Underneath Ashen stood an army of nearly 13 million demons and nearly 16 million monsters! Although they were monsters, he was shocked to see gnomes amongst them but not a single goblin, strange. The vast majority of them noticed Ashen and started to ready their blades, spells and other weapons while simultaneously roaring out a plethora of different noises. Then, in what seemed like no time at all, a massive spell circle appeared underneath Ashen, nearly 150 meters in diameter and white in hue.

The circle paused in the air, only spinning slowly, as all the demons and monsters gapped at its sheer size and power. Many tried to flee, but they were in a very large crowd, only ones that could fly or burrow underground would have any chance to escape. Then after a few more seconds, it flashed bright, then erupted into millions of small tendrils of light that found their way into every creature. Most screamed out, but none died, it was a spell that would cause something equivalent to that of a slave crest, instilling loyalty forcefully into every one of them.

The spell circle continued to shoot out the beams of light until it seemed to have hit every single creature within a 20-kilometer radius from it, and all of them started to clutch their chests and scream out more ferocious cries of pain and agony. After an amount of time that seemed to not crawl but to stretch out for several days. Ashen cast another spell circle, while the size was the same, the color was instead a brilliant golden color. The beams also seemed to be golden in hue and the demons experienced roughly two weeks passing in 14 minutes.

They eventually learned to submit, willingly or forcefully, they all bowed to him. With a swift descent, he landed on the ground and order a few of them with earth magic to begin construction of a large city where they stood, and with that, they started immediately. With what seemed like a million mana between all of them, a multitude of stone buildings started to take shape. Most were small, but some were exceedingly large, enough so that they would be fitting for most of the important buildings.

Ashen sped off once more, back to the castle, and after he got there he saw Aeyrs talking with Xylith, so he landed next to them.

“If that’s all, then I will be fine!” Xylith said, with a strange passion.

“Well, Ashen? What say you about the discovery of the demon rebellion?” Aeyrs asked him.

“Ah, shouldn’t be a problem for a while, I took care of the issue just now.” He responded in what could be mistaken as a threatening monotone voice.

Aeyrs smirked for a second, “Should have assumed you would use it, for a group that big, it was just begging to be used.” Aeyrs remembered an artifact used as a catalyst for a spell to amplify its effects to affect any target as long as the spell circle was large enough to cover the range.

“Just as you say, it was a well-used item, but alas its effects aren’t permanent, in the time where loyalty is imbued let us build up our trust with them as to not making them slaves.” His voice once more making it sound sinister.

After a few more words, Xylith joined them as they entered the castle. Xylith was amazed by everything she saw, the outside made it look as if it was always filled with a blackish mist but the insides were filled with the most lavish of craftings. She stared in awe as she continued to follow Ashen and Aeyrs, eventually finding themselves inside the throne room. Ashen and Aeyrs quickly taking their seats in their thrones, as Ashed made another, slightly less fancy but still fit for a high position official, throne for Xylith to join them on Ashen’s right side.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

(Xylith POV)

I was completely taken aback by how much power just radiated off of every surface. The few guards that I did manage to see were nearly on par with me! Let alone the one who was leading them, they were so far above me, I would have mistaken them for elder dracolich in a human form! I only got a small glance, but I was sure they were covered in the strongest metals and carried the best sword. Even the regular guards seemed slightly better off than even I was!

Now, as the current demon lord, this would be a huge problem! But since I've already agreed to become a vassal state to the Dragon Eye Alliance, it doesn’t matter. Then Ashen created a throne that was even more lavish than my old one and prompted me to sit in it, so I did. The throne was comfy but I figured we weren’t just going to sit around doing nothing so I didn’t relax, and it would seem my hunch was correct.

The same powerful figure that was acting as a guard walked into the room, now that I saw him in better detail I noticed several new features. Hidden on his back were an extra two pairs of arms, which hid conveniently under his long cape. His entire set of armor seemed to emphasize wealth with how much silver and gold there was along with the smaller jewels imbued in it. His mask seemed like it could transform or shift to create a new design in combat but I didn’t know, it seemed like a completely solid golden metal covering his face except for slits for the eyes and mouth with two smaller holes for the nose.

He quickly bowed down, resting on one knee with a simple fist over his heart, and Ashen raised his hand in a manner to tell him to rise which he did.

“My Lords,” He finally said to Ashen, “as of late, nothing truly unknown has been discovered from the prisoners.” What prisoners?

