The next day, news of Arthur becoming the new King of Atlantis spread across the entire nation like a tidal wave.
The citizens of Atlantis were shocked, asking who Arthur was.
Once they realized Arthur was the older brother of the former King, Orm, the eldest son of Queen Atlanna, and a half-breed who grew up on land, the citizens were full of doubt about this new king.
Although Orm was radical in his thinking and obsessed with launching a war against the surface, there was no denying that he had a knack for governing, and his prestige among the people was not low.
Now that he had suddenly abdicated, replaced by an Arthur they had never heard of—a new king who had no notable achievements before taking the throne—the citizens immediately imagined an eight-million-word drama of palace power struggles.
However, not long after, several more pieces of news followed.
It was said that Arthur had already received the recognition of the holy trident, becoming the rightful King of Atlantis.
Furthermore, the four major ocean kingdoms—the Fisherman Kingdom, Xebel, The Lost Kingdom, and The Trench—unanimously declared their willingness to become vassal states of Atlantis, jointly forming the Atlantis Empire to rebuild its former glory.
The ocean citizens were very confused.
What the hell were The Lost Kingdom and The Trench?
But these questions were quickly overshadowed by another matter.
That was the announcement that the Atlantis Empire would host a three-day open banquet that all citizens could attend.
Once the news broke, the ocean citizens immediately put the new King Arthur out of their minds, and the whole nation began to celebrate, with lively festivities everywhere.
For the average citizen, who was king didn't matter as much; having a meal was what really mattered.
Arthur: "..."
"Aside from the destroyed The Deserter Kingdom, only the Kingdom of the Brine has yet to join."
"But that is not a big problem."
Arthur, King Ricou, and Nereus led their respective armies, along with Karathen and a large group of The Trench, forming a 'friends and family' tour group to pay a visit to the Kingdom of the Brine. He believed they would soon join this friendly big family.
If they weren't willing, that was fine too; the banquet was just short of some shrimp soldiers and crab generals.
Darian didn't go with them; such trivial matters didn't require his intervention. He spent his days in Atlantis eating seafood and, incidentally, researching whether Atlantis actually had toilets.
This point was very important and concerned whether he would continue to stay in Atlantis.
King Ricou and Nereus watched Darian sitting firmly in the rear, as if he were the true King of Atlantis, and became increasingly curious about his identity.
They were smart people and had long noticed that between Darian and Arthur, Darian was clearly in the dominant position, while Arthur seemed more like a puppet king pushed to the forefront with almost no say.
They didn't dare ask Darian directly, so they tentatively inquired with Arthur.
Arthur didn't say much, just told them to pay attention to the news on land.
The two kings were confused.
It wasn't until they researched the various major events that had occurred on land during that period, as well as the news reports about the members of The Seven, that a chill ran down their spines.
Especially the powerful performance of Darian and Clark in battle.
They tried to imagine themselves in that situation; let alone the two of them joining forces, even facing just one of them, their combined undersea nations probably wouldn't be able to withstand them.
And they finally figured out Darian's identity.
The founder of The Seven, Omni-Man, who had defeated Kryptonians, Angels, demons, and the Enchantress.
Mera also privately revealed to Nereus that Karathen had been subdued by Darian with his bare hands, even turned into roast meat and served on the table, and now it was the main course of the banquet.
The two kings secretly rejoiced.
Fortunately, they had conceded quickly back then; otherwise, they might have already become side-dish seafood sashimi.
Orm also learned the whole story from Queen Atlanna.
After hearing it, he finally understood Arthur's good intentions.
It turned out that Arthur had done all this to preserve the future of Atlantis and to save his life, which was why he had reluctantly accepted the throne of Atlantis and married Mera.
Arthur commented on this: "The last part wasn't reluctant at all."
The hostility toward Arthur in Orm's heart diminished by more than half, and he was willing to give up everything he had and live a retired life early.
There was no help for it; the higher-ups had strong opinions about him.
Given his extreme behavior in attempting to attack the land, not locking him up in Arkham Asylum for treatment was already a favor to Arthur.
If he were allowed to hold power, a certain bat with severe persecution mania would have an episode.
If the bat had an episode, everyone else would suffer.
