With enough resources extracted and tools created with the sturdiest materials Michael could extract at this moment, there shouldn't be too much of a problem with the construction of the treehouse complex.
The rainforest provided all raw materials, and Extraction enhanced them by extracting the sturdiest and most potent resources. Thus, Michael was not too worried. He was sure that his subjects could create a treehouse complex until nightfall.
Even if they weren't done by then, the wooden manor had enough space to fit everyone.
'One 1-Star Architect Apprentice and a 3-Star Tracker with exceptional agility. None of them has any combat powers…but it's not that I expected something big,' Michael thought as he strode through the clearing. He left the clearing and found himself near the protection barrier a few minutes later, looking for Tiara.
It hadn't been long since Tiara left to hunt but she had already killed a monster. The energy influx passing through their Link of Loyalty was unmistakable evidence of that, and it calmed his nerves much more than expected.
After he killed Fenrir, Michael's biggest worry was that none of his subjects would be able to kill Low Tier-1 Monsters. It was great that he was wrong with his guess.
'Hunting with Tiara will make everything a lot easier, that's good.'
Michael was already strong for a new Lord, but he was not at the 1st Tier yet. Not even the enhancement provided by a Tierless Epic Artifact was high enough to make up for the gap of strength between a Low Tierless and a Tier-1 entity.
"Master, you've arrived!" Tiara exclaimed with a vibrant smile before she bowed politely the moment she saw him.
A pack of Tier-1 Monsters was currently trying to drag Fenrir's corpse farther away from the protection barrier. They were hovering around the protection barrier cautiously and backed off the moment Tiara moved.
One monster had already experienced the fury of the Battle Maid from the Silverfang Tigerfolk, and the others didn't want to experience the same fate as that poor soul.
Michael watched their face-off with little interest. He approached the protection barrier and pressed his palm against it.
'There is almost no resistance,' He noticed with a bemused look before he shot out.
Michael took a single stride forward to reach the monster corpse, which he grasped with his left hand to store inside his War Rune. His War Rune was large enough to store a single monster corpse. That was more than enough in the current situation.
The monster corpse disappeared, shocking the remaining monsters outside the protection barrier. They hadn't expected their dead brethren to disappear just like that. It took most of them a second to realize what had happened. Only then did they move.
There was only one Monster that reacted faster than the others. It shot forward and pounced at Michael.
Michael was not yet inside the protection barrier, but his movements were calm and composed. His Eagle Eyes Soultrait was already activated, and he detected the sudden acceleration of the Gem Jaguar ahead of him.
He could jump backward, and easily get inside the protection barrier, but Michael did something else. He pushed his feet away from the ground and pushed them to the side. Simultaneously, he manifested Tigerfang from the War Rune and tilted it.
Tigerfang's razor-sharp edge pointed at the Gem Jaguar while his body moved to the right. Michael could change his trajectory and initiate a counterattack, knowing that the Monster's sudden acceleration would make it harder to change its direction in an instant. However, Michael didn't risk it.
He summoned Tigerfang to keep the Gem Jaguar at a safe distance and distract it. The Gem Jaguar's entire focus was on Michael as expected. It slowed down at once to change its trajectory and attacked Michael. As a result, it was attacked viciously from the side as searing pain spread out from its chest.
The Gem Jaguar forgot about Tiara, and that she had been standing right behind the protection barrier. Tiara burst forward when Michael pushed to the right side, noticing that the Gem Jaguar was focused only on her Master. Making use of that, she used her full strength, reached the Gem Jaguar in an instant, and lashed out with all her might.
The silver spear penetrated the Gem Jaguar's chest before it was viciously twisted and yanked out in a smooth motion. A moment later, Tiara had already retreated behind the protection barrier where Michael arrived a fraction of a second later.
He gave her a small smile before retrieving the corpse he had collected before.
"I have enough space. We can continue." He said nonchalantly, though his eyes quivered as he looked at the miserably dying Gem Jaguar.
Even if he was fine with being around dead bodies, and extracting them with his Soultrait, the sight of someone dying, forget about killing someone, was still a little hard on his stomach.
However, he knew that he had to become stronger to be a good and powerful Lord. This didn't only involve his physical strength, but also his mental strength.
'I need to get stronger!' He told himself, gritting his teeth while watching the death of the Gem Jaguar.
