Sam stood up after a night of gaming and yawned. Like Lucas, she had been working on her domain but her efforts weren’t producing the result as she wanted, even after taking care to have meeting with Lucas every now and then.

“I should go and have a talk with him… I want to know how was he able to quickly push the village to be a town where players can appear… even if I do have my own villages, they’re too violent if I compare with Akor’s.” She muttered as she poured a cup of coffee for herself. “He said something about raising their intelligence, but when I did it they turned to be a lot more military… might be the problem with my own ‘General’... he might be the one pulling the strings to turn them into controlled savages.” She thought aloud as she prepared her breakfast.

Sam was much lazier at home compared to your average young woman. She walked around with only a shirt and underwear as she prepared a simple breakfast. She put some eggs to fry along with some bacon strips before scrambling the eggs. When she was done she took a piece of bread and stuffed everything on the bread before grabbing some ham to the hot pan and fried them a bit and stuffed them with the bacon and egg as her breakfast.

Sitting down at the table she began to collect some things in her video feed and after finishing she put on a simple skirt which reached close to her knees. She then took a notebook which contains many problems she faced despite Lucas having suggested them.

When she gathered the needed materials, she locked up the house and went to Lucas’ house so that she can bombard him for help.

She clearly saw that his success wasn’t limited to just his passive personality. He was clearly very good at planning on the administrative side. She took along some books which shows some military advice which she had succeeded but also had some drawbacks on her own efforts towards her administration.

Knock! Knock!

She reached his door rather quickly and waited, hoping he wasn’t out. Since she came early in the morning she was sure he wasn’t out since he was someone who worried about his finances.

“Who is it?” the screen turned on.

“It’s me, i came for some advice about the game.” Sam said.

The screen turned off and the sound of locks being opened were heard.

Slowly the door opened and a man appeared at the door. Sam blinked as she looked at him and looked at the door number. “Um… sorry did i knock on the wrong door?” She said.

“What are you talking about? Get in so we can talk about what you need.” Lucas said in his common emotionless tone.

“A-are you Lucas?!” she asked in shock

“Who else would i be?” he asked.

“WHAT!?” Sam exclaimed.

Even if he said that, one could not blame Sam for her current reaction. It had been only around 3 days since she had seem Lucas but the previously skin and bones 170 cm tall young man had turned into a 175 cm tall thin and pretty elegant young man. Because his face was now fuller, his eyes no longer sunken, his hair glossy instead of oily and well brushed. His entire presence changed.

Sam walked inside and even noticed his home was drastically changed. Previously he kept his windows mostly closed but the shades were pulled back and the apartment was well lit and seemed to have gained life.

“What happened? You are like a different person.” She asked inside.

“I got my first paycheck.” Lucas said simply.

“I did as well but that shouldn’t change you so much.” She replied.

Lucas looked at her and walked into the kitchen before walking out with an item in his hands. She looked at it after he showed her and she finally realized exactly the cause. As a superhuman, he now had nutrition and so his body was rapidly regaining its vitality that had lacked for so long.

“To think super humans could change so drastically just because of your food quality.” She said and sat down.

“So what did you need?” Lucas asked as he sat down.

“Right, i tried a lot of the ideas you gave me but they aren’t working.” She said and began to show him all the previous days work she had put in.

“You are right, it is your general. You want to make demon elites while he wants to make elite shocktroopers.” Lucas said.

“Seriously!?” she exclaimed.

Lucas nodded and called up a video of her minions fighting. “Look here, the way they are fighting is just a mad rush even when they have the militia class. This is a sign that they were just using the same crazed methods as a wild imp without a class.” Lucas said.

He brought up his own imps and showed the clear difference.

“I can’t believe i am asking you for help with military.” She said.

“It’s not so much about help. You just need to change the focus. I focus on research while you are trying to expand your territory to reach the same point as me since i have 4 villages.” He said.

“I have 2 villages.” She said with a frown.

“Exactly, and all the military is run by the general right?” Lucas asked.

“Yes.” She replied.

