After Lucas had left to rest, his territory didn’t stop. From the establishment of the basic laws, Valring used the armies as town guards and messengers to spread all the rules. Most of the messengers were scholars and intelligent enough to announce the rules.

This actually caused discontentment among more violent players and when some tried to cause trouble, they were met with the bad side of the guards weapons.

There was no jail so demons pretty much killed these people for their attitudes.

These violent players were used as examples causing the others to feel cold inside but after several incidents they finally calmed down accepting the rules because they couldn’t fight against the army without sufficient strength and weaponry. Since the territory controlled the mineral supply and weapon selling they could do nothing.

At this time, while Valring was overlooking the work of the scholars who had begun to take all the low level research to merge into common level research scrolls like the first time, she found Idra walking into the lord’s house.

She had a keen perception and noticed the demon kobold demon queen and when she noticed her enter the throne room she followed behind.

“What are you doing?” Valring asked.

The kobold queen turned but her eyes were emotionless. “I have come to aid the propagation of the religion.” Idra said.

She suddenly opened the territory management while she pulled out a very old research scroll. The scroll added a new blueprint and building called Chapel.

Chapel were an interesting building, it was, in fact, a downgraded version of a basic temple. It was faster to build but was far smaller. It was perfect for building in small villages where a single priest would do the teaching.

The material cost was also very small, only 100 wood for each chapel and 30 stone to make the ten idols of the gods.

She unhesitantly placed chapels in all the minor villages while she placed basic temples in the three main towns. Everrath was still recruiting priests and clergymen but this process was quick as she took countless subordinates. They just had to undergo a period of learning to learn to read, write and learn the skills of a priest.

For clergymen, it was a little slower because it was a hybrid warrior class needing magic skills and warrior skills. She had a small unit of 20 members but she was limited with her own skills which were only level 1 themselves. She was planning on taking her unit to train in the wild to level up themselves.

Anyways, the buildings were placed but as it was explained to Lucas, she can control the army but all actions passed through him. Only if she was given a territory to manage herself could she do things without needing approval from Lucas but every movement was still notified to him.

After the temples and chapels were placed down she added the last building, the religious school, only to the cities with demon hearts.

The cost to build these was very large which was why she didn’t plan to put them in villages which would eventually be swallowed up by the expanding towns. Also only towns could have them anyway and only one of them each town so there was no point even thinking about placing them in the villages.

“Done, it simply requires approval from lord husband.” She said and turned to the beautiful humanoid advisor. She looked up and down and after a moment she said, “Also, advisor, although you helped me obtain the position of queen, as queen I do not need your approval over the actions I do. I work for the prosperity of my lord husband’s land.” She said and walked past Valring whose face turned dark.

She didn’t expect that the demon kobold would be ingrateful but she also didn’t care about it either.

She just snorted and headed to the research area to aid the scholars in merging the countless copies of skill scrolls merge to unlock the limits of the nations population.

***

In the elevator, Lucas was dressed for jogging. An old pair of sneakers were on his feet while he wore an old t-shirt and shorts. It was discreet and didn’t draw attention, perfect for jogging to cool his head.

As he got out of the elevator, the other elevator next to his also opened and to his surprise, among the people walking out was a very familiar face he had gotten used to butting into his life.

“Sam?” he said as he saw the girl.

“Oh Lucas, are you going out as well?!” she said happy.

Sam walked over and was dressed for exercise but as with all girls’, her clothing was made to make her look good and very appealing. She wore the yoga pants which were firm against her body, a tight shirt, a pair of running shoes while he hair was in a cute ponytail. She didn’t wear much makeup because when she sweat it would get messed up.

“Yeah, I was watching that annoying lord guy from the interview and it pissed me off to see him using his family or organization to become number one. Thought I would jog to cool off.” He said.

She giggled at his response. “I saw your ranking suddenly jumped off the lowest rankings.” she said.

“Yeah, I got several lucky breaks and achievements. I finally took total control of the territory I had between all my main towns and I succeeded in building the temple. Now I am starting a national religion.” He replied.

“Oh wow!” she said shocked.

She was much clearer than Lucas about the insider information of the game since she researched far more through the forums. Things like religion were among them since it caused such a huge stir amongst demons.

The two left the building while jogging while she kept asking questions about what happened and was shocked to hear about the queen and concubine features before she frowned.

“Does that mean demons will have harems? And even reverse harems?” she asked.

