Chapter 566 - Showing Weakness and Ruins
Chapter 566: Showing Weakness and Ruins
A few days later, the palace summoned a second meeting.
This time, Shea’s proposal was about the lord’s arrangement. The Dark Moon crusade killed a total of 12 lords. Apart from 4 people who were hereditary and confirmed heirs, the remaining 8 estates had no ownership and candidates needed to be arranged immediately.
Shea proposed to merge the 2 small estates close to the Red Spirit Estate and White Feather Estate into the 2 big estates respectively. As a reward, a medium-sized estate would be rewarded to Royce, the hero behind the scenes, for lurking around Joseph for many years and making great contributions to the Dark Moon. The elder families and the royal families would discuss and select the lords for the remaining 2 medium-sized estates and 4 small-sized estates.
Unsurprisingly, the elder families such as Angley expressed their opposition to this proposal. The 4 major estates were originally very large and their power was too huge. For the long-term interests of the empire, it was necessary to control them as much as possible instead of letting them grow. Rewarding property or treasure could be considered, but the estate was absolutely not rewardable.
This opinion was quite valid. It was indeed from the perspective of the great interests of the empire. However, the “4 major estates” proposed by Angley included the Dark Moon and the Blue Lava Estate. In fact, they were secretly opposing the rewards that Shea proposed for these 2 estates last time. Moreover, with the empire treasury left by Obsidian, it was very likely that Shea would have to pay for it if the so-called material rewards were to be honored.
Angley’s methods were quite experienced, using the high-resounding reason of taking care of the overall situation. He made full use of the rule to quietly weaken the ruler’s discretionary authority. Shea was now the empress of the empire who should focus on the broad interests of the empire. If she insisted on doing things her own way, some elder families and members of the royal families who were waiting and watching would re-evaluate her in their hearts. There would be more opponents, and her prestige would be further reduced.
Shea’s foundation was not stable as she was a new express. Even with the support of the Toro Family, she was still weak. In this case, there were not many choices. Finally, the rewards of the 2 estates were changed to material rewards, and the lord of the 7 estates would be divided among the royal families and the elder families. Royce became one of the candidates for the smallest estate under Shea’s persistence. It was a “concession” to Her Majesty Empress by the elder families.
Many people could see that Shea’s eyes were unhappy, but more of it was helplessness.
After the meeting, Old Cowen of the Toro Family stayed and reported to Shea some of the situations in the last elder meeting.
“Although the Sword of Fallen Angel made Your Majesty’s accession to the throne received everyone’s support, many members of the royal families and elder families have expressed doubts about Your Majesty’s ability. Many people are still in the observation stage. Master Fonsaq joining the Mechanic Association is a good long-term move. It’s just that there will probably be great difficulties if Your Majesty wants to use the Princess Retail Store to change the current situation. The capital’s business structure is relatively fixed. Those families will unite to boycott the Princess Retail Store in order to prevent the sharing of interests, then I’m afraid…”
Shea shook her head, “I know what you mean. What I can tell you is that Master Fonsaq and Princess Retail Store have another role. It doesn’t matter if those branches are suppressed, crowded out, or even closed down. At the next meeting, I will raise the issue of the establishment of the financial minister, minister of military affairs, as well as the right and left prime ministers again. I can be certain that the elder family members will strongly oppose and reject the proposal of giving up a position. At that time, the Toro Family’s opposition can be a bit more fierce to make my failure seem more real.”
Old Cowen was taken aback, and he quickly reacted, “Your Majesty is deliberately showing weakness? But in doing so, Your Majesty must carefully weigh the gains and losses. If this continues, I’m afraid that Your Majesty’s prestige will…”
“Toro Family is the first elder family to support me. In the days to come, your experience and the power of the Toro Family will become one of my trusted arms. I hope I can listen more to your suggestions.” Shea’s eyes gleamed, “But in this current environment, there are some key things that I can’t disclose for the time being. You just need to do it, understand?”
Old Cowen looked at Shea’s determined eyes and felt a lot more at ease in his heart. He bowed deeply, “Understood.”