“Then instead of letting him train them, you train them, teach them formations, teach them tactics. Make them more efficient, you are the lord so the general shouldn’t be the one commanding your people.” Lucas said.

Sam gasped as if she was suddenly enlightened. His words hit the root of the problem she currently faced because of the rapidly militarising nation that was forming around her.

“Okay so how's about the administration? I tried to make something but it isn’t forming at all?” She asked.

“You have the scribe, accountant… architect… wait you only have so few support classes?” He said shocked.

“Yeah, my general said we needed to be strong to survive in the badlands.” She said.

“Right. Forget what he said, what you need to do is set a foundation. You need to focus on support and buildings first. You need to ‘depower’ the general who is the most powerful being in your village and increase the number and control power of support classes.” he said.

“How do i do that?” She asked.

Lucas frowned and thought deeply before asking for the background of the minotaur.

“He was a general for one of the dark lords. He abandoned his lord when he was ambushed and is very vengeful.” She replied.

“Then remove him from his position. He might not be seeing you as a lord but as a convenient power source to get revenge. Take him from his position, don’t leave him as general, then personally train the troops with proper formation and make them less savage.” he replied.

“What!?” She shouted wide eyed.

“What?” Lucas asked.

“You want me to remove him from his position? What if he gets enraged?” she asked.

“Can he hurt you? From what i remember, once a minion is bound, they have a very strict binding on their very souls? I believe they are required to have absolute loyalty and can’t reject your orders. Also, you don’t need to shame him, retire him. Leave him as a military instructor and not a military general.” Lucas gave his suggestion.

Sam sat down and fell into deep thought nodding. “I see now. Ahaha! That may work, although i think he will be really pissed off when i take him out of the picture.” She said.

“Yeah, anyone would but he came to you and is causing problems for you so you should teach him his place.” Lucas said.

Her face lit up as her desires burned but she held it back and pulled out some books for other advice on problems she faced but most of them stemmed from resolving the conflicting problem she faced in the military and lack of support classes.

Lucas as well got advice such as the fact that subordinates can also be turned into militia but they didn’t have the buff that minions got. When they leveled up they would also follow the stat distribution plan Lucas thought as well. Through this method, it was possible to rapidly fill up the military and his population.

“I noticed but your army is really weak.” Sam said to Lucas after seeing his own video feed.

“That is because i don’t have subordinates.” Lucas said.

“You should just trap the ones spawning.” She said.

“I ordered that this morning. I am just waiting now.” He replied and pulled up him giving the orders and many imps guarding the two demon nests to subdue the imps that would leave as soon as they were born.

“Oh i see.” Sam said understanding his reasoning.

Knock! Knock!

At that time a knock came from the door making Lucas look up. “Today is pretty active.” He said and got up and turned on the door screen. “Hello?” he asked.

“Is it Mr. Rollin?” a man asked.

“Yes, who is it?” Lucas asked.

“I am from Second Life INC, we are having a special show with certain players. Because you have the first player town, we invite you to appear on the show.” the man said.

Sam, who was behind Lucas, was shocked. Her jaw dropped wide and her eyes opened wide revealing her gem like eyes completely. “Serious!? Are you going to be on TV?!” she exclaimed.

Lucas had a conflicted expression as he unlocked the door and looked at the man, “Care to explain?” Lucas asked.

“Indeed. This is to increase popularity of some of the more discreet players who are accomplishing feats well while not attracting attention.” He said.

Lucas frowned, “What if i don’t want attention?” He asked.

“Well that is on you. After all, your bonus pay depends on your popularity.” The man said simply and maintaining his business smile.

Lucas’s voice was trapped in his throat as soon as he heard this words. “Alright, when is the show?” He asked.

“Tomorrow at 9:00 am. We will pick you up to transport you to the studio early in the morning.” the man said and looked at Sam. “Oh?! You are Demon Lord Ulra, you were invited as well.” He said.

“Really? How many people are coming?” She said accepting the invitation without any reluctance unlike Lucas.