Lucas’s face twitched slightly when she said that. Only now that she mentioned it did he realize that indeed, to increase influence of the lord, queens and concubine actually work as a fixed buff for a lord.

Sam noticed his expression and laughed, “Don’t worry so much about it, instead we should probably be more worried about expansion.” She said.

“Yeah.” He nodded.

“So you have total control already so are you going to expand your territory? I think you said the territory size you have now is probably only around 30 km in diameter right?” she asked.

“Yeah, most of it has a huge number of scattered villages.” he said.

“You should know that 30 km radius isn’t a lot. Given time and the explosive population of demons this territory will very quickly merge into a single city.” She said.

“I know, most villages have between 300 and 500 people while the demon heart towns have over 1000 or so. My capital is the one with most people which is nearly 3000 counting players.” he replied.

“That is a lot.” she said surprised.

“Not so much, the top lords are much larger and they occupy much more territory as well.” he said.

Sam frowned and began to think about what she could say.

“Well for now it doesn’t matter, what is important is to find another mana spring and place more demon hearts to level up my capital.” Lucas said.

Hearing his words she smiled.

The two continued to trade ideas and several times they looked up to see passing super humans. The athletics they did made it all seem like superheroes from comics.

Eventually they got tired of jogging while in a park and went to a vending machine and grabbed some energy drinks. Lucas put his head under a nearby sink and let the water fall over his hair.

After cooling off he quickly squeezed off the water and left his hair to dry. Sam laughed at what his hair looked like and from a small pouch she handed him a small brush. He didn’t deny that he looked a bit ridiculous and just straightened his messy hair.

The distance between the two had already shrunk quite a bit since Lucas began to get healthier. That said as they were walking home, they were unexpected blocked by a group of ten punks. Nine of them were varied from skinny to fat or muscular but the leader of them was an amazing 2 meter tall wall of muscle. If compared to anything he would be like a wardrobe from how big he was.

“Hey babe, hows about ditching this chump for real men.” he said with a deep rough voice.

Sam’s face turned into a scowl, “Eww, so gross. What the hell is that smell?” she said covering her nose and jumping behind Lucas waving her hand over her face. “Seriously when did you last take a bath?! You still have courage to pick up girls smelling like that!” Sam cried out.

Sam, by no means, spoke quietly. The large group was already very distinct so when her voice resound throughout the street, eyes focused on them instantly.

The muscular man’s face turned bright red in rage at once.

“You little bitch!” he shouted.

Lucas frowned and took a step in front of Sam further hiding him, “Back off punk.” he said.

Veins appeared on the guys face.

“Who do you think you are!?” of the minions began to shout. “Boss here is picking up a chick, you had better leave before you are left with broken legs!” the guy threatened.

Lucas didn’t even look at these second rate punks. “Get out of our way.” He said.

“That’s it! You want to get hurt for this little tramp then be my guest. Boys get him!” the boss said.

The guys laughed and one of them suddenly ran out and punched at Lucas’s face.

Lucas was by no means a fighter but Superhumans would not be special if they were so easy to beat. Even their most basic aspects were at a higher level then normal ones. It is no wonder they are called the next stage of evolution for humanity.

Because Lucas’s brain had also been improved, he had actually developed a minor level of kinetic vision. To him, the movement of these guys were slow and he simply raised his hand and with the side of his hand he pushed the punks fist to the side before it reached his face and grabbed his wrist. With his recently improved strength he pulled the entire weight of the guy and spun him around and threw him back at his group.

He fell face first into the ground having lost his balance.

Next one of the guys came throwing a kick but Lucas had even less problems with that and took a step back letting the kick hit the air before he stepped forward and low kicked weakly the guys supporting leg causing him to flip on the air and land on the ground.

He was very controlled of course, currently his strength was probably equal to three or four adults superimposed. If compared to a normal human, he had the strength equal to the strongest normal human body builder, more or less.

“Hmm, so this is three times human strength.” he thought amused and looked at the leader. “I said get out of the way punks. We have things to do.” he said.

This was the straw that broke the camel's back. The leader stepped up raging and shouted while throwing his massive fist at Lucas.

Lucas calmly looked and just raised his right hand while his left leg moved behind his right to support his body.

PA!

The punch landed in his palm while the force was absorbed by the entire body. Lucas’s arm bent half way before stopping completely and his fingers were each in the grove of the other guys knuckles before he clamped down his fingers like an iron clamp.

When the guy felt the pressure his face suddenly turned pale and pulled but to no avail. “Let go!” he roared and threw his other fist but Lucas simply lifted the other hand and grabbed it in the same manner and clamped down.