As expected, Shea suffered another setback in the next 2 meetings, and the intensity of decision-making began to become more tactful. The interests of the elder families were considered in many aspects. For Angley and others, this was a good signal. Shea was an empress after all. The original intention of Angley was not to spur Shea to step down, but to maintain the power and influence of the elder families, so he also showed proper obedience and concessions. Royce’s appointment was approved, and he became the lord of that small estate.
The estate Royce obtained was called Green Shade, which was a relatively small area with dangerous terrain and barren soil. It was located north of the Red Spirit Estate. In addition to the Red Spirit Estate, it also bordered several small and medium estates. To put it nicely, it was an important buffer zone for each estate, but to put it bluntly, its development space was restricted. However, this did not affect the joy and gratitude of Royce. The glory of the Kunda Family shone again at this moment rather than just restoring a surname. Royce knew very well what was the real reason for becoming a lord. He was very grateful for the decision to surrender in the Blue Lake. This was the most correct choice he made in his life. In the beginning, Royce and Arux were important pawns against Joseph for Chen Rui, but with the growth of Chen Rui’s power and the increase of the Dark Moon’s talents, his and Arux’s role was diminishing. However, after Shea ascended the throne, Chen Rui did not forget his servant who no longer had any usage value. The Kunda Family not only restored its honor in his hands, but it also became more shining. Royce secretly made up his mind to make some achievements to repay the master’s kindness.
With the permission of Madam Athena, Royce returned to the Dark Moon from the Red Spirit Estate, then he left the Dark Moon with his wife, Vasasha, his close friend, Arux, and some confidants toward the Green Shade Estate.
At the capital, apart from the original Leisure Moon Inn in the southern suburbs which was still being renovated and reorganized, 4 new Princess Retail Store branches were opened in the city. However, many shops nearby immediately began to sell products that were similar to the Princess Retail Store at lower prices and they used all kinds of means to grab the customers. The Princess Retail Stores were in an extremely difficult situation for a while, and it was unable to make ends meet.
When the Dark Moon’s Princess Retail Store first opened, there was a craze for novel products, then it quickly cooled down under the control of other merchants. Nowadays, the Princess Royal had become an empress, and the Princess Retail Store also represented Her Majesty Empress to a certain extent, but there were business circles and rules in business. The rule in this circle was also honoring strength. If you lost your competitiveness and just relied on the power of empress to gain a foothold, even if you could get a temporary benefit, it would not last for long. Shea would lose more people’s support. The gain was not worth the loss.
General George’s army withdrew from the capital and returned to the Warlock Fortress to guard. Sicali also withdrew a part of the army. The expression of this move made Angley and others more assured. There was a good feeling that the situation was under control.
During the confrontation between Shea and the elder families, Chen Rui did not stay in the capital, but he found a guard with a similar figure and wore a mask and a cloak to appear next to Shea from time to time. This was the benefit of the masked man. Anyway, no one knew the true face of “Aguile”.
Chen Rui went to the White Feather Estate. There were still many good things here that he did not have sufficient time to take away last time. He was finally able to free up his time. The medusa tribe was on standby in the White Feather City, and the lamp spirits who accompanied him to deal with “Sicali” had returned to the underground ruins of the Loeb Mine.
Chen Rui rode the wyvern and flew directly to Loeb Mine. Last time at his instruction, Sicali ordered the suspension of Loeb Mine mining under the pretext of demonic beasts issues. He closed the mining area for the lamp spirits to act. Chen Rui did not encounter any obstacles on his way, and he went straight to the underground ruins of Loeb Mine.
The ruins of the ancient alchemy civilization were actually a mobile mechanical castle. Unlike before he left, many damaged parts of the castle were repaired to a certain extent with glittering lights shining everywhere like countless brilliant gems.