So, to keep everyone from suffering, Orm just had to suffer a little.
However, everyone had a tacit understanding; no one exposed Darian's true identity.
They still addressed Darian by the title of King of The Lost Kingdom and even proactively designated a sea area for him specifically to rebuild The Lost Kingdom; the intention to win him over couldn't be more obvious.
This person was a real big shot; of course, they had to hold onto his leg tightly.
As allies of the Atlantis Empire, if they ran into trouble in the future, Darian couldn't just stand by and watch.
Not long after, news came from the Kingdom of the Brine.
After seeing Karathen with his own eyes, the King of the Kingdom of the Brine immediately declared that the Kingdom of the Brine had been an inherent territory of Atlantis since ancient times, that the people of the Kingdom of the Brine had always been loyal to Atlantis, and that they were now willing to officially return to the embrace of the Atlantis Empire.
Although the Kingdom of the Brine were all brutes who weren't afraid of death in battle, they knew the difference between being fearless and seeking death.
Thus, except for the already extinct The Deserter Kingdom, all other ocean kingdoms were incorporated into the Atlantis Empire.
A system notification sounded in Darian's mind.
[Mission 'Unify Atlantis' Completed]
[Calculating rewards...]
[Rewards obtained: 20000 EXP, Free Attribute Points * 4, Anchor Shard * 2, Item 'Panacea', Item 'Sand Gourd', Item 'Heart of the Ocean', Equipment 'Water Ring']
[Item: Panacea (A medicine developed by a reindeer that can cure all diseases. It was included in the Future Department Store, item number 500, and later bought by a blue fatty.)]
[Item: Sand Gourd (Can store a large amount of sand; reduced in size from the original version for easy carrying.)]
[Item: Heart of the Ocean (You jump, I jump)]
[Equipment: Water Ring (Generates a water-shaped shield that can block or weaken external attacks.)]
Darian looked at the Panacea first.
The scope of 'curing all diseases' was too broad; even cancer could be cured. This point alone far exceeded most healing potions.
But wasn't the description of this item a bit too full of extra elements?
As for the Sand Gourd, it came at just the right time.
Used in conjunction with the Lord of the Sand-Sculptures skill, he would no longer have to dig sandbags out of his game inventory every time he cast a skill; it was much more convenient.
The Heart of the Ocean didn't need to be mentioned; it came from the classic movie 'Titanic'.
However, when Darian watched the movie, his attention wasn't on the gemstone necklace that ran through the plot at all; he was busy looking at the 'highlights' on either side of the necklace the whole time.
Water Ring; Darian happily acquired another ring.
He did a quick calculation; he only needed to collect three more rings to have a full set of rings.
Darian casually distributed the 4 free attribute points evenly, and his attribute panel changed accordingly.
[Attributes: Strength 118, Constitution 78, Speed 78, Spirit 101]
After Arthur took office, he quickly used his authority as king to find the whereabouts of the mother box in Atlantis.
The mother box was placed in an ancient stone temple deep in the ocean, a considerable distance from the royal city, with only a few Atlantis soldiers responsible for daily guarding; the defensive force was almost negligible.
According to royal records, the mother box was an evil object passed down by the ancestors of Atlantis, and successive kings followed the ancestral teachings to arrange personnel to guard the place.
However, after Orm took power, the situation changed.
Orm believed that after so many years of silence, the mother box no longer posed any threat and wasn't worth wasting troops to guard.
Plus, he was fully preparing for the war against the land at the time and needed to mobilize as many troops as possible, so he simply withdrew the garrison completely, leaving only a few soldiers to act as gatekeepers.
Darian and Arthur arrived at the ancient stone temple and saw this creation from Apokolips.
[mother box]
[Description: A supercomputer created from mysterious X-element, possessing self-awareness, loyal to its user Darkseid, capable of matter rearrangement, opening Boom Tubes, and other abilities. It is indestructible and cannot be destroyed by most means. Multiple mother boxes can work in synergy, with their power growing exponentially. Three mother boxes combined are enough to execute the destruction or transformation of a planet.]
The mother box sat there quietly, without any movement.
But Darian and Arthur both knew in their hearts that this was a time bomb that could go off at any time, potentially summoning the big boss Darkseid at any moment.
