Chapter 6: Building In The Sovereign Realm [I]

[Welcome Young Lord To The Sovereign Realm!]

The absolute sensory-depriving darkness of the Descent shattered in an instant.

Silas appeared with his heavy boots hitting solid ground with a dull thud.

The transition was flawless, but the biting chill of the alien air immediately filled his lungs which was a stark contrast to the climate-controlled apartment he had just left behind on Earth.

He slowly opened his eyes and looked around.

This was not the lush, vibrant forest or the rocky highland plateaus that the survival textbooks back at Valoria Academy had depicted.

Beneath his feet, the grass wasn’t green; it was a necrotic bruised black crunching like spun glass beneath his weight and scattered across the immediate landscape were gnarled, twisting trees bearing blackened, razor-sharp leaves that rustled ominously in the freezing wind.

Looking past the heavy wooden walls of his starter camp, the horizon offered absolutely zero comfort. In the distance, massive, jagged black mountains rose violently into the sky with their peaks piercing a swirling purple-tinged atmospheric canopy.

Casting an eerie, pale illumination over the entire desolate landscape were the massive, glowing twin moons of the Sovereign Realm beaming down on him like two unblinking cosmic eyes.

"What the fuck..." Silas said with his grip instinctively tightening around the hilt of his Silversteel Spirit Sword.

He had studied the different kinds of territory locations rigorously in the academy’s required reading materials, memorizing the geographical traits of the Outer Expanse, but he had never seen a description of this kind of place. That meant only one thing.

He was in an unknown zo—

[Your Territory has been established in the Umbral Basin.]

That confirmed it... He was in an Unknown Zone.

Despite the terrifying oppressive atmosphere of the Umbral Basin, Silas did not panic. Perhaps if he was a standard Red Core Lord, he would have panicked, dropped to his knees in the black grass, and committed suicide on the spot rather than wait to be devoured by whatever nightmares lived in those jagged mountains.

But he had a Mythic Gold Core burning like a furnace in his chest and a legendary trait loaded into his system. What was there to be afraid of? 𝘧𝘳𝘦ℯ𝓌𝘦𝒷𝘯𝑜𝑣𝘦𝓁.𝒸𝘰𝓂

Standing in the center of his territory, Silas recounted the different kinds of zones he had learned about.

A ’Known Zone’ was a mapped region of the Outer Expanse where there were generally other Lords clustered around.

The only issue with Known Zones was that with other Lords being around there and needing the exact same resources to upgrade their domains, Lord Wars were a brutally common way of getting resources.

A Lord War was simply when a Lord invaded another Lord’s Zone or territory, causing a bloody siege. It was completely legal under the cosmic laws of the Sovereign Realm.

However, due to several hundreds of cowardly Lords using first-strike ambush tactics to get the upper hand on weaker neighbors, the LA had stepped in to regulate the slaughter.

They had made it a global, livestreamed event where one Lord could lose everything... not only getting their standard troops killed or captured, but their highly valuable astronomically expensive Heroes seized as spoils of war.

To initiate one now, both Lords had to officially agree to the stakes on the digital ledger.

So, in the Known Zones, one would constantly have to strive and fight for limited resources against human greed but in the Unknown Zones... there was no strife for resources at all.

He had the entire Umbral Basin to himself but the only issue was that significantly higher-tier monsters existed in this uncharted place.

Silas shook his head with a confident smile touching his lips.

’Well, it’s alright...’ He thought, and started surveying his territory.

Contrary to what the unawakened masses back on Earth might think, the Sovereign Realm didn’t just dump newly awakened Lords into their Territories and leave them to die immediately to a stray beast.

No, the cosmic laws erected an impenetrable magical barrier around all new territories, completely preventing native monsters from entering it while the Lord got their bearings.

The Novice Barrier only lasted for a single day, though. Silas turned his head up with his blue eyes scanning the sky.

It covered his territory completely, a massive, shimmering dome of translucent golden energy that arched high above his keep significantly higher than his Ironwood Palisade. He had exactly twenty-four hours of absolute immunity.

’Before I start anything, I should check out my Territory first...’ Silas thought, mapping out his priorities.

He began walking toward the tall wooden Palisade that covered his entire territory.

Because his Excellent-Grade Blue Core had granted him a massive 500-square-meter footprint instead of a basic dirt patch, it took quite a while to reach the perimeter.

He stepped off the clean stone tiles of his central courtyard and onto the black dirt, finally reaching one of the massive walls.

Silas looked at it. It was a completely solid, towering iron-wood wall that encompassed his entire territory without a single structural gap.

Curious about its magical density, he placed his bare hand directly on the rough bark. Instantly, a wave of dense mana went through the wood, completely lighting up all of the walls in a cascading flash of bright blue runes before seamlessly dispersing.

Silas pulled back his palm.

’This thing is really charged with mana...’ He thought and immediately, a digital tab formed in the air right in front of the wood.

[Ironwood Palisade]

[Tier]: 2 Construct (Uncommon)

[Description]: A highly durable defensive wall forged from magically dense Ironwood. Highly resistant to physical impacts and elemental fire.

[Durability]: 100 / 100

Silas read the holographic text.

’I remember what durability does,’ he thought, recalling his academy lectures. ’It’s an optimal thing, and if an object’s durability falls below 1, it permanently shatters into useless ash.’

Right beneath the durability meter, a second, distinctly golden tab hovered in his vision... the interface of the Absolute Upgrade System.