“Alright, initiate protocol: Ctx84,” Ashen responded, which sounded like he was going to have them executed, not that it would be hard for someone like him to do.

“Yes my lord!” Then the man left, presumably to the prisoners.

“Xylith, I do apologize for taking prisoners, but they were impeding on my efforts, as of now I am having them construct a small mountain village to house them,” Ashen said, which started to help me understand what happened.

“It is of no issue, might I ask why you are constructing so many buildings?” Why would he continuously construct towns?

“For a population of that scale, simple villages or cities will not be enough, a metropolis will be the best option, but that comes later down the line,” Ashen said, which made me have more questions than answers, what was a metropolis?

“Alright then, is there anything you need me to do?” I don’t know what to say, it seems like he knows what he’s doing so I’ll just leave him to do whatever it is he wants to.

“Hmm, gather your subordinates that stayed with you and bring them here.” Well, I don’t see why not, so I might as well.

I stood up, quickly walking out and finding myself in the same grand hallways as I had before. I memorized the way into the throne room, so I tried to backtrack, which I did. After a few minutes of walking, I found myself at the large black doors to the castle, with an effortless push they moved. Outside were my guards and most trusted attendees, along with two others that said they didn’t want to be on Ashen’s bad side.

They immediately started asking if I was alright, which I responded honestly to, by saying I was fine and Ashen requested them inside. After another few minutes, only taking that long because they were all looking around in wonder as I had before. We found ourselves outside the throne room, quickly preparing themselves they all acted as they should with another high ranking official, and we soon entered finding Aeyrs to be gone.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

(Aeyrs POV)

After Xylith left I turned to my brother, quickly sparking up some conversation to pass the time.

“Well, that went smoothly, still find it wonderful how your big brain there allows you to remember all the items you’ve seen and their uses.” His intelligence was insane, but not only that, he didn’t have a hard limit to how much knowledge he could gain or hold.

“Ah, but that is just the beginning of it, with the demon lands now under our control, we will soon create a proper empire to rule, and citizens in it to govern fairly.” His words brought up horrid memories, but he didn’t seem fazed by it so I neglected to bring it up to him.

“Well, you also got Wheatberg to govern, and with that, you have a noble’s gratitude and religion around you. Look at you go little bro!” Damn, if he can be a deity, why can’t I?

“Heh, I know, still, being a god does sound pretty nice, if only the followers didn’t set a bad example for me though.” His words made sense if his followers were seen as ‘bad’ then he too would be.

“Don’t worry about it, plus, the ones that you revived were of no religion, the lord as well, which is the strangest part.” Most nobles claim some kind of power from a higher being to have control over their people.

“Naturally, I just hope they say some nice things about me if not, I’ll have to build up a positive reputation, one of the reasons behind the whole adventurers guild event.” So that’s why he did that, now it makes more sense why he risked going out in public in his demon form.

After a short goodbye, I left, quickly leaving the castle with teleportation, then taking to the skies. Now in my dragon form, I fly off to manage the constructions of the cities that AShen initiated in the demon lands. For my brother, I shall not fail to make it the best city possible to match his desires, as he deserves it with everything he had to go through…

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

(Ashen POV)

After Aeyrs left for directing efforts into the construction of the cities in the demon lads, I was met with Xylith and her followers. They entered the room, looking around in awe at the fancy decorations, eventually, they stood before me and Xylith as she sat down next to me. There were- several questions to ask them, but formalities need to be addressed first.

“I am Ashen Fur, you may call me Ashen, please state your name and current rankings with Xylith.” As a simple start might as well learn their names and positions.

“My name is Azrol, and the other maids are Trekan, Salnoz, and Naama.” She said each name pointing to a maid that bowed at their name.

“And WE, are the Delta Guards for Xylith the demon lord!” one of the guards said trying to act smug but it wouldn’t work for someone like me.

For a moment it seemed like the three other guards, two mages and the other fighter, were trying desperately to disassociate with the soon-to-be-dead corpse that would surely be created from such an act of foolishness. Yet their concerns were unwarranted, as I wouldn’t kill them for their first act of foolishness. No, that would have been petty.

“Very well, and all of your names are?” The guard better hold his tongue if he didn’t want to end up in a worse position than the previous lord of wheat berg was in.

