Territory
The wind blew, bringing about with it a refreshing feeling.
Leylin rode on a horse, looking at the scenery on both sides. Great numbers of farms joined to form a large field which many farmers were working on.
At the two sides of the roads, purification towers could be seen everywhere.
These were specifically to remove the unwittingly emanated radiation pollution from the bodies of Magi. This allowed regular humans ad Magi to exist in harmony.
Robin did accede to Leylin’s request in the end, even sending another Warlock to bring Leylin to his own territory.
“Marquis Leylin, confirmation of your title as nobility and your proof for your territory has been handed down. From hereon, your title shall be recognised throughout the central continent. The plains to the east of the Black Lustre Mountains are all yours. All the regular people living here are automatically your subjects.” The white-haired rank 2 Warlock said.
“Give me the map.” Leylin got off the horse, and Kubler immediately unfolded a slightly yellowish rolled-up map.
With the map, the outline of the territory was even clearer. Not only was the area large, including a few fertile fields, there was even a coastline and a few good ports.
A Marquis of the central continent naturally had more gold than one in the south coast. The range of his territory was even comparable to a large kingdom of the south coast.
Of course, for Leylin who had been the Guardian of Twilight Zone and ruler of fifty million people, he was not moved the slightest.
Meanwhile, Kubler and the rank 2 Warlock’s expressions were full of envy.
If the produce from the vast area in this territory was turned into resources for Magi, it would be a huge source of revenue for regular rank 3 Warlocks.
“Kubler, look for a few skilled administrators and build a governing structure. Oh, and also, for my seal of nobility, design it like my secret imprint.” Leylin instructed casually.
Kubler lowered his head respectfully, expressing his understanding.
Seeing this, the white-haired Warlock glanced at Kubler with a hint of envy in his eyes.
From his perspective, Leylin was a Giant Kemoyin Serpent Warlock and was the student of a Morning Star Magus. He had boundless potential, and Kubler was his first vassal and was trusted. It was natural that his status would rise as time passed.
At Robin’s side, even if he tried to climb through the ranks for his whole life, he could only enter the elite circle.
With this comparison on both sides, he was even more envious and jealous.
“Master, as a Marquis, you will need a castle to be the core of your power,” Kubler warned timely.
“En! Buy a few slaves, and with food and money as their pay, recruit a few people to help with construction. It should be done here.” Leylin pointed at a place on the map.
This was a field close to the coastline, one that was within walking distance of a port.
“Understood, kind master!” Kubler praised.
In reality, after the Ouroboros Clan had conferred all this to Leylin, he had now gained authority over the life and death of all beings in his land. He was even allowed to make his own army and kingdom.
In the central continent, commoners could be forced to bring their own food when conscripted, being forced into labour. They themselves would have to take care of logistics after wars.
Leave alone food, Leylin was even giving out a pay. This made him benevolent beyond compare.
“Name the castle ‘Onyx Castle.’ Gather a few scholars and architects. After the design is done, bring it to me.” Leylin was not in the least concerned about these small matters, giving Kubler free reign.
What he really paid attention to was at the bottom, “Beside Onyx Castle, I am planning to create a Magus Tower.”
“Magus Tower!” The two beside him immediately gasped. This would be insanely expensive.
“Yes, and it should be made with the highest of standards!” In Leylin’s eyes, Onyx Castle was a place where regular people would place their focus. This Magus Tower would be the his true residence.
“Why not construct it at the headquarters? Not only will you be supported with resources, it can even help guard the clan,” Kubler proposed.
“No!” Leylin shook his head. Though constructing it at the headquarters would net him technological support as well as resources, he would have to incorporate it into the joint defense system.
Leylin had far too many secrets. How could he stand to reveal them to anyone else?
In addition, a Magus Tower was a prerequisite to experiments on cosmic gates. Hence, Leylin made up his mind and decided to construct it alone in his territory.
“In that case, the blueprint and expenses…” Just the thought of it made Kubler feel faint.
“I’ll complete the design myself. As for the expenses, don’t worry about it.” Leylin smiled slightly.
He had milked the entirety of Twilight Zone for all its worth. Though it was far from the wealth that the central continent had, when all of it was concentrated on one person, it was still rather terrifying.
His magic crystals had filled an entire spatial ring, and he also had all types of precious materials. This was enough to cover the cost of constructing a Magus Tower, and this would be no ordinary tower, but one constructed based on the highest standards!
