The only true way to evolve a servant was to give them names. A servant bound by a magical contract to their master will share their master's growth, but servants who were named by their masters were given a larger percentage of power boost. The larger the sacrifice in the contract, the greater the power a servant has. After all, when the master dies, the servant may perish alongside the master they pledged their lives to.

For this wisp, it was all or nothing. Ever since its miserable birth to this world, nobody gave it an opportunity to become something more. The first person to give him that chance was the Monarch of Solitude. Even if it was a chance encounter, the little pixie was thankful for the opportunity. For her, it was better to die knowing the sweet taste of success than live a life of unanswered questions without knowing how success felt like.

"Are you sure?" Tree Rino asked when he saw who that first brave volunteer was.

The other fairies and wisps had different levels of shock when they found out who this pixie was. Just a few hours ago, she was an unnamed wisp. Some fairies thought that she was overly confident of her abilities and labelled her as a greedy fae. Other kinder faes worried for this pixie's well-being and even tried to stop her.

However, the pixie was resolved. Even if she died, she would die trying to climb to the top. It was better than living a meaningless life for the next hundred years and missing the opportunity to be part of this new era.

Even if she did not know who the Monarch of Solitude was, she was willing to bet that the lich would bring about a huge wave of change to their world. Humans have been bullying other species, and it was time they learned their place. If the new magic tree could give them his word that the lich would not side with humans and would protect the weaker residents of the forest, she would lay her life down without regret.

Born from the growing fear and anger of creatures in the forest, this wisp turned into a fire pixie. She would never forget how families and clans of weaker animals were decimated and turned into coats and ground rugs. Those filthy human feet stepped all over the skin of dead comrades, and the fire pixie could not forget the rage these animals felt after their death.

"You've already evolved once," Rino informed the fore pixie. "You might die from this if you try it the second time."

Instead of backing off, the fire pixie became more resolute. "I am not afraid of death. If I have to be tested again to prove my worth, I will gladly undergo another evolution even if my soul becomes ripped to shreds."

Impressed, Rino decided that he would offer this bold little one a contract. It was a soul-binding contract that offered great benefits at the cost of one's existence, but he had a feeling there would be no objections.

Hearing that there was a way to become part of the monarch's subordinates, the fire pixie did not hesitate.

"I accept," she announced, shocking the other faes gathered in the cave.

With her approval, the soul binding contract tied the pixie to Rino, who decided he would keep his name as it was. It was too difficult to separate his identity as a lich and a world tree so they would both be Rino. The only difference would be in their titles. He would no longer introduce his name as a lich. Instead, one would be known as the Monarch of Solitude, and the other would be known as World Tree Rino.

Everyone watched as the fire pixie burst into purple soul flames after accepting the soul-binding contract with World Tree Rino. Nobody moved, entranced by the power of this contract. Just what was this tree, and who was the Monarch of Solitude? How could they be more powerful than the only magic tree in this poor forest?

Like moths flocking to a flame, World Tree Rino received many pledges and soul-binding contracts. He wasted no time or spent too much effort naming his fairy subordinates. He doubted that he would remember them anyway.

Getting fae slaves was only the first part of his plan. He would have to put them to work soon after he received his new daily quest, but for now, the ex-court magician could confirm that his magic powers were greatly increased by the number of faes he had under the soul-binding contract. As they fed on the mana produced by the world tree, they contributed it back to the world tree and Rino's kingdom by doing work.

The first batch of faes was tasked with weaving clothing for Rino's undead army. The second batch of contracted faes was tasked with patrolling Rino's massive territory that he hasn't fully explored himself. The fairy scouts made the bulk of his new labour force. The last batch of contracted fairies was chosen based on their elemental affinity to assist him with the farms, clay kiln and rock quarry. In other words, Rino made them resource production workers and gatherers.

Appointing a leader among these faes, Rino left them to organise themselves and switched his consciousness perspective to the one who had just come out of the bath.

It was close to midnight now, and the weaving fairies would take some time to arrive without teleportation. As of now, the mana recovery rate was more than his mana consumption rate. Rino reached his maximum mana capacity, hadn't fully explored, and the lich decided that now might be a good time for a little experiment.

One by one, Rino summoned his shadow slaves and monitored his mana reserves. So far, there was no change in his mana even after summoning fifteen new slaves.

Could it be?

The Monarch of Solitude could not help but feel a little excited by the possibility of finally being able to summon an entire village of slaves to assist with his production needs. There was no time better than the present to test that out, and Rino removed all reservations, calling out the rest of the lurkers in his shadows.