Yet before he could answer the other fighter spoke out, “He is the guard captain, Ulgroth. I am Trunnug, and these two are Inniun and Begaz.” It would seem that Trunnug had saved Ulgroth, at least for the time being…

“Very well, you may continue your task with Xylith, and the same to you, maids.” As long as I have a general sense of who they are and where they stand in contrast to Xylith, it should be alright for them to continue their duties to her.

“Do you need us to do something Ashen?” Xylith asked, almost wanting there to be.

“Well, It would be prudent for you all to meet my underlings, so I give you a week to at the very least memorize the majority of the castle layout of the first floor and the respective personnel on it.” At least they can start doing something while I go out and continue my plans.

“Very well, please take care of yourself, Lord Ashen,” Xylith said with a small bow before walking out. Before they left I was certain that Ulgroth made a “tsk” sound and clicked his tongue at me, but I wouldn’t mind for now…

After waiting for them to leave, I finally spoke to Vron. “Alright, give me their condensed stats please.”

“Certainly father!” Vron Responded then opened a small window in front of Ashen, on his World System.

[Ulgroth, Trunnug, Innium, and Begaz]

[Average Level: 184]

[Average Ability Score: S-]

[Average Health: 16,000]

[Average Mana: 1,300]

“Thank you Vron.”

“Of course, Father!”

I tried to use these new stats to adjust my power level to something more reasonable for the world’s sake. I soon took off, needing to complete the tasks that I had assigned myself. After a few seconds, I was finally at Wheatberg again, but the sight slowed me for a moment. In front of me, there was a gigantic flood of people rapidly evacuating the town, most just ran off with whatever they could where others carried their most valuable possessions. When they eventually saw me, they ran off faster in a multitude of directions.

If I could sigh, I probably would have right now. I proceeded to walk through the crowd which conveniently created a path with them wanting to get away from me. Nobody even tried to stop or halt me, they just ran and ran. Again, they run away… I thought nobody dared to give me even a slight chance, yet it didn’t affect me. With no emotions, I just kept walking, heading for the Lord’s house. After the same thing for roughly 15 minutes, the crowd was dispersed enough to the point where barely anyone was on the same street as me.

I reached the castle-like structure, and entered, only to find the lord hunched over on the wall near the door. It was obvious that he was stabbed and most likely dead, but I at the very least still asked him on his condition.

“Are you alright, Erik Von Salius?” I asked, but I figured there would be no response, but to my shock, I got one.

“Yes, Lord Ashen. I am just fine, the wound is barely skin deep.” He said in a voice that sounded like he was speaking the truth, but still, I healed him. With an extremely slowed down version of the spell, mostly for his sake of knowing I was healing him, a small green spell circle was created in front of my now outstretched hand, which quickly made his wounds heal.

“Thank you very much, Lord Ashen!” He said feeling the soothing sensation of the healing.

“It is of no issue, for me to take care of my subjects. Now, About what happened to you, and what happened in town, with the evacuation?”

“My apologies lord, when they found out that I had handed over the city’s rights and ownership to you they started a riot and just ran away. The thought of being ruled by a demon wasn’t very settling for them.” He said with a saddened tone.

“It is of no issue, as I’ve seen, most were only human, elves or dwarfs. They are not so important to me, this town is for the species and races of those who are discriminated against, a safe-haven if you wish.”

“Oh! I had no idea, my lord,” He finally stood up and we started walking to his room. “Then what are your current plans for this town, if I am allowed to ask?” He said slightly nervous.

“It is of no issue, I was going to inform you regardless. Firstly, I would like to address the housing and food issues in the town. My next focus was on crime, then after that would finally be the political and social aspects of the townsfolk.” While these were more or less my plans, I didn’t want to overburden him with information, so that was all I would tell him until he would require more.

“All right my lord, is there something you need me to do?” He asked, similar to Xylith but without the majority of the passion, that she had.

“In fact, there is, I would like you to give me reports on the town’s status. As the previous lord, I’m sure you’re more than capable of doing such a task.” Hopefully, he did the work himself and not push it off onto someone else.

“Of course! I am well experienced in the matter, but why would you task me with running the city once more?” He asked almost sounding surprised.

“I have deemed you worthy of ruling over the town’s smaller affairs while I shall handle any larger issues.” Fairly true, and I couldn’t be bothered with any of the petty stuff, besides, he already ran the town before, and it went decently well.

“If that is what you ask of me, I shall not fail you.” He said trying to appear confident, but I could tell he was nervous.

“Don’t worry, I’m sure you will do just fine, don’t push yourself if you need help just ask.” I’d help with anything that I could, but if it was something so small, I’d just leave him to figure it out himself.

