Chapter 684: Controlling the Regional Ruler

The Valyr Lordess and her subordinates would have died without Michael. He achieved the 'impossible' by killing the 106 Lords and clearing the Savannah Region. That was something nobody managed to do in the last few decades. It was a fantastic achievement and the reason Michael could make ridiculous demands of the Valyr Lordess.

First, he told the Valyr they had to eliminate the remaining soldiers and Awakened, who continued roaming the Savannah Region. Their corpses had to be brought back to Michael.

Since every Lord had an average of 100,000 Soldiers and they killed less than four million over the last few days and weeks, there were still millions left to kill.

Traveling through the Savannah Region to search and eliminate the remaining Combat Summons and Awakened was dirty work. Others could have done it, but Michael didn't want to deploy his Soldiers or the Untamed Awakened to slave away for weeks, if not months, to do something the Valyrs would have to do if they wanted to claim the Savannah Region, either way.

Michael made another atrocious demand besides the Combat Summons and Awakened corpses. The contracts said that if Michael killed more than half of the 106 Lords, he would be given 50% of all profit generated in the Savannah Region. The Valyr Lordess would have to work tirelessly before she could generate profit in the Savannah Region, but Michael was not in a rush. He would wait patiently to earn a fortune from the Valyr Lordess once she reclaimed territory to expand and generate profit from conquering the Savannah Region.

Michael would earn a fortune from his initial investment in a few years or maybe a year or two. He wouldn't have to protect the border with the Valyr Lordess because she was bound to ensure that no monster or Valyr was to invade the Untamed Jungle. The Valyr Lordess would deal with the enemies bordering the Savannah Region once she claimed the Savannah Region. Therefore, she would protect her land, acting as a cushion for Michael.

Enemies from the west would have to crush the Valyr Lordess before reaching Michael. That was supposed to give Michael some peace.

He also demanded something particular from the Valyr. It was pretty simple.

Michael told the Valyr that they would only be allowed to claim the Savannah Region if they handed over their criminals. Awakened criminals, to be precise.

The Valyr Lordess would have to create a temporary Link of Loyalty with the criminals and use a Silver Teleportation Token, but it was possible. The criminals couldn't be stronger than the Valyr Lordess to establish the Link of Loyalty. Using a Silver Teleportation Token for each criminal brought to the Origin Expanse would be extremely expensive, but Michael didn't care. His demand didn't change. He wanted Awakened Criminals.

If the Valyr didn't accept this condition, he wouldn't allow the Valyr Lordess to regain her Lord Power and conquer the Savannah Region.

Others might consider this short-sighted, mainly because the price of every Silver Teleportation Token was ridiculously high, but the value of every Tier-4 Awakened was enormous for Michael.

Since he gave up the Savannah Region to the Valyrs, they had to sacrifice something as well. That was only fair.

The higher-ups of the Valyr were confused about his demand. It didn't make sense, but Michael didn't answer any questions.

He remained silent even after Zira asked him dozens of times about the reason for his weird demand. Michael was not ready to tell the Valyr that he would extract the SoulStar Fragments and Soultraits of the Awakened Criminals after reading their mind to ensure that they were terrible people and hadn't been victimized.

Extracting hundreds, if not thousands, of Awakened criminals while still alive should procure enough SoulStar Fragments to upgrade Soul Grimoire to 7-Star. Simultaneously, the Soultrait Symbols extracted from the criminals ought to be numerous and versatile enough to solve all potential issues with Danny's rescue mission.

The Valyr were free to reject him. That was fine. But it was most efficient if the Valyrs accepted his conditions. It was far less brutal than trying to escape Michael's control.

At the end of the day, he demanded a Race Pact with the Valyr to ensure that the Valyr wouldn't try to harm him in any way as long as he didn't harm them either.

Whereas the demand for criminals was weird, the Race Pact was considered over the top. The higher-ups of the Valyr race did not think signing a Race Pact with a single individual was necessary. However, after learning that Michael wielded all Elements and that he had ten or more Soultraits, they quickly changed their opinion.

The most important aspect was that Michael managed to strengthen his subordinates. The Valyr Lordess and her subordinates were unsure how Michael did it, but they could tell that the Untamed Awakened's Soultraits were stronger than they used to be. Their Soultraits were stronger and they managed to procure more Soultraits.

Every member of the Untamed Awakened had at least three Soultraits. Each of them was a 4-Star Soultrait as well. Even the weakest Soultraits of the Untamed Awakened were strong enough to compete with the Soultraits of the Valyrs' Elite.

It was merely a matter of time before the Untamed Awakened could be compared to the Valyrs' prodigies.

Once the higher-ups learned about Michael, his power, and his various incidents with other Lords since he entered the Origin Expanse, they understood why he was so vigilant. They accepted his conditions and signed a Race Pact.

Several weeks passed in the blink of an eye.

Nature reclaimed the Untamed Jungle's outer ring and expanded further, stretching across the border to the Savannah Region.

The Valyr Lordess left Arx with her subordinates. They teleported straight to the Savannah Center, where the Valyr Lordess used the Lord Seal, procured from her people, to re- establish her territory.

She used the resources supplied by her higher-ups to expand her territory rapidly. Hundreds of Elite Valyrs were sent to the Savannah Region to help the Valyr Lordess claim the entire Savannah Region.

Three months passed until the Valyr Lordess managed to claim the Savannah Region. There had been some complications, but she managed to transform the Savannah Region into a domain of the Valyr Race.

In the meantime, Michael advanced rapidly. Digesting all energy influxes took longer than expected, but Michael hadn't been in a rush. He reached the Mid rank of Tier-3 and advanced straight to the upper threshold of the Mid rank. It was merely a matter of time before he advanced to the Late rank.

His body, mind, and soul refinement progressed rapidly in the last few weeks. He was stronger than ever.

But the most important thing was that Michael regained complete control of Extraction. His Cursed Seals were still stirring trouble, but he could activate them again. Their effect on his mind and emotions was even stronger than it used to be, however, that was something Michael expected to happen.

After all, the fourth Cursed Seal was a lot more potent than the first three.

Michael was still unsure what to think about the Cursed Seals and their influence on him. However, he was glad that he could activate them once again.

At last, he could use the strongest form of Extraction again.

That was about time.

A few million corpses were waiting for him to extract, after all!