“Let! Go!” the leader shouted shaking and pulling his arms.

After a few seconds he suddenly felt a pressure from Lucas who began to turn his hands. He tried to resist but slowly Lucas turned his fists around and the lower side of the arm was faced up making the group leaders arm straighten out. He couldn’t pull back as it was or even struggle.

Suddenly Lucas took a step back and pulled the guy before lowering his body and stepping forward. This was done smoothly and very fast. The guy stumbled forward while his straightened arm was pushed down before Lucas suddenly put force lifting the guy’s body using the momentum and tossed him over his body behind him and letting go of the guys arms.

“Ahh!” the leader shouted as he came down hard on the concrete. Many people gasp and flitched at the impact.

“Boss!” the minions shouted and ran towards the guy.

Lucas on the other hand grabbed Sam’s hand and pulled her away, “Let’s go.” he said and entered the crowd.

Sam was blushing after being pulled but as with the man, Lucas’s grip was tight and he probably didn’t realize.

Half way back after the fight Sam coughed, “Y-you can let my hand go now.” she said.

When Lucas turned around and found that he was holding her hand, it was the first time his expression changed to embarrassment. He let go at once and coughed, “Sorry about that.”

Sam giggled, which made it a very cute scene because of her blushing face. She was strangely very happy about seeing him like that.

“Come on, lets head back quick.” she said and lead the way back. The two separated but she said she would come over after taking a bath to see his video feed while bringing her own for them to share experiences of the last few days.

Lucas agreed and walked home. When he entered, he stood there blankly before his face brightened and he shook it and went to take a bath and clear his head.

She arrived after an hour and the two sat down to watch each others videos.

***

In a darkened room with the windows covered, a meeting was taking place, sat on the sides of a long table was an old man, a middle aged man and several other younger boys. On the other side of the table were a few young girls who seemed embarrassed to be in this situation.

This was Sam’s family, the one leading this ‘meeting’, and sat at the head of the table, was none other than Sam’s grandfather.

After knowing that Sam would appear on the interview, the family had gathered to watch but where shocked by how she was ranked and what she was playing like.

“As you all know I have called this meeting to talk about that… villian who has been enchanting my dear granddaughter!” he said gritting his teeth.

“This punk has used delusional methods to corrupted my daughter! He cannot be forgiven!” the middle aged man sitting next to sam’s grandfather said. He was her father.

This family has a tradition of being a military family and it was even more protective of each family member but Sam is a bit unique in the family. She is a lot less aggressive even if she does the same things her family does which makes them even more protective of her.

That said, this was only the blood related members following her father's side of the family because her mother's side wasn’t as extreme.

“We should call Sam and make her return home to keep her away from this delinquent!” her grandfather said.

“No, we should go there and beat him up!” her younger brother, who was just over 15 years old said.

The younger members had a burning flame in their eyes hearing the idea.

At that moment the door burst open and everyone froze because of the person standing there with a cold glare.

“M-mom!” the boy said.

She looked at them making them tremble, “What are you doing?” she asked in a voice that was very normal.

No one replied but they began to sweat heavily.

The leader of the family has never been the men, it was her. She was the one that fully mastered the family which was why they were having this meeting in a dark room which was actually an office far from the kitchen on the first floor where their voices didn’t reach her. Still they couldn’t stop her finding out.

She walked in and her eye saw a small folder on the table and casually turned it and opened it only to find a file on Lucas. She flipped through it casually and her emotionless face formed a smile.

Everyone trembled and swallowed dryly.

“Oh my, she found such a unique boy.” She said and looked at her father. “I very much hope none of you were thinking of messing with Sam’s life now that she moved out, did you?” she asked.

Instantly every young member shook their heads. Only her husband and father in law remained unmoving. Her eyes focused on the two, “Honey?” she asked smiling.

“We were just discussing about how we should meet this young man is all.” he said feeling a cold in his belly at his wife’s glare.

His father looked at his son with disgust at being controlled by his wife so easily.

“Father in law, what were you all thinking about doing?” she asked.

The old man suddenly sat up straight, “I was just… curious about his background and family as well as his… financial situation and wanted to talk to him about the games he has played.” the old man said.

“Oh if that is it then it is fine.” she said with a smile. “Maybe during the winter break we can have Sam invite him. It has been a while since she brought friends over. Of course he must be free for that.” she said casually and closed the file and placed it under her arm before leaving the room.