“Alright lord! When shall I start?” he said with some excitement.

“You may start immediately, please take care of the population decrease aftermath, I’ll have some new civilians that will live here soon enough.” With all of the demons that I control, I may as well send some of them here to get used to civilian life before throwing them all into a metropolis.

“Very well, I shall get to it right away. Goodbye lord Ashen!” He said, walking away to his room, I would later assign him an office so he could work properly.

I continued onwards, to my chambers here, where the previous lord had perished. Walking in, I, once more, was greeted by another sight that halts me for a moment. The same woman who was here before, the one who tried to attack me while I was going to revive the lord, is standing right before me, sword drawn and all. Not only that but another familiar face, someone that ran past me in the blacksmith at Arlen. Along with a few others that seemed to be ready for combat.

I paid them no heed at first, and continued walking towards them, they prepared their weapons and I disappeared. They looked around for a moment before finding me sitting at a chair I created to suit my size and tail. They all jumped slightly but readjusted for combat again. This wasn’t going anywhere, so I decided to open a conversation.

“Is there something that I can help you with? I do have things to be doing.” If these people wanted to disturb me, I’d just chuck them outside the town with a teleport spell.

“WHAT HAVE YOU DONE!?” The woman I saw before asked out of nowhere.

“Negotiations. Now I have control over the town if you do not like it, leave.” I finished the sentence in a way to imply a threat, even with my monotone voice.

Most backed up for a second but the woman was dead set on having her revenge or vengeance or something.

“Very well then, if you shall not leave, would you like to take this outside and fight in fair combat? I do warn you, you will lose.” It wouldn’t even be a contest, they would be an ant going against a dragon.

“WHAT DID THE LORD EVER DO TO YOU!?” She replied, not even noticing my comment, she would have to calm down before she died…

“Nothing bad as of right now, although I’ve resurrected him, repaired his soul, offered him a position in the local authority within Wheatberg of which he accepted, thus he had given me the city of Wheatberg without me asking.” Though my words slipped by her once more.

“YOU WILL PAY FOR WHAT YOU’VE DONE TO HIM!” She said, rushing towards me with their large broadsword in hand, quickly slicing at my chest; I blocked with my left arm, making a small hairline crack in the blade, causing her to gasp and quickly jump backward.

“The sword of Celenia! You dare to cause damage to the legendary God-blessed weapon!” She cried out, less of anger and more of shock and disbelief.

“I will take this as a request for combat, one moment.” Before they could respond I quickly teleported us to an empty room within the building, nearly 50 by 50 meters and 20 meters tall.

They looked around for a moment, trying to get a grasp on their new location, the woman once more charging at me, with the others also preparing spells and charging forward. First, the woman struck, utterly missing with a quick dodge on my end, yet she didn’t relent, as she continued to take swing after swing nearly 30 in a row before she stopped for a moment. Then another rushed me, quickly getting shoved to the side by the non-spiked bottom of my tail. Another three rushed nearly at the same time, most missed with only one getting so close I sucker-punched him in the gut so hard he was launched backward nearly 30 meters, causing a spray of vomit and blood to be ejected from his mouth upon impact. Then the onslaught of spells came.

First, a large volley of icicles, close to 300 rapidly shooting towards me, all but 7 were immediately vaporized, the 7 that weren’t had missed. Next, a large beam of white light started to flood towards me, and with a bright glow, it impacted my body, the first time I felt any pain from another creature. But alas, it barely left a noticeable scratch in my health pool, instead, it had immediately regenerated. Causing a slightly panicked look to overtake the face of the caster. The next spell was a large earthen ring of spikes that formed around me rapidly ejecting out from the ground towards me, but Vron blocked each with perfect accuracy.

They started to realize that their attacks wouldn’t work, as they started to use several of what seemed like last-resort options. One of them, the one that I had noticed from Arlen, quickly had his body flooded with what seemed like pure life mana, and on top of that, it was pure divine too. Then he held his hands together and opened his palms towards me as a brilliant white beam of energy slammed into my body as he muttered a few words, “God’s Wrath!”.

To my disbelief, the spell hit hard, dealing nearly 10,000 damage, but that was neglectable. He seemed surprised that I still stood, but I would still give them a chance to withdraw. The woman once more rushed out and swung with that same flimsy sword, resulting in it shattering on my skull, millions of razor-sharp shards exploded outwards causing many injuries to herself and even two of the other swordsmen. They all took a moment to grunt in pain before one of the mages uttered a spell.