Tiara's lips parted and she wanted to say something about his reckless actions, but she shut her mouth only a moment later. It was not as if Michael's tactic had been bad. He clearly calculated the Gem Jaguar's movements and acted accordingly. Even without her interference, Michael would have made it safely inside the protection barrier before the Gem Jaguar reached him.
By then, the Gem Jaguar would have been an easy target that was unable to deal with any attacks while faced with Tigerfang's razor-sharp blade.
"As you wish, Master. Let's continue!" She responded after a moment, getting into combat stance to continue the fight against the remaining Tier-1 Monsters.
Michael charged out of the protection barrier to collect the Gem Jaguar's corpse and become the remaining monsters' bait. His perception was higher than others thanks to Tigerfang, and the Eagle Eyes Soultrait. He could react fast enough to the actions of a Tier-1 Monster even if he was not strong enough to fight it head-on. He could evade the attacks and tire the monsters out.
Meanwhile, Tiara moved rapidly, attacking the monsters whenever she found an opening. Her movements were fast and her attacks deadly. Being a trained member of the Silverfang Tigerfolk, her agility and flexibility was bound to be exceptional. However, that didn't mean Tiara could fight in sync with just anyone.
Whether it was their firm Link of Loyalty, or their natural compatibility, Tiara and Michael were able to deal with the remaining monsters within ten minutes and gain an upper hand.
They killed seven monsters in twenty minutes, and they were not yet done with today's hunt.
Several hours later, they returned to the clearing. Tiara retrieved a total of 30 corpses from her War Rune while Michael retrieved two monster corpses. The storage space of his War Rune expanded a lot after he actively participated in the hunt of nearly three dozen Low Tier-1 Monsters.
This was helpful for the fourth step of the plan he came up with a while ago.
'It is much more beneficial to go out hunting with multiple people. I wonder how efficient we would have been with Fenrir,' Michael wondered, just to shake his head and discard that thought. 'I killed him, so what does it matter? Thinking about it doesn't change anything!'
It was already late and less than one hour was left before nightfall. However, Michael had yet to loot the monster corpses, forgetting about extracting them to dissect their bodies properly and preserve the necessary body parts.
Michael sat down a few meters away from the campfire which Tiara used to prepare dinner for everyone, and he began the extraction of thirty-two monster corpses.
Even by the time dinner was ready, he was not done yet, but Michael got up and walked over to the campfire. He ate with the others and tried to get to know his subjects more. His second day in the Origin Expanse had been far more taxing than the first day, however, Michael felt more comfortable now.
On the first day, he had a bad feeling, which proved to be correct. Now that Fenrir was no more, he felt much better. The thought of going to sleep soundly without bothering about the possible dangers inside his territory was not foreign anymore. He was looking forward to it so that he could gauge others' actions better and prevent future mishaps.
"My Lord, we haven't finished the first treehouse yet, but I think the rainforest trees in this area are big and sturdy. The biggest trees can hold three treehouse complexes as long as we construct them with the same sturdy materials you've provided. Will that be alright, or should we spread the treehouse complexes at first?" Williams Heart asked after he gathered all his courage to reveal what he had on his mind.
Everyone had slowly warmed up to Michael as their Lord. They were still hesitant to speak their mind because Michael and his personal maid were powerful given the huge pile of Tier-1 monster corpses lying not too far from the campfire. If they said something wrong, nobody would be able to help them. They would have to face their Lord's wrath and might even be tortured. That was something they wanted to prevent.
However, they could also tell that Michael was not an ordinary or regular Lord either. Every summon recalled parts of their lives before they'd been summoned, and some memories were bound to be about Lords, whether it was rumors or something they witnessed first-hand.
"How about you create two single treehouse complexes and test a triple treehouse complex afterward? I will summon more subjects tomorrow. You can easily finish two single treehouse complexes by then," Michael suggested, and Williams nodded his head, without saying anything further.
He patted his chest to calm his wildly palpitating heart while praising himself inwardly. It took a great deal of courage to speak up to their Lord, but he had not only done it but the Lord had even accepted his proposal!
After dinner, everyone was exhausted. However, nobody went to sleep before the Lord did. They watched their Lord as he continued to dissect the monster corpses one after another using his miraculous Soultrait. Everyone wanted to help, which Tiara took as an opportunity to command them.
Tiara instructed the summons about where they should keep the dissected body parts, what to do with the blood-filled flasks, and so on.
