to make sure she wasn't bluffing or lying to me.

But it seemed she wasn't.

[Ok, come back then]

[But… We discovered something else]

[What?] I wasn't in the mood to listen to anything useless. However, what he said next made my eyes go wide open.-.

[Do you know that there is an underground maze of tunnels under the ground? We found a big entrance at nearby waterfalls, so big to allow large number of forces to enter and exit from]

[Underground tunnels? Did you get inside?]

[We are, and boss… we met lots of mercenaries, the ones we fought before]

When I heard that, my eyes flashed in the cold light.

[Don't delve deeper, just mark the place and return. Return now! Don't alarm anyone]

[But… Boss we wanted to explore this amazing net of tunnels! We just cleared the few troops stationed here, and ended up in front of a large number of tunnel openings that went to different directions]

[Don't take a single step forward, do you hear me?] I knew he was trying to help. But good intentions weren't enough sometimes.

If he kept going forth, he might alarm that bastard. At last I got a lead on him, and I wouldn't let that lead vanish thanks to Leo's desire to act heroic here.

Besides if that dude was really in that maze of tunnels, then Leo's and Alex's lives were in grave danger!

[Just mark the place and retreat. Don't forget to take all the dead corpses with you, and try to erase any trace of blood or battle. Leave the place as if it was untouched by anyone]

[Ok, as you see fit, boss]

I knew Leo wasn't convinced, but he had no opinion here.

"You… At last…" Once I closed the chat with him, I clenched both fists. At last, at last I got a clue about that mysterious foe of mine.

It was that bastard, the one who brought the illusion attack on my forces before, the one who led the attack over my capital, and the one who caused my Karoline to run away.

Damn! Just thinking about all he did made my blood boil out of control! I held myself from going directly towards these tunnels and searched for that bastard personally.

Underground tunnels? I never read anything like that in any record before. I had to first hear what Leo and Alex experienced and saw in there. I might also ask Hilary if she ever met something like that before.

[How long before you can come back?] I was so impatient to meet Leo and Alex and hear their side of the story.

[Boss, we are in the north. We might take six to ten hours to come back. Alex wants to check on something]

[I told you to leave the tunnels!]

[I know! And we are now exiting them. But she wants to check other sites. After all, if not for her vision from before, we wouldn't have found this place. It's so damn well hidden!]

[Her vision?!! You mean… Her ability?!!!]

[Yes boss, you must know about it, right? She saw a glimpse of something huge. And so we have to listen to her words and go to check other places]

I paused. Alex's ability was a really rare breed in this apocalypse. She could see glimpses of the enemy plans, even delve into their thoughts and preparations.

If she saw such a thing, then didn't that mean the dirty Angels were part of this? Damn! I never linked the two together before! But… This made quite sense!

If that bastard got the help of the angels, he would get much information about my whereabouts and doings without the need to move a muscle.

That was how he managed to select the best timing each time he tried to touch my things! The two sides also shared the same grudge against me, so it made more sense for the two to work together.

[Just scout from far, don't delve into any tunnel] I had to make sure they wouldn't step into a trap or something. [Also keep me posted on your location all the time!]

If they ever needed help, I'd move out personally to relieve it. Even if they would need long hours to reach me, with my chariot, I could reach them in less than one hour!

[Ok boss, I'll let you informed all time]

I closed the chat with him while feeling my uncontrolled rage. My debt with that bastard ran for so long already. I wouldn't get settled except for turning him into my dog, and let him bark out of his will for my interest.

Death? Humph! It would be such a mercy to just kill him.

As for those angels… Sigh! It seemed they wouldn't stop until they either kill me or I'd kill them.

Of course killing the angelic race was a far fetched dream. So my best interest for now was to survive and let my kingdom thrive.

The kingdom of hearts… I had to get that item by any means possible! And that made getting that recipe far more important to me than before.

[I got it!]

And just as I was thinking about it, the lady came and brought such good news.

[At last! Ok, send it over]

[You are ready to pay?]

[Just send, and I'll pay]

[Ok! What about the invitation to the betting world?]

[Not now! I have to work over this recipe first. But once I have enough forces to move, I'll let you know]

[Promise?]

[Since when did I cheat you? Send it over, let's get it done]

[On the way]

573 A Big Discovery!

I paid the hefty price for this long awaited recipe to end up with a single old piece of paper that appeared in my inventory.

When I took it out, it expanded to cover half of my entire chariot!

"Damn! It's big!" I looked at the recipe and couldn't help but feel worried over how fragile and old it was.

But it was out, and I had to read its content first.

The first thing I noticed was the language this piece of paper was written in. it was an alien language, something I never saw before.

"Hector race language? Ok… As if I lacked Hectors here," I didn't feel any disappointment and instantly moved my chariot back to the shore.

I went directly to the group of ships that just had a new one moving slowly towards the frontline. The ship wasn't moving on its own, and I saw a group of Hectors using some sort of a treasure to move the chariot in the ocean.

Of course the running power of these ships died down. I scanned the ships and found Lily without any delay.-.

"Come over now!" I wasn't in the mood to chat or say anything to her or anyone else on my team. I simply wanted to know what this recipe had in it, and wanted to understand how it worked.

"Coming," I threw a rope and she climbed up to reach me. "This…"

Yet the moment she came on board, she saw the big dark yellow old large piece of paper covering almost half of my chariot.

"It's your race secret recipe," I pointed at it, "but it's written in a language that I don't get."

"It's… Our ancient race tongue… Damn! You got such an old recipe?!! How?!!!"

She looked at me, and I frankly didn't get what she meant by that.

"I just got it, don't tell me it's not working!"

"It is," she said in a tone that was filled with weird excitement, "but this piece… I heard it was long long from one of our mighty race figures thousands of years ago. How did you get it?"

"Don't tell me there is one recipe written in such a tongue!" I rolled my eyes, and she had to nod to startle me.

"The recipes we got right now are all new and were made as an alteration of the original one. People who got to see this one had to recall what they could, and then they worked hard to make up for what was missing."

"That's…" I wasn't interested in hearing such a long lecture about the history of her race and this recipe. I wanted to see if it was going to work or not.

"This isn't just a simple recipe for your race to enter cultivation," she seemed to see through my line of thoughts here, "this one here can let any race open cultivation base, and also gain a formidable power from the other universe."

"You mean…"

"Yes, cultivation is a mimic of our universe to the brutal strength of the alien universe. But the recent recipes and most of the modern cultivation techniques just depended on giving shallow forms of power. This one… It's one of those old and original papers that were brought over by our ancestors, making us wield power equal to those folks in the alien universe."

