Chapter 414: A Gift for Three Sovereigns

Edran sounded almost certain. Cassian felt a jolt of surprise, but none of it reached his face. He poured a cup of spirit tea and pushed it across the table.

"What makes you say that, Uncle?"

Edran regarded him with quiet approval.

"Is it so difficult to guess? A Rank-XVIII Domain of ordinary size couldn’t support the population needed for all those Eclipse troops. Tens of thousands of them."

He took the tea.

"Then there’s the Life Water you began selling so early. You sold Darian ten bottles of Life Essence as well. And fighters we’ve seen die have returned to your ranks. Your Black Dragon King is only the latest example. There were the Stormlance before her."

His eyes met Cassian’s.

"The simplest explanation is a Fountain of Life, hidden in a deeper layer of your Domain."

Cassian raised a thumb, genuinely impressed.

"Aren’t you a clever boy, Uncle?"

"How dare you!" Merrick’s voice rose sharply. "You dare... you..."

He struggled to finish. Cassian had praised the emperor as though congratulating a child. Unfortunately, it was still praise.

"Leave him alone. A poor choice of words is hardly a crime." Edran waved his steward back. "Can you tell me how you gave your Domain those spatial properties?"

That question made Cassian pause inwardly.

People searching for an explanation had looked to ordinary recreational Lord Talents. Verdant Retreat, for instance, began at Grade F and was common enough to be dismissed as little more than a pleasant place to live.

An A-grade Talent Advancement Writ was another matter. In the current sector, no Homeworld Lord outside the circle he supported had managed such an advance. Even mighty Fivefold Heaven had only a dozen or so.

For House Frost, however, finding a Lord with Verdant Retreat and testing its later effects was hardly impossible.

Cassian thought of his unusual Crystal Maidens. Seeing the finished result was one thing. Finding the route that produced it was another.

Edran’s next words confirmed where his investigation had led.

"Not long ago, I spent an A-grade Writ on an experiment. Verdant Retreat is impressive at that grade. The Domain gathers Aether at a hundred times the concentration outside. But that’s all."

Cassian said nothing.

"So that common recreational Talent cannot explain you," Edran continued with a faint smile. "You have something else. A hidden Lord Talent, I think, that grows stronger the more money you put into it."

He leaned back.

"Which would explain why you never seem to have enough money."

The Legendary Golden Statuette kept Cassian’s expression perfectly composed. Inside, his mind raced.

Edran had come closer than anyone else. Powerful factions had spent enormous effort studying his rise, even feeding the records into supercomputers. None had put the pieces together quite so boldly.

But the man was still looking for the wrong thing.

Cassian’s Aether Vein and Folded Sanctuary belonged to his Domain Environment Foundation. An experiment on a recreational Lord Talent would never uncover that route. The improvements he had bought for his Domain were real, and so were the fortunes they consumed. Edran had recognized the pattern without finding its source.

As for his actual Lord Talent, DEVOUR remained beyond this clever explanation.

Cassian let the faintest smile return.

"We’re practically family now. You’ll keep my secret, won’t you, Uncle?"

Edran’s confident smile froze at the word *family*.

Had he not come with something to accomplish, he might have found a few much less courteous things to say. Instead, he gave Cassian a hard look.

"That Crystal Princess of yours is quite good. Name a price. If you can’t provide a Princess, I’ll take a Crystal Maiden."

So that was it.

A One-Star Mythic Princess could, through Crystal Convergence, fight on the level of a Four-Star Mythic Extreme troop—or an ordinary Mythic at Six or Seven-Star. Who could watch that performance and remain indifferent?

"There’s no need to talk about buying."

Cassian took a golden Crystal Maiden Embryo from storage and placed it on the table.

"A gift. Though this one’s only Legendary."

How Edran intended to take it to the upper Realm was his own concern.

"One?" Edran frowned. "Do I look short of money?"

*Do I?* Cassian thought.

"My supply really is limited."

He added two more Embryos beside the first. These were unhatched stock he had prepared by the same method he had used for Mira, spending a stored bottle of Life Essence on each.