“Master!” Genie and Gensha led the lamp spirits to salute Chen Rui. Genie once gave her life as the key to unlock the ruins. Chen Rui left behind a large number of aura fruits before he left, which were transformed into top-level energy essence that resurrected Genie and others. Not only that, there were more than 2,000 resurrected lamp spirits. There were 72 Demon Emperor golden-eyed lamp spirits including Genie and Gensha, 830 Demon King and Great Demon King silver-eyed lamp spirits, and 1,300 black-eyed lamp spirits of the Higher Demon level.
The lamp spirits of the Demon Emperor level did not have territory power, but they had a long-range energy attack and a special force field similar to territory. This force field could also be used in combination. The more people there were, the greater the power. Chen Rui had seen it in the illusion.
Due to the scarcity of energy, when Genie and others competed with medusas for the snake blood fruit, they could only use hand-to-hand combat and magic talents, and they could not use these energy-consuming special attacks. With the top-level energy essence provided by Chen Rui now, it was as if a poor person who lacked food and clothing became a wealthy rich man in one fell swoop, they could naturally exert their strongest power.
Such a large number of lamp spirits were a very powerful force. 70-plus Demon Emperor level lamp spirits could be dispatched at the right time to kill the ordinary Demon Overlord powerhouse. What’s more, there were terrifying war machines like the crystal beasts, assemble puppets and giant crystal beasts in the ruins.
However, they were all seriously damaged. The crystal beasts and giant crystal beasts were basically unusable. There were several complete assemble puppets which could be used as usual after replenishing energy. It was just that the attribute of the lamp spirits conflicted with the assemble puppets, so they could not act as a pilot.
Chen Rui frowned and asked Genie next to him, “Can you repair these crystal beasts or assemble puppets?”
Genie shook her head, “Lamp spirits do not have this ability. Even if our heart lamp is damaged and dying, we can’t downgrade to repair ourselves.”
Chen Rui showed a look of regret. It seems that only Tetenis can research this. Perhaps a large number of senior goblin warriors are needed as assistants.
“Master, why don’t you make gremlin servants? The giant crystal beasts may be more troublesome, but it shouldn’t be a problem for them to repair the crystal beast and assemble puppets.
Genie’s subsequent words ignited hope in Chen Rui’s eyes. Gremlin servants?
“Master is the inheritor of civilization. You don’t know about gremlin servants?” Genie showed curiosity.
Due to the devour, Chen Rui’s memory was very incomplete. He really hadn’t heard of it before. His mind shifted and he replied, “You should have heard from Gensha that after I accepted the inheritance, I fought against the strong enemy underground. Although I eventually defeated him, the inheritance memory was also affected because of this. Some of it is vague, and I can’t remember many things. Now you tell me about the gremlin servants.”
Genie did not doubt anything, and she replied respectfully, “In the alchemy civilization, the giant crystal beast is the guardian who defends the entire castle. The assemble puppet is equal to the war weapon. People can control it to exert power beyond themselves. The stronger the spirit power of the pilot, the greater the power of the war puppet. The crystal beast is equivalent to a guard who protects the safety of the master. We, the lamp spirits, are magicians on the battlefield; in life, we are the maids who dedicate everything to the master. The gremlin servants are the lowest servants with no combat power and they cannot leave the limited range of the castle, but they have the special ability to repair and manufacture. If we can create a large number of gremlin servants, plus the top-level energy essence provided by master, not only the crystal beasts, but the entire castle can be restored to operation.”
Chen Rui was overjoyed, then he was confused again, “So how do we make the gremlin servants?”
“There is now a large amount of top-level energy essence which is enough to activate the city’s central life crystal and control the entire territory castle, then a large number of gremlin servants can be created by just providing energy.”
Chen Rui noticed Genie’s words, “Territory castle?”
“The entire mobile castle is a territory kingdom. I only know this knowledge with my authority, and the rest is the inheritance memory of master.”
Territory kingdom? It was not the first time Chen Rui heard this term. He had heard it several times from Satan. It should be a territory mystery beyond the realm of Demon Overlord, and it was probably the prototype of [Kingdom of God].