She talked a lot, and frankly what she said was awesome and such but I had to make sure this piece of old paper was complete.

"Can you check it first? See if it's not missing anything."

"You mean…"

"You said it was long forgotten and lost from your race. It must have passed through many owners until it ended up with me. So there is a risk for it to miss something."

"As long as the core is there, anything missing can be amended," she said to reassure me before she went to study this paper.

"Why take this long?" I thought she would take a few minutes before telling me the content of this recipe.

But even after an hour, she didn't even say a single word.

"Hye, this is an ancient tongue of our race! It's not just easy to decipher and get the right meaning."

"You mean… You don't know this language!!"

"I know it! But… I'm a little rusty in such ancient language."

I sighed and took her answer as an admission of her negligence of this language.

As she had such difficulty in deciphering the language written here, I had to move my chariot back to the zone outside the sealed area.

[What's up?] I sent this to Leo, as I was still worried about them.

[Boss… This… I kept sending messages to you… This is big!]

The message I got from Leo made me wonder what just happened for him to say that. If it was the jumper, I would take his words for granted.

But Leo or that spearhead… The two used to exaggerate things, to make their efforts look big.

[We found more… We found two more tunnel openings like the one we discovered before!]

[So?] It was a good thing indeed, but not enough to call it huge or big!

[We also found many races coming in and out from one tunnel opening. Boss, all the races here are visiting this place!]

[What?!!] This time, what he said was big! [Are you sure?] I didn't imagine what he just said. All the forces here were paying a visit to that underground net of tunnels? What? Were they doing a pilgrimage or something?

[Even humans, boss, we even saw humans!]

[Even humans?!! Are you sure?]

[Boss, how can I mistake humans? They are going through the tunnel opening with other races, walking as if they are all friends or something!]

[This… Are you sure they aren't slaves to anyone?]

[No boss, they walk shoulder to shoulder with many races and even chat with them. If they were slaves, they wouldn't have walked in such way]

574 We Need Alchemists!

[True indeed] I paused, thinking about this puzzle. Why every time I tried to get near that bastard, I ended up having lots of mysteries and hard to understand puzzles?

Sigh! Dealing with this enemy was really a nightmare to me!

[What Alex thinks?] Everything started with her vision and ability. So I had to ask about what she was thinking about.

[She says there are more places yet to visit. Boss, she said these tunnel openings are arranged in a big circle around our lands]

[A big circle? Interesting!] I thought about this for a moment, [Go and see what you can discover at these places. I want a map, a detailed one of all the places you found. Be cautious and don't get discovered. And keep me posted of your place all the time]

[Ok boss!]

I closed the chat with him after confirming their current location. They were high north, inside what Canada lands were before.

From what I got, they were at Niagara falls. And now they were heading slightly south and to the west.-.

As he kept informing me of their location regularly, I watched in silence Lily working in such effort to decipher this recipe.

The writings here were so much! And there were many drawings as well. I got from the drawings that they were steps meant for making some sort of potions or pills.

I saw cauldrons and fire, items thrown into it and a step process of how to make a fluid in the end.

This was repeated several times in the entire recipe, but I couldn't get anything else from it. Aside from the potions or pills formed, I had no idea of what was thrown in the cauldron, the way of cooking them, and what was the use of the final product.

Everything depended upon Lily now. If she failed to decipher the whole thing, then this recipe would be meaningless to me.

If this recipe was missing something, I'd have to hope it wasn't something big or critical. Or else I'd end up with a good for nothing old piece of paper.

I wasn't worried about the price I paid. That meant absolutely nothing to me. I was just concerned about the great benefits and chances I'd lose by this.

But I had nothing else but to wait and hope she would crack this mystery in the end.

She kept moving around before she finally stopped, closed her eyes, took a deep and long breath before saying the magical words: "I did it!"

"Really? Are you sure it's complete?" I jumped the next moment and stood by her side.

And as I watched her nod, I heaved a deep sigh of relief, releasing all the pressure inside me that welled up all this time of wait.

"And?" I asked, urging her to speak and tell me what she got from this paper.

"This recipe… It's so damn complicated…" yet she gave me such a deep sigh, ending up in letting me feel more nervous again.

"But it's doable… With spending time and effort, preparing many resources first, we can do it!"

"Damn girl! You got me just now!" I punched her at the shoulder, slapping her few steps to the side.

"Damn Hye! Your hand is so damn heavy!"

"I used my weak hand," I rolled my eyes. And this was true. I didn't use my right hand but my left. What if I used my right?

But wait a sec, I did use my left hand, and that ended up with me pushing her like this. Did it mean I got stronger? Just from the short time of training? Damn cool!

"Tell me now, what is this recipe all about?"

"It's about making nine potions," she said in a serious way while touching her shoulder as if she was feeling pain. "These potions will unlock a great deal of power in any race, borrowing power from an already existing force here that we know nothing about."

"Hmm… So it's describing how to make these potions?"

"In great detail and also it's not all… We need to do a virtual at the end, building some sort of an altar and let anyone use the potions over them."

"Them?"

"You don't think building a single altar will be enough, right?" she rolled her eyes, before adding, "we have to build as many as possible, to fasten the process. But first we have to find a way to gather up the needed resources, train alchemists to do the task in extreme precision."

"Cool," I nodded, "so we need alchemists, how many?"

"Alchemists are a rare breed that you won't find easily!"

"Girl, I can get anything I want," I said in such dominance, "just let me know how many, and I'll try to get close to that number."

"Then get the most you can!"

"Just give me a number! I'm seriously speaking here."

"Ten, ten of highly trained alchemists, reaching the grade of a grandmaster or something like a hegemony at alchemy will work."

"Ten… Ok," I took note of that number. Of course with the presence of the Bringold impact, I could just get anything I wanted.

"What about the resources?" I asked, needing to know what exactly she wanted to ask for them.

"I'll prepare a list," she said in such a tiring tone, "There are a lot of resources needed. I'll write them down to you and try to get as many as you can."

"Cool," I turned to the next point, "what about the place needed to do the ritual? And that altar? Any specific requirements?"

"There are indeed," she nodded, "but leave this task over to me. Only Hector can do it."

"I see," I touched the recipe and took it away, "did you memorise it?"

"To the heart and soul," she said, but her eyes showed a reluctance for missing the recipe. "Can't I…"

"Just forget it," I shook my head, "it stays with me. I also want you to write down everything you got from it, down to the single letter. Do you get it?"

575 I Want Blacksmiths And Alchemists

Leaving her without an option like that made her nod. "I'll go back then, I have to prepare things for the next big step."

