Chapter 347: Selene Refuses to Let Luke Leave?!

Meanwhile, Luke was flying through the sky in his winged Titan form, his destination being none other than the Blackstone Highlands, his own territory, while the powerful beats of his enormous wings carried him steadily across the vast distance.

"Sigh, escaping from Selene wasn't easy." Luke breathed out in relief as the wind rushed past him, because even after spending fifteen continuous days together, Selene had still been unwilling to separate from him and had repeatedly tried to convince him to accompany her back to Empyrean Academy.

"Even though I want to spend more time with her, this isn't the time for that." He clicked his tongue in annoyance, although he knew there was nothing he could do about it right now, since both his personal strength and the development of his territory required his attention.

After all, ever since arriving in this world, Luke had never forgotten about the demons rampaging across it, and if the situation eventually became worse, relying entirely on other kingdoms or organizations was never going to be enough.

He needed his own army, and more importantly, he wanted that army to consist of elites capable of standing against powerful enemies without collapsing the moment he wasn't around.

That was also one of the reasons why Luke had never complained whenever the system gave him summon-type units, since every powerful summon increased the overall strength of Blackstone, with Aurora, Vaelira, Theia, and the other elite units already proving just how valuable such rewards could become.

"Even though all of them somehow end up being women who want my love, thanks to some horny system."

Luke clicked his tongue again, expecting the system to immediately appear and defend its dignity like it usually did, yet several seconds passed without so much as a single response.

"Whatever."

Ignoring the suspicious silence, Luke recalled Selene's expression when she had finally left for Empyrean Academy, and rather than sadness, what he remembered most clearly was the unwillingness written across her face, as though she would have happily dragged him along if he had given her even the slightest opportunity.

"Soon," Luke muttered as his hand slowly tightened into a fist, because sooner or later, he intended to bring all of his wives together so he could spend time with every one of them without constantly traveling from one place to another.

Of course, whether they could actually remain together without eventually trying to kill each other was an entirely different problem, and one Luke preferred not to think about too deeply right now.

Instead, he shifted his attention toward something much more practical and began calculating his accumulated Daily Return Charges and available Monthly Claims.

---

Current System Status — 20th Day of Fructus, Year 50,001

Daily Return Charges

Aurielle Valmont: 1 Charge — 1,000× Return

Selene Nightveil: 15 Charges — 15,000× Return

Wife Monthly Claims

Aurielle Valmont: 1 Monthly Claim Available

Selene Nightveil: 1 Monthly Claim Available

Total Wife Monthly Claims: 2

Lover Monthly Claim

Theia Yvette: 1 Monthly Claim Available

Total Monthly Claims Available: 3

— 2 Wife Monthly Claims

— 1 Lover Monthly Claim

---

"Sigh, sadly, the system won't generate Daily Return Charges while my clones stay with my wives." Recalling that restriction still made Luke feel somewhat regretful, because otherwise he could have simply left one clone with each of them and accumulated charges without ever worrying about being physically present himself.

Still, the situation wasn't entirely bad, because Aurielle's Monthly Claim had generated even though his original body hadn't been staying with her, which confirmed that Monthly Claims were independent of the restriction placed upon Daily Return Charges.

"At least I don't have to personally stay with every wife after reaching their second milestone just to receive the Monthly Claims."

That alone made things considerably easier for him, especially when the number of people and territories demanding his attention continued to increase.

With that thought settled, Luke spread his wings wider before driving them downward with greater force, causing the air beneath them to surge as his speed increased and the distant landscape began passing beneath him even faster.

He wanted to reach Blackstone as soon as possible.

***

Around the same time, one of Luke's clones was walking through the increasingly crowded streets of Blackstone, his face fully concealed beneath ordinary clothing so that none of the passing citizens, merchants, or adventurers could recognize their lord casually moving among them.

The road itself was far busier than it had been several weeks earlier, with loaded wagons rolling between shops, merchants calling toward potential customers from newly constructed buildings, and groups of workers moving materials toward the expanding sections of the territory.

While passing through one particularly busy stretch of road, Luke's clone heard two men talking nearby.

"Hey, did you hear about those ten viscounts? Every one of them was supposedly a Mid-C Rank, yet they disappeared while traveling to attend a Marquis's party."

The second man immediately lowered his voice, although his curiosity clearly outweighed whatever caution he possessed.

"Yeah, I heard about it. Apparently, they couldn't even find a bloodstain, and there weren't any guards around the damaged carriage either. The viscounts simply disappeared."

Hearing those words, a faint smile appeared beneath the cloth covering Luke's face, because he could already make a fairly good guess about who had been responsible.

'Looks like one of the other clones already dealt with them.'

Although Luke's clones could remain at practically unlimited distances from the original body now, the clones themselves couldn't freely exchange information with one another across such distances, while the original body remained the central point capable of retrieving and focusing on the information gathered by them.

'At least I don't have to worry about those guys pestering my territory anymore.'

With another potential problem removed, Luke continued along the road, yet his attention soon shifted away from the surrounding conversations and toward Blackstone itself, and seeing how much the territory had changed during these twenty days brought a genuine sense of pride.

The original developed area of Blackstone had covered only around one kilometer, but it had now expanded to nearly ten kilometers, with most of the newly claimed and developed land extending toward the Stormhowl Mountains, where construction crews and newly settled residents continued pushing the territory outward.

More importantly, this expansion had happened without Luke needing to invade another human noble's land, which meant Blackstone had been able to grow rapidly without immediately becoming tangled in another round of political disputes.

"Plus, the border issue is finally resolved."

The remaining demi-human tribes near Blackstone's border had submitted and become part of the Blackstone Highlands, removing one of the territory's long-standing concerns while also allowing the forces stationed there to finally return.

Among those returning forces were the Berserker Greatswordsmen, along with Taron, the original Silver Knight who had spent so much time protecting the distant border.

Although Blackstone now possessed several individuals far stronger than Taron, Luke had no intention of mistreating or sidelining him simply because the territory had grown stronger, especially when Taron had protected Blackstone and supported Aurielle during the period when Luke himself had been unable to remain there.

For that reason, Luke had left Taron as one of the primary commanders responsible for the army, while the issue of his cultivation speed was something Luke was already considering separately.

"Sigh, the Mana Well inside the Time Chamber is starting to lose its effectiveness for Silver Knights and anyone above them."