Leveling up the World (Chapter 854) (Patreon)

It was arguable whether moving the settlement was faster than flying, but it turned out preferable. As Dallion directed his bubble of reality through the wilderness—and the thin layer of control that stemmed from the imperial capital—he sensed several new water golems laying in wait. Smaller than the one he’d faced, they acted like underground streams, only a small part of them peeking over the surface.

The war clearly wasn’t going as well as the imperial house claimed, or the nymphs’ influence wouldn’t reach so far in. Based on the map, they had effectively cut the country in two, though at the same time, they didn’t have the strength to split it outright.

There was one more thing that Dallion felt in the process—his first real experience of worldwide domains. Being in charge of a single settlement was no different than a pebble in a lake. The entire focus of the domain ruler could only be on the size and state of the domain they held. Everything beyond its borders was irrelevant unless it made an attempt to invade. Controlling three spread out settlements had opened his senses to an entirely new sensation. Dallion could feel—almost see—the emperor’s domain, as if he were playing a strategy game. One vast blob of power covered everything from the imperial capital to the edge of the forest, Dallion was now traversing. In the areas of the wilderness, the power was thin—no thicker than a sheet of paper—but it still remained linked to its owner. Dallion’s own domains were like three dots within this vastness: his mansion in the capital, the village-town of Canopa, and the newly created village of Sandstorm. His power wasn’t enough to form a control area between the three, so they remained small, but by no means alone. The Order of the Seven Moons also left their presence known, spread throughout the area, like beads in a field. More specifically, they were like the points of a grid, positioned on all other domains and even the unclaimed wilderness.

It took over a day to approach Sandstorm. A fair distance away, Dallion brought Canopa out of the wilderness and made the inhabitants one final offer to join his domains. Just as before, all of them refused.

Not the best start, dear boy, Adzorg said with a note of criticism. You could have used your music skills to convince them.

“First attempts are like that,” Dallion replied, watching the mages fly off in the direction of the imperial capital, or maybe it was the Academy? From this distance, it was difficult to determine. “Besides, why would I need people that could be turned against me at any point?”

Because of the numbers, the old mage replied. The sad truth of the matter is that quantity beats quality almost every time.

“I doubt the emperor feels the same,” Dallion said beneath his breath. Privately, he had hoped that at least Eleria would change her mind and stay. It was impossible not to notice the amount of fear she had from the emperor. Sadly, despite that, she had flown off in the end.

At least I got the settlement itself, he thought.

That, too, didn’t seem to be a huge benefit. With the people gone, Dallion considered merging the settlements into one, but quickly decided against it. Without its inhabitants, the former Academy enclave wasn’t a town. It wasn’t even a village. Given enough time and effort, Dallion could keep the buildings from crumbling for a few years, possibly decades, but that was a temporary measure.

AREA AWAKENING

You are in the land of CANOPA

Defeat the guardian to change the land’s destiny

Using his domain ruler powers, Dallion pulled out the domain of each individual building from the general settlement. Most of them he didn’t find useful, but the main building was perfect for a library. Homes he could always build to match the inhabitants, whoever they turned out to be. It was the fields that he needed, though. If nothing else, the mages had taken great care of their food supply—something that a few weeks of neglect was incapable of ruining.

You give picky people a bad name, Vihrogon laughed. This is definitely a first.

“No one ever did a spring cleaning?” Dallion asked.

Not like you. It’s a lot easier to fix up a shell of a settlement than build it from scratch. Anyone can build shells. The way you’re going—

The land of CANOPA has lost too many elements.

The land of CANOPA has been reduced to a Level 4 village.

A blue rectangle popped up.

That will happen. The dryad guardian finished his sentence.

“Oops?” Dallion said, mockingly as he continued to remove areas from his domain and add them to his other one.

FIELD has been added to the land of Sandstorm.

FIELD has been added to the land of Sandstorm.

Rectangles kept on stacking up. Dallion ignored them. Then, when he had moved everything he needed, he returned to the real world and pulled out the domain guardians of everything he’d not chosen.

The vast majority were creature guardians he released into the wilderness. After the time they’d spent protecting their respective structures, they deserved to have a life of their own. The rune golem that had protected the whole of Canopa, though, received a different treatment.

“What do you prefer?” Dallion looked up at the bulking entity. It wasn’t as big as it was in the awakened realms, though still impressive, rising fifteen feet above Dallion. “I can release you in the wilderness, or you can become part of my new settlement and help out with some farm chores.”

The guardian kept looking at him, not saying a word.

“You won’t be a guardian,” Dallion added. “Not exactly. Either way, you’ll stay in the real world.”

For ten seconds, the guardian didn’t move. Dallion could feel its confusion at not being a town guardian anymore. Sensations of loss mixed with eagerness for adventure. Dallion had felt something similar back on Earth as a child. At the time, his parents had finally bought him a new superhero blouse he’d been asking for. Putting it on, though, would mean he’d have to wear his current favorite blouse less. There had been a moment of sadness and indecision, but ultimately, Dallion had made the switch. The rune golem did the same, stepping out of Canopa’s confines.

The moment the creature’s foot crossed the barrier, all remaining structures crumbled into rubble.

That’s what happens when there’s nothing left to keep the cracklings at bay, Adzorg said. Fascinating process. I’ve never observed it on such a scale.

Dust filled the air as what little remains there were settled down.

Are you sure that was the right decision, dear boy? Every noble would have fought tooth and nail to keep hold of a domain.

“I know.” Dallion nodded. “I needed what was in the Canopa, not the village itself.”

You know best. Or at least one can hope…

“Vih, can the method be used in combat to destroy someone else’s domain?”