"When will you be ready?"

"With all these ores and people? Give me a day!"

"Cool!" it was much faster than I imagined, "write down everything and send a dragon rider to find me."

"Wait for a couple of hours and you'll get everything."

I brought her back to her forces before watching her leave. And like this, the big problem of cultivation was sorted out.

Of course it was just the first step. We still lacked resources and that altar, we lacked making potions and having capable alchemists.

"As she is going to take a couple hours to finish writing down everything, I have to sort out the alchemist problem first," I muttered to myself while returning back to the outer zone.

[Hey, I need more experts]-.

[Wood experts? The four, ahem, I mean the five you got aren't enough?]

She, without meaning it, revealed her connection with those four. She knew I killed one, something she wouldn't know except if someone told her about it.

But I already guessed it, so I jumped over this point and sent:

[I want another breed of experts, blacksmiths and alchemists]

As I was going to purchase experts, why not add blacksmiths as well? We need them, for many purposes actually.

We had many talents of the human I got who could become good blacksmiths in the future. But why now give them a little help and bring forth a few capable masters to teach them?

[Oh, going wild on talents I see… Why not? But if you can repeat the same deal we had before]

[This time is different] I knew she and her impact gave me the recipe, but it seemed they couldn't decipher it. I got from Lily's words that this recipe couldn't be read or done but by Hectors.

And as the impact got his hands over such an ancient recipe, if Hector sniffed it out, they'd come to burn the impact's headquarters to the ground, refusing any kind of deal.

That explained why they didn't place this recipe into the never to be sold shelf.

[I can't help you without getting something back!]

[You'll get many bones]

[Not enough! These experts are real talents! I need benefits to force this deal through]

I paused. Should I let her get what I was going to make here? If so, then she had to regret forcing me to do it!

[I'm going to make something, a potion that can unlock cultivation at any race]

[What did you say?!!!]

[But… It's precious! I need tons of materials and resources, lots of alchemists, and a certain number of highly talented ones. Also I need blacksmiths, better to be a grandmaster calibre of higher. The same goes for the alchemists as well]

[Damn fierce! But… Are you sure of this potion?]

[It's what I'm going to use to make my boys cultivate] I shrugged, [Yet I have to emphasis on its value and rarity. I won't sell it cheap!]

[I get it… But if we added in the deal the talents you ask for and the resources you need, won't the price be lower?]

[Hmm… At most, you can have ten potions for each talent, plus half price of the resources I need]

[That… Let's make it this way, you pay with your bones the regular price plus one hundred potions and twenty percent discount of the price of resources. This is the most I can offer]

[Thanks, but I'll look for what I need somewhere else]

I instantly closed the chat. And as expected, she hurriedly returned to me.

[Hey Hye, wait! Don't be rash! We are still talking!]

[You aren't talking, you are just saying bullshit! If you have time to waste, then waste it away from me]

[Why acting so reckless and impatient? This isn't our first time making a deal]

[I said my conditions, take it or leave it!] I didn't give her any room to manoeuvre.

[But… The price…]

[Sigh! For old times sake, I can give you a discount over the next deals of the potions. Twenty percent discount per each potion, and the price will be set each time by me]

[This…]

[I'm sure other impacts will welcome such a deal] I threatened, [Just spreading the word around and many will come asking for a much better deal]

[But yours is a little overboard!]

[You know the deal isn't about the current value of each potion, but the future prospects of it]

I wasn't a fool! I knew these potions would allow the impact to train lots of fighters with basic cultivations. This would bring many benefits for the impact.

[How about this then…] She seemed to resign to her fate and try to get a better deal in another way, [You can promise to give us large batches of potions every week]

[Do you think these potions are common cabbage or what?] I grinned as she fell into my trap directly, [If you want, I can promise little potions to be sold over to you. If you want a little more, you have to pay resources back]

[This…]

[Or…] I had to scare her first before giving out what I really wanted, [We can sign a deal. I get twenty percent of everything you get from the betting world by the boys you will nourish with these potions]

[This… Sigh! Why are you getting much harder to deal with?]

[I learnt from the best!]

[It seems I taught you pretty much. Sigh! Ok, we can do it this way, you will provide one thousand potions for us per week, and we will provide twenty percent of the resources needed for them to be made. Plus the price of the potions will be cut in half! As for the income from the betting world, you can get five percent]

[I told you, don't be sincere with me here. Bye!]

[Hey, Hye, don't be like this!]

576 The Fourth Quest Starts In Ten Days

[Accept my deal or reject it, I'm not bargaining over a precious gem with anyone] I declared my stand very clearly. As they asked for an extravagant price for their talents, I had to ask for the same for my treasures.

[Yes, I taught you too much indeed… Sigh! Let me check with my higher ups and return back to you. This deal… Is way too much for me to decide]

[Tell them this… I want a hundred talents from Blacksmiths and Alchemists, least is one rank below grandmaster or above. I need resources for my potions, and will provide the price of each talent by twenty potions plus a future promise for giving a discount of twenty percent of the price of potions. If we have a deal on potions, then I can provide on thousand per week in exchange for half the resources needed to make them, plus securing all the resources I need with twenty percent discount, plus twenty percent share of any loot coming from the bidding world if my boys participated in it]

[This… You raised the price again!]

[I was dealing with you, so I made account for our friendship. But as you decided to take the deal up to your superiors, they'll have to pay more]

[Damn Hye! Are you going to start and impact next or what?!!]

I laughed at her remark. Of course if I had a chance, and found a good use for such a thing, then why not?

I only needed to have a big name, be shameless, and get many connections for my deals.-.

I'd even consider recruiting her to work for me.

[Go and finalise the deal, I'm tight on time here. If you didn't bring back the news in one hour, I'll look for another impact to deal with…]

I paused slightly before adding, [I'm not joking here. I need these things, and I'll get them one way or another today!]

[Ok, let me see what I can do… Sigh! I know I'll get slandered for standing up for you and fighting to give you that recipe]

[Good girl, you are doing great for your future boss]

[Screw off!]

I laughed while closing the chat. This time I cornered them while showing the carrot and then using the stick later on.

If they were smart, they'd know their gains from this deal would be immense! Their future would be boundless!

They wouldn't be this crazy and short minded to sell the potions I'd give to others. They'd only limit its use over their people.

And by these people, they'd get tons of resources and benefits than they were having right now from the betting world.

As for me, I secured not only much more of the required talent quota, but I also secured lots of resources.

The deal of twenty percent cut from their earnings was a bit too much. But if I ended up with ten percent, I'd call myself lucky and a winner.