“Oh mother earth, shall you take greater care of us than we have, Aurora Heal!” The feminine voice called out, which resulted in several streams of greenish-blue light to arc outwards to everyone besides me, healing them fairly well, all except for the woman who took most of the damage from the sword.

“Only a tier 13th healing spell? I would have used at least a tier 17th if you wanted to have fully healed your companions.” my comment caused her to have both discomfort and anger.

Suddenly an arrow was flung directly towards my eye socket, but I caught it between my fingers, quickly snapping the arrow in two, and I saw the one who fired it, one of the swordsmen, pulled out a short bow. I didn’t want to drag on the battle so I would ask for them to retreat once more if they refuse: only death awaits them.

“I give you the choice once more, do you stay or leave?” I said in as frightening of a monotone voice as I could.

It was clear that all but the woman wanted to leave but she continued to press against me, taking out what seemed like a turtle Warhammer. It was a Warhammer that had robust and sharp corners to it with two small spikes on the front and one on the rear. She slammed it down onto me, the shaft gets bent as soon as it came into contact with my breastplate, while she remained I continued my conversation with the others.

“I shall teleport you all to the outside of the building, either talk to me like a good person or leave.” before they said anything I quickly teleported them to the outside of the doors to the building.

This chick still didn’t let up no matter how much she was outmatched, either she was incredibly brave or insanely stupid, but the latter seemed to be the case the longer she continued. Eventually, Vron had enough, as he shot out from my left, puncturing her left leg and stomach, causing her to stop for a moment. She looked down for a moment at the wounds and the two long black spikes sticking into her, then her face contorted.

Vron started to forcibly control her blood with water magic and was forcing it to rapidly shift in her body, causing her to fade in and out of consciousness. After a few moments, he finally removed his spike from her and she fell over slowly regaining consciousness. After a short heal, she recovered, and sat up, looking at me with caution and hatred.

“Are you done with your little games? The previous lord is fine you know.” hopefully she would stop this time, otherwise I would forcibly shove my mana into her and take control of her, like Hairz but to a more extreme extent.

“I-is it true?” She asked slightly defeated.

“Of course, if you do not believe me why not see him yourself?” At least she stopped with that whole I must avenge my friend! Or some other crap that was common in those fantasy stories.

“I will! I-I mean I would like to do that, but what do you want with him?” Figures she didn’t pay any attention.

“More or less, he works for me in controlling the town and is a favorite subject to me.” If he gave me a town on a whim, why wouldn’t that get him on my ‘nice side’, I just wouldn’t treat him as harsh as I did the others.

“What do you plan on doing with the town? Enslave all the citizens? Slaughter them all!?” Wow, I could only want to harm the residents I guess.

“I was planning to expand the city’s living quarters and improve every function such as quality of life, food, information along with political and social treatment of the other races.” Why not share my plans, it wasn’t like they were bad, and I could only profit from others knowing them.

“Is that really all of your plans?” She said not believing me, which was fine, it’s fair to assume a demon isn’t the nicest or most honest of creatures, and they normally say show don’t tell right?

“How would you like me to prove it?” Let’s see how she wants to see it herself.

“Let me speak to Erik Von Salius alone. And outside of the town.” Not like that would stop me from interfering but I guess I shouldn’t say that.

“Very well, you will have twenty minutes to talk, free from my influence.” I wouldn’t care if she just left, but if she took Erik from me, I would track her down, as I didn’t want to lose someone like him just yet.

“I can agree to those terms dem- Ashen.” She stuttered with her words.

“Very well, and your name is?” Still didn’t know who she was.

“Lydia Elderwind, of the high elvish elites.” She said with what sounded like pride so I just made a mental note of it and continued.

“Very well, Lydia Elderwind, you may speak to him tomorrow as he still needs time to recover from a recent incident today.” While not exactly true, as he is perfectly fine, it would do him good to be filled in on what happened before just shoving him into whatever she was going to bring up to him.

“That is alright with me, I shall return here tomorrow.” I teleported her outside with her companions and myself back to the room we were in prior.

