Chapter 412: Enough to Raise an Army

With Cassian speaking so confidently, the others put their worries aside for the moment.

"The spoils!" Darian laughed. "Let me go first."

He swept out a hand. Equipment, Hero Sigils, and Troop Sigils piled into a mound more than ten meters high. There had to be over ten million items in it. Nearly a tenth were Epic or better, and tens of thousands were Legendary. Legendary Hero Sigils and Troop Sigils glittered among the weapons and armor.

The Golden Behemoths’ killing power had earned him an extraordinary haul. So had the shared blessing Cassian had kept paid and renewed during the campaign: a two-hundredfold increase in drops.

Nessa’s eyes lit up. She darted to the top of the mound and began examining its contents. Before long, she looked up in disappointment.

"No Legendary Hero Souls? Not even Troop Souls?"

"In your dreams." Darian rolled his eyes. "I don’t have enough of those for myself."

"Oh. I thought you had something good."

Darian stared at her, nearly choking on his next words.

"My turn!"

Nessa produced another mound. It was smaller than Darian’s, but still impressive enough to make the guests lean forward. Elara and the other Lords who had enjoyed the same drop blessing brought out their own spoils as well.

Divine Province could afford to share. Everyone here knew how to behave, and matching the items to the people who could use them best made more sense than leaving them in storage.

Even the few thousand War Lords at the heart of Divine Province’s army already had complete sets of excellent equipment. The same could not be said for the other twelve Provinces.

Alwin and his fellow Governors looked at the heaps with shining eyes.

"In that case..."

Cassian’s voice drew their attention.

"I’ll add a few things too. Choose together."

Another mound landed with a heavy crash. It stood more than ten meters high as well.

Then the guests realized what made this one different.

"Everything is Epic or above," Lana whispered. "Boss, how many powerful enemies did you kill?"

Alwin had noticed something else.

"Look at the proportion of Hero and Troop Sigils!"

Cassian had not bothered bringing out his Elite and Rare equipment. One use of Nine’s Void Sanctuary could wipe out hundreds of thousands of weaker troops, sometimes a million, and leave him with millions upon millions of low-grade drops. Those had gone to the Swordgrave for dismantling and refining into forging materials.

The combined haul now laid out before the guests included more than ten thousand Legendary Troop Sigils alone. Once the Lords used them and paid to recruit their troops, Divine Nation would gain well over a hundred thousand more Legendaries.

The guests threw themselves into choosing. Even the feast lost much of its appeal beside the glittering heaps. Few noticed when Cassian quietly left.

There was no scrambling or fighting. Each Lord understood what the others needed. It still took a full hour to finish sorting out the distribution.

Just as they thought they were done, Cassian returned.

"Keep going."

Golden spheres appeared in the air, so many that their light washed over the gathering.

Darian shot to his feet.

"Legendary Hero Souls and Troop Souls? You can bring out these things by the crate now?"

Lana pressed a hand to her chest.

"More than a thousand Hero Souls. Over a hundred thousand Troop Souls. Am I dreaming?"

"I knew it!" Nessa cried. "His Legendary elites must already be Nine-Star!"

The others looked at Cassian in shock.

That would explain it. Who would share treasures like these while their own best Heroes and troops still needed them?

They could almost picture the full Nine-Star corps behind him. Apart from someone with Darian’s resources, only the strongest Lords—people who had spent a century accumulating power and were preparing for the Heaven-Defying War—could usually afford forces like that.

This sector had been open for little more than a year.

And Cassian could still bring out all these Souls for his allies.

"We aren’t short of ordinary Legendary troops anymore," Cassian said, giving them a moment to recover. "What we need are fighters strong enough to decide a battle."

He gestured toward the golden spheres.

"I suggest we concentrate these on raising Warbound Heroes, Extreme Heroes, and Extreme troops to Legendary Nine-Star. The best troops just below the Extreme threshold are worth considering too."

He named a few examples.

"Hidden Dragon’s Bastion Corps. Ironpass’s Longblade Corps. Westreach’s Divine Arsenal Corps. Start with forces like those."

A small part of this stock had dropped from the Black Banner and Covenant’s Legendary fighters. Most had come from the work he had just completed during his hour away.

He had bought the rest through the Exchange, using paid Time Acceleration in the Enclosure to inspect and sort his purchases as they arrived. The Souls and the work had cost him close to three hundred billion Aether.

Western Beacon’s sudden nation-founding had given him a reason to act. He was willing to risk questions about his supply of treasures if it meant making Divine Nation strong enough for what might come next.

Had he known that his enormous ransom demand was what finally pushed the Beacon into accepting the Fivefold Covenant’s proposal, he might have laughed at how neatly one thing had led to another.

His guests could only guess where he had obtained so much.

A shop within some World Wonder? Another Hall of Legends? Perhaps one of those planar merchants that a Lord might be fortunate enough to meet once in a century?

No one asked.

They understood which questions to leave alone. They also understood what these Souls meant. The powerful fighters raised with them would become Divine Nation’s hidden strength, ready to surprise anyone watching its borders with hungry eyes.

Darian suddenly put on a pitiful expression.

"What about my Golden Behemoths?"

"After today, every one of them can be Nine-Star," Cassian said. "Provided you have enough Battle Essence."

With Brannok’s Mythic Sovereign Beastheart strengthening the corps, those Behemoths were Divine Province’s most powerful force outside Cassian’s own armies. Raising them all to Nine-Star was worthwhile. He should find a way to expand the corps as well.

"That’s what I wanted to hear!"

Darian clapped him repeatedly on the shoulder, grinning.

"Cassian, you’re a brother to me."

A notice appeared.

[Lord Darian Frost has transferred 300,000,000,000 Aether to your account through the Exchange.]

Cassian paused.

Another followed, as though the guests had agreed on this in advance.

[Lord Alwin Valcrest has transferred 641,300,000,000 Aether to your account through the Exchange.]

That was exactly the amount Cassian had just given Alwin.

[Lord Lana Whitmere has transferred...]

"What are you all doing?" Cassian asked helplessly.

Alwin gave a wry smile.

"Hero Souls and Troop Souls are worth more than equipment. More than Sigils, too. Even when you have money, you can’t always find them for sale. Add all that equipment, and the Aether we’re returning barely covers what we’re taking."

He looked at the treasures around them.

"Westreach’s Lords can receive their capture commissions in equipment instead."

"Exactly," Silas said. "We may be fighting for the same ideal, but that’s no reason to take advantage of you."

Benedict laughed.

"The more Aether our leader keeps, the better. One of these days, perhaps he’ll be able to give us a Legendary troop line of his own. We’d all benefit!"

Eyes brightened around the gathering.

A Crown Lord creating a Legendary troop line that the rest of them could share. As far as they knew, no one had achieved that in a thousand years.

Even House Valcrest and the Jade Court’s royal house possessed no such line of their own. Their best stood at the peak of Epic. The Jade Court’s Banner Guard had even declined to Epic One-Star.

Perhaps they were getting ahead of themselves. Still, it was a pleasant thought.

Before long, all the roughly eight trillion Aether Cassian had distributed was back in his hands.