Chapter 196: A Faerie Dragon Nest

"Godslayer."

With its power active, he gave the next order.

"Three hunting groups, as when we cleared the Black Banner invaders. Aurelia, Celia, and Liora, take one each."

His Heroes answered eagerly, their confidence carrying through the Domain.

"Yes, Lord!"

[Aurelia Dawnwing — Affinity +1. Current Affinity: 100.]

[Aurelia’s Affinity has reached 100. New function available.]

Cassian paused over the notice.

Of all times for Aurelia’s Affinity to reach its limit, it had happened now.

Cassian knew very well how close two people serving the same Domain could become. This was hardly the moment to dwell on it.

He looked at Aurelia anyway.

She blushed and turned away, leaving him a fine view of her back.

"I’ll go with Aurelia this time," he said calmly. "I should see how the Dawnwing corps is doing. Offer a little guidance."

"Do they need you to teach them how to fight?" Veyra glanced from him to Aurelia. "Lord, you aren’t planning something else, are you?"

"I’m your Lord. What could I possibly be planning?"

"Aurelia is a Martial Hero," Veyra said pointedly. "At Nine-Star, her Physique may be higher than mine."

Cassian’s expression stiffened.

He had forgotten that part.

He could not keep neglecting his own training, especially Warbody. Being overpowered by these women every time was becoming a threat to his dignity.

His memory drifted to the far gentler company of Rhea and Liora at the Clearjade Pool.

He sighed inwardly.

The other two standard Heroes’ Affinity readings had risen as well: Celia to ninety-eight, Liora to ninety-seven.

Over the next half day, Cassian’s group cleared dozens of large monster concentrations near the Domain. Eighteen Epic Bosses fell.

The hunt earned six hundred and thirty million Battle Essence. At that pace, it was roughly twice what the twenty thousand ordinary Legionnaires could bring him over the same time.

Just after they cleared a Troll camp, a notice appeared.

[Your troop Modesty has died.]

The Fountain had verified her Domain belonging and death state. Cassian confirmed Life Reconstruction. It consumed the required Life Energy and seventy-eight million Battle Essence.

[Modesty reconstructed at the Fountain of Life.]

[Your troop Adela has died.]

Two more death notices followed. Cassian authorized their reconstruction as well, paying the required Life Energy and Battle Essence.

His face darkened.

"Lord? What’s wrong?"

Aurelia had seemed distracted all morning. The change in his expression drove the awkwardness from her voice.

Cassian contacted Seven immediately.

Minutes passed before she answered.

"Lord, we were ambushed. The enemy could hide from my survey."

During the wait, a fifth Dawnwing died. Cassian authorized that reconstruction too. All five were alive again at the Fountain, but the Battle Essence costs had run into hundreds of millions. The necessary Life Energy had been spent as well.

"Your Spirit should be close to twenty thousand now," Cassian said. "If something could ambush you, did it have a spatial ability?"

"It did. Strong spatial travel, a wide area of magic suppression, and broad control effects. Almost everything it did countered my abilities. Fortunately, the attackers stopped pursuing us once we left their territory. Otherwise, we would have lost more."

Spatial travel. Magic suppression. Control.

Something clicked in Cassian’s mind.

"Did you run into a Faerie Dragon?"

Respect entered Seven’s normally detached voice.

"You know a great deal, Lord. I only saw them briefly, but I think you’re right. There were three, not one. We may have entered a Faerie Dragon nest."

A nest?

His anger vanished.

Cassian laughed aloud and spoke into the Domain Channel.

"Everyone, return to the Domain. Assemble at once."

Setting Hero Command aside, the most prized troop lines were those with an attribute taken to an extreme, like the Stormlance and the Crystal Maidens.

The Eclipse Legionnaires were excellent value. Cassian still valued the two Crystal Maiden squads he had actually acquired from Crystal Mother.

Control troops came next. Gareth’s Kinetic Mech was a perfect example: its Gravity Gun could seriously restrict even a Legendary Tyrant.

Among more ordinary lines, spellcasters were generally valued above physical fighters.

Faerie Dragons combined all three advantages. Extreme attributes, powerful control, and magic, in a Legendary troop.

The standard Human compendium listed only thirty-eight troop types that met those conditions. Include appearance, and Faerie Dragons belonged in the top ten.

Even among Dragons, they were rare.

If there was the slightest chance Seven had found a nest, he had to see it for himself.

Within half an hour, the hunting groups had returned to the Domain. The three distant scouting parties were still making their way back.

Cassian quickly explained what Seven had found.

"She sent the coordinates. We leave now."

Veyra objected at once. ℴℴ𝘮

"Several thousand kilometers, Lord. Legendary creatures above Level eighty, and we don’t know how many. It’s too dangerous for you to go with them."

"Stay here. Leave the Stormlance to guard you."

Aurelia, Celia, Liora, and even the Stormlance themselves nodded.

"If you’re bored," Aurelia said, "build a pool here. The Domain has room now. As long as you stay safely at home, we’ll agree to whatever you want to do."

"Rhea and Fara can stay and keep you company," Veyra added.

She put particular emphasis on company.

They seemed ready to turn him into a Lord who did nothing but lounge in a bath, eat, and drink, provided he stopped putting himself in danger.

Nine’s voice joined them over the Domain Channel.

"I can keep you company too, Lord."

It was an attractive offer.

Cassian smiled.

"I never said I was going to leave the Domain."

As their faces brightened, he completed an Exchange purchase and took out the Advanced Relocation Writ he had just bought for a million Aether.

Veyra stared at it.

"An Advanced Relocation Writ?"

"We’re already residents. I can choose where to put the Domain."

Cassian lifted it.

"We have the Fountain and the Pool’s Sacred Light. Why would I leave them behind?"

He activated the Writ.

"Coordinates six hundred and seventy-eight, five thousand two hundred and thirty-one. Relocate."