City of Desire [Kingdom Building]

Proofread by Thomas F

“Agree to it,” I said with gritted teeth.

The price the man is asking is too high, but it is a piece of a Grade IV legacy, with the aspects I desperately need.

It’s a rare chance, something I might not get again soon. So, I need to take it even if the cost is high.

If I get the aspects of Hayward, it will help me tremendously.

The essence I will absorb through the expanded aspect and emotion, I will be able to recoup what I have spent within months.

It will only happen if we succeed, and this is not a Grade III core that we can easily suppress.

It’s a piece of a Grade IV legacy that will be stronger than any Grade III legacy. It will be stronger than the cores of all Grade III legacy cores combined that we have already consumed.

‘He is sending the piece,’ informed Caena. ‘You should come as soon as possible,’ she added a moment later.

She didn’t have to say it. The moment I heard the confirmation, I had already sent the command to the horse, and it was already picking up speed.

I had training with the horse when the offer came. It was a surprise, as I hadn’t expected it. He had already cut two pieces for the Legacys, who had made a deal for it.

To be able to divide the core into three pieces. Lord of Winking Lantern has quite the willpower.

Within seconds, I was out of the training grounds and on the streets, still in the restricted area.

While I was riding through it, the piece of Hayward’s Emporium had just reached the legacy.

Caena had immediately put it into the holder planet.

Currently, only Caena, Bell, and Eudo have reached there. Carla, Margaux, Lola, and Barb are moving there at their fastest speed.

Speed is key here, as we don’t have much time with this piece. We would be lucky if we got even an hour.

Soon, I reached the public road, and it was busy. Most of them are tourists.

I have given orders to clear the street, but not even a minute has passed. They had acted immediately, and many people were still on the road.

I moved through them fast, to their shock and surprise.

I am entirely focused on Command Projection while controlling the leash.

Neigh!

Here is where the monster showed his actual ability. More than in the training earlier, as he zigzags through the people and the carriages without losing speed.

Instead, his speed is increasing every second.

It is moving at a blurring speed to most people. All they could see was bronze lightning and indigo flashing by at speed.

A minute passed, and I had reached the park and crossed the bridge.

Thankfully, here they have fully emptied the street, but I could see thousands of people watching from either side.

“Faster!”

I barely looked. Instead, my focus is on speed. I need to reach the legacy fast.

I could feel the potency of the piece of Hayward’s core, and it is powerful. More than I had thought, and it is resisting very hard.

If we harvested at this speed. We won’t be able to harvest even 1% of it within an hour.

Finally, I reached the tower and dismounted.

“Go,” I commanded, projecting the image of the secluded part of the park, which is restricted. I had never left it out in the open; it’s too dangerous, but right now, I don’t have a choice.

I will be keeping an eye on it, and so is Bell. If it tries something, we will cage it with skills and spells, but I hope it won’t come to that.

I walked into the tower and stepped into the elevator that the girls had kept open for me.

I nodded as the screen closed, and it moved up.

“Faster,” I said. The elevators of Velvet Garden are fast, but right now, it is feeling prolonged.

Eventually, the elevator reached the top floor. I activated the Blitze Steps and stepped out of the elevator, moving at its greatest speed.

Finally, I reached the door, which Stena herself was guarding. She opened the door as I appeared, and I stepped inside.

There are only the three inside, as Carla and Margaux had just reached the legacy.

Barb and Lola are on their way.

I didn’t nod or greet, I just sat in the middle of the circle. It is more complex than the one from the last time, and it felt very powerful.

Enough to raise all the hair on my body.

I looked at the piece of core. It is big and very powerful. Many times more than the cores of all Grade III legacies we consumed combined.

It is a piece of throne after all.

Currently, there are two very faint lines of essence connected to my core and extractor planet.

We need to harvest at a much greater speed. It’s not enough.

“Connect the anchors,” said Caena. She didn’t have to tell me. Bell had already drawn the lines; she didn’t have to, but I am glad she did.

With it, I don’t have to look for people; I can just follow her strings.

The aura came out and formed the strings. I formed twenty-one of them at once. Connecting them to Jenna, Tara, the store owners, the craftsman, and the people who went with Jenna and Tara to the Hayward Emporium.

Only half of them are present in the legacy. We didn’t know that Hayward would die today.

We didn’t even know; we would be getting pieces as well.

As the anchors of the first circle connected, the thin string’s core essence immediately turned into the thick ropes of the essence mist.

Even this is not enough, and I moved my strings to form the anchors of the second circle.

It is the rest of the craftsmen, artists, and others who are working on their projects, as well as the staff of the stores.

It took me less than ten seconds to connect all eighty-four anchors of the second circle.

My control had improved tremendously. I didn’t feel much strain at all. However, I am keeping my mind guarded from the visions of Hayward Emporium that are bombarding me.

I looked at ropes of core essence that turned into thick streams.

Even this is not enough.

Therefore, I created additional anchors for the third circle, with half of them connecting to the rest of the store staff and the other half connecting to the patrons.

I am feeling the strain now, not as much as last time, but still. It is not easy to create hundreds of aura strings.

Click!