"If I could produce as many as I liked, would I have stopped at a few hundred Maidens? Three is the most I can spare at present. Just enough..."

He let that trail off, then added more seriously, "And I can’t promise that a Maiden you advance to Mythic will learn Crystal Convergence."

That was the truth.

The Crystal Mother he had been trading with for over a year had reached Level 90. Her supply of Maiden Embryos was still one per Realm Day. Unless he found another Mother, that meant no more than three hundred and sixty-five a year.

Even the Dwarven Royal Hall could offer him more Hill Kings than that.

Edran considered the explanation, then put away the three Embryos.

"Very well. Three to begin with. I’ll take them back and see."

They went on to discuss Divine Nation’s development. A ruler with thousands of years of experience sat across from a young man building a nation of his own, and Cassian soon found himself listening closely. A passing observation from Edran could make something he had struggled with seem obvious.

An hour later, Edran rose to leave.

Cassian watched him go, then murmured, "One each. No need to fight over them."

The twelve Crown Provinces had acted together too consistently for it to be chance. Someone had been coordinating them.

The Aurelian Dominion had declined. The Jade Court had rotted from within. Among the Crown’s rulers, only the Sovereign of Caerwyn and the Valcrest founder could still stand beside Edran as equals.

——

Another half month passed.

Divine Nation completed its conquest of Banner Isle. All fourteen Provinces were now in its hands.

Most Black Banner Lords had left the sector. Several thousand of its leaders had chosen another route. Using Advanced Relocation Writs, Nerissa Vaust, Merris Velisse, Dorian Morvane, and their fellows moved into Western Beacon’s Provinces. There, they announced a government in exile and vowed to resist Cassian’s evil rule to the end.

Most people understood the practical reason they had stayed.

Sector 668 would not open for more than seven months. Leaving now would mean waiting with nothing to do. They might as well spend those months in the current sector.

A week earlier, Nerissa had issued a particularly venomous threat.

[Cassian, don’t celebrate too soon. Within a year, that Divine Nation you worked so hard to build will join the Black Banner in its grave!]

She had laughed as though she already saw it happening.

Cassian had paid her little attention. Neither had anyone else.

——

That day, he lay in the sun on Ghost One’s deck, wearing a loose pair of shorts. Celia’s hands worked steadily over his shoulders and back. Beside him, Rhea peeled a pink grape and slipped it into his mouth.

A beautiful Blood Prince stood nearby, her face bright with anticipation. She swallowed the last few drops of Emperor Blood Essence prepared for her.

Mythic power rose from her body.

Her wings slowly turned dark gold. Fine runes appeared across their metallic surfaces, flickering in and out of sight. By the time the change finished, she was a Blood Emperor.

"The twentieth."

Cassian smiled in satisfaction.

Over the past month, he had bought Legendary blood through every channel he could find. He had even sent Sylvara back to the Elves to gather more. The corpses from the recent battles had provided another substantial harvest.

With that supply, he had funded the recruitment and preparation of five more Blood Princes, paid their Soul and growth costs, and maintained the Chalice summons that condensed their Emperor Blood Essence. Now all five had advanced, joining his previous fifteen.

Four more, and he would have two full squads of permanent Mythic troops.

For the moment, however, the supply had nearly run dry. The Homeworld’s Lords had little Legendary blood left to sell. Even the Bloodkin’s feeding grounds had been picked almost bare.

Without another major war or access to a new market, he would struggle to advance more Blood Emperors anytime soon.

The newly advanced woman stepped forward and knelt beside him.

"Thank you for granting me this power, my lord."

Cassian lifted her chin with a finger and looked at her with open satisfaction.

"Very good."

He chose his candidates by two standards: exceptional beauty and Loyalty of at least ninety-five. After advancement, that Loyalty usually rose to ninety-seven or more.

At that level, a troop would willingly give her life for him even without a Fountain of Life to bring her back.

An alert sounded.

A Homeworld announcement.

Cassian opened the Channel at once. As he read the message, he sprang to his feet.