[How are things going?] Finished dealing with the lady, and as I had to wait, I decided to keep track of Leo and Alex's actions.

[We are heading south now] he sent, [We just found ten tunnel openings. Also we got to see couple of these having the same as I mentioned before]

[A gathering of all races?]

[That's correct, boss. This is weird! Since when were humans friends with other races and monsters?]

[Monsters?] This was new to my ears.

[We saw weird looking monsters coming into one tunnel. They acted friendly with all the races, including humans]

[Hmm… What Do they look like?]

[Like lions but with wings and a single long horn… There were also bears with scales covering their bodies, thick armour, looking really terrifying!]

[Were they having horns as well?] I asked while something came into my mind.

[They have spikes all over their back and few at their heads… If you considered spikes horns, then they indeed have]

[Ok, keep your distance all the time and use the Hawk Eye skill to see through]

[But… The skill can't let us see clearly]

[Don't get near these tunnels. The monsters you saw are all hybrid monsters. They are supposed to be fierce and bloody, but the ones you mentioned are acting sane like they are a race] I recognised the two monsters he described.

They were a type that would wreak havoc soon in the apocalypse, approximately at quest eight and above. [They got great senses, smell at bears and sight at lions. Don't risk it! Just scan from far and it's enough to determine the locations of these tunnels]

[Got it, boss!]

I closed the chat with him while trying to solve this new puzzle.

Different races were acting friendly with each other, grouping together from different parts of the world and going towards the underground tunnels.

And now the late to appear hybrid monsters came into the picture. What was going on? What was that bastard planning? And how did he make up with all these enemies, making them treat each other like this?

I got a feeling that the hour of his attack would be when the next quest started. So it was better for me to move faster and hit him before this quest would be up.

[How are things at your end?] I haven't talked with Fang or Wyly for a few days now. I knew Wryly was busy fighting at North, so I had to ask the other dude about this.

[I'm good, just trying to sort out our lands coming here]

[Good] I paused, thought about using these lands later on if needed. But for now, it was better to just let them develop their lands without my intervention. [Tell me, do you know when the next quest will start?]

[The fourth quest? It should start in ten days from now]

[Good. Have you heard any news about the underground mazes of tunnels before?] As there was time, it was appropriate to start gathering up intel about such a thing.

[Never heard of it. Is it some sort of a quest?]

577 Seeking The Help From Gods

For the first time, that dude didn't know something.

[Can you look into it for me? I heard that people of your kin are visiting these places]

[What? Are you sure?]

[Not only them, but people from all races are visiting these places]

[That's… suspicious!]

[I know, and I plan on crashing down over their heads]

[Count me in! I'm interested to see what's such maze doing in our world]

[It's not that easy pal, there are tons of tunnels all over the world]

[Are you sure? How did you detect them? Tell me and I'll start searching the area under my control]-.

Let him search? [No, don't do it!] I rejected the idea almost instantly, [or else you will alarm them]

[Why do I get the feeling that you are afraid of something there?]

[Sigh! It's one hellish of an enemy who is controlling all this] I didn't like admitting it, but that foe was really hard to deal with. [Prepare your forces and when the time is right, we will attack the tunnels together. I already have a team looking for these tunnels]

[Ok]

[Also try to dig for information about this. Any Selvator going there must be related either to you or one of the archlords in the region. Try to investigate secretly and tell me what you found]

[If there is a traitor… I promise to make that bastard suffer like I did!]

For a reason I felt like he was taking this matter personally. Anyway, it would be good for him to dig at his side.

As for Wryly, he was away from here. So this dude wouldn't be able to help. Humans here were under my control, and I didn't get the information about anyone walking outside and vanishing for hours or days!

So the humans going there must have come from a place… Where is it? Were there humans here I didn't know about?

An answer flashed in my mind the next moment. "Damn! I totally forgot that there was a mysterious army of humans just when I started hitting the central plains! They also were entrapped with my forces at the illusion. But…"

They were gone! Not a single one of them remained… Or did some infiltrate my forces without me knowing it?

I looked at the direction of my capital. I went all out on amassing all humans, making me feel more uncertain about their identity.

Should I start searching for them? But how? Should I force a contract over all? Would that solve the problem?

It might solve the problem, but if they decided to hide and not sign the contract, I wouldn't get them from all the numbers I had here.

Sigh! I overlooked this human army before. And now I was faced with a bigger problem.

"I need to form an intelligent unit," I reached this conclusion. My kingdom was destined to grow exponentially, reaching great heights.

The number of humans here would keep growing on such a scary scale. So forming this group early on was a must to save me from great trouble later on.

I read that there were once intelligence agencies in the old world before the apocalypse. They worked to dig through any threats towards their nations.

I always thought this was a waste of time and effort when I read such things. But now, and when I was faced with such a test and threat, I had to admit they were right.

Having such agencies was a must! And I had to start forming up my own as well.

But how? I had to select one capable person to lead this. That person wasn't the problem, the entire team was!

I had to select very carefully who would join this team. They had to spread into my humans, see and hear what was going on, try to sniff any schemes or trouble before happening.

Such a decision must be made by the presence of the entire team. In fact, the best one to lead such an annoying task was the more annoying jumper.

He was just perfect for it! Such cold hearted son of b*tch would lead a fierce team around and make sure a fly would slip through his net.

But would he settle on such a low task? He was a fighter! Someone who loved the intense fights and the heat of battles.

"He… Is just the best," I had to sigh when I recalled how fierce he reacted when I tried to take him off the battlefield. "If I have to do it, I have to plan a trap for him first…"

I started thinking about what I should do with him. He was so cautious and meticulous, but also reckless and impulsive as well.

And he wasn't in his right mind at the moment. So just a little push was needed to make him accept such a task and not argue or reject.

[You know one hour just passed… Tick tock… Tick tock…]

[Come on! Give me more time for old times sake!]

I thought for a moment before sending to the lady nymph, [Ok, you got five more hours. But really after that I'll look for others to help. I won't wait anymore]

[Five hours is enough, but we have to review the deal again]

[My deal is final, take it or leave it!]

[It's not how friends should act with each other!]

[We are friends indeed, but right now we are closing a business deal. Don't mix the two, please]

[Damn! I'll see what I can do and then return to talk with you about it]

I had to cut all the roads on her to do such a thing. Giving her an inch would end up with a mile! I had to secure my own interests and make her believe my words.

Five hours then… I believe it's enough for my gods to spread the word over the universe.

