Chapter 87: First to Level 40

Kael delivered his proposal with the same casual ease he might have used to discuss the weather.

Alexis, however, understood the weight behind his words.

There was no hesitation in his voice, no need to raise it or dress his intentions up in polite language.

He simply laid out what he wanted, secure in the knowledge that he possessed the strength to make it happen.

Strip away the details, and the arrangement was simple. Every major guild trying to establish itself around Frostwatch would eventually need a high-level territory.

Those bases offered advantages that ordinary settlements couldn’t match, from stronger defenses to better infrastructure and greater opportunities for long-term development.

Kael intended to control the supply.

If a guild wanted one of those territories, it could try taking it by force. If it had the strength to defeat him and his forces, it could claim the prize for itself.

If it didn’t, then the territory would be sold at a price Kael considered appropriate.

There was no guarantee of a discount, no promise of a friendly negotiation. The only question was whether a guild could afford to pay him or was willing to risk everything trying to take what he owned.

And he wasn’t talking about one or two territories.

He intended to claim every wilderness territory within reach that had reached Level 3 or higher, then place them all under a single name.

There was no point pretending otherwise.It was domination, plain and simple.Alexis watched him for a moment, something shifting behind her eyes.

Wariness remained there, as it always did when she considered the extent of his power, but it was accompanied by reluctant admiration.

Most people would have been satisfied with securing a powerful base and defending it against their rivals.

Kael was looking at the entire region as though it were a board waiting for him to arrange the pieces.

And the most unsettling part was that he seemed perfectly capable of doing it.

Alexis slowly released the breath she had been holding.

"Fine. I’ll find buyers."

She paused, considering the practical difficulties.

"The number of established guilds around Frostwatch is still relatively small. Finding buyers who can afford these territories and are willing to pay your prices might take a few days."

"There’s no rush." Kael nodded. "Just don’t undersell them."He had no intention of letting impatience ruin a profitable arrangement.

Across the Kingdom of Northvale, Level 3-and-above wilderness territories were limited in number.

They weren’t ordinary plots of land that could be acquired whenever someone gathered enough resources.

Their supply was finite, and as more guilds grew powerful enough to compete for them, their value would only increase.There was no reason to sell cheaply.

He could have taken the proposal through the official channels. Doing so might even have given him access to a wider pool of potential buyers.

But the events of the previous night had changed his calculations.The ambush was still fresh in his mind, along with the uncomfortable implications surrounding it.

The organization behind the attack appeared to have connections that reached into the government structure, though Kael still lacked enough information to understand how far those connections extended.

Whatever was happening beneath the surface, the situation was murky enough to warrant caution.He wasn’t about to expose himself unnecessarily for the sake of a few faster transactions.

Alexis was a different matter.

Their relationship had begun under circumstances neither of them could forget.

She had already experienced his power firsthand, and she understood the consequences of betraying his trust. More importantly, Kael knew what to expect from her.

That didn’t mean he trusted her without reservation. Trust was a luxury he had learned to ration carefully in his previous life.

But she was a known quantity, and that made her useful.

If she handled these transactions well, he could turn the arrangement into something more permanent. Territory sales could be only the beginning.

Procurement, logistics, and the steady acquisition of resources could all be routed through her, giving her a reliable stream of income while saving him the trouble of managing every detail personally.

A percentage from each successful transaction would keep her motivated and ensure that both sides benefited.

It was a practical arrangement, with clear incentives and little need for unnecessary complications.

Better that than placing himself deeper inside an organization he already had reason to distrust.

Once they had agreed on the minimum prices for each territory, Kael brought the discussion to an end.He summoned Thunder Roc, climbed onto its back, and secured himself against the wind.

The enormous bird spread its wings. A powerful beat sent dust sweeping across the ground, and its talons lifted from the earth as it rose into the open sky.

Within moments, Alexis and the surrounding landscape had begun to shrink beneath him.

Kael had other things to do.Leveling came first.Lyra changed his entire understanding of what a single companion could contribute to the battlefield.

At Level 50, her base attributes were already formidable. Once Beastlord’s Bond and the accompanying fifty-percent increase to all her base stats took effect, her offensive power reached an entirely different level.

The difference wasn’t subtle.

Her damage output surpassed that of Wraithlord, Thunder Roc, and Void Colossus combined.

While his other companions were powerful in their own right, Lyra’s attacks could end a fight before it had properly begun.

A single arrow, released with the right aim and enough force behind it, could kill a Level 50 monster outright.

No second shot was necessary. No drawn-out exchange.One target, one arrow, one kill.

The experience bar on Kael’s interface began climbing at a pace that made his earlier grinding sessions seem painfully inefficient.

Monsters that would once have demanded a prolonged fight were falling before they could put up meaningful resistance, and each kill pushed him closer to his next milestone.

He barely needed to intervene.

Lyra handled the killing while Kael kept moving, directing the hunt toward the next cluster of monsters and watching the experience accumulate.

The minutes passed quickly.

Then, just after one in the afternoon, golden light suddenly erupted around him.

Kael stopped.

The glow swept over his body in a brilliant flash, spilling across the surrounding ground before breaking into countless fading motes. A deep, resonant chime followed, and his interface refreshed.

Level 40.

He had reached the milestone.

Before the light had completely disappeared, the system announcement rang across the entire server.

[SERVER-WIDE ANNOUNCEMENT]

Congratulations to player Unrivaled for reaching Level 40 and completing Fourth Class Advancement, becoming the first player server-wide to reach this milestone.

Rewards: Reputation +10,000 | Luck +5 | Gold +50,000 | Legendary Equipment: Wyrmheart Ring.