Chapter 137 - - 137 - Lucien’s Ambitions and Preparations

Chapter 137: Chapter - 137 - Lucien’s Ambitions and Preparations

Lucien stood alone in the quiet expanse of his private chamber, holding a smooth, crystalline orb securely in his palm. It was the Eternal Soul Seed—the very vessel housing Elyra’s fragile existence. Night had fallen over the estate, and moonlight filtered through the high arched windows, casting pale fractures of silver across the floor as the crystal reflected the dark hours. Lucien stared into its depths, his thumb lightly tracing the polished, cold surface of the gemstone as he slipped into deep thought.

It seems Queen Cynthia can be controlled easily enough, he reasoned silently, his eyes narrowing as he calculated his standing. As long as she remains on my side, I can effectively manipulate everything in Valtheria from behind the scenes without drawing unnecessary attention. As for Azurefall... I had established a proper relationship with Princess Lysandra. That alliance will certainly prove useful in the future if I ever need a bridge into their political affairs, but even then, it isn’t enough.

His eyes darkened slightly as his gaze drifted toward the dark horizon outside, his mind turning toward a far greater, far more perilous hurdle.

I am still nowhere near Zarah. If I ever hope to find Princess Silael, I must cross the Abyss Core Realm and reach the Fifth Realm. In this human realm, there is hardly anyone left who can truly match me in strength. Playing with them is entertaining, but I cannot afford to grow complacent or careless. I must also master Will Cultivation. If I ever die, I refuse to simply disappear into nothingness. As long as I remain alive in some form—whether as a soul or as a lingering will—I can always return.

With his decision firmly cemented, Lucien focused his intent. He raised the crystal slightly and began channeling his astral energy directly into the core of the Eternal Soul Seed. Almost instantly, the dormant vessel caught fire with a brilliant, pulsing inner radiance, illuminating the darkened room.

While ordinary cultivators were forced to use their energy carefully, measuring every drop to prevent exhaustion, Lucien possessed two distinct, vast pools of astral energy within his body. He held a virtually bottomless reservoir of power, allowing him to pour energy into the seed without a single pause or trace of fatigue. Astral currents flowed like liquid starlight from his palm, flooding the vessel completely.

As the dense energy washed over the vessel’s internal realm, the dormant figure inside stirred. Elyra lay sleeping within the crystal’s pale light, her ethereal form suspended in stillness. But as the surge of pure astral power washed over her, her consciousness reawakened. Slowly, her eyes fluttered open, adjusting to the sudden light before looking out from within the translucent depths to find Lucien watching her through the darkness of his room.

"It seems like your plan worked," Elyra said, her voice echoing softly through their mental connection.

"Well, it was created by me," Lucien replied, a sly, confident smile touching his lips. "How could it fail?"

"So, how many days has it been since the Hollow of Ten Thousand Forms?" Elyra asked, shifting her ethereal position as she adjusted to the sensation of waking awareness.

"It has been almost a month now," Lucien answered plainly.

Elyra looked at him intently from within the crystal, her gaze piercing through the ambient glare. "And why did you revive me once again?"

"I hate beating around the bush," Lucien said, stepping closer to the moonlight. "I want to learn about Will Cultivation—the very cultivation you used to survive for over three hundred years."

"Oh? So you want to learn Will Cultivation," Elyra amused, her tone laced with light amusement that vibrated through the seed. "Never did I think I would have my own disciple. Still, you did save me. Even so, there are a few things I require from you in return. First, I want a proper form. Right now, I am merely a lingering will. I can stay near you and manifest outside, but I want to become a true soul. And after that, if it is possible for you, I want a real body again."

Lucien smiled, his expression remaining perfectly cool and composed. "Possible for me? Senior Elyra, there is nothing that is impossible for me. If something is merely possible, I will make it a reality—that is my rule. But you are asking quite a lot from me. Quite greedy, aren’t you?"

"Not as greedy as you, I would say," Elyra countered with a soft laugh that rippled through the crystal’s aura.

"Well, that I cannot refute," Lucien admitted smoothly, his eyes flashing with quiet ambition. "I am greedy. But what makes you so sure that I can be trusted?"

"You are greedy, yes, but you aren’t an asshole who forgets kindness," Elyra answered directly, her expression becoming surprisingly earnest. "If someone helps you, you return the favor. That much I have already seen."

Lucien gave a subtle, indifferent shrug. "Who knows? You never really know." ℴ

As the conversation quieted, his thoughts briefly shifted back to his recent encounter with Queen Cynthia in her private chamber. During that secluded meeting, she had provided him with crucial, highly valuable intelligence: the Festival of Heavenly Ascension was soon to be held in Veylcrest.

Lucien was already preparing to make his way there, and his motivations for moving forward were both calculated and absolute. Chief among his goals was acquiring a true power base—a kingdom of his own to serve as the main staging ground for his long-term operations across the continent. Valtheria and Azurefall were nations with which he maintained favorable ties, but if his ultimate goal was to dominate the entire human realm, he would eventually need every sovereign country brought under his complete control.

Doing so through open, brute-force warfare, however, was a fool’s strategy. A bloody conquest would result in massive casualties, destroy valuable infrastructure, and spark endless rebellions across newly occupied territories. More importantly, using his full power openly to crush entire nations would force everyone to recognize the sheer scale of the threat he posed. Desperate rulers, backed into a corner with their dynastic survival on the line, might resort to forbidden rituals, ancient taboo spells, or dangerous grand artifact legacies passed down secretly through generations just to drag him down with them.