According to Genie, this mobile castle is actually a territory kingdom? Chen Rui thought of Satan’s Mountain Seckred, and he faintly understood it. It was just that the so-called “inheritance memory” was just a guise for possession of the body, and the lamp spirits didn’t seem to know this. The Demi-God soul that was unsuccessful in possessing was eventually devoured by Chen Rui. Most of the power still remained undigested in [Star Conversion]. After all, Chen Rui was not worthy of the inheritor title. He could even be considered the enemy of the entire castle. It was uncertain if he could truly control the entire castle. Maybe there would even be a danger.
Gremlin servants, crystal beasts, assemble puppets, giant crystal beasts… and this huge and powerful territory kingdom. I have to give it a try no matter how.
“Genie, you take me to the central life crystal now.”
“Yes, master.”
Genie led Chen Rui all the way through to a large palace. It was very similar to the main city palace that Chen Rui had seen in the illusion. After walking into the palace and passing through the spiral stairs, Genie stopped in front of a huge underground room, “Master, before you activate the central life crystal, I can only lead you until here. The control center of the main city is inside.”
“You go down first then.” Chen Rui nodded, and Genie bowed and stepped down.
This huge room had no main door, but the dim light faintly shone from the inside which was mysterious. Chen Rui took a deep breath and walked in.
As soon as he approached the entrance of the room, he felt a strong spirit fluctuation which seemed to have a terrifying offensive effect. Once there was a change, he would be annihilated instantly. Chen Rui hesitated and continued to move forward.
The spirit fluctuations became more and more terrifying, and it increased with each step forward. Even Chen Rui who had the spirit power level of S+ now felt trembling in his heart as if he was taking step after step toward the abyss of death.
Chen Rui’s consciousness became blurry under the pressure, and his 5 senses gradually lost their effect, but his body still moved forward firmly with the support of his will and almost instinctive movements.
He couldn’t see or hear clearly what danger was ahead; he was just kept moving forward.
In the process of this advancement, Chen Rui felt the inexhaustible thoughts enveloping him and infiltrating into his soul. The Super System continuously converted it into aura, but the speed and intensity of infiltration was extremely strong. The speed of conversion almost couldn’t keep up with the speed of infiltration. If this continued, perhaps his entire soul would be in danger of collapse.
Could it be another damn possession? Chen Rui felt deceived and was trying to escape. At this moment, the soul power stored in [Star Conversion] began to fluctuate. By right, the power in [Star Conversion] would not convert automatically unless Chen Rui absorbed it or passed it to his chosen target through [Dual Training]. Now this situation should be drawn by foreign consciousness.
The soul power in [Star Conversion] fluctuated more and more intensely, resonating with the foreign consciousness. Chen Rui’s mind shifted. He infiltrated his own spirit power into these soul powers. If it was during the “inheritance”, he would definitely be unable to do it, but it was not a problem since these soul powers had already belonged to him now. It was equivalent to the food in the refrigerator that could be eaten at any time.
The Demi-God’s soul power wrapped in Chen Rui’s spirit power finally couldn’t be restrained. It was constantly surging out under the attraction of powerful consciousness from the outside. Although the soul power stored in [Star Conversion] was huge, the surge speed still made Chen Rui secretly surprised. Fortunately, the attraction quickly weakened, and the soul power that surged out miraculously returned to his body. There was also an extra thing which seemed to be a kind of spiritual imprint, blending with his own spirit.
Before Chen Rui could react, the whole room was dazzlingly bright which looked completely different.
The entire huge room looked boundless and seemed to be an independent space. The ground material was an unknown metal, and there were strange facilities everywhere. In the center, a huge crystal was floating in between 2 golden round platforms that attached to the ceiling and the ground. It seemed to be connecting the sky and the ground with all kinds of strange symbols flashing around.
The crystal emitted a soft purple light, and a tender female voice sounded, “The soul power fits 100%. The spiritual imprint has been added. Welcome, my master.”
Why is it so like a computer ai system? Chen Rui was taken aback, thinking that he had crossovered again and came to a world of science fiction.
TL: He gets a territory kingdom like that? Will it hinder him from realizing his own territory kingdom?