"I know I neglected you recently," I opened my channel, opened the lock on the notifications and messages, before adding, "but I want you to spread the word around. I'm looking for big impacts, ones that can make big deals and honour their words. You know what I'm going to trade here, but try to not expose too much info, ok?"

578 Talents Specialised Impacts

Who said I was out of options? Or I really didn't have the means to put pressure over the Bringold higher ups? I was just acting docile and kind with them as they helped me a lot.

But if they thought I had no choice, then I had to prove them wrong. And starting from my last deals with them, I noticed their inability to fulfil my deals.

Or else why did they suggest taking part in the betting world? They wanted me to relieve a little pressure from their shoulders, and gain their profit at the same time byt the deal we would have together.

So it was better to find another impact, better to be as big or even bigger than them. Without a competitor, any business would be monopolised by one force.

But with the presence of a single decent competitor, things would change. The Bringold impact would try to curry favours with me, answer much faster, and try to make me happy.

If I wasn't, I'd end up asking more of the other impact. As for the universe wide propaganda, it was to let the Bringolds know of what I was doing without telling them that directly.

This way was more effective, and would place me in a much stronger position than just telling them directly.

[Many gods are excited about what you did in the last events and battles]

[Most gods here are pretty much interested in your singularity world]

[Many are asking if you are going to open it to the universe]-.

[If so, many gods are willing to invest in that world]

"Invest? In my new Earth world? How?" Well, I had to admit I was surprised by this. "What offer do you have in mind? Tell me and if you have something interesting, I may consider it."

I would never say no to any benefits, especially those coming out of the blue like this.

[All gods are excited about what you just said]

[A god is offering…]

[A god is offering…]

[A god is offering…]

.

.

.

[A god is offering…]

[A god is offering…]

"Guys! Please, that won't work this way!" In less than a few minutes, I got tons of messages that overlapped over each other, making me unable even to read any of them. "Sigh! This way… It's impossible to do business like this!"

[The gods are waiting for your suggestion]

[Many gods are asking if they can send you direct messages]

"Even so, I'd end up having tons of private messages… But it will be more organised… Let me think about it for a sec…"

I had to find a suitable way to handle this. I got tens of thousands of gods in my channel. If they all sent me messages, then I'd end up losing much time and wouldn't get anywhere like this!

Not to mention, I had to discuss terms with those with good offers. Something told me that number would be huge!

"Why don't we do it this way then…" After half an hour of thinking, I said, "let my ultras god's scan the requests. They will gather up the good and promising deals, and then they will send them to me to think and decide."

[Many gods are looking at the group of your Ultras with envy]

[Many gods are satisfied with such deal]

[Your Ultras god says that they will do it! They say you can leave this task to them. They say they will scan all the applications and select the best out for you]

[The gods in your Ultras are puffing their chests in pride in response to the envious looks of the other gods here]

These guys… They were taking the credit for nothing! Anyway, let me use them for this task. They just weren't my ultras for nothing.

"Don't forget to spread the word about the deal I want to make with other impacts."

[Many gods are willing to help]

[Few already contacted impacts they know about]

[A god is wondering why you didn't seek help from talent specialised impacts instead?]

"Talent what? Is there even such a thing?!!" I was surprised, "if there is, then I'd love to deal with them indeed."

Forget about the current deal with the Bringold impact. If I got a chance to find talents, then it would be great.

I needed talents, any talent I could get would hire. My kingdom didn't only need talents here, but also in my new Earth world as well.

[That god says he knows one of the higher ups of that impact]

[He says that impact is very exclusive, only deals with selective figures and forces in the universe]

[He says it's called the pink triplet petals impact]

[He offers his help in exchange of joining your Ultras]

"Dude, if you get me a direct link with a higher up one from that impact and I secured a deal with them, then you can join my ultras," I didn't hesitate to accept such an offer from him.

After all, my ultras group was just a name that didn't really matter to me that much. Adding one more god there wouldn't make things bad, right?

[The gods from your Ultras are adding more conditions]

[They are asking that god to bring you a VIP position at that impact]

[That god is hesitating]

[He says he can't promise such a thing]

"Guys! Don't scare the little cub away!" I rolled my eyes, "I'm sure of my ability to gain such rank in that impact. Just let me talk with the one handling matters there, and I'll see what I can do."

[The Ultras gods of yours are rolling their eyes]

[They say you are just a kind hearted human]

"Hahaha! Let me be like this for once," I laughed, "ok god, go and secure that deal. I need tons of talent, so better this will work out for both of us."

[That god says he will do his best to secure the best deal for you]

[He is very excited, while the other gods are looking at him in envy]

It seemed that the impact he talked about was so damn hard to get into. Great! That was the true value of having a channel filled with gods!

579 Studying The Cultivation Recipe

"Just send me a private message," I said while controlling the setting of my channel. I made only private messages to come for me.

I hoped the other gods wouldn't misuse this feature and rain me with messages. If so, then I'd have to narrow the private message to be only for my ultras group and that god.

As I finished this, I had to wait then for all the matters here to be sorted out. I thought about training, but just before I'd sit, I noticed something flying towards my direction.

"She did it?" I stood up and didn't start training. After all, a dragon rider girl was coming in my direction. She must have gotten the papers from Lily.

I needed to study this info and understand how the entire thing worked. I also needed to know the resources I'd need for my potions.

"Lord, lady Lily asked me to deliver these over to you," the girl spoke in such rashness out of her nervousness. I nodded and the next instant she let out a large pile of papers.

Damn! This… It was over a hundred large sheets of paper filled with small writings! Damn Lily! Did you write all this in the past hours?-.

That… Was impressive!

"Thanks," I said to that nervous girl, "you did a great job. Keep doing it," I waved at her and said such encouraging words. After all these girls were moving all around without taking a single moment of rest.

Just looking at her getting away silhouette made me think about something crazy.

Why would I form a big army of flying dragon riders, with sexy girls wearing short armour and holding long spears, swords, and other weapons?

That would be a damn scene to behold!

But first I had to secure tons of souls. Doing it on a small scale wouldn't do me any good.

I had to summon an army of tens of thousands, better hundreds of thousands. But such a big scaled army of dragons would need lots of souls to spend.

I still had that a hundred million debt on my shoulders. I got to sort it out first before doing anything else.

As for that petals impact, I'd just use the bones like I did with the Bringold impact.

I looked at the big pile of papers in front of me and decided to go throw them first.

But studying them here wouldn't do. I stored them all first in my inventory before going downstairs. I selected a room and decided to turn it into my study room.

The room had a single bed like all my rooms. I took it inside my inventory, took out a few ores and monster materials I had no use for, and started to arrange them to form a rudimentary, weird looking desk.