As I finally sat back down, there were several papers that I needed to tend to, mostly on the whole monster invasion that attacked ever two and a half days relentlessly. Sometimes sooner or later but most were right on the dot. I picked up a few papers and set them down after reading them, most of which were just recorded requests for adventurers to help aid the town. With the requests, a fair bit of coin was also put upfront, and the reward to those who helped was pretty high compared to the normal civilians. Nearly 20 gold pieces for slaughtering 200 monsters, nearly 2 silver per enemy slain.

If I could make a sigh, I would have. I put the papers back down, and quickly opened my pocket dimension, after reaching inside and pulling out a large blue diamond-cut gem and setting it down, the gem started to glow faintly. I started to enchant it with a few basic runes, most of which were for protection and a few others would be offense. After what felt like 2 minutes, but was more akin to a half-hour, I felt it was good enough for this town. I quickly used some extremely powerful earth magic to secure it inside a very dense and strong metal container that would protect it from anything under tier 20.

After a few moments, it was fairly well protected, so I added the last piece, mana stones. Large multi-colored gems were embedded into the inside of the container, giving the enchanted crystal enough mana to work relentlessly. After a few seconds to charge all the mana stones, I was finally finished, as I sealed the container and embed it into the floor of the room directly under my chair. Then it finally started to work, a large pulse of mana rippled throughout the town, reaching only several meters away from the outer walls.

A large dome of hexagonal interlocked translucent hemispherical barrier was now surrounding the town, slowly fading away after the majority of the mana stopped flooding out from the crystal, the barrier finally went to a near-invisible, unnoticeably thin sheet of dim light giving the city a minute amount of light from the outside. The container let off an indescribably small amount of mana and would barely be recognizable as the source of the dome.

After a few other effects that cycled the barrier on and off, it finally finished and went back to its neutral state of barely perceivable. With the town’s defenses completed, I finally started work on the agriculture on the outside of the town, in the humongous wheat fields that littered the outside. Eventually finding a few close buildings for farming, I finally knocked on the door of one. Eventually, after a few moments had passed, a sweet-looking older lady, maybe in her 70’s greeted me. First, she was startled, but she made no effort to act in a hostile manner.

“I-is there something I can help you with, m-mister?” She said in a raspy but confident voice.

“Ah, I am the new Lord of the town, Ashen, as you may have heard. I have come here to attempt in making your harvest much more profitable and plentiful.” I had some better seeds and even ways to grow the food that would make the production of the farms all the better.

“Oh! I have heard about you, what is it that you require of this little old lady?” She asked cautiously.

“Simple, “ I outstretched my right hand which held several different seeds with a variety of colors. “I would appreciate if you were to plant a few of these crops in your fields, and if possible, to spread the word to the other farmers.” That would initiate the first part of the agricultural changes.

“I do believe I could manage that, what seeds do you have here?” She asked curiously.

“None that you would have seen before I believe.”

“It certainly looks like it.” She said excitedly.

“I will give you 100 of Ironroot beets, Feather-whirl tomatoes, Crystal-marrow potatoes, Flame wheat, Silver strong-weed, and Couralus corn seeds. They will grow in any condition as long as they absorb enough ambient mana or are fed every week or so.” These plants would yield a fair quantity of food and alchemy materials.

“They only need mana to survive? Those types of plants are more than rare enough to fetch several platinum in cost, are you sure you could afford it?” She said with the little excitement draining from her eyes.

“It is of no issue, take this sack and plant them after the wheat cycle is finished.” I didn’t want to force a change in the harvesting process which could result in a multitude of negative effects.

“Well if it is alright, then I could plant them in a smaller patch we’ve yet to utilize.” Her excitement returning more than ten-fold.

“It is of no issue, use the seeds as you see fit if you wish to sell them, feel free. If you would like to gift them to the other farmers you have the right to.” The seeds were fairly good, even to me, but losing a hundred of each wouldn’t be all too bad for me, especially if it benefits the town.

“Thank you very much lord, if I may, how can I get in contact with you? Just in case.” She asked curiously.

“Just go to the same place the previous lord was situated at, if needed leave a message with him and he will repeat the message to me and I will deal with it from there.”

“Very well, have a wonderful day, Lord Ashen.” She bowed her head slightly and I made my leave as she continued back into her house.

Leaving the farm, I eventually managed to fill my schedule with enough passive tasks to wait out until the next wave of monsters to assault the town once more. Before the monsters arrived, I had sorted out the majority of the paperwork along with preparing a few areas of the city to be replaced with much better buildings to house a larger number of civilians. Taking a quick moment to stretch, not because I needed to but wanted to, I finally heard a faint bell ringing out, the town had several of these tall bell towers and all were ringing.