“Several Top adventure mode player, the top lord players and a number of the lords who have a chance to fail.” He replied.

Her face cramped upon hearing the choices and knew which category she was in. She was very clear about her position. “Okay.” She said sulking and went inside before packing up her things. “Lucas, i will be seeing you, thanks for the help.” She said in a cold voice because of the man’s words. Inside, her motivation and defiance towards the current ranking was burning like a raging flame inside her and she logged in quickly after getting home and having someone call her general.

Back in Lucas’s home, he closed the door after the man left and ate his breakfast peacefully and then logged in.

Valring was grinning where he logged in and in front of them were countless tied up imps howling like animals.

“What is this?” He asked.

“These are the little newborns who are struggling to leave.” the succubus said grinning.

“Right, how many are there?” he asked.

“Both imps and Minogida together number around 39. 24 imps and 15 Minogida in total from the noon birthing hour.” Valring said.

“How do i make them my minions?” He asked.

“Proclaim your name while expressing your power.” He said.

Lucas looked at her with a confused expression.

The Lesser Succubus thought a moment before lifting her clawed hand and formed a fist before a dark aura slowly formed along with a faint pressure.

“Like this, you express your power by focusing the power from the demon heart. My lord can also use the command skill to aid you in conquering their mind.” She said.

“Okay.” Akor said.

Even if he said so, he scratched his bald head while looking at the bound demons. He first tried to do as Valring had done. He gathered his mana and flowed it to his hand but instead of a black aura, it formed a blue cover.

There was something he was missing which caused him endless confusion at this moment. “Gather the power from the mana springs but how is that done?” he wondered. He could clearly feel the link to the main heart which fed his current power.

He tried to focus on that link and pushed mana through that link. There was an instant reaction, like opening a tap, an amazing strength surged from the mana pool and entered his body..

Crack! Crack! WOOOSH!

Suddenly a black aura covered Akor like a black flame. A heavy pressure suddenly filled the entire village while Akor felt immense pain all over. He opened his eyes with a lot of effort but the result of doing this caused every newborn imp and even the older ones to feel fear. It was because his eyes had turned bright red and was glowing through the black flame like two deadly glaring lights.

Akor forced his lips open as best he could and with a rough hoarse voice he spoke. “You… are my servants. Kneel!” he forced out.

As if responding to his command, the pressure intensified causing more pain in his body but it perfectly transmitted his desire.

Not only the new imps, even the old ones were filled with fear and awe by the immense power their lord displayed.

They dropped what they were doing and kneeled.

As for the players, they had long been forced to their knees and were sweating and trembling.

Ding!

Congratulations, you have conquered the minds of weakling subordinate demons and they will now follow your orders and that of your minions.

You have learned a new skill.

Demon Lord’s Aura

Level 1

All Demon Lords possess an aura of power. This aura originates from expressing the power inside their main demon heart and it has the ability to reinforce their bodies as well as create a lord’s pressure which is used to conquer the minds of weaker demons into your service.

The black aura vanished the next second and Akor staggered when his body relaxed but Valring held him up. “My Lord is impressive, as expected of lord.” She said grinning.

“Why was it so wild?” he asked tired.

“My Lord had no control, of course. Now that you have awakened your aura, you can train it to control it properly.” She said.

“Okay…” He said completely exhausted but he straightened up. “Release these subordinates and take them to become Militia.” he ordered before turning around and walking into the lord’s house weakly.

His body collapsed and Valring walked in worried. “My Lord, was the pressure too much?!” She said worried and lifted him before taking him to his room.

The room was on the 2nd floor next to the throne room and had a wooden framed bed but it was still filled with straw but above the straw were pelts used for bedding.

Akor was placed on the bed to rest and recover in safety.

Valring went to take care of the new demons that would become part of the army.

***

While Akor was unconscious, the rest of the world was not idle. Far to the western side of the continent that the players spawned in, a small sized forest that had appeared over the last month was undergoing a large change.

