Chapter 591: Expanding

Michael had only a day or two left before the Zentika Empire's forces would reach the border. That was barely enough to prepare a little bit to 'welcome' the Lionhearts and other forces.

Meanwhile, the Savannah Region was a little bit more silent than before...but that was what worried Michael even more.

'They're planning something. Are they aware of the Zentika Empire's issues? Do they know about the Heart of the Blazing Lion Army?'

Many questions flashed through his mind, but he figured that it was impossible to answer most of them. All he could do was to deploy a few dozen Scouts near the Savannah Region's border. His stealthiest Scouts were told to infiltrate the Savannah Region and procure as many pieces of information as possible.

However, Michael didn't expect a lot. He was pretty certain that his Scouts wouldn't be able to find out much.

'If the Council attacks, they'll probably deal with the Valyr Lordess first. Or they ignore the Valyr Lordess and use the Teleporters to invade the Untamed Jungle and my territory to take me by surprise.'

Michael considered a few plans to stop the Teleporters from invading his territory, but he decided against them.

Instead, of blocking the Teleporters, Michael hoped that they would invade his territory.

He adjusted some configurations on the Pillar of Territorial Awareness and increased the sensitivity to energy fluctuations. That increased the energy consumption of the Pillar of Territorial Awareness drastically, but Michael could live with that.

Countless dots appeared on the Pillar of Territorial Awareness. Most of them were green, indicating no threat to him or his territory. The new green dots that appeared showed old trees and weaker monsters. Their energy fluctuations were insignificant to Michael and the like, but by adjusting the Pillar of Territorial Awareness' sensitivity they were picked up nonetheless.

'It should be impossible to hide spatial fluctuations now.'

Michael made a few more changes to trap the Teleporters if they dared to infiltrate his territory before he called some workers to the warehouse complex.

"Separate the duplicated blueprints and store them in the storage near the entrance. If you think that you found a rare blueprint bring it to the architect's office to have them appraise the blueprint. Report the find of valuable blueprints in the daily report."

The workers nodded slowly and followed his order. Michael stored the Ordinary Summoning Scrolls and decided to use them all.

Maybe it wouldn't be the most the best idea to use all 145,600 Ordinary Scrolls simultaneously, but the settlement had enough residencies to fit everyone. It would be a little bit crammed since most of his treehouse complexes were comparable to multi-leveled apartments where everyone would have to share rooms, however, that was merely a temporary issue.

By summoning 145,600 Summons, his territory would obtain a huge influx of workers. With more workers, it would be possible to expand his territory, either way. More residencies could be constructed in no time.

Michael put away the Artifacts, leaving merely the humongous mountain of Summoning Scroll Fragments.

6 Million Scroll Fragments.

He considered using the six million Scroll Fragments to form 600 Mythic Scrolls, but Michael decided against this quickly.

Legendary Scrolls had the highest probability of summoning an extremely powerful Summon.

Of course, Divine Scrolls would be better, but Michael didn't even want to imagine how many Scroll Fragments he required before he could combine them into a Divine Scroll. He was pretty sure that it would be far more than ten million. If Michael was unlucky, he would have to collect hundreds of millions of Scroll Fragments before he could form his first Divine Scroll.

But then again, Divine Scrolls summoned Divine Summons. If he were extremely misfortune he would summon a Peak 6-Star Summon with a Divine Scroll. Other than that, it was considered average luck to summon a 7-Star Summon and decent luck to summon an 8-Star Summon.

He was looking forward to procuring his first Divine Scroll, even though it might take a while.

Michael was far away from reaching that goal. For now, Legendary Scrolls were the best opportunity for him to gain extremely powerful Summons. Someone like Siegfried would be great, but even Tatjana was quite powerful.

She was a Grandmaster Beasttamer but could use a bow and arrow as well. Her Tier progressed rapidly as well, as expected from a Legendary Summon. Legendary Summons are among the fastest to grow stronger. It was one of the Blessings granted from the Legendary Summoning Scrolls - a temporary boost in the Summon's energy absorption and annexation rate.

Mythic Scrolls provided a similar boost, but it was inferior in any possible way.