Arthur said with a serious expression: "I will send more troops to guard this place. Once there is any sign of trouble, we can immediately enter combat status to prevent anyone from teleporting to Earth through the mother box."
Darian shook his head: "That's not secure enough. The forces of Apokolips are stronger than Atlantis, not weaker. We wouldn't have the advantage in a head-on confrontation, and we can't be vigilant against their arrival every single moment."
"Then what do you propose?"
"Of course, we set a trap for him."
Darian chuckled: "We move the mother box to an uninhabited area in advance and set up various traps in the area, preferably burying dozens of nuclear bombs. As soon as anyone dares to teleport over from the mother box, we start bombing them in turns and let them taste our Earthling specialty."
Arthur gasped: "You really are more devious... I mean, smart."
"Granddaddy is back! Batman, come out and greet the guests!"
Darian kicked open the gate of The Seven headquarters, his loud voice echoing in the hall.
During this time, Bruce had used his 'money power' to finally get the Base of The Seven built.
The Base was located in the suburbs and was equipped with various advanced facilities, from training grounds to command centers.
It was said that the 'Butler-Man' Alfred had contributed a lot, managing to compress a construction schedule of several months into one month; no one knew how he did it.
Of course, with Bruce's personality of always having a backup plan, he couldn't rely on just one Base.
To prevent the Base from being exposed, suffering large-scale destruction, or accidents like Darian blowing it up, he had already planned to build Base No. 2, Base No. 3, Base No. 4...
This 'Base maniac' attribute reminded Darian of an old acquaintance.
When Darian stepped into the hall, he saw Bruce in his combat suit, talking to a man who was dressed in green all over and carried a special compound bow on his back.
[NPC: Oliver Queen]
[Codename: Green Arrow]
[Affinity: 20]
[Evaluation: Chewing Gum Man, DC Hawkeye, Robin Hood, Bruce's most trusted Justice League member]
Oliver was startled by the sound of the door being kicked open. Thinking an enemy had entered, he reflexively pulled out the bow and arrow from his back, pointing the arrow tip directly at the door. The whole set of movements was fluid and smooth.
Bruce was calm, obviously accustomed to it.
"Omni-Man, are you done with your business?"
As soon as Darian saw that there was an outsider present, he immediately put away the arrogant posture he had after kicking the door.
He straightened his back, put his hands behind his back, lifted his chin slightly, and instantly switched into a low-key and restrained heroic image.
"Done."
Darian's voice was deliberately lowered as he said: "I joined forces with Aquaman to obtain the holy trident, then conquered The Seven seas, subjugating all the undersea nations. Anyone who dared to disobey orders was dealt with on the spot, with no exceptions."
"Now the entire ocean is under the control of The Seven. With just one word from us, all Atlanteans will obediently go to their deaths for us. Hehehehehehe..."
Darian couldn't help but let out a hearty laugh at the end.
Bruce: "..."
Oliver: (°A°;)
Was this content something a newcomer like him should be hearing?
Oliver had always had a calm personality and had never panicked when facing various dangers in Star City.
But at this moment, he was a little panicked.
He felt like he had been tricked into a den of thieves.
This The Seven was no superhero team; they were clearly a group of supervillains disguised as superhero!
Cold sweat broke out on Oliver's forehead.
He was just a guy who played with a bow; no matter how good his archery was, it was only at a mortal level.
Let alone Darian, this Omni-Man; even against Bruce, this Batman, he had no chance of winning.
God is going to destroy me!
Bruce looked at Oliver's expression and explained helplessly: "Don't misunderstand, we are all good people."
Oliver became even more guarded upon hearing this; those supervillains in Star City had all said the same thing.
Bruce shook his head and had no choice but to briefly explain the ins and outs to Oliver.
Darian was a little surprised.
He found that Bruce seemed to have no guard against Oliver, which was completely unlike Bruce's usual style.
But soon, Darian understood the reason.
Oliver was just a guy who played with a bow; even if he lost control, Bruce could reawaken his 'true goodness' without even wearing the Anti-Superman armor, so where was the need for any guard?
Truly worthy of being Bruce's most trusted Justice League member.
*******************************
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