Taking a moment to go outside, quickly reaching the northern gate using a few spells, I found the same large horde of monsters and the like invading once more. After they got close enough the entire dome of light surrounded the city once more, whenever the creatures would touch it, their bodies would shrivel up and start to contort before small thorn-like needles started to peer out from their skin causing a small trickle of blood to escape their bodies, which caused many to fall lifelessly to the ground with no hope of survival.

Of all the monsters, only several select few were able to avoid the barrier before they were killed outright, of which were a cyclops, seven demons, a large basilisk, and a cloaked figure. The cloaked figure had what seemed like a coat made of metal that was as flexible as ordinary cloth and as strong as steel, only it would stay at a permanent 70 degrees celsius. The cloaked figure had on a mask of white adorned with a single ruby-like gem in the center with a simple design of gold centered around it reaching all over the mask but not concealing it.

The mask was magical, with it granting the wielder a near-complete immunity to holy magic and high resistance to life magic. The figure seemed to not have anything too exciting so I ignored them for the time being and pressed on with my tasks. Only a moment before I was going to teleport away to my building, a large and loud noise echoed behind me, as a large beast found its way into the fray. Swiftly rotating on my heel, which is harder to do with feet like mine, I looked at the creature and was shocked at what I found.

Standing nearly 40 feet above me, a gigantic elder dracolich was in sight and stared deeply at me. I quickly glanced back to the town, noticing that the same group of adventurers I had met before rushing to the gates to help with the attack, I quickly teleported me and the dracolich further away, nearly 100 kilometers from town. It took a few hundred thousand mana due to its constant fight from me teleporting it, we finally were alone, face to face in the middle of a clearing in a forest.

“Know your place, underneath me, puny mortal!” The dracolich called out, in a gross and echoing raspy voice that would be associated with a hundred-year-old sick man yelling.

“Afraid you’re wrong, as I am not an ordinary mortal, I am Ashen Fur, and you will either bow to me or die trying to resist,” I said in as mocking of a monotone voice as I could.

“Insolence! You know no bounds to disrespect! You shall submit to me or be slaughtered!” It said in that same voice once more yelling out.

“Very well, let’s see who’s stronger. What tier magic can you use?” I said in the same slight mocking tone.

“Fine then! I am capable of tier 19th magic! You are of no match to me! Now submit or die!” The dracolich called out in what seemed like pride.

“Ah, it seems this battle will be one-sided,” I said in a complete monotone voice with no hint of any emotion.

“Yes! You should submit to me! You are outmatched!” He said in a tone indicating he was certain of his power over me.

“If I may adjust your misunderstanding. You are outmatched, not me. If you’ve forgotten already, I had enough mana to teleport you 100 kilometers and still have plenty left.”

With that comment, he stopped for a moment, then seemed to back away ever so slightly, seemingly scared. Before he could either get away or attack, I pointed my hand to his right (my left) and after a few moments, the ground turned to cinders, the stone underneath turned to lava then soon vaporized, leaving behind a large crater filled with smoldering ashes and large streaks of lava scattered around inside. His gaze soon found the recent display of power and then turned back to me with what seemed to be a slightly more scarred look than before.

“Not even six mana to do that, still wish to continue?” I said in a completely neutral monotone voice that still sounded sinister.

“W-where have you gained such power!?” The dracolich cried out in what seemed like wonder.

“Just killed a lot of monsters, got a lot of loot, and learned a lot of ways to increase my power along with being able to for others as well.” And for the most part, it was all true.

“Impossible! Nobody could become so strong with that simple of a plan! What magic have you used to increase your strength!?” He practically screamed at me in a wave of slight anger.

“That is all there is to it. Will you submit to me to gain this power or attempt to take it for yourself?” Still in a blank monotone voice, this time he seemed to be thinking to himself for a moment.

It took several minutes before he started to speak again, “If you can pour enough mana into me to overtake my entire body then I will submit if you can’t you submit.”

“Very well, prepare yourself.” I walked over to him, putting my right hand onto his chest area and in only a few seconds, I had poured over 40 million mana in.

For a moment he seemed shocked, that shock turning into a contorted looking face due to the sheer mana entering his body. Dragons, along with other magical species, could absorb ambient mana and even directed mana in the form of spells. Yet the dragon couldn’t handle the amount of mana that I was flooding his body with, and he soon crumpled up and started to cry out in pain. Stopping at only 50 million mana, I pulled my hand away and stared deeply into his eyes, which were turning black with several drops of his blood entering them.

