The Wolfmere store opened at its normal morning time ready to serve new and repeat customers. Ben and his merchants had already restocked the store and were currently helping the early arriving customers. Ben was unsure when he would hear back from the Ciral Royal Palace so he had made plans to help around the new store for the next few days.
Surprisingly he did not have to wait long for a response from the royal palace. Triston stopped by the store at around 1:00 PM looking for Ben. The two of them went into Ben's office and Triston filled him in on the changes the king was making in the royal palace.
Now at his limits with rampant corruption in the palace, the Ciral King had taken back all the power his uncle had lent the officials and numerous arrests and investigations were currently underway. Triston also told him that they had agreed to the Aregard ore deal and Ben had permission to connect his roads to the northern Ciral roads.
Ben asked Triston to speak with the king about allowing him to also upgrade the Ciral dirt roads with concrete. If they agreed to this it would be possible for Ben to place Heating Coils under the Ciral concrete roads. This would allow merchants and travelers to travel from Wolfmere into the Aregard kingdom without having to deal with the snow blocking their passage.
If Ben could continue to increase the system level to where his build zone reached Goldcrest he could then connect Goldcrest and Wolfmere with concrete roads that could be used all year round.
Triston loved the concrete roads and thought if Ben was willing to pave their dirt roads with concrete it would be worth asking his cousin about it right away. Triston eagerly left for the Royal Palace to talk with the king right away.
The young Ciral king could not understand why Ben would go out of his way to spend money and resources in another kingdom. If Ben was willing to improve their roads without seeking compensation he had no reason to deny his request. They could only assume the upgraded roads would make it easier for Ben to ship goods from his kingdom to the store he opened on the main street of Wolfmere.
Triston returned after a brief meeting with the Ciral king to give Ben the go-ahead on the roads. Once Triston left the store, Ben told his merchants he was heading out. He left Wolfmere and went to the fortifications in the woods. Ben made a few improvements around and inside the tower, his men were living in until the sunset.
He explained to his men that he was now going to connect the road with the CIral Kingdom so from today on they would need to leave the Gatehouse open to allow merchants and travelers to pass through.
Ben built the road through the last section of the forest to connect to the CIral road. When he saw that the Wolfmere gates had been closed for the night he used the Build Menu to make a concrete road from the city gates to his road leading out of the forest. As planned he also placed Heating Coils under the new concrete roads.
He had finally bypassed the Trareniel Kingdom and made a route. Finally, Aregard could continue trading with the other kingdoms without interference. Ben still had plans to deal with Trareniel but he wanted to complete this project and stabilize his kingdom before heading off to deal with them.
By using this difficult situation created by the Trareniel Kingdom Ben had now connected the Aregard and Ciral Kingdoms. Now his kingdom was recognized by two neighboring kingdoms and trade could resume once again.
If he were to have simply charged into the Trareniel Kingdom and conquered them it may have made him an enemy of the other kingdoms. Now that Ben was a king of a recognized kingdom who had allied with the Aregard Kingdom he now had a legitimate reason to legally invade Trareniel.
When Ben was done with the roads he cast Zoom and teleported to his Goldcrest store basement. He stayed down there in the dark cultivating until it was time to open the store. Upstairs he found Cordelia in the storage room removing products and foods from the market which were sold near closing time yesterday.
Ben helped her restock everything and then left the store wearing his commoner clothes after casting Disguise on himself. He wasn't sure if his popularity over becoming the Aregard Defender had died down yet so he traveled to the Royal Palace looking like a different person.
He changed back into his nobleman outfit and canceled his Disguise spell in an alley near the palace gates. Ben left the alley and made a Beeline for the palace gates before anyone had the chance to stop him on the street.
Inside the palace, Ben was escorted to see the king without delay. King Sletten was in his study taking care of some paperwork before he went to the throne room. Ben was taken to the king's study and entered after the assistant announced he was waiting in the corridor.
King Sletten looked like a weight was lifted off his shoulders when Ben gave him the good news. His merchants and traders now had a direct route to the southern kingdoms allowing them to resume trade.
He also learned Ben had improved a section of his roads up to the Aregard western Mines. Apparently Ben had used a special material on the new roads which would allow them to transport ore and goods to Ciral during the winter. King Sletten happily gave Ben permission to improve any of the Aregard roads with concrete if he wanted. This would make traveling in the winter and heavy rains easier and help them transport trade goods at increased speeds.
Before he left Ben asked King Sletten to have a declaration written claiming Ciral and Aregard have recognized Avalon as a new kingdom and that the Avalon kingdom has joined in an alliance with the Aregard Kingdom.
He also asked for the declaration to state the Trareniel kingdom's invading forces had attacked the soldiers of Avalon Kingdom. Due to this attack, Avalon is officially declaring war on the Trareniel Kingdom. Ben wanted to have seven copies of this declaration written for him. When King Sletten asked what they were for Ben explained he planned to deliver a copy to each kingdom on the continent.
He was going to invade Trareniel and make it a part of his new Avalon Kingdom and if any of the other kingdoms stood in his way they would be making a serious mistake. Ben had no problem getting along peacefully with the other kingdoms but if any stood forward to cause him trouble he would put them on his list for elimination.