In less than two hours, Michael finished dissecting the last corpse. He was dead-tired, but a satisfactory smile blossomed on his face that reached his eyes.
The drop rate of items generated by the Will of the Origin Expanse was much higher than he expected after Extraction had been enhanced, and he impatiently awaited the arrival of the next morning.
The third day was about to start, and the preparations for his first trip back home were made.
It was about time to show the true value of his territory and Soultrait!
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"236 Summoning Scroll Fragments, three Unknown Summoning Scrolls, one Artifact, a stable blueprint, a piece of a map…that's not bad, not bad at all!" Michael mumbled while munching on the meat that had been prepared for breakfast.
He slept soundly on the second night in the Origin Expanse, and his energy had been fully replenished. His mind had also been rebooted and refreshed.
"Master, the Summoning Gate materialized another summoning scroll," Tiara informed, handing Michael the scroll.
He accepted it and nodded his head subtly.
'With the gains from yesterday's hunt, I can summon more than ten subjects. Should I focus on letting everybody settle and get familiar with my territory for the next few days, or should I keep hunting? I don't even know how the region around me looks. Maybe Tier-1 Monsters are my smallest problem…' Michael noticed that many things needed work and improvement. It would be much easier with a few powerful combat units by his side, but Tiara was all he had.
She was powerful, but it was clear that her combat awareness and experience were not comparable to Fenrir's. Michael was not sure what kind of Soultrait she had either. Tiara was not allowed to speak about it due to the regulations of the Origin Expanse's Will, and she didn't seem to be utilizing her Soultrait secretly either.
It was a little bit annoying but not something Michael would ponder about for hours knowing that he wouldn't receive a useful answer.
"Before taking action, I should summon more subjects. Williams and the others will need more help to finish the treehouse complexes," He mumbled, getting up from the wooden stool.
Michael made his way to the Summoning Gate before he merged the Summoning Scroll Fragments in his possession together. Since he had still more than 20 fragments from the day before, a total of 10 Unknown Summoning Scrolls formed from the fragments. Adding the complete scrolls to his possession, 14 subjects emerged from the energy pool after Michael ripped the seals away on the scrolls one after another.
13 starless subjects – nine men and four women – emerged from the energy pool. All of them were wearing the same clothes just like the subjects he summoned the day before. Following the starless subjects, one 1-Star summon emerged from the Summoning Gate. It was a young man in his mid-20s tightly holding a Staff in his left hand.
His name was Heran Tarn and he was a Lesser Tamer.
When everyone introduced himself, Michael was quite surprised to find out that he got hold of a Lesser Tamer as well. For now, the Lesser Tamer's power might be considered less useful, but this could quickly change. The Lesser Tamer's power could come in handy to control livestock easily, or tame lower-ranked monsters for combat.
If a Tamer raised a monster from infancy, it would even be possible to create a cavalry, or simply have mounts to carry him and others around with much less trouble.
'It might be a little bit annoying in the rainforest, but once I create trails through the rainforest it would be very helpful and timesaving to have a docile, agile monster mount,' Michael thought with confidence.
However, for now, the Lesser Tamer's unique trait was not helpful, so he sent him to help construct the treehouse complexes.
"Should I try to get hold of monster eggs when I return home tomorrow?" Michael mumbled, wondering if he should tweak his plan a little.
Initially, Michael wanted to leave the Origin Expanse the moment the War Rune's connection had been confirmed. That was usually the case after spending 72 hours in the Origin Expanse. By selling the near-perfectly dissected monster corpses, their blood, Monster Cores, and exotic body parts such as the Gem Jaguars' Gemstones, Michael wanted to have sufficient funds to purchase everything he needed until the protection barrier would disappear.
Unfortunately, the space of Michael's War Rune was still not humongous. To purchase everything needed and carry it back to the Origin Expanse, he would have to be able to travel back and forth several times. But that was currently not possible because the War Rune's connection would only be perfectly solidified once it had been refined to the 1st Tier.
'Recharging the War Rune should only take a few days. If I can go back tomorrow, and a second time two days before the protection barrier lifts, it shouldn't be too difficult to protect my territory even in the rainforest full of Tier-1 Monsters…'
Michael had to make the best of the given circumstances, but that was easier said than done. Certain things didn't get easier even after he racked his brain to think of a solution. Purchasing a few 1-Star Warrior Summoning Scrolls would help a lot, but it was not certain that the Warriors would be enough to ensure the territory's safety. After all, the rainforest was still an unknown region with a high likelihood of being inhabited by stronger monsters.
