"I am sorry, old friend. I understand your pain. It can't be worse than the day I lost my daughter to this human scum that calls himself, Moving Sword Sect." Galatris spat out.
"I would love to help you, but I can't assist you, right now. My Seedling just arrived, and I can't leave him alone now that he knows nothing about anything."
"I understand. Do you need help? I can assist you a bit if you want me to." Defrem suggested.
"What do you mean? Do you want to double guard him?" Galatris asked.
"Well maybe. When did he arrive? What is his Cultivation Realm? Does he have a strong backing besides you? What kind of Talent does he have?" Defrem started to interrogate Galatris without any second whatsoever for his friend to answer.
"STOP!! He arrived today with no cultivation, no backing, and I don't know his Talent yet! He comes from another realm and is destined to become a summoner!" Galatris interrupted his old friend and added shyly "You know that those are the most promising ones."
"A Summoner? A Mortal Stage Cultivator? Are you serious?" Defrem asked, slightly amused by the fact that his friend was seemingly blessed with luck.
"Yes, I am serious, my friend," Galatris reassured Defrem.
"I have an idea that could help you," Defrem began "You know I come from a place outside Chaosia, a small planet named Gergaron, only a little bigger than the Eternal Summit you control. With my strength I could fly there and 'cut the peak' if you understand what I mean"
"Are you crazy? You want to cut the peak of your home planet?" Galatris asked in complete disbelief. Was today the day of fuck it go crazy? He was slowly but surely convinced that this was just a freakingly real dream. "The alcohol must have gotten to me, so let me ask you again. Have you seriously just suggested to travel to your home planet and practically kidnap every capable cultivator from there to gift them to someone you have not even met yet?" Galatris could feel himself approaching a mental breakdown.
"Indeed, that is exactly what I said. I bring over all the geniuses from my home planet to help grow your Seedling, so you can help me exact revenge once the latter is strong enough to survive without you. What do you think? Isn't it a great Idea?" Defrem asked with an amused grin as he stared at the face Galatris was pulling right.
He had pretty much already made up his mind. Even if his friend would refuse his request, Defrem could just 'gift' these people over to the Eternal Emperor 'Seedling' directly and make them swear allegiance to him. Once the time