Chapter 978: King of China & Mankind's Pioneer

[Congratulations!]

[More than 90% of China's mankind has reunited under your leadership!]

[The major cities and districts of the country have fallen under your control!]

[The number of intelligent beings under your rule has broken the 40.000.000 barrier!]

[Your subclass evolves.]

[Congratulations, now that you control your race within a large expanse of land your subclass has evolved to King!]

[King: Fighting in your territory against any race increases your natural stats by 50% at the same time your subordinates' stats increase by 25% when they fight for you.]

[Your physical and magical defense increases by 100% when fighting other humans within the home world and your wound recovery rate increases by 200% when you are out of combat.]

[When another King invades your territory, the battle power of all your subordinates increases by 50% and when their lives are in danger as they fight an enemy their power increases by 30%]

[Your titles Ruler of Beijing, Ruler of Heilongjiang, Ruler of Jilin, Ruler of Liaoning, Ruler of Shandong, Ruler of Jiangsu, Ruler of Zhenjiang, Ruler of Fujian, Ruler of Anhui, Ruler of ... merge and become one]

[You need to choose a name for your territory before continuing with the evolution of records.]

"Hm?" Bai Zemin blinked in surprise at the last message.

Choosing a name for his territory? This was something he had not expected.

However, after thinking about it again Bai Zemin realized that there was nothing to be surprised about. Since he was the highest authority among the humans of old China and had now been officially named King of the humans within that territory it was only natural that he should be given the privilege of choosing what he wanted his kingdom to be called.

"Is something wrong?" Shangguan Bing Xue asked as she heard the sound he made.

"Oh, it's just that something interesting just happened."

Bai Zemin explained the situation to them, and after the initial excitement of knowing that he had finally been officially promoted to King everyone began to mutter under their breath.

"A new name?"

"Transcendent?"

"I don't think so..."

"Transcendent is the name of the faction that represents us, not a territory."

...

Shangguan Bing Xue looked at the four who were discussing excitedly about what to name the new kingdom before shaking her head.

"You all are overthinking it." She said.

"Uh?" Wu Yijun blinked and said in confusion, "What do you mean?"

Shangguan Bing Xue looked at Bai Zemin, and although he said nothing she proved to be able to read him like an open book.

"This is just the beginning, we will not stop here. We will give each conquered kingdom a new name? What will happen when we go to other worlds? It is not as easy as changing names. The citizens of that territory were born and raised knowing a name and will not get used to an unnecessary change so easily. We just need to remember that a piece of land does not represent us."

"That's how it is." Bai Zemin nodded. "China is China, simple. When we conquer Russia tomorrow it will still be Russia and the same with all the others. As Bing Xue well said, a piece of land does not represent us. Our faction already has a name, everything else is secondary."

Bai Zemin closed his eyes and thought in his heart, 'Continue to use the name 'China' for the new kingdom.'

[The Kingdom of China has been formed.]

[All the 'Ruler' type titles attached to your previous subclass have merged and evolved into something bigger.]

[You have received the title King of China.]

[King of China: You can teleport anywhere in China as long as you are out of combat for at least 20 minutes. The effect of the title is not limited to use on Earth and you can teleport to your kingdom even if you are on other worlds. The power of the title can be used once every 2 days on Earth but only once every 1 per year when you are on another world.]

Just when Bai Zemin thought the notifications were over, a new surprise fell into his lap in a figurative sense.

[Congratulations! You are the first human being to obtain a King-type title!]

[You have been rewarded with the Third Order level 3 skill Mankind's Pioneer!]

The skill Mankind's Pioneer was an active skill that had not one but two activations, and when Bai Zemin saw the effect of each activation his pupils trembled wildly and his heart trembled with fear at the possibility of missing out on this reward.

...

"So..."

Sitting in the building that formerly belonged to Liang Peng, Xian Mei'er calmly took a sip of the tea that the maid (formerly one of the women abused by Liang Peng) handed to her and blinked her eyes towards Bai Zemin.

"You have become King?"

"That's right." Bai Zemin nodded without hiding anything. "There have been reports from the different bases which confirm that all of my subordinates have received a great power boost while fighting wandering mutant beasts. This coincides with the records I obtained after taking control over Inner Mongolia so yes, you can say that at this moment and from now on I am officially the Human King of China."

"Human King, uh..." Xian Mei'er sighed and leaned back on the backrest. She gently raised her head to look at the stone ceiling and said with a hint of bitterness in her voice, "I still remember our first meeting. Back then, although you were certainly very powerful, your faction had a few thousand men at most."

After a few seconds of silence, she lowered her head to look Bai Zemin in the eyes and said in a clear voice, "To be frankly honest with you, my self back then was too weak and certainly somewhat naive. Were it not for your and Bing Xue's strength I would never have formed an alliance with such a weak faction."

"That kinda hurts." Bai Zemin smiled bitterly and shook his head.

On his lap, Xiao Xiao in the form of a small pink dolphin was sleeping comfortably. She would occasionally squirm a little, and Bai Zemin would immediately put his hand to work giving gentle caresses to the cuddly little female dolphin.