"If you're worried about the rainforest, we can send out Blaire Tracer, Master. She told me that she was never good at work which required her to use her hands. She was a little embarrassed that she made so many obvious mistakes when she was supposed to help the others in constructing the treehouse complex, and told me about it last night," Tiara proposed.
"Sending out Tracer? She might be agile, but we're talking about a region overpopulated with Tier-1 Monsters. Tracer is a Tierless Tracker who has yet to start refining energy!" Michael couldn't agree to something that risky. If Tracer was also Tier-1 – just like Tiara – he would agree, but this was way too dangerous.
"Blaire Tracer will be fine, and she wants to do that, Master. We need the information she can procure as well," Tiara tried to convince just as Blaire Tracer approached them. She heard her name and concluded that Tiara had proposed what they had discussed last night.
Her expression changed in an instant, and it looked like she started to glow.
"Please send me out to procure information about the rainforest, my lord!" Blaire requested politely after she rushed over to Michael to give him a deep bow.
A frown appeared on Michael's face, but he nodded his head after a while. Even if he wanted to protect his subjects from as much harm as possible, the unknown worried him a lot.
"Alright, you can go," He said at last, "But don't even think of getting injured. We have nothing to treat wounds, not even bandages!"
Michael was sorry that he had to push the responsibility of exploring the rainforest outside the protection barrier to Blaire Tracer, but she didn't seem to mind. On the other hand, she was happy, bowed deeply, and disappeared after finishing her preparations.
'As long as she's happy, there is no need for me to feel bad…I guess,' He thought, turning to one of the most important drops he received from a Low Tier-1 Frenzy Deer.
It was a Bow, an Artifact created by the Will, and made from the Frenzy Deer's Antlers and tendons.
Even if the Artifact was Tierless with a common quality star rating of one star, the power it could unleash once fully charged was quite high. Michael didn't have any Arrows to use it with, but using Extraction allowed him to extract sturdy wooden shafts from the rainforest's trees. He used them to test out the Artifact's strength.
Unfortunately, wooden shafts were simply makeshift arrows and not comparable to proper arrows. That was something even a rookie archer could tell, let alone Michael whose memories predominantly revolved around archery and a few other memories.
Michael finished organizing his first ancestor's memories, and he learned quite a lot. Most memories were not useful right now, but Michael was certain that he could make use of them in the future.
For one, Michael learned that the wicked Spear Art required exceptional eyesight and the ability to see what others couldn't even perceive and forget about seeing. He also found out that Fenrir became a Spearman solely because of the wicked Spear Art. He had been an Archer before – an exceptional archer at that.
Fenrir's archery skills had been impeccable, but he switched to the spear once he found the wicked spear arts. That was just too bad because Michael would have loved to receive more memories of Fenrir as an archer rather than his memories about the wicked Spear Art.
'Looks like I can become a pretty good archer in no time as well,' Michael thought with a subtle smile on his lips, 'At least, some of his memories are useful. With a little bit training, I can become an expert Archer using this bastard's memories, experience, and a weakened version of his Soultrait!'
Extracting everything from Fenrir had been extremely useful. Michael gained so much in return. Of course, he lost a Heroic Summon as a result, but that could also be considered an advantage. His Heroic Summon would have definitely lost his sanity in no time. Removing Fenrir was the only way to ensure his own safety and the survival of his territory.
Thus, after pondering over it for a while now, Michael concluded that he had done the right thing.
Michael would kill Fenrir again, even if time would turn back 24 hours. That was enough for him to understand that he did the right thing and that it was not worth dwelling on the what ifs any longer.
After he justified his actions to his conscience and accepted them at last, Michael began to work hard, once again.
He helped procure the purest and most resilient resources – to build the treehouse complexes – using Extraction. Simultaneously, he got to know his people more. They were a little confused at first, wondering why their Lord was so…kind, bubbly, and generous, rather than a stern commander who ordered everyone around while watching from far away.
However, they liked this kind of Lord much better, especially since he seemed reliable and quite powerful as well.
The day passed in the blink of an eye, and time seemed to slow down when Tracer returned to the territory, holding something in her arms while bleeding profusely.
"What the hell did you do?"
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