The meeting that had barely begun had fallen apart while the file that was taken was placed in a shredder before being thrown away in an incinerator for burnable trash.

***

After Sam left after hours of trading ideas and watching each others videos as well as many other peoples game play he finally logged in and at once he got a prompt.

Demon Queen Idra has submitted a development project.

The next moment a screen appeared showing all the changes she wished to make. Most of it was involving the chapels and temples. The amount of resource was obviously not small though but it was within a good projection.

“Hmm…” he muttered as he saw she requested upgrades to the temple. The particular upgrades are living quarters for priests, another one for clergymen and a training yard.

This upgrade affected all temples because even the central temple was only a basic temple. Seeing there was nothing negative about the many changes besides a huge amount of materials being used, Akor agreed and accepted the expansion to spread and improve the conditions of the religious order of the nation that had just begun to spread.

After dealing with that the next login notification appeared.

Your researchers have finished merging all extra research scrolls. You have upgraded and unlocked new skills, classes and buildings. Level limit for skills has been upgraded.

New research

Warrior skill:

Fist - Punch, Sucker Punch, Heavy Punch, Smash, Fist Mastery

Sword - Hack, Cleave

Hammer/Club - Crush, Smash

Spear - Thrust, Sweep

Shield - Parry

Mage skill:

Spells: Rock Shot, Icicle Shot,

Demon Magic: Hell fire

Scout class (New)

Scout skills:

Scout skills: Mapping, Disarming, Trap making, Search, Tracking.

Archer skills:

Bow skills: Double shot, Power Shot

Rogue class (New)

Rogue skills:

Rogue skills: Sneak

Dagger skills: Stab, Backstab, Poison Stab, Dagger throw

Priest

Magic: Lesser Heal, Minor detoxification, Magic Barrier

Support: Sermon, Faith Blessing

Clergyman

Mace: Smash, Exorcist impact

Shield: Block, Parry, Bash

Magic: Lesser Heal, Magic Shield

Upgraded Research

Buildings

Wild Fruit Field

Has upgraded directly to level 2. All unlocked upgrades have been unlocked and can be being completed with your order

Animal Ranch

All Tier 1 upgrades have been unlocked

Demon Hut

Demon Nest

Demon hut and nest have upgraded into Tier 2 buildings

Level Cap: For all skills is now Level 15

Upgrade

Once he checked all the skills and upgrades, he opened the map and touched all the buildings that were upgrades. The fields were the most anticipated one and he checked every upgrade. The original upgrade he had lacked were irrigation channels and a dam to control the flow. He hit a command button for all the fields and implemented this. Then upgraded it to the Tier 2 and it instantly transformed from Wild Fruit Field and became Fruit Field.

The next upgrades were a direct relation to the drop of the word ‘wild’, domesticating wild crops, implement 2 cycle crop rotation, use fertilizer. All of them were within the range of the upgrade which were completed and Akor accepted the upgrade.

Now, the fields not only doubled in size throughout the entire territory but the imps began to work differently. They began to work on the crops in a strange way and slowly the plants began to look less like weeds and more like crop plants.

The fertilizer was knowledge that was newly obtained and imprinted into the minds of the imps to collect river clay, ashes and animal waste.

The animal ranch provided the waste while some imps went to the valley river side and dug the ground and in the fields they mixed it all together.

At the end of it all the production of food skyrocketed to 15 units of food daily per field. It had previously been 4 units a field but going from Tier 1 to having all upgrades under Tier 3 was a very large upgrade.

“No wonder war is said to be the harbinger of wealth for the winner.” Akor muttered and faintly smiled.

He called Valring, “Good job organizing the research.” he said.

“Thank you my lord.” she said and smiled suductly.

“Alright, for now I want you to train scouts, I need a very large number of them. Send them outside the borders of my territory, I need them to find mana springs.” he said.

“Of course my lord. It will also be useful to use scouts to map the territory and many key points. They might even find very valuable resources such as mineral or maybe rare breeds of demons that can be brought into the fold, my lord.” She said excited.

“We should go one step at a time. We need scouts for now. Also, after the internal arrangement of all the territories villages is complete and I have upgraded my three main villages into towns, I will begin territory expansion. Before that happens I want roads connecting all the villages and towns to make trade and travel easier.” he said.

“I agree sir, only in such a case will we be able to react quickly. I shall get the those lazy subordinates working right away.” Valring said and left while swinging her hips. She looked back with a smile just before leaving the room while Akor focused on the future tasks at hand.