"I'll ask them to make a desk and seats for me," I thought about the roof of the chariot as I wanted to decorate it as well.

I wanted to make the place up there suitable for meetings. So having a big oval shaped or rounded table would be a nice touch. Also having few seats enough for my team and visitors to sit on would be nice.

And for me, I'd choose a golden seat, one that suited a king like me.

But for now, I had to work with what I got.

"Let's start," I took the entire pile out one by one, and started to read roughly fast through their content. I got to know what they got, and luckily she marked them in numbers for me to not lose track or get lost.

After doing this, I got in general what these papers had. Part of them were speaking about the recipe, most of them actually. And the rest were about the resources needed in much detail.

She went to the extent of even drawing a rough sketch of each ore and material needed, specifying lots of information about each item we had to get.

I skipped this part for now. I had to first wait for my little surprise to spread over and reach the ears of the Bringold impact. I got five hours at least, and could wait a bit more for the news to reach them.

I knew that once they heard, they'd run over me and accept anything I asked for.

I started reading through the first few papers about the recipe. Just from the first paper, I got a severe headache about all the information in it.

I used to read records for a long time, making me a kind of expert in such things.

However these papers… They talked about very sophisticated knowledge, something I had a shortage in.

The recipe was talking all about the potions and how they worked. In brief, they worked to remodel the body of any race, making it gain more affinity towards the energy of the other universe.

From what I read I got to know that the energy of that alien universe isn't really alien to us. It was here, scattered all over the world. But that didn't mean anyone could get in touch with such powers.

One had to have a certain affinity to these energies, and that was the role of such potions. I got to know now how I got my cultivation base.

I knew it was related to a direct clan in the alien universe, a big and mighty one actually. I didn't need any help from that world, as the dark energy was present here.

And I also knew where it lied. It was in my shadow world, or in the entire shadow universe here.

Did it mean other energies were here in such a way? Secluded in their own worlds and universes? If so, then I got more knowledge and experience than anyone else in the universe to deal with such a thing.

But just as I was through the five papers, I got a message that forced me to stop and change my plans.

580 Taking The Hero Away

[Boss, there are many forces coming out from one big cave on our West side!]

It came from none but Leo. and from his words, I got the forces he was speaking about were huge.

[How much?] I paused before adding, [and where are they going?]

[They are still getting out, gathering in large groups. I believe their number now is in the tens of thousands, even more!]

[Many races, or a single one?]

[A mix of races, but there are lots of mercenaries as well]

[Ok, here's what you are going to do… You will retreat and watch from as far as possible. Maintain the distance fixed between you and these forces. Try to see where they are going]

[What if they are going to attack our lands? Our kingdom?]

[I doubt it] That was something I was sure about, [They are going to have a foothold or few around us. Just keep your distance and watch]-.

[Ok]

So he decided to move early on and secure a few cities and towns for him? Interesting! And was he doing this only here or at other places as well?

I had to get the bottom of this.

Going personally wouldn't help. My chariot was so eye catchy, and would be spotted from miles away. So I had to send other forces there.

But where? And whom to send?

I decided to call it a day for studying. I was reading through the complicated info about how to make potions. These…. Were really enough to give me a headache.

I went back to the top of my chariot. The fresh air there made my mood slightly better.

"I have a little trusted circle around me…" I had to admit this. Just right now I wanted to send lots of teams to search, and I faced the problem of finding good and capable, trusted subordinates.

"I'll have to ask them one by one then," I knew Hilary's subordinates were working at the northern coast. As for Angelica, she was leading them to the second Earth world, working to sort out the human batches there.

So I had to ask the spearhead, Sara, and Isabella for that.

The three were training at the ocean. So I went directly there.

Like before, they were fighting aquatic monsters. The fights were ragging hot, and I got to see the difference in these teams.

The ones that started from early on were having a much easier time than the rest. They also had led their ship half a mile forward, seemingly attracting much bigger and little fiercer monsters.

"Spearhead," as I approached, the entire group of my fighters here were in the middle of a heated and bloody battle.

But that didn't prevent me from shouting at the fat dude fighting using his ability that showed little improvement than before.

The ability before could affect monsters a little. But right now it seemed any monster getting touched by his ability would become weaker for a few seconds.

During these seconds, any attack landing at these would cut them into shreds! This dude seemed to learn how to better control his ability, turning the big field he previously used into a more focused and much more effective pulse of attacks.

But he could only target fewer targets this way, mostly five at the moment. Also his ability's effect wasn't that big or mighty, lasting only for a few seconds.

If monsters escaped the incoming attacks for any reason, the ability wouldn't affect them again like before. I noticed a few instances like this, making me realise there was still a big room for his improvement.

"Boss…" out of his breath, he shouted back, "can we delay it for another time?"

"Just leave this and get up here at once!" I knew he was the cornerstone of their fighting tactic here. But that wouldn't do them any good in the long run.

They had to adapt, learn how to fight without relying too much on each other's special abilities. Especially for someone like the spearhead, they shouldn't focus on him as he would be like a joker in any fight.

He wouldn't settle in one place or a fight. So they had to adapt to his absence.

"Damn! Where is the spearhead going?!"

"Damn! We are being pushed back!"

"F*ck!"

Many curses came out loud the moment that fat dude stopped using his ability. In return, the team here was getting pressured, pushed back with the aquatic monsters which came in much larger momentum.

"Keep fighting," I shouted, "the spearhead won't be with you all the time! Get used to his absence! Or else I'll forcibly send him away!"

"B… Boss!"

"Lord!"

"Damn! We are screwed now!"

Many exclamations of shock, surprise, and fear came from the rest of the team. If they faced great trouble with the absence of the spearhead, right now they were this close from getting killed!

"Pulse wave!" but I didn't stand by and watch them suffer thanks to me. I instantly used the AOE attack on my chariot.

I sent a fierce pulse wave that pushed all monsters back and further away in the ocean, buying them a few precious moments to get a better hold on themselves.

"Stay in formation and focus!" The shout didn't come from me, but from one of the Hectors standing nearby. That dude was daring enough to give me a blaming look, as if I ruined something important here.

Dude! You were the one working for me, not the opposite!

But as they were doing a marvellous job here, I decided to close an eye over this attitude of his.

"What's wrong, boss?" The spearhead felt more pressure as he knew he was the reason for all this. He ran to me with his big belly, making me laugh.

"Easy, you aren't fighting for your lives here."

"We already lost a few lives," he said such shocking news before adding in defence for the Hectors, "this is for our good, boss! They threw us in the middle of such disadvantageous battles, making us suffer like we are in real fights."