Lucien understood history well enough to know that these kingdoms had existed for hundreds of years; it was impossible for them not to possess terrifying, hidden foundational assets. He could easily defeat any formal army brought against him in open battle, but forcing his opponents into ultimate desperation was an unnecessary risk that could compromise his broader, realm-spanning objectives.

Instead, he needed to conquer them through treachery, infiltration, and political maneuvering, quietly taking control without ever sounding the alarm. Very few people across the lands even knew he had already reached the formidable Abyss Core Realm, as he preferred to avoid placing a massive target on his own back, despite already walking in the spotlight.

His strategy was methodical: establish a firm base, delegate operational authority, and install pliable puppet rulers who would obey his every command while he remained comfortable in the background. He would govern everything from behind the curtain, reaping all the political benefits, resources, and tributes while maintaining total shadow control over the realm. Once he grew powerful enough to shatter an entire realm with a wave of his hand, revealing his true dominance would no longer carry any risk—they would be far too terrified to even entertain the thought of resistance.

Until that day arrived, he would systematically strip these kingdoms of everything they owned. Humans were inherently adaptive creatures; once a change in ruler became the established norm, the populace would fall into line, ensuring his authority remained unshakable even if he eventually departed for higher realms in search of greater power.

To achieve all of this, maintaining control and rapidly increasing his cultivation level were his highest immediate priorities, alongside mastering Will Cultivation to guarantee his persistent survival across any physical death. Restoring Elyra was also on his task list, but naturally restoring a completely destroyed soul and body typically required decades, if not centuries, of painstaking, high-tier cultivation—a luxury of time Lucien simply did not have.

To bypass those tedious years, he intended to continuously exploit intelligence gathered from neighboring powers, just as he had extracted secret information from Queen Cynthia, creating an unfolding chain of opportunities. While his Lost Atlas could locate untouched natural resources and ancient artifacts hidden inside obscure, uncleared dungeons, it had clear structural limits. The Lost Atlas could only show resources that no living soul had ever discovered or claimed; it was completely incapable of revealing the hoarded wealth, secret state treasures, and national inheritances already locked away inside royal vaults by sovereign kingdoms. Those rich, heavily guarded prizes were the exact targets Lucien intended to seize for himself.

"I see you have already planned everything out," Elyra remarked, her voice breaking back into his train of thought.

Lucien blinked, refocusing his gaze onto the glowing crystal. "You can read my mind?"

"Yes," Elyra replied, her tone carrying a distinctly playful edge. "My Will Cultivation is currently being fed directly by your astral energy, so I can naturally feel the flow of what you are thinking. And right now, you are also thinking about Queen Cynthia’s hips. I never thought you would be interested in a married woman—especially the queen of your own country."

Lucien laughed softly, completely unfazed by her sudden observation. "It isn’t as far-fetched as you might think. Perhaps I am closer to Queen Cynthia’s hips than I am to my actual goals."

"It really is hard to believe how you sleep around so much with women and still manage to become the strongest cultivator around," Elyra teased, her phantom tone lingering lightly in the dark room. "If I finally get a real body back, what if I end up falling for your charms too?"

"Who knows?" Lucien countered with a faint, smirking grin. "Or perhaps I’m simply not interested in a three-hundred-year-old woman."

"Well, I died young," Elyra shot back instantly, her voice rich with sharp amusement. "So considering that, while my total experience might be three hundred years, my physical body will still be young and beautiful."

Lucien shook his head with a quiet chuckle, stepping away from the window and shifting his posture into a comfortable seated position on the bed. "Well, I need to cultivate now."

He closed his eyes, cutting off the casual banter as he began channeling his astral currents inward to steady his breath for the night.

"It seems like I won this argument, then," Elyra murmured softly, her glowing presence slowly receding back into the depths of the crystal as she closed her eyes as well. "Don’t disappoint me."

Morning came, and golden sunlight poured softly through the heavy velvet drapes of the chamber. Lucien gradually broke his deep, night-long meditative state, opening his eyes as the sun settled into the sky. Standing near the edge of his bed was Maisy, quietly tidying up his clothes and attending to her usual morning duties around his personal quarters.

Before she could step away toward the wash basin, Lucien reached out with fluid speed, caught her slender wrist, and pulled her down onto the mattress. In a single seamless movement, he shifted over her, pinning her beneath him against the soft silk sheets as her breath hitched sharply in surprise.

"Lu-Lucien... it’s morning," Maisy stammered, her face instantly flushing a deep, radiant crimson as her heart fluttered wildly against her ribs. She looked up at him with wide, trembling eyes filled with a mixture of panic and deep affection. "The other maids... they might try to come in and find me..."

"I see you are still struggling to speak my name properly," Lucien murmured softly, his dark eyes locked onto hers as he leaned down closer.

His face closed the remaining distance, cutting off her quiet protest before she could form another word. He captured her lips in a deep, commanding kiss that immediately silenced her hesitation. Maisy melted instantly beneath his weight, her initial surprise dissolving as her hands rose instinctively to rest against his chest and arms. She closed her eyes tight and completely abandoned all lingering thoughts of her duties, leaning into the contact and savoring every second of the physical warmth lingering between them in the quiet room.

After a long, unhurried moment, Lucien slowly pulled back, looking down at her flushed cheeks, parted lips, and breathless expression before rising smoothly from the bed.

"Maisy," Lucien said casually, adjusting the collar of his silk robe as he prepared to face the day ahead, "would you like to come with me to Veylcrest?"