"It's the truth, and you know it." Xian Mei'er sighed. Her eyes flashed with complex emotions as she softly said, "But, that weak faction has now grown to this point... Even I who was and am a princess have been left behind by you in terms of status."

In that fateful encounter between the two, Bai Zemin was no more than a soul evolver with a great personal power that could be called shocking and a weak group of people following him.

On the other hand, Xian Mei'er was a genius capable of fighting Third Order enemies while in the Second Order, a princess of a great sea kingdom, and with at least a few thousand soldiers after losing most of her army in the bridge war.

Regardless of being the weakest among the older siblings with the right to the throne, Xian Mei'er was certainly above him in terms of status and capability to recruit soldiers.

However, what about now? No matter which way she looked at it, Xian Mei'er simply could not find a reason why the current Bai Zemin and his faction would want to be in alliance with someone like her.

"Are you sure you want to be in an alliance with me and not one of my siblings?" She inquired.

Bai Zemin naturally understood what Xian Mei'er was thinking, however, he shook his head and without stopping his caresses on the little pink dolphin calmly stated his thoughts.

"Princess, even though the current you in fact don't have much to offer in terms of power, it takes more than brute strength to reach a long distance."

He looked into her eyes and said in a deep voice, "Even if I am strong I am certainly not invincible, the battle against that alligator made that more than clear to me. If you have strength but don't use your brain... you will eventually fall."

"... In other words, do you have a reason to stay in alliance with me?" Xian Mei'er nodded slowly.

"Indeed. The reason I want to help you become the Queen of the Seas is because tomorrow, when I conquer the surface, I don't want countless sea creatures to suddenly go out under the command of some greedy little bastard. Do you understand what I'm saying?" Bai Zemin smiled slightly.

"... I don't know whether to feel offended or grateful that you underestimate me so much." Xian Mei'er grimaced.

"Underestimate? No, I don't think I'm underestimating you... I don't underestimate anyone, that's why I'm still alive after all." Bai Zemin shook his head before staring into her eyes. His black eyes glittered with a hint of coldness that didn't pair very well with the friendly smile on his face, "It's just that you have seen what I can do. You have seen the power of Bing Xue and my people. Therefore, you won't want to be an enemy of my Transcendent faction."

The expression of Xian Mei'er changed slightly and a second later a bitter smile appeared on her face.

"I see... I get what you mean."

Indeed, Bai Zemin was right.

Xian Mei'er certainly didn't want any trouble with this human group.

"Well, that and there's also the fact that you hate war. Besides, Xiao Xiao loves both of us right? And since we love her we certainly wouldn't want to make her sad." Bai Zemin said to lighten things up a bit but in an honest voice.

While Bai Zemin handed off all the work to the others, he chatted with Xian Mei'er about their next move.

"So, Princess." Bai Zemin's expression became serious as he said in a deep voice, "When will the last trial for the succession to the throne be?"

"Four days." Xian Mei'er responded with a frown. "My past self was not interested and neither did have the strength to fight, but after your words opened my eyes that day I decided to fight and with the support of your faction I managed to gather a large number of soldiers."

"After many months of even forcing some of my siblings to retreat and take part of their territories, the Royal Father recognized my power and added me to the board."

In other words, the King of the East Sea was a spectator watching a peculiar chess game with his offspring being the hands moving the pieces in an attempt to seize the other's territory and overthrow the leader.

Xian Mei'er had earned the right to enter the battle thanks to her rapid growth and not falling behind at all.

"But, I don't have many soldiers now. I'm afraid the current me no longer has time to gather troops and fight against my siblings." She frowned tightly and a worried expression shone on her beautiful face.

"In that case, how about I help you?" Bai Zemin stood up.

"Help me? In what way?" Xian Mei'er followed him with her eyes.

He stopped standing by the large window and while caressing Xiao Xiao said slowly, "For the past half month, I was resting half the time to recover from the heavy injuries I suffered during the battle against the alligator that supports your brother the Third Prince. As for the other half... I've been looking for Third Order enemies to kill."

He continued, "Princess, I need to kill 2 Third Order soul evolvers with my own hands to finally evolve to the next Order, but Third Order soul evolvers are Leader level powerhouses and certainly can't be found casually just because one wants to find them."

"2 Third Order soul evolvers? That's your final requirement for-"

Realizing something, Xian Mei'er paused and her lips trembled as she asked in a low voice, "How many... How many Third Order soul evolvers do you need to kill in total...and how many did you kill already...?"

In her eyes, asking a First Order soul evolver to kill 1 single Third Order soul evolver was insane beyond insanity. In fact, that First Order soul evolver would be considered a genius if they were able to survive 2 attacks from a Third Order soul evolver.

However, Bai Zemin had been stuck in the First Order for almost a year... and Xian Mei'er had seen him killing several Third Order soul evolvers in their brief encounters.

That meant that the number he had to kill was not "simply" two.

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