Chapter 72: The New Gate Ruler

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While Daniela tilted her head and tried hard to process what Riven had just told her, a new set of notifications suddenly appeared before his eyes.

Ding!

[Congratulations, Ascendant. As the one who carries the {Sovereign Codex}, you have been chosen as a Lord.]

[Using your Authority of Pride as a Lord, you have taken over the D-Rank Gate "Dark Cave Labyrinth".]

[The Former Gate Ruler "Fallen King Ezekiel" has departed from the world of the living, leaving the Gate to you.]

[You have become the First Human to obtain complete control over a Dungeon Gate.]

[You have inherited the Giant King’s throne, becoming the King of Giants of the World of Gigantia.]

[Your Title [Lord (Provisional)] has changed to [Lord of Giants]: A Title only given to those who govern Giants. All your Physical Abilities grow exponentially while in combat, by up to 300%. You can dominate other Giants and turn them into your subordinates. You are now capable of Summoning the Believer Race "Giants".]

"Believers?" Riven muttered under his breath as he read the next explanation carefully.

[Believers: Groups of intelligent lifeforms capable of worshipping a Lord as a Deity and granting them Faith, which then can be used for the constant expansion and growth of a Lord’s Divine Land. Believers will work through the land, conquer wastelands and unclaimed areas, and continue expanding their Lord’s Authority. However, they cannot leave their assigned Divine Land.]

"I see..." Riven nodded slowly as the full meaning of the words settled in.

In that moment he felt a deep connection form with the entire Gate. His senses expanded outward until he could feel every corner of the labyrinth. The few Hunters still inside were suddenly expelled one after another. There had not been many of them left, yet every single one was teleported away without warning, leaving the monsters they had been fighting completely confused and restless.

[All External Invaders have been automatically expelled.]

[Do you wish to Summon Believers using GP?]

[GP = Gate Points, accumulated through the cycle of life, death, and energy fluctuation inside of Gates. Special Buildings can hasten the production of GP.]

[Mine for resources which can be exchanged for GP. Items and Corpses can also be exchanged for GP. Slain Invaders will grant the greatest amount.]

"GP..."

Riven narrowed his eyes. There clearly existed an entirely new system layered beneath the Gates themselves.

Every Gate Ruler, the Final and Strongest Boss of each dungeon, seemed capable of controlling this system to some degree. Ezekiel himself had been too far gone into madness to run his dungeon properly. Most other Rulers were simply wild monsters without deep intelligence or long-term thought, so the system likely ran on automatic settings for them. This was the first time the full interface had revealed itself so clearly to Riven.

There was also another important factor. Because he was already a Lord, an incredible synergy existed between his Authority of Pride and the Gate system.

But how exactly could he benefit from all of this without creating new problems?

"What happened?" Daniela wondered aloud as she looked around the empty cavern. "For a moment it felt like a lot of people disappeared at once."

"You heard them?" Riven asked. "Well, your senses are sharper than before."

"I guess it’s from leveling so much..." she replied with a small smile. "I’m Level 60 now!"

"Well, that’s wonderful," Riven nodded. "And what happened is that the remaining hunters were expelled automatically. The Gate will stay closed until I decide to open it again."

"...What?!" Daniela stared at him in confusion. "So that means you can control how the Gate works now, Riven?" she asked, still sounding half in disbelief.

"I guess so," Riven answered. "I’m sure it’s more complicated than it first appears... Though I wonder if I can simply leave the Gate open and walk away. The problem is that there would be no Boss left inside."

"Huh..."

"There’s also another thing I unlocked," Riven continued while checking the system information more carefully. "Believers... It seems I can summon entire groups of people. I could build a community here to work for me if I wanted."

"Ehhh?!" Daniela’s eyes widened even further. "No Hunter has ever awakened a power like this before! ...At least, I don’t think so."

"Hm..."

Riven fell silent and began thinking seriously about the possibilities. Wouldn’t it be useful to summon Giants to mine the large Ore Nodes hidden underground? Yet those Giants would require food and would almost certainly overhunt the local monster population if left unchecked.

Then there was the larger problem with other Hunters. Gates also served an important purpose: they gave Hunters a chance to grow stronger. Growing stronger was the only reliable way to escape the pruning carried out by higher entities and to meet the necessary criteria for Ascension.

He had also declared that he intended to take these Gates away from their current owners and return them to the people. Keeping one entirely for himself and blocking other people’s growth would go directly against his own beliefs. It would make him a hypocrite.

"The Gate will have to be placed somewhere else," he said at last. "I can’t let it appear again inside Claymore territory, or they will simply claim it for themselves once more."

"Eh? T-Then what do you plan to do?" Daniela asked, still trying to keep up with his rapid decisions.

"I’ll buy and claim my own land, conquer more dungeons, and place the Gates there," Riven explained calmly. "The way the Claymore family claimed dungeons in the past was by colluding with the government and purchasing unclaimed or abandoned lands. Not long after that, the government approved a law that makes it possible for whoever finds a Gate inside their own territory to keep it as private property."

"So you have to move the whole gate, so it doesn’t belong to the Claymores anymore, I see!" Daniela smiled, nodding while understanding what Riven meant.

It was time for the whole world to change now, one step at a time.

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