While I was doing that, the door opened. Carla and Margaux walked in and quickly sat on the anchors of the spell. A moment later, I felt their auras begin to activate.

Immediately, the volume of the core essence increased.

I kept creating strings after string, until finally, I had made all two hundred and forty.

The stream immediately turned into a surge.

Seeing that, a smile couldn’t help but appear on my face. The core is very powerful. If it had been only me and my legacy. Even 1% would have been only a dream.

But I am not alone; people are helping me. Most importantly, this spell.

It is very powerful. If we had it last time, Tranquill Bathhouse wouldn’t have brought the trouble as it did.

There are also artifacts suppressing it— ours, as well as the two artifacts from Bell, which weaken its resistance even further.

I could feel my core absorbing it, but unlike what happened with Tranquill Bathhouse and other legacies, where my core digested it almost immediately, it is happening very slowly.

It is Grade IV essence, and there is a lot of it. It will take time for my core to absorb all of this.

Click!

A few minutes passed, and Lola had finally come in, and a minute and a half later, Barb.

As the seventh aura joined, the spell had become even more powerful. The spell is intended for eight people, counting me.

When everyone joins in, it becomes complete and more powerful.

“The pull is getting stronger,” said Bell, and I nodded. The other legacies are increasing the pull on the piece of the core; they want the piece.

Nearly 75% of the core went to different parties. Only 25% were shared with all legacies.

They want more and are increasing the pull. It had now become a battle for it. Either we absorb it or they pull it toward them.

Soon, half of the core had been absorbed, and the pull had gotten very strong.

Hun!

I was watching it when I sensed. One of the other pieces divided itself into hundreds of parts and moved to different legacies.

It didn’t affect the pull. It continued to grow stronger, even after the second piece divided itself into parts and passed to the different legacies.

Now, only it remains, and the pull is growing stronger by the second.

Everyone is trying their best to fight the pull. We want as much of this core as possible, but as time passed, the pull got stronger and stronger.

Until it becomes strong enough that we can no longer hold it.

It broke out of the holding planet and divided itself into hundreds of parts before flying away from me.

“I don’t believe it,” said Carla, shocked, looking at the core and extractor planet, before turning to Caena. Others are shocked as well.

Earlier, we barely managed to obtain 1% of the grade IV essence from Tranquill Bathhouse, and we had struggled hard for it.

This time, it’s 17%. A massive amount, far more than the 5% we had targeted when negotiating for our share of the Haywood Emporium.

The legacy core itself absorbed 12%, while the remaining 5% was extracted.

That amount is very precious. Worth far more than I will be paying to The Winking Lantern.

“With so much essence. I don’t think there’s any doubt about us getting both aspects. We might even gain an increase in the emotion slate,” said Eudo.

“That would be wonderful,” replied Margaux with eyes full of hope.

I am hopeful for that as well, if we gain a broader emotion slate. It will help us tremendously.

“We will have to wait and see once the core finishes absorbing all the essence,” said Carla, before turning to Caena.

“How long will it take?” she asked Caena. “Around two days,” she replied, surprising some. It’s very quick, but if she says it will happen.

…

Transcendent Pleasure

“He is extraordinarily greedy,” said Ophelia as she opened her eyes. “How much did he absorb?” asked the man sitting in front of her.

“Over half of the piece that went at him,” she replied—shocking him.

“That is over 10% of the core. It is more than Winking Lantern had absorbed, more than the other two thrones had absorbed.” Replied the man, to which she nodded.

“It’s a Grade III, legacy. It shouldn’t have been possible,” said the man, but she smiled.

“It’s powerful Grade III legacy. If he had opened the core and swallowed the piece, he could absorb it,” she replied. Making the man shake his head.

“That’s like destroying his future,” said the man. “It is why I said greedy,” she replied, smiling.

A moment later, she turned her head. Looking at the woman sitting beside the man, with her expression unreadable. The woman is quite good; he has taught her well.

“What do you think, Revina?” she asked the woman. The highest grade woman that she was able to get from the Velvet Garden.

She had to offer her a lot, but the woman is already proving her worth.

“Master Silver is not greedy, and he would never do something that would jeopardise the future of Velvet Garden,” she replied after a moment of silence.

“Master? It seemed like you still have loyalty toward him,” said the man angrily, but she just looked at him.

“Desperation could make people do a lot of things, Revina,” said Ophelia, but the woman in front of her just shook her head.

She didn’t pursue the subject further and gave the man a look when he opened his mouth.

“How are we with the girls? We only have two and a half days before he seals the city.” She asked.

Silver had been nothing but cooperative, aside from throwing out the headhunters. He didn’t do anything much to stop the girls from leaving.

As long as the conditions in the contract were satisfied. He would let them leave.

He is intelligent enough to know that if he had done that, we would have dealt with it. We had ways, but didn’t have to use them.

“Thirty-one had accepted the offer today, and I am contacting more with the revised offer,” she replied.

It made her smile. Despite Revina’s affection for the Velvet Garden, she has been ruthless. Since she arrived, she had worked hard to bring the girls of Velvet Garden to Transcendent Pleasure.

Not just the girls, but also other staff members, such as teachers. I am very pleased with her work. She is worth every penny I spent to get her.

Rider Lv. 17

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