Providing Legendary Scrolls with enough resources and suitable techniques would allow them to attain Tier-1 in no time. If the Summons were old and experienced like Siegfried, they would reach Late Tier-1 within a few days.

As they fight the Heart of the Blazing Lion's army they would advance to Tier-2 much faster than everyone else.

Thus, Michael created six Legendary Scrolls from the six million Scroll Fragments. Six golden scrolls with intricate crimson seals formed in front of Michael. The process of combining Scroll Fragments into Legendary Scrolls was as impressive as ever, but Michael didn't waste any time admiring the Legendary Scrolls.

It was time to start his next summoning session.

Michael called his citizens - the people who weren't at work - to gather in the territory center. They gathered around the Summoning Gate where Michael was busy retrieving the Summoning Cores.

Since Extraction was upgraded to a 7-Star Soultrait, Michael had to commit to the standard ritual. He had to extract the impurities within the Summoning Cores.

Even though he'd already extracted the impurities within some Summoning Cores five or six times, upgrading Extraction allowed him to find more specks of impurities to extract. Michael manifested Soul Grimoire and used a Soul Tear to amplify Extraction's potency once again.

Michael felt a surge in Extraction's power and flashed a vibrant smile as he unleashed the tremendous power of Extraction. The 19 Summoning Cores in his possession were clouded in golden light. They shimmered brightly, the prismarine white inside the Summoning Cores glistening as if tiny stars were sealed within.

Disgustingly reeking clots of impurities covered the Summoning Cores' surface. Michael spread out his energy to clean the Summoning Cores, revealing the glistening, well-

polished Summoning Cores. He didn't spend more than 30 minutes cleansing the Summoning Cores from impurities, but the results were quite satisfying. Michael inserted the Summoning Cores back into the Summoning Gate prior closing the metal hatched once again.

Unfortunately, his daily summons for today was already over. He would have loved to see whether he could summon 3-Star Summons through daily summons or if that was still impossible. Michael sensed that it was possible but he couldn't see how high the probability was. That was something he had to find out in the following weeks.

Once he was done, Michael thought a bit about the daily summons of the last few weeks. He welcomed some of them, but there were simply too many everyday to welcome everyone.

The last eight weeks had been quite fruitful. He managed to Summon 500+ 2-Star Summons and slightly less than 200 1-

Star Summons through his daily Summons. That number was several times higher than the number of 2-Star Summons many Lords managed to summon in half a year.

Most would have to depend on Mythic Scrolls to summon that many 2-Star Summons.

Michael took a deep breath and retrieved the mass of Summoning Scrolls in his possession. He spread out his energy and tore the seals of all 145,600 Ordinary Scrolls simultaneously.

A raging gust of wind swept through the territory center as the Summoning Scrolls unfolded near-simultaneously. The Scrolls ascended and swirled around Michael twice prior they shot into the energy pool of the Summoning Gate.

One minute passed before the last Ordinary Summoning Scroll disappeared inside the Summoning Gate's energy pool, and it took a few more minutes before the first Starless Summons emerged from the Summoning Gate.

The Starless Summons were confused. They looked left and right, their expression filled with fear, disbelief, and uncertainty. The flood of Starless Summons increased. More and more Starless Summons emerged from the energy pool, yet Michael welcomed all of them. He ordered the citizens to welcome the newcomers and introduce them into the territory.

His citizens turned into guides for the newcomers, leading them away from the territory center to make more space for the new summons to emerge.

Two hours passed in the blink of an eye. It was only now that the last Starless Summon emerged from the Summoning Gate.

The summoning of the 1-Star Summons was about to commence.

A few hours later, the last of the 145,600 Summons emerged from the Summoning Gate.

Michael didn't obtain a new 2-Star Summon, but he couldn't care less. The Links of Loyalty of 145,600 new Summons had been established, and their trust and loyalty slowly amplified as they obtained to know more about their Lord's territory, his actions, and his strength.

The tour guides did not only demonstrate the newcomers around. They spread the word about their Lord, creating a vivid image of Michael.

This vivid image naturally resulted in a firmed Link of Loyalty. His subjects felt safe and sound with Michael fighting in the frontlines, and with him treating everyone nicely. He paid attention to everyone. He neglected nobody, and he improved everyone's living standard as plenty as possible.

He was a good Lord.