"But they let a few of you die!"

581 Gathering Up A Team Of A Hundred Generals

"They didn't let it happen on purpose," he spoke in their defence again, "They intervened and saved a few of us before. They just didn't get time to intercept when these youths died."

"Ok… But stop taking their side like this," I said in warning. It seemed like he forgot those Hectors were here to help us, working for us, not doing us some kind of favour.

"Anyway," I rolled my eyes before adding, "there is a need to send a few teams out to scout for something. I need trusted people, people who can do well in times of distress and chaos, people I can trust like I trust you."

"I have many to choose from," he hurriedly said, "how many do you need?"

"At least fifty," I thought, "better to be a hundred."

"I got thousands…"

"Dummy! I'm asking for trusted people, not just your people!" I slapped him on the shoulder with my left fist. But that hit made him fall to the ground.

"Boss… Easy on me, I'm fragile!"

"You are big and filled with fat," I sighed, "get up! I just hit you with my left hand. My right hand kills people with such a slap, do you want to get a taste of it?"-.

"No, no boss, no need," he stood up in a hurry that he even felt again. I sighed before adding, "I want people I can trust, leaders and generals, not mere f*cking soldiers!"

"Fine, fine boss… I'll get you one hundred of my best."

"Better to be," I nodded, "or else if anything went wrong, I'll hold you accountable for that!"

"Boss! I didn't do anything wrong!" he pleaded, and I grinned evilly.

"Then make sure to not commit one soon. Now go, find these people for me."

"But… Boss… We…" he looked around in loss, and I sighed again.

"Where are your people?"

"Training back at the mainland," he pointed towards the direction of the camp, "they are getting hellish training there as I heard."

"Ok," I led the chariot back to the land, while noticing the pleading looks over the faces of everyone back at that ship.

These folks… They got used to the spearhead's mighty ability in their fights! They should taste how they really would do on their own. It was better to take the spearhead out for a ride for a couple of hours or so.

I evilly looked at the direction of that fatty spearhead, making him sweat profusely as he said in clear fear:

"Boss… Don't scare me like this!"

"I did nothing."

"But… You were looking at me in such a way."

"I'm just looking."

"Not like this boss, please. I promise to do my best to make you happy."

"As if you dare to not do as such.

"Boss, I… I didn't mean anything, I swear."

"Then shut up, you are too noisy," I looked at the ground down below, "go and bring those hundred here."

"O… Ok…"

I let him descend using the rope. His big belly needed more exercise to get smaller.

I watched him run fast. He first found a few of his forces, then he led them with big shouts and a domineer of a tyrant to run around like monkeys and look for the people he wanted.

I wouldn't judge how he was acting with his boys. I just cared about the result in the end.

In less than half an hour, he returned with a small group of a hundred.

"I got them, boss," he shouted while putting a strong face in front of his boys.

"Let them climb up," I pointed at my rope while looking down at all of them.

As they all got up, with the reluctant look over the face of that fatty, I looked at the one hundred humans here.

They looked really fierce! Not a single one had a clear face, all with scars.

Looking at their boss and these one hundred, I couldn't help but wonder if the spearhead forced them to do this to their faces.

"The mission I want you to carry is very dangerous and risky…"

"Boss, sorry to interrupt but…" the spearhead seemed to grow impatient and wanted to go back to help his team.

I knew he wasn't this kind hearted for the people back there, he was just worried over his girl, over Isabella.

"And this mission might need a general to lead it," I looked at him in such a way, a way to warn him from even making a single sound before I'd finish up what I had to say here.

And like an obedient boy, he nodded and stood without even breathing!

"Anyway, here is the current situation…" I briefed what was going on in front of the spearhead. He was one of my closest subordinates, so it didn't matter if he heard about what was going on or not.

"Damn! Boss! Let us move out now! Let us teach that son of b*tch a lesson!" Once the spearhead got to guess the identity of that bastard behind all this, he shouted in such a way, volunteering to go out and fight these forces.

"Not now…" I was going to slap him on the shoulder again, but I stopped. He was standing with his selected elites. It wasn't wise to treat him like this in front of them.

"You need to move in secrecy, avoid fighting at all costs! If you can't do this simple order, then you can go back now."

"No," the one to shout first was the spearhead. He knew that I threatened him before if his selected people failed in what I wanted. "No boss, they will do it the way you desire."

"Is that true?" I ignored him, looked each and every one of them in the eye. Every single one of them nodded in respect and determination.

If they got to see the spearhead as their lord, then in their eyes I was their god!

582 Good News

"Cool," as I got confirmation from all of them, I said, "let's go get each of you a decent team to lead. Ah, come here, let me add you as friends to be easier to contact each other. Also do the same with each other."

I added them while they were already friends.

Finding suitable forces for them wasn't that hard. I just went around and picked forces from the ones fighting monsters in the small trenches.

They got the taste of monster blood. I gave each one a thousand man force, making a total of a hundred thousand army.

Before the addition of humans from other worlds, such a number would be big and risky. Yet right now I don't have any worry about that.

The sheer number of fighters training here was simply in millions, even tens of millions perhaps if adding the forces at the second Earth to the count.

Anyway… I led the army and then got to know the places of the tunnels Leo and Alex discovered so far.

On the grand map over my chariot I started to point in different directions, assigning missions for the one hundred generals here.

"I'm not sending you out to fight, keep that in mind all the time," I said in warning, "if you ever found a situation you don't know what to do in, just send me a message."-.

"Got it, lord," they all shouted at the same time. I saw them off. The big army broke to one hundred small ones, each taking a different route.

I had to get to the bottom of them, and this force would always act as my alarm warning force from now on.

"Boss…" from the side, the spearhead kept watching in nervousness and stress. I got what this dude here was thinking about, what was eating him up from the inside.

"What?" I faked my ignorance, rolling up my eyes, while he could only jump and kneel to plead.

"Please, please boss… Let me go back… I got to help them…"

"Why not say it out straight? Sigh! You have to be daring in love," I placed my left arm over his shoulder, making him faintly tremble.

"Let's go, I'll drop you off where I grabbed you from."

"Thanks boss," I could even see tears in his eyes! That dude… Sigh! He was so damn kind hearted, spoiling his girl.

But it was also good for Isabella. After all she was my first teammate, the first one I met when I came here.

I just hoped his care and love wouldn't interfere in the future path of hers. She was supposed to shine after quest five, and I wanted to see that happen.

As I promised, I took him through a long route around the entire capital. I visited almost every place here, even checked over the genius boys at the MIT campus, or what was left of it.