[Upgrade System: Would you like to upgrade Tier 2 Ironwood Palisade to Tier 3 Steel-Weave Palisade?]

[Cost: 100 UP]

[Current Balance: 0 UP]

Silas let out a dry chuckle. "Oh, if I had 10 UP, I could upgrade it right now."

He walked along the wall for a few paces and also saw the heavy main gate carved flawlessly into the Ironwood.

There was a massive, rune-forged key resting in the lock mechanism; if he twisted it, he could open the gates and step out into the Umbral Basin whenever he chose.

As he looked at the Tier 2 prompt again, Silas suddenly frowned, a question forming in his mind.

"Wait," Silas said aloud, crossing his arms. "If I have a Gold Lord core, then why isn’t my territory gold?"

A silent [Ding!] echoed in his skull as the Absolute Upgrade System provided the answer directly to his interface.

[The Free Full Upgrade Card awarded during initialization was entirely consumed to forcefully evolve the Host’s Blue Lord Core to the Mythic Gold Tier. The physical structures within the Sovereign Realm are separate physical entities. To elevate physical territory constructs, the Host must expend UP.]

Silas blinked, absorbing the logic of the system.

"Oh, that makes sense," he said. If he had spawned into the Novice Trial with a fully maxed-out, indestructible Gold-tier cosmic fortress, there would be zero stakes.

Satisfied with his perimeter, he turned his back on the palisade. He walked down the slight incline and got onto the tiles again.

The center part where the main territory zone operated was a neatly tiled area, whereas going nearer to the wall, there were no tiles... there was just the native black earth.

He walked toward his command center to check out the beautiful Reinforced Stone Keep. It was a heavy, imposing two-story stronghold that looked like it could withstand a siege.

After admiring the heavy masonry of the building, he reached out and touched the cold side of the stone. Just like with the Palisade, a description tab immediately popped up in his vision.

[Reinforced Stone Keep]

[Tier]: 2 Construct (Uncommon)

[Description]: A heavily fortified command center built with refined masonry. Serves as the Lord’s primary residence and tactical core. Offers excellent physical protection.

[Durability]: 500 / 500

[Upgrade System: Would you like to upgrade Tier 2 Reinforced Stone Keep to Tier 3 Obsidian Command Fortress?]

[Cost: 250 UP]

[Current Balance: 0 UP]

Silas analyzed the glowing numbers.

’The upgrade cost is higher this time for some reason...’ he thought, rubbing his chin. ’Maybe it’s because of the dense materials used, or just the sheer size of the building.’

Regardless of the steep cost, he knew what his future goal was. He turned away from his Keep and moved onto the dead center of the courtyard, his eyes locking onto the pristine white stone archway.

The Summoning Portal.

A Summoning Portal was the absolute lifeblood of a Lord; it could be used to pull both Troops and Heroes from the ether. Heroes needed Hero Summoning Cards, while standard military units needed Troop Summoning Cards.

Like the Hero variations, Troop Summoning Cards were entirely tierless, meaning the units brought into the Sovereign Realm needed to level up through combat just like a Lord did, starting at Level 1 but unlike Lords, who operated purely on Cores, Troops had strict, defined classes like Swordsman, Archer, and Mage.

Silas reached out and placed his hand against the cold, dormant stone of the archway and the golden interface flared to life once more.

[Summoning Portal]

[Tier]: 2 Construct (Uncommon)

[Description]: A mystic archway used to pull Heroes and Troops from the ether into the Sovereign Realm. The focal point of a Lord’s military expansion.

[Durability]: 200 / 200

[Upgrade System: Would you like to upgrade Tier 2 Summoning Portal to Tier 3 Celestial Gateway?]

[Cost: 100 UP]

[Current Balance: 0 UP]

Silas dismissed the tab with a thought. He remembered the state-sponsored gear Commander Vesper had given him back in the academy office.

He had received a Weapon Chest to arm ten men, but the LAB hadn’t actually given him any Troop Summoning Cards in that bundle.

’The reason why the LAB didn’t give Troop Summoning Cards was because it was part of the Novice rewards,’ Silas thought, piecing the bureaucratic logic together.

Speaking of rewards, he hadn’t received his own yet.

As if the Sovereign Realm itself was waiting for him to inspect the portal, a sudden chime rang out from the native azure interface.

[Notice: Welcome to the Novice Trial.]

[The Sovereign World has gifted you 10 Troop Summoning Cards to begin your defense. They have been deposited in your Inventory.]

Silas smiled slightly as the heavy weight of being completely alone lifting just a fraction. He immediately continued his train of thought.

’Troops could only be gotten during the Novice trial, by invading and capturing troops from other lords, or by buying Troop Summoning Cards from the LAB... though those were pretty costly,’ he thought pragmatically.

He had his ten troops now so he just needed a place to put them so they could train and rest.

Silas let out a long sigh, rolling his shoulders to loosen the tension of the dimension jump.

"Before I start building, I need to build some barracks."

He turned away from the portal and walked to an empty, expansive tiled spot on the right side of the Keep where the Barracks would fit nicely without crowding the courtyard.

He stood in the center of the space and called up his Sovereign tab.

He navigated past his Vitality and Mana stats and in the Territory Tab, right underneath the stats, there was something new.

A Build Tab.

The moment he touched it, the air violently shifted. The entire designated area was covered in a complete, brilliant blue light that radiated outward, projecting a massive, three-dimensional holographic wireframe of an Armored Barracks directly onto the tiles.

Silas took a step back with his blue eyes reflecting the massive architectural projection.

’Woah,’ he thought.