When Ben had received the seven official declarations written by the Aregard King's assistant he went into the Royal Palace gardens and cast Zoom to teleport to his road in the Wayward Woodlands.
He zoomed out of his aerial view in the Build Menu and began constructing a concrete road east toward the Trareniel Kingdom capital. This new road was now an extension of the walled-in road which stretched through the entirety of the forest. To prevent people from turning down this new road leading toward Trareniel he built a concrete Gatehouse to deny travelers access to this side road.
This new off branch road stopped a mile from the border of the Trareniel Kingdom. Ben planned to use this road when he decided to invade the Trareniel Kingdom but for now, he would use it to get around the guarded Trareniel borders undetected.
Ben came out of the forest into the Trareniel Kingdom just west of their capital city. He removed his noble clothes for his commoner clothes and entered the city like a regular person. He did not know how they would treat him if he told the guards he was a noble from Aregard so he remained low-key and waited his turn to enter the city.
The same went for the Trareniel royal palace if he tried to enter they would want to know who he was and if he told them he was an Aregard noble it may create a bad situation. While walking the streets he came across a large tavern and went inside. He sat at the bar counter and ordered a mug of ale. After Ben finished his drink he asked the bartender if there was a local Messenger Union in the city.
The bartender told him that every capital city had a Messenger Union this allowed them to transport letters and packages from one city to the next around the continent. Ben asked him where he could find the Messenger Union here in the city and marked the location on his map. He thanked the bartender for the information and gave him a couple of silver coins for helping him out.
Ben left the tavern and walked across town to the Messenger Union and went inside. He went up to a bank teller style window and took out one of the written declarations and told the receptionist he wanted to send it to the Trareniel king.
The receptionist gave him a strange look when he heard where Ben wanted to send it but he still gave him a price for delivery. Ben paid extra to have the declaration wrapped in cloth to protect it and keep its contents private from prying eyes.
The Messenger Union receptionist explained it would be delivered to one of the king's assistants and if it was deemed important enough it would be relayed to the king. Ben just smiled and knew once it was read by the assistant it would be passed along to the king.
The Trareniel king would be given the declaration once they read the Aregard Kingdom joined an alliance with a new unknown kingdom who had wiped out their troops after they were attacked and declared war on them.
Ben thought about using the Messenger Union here in Trareniel to send the other declarations out but he figured it might take a long time for them to be delivered. It would be quicker to travel to each of the kingdoms and visit the local Unions.
So Ben began his journey to each of the kingdom's capital cities and had the local Messengers Unions send out his declarations to the kings. It took Ben almost a month to travel to each kingdom but he made sure to come home to check on his Mythia and his businesses during his travels.
He had also built an ore loading station near the Aregard fortifications on his downtime. The Aregard Kingdom traders could stop and load their carts with the free iron ore Ben had offered in the deal. The Aregard Kingdom already began shipping the free ore to Ciral and selling it at wholesale prices. They were also making use of the Avalon roads to reroute traders and merchants traveling to and from Goldcrest.
Ben's final stop was the Northwestern kingdom of Yardom. The trip had taken him a long time to complete but now he could use his Zoom spell to return every kingdom. Depending on how things went he could one day in the future open a store in each capital by simply using Zoom to return. He would then have a chain of matching stores in every capital city.
Ben left the capital of Yardom on foot and instead of Zooming back to the fortress he decided to walk east toward the Wayward Woodlands. He had never explored the forest or the grasslands west of his fortress. He was curious to see if there were any profound beasts or interesting locations to be found.
Upon leaving the capital of Yardom he followed the dirt road east and passed through a few small towns that reminded him of the small town Mythia came from. He followed the back roads across the Yardom Kingdom until they began to turn south. From there he was left to cross through the wilderness and eventually reached the northern mountain chain.
He found out first hand once again how the vast grasslands surrounding his fortress had remained a secret for so long. The mountains were so steep they could almost be considered sheer cliffs. Without the aid of modern mountain climbing gear, it would be an impossible task conquering these mountains for normal men.
They were steep and tall and you would be putting your life in serious danger if you attempted to climb them. Ben did not worry about this though he wasn't a regular person. With his strength and skills, he made his way up the mountain.
By casting Enhanced Form and using his acrobatics skill Ben could launch himself up to out of reach handholds and narrow ledges. It was a slow process and he had used the most of the day just to climb this tall mountain and reach a narrow ravine on the other side.
Ben swallowed a couple mana recovery pills once he had his feet back on the ground. By following the narrow ravine that ran between the surrounding steep mountains he gradually traveled in a southeastern direction. When the sun finally set he left the ravine by casting Zoom and returned to the castle. Ben spent some time around the castle with Mythia and cultivated after she went to bed.
The next morning he returned to the narrow mountain ravine to continue exploring the area. He took his time while enjoying the wilderness scenery and kept an eye on his minimap to make sure he kept heading in the right direction.
After walking for a few hours he came across a surprising discovery. On his minimap, there was actually a large grouping of gray dots that represented people. They were centered around what looked to be small man-made structures centrally located in a valley not far from his location!