Why would it? The dryad asked, confused. It’s more difficult than invading a realm. If you want to capture it, just capture it. If you’re strong enough for that, diminish your future gains?

“I guess that’s one way of looking at things. Let’s see how Di is doing.”

The ruckus had caught the attention of several creatures, especially Gleam. Utterly bored with her current environment, she quickly fluttered to see what had happened. Finding nothing interesting or impressive in the degree of destruction, the familiar then fluttered back to Sandstorm. Dallion followed soon after.

Arriving at the outer wall, Dallion noticed one major difference: a massive gate was blocking the path, a gate made of ice.

“Like it?” Diroh asked as she flew over the wall. “I thought I’d decorate a bit.”

“Unmelting ice,” Dallion said, recognizing the magic symbols on the gate’s surface. Nice touch, but we can’t use it.”

“Why?” The fury crossed her arms with a note of defiance.

“I came across a water golem near the village. The nymphs are sending spies to this side of the empire. Having the gate made of something they could manipulate isn’t the best idea.”

“What about the river?” Diroh didn’t back off. “That’s made of water. If they get here, we're done either way.”

There was some logic to that. Dallion was going to have to add some defensive spells to the river, just in case.

“Good point,” he relented. “I’ll take care of that. Will you be able to look after the place for a bit longer?”

“Let me guess,” she sighed. “You’re going somewhere again.”

“I need to get Adzorg.” Dallion offered a smile. “I’ll try not to be long.” After millennia in other realms, I’m still using the excuses my father did. “If the nymphs attack, don’t try to protect the place, just leave. Alright?”

“Wow. Thanks for the vote of confidence.”

“I’m not joking around.” Dallion’s tone hardened. “They’re too strong for you to take on. I’m not sure I could.”

The last comment made the fury to pause. While obvious that Dallion hadn’t reached the pinnacle, there weren’t that many people in the world—in and out of the empire—that would easily defeat him in the fight. Emperor Tamin was an obvious example, as was the nymph empress. It remained unclear how the archdukes would fare, but it was safe to say that Dallion himself wasn’t urging to find out. For him to openly admit he might not protect his domain so far east, there had to be a very serious reason.

“I won’t put myself at risk,” Diroh said. Dallion could feel she was lying, just as he could sense the effort she had put in to hide it.

“Be back in a bit.”

PERSONAL AWAKENING

In the real world, Dallion disappeared, as if sinking into the ground. What he had done was merely venture into his awakening realm, then use the link between it and his domain in the capital to get there. For any onlooker, it had taken a second. Surprisingly, for Dallion, it had only taken him a few moments longer.

Using standard awakening abilities, he focused on the link. A doorway emerged from the ground in his personal realm, connecting him to his domain. The moment he stepped through, he was outside of his magnificent island realm and into… a dump.

Plates, bottles, and silverware covered the floor, scattered among clothes and sleeping people. The smell of alcohol and tobacco was so strong that it almost knocked Dallion off his feet.

“Dal?” One among the pile of sleepers stirred. The person was in no better state than anyone else present, but a combination of guilt, shame, and regret were enough to bring him to a communicative state. “I was just about to clean up.” The man jumped to his feet. “I thought you’d be back a bit later.”

“It’s fine, Ber.” Dallion suppressed his initial reaction. “Go back to sleep.”

“Seriously, man. I feel really bad about this. It’s not as bad as it looks.”

“Go back to sleep.” Dallion used his music and magic skills, instantly knocking them out.

Where the heck is Taem? He looked about.

The servant was usually the first to greet Dallion upon his return, although this was the first time Dallion had used this method to transport himself.

“Vih, why don’t nobles only use this to move from place to place?” he asked.

Who says they don’t? The dryad guardian let out a chuckle. For the most part, it doesn’t save time and has more downsides than advantages. For one thing, it only works between places that are already yours, and that has a tendency of changing fast during wars.

Of course. Domain holders had the tendency to keep on fighting between domains. Given that true time didn’t stop, one might well end up losing a domain before they reached it. That would end up quite embarrassing, not to mention dangerous for the affected awakened.

Casting a quick spell, Dallion floated his way to the second floor. Ber had faithfully followed the instructions, not letting anyone to set foot there. Just in case, Dallion decided to make sure.

“Has anyone passed through?”

No. Both guardians replied almost in unison.

So far, so good.

“Anything unusual happen?”

This time, the answer wasn’t immediate.

Scrolls are piling up in your study, the building guardian said.

“What else is new?” Dallion sighed, then made his way to the room.

The scrolls were, as he expected, messages from Euryale. Naturally, they were written using syllablights, ensuring that no one, even the emperor, would be able to read the words. If anyone were to look at the symbols on the page, they would see unintelligible gibberish. The moment they felt Dallion’s presence, though, the creatures within the realm of the scroll moved about, forming actual letters.

Reading through the brief messages, Dallion could easily tell that Eury missed him. At the same time, the war wasn’t going well. The Alliance had withstood several major clashes, and even taken out a few more cities on the ocean’s coast, yet that was only against the Azure’s human forces. Several cities had been swallowed by the sea and all attempts to take out nymph cities had ended in utter failure. The Alliance had already pulled back inland, abandoning any and all cities within fifty miles from the coast.

Just as Dallion was about to take another scroll, a sealed envelope materialized in front of him, dropping to the floor. It was very different from the scrolls. The paper had a slightly yellowy hue, not to mention that the seal was made of molten gold.

“Any of you know what this means?” Dallion asked, looking at the symbol on the seal: twelve round dots connected to each other, forming a twelve-point star.

Since no one said a word, Dallion broke the seal and opened the envelope.

You have passed the selection.

Order of the Twelve Suns.