This forest is not natural to this region, all around this place was endless grasslands with little vitality but only this small outcrop of forest which was about 1 km in diameter, was visible.

At the center was a village which was the source of this forest.

Many beautiful men and women were walking around with bows and spears on their backs. At the very center of the village was a male elf with long blond hair and fair skin with a thin frame and a sculpted face making him look like a living sculpture.

This was the elf player lord of this village, Gwen Holytree.

Elves are a strange creature, when they are born they all have a special seed in their hearts. This tree is their home and origin of power as well as the source of their last name.

For the name ‘Holy tree’ this is a unique name among unique names as the name of elven kings. In fact, even among the elf lords, the ones with a Holy tree seed can’t surpass the number of fingers on a person's hand. Most other lords would have ‘Great (followed by a breed) Tree’. The type of tree changes but all of them are ‘great’ meaning they are immensely powerful.

What was happening was him finally achieving the conditions to plant his tree. Different from demons who must plant a demon heart from the get go, other races were different.

Elf lords would not begin as a lord but as a class known as Forest Watcher. This class is very weak compared to a lord and is meant for an elf to watch the forest until it reaches a certain size before they upgrade to Forest Village Chief. This is when they are officially a lord and get more bonus but they are still weaker compared to official lords.

As for the conditions to plant the tree? Officially, elf villages require 1 km of forests planted on top of mana springs, at least 3 sister forests planted of mana springs and the village at level 2.

When the tree is planted, the elf village will officially upgrade to a level 3 elf town and it would connect to all the elf forest mana springs they controlled.

The player slowly raised his arms and his chest began to glow drawing the attention of all the elves.

The number of elves was much lower because of their birth rate at 1:20 but their talent is much higher making them a more elite race.

From Gwen’s chest, a glowing seed the size of a man’s fist appeared.

“A Holy tree seed!” someone exclaimed

“The Divine goddess has blessed us!” another elf shouted.

Ding!

By revealing your Holy tree seed, your prestige among your elves has reached the level of nobility.

He did not react and carefully took the seed and walked to the area the mana spring was located and dug a hole with his hands and placed the seed inside the ground before burying it.

WOOSH!

A sudden wave of energy surged up from the ground forming a small pillar of mana but it hit Gwen full on and seemed to suffocate him with energy. Even a small mana spring has immense energy inside.

WOO!

A wave of energy surged into the ground all around rapidly expanding. This was the seed expanding its territory and influence as well as going to attach to the other captured mana pools.

As the mana pillar slowly weakened Gwen tried to leave the wave but the system would not let him. Finally the mana returning from the other springs arrived and the mana pillar grew even more powerful. He was unable to utter anything as pain wrecked his body but all that mana soon vanished and all of it flowed into the ground.

He collapsed while behind him, a small little sprout with white leaves appeared from the ground.

Congratulations! By having a unique Holy tree seed and planting it in the place of a Great tree seed when advancing the level of your Town, your class has upgraded into the Hidden Class, Holy Tree Lord.

Holy Tree Lord

A special Lord class which is born when a unique elf lord plants a Holy Tree seed instead of a Great Tree seed.

Unlocks Holy mana for the Lord and sprout Fae plants once the tree reaches maturity.

Gwen looked at the messages before smiling, Holy mana is a special higher tier mana which is twice as powerful as the basic elemental mana and can mix with the other types to amplify the power of all spells as well as infuse into weapons to give holy mana buff making them the enemy of undead.

The elves began to cheer but Gwen slowly started to black out and he barely had time to log out before he did so.

He got up startled and felt his heart beating heavily. He breathed heavily for a few minutes before sighing and relaxing.

He went to eat and rest but half an hour later a man appeared at his door and gave him an invitation to the show that will be happening the next day.

“Awesome!” he said as he sat down. He was feeling like a star now. He was one of the elf rebels which is why he was #10 among the possible failure lords but as he checked his ranking, he found that he wasn’t even on the list anymore.

He laughed wildly and felt a great sense of satisfaction upon discovering this and went back into the game to see the changes of his town.