While he was busy thinking, John had returned with a book.
"Lord, I have written everything in this book. This is all we know about the construction of Soul Bills."
Tyler took the book and opened it. Sure enough, most of it was nonsense about how Soul Bills were better than gold.
Soul Bills were supposed to be better than Gold, but it wasn't supposed to be as long-lasting as gold.
The idea of Soul Bill came from Tyler. The idea was to create a paper currency with enough value that could only be represented by hunters.
This sounded quite good for hunters until one realized the method to create a soul bill was to hunt down monsters.
Yes, the purpose of the Soul Bill wasn't to give a monopoly to the hunters but rather to force everyone in the world to become a hunter.
Outbreaks were the result of a large number of monsters and spirits gathering in one place.
One could exist during the day while the other could only exist at night, but they weren't thrilled to share their territory.
And, they also had a common enemy.
Humans!
So, the outbreaks were often used to expand their territories. That's why living in a country despite those high taxes was considered good.
It wasn't for identity but for safety.
But the idea of Soul Bill came from a rune known as the Soul Catching Rune. By utilizing this rune, one could capture the souls of others.
This, alongside the Soul Transformation Rune, could produce a large amount of soul energy that could help humans recover their mental energy.
Every skill required a human to utilize stamina and mental energy. Stamina could be replenished by food, but mental energy needed sleep.
This wasn't a problem for a higher rank since their mental energy could hold for hours, and they could recover while using their normal sleep time.
But for low low-ranking hunter, this was a nightmare. Every time they needed to have normal sleep time and recovery sleep time.
Even if they forcefully try to stay awake, their brain would collapse on their own and fall unconscious.
But with Soul Bill providing soul energy, this wasn't a problem anymore. That's why this currency gained its popularity in just six months.
Since the only way to make a new Soul Bill was through the soul of a monster or the body of a spirit, people must become hunters.
Hunting was a risky profession. Many people died as hunters. That's why those rich people would often hire hunters but never become one.
Even in his city, there were only five hunters, including himself, for a reason.
Whenever he mentioned the Natural Fruit, people would hesitate.
Of course, it was also because he couldn't give them the Natural Fruit from his pocket.
He would rather go into the wild and find the fruit for them. That's why they would hesitate.
To them, going into the wild was no different than suicide.
After closing the book, Tyler raised his eyebrows and said.
"Well, we need to go out soon. This is actually not a bad thing for us. From now on, we will stop hiring hunters."
"We will be focused on improving our factories while producing more hunters. Since people are afraid of going out without the ability, then give them one."
"Five of us will go out as a hunting team and bring Natural Fruits and Soul Bills for the City."
"But I am not interested in making the raw materials for the bills. I need you to gather everything today. Can you do it, Chief John?"
"Yes, Lord!"
John saluted him without much hesitation and turned around, holding the book.
"By the way, you should send Alena here during the afternoon."
John nodded and left the office.
Tyler stood up and left the office as well. He walked out of the mansion and soon reached the city road.
He had carefully planned this city. There was one main road, and every other smaller road was connected to this road.
He hadn't focused on building the proper road. It wasn't a problem for now, but in the summer, it would become a problem due to heavy rain.
Houses were connected to those roads. The factories were made far away from these houses.
As he walked, many people noticed him and immediately came forward to greet him.
"Good Morning, Lord!"
"Good Morning, Lord!"
Tyler replied with a gentle smile but picked up his pace. He couldn't waste time greeting them here.
Soon, he reached the walls of the city. These walls were ten meters tall and five meters thick.
These walls cost him the most. To prevent monsters from attacking his city, he built these walls.
They also acted as a support for Golden Light Formation. There was also a watchtower near the walls.
When he had arrived there, a man walked down from the watchtower and greeted him.
"Good Morning, Lord!"
"Morning, Liam!"
Liam was one of the hunters. His job was to keep watch from the watchtower.
Alongside his other two hunters, Jacob and Martin, these three protected the city walls and formation runes.
Tyler stepped forward and entered the watchtower.
It was a normal watchtower, with a single room and many binoculars, and an observatory area.
But there was a complex rune system attached to the wall of the tower.
Each rune had a sword mark, a shield mark, and was plated in golden color.
[Aura]
Tyler raised his hand, and a strange energy flowed out of his finger.
This was Aura. It was the manifestation of his physical strength, combined with his mental energy in the form of energy.
It wasn't awakened but rather practiced. With this, he could start engraving a new rune on the wall.
'Is that Aura? No wonder it felt so heavy all of a sudden.'
Behind Tyler, Liam almost collapsed to his knees. His neck veins and forehead veins were bulging out.
His knees were weakening, and his breathing was getting faster. His skin had turned red.
Liam managed to hold his own against Tyler's Aura by his sheer strength.
'Is this the power that only Rank Two can hold? My stamina is simply declining under this aura.'
'My mind is chaotic. It is starting to hurt. Damn it! I can't even hold on against my Lord's Aura. How am I supposed to protect this city with such weak strength?'
Liam gritted his teeth and kept his eyes open. Even those eyes had turned red.
After what felt like an eternity to Liam, the pressure vanished, and Tyler turned around.
"Thank you for your hard work, Liam!"
Tyler nodded his head with a gentle smile and touched his head.
[Totem Skill]
[3rd- Blessing of an Elf]
With this skill activated, a phantom of an elf appeared behind him. This elf was a creature with humanoid but long and pointy ears.
But this was just a phantom. A green energy emerged from his palm and started affecting Liam.
In less than ten seconds, Liam's body started recovering. His stamina had been refilled, while his mind was a lot better.
"Although this skill can help you recover a little, you still need some rest."
"Tomorrow, we will be going out for a hunting expedition. Remember to recover and rest properly."
"Yes, Lord!"
Liam excitedly replied.
Hunting Expedition was an important part of a hunter's life. He couldn't go out hunting because of his current job.
"But what about this job, Lord?" Liam hurriedly asked.
"I have placed two of my skills on the watchtower. If an enemy below Third Rank comes, it can handle it."
Tyler replied while pointing at two new symbols that appeared on the wall.
This was the result of his learning about the runes.
Runes were created by combining Aura with the ability.
That's why there were runes like Soul Transformation and Soul Catcher.
Not everyone awakened the same ability. Especially some ability that could only be found among a few individuals.
But these abilities were so important that they needed to be everywhere.
Like Soul Catcher. This was the only ability that could easily stop the spirit from running away, forcing it to fight the hunter till death.
Spirits were creatures that could only be affected by Aura. Their ability to remain intangible meant they could hide anywhere and appear everywhere.
Under such circumstances, it was impossible to stop them from running.
So, when the Soul Catcher ability was found, it quickly became a hot potato for the hunters.
Whoever had Soul Catcher could catch the largest number of spirits.
But they also knew every team didn't have a soul catcher. So, they slowly started researching a way to share their abilities with others.
After decades of study and research, humanity has finally developed a method of storing abilities using Aura.
This method was called Rune.
Aura was a container and an energy source, while the ability was carved into the container.
His Shadow Manipulation gave him the ability to generate shadows tangible enough to fight like a normal hunter.
These were shadow warriors, and he was their creator.
Shadow Emperor!