They were doing fine! The energy they generated before and got ruined was so close to being brought back again here.

"Boss…" from the side, the spearhead kept pleading, and all I did was to just ignore him.

"Here…" just as I arrived at the ship's zone, and before I could continue my words, that jerk jumped off like he got fire in his legs or something.

"Thanks boss," he shouted while falling to the deck of the ship.

The situation was really hard, and the team struggled to keep fighting with monsters.

I noticed the distance the ship took shrank and they also lost a few people as well.

I looked at the Hectors in a warning way, without the need to say anything. I needed them to train my forces hard, and I liked the way they did it so far.

But ending up letting my boys die was just unacceptable! They had to be more cautious, think about how to do it without risking another life.

I didn't speak up as I knew part of this was on me. I took out the spearhead from the team, disturbing their balance and rhythm.

Yet that was also for their good. The spearhead wasn't going to be there all the time to help.

As I finished doing this, I returned again to the outer zone. And once I got there, I got the good news from different people.

[I got confirmation from the impact higher up to accept talking with you, Hye. He will contact you soon]

The first message was a direct one, coming from the god who proposed help with the talent impact.

[That's great!] As we were talking in a private way, I could send him messages directly.

[Can I join your Ultras group now?]

[Not yet! I still have to receive his message and also close a deal with him] This god… What was so special about my group? He was acting a little impatient here.

[Ok, I'll remind him to contact you now]

[Thanks] I got nothing else to say but this. Yet this was a good piece of news.

And the second came from none but the lady.

[Did you go out and seek help from other impacts?!!]

[You… How did you know that?] I faked my surprise for her to get such intel, as if I wasn't the one hoping she would sniff this news.

[Do you think such news won't reach my ears?] she seemed a bit mad, and I liked it!

[I was just thinking about other options]

[We never let you down, right? So why look for others?]

[You… Became a little stingy with me out of late! Don't forget that our last deals ended up with you taking lots of time to respond]

[We… Just because you are asking for strange things, precious items that can't be given that easily]

[If you can't give easily, then other places can]

[Sigh! Ok, here is our response, we agree to your terms]

[All of them? Without any complaint or comment?] I knew this would be the response they'd give me, but I had to act a little baffled with that.

[What? Do you want us to bargain with you?]

583 Securing The Deal

[Better not to do it, or else I'd look for other impacts to answer my calls]

[Damn you! Since when was a human this hard to deal with?!]

[Anyway, let's finalise the deal] I ignored her remark, [Send the boys over. Also I'll send you a list of materials I need]

[Hopefully you won't ask for dragon essence or something like that!]

[How did you know?]

[Damn! Are you really trying to get such a legendary thing? Not a single impact out there can get it!]

[Hahaha! Was joking, joking, hahaha!] I was laughing. After all this girl took the bait and fell for it. What was that dragon essence material anyway?

[Be at ease! The materials I'm asking for is a large list of materials, with another list of replacements if they aren't available]-.

[Fine! But you have to deliver potions once you got them]

[I will, once I make enough for me to use. Send the contract over and let's finish this deal]

She sent the contract and I read it closely. They didn't change anything, and so I ended up signing. [Send the boys now. I need them to make the potions]

[Right away]

The next moment, a portal opened and a group of two hundred old looking men appeared from it.

"Come on board," I lowered my chariot to let them get up. As they stood in front of me, I summoned one Gollam, and sat on its thick arm.

"So… You are the experts I paid lots of price to get…" I spoke in such a high tone while moving my eyes over them, "who is the highest grade here? Introduce yourself."

A group of fifteen or so came forward and introduced themselves. Ten alchemists and five blacksmiths, all were grandmaster rank, the rank I needed.

I looked up at them and selected two, one from each profession, to become the acting leader of the entire two hundred here.

"Ok, I'll drop you over to someone who will brief you with what you will do from now on," I looked at the one hundred alchemists as I controlled my chariot towards my capital.

"What about us, lord?" the leader of the blacksmith spoke, as he noticed as the rest that I only spoke with the alchemists.

"You will go somewhere else with me," I had other plans for these blacksmiths. Leaving them here would be a waste. It was better to just drop them to my second Earth, get to use the time difference for their benefit.

"Where is Lily?" Once I entered the air space of my capital, I stopped one of the dragon rider girls and asked her for that. She went to search for Lily and came back in less than a few minutes and led me there.

"Here is what I promised," I pointed at the one hundred group of alchemists who stood in front of her. Lily returned again to the training fields, but she took a side where the place was empty and open to the outer world.

"This…" she looked at the large number of alchemists before laughing. She was leading a group of over a hundred Hector, seemingly planning and preparing for the next move. "Are they really alchemists?"

"This is the first batch," I said, while noticing the weird look over the alchemists' faces when I said that, "others will come but later on. Work with them for now."

I was standing over my chariot, speaking in such a loud tone, making everyone here hear me.

"Fine," she had nothing else to say, "what about materials?"

"I'm working on it," I said, "start building the altars and let them get familiar with what you have to do here."

"Got it."

I moved my chariot back to the outer zone. At the same time, I let the blacksmiths stay on board for now, doing nothing else but sightseeing.

As for me, I went downstairs and started checking the papers that got the materials needed. I opened a chat with the lady and started to send her the list of materials I needed.

[The last is the horn of wild boating goats. If you don't have it, then you can just find the horns of lecksetre monsters or the horns of the black spirnets. Any of these works. As for the amount, anything you got I'll take, no matter what]

[Damn! This… Are you trying to rob my impact's warehouse or what?]

[Can you deliver or not?] I didn't want her to return to her old nature of bargaining with me. I wanted to just get this deal done.

[I can, of course it's doable. Let me run a check and get back to you with the price tag]

[Sure]

I returned to the surface. I could get to her even when I was on the second Earth. So I didn't plan on standing here for any longer.

But before going to the second Earth, I ran a fast check with my teams out there. There was nothing new. Alex and Leo were trailing the big forces and still not knowing where they were going.

As for the other teams, they just didn't get far enough to reach the places of the tunnels. I had to wait for at least five hours before I'd get an answer from these teams.

So, I opened a portal and turned to look at my blacksmiths.

"Be ready, here we go to the place you will live the rest of your lives at."

I already signed contracts with them and the alchemists. So I wasn't worried about them working against me. As for telling the lady about the other world, she already got the news from the wood experts she sent over before.

But the new world I went into looked much different than before!

First the size of the empty zone here got enlarged by three folds at least! That was pretty insane, but the more insane thing was the changes that happened in the central part of this region.