“Do you submit or do I have to continue?” After saying that he immediately shot up, slamming his head into the ground in what would have been a deep bow if he were humanoid.

“I SUBMIT! PLEASE! NO MORE!” He practically screamed out in desperation.

“Very well, if you would notify me of why you were at Wheatberg during the assault I might stop.” I would most likely either kill him in the process or he’d do what he’s told.

“SOULS! THERE WERE SO MANY OF HIGH QUALITY I COULDN’T RESIST!” Well, now he is just shouting.

“Very well, and the monsters that were there?”

“NO IDEA! I SAW AN OPPORTUNITY AND SEIZED IT!” Oh well, I’ll find out soon enough, hopefully.

“Fine, I want you to clean up this mess of yo-” before I could finish my sentence his body erupted with jets of flame exploding out all over his body in brilliant pillars of fire.

“GRAH!” He shouted out even louder, which is fine, it was most likely very painful.

As the crimson jets continued to arc out over his body with any stopping another two would start. He cried out once more, “GRAH! SORRY! PLEASE!” Wait, this is just a more extreme version of what happened with Hairz is it not?

“If my information is correct the process should stop within a few moments.” But it went on for several minutes and after several hundreds of screams and constant pleading for help, it died down significantly.

The dracolich in front of me seemed to sport the features of a red dragon but more bizarre. With its large black gnarly horns becoming slightly longer and straighter with the same single curl in them. Both of its nostril letting plumes of fire escape with every ragged breath it took, leaving a small pillar of smoke to rise from its head. It’s large wings that were once tattered and had several smaller holes were patched and seemed to be coated in a fiery coating over them.

Its large body finally letting the tension out of what was left of its muscles and had slammed into the ground letting up a large wave of dust and dirt and ashes. Seemingly asleep at the moment, I walked over and channeled some mana into a healing spell. Silently casting [Full Recovery] the dragon soon shot up with newfound energy and looked to me in fright once more, I just pointed in the direction of the town, and he sped off by clambering for a foothold before flapping his massive wings and taking to the air...

Teleporting back to town, seeing the group of adventurers once more, I walked past them and into the city. It seemed that masked figure was defeated by them as I saw it’s corpse being burned into a fine crisp. I got a mental ping from Vron, Father, during your confrontation with the dracolich you received a few titles. WHAT? MORE TITLES YOU SAY? Alright, I’m not actually ‘excited’ but at least more power right? I mentally pulled up the notification.

[Titles Gained: Beast Tamer, Owner, Dragon Tamer, Racial Defier, Genetic Reengineer, Forced Submitter, Controller of Dragons] [Awarding 155 Attribute and Skill Points] [Beast Manager Menu Available]

With the number of points I've gained with all the other titles, I feel slightly gypped, it was an elder dracolich, right? So why so little points? I guess if I were to amass too many they would start to feel worthless, as they pretty much are at the moment. Putting my grudges with the system aside, I still had a town to protect, so I teleported to my office and started to cast a wide-scale spell. Without even needing to chant or even use a spell circle, the barrier surrounded the entire town in a bright green color with sharp spikes protruding on the outsides.

Without even a chance, the spikes skewered several monsters each, some running through larger ones as they flailed, and some tearing apart their skulls in rather gruesome displays of gore. With now a ring of absolute carnage and gore littering the outside of the barrier, it fell to its normal shade and the spikes retracted into the nothingness they came from. The adventurers were the only safe ones, as nearly every monster was torn to shreds from the hundreds of thousands of spikes that went over the dome.

With the monster invasion relatively taken care of, I started to focus on other issues such as the illegal trade of slaves in the town and the other crime. Before I was even able to start acting on anything I planned to take care of, I was mentally pinged by Aeyrs. In what could only be thought of as a feeling of dread, worry, and several other negative emotions, he requested me back at the castle so I quickly teleported there to find out what happened. When I arrived, I quickly understood his worries without feeling any emotion.

The sight before me should have made me feel a plethora of feelings. Hate, anger, sorrow, and many more, the sight of the corpse that laid on the ground was enough to turn the stomachs of all who saw it. To say mangled, would be an understatement, more like: Smashed then crushed then ripped to pieces with those pieces being shoved back into the body before repeating the process many times over. Turning the body into a crippled mess of what should have been one of the maids in the castle.