How could a regular Magus Tower contain Leylin’s ambitions?
In addition, high-grade Magus Towers would be able to boost a Magus’ own strength, and were a place where many experiments would be conducted. Hence, many high-ranked Magi would plan to make their own Magus Towers.
However, there were few who could afford to make one themselves without feeling the burden it would put on them. Others would need to live and accumulate resources for hundreds of years before they could even dream of regular Magus Towers. As for top-grade towers? They could only dream about those.
“I’ll need many male slaves and stonemasons for the construction of the castle and tower. Do you have any means of getting them?” Leylin glanced at the old Warlock.
“Of course.” The old man bowed, “Actually, there are a few specific channels my master has access to. They provide half-beasts, gnomes, dwarves, and adult slaves.”
“En! Then I’ll leave that to you. I’ll need at least ten thousand people. The method of payment shall be with magic crystals.”
The moment Leylin’s words were heard, a hint of elation could be seen in the old Warlock’s eyes.
The central continent used gold and silver as their currency. Magic crystals were higher-grade currency that would have a higher exchange rate in the black market. By doing this, he would definitely be able to make some profit secretly.
Of course, Leylin no longer cared about such trivial profits. If this could motivate the old man into working even harder, then so be it.
……
No matter what they had once been called, Leylin had decided to rename these lands the Onyx Castle Plains. This land was now the heart of his developing territory.
Under observation by overseers touting whips and clubs, groups of adult slaves transported large pieces of granite across the lands.
The granite had been divided into equal sizes from a nearby stone quarry and was then transported here, being piled up to to form a large castle.
Leylin’s Onyx Castle had two layers of city walls as defence. The outer layer was slightly lower than the inner wall, and there were many sentry towers, watchtowers and the like.
Outside the Onyx Castle, there was also a channel forming a very wide moat.
The building was mostly constructed by piling up granite. Near the end, he would invite Magi proficient at manipulating earth-elemental energy particles to reinforce the structure and fill the parts between the granite, forming a large body. After that, he would get a few renowned sculpting masters to do more work.
After the construction was done, it would definitely not lose out to the grandeur of common nobility.
To complete the Onyx Castle, many slaves and the people that Leylin had recruited would put all their effort into working day in and out.
The meals that Leylin provided were not bad, with black bread and fish soup. For slaves and poor peasants, all these were hard to come by. Hence, they worked even harder.
“Master, ten thousand male slaves have been transported over. A part of them are at the stone quarry, while the rest are here.” Kubler followed behind Leylin, seeming like a very calculating housekeeper.
As Leylin was paying with magic crystals and could be said to be rich and overbearing, not caring about the source, he was the best client for slave traffickers.The old man from before had also worked doubly hard, and soon enough, ten thousand slaves were bought.
This was not a small number, and thus helped Leylin gain a deeper understanding of the power Robin had.
“We need to use these slaves efficiently. We need to divide them into classes. Those who are diligent and proactive can get a small piece of land after construction is completed. They can become my farmers or soldiers. As for the lazy ones and the rebels, they can be a slave till they die, or we can just kill them.”
Leylin spoke indifferently. He had gone through a lot and had much experience in administration. Everything he said had Kubler nodding along.
“Tell me the progress of the construction.”
“Master, with this rate, your castle can be completed in spring next year. The entire cost comes up to around 1.5 million gold coins.”
Kubler lowered his head and gave it a thought, and then announced a number that could cause a few normal kings to faint.
“Alright, that’s not bad.” These were trivial matters. Leylin let it pass through his ears and did not think more into it. The construction of the Onyx Castle was not the most important thing. What was more terrifying was the blueprint in his hands.
Kubler was fearful and apprehensive as he looked at the blueprint in Leylin’s hands.
This was the structure of the Magus Tower that Leylin had designed himself.
The entire Magus Tower would be constructed with blurite metal, which was a stable alloy created by Magi. There would be a total of three layers underground, with laboratories, summoning and binding rooms, and a huge negative energy reactive pool at the bottom-most layer.
On the ground, the first floor would be the living room. The second would be the master bedroom and library. The third would be the Magus garden and ecological laboratory. The fourth would be the storage room, and the highest would have a positive energy reactive pool that would be the counterpart to the underground negative energy reactive pool.
Almost all energy particles had positive and negative properties. This sort of energy pool would seize countless energy particles and be a costly structure that could gather energy.