The ravine he was following eventually led to a lush valley tucked away in the mountains. He carefully approached the hidden village and soon could see it in the distance with his own eyes.
The village had a tribal appearance with the simple wooden huts and a waist-high woven stick fence encircling it. It was that there were so many dots in the village but everyone was inside.
He was unsure if these people would be hostile towards him so he activated his Chameleon skill to remain camouflaged with his surroundings. Ben was confident in his ability to defend himself but he did not want to have to fight an isolated group of people who are simply trying to defend their homes from outsiders.
Ben remained hidden in an outcrop of rocks around one hundred yards from the tranquil village. He could see a few small farm plots near the village but they were empty of any crops. It was getting late in the year and there were not many crops that would grow this late in fall.
After observing the village for a while, Ben could occasionally see people quickly walking from one hut to another. From what he could tell they were normal looking humans and not advanced monsters like Athena had told him could live in secluded primitive settlements like this one.
The few people he saw were abnormally thin and seemed to be wearing what looked like buckskin clothing similar to the style worn by original Native Americans tribes. Whenever he happened to see someone in the village they would only remain outside for as long as it took to reach their intended destination.
There were fifty-eight dots on his map representing the people of the village and every one of them was inside of small grouping wooden huts that appeared to be homes. Ben remained where he was and continued to watch the village for three hours and began to wonder what was going on with the people who lived here. It was strange not to see people outside working or children playing.
While he sat wondering what they could be doing, Athena gave him a warning. Just south of the village a profound beast was walking north in the direction of the village. Ben thought it was strange to see a profound beast up here in the mountains because he was so used to seeing them in the southern forest.
He marked the beast on his map and monitored its direction of travel. The creature continued walking north to stop at the village. Ben began to figure out was going on with these reclusive villagers. This profound beast must be stopping by here often enough to terrorize this village to the point these people had barricaded themselves indoors.
He could see the large creature sniffing around the perimeter of the village while looking around for any movements around the huts. Ben decided to move out toward the village and try to ambush the creature before it caused any trouble. He activated Silent Movement, Chameleon, while casting Enhanced Form. With his armor on and his weapons equipped Ben stalked toward the village.
At the backside of a wood hut, Ben jumped up onto the roof and moved forward across the roof until he saw the profound beast standing on its back legs and pushing against a door with its front paws.
Ben saw the creature close up now and it reminded him of a long black haired black bear with a smaller than normal canine shaped head. Before the creature could break into the wood hut Ben knocked an arrow and lined up his shot.
*Zip!*
He released the barbed arrow just as the hut door was forced open. The arrow deeply pierced the beast just behind the front leg shoulder. The startled beast roared out in pain and spun around looking for whatever attacked it. Ben heard multiple distant screams through the shattered doorway.
Ben knocked another arrow and at it pierced through the beast's neck as it turned in vain to find its attacker. The enraged creature roared again and spun around toward the broken door. Ben feared it might charge into the hut and kill whoever was in there so he decided it was time to press forward and attack with his sword.
He placed his bow in his inventory and grabbed his sword and shield. Before the beast could enter the hut he jumped from the roof with an overhead swing of his Hemic sword. When he struck the back end of the creature his sword cut deep into the creature. Ben saw a strange red line of mist leave the wounded creature and enter him right after he slashed it.
He suddenly felt energized and realized the [+35% Chance to steal life from the enemy] bonus had activated. This was the first time he had experienced this bonus.
The wounded creature seemed to suffer the opposite effect that Ben felt. It suddenly lost its vigor and collapsed onto its stomach while struggling to stand back up. Before it could get back up to try and fight back Ben cast Enhanced Form again and swung his sword at the neck of the profound beast and cut the head clean off.
The creature's head rolled through the broken door of the wooden hut and Ben heard a female voice scream out in shock. He sheathed his sword and put his shield away as he walked toward the shattered door.
Ben stopped at the doorway and looked inside the dark one-room home and saw a woman, a small boy, and a girl close to Mythia's age huddled together in the far corner. He walked inside and picked up the creature head and tossed it out the door. Before leaving the hut Ben turned toward the scared woman and her kids.
"It is alright now I killed the creature. Are you all alright?"
The woman slowly nodded in a daze while still looking toward the door as if she was half expecting the large black beast to burst into her home any second. Now that Ben stopped to get a better look at the woman and her children he noticed how thin they were. He had thought the slaves he rescued from the bandits were thin but these people were walking skeletons.
Since the woman seemed to be in shock still, Ben decided to give her some time to recover he went back outside and tied a rope around the leg of the creature and dragged it out of the village to a nearby tree.
Ben hoisted the profound Beast up by its back legs from the branch while the blood drained from the severed neck.
Before he started to field dress the beast he sat down and swallowed a mana recovery pill. He took out his skinning knife and began to wonder how long this profound beast had been attacking this village as he watched the village for any activity.
'I guess I can get started field dressing this thing and see if these people will come out to investigate what happened. I'm sure they are scared so there is no reason to rush them out here.'