Amidst the puddles of foul-smelling green blood and the ruined remains of the encampment, Orion gripped the diamond-shaped crystal emitting a faint glow—the Ruined Territory Key belonging to the late Lord Adam Smith.
"Extract location," Orion commanded in his mind.
The small crystal in his palm suddenly cracked. Its fragments crumbled into silvery light dust that floated into the air, forming a thin thread of energy that shot eastward, piercing the darkness of the primeval forest. It was a directional compass that only Orion could see.
However, before they followed the trail, Orion turned toward the largest tent in the camp—the former seat of the Hobgoblin.
"Kael, Garrick, search that tent. Primitive races like Goblins have a habit of hoarding items they steal from their victims," Orion ordered.
His two generals moved immediately. It only took a few moments for the gigantically strong Garrick to tear down the foul-smelling leather tent, revealing a pile of materials inside. Sure enough, aside from animal bones, there were stacks of wood, stone, and a canvas backpack that was clearly the belonging of a human Lord from Earth.
"My Lord, we have found a stockpile of resources," Kael reported, carrying the canvas bag.
Orion touched the pile of materials and let the system transfer them into his Storage Ring. His interface immediately displayed the satisfying numbers: [Obtained: 800 Units of Wood, 800 Units of Stone, 50x Hardtack.]
"It seems Adam Smith had a resource-gathering talent, or perhaps these Goblins had looted several other Lords before him," Orion muttered. Whatever the truth was, that wealth now belonged to the Synthesis Lord.
Standing in the middle of the now-silent camp, Orion brought out the [Treasure Chest (Bronze)] he had obtained from killing the Hobgoblin. The chest emitted an ancient magical aura. He opened the lid, and a beam of golden-blue light washed over his face.
[Ding! Opening Treasure Chest (Bronze).] [Obtained: Skill Book 'Eye of the Sovereign' (Black Iron)] [Obtained: 200x Gold Coins] [Obtained: 1x Map Fragment of the Endless Continent]
Orion's gaze immediately locked onto the ancient book with a pitch-black leather cover in his hand. In a world full of deception and danger, information was a weapon equal to a steel sword.
[Skill Book: Eye of the Sovereign (Black Iron)] [Description: A special passive/active skill for Lords. Allows the user to see detailed statistics, Rarity tiers, and hidden weaknesses of enemies, as well as gauge the Loyalty level of subordinates. Consumes a small amount of mana when activated to view weaknesses.]
"Learn."
The leather book in his hand shattered into particles of golden light that shot straight into Orion's forehead. For a moment, his eyes burned, as if his eyeballs were being soaked in ice and fire simultaneously. When the sensation faded, Orion opened his eyes. The world looked slightly different; sharper, slower, and filled with microscopic strands of information.
He turned toward Kael, Lyra, and Garrick. Above their heads, besides the usual names and levels he could see, there was now an additional bright golden bar.
[Loyalty: 100% (Absolute)]
"Perfect," Orion whispered. There would be no betrayal in his ranks.
"Let's move," Orion signaled. "We are going to visit Lord Adam Smith's grave."
The small group followed the silvery thread of light eastward. The journey took less than twenty minutes. The forest around them began to thin out, replaced by an open clearing that must have once been protected by a dome of light.
Now, that dome was completely shattered. In the center of the clearing stood a half-collapsed wooden shack, exactly like the initial state of Orion's territory. Its door had been smashed in, and inside the shack floated a Territory Core crystal emitting a dead gray light. Without a Lord bound to it, this Territory Core had returned to a dormant state.
Orion stepped into the creaking shack. He reached out and touched the gray crystal.
[Ding! Found an Ownerless Territory Core (Level 0 - Normal).] [Warning: You can only possess one active Territory Core. Do you wish to extract this Territory Core into your Inventory?]
"Extract."
The gray crystal rapidly shrank to the size of a marble and dropped into his palm. Orion stored it in his ring. "Our objective is complete. We return to base."
The night was growing late by the time the four of them finally stepped back into the warmth of Orion's 100-meter radius protective dome.
Orion instructed his three generals to stand guard outside his Wooden Cabin while he went inside alone. He locked the wooden door. This was the moment he had been anticipating the most. The insane experiment that would separate him from the other 8 billion humans.
In the center of the cabin, his Level 1 (Normal) Territory Core pulsed tranquilly.
Orion took out the Ownerless Territory Core (Level 0) from his ring. He placed it on the floor, right next to his own Territory Core.
Orion focused his mind and summoned his Origin-Grade cube. "Forge of Genesis: Synthesis!"
However, no light erupted. There was no magical boom. There was only a red text flashing in his retina, confirming what he had suspected in the previous Chapter.
