Chapter 220: A Gift from the Enemy

The Expedition Office had one purpose: producing Expedition Writs.

[Expedition Writ]

[Relocate your Domain to designated coordinates outside a Region while retaining your original resident bonuses.]

Ordinary Relocation Writs and Advanced Relocation Writs both moved a Domain into a Region. Expedition Writs allowed a Lord to take it into the wilderness while keeping the benefits of Fortune, office, and an assigned site.

They were essential for campaigns beyond settled territory. With his Domain following him, a Lord could attack more effectively and keep his army supplied for far longer.

The drawback was mobility. As the frontier saying went, a Lord could run, but his Domain could not.

Cassian checked the construction requirements. He had everything he needed.

"Build the Expedition Office. Complete it immediately. Then upgrade it to Level Twelve."

He paid the required resources and Aether. The new Office rose, then advanced through its upgrades.

At Level 12, it could produce twelve thousand Expedition Writs per Realm Day.

That sounded like a great many. A normal Province held tens of millions of Lords, though. Demand vastly exceeded supply, and many Governors auctioned the Writs to cover the Province’s daily expenses.

Tidecrown had been through enough trials that fewer than two hundred thousand Crown Lords remained.

For once, the smaller population made his job easier.

If the Expedition Office was a Governor’s core Building, the Capital held the means to shape every Lord’s development.

The moment Cassian had become Governor, the spatial barriers separating its sites had disappeared. The map was now one connected territory.

Through his new administrative access, he examined it all.

Combat sites. Fortress sites. Resource sites. Farming, environment, livestock, forging, archery, and attribute sites...

There were more than ten thousand sites, spread across over a hundred types.

"Four thousand four hundred and twenty-six war sites. A good proportion."

He considered the arrangements.

"I’ll have Mira draw up some rules. We need a system for the sites and the Expedition Writs. People can’t just settle wherever they please forever. And we’ll need officials besides the Commanders and Wardens to manage the Province."

Then his gaze sharpened.

"Demons?"

He opened a Gate, paid for the passage, and took part of his force through.

They emerged outside a Domain where Demons swarmed around the defenses. Its owner had only just occupied the Farming site. Now the farming Lord was cowering inside the Lord’s Hall.

"Save him!"

The Stormlance and Eclipse Praetorians rushed forward.

Six-armed Mariliths, Berserker Demons, Balors, Greater Demons... The weakest were Elite, the strongest Epic. Every one was Level 65.

"Level suppression?"

Several possibilities occurred to Cassian. Once he was sure the farming Lord was safe, he rose into the air and followed the direction the Demons had come from.

A kilometer away, a pit had opened in the ground. It was a hundred meters across, its edges turning as it continued to expand.

Cassian flew above it. He could see no bottom. The darkness seemed to lead into another dimension.

Dozens of Rare Greater Demons were hurled out of the pit, caught in some unseen pull. They steadied themselves in the air, eyes red, then charged at him while shouting in the Demon tongue.

Rhea cut them down with a few strokes.

"An Abyss Gate!"

Cassian sounded delighted.

"I remember this from the Worlds Market. Four billion Aether. An outrageous price, though the transaction fee was only the minimum fifty percent."

A thought struck him.

"Darian won quite a lot from that wager. Did he buy it as a gift because I turned the war around? This is far too generous."

Who else would spend that much on him?

"He should have warned me. Someone on our side could have been hurt... Wait."

Darian could be careless, but he knew better than to release something this dangerous on a friendly map without telling anyone.

"Could it be...?"

Cassian had been slow to consider the obvious because other people saw the Abyss Gate very differently. They feared it. He saw an excellent hunting ground.

Light flashed repeatedly behind him. Darian, Elara, and the others arrived outside the Domain.

"An Abyss Gate?"

Darian’s expression darkened as another wave of Demons flew out of the pit.

"Who was stupid enough to put that in the Capital? I’ll kill him!"

Cassian could not help smiling wryly. That settled it.

His twenty thousand ordinary Eclipse Legionnaires back in Riftward could already earn him at least five hundred million Battle Essence a day. Even so, his needs kept growing.

He had wanted this Abyss Gate for some time. Only the thought of spending six billion Aether, including the fee, had stopped him from buying it and placing it beside his Domain as a permanent hunting ground.

Now he had the hunting ground, and someone else had paid for it.

An enemy, once again.

"The Black Banner or the Beacon League? If it’s the Black Banner, they’re definitely getting that banner of thanks."

The others remembered what they knew of Abyss Gates. Their expressions grew ugly.

[Abyss Gate]

[Opens a two-way passage to the Bottomless Abyss. Layer and location are random.]

[Units passing through are subject to Level Suppression.]

[The location of the far end changes randomly.]

Seraphine had studied the subject.

"The random destination is the worst part. One moment, it could open above a lava lake full of hatching Demon worms. The next, it could lead straight into a Devil Lord’s palace."

She looked at the dark opening.

"Level suppression won’t solve everything. What if a few Legendary Nine-Star creatures come through? Things only a step from Mythic? Or a true Mythic Abyss Lord? How would we stop them?"

Her voice grew firm.

"We’ll have to keep a strong force here at all times. If high-grade Demons escape into the map, the Lords at the surrounding sites will be slaughtered."

That possibility was exactly why Cassian wanted the Gate.

If a Mythic creature came through, and his luck gave him a Mythic Hero Soul or Troop Soul, he could finally obtain his first Mythic unit.

Mira checked the records she had just compiled. Anger flashed in her eyes.

"The last Lord to occupy this site belonged to Merriton Marches. It was the Black Banner."

As they spoke, the Abyss Gate stopped expanding.

Rhea suddenly turned toward it.

"Lord. Legendary creatures are coming."

Cassian’s eyes brightened. Everyone else braced for battle.

Maren gave Rhea a troubled glance. She was Legendary herself now, and her arts were especially good at sensing danger. Yet she still felt nothing.

The difference shocked her. It was hard not to feel defeated by it.

A moment later, several afterimages flashed across their vision.

Three winged Greater Demons hung in the air. Their presence was immense, strangely noble, and deeply unsettling. Behind them came a dense army of Demons.

"Legendary Greater Demons," Maren said. "With complete control of spatial power."

The leader surveyed the gathering, then bowed elegantly.

"A discerning eye, beautiful Human lady. But allow me one correction."

Pride entered his voice.

"Not spatial power. Space Will."

Maren’s face changed. Even Cassian grew a little more serious.

Like Celia’s Sword Intent and Liora’s Flame Will and Frost Will, Space Will could multiply the power of the skills it governed.

Cassian quietly contacted the three Legendary Nine-Star Faerie Dragons concealed in phase space. After their brief exchange, his concern vanished.

"Find somewhere without witnesses. One each."

"Yes, Lord. Leave them to us," one of the Dragons answered.

Meanwhile, in Ashvale, Dorian checked the time.

"The Abyss Gate should have finished forming."

Galen looked eager.

"Let’s hope it brings out a few Greater Demons at high Legendary star ranks. They’re cunning, and excellent at ambushes and escape. They could turn the whole Capital upside down."

He smiled at the thought.

"Then Cassian won’t have time to trouble us. He might not even have time to enter the Skyreach Tower!"