[Synthesis Failed!] [Objects are not identical. You are attempting to synthesize a Territory Core (Level 1) with a Territory Core (Level 0). The 'Identical' requirement is not met.]
Orion did not look disappointed. Instead, he smiled cynically. "I know your rules, System."
He couldn't synthesize objects of different levels. That was the absolute law of his Talent. But Orion was not someone who would surrender to the rules. He was a system hacker.
He opened the interface for Adam's (Level 0) Territory Core lying on the floor. Because the crystal was in his possession, he had administrative access over it.
[Object Status: Dormant Territory Core (Level 0)] [Upgrade Cost to Level 1: 500 Wood, 500 Stone, 1x Basic Magic Crystal.]
"System, use my resources to upgrade this pirated Territory Core."
Orion had over 900 Wood, 900 Stone, and 6 Basic Magic Crystals—a massive fortune he had just acquired from looting the Goblin camp. Without a shred of hesitation, he pressed the confirmation button.
Instantly, 500 Wood and 500 Stone from his inventory vanished. The gray Territory Core on the floor suddenly absorbed 1 Basic Magic Crystal and began to shine brightly. Because it wasn't connected to the ground to build a physical cabin, the upgrade energy condensed entirely within the crystal, transforming its core to become vastly clearer and stronger.
[Upgrade Successful. Object is now: Dormant Territory Core (Level 1).]
Orion wiped the sweat from his brow. Spending such massive resources on a dead crystal sounded like pure madness to any Lord. But to Orion, this was a godly investment.
Now, before him, lay two identical Level 1 Territory Cores. One was his living core, and the other was dormant.
"Let's see how this universe bends for me," Orion whispered, his voice trembling with anticipation.
"Forge of Genesis: ABSOLUTE SYNTHESIS!"
This time, the laws of reality shattered.
The cosmic golden energy cube exploded with a force that nearly blinded Orion. The two Level 1 Territory Cores—one representing Orion's life, and the other representing a deceased Lord's life—were sucked into the vacuum within the cube.
A miniature hurricane formed inside the wooden cabin. The wooden walls creaked violently as if withstanding the gravitational pressure of a black hole. Kael, Lyra, and Garrick, who were outside, instantly went on high alert, staring at their Lord's cabin with a mixture of awe and terror.
Inside the cabin, the two white crystals collided, shattering into pieces of cosmic dust, then began to fuse under the authority of the Origin-Grade energy. White turned to gray, then condensed into a glossy pitch-black that absorbed all the light in the room.
THUMMM!
A silent shockwave swept out from the cabin, passing through Orion's troops, piercing the dome's boundary, and propagating for miles into the primeval forest.
The light inside the cabin finally subsided. Orion slowly opened his stinging eyes.
Before him, there was no longer a white diamond crystal. Floating above the stone pedestal was a miniature obelisk the size of an adult human's arm. The obelisk was forged from stellar matter emitting a pitch-black glow, adorned with golden veins that pulsed slowly like the heartbeat of a cosmic entity.
[Absolute Synthesis Successful!] [2x Territory Core (Level 1 - Normal) -> 1x Territory Core (Level 1 - Black Iron)]
[Congratulations! Your Territory has undergone a Rarity Evolution. Your status has been changed from 'Ordinary Lord' to 'Black Iron Overlord'.]
Orion touched the black obelisk. An entirely new barrage of system notifications flooded his mind, detailing the specifications of his evolved territory.
[Black Iron Territory Attributes:]
Domain Expansion: Your protective dome boundary permanently increases to a 300-meter radius. (An area 9x larger than before).
Absolute Defense: The durability of your cabin/core building is as hard as black steel. Cannot be destroyed by monsters below the Bronze tier.
Overlord's Aura (Territory Buff): While inside the Domain radius, all your troops (including yourself) receive a +15% increase to all base stats, as well as passive stamina recovery of 5% per minute.
Territorial Gravity: You can detect the presence of any creature harboring killing intent the moment they set foot inside your Domain radius.
Outside the cabin, the dome of light, which was previously a transparent white, suddenly hummed. Its color slowly shifted into a mix of transparent gray and black, giving it the imposing feel of a military magical fortress. The dome expanded incredibly fast, swallowing hundreds of giant black trees, boulders, and bushes into Orion's safe zone.
Garrick and Kael stared at their own hands. They could feel a surge of pure power infiltrating their muscles. The +15% attribute buff had activated.
Inside the cabin, Orion Vance chuckled softly. His laugh was cold, echoing against his wooden walls that were now as hard as steel.
The Beast Tide was still five days away. The Lords in the World Channel were still bickering over starvation and foraging for wood. Meanwhile, Orion had just transformed his territory into a war machine impossible for any early-stage entity to breach.
The survival game was over for him. Starting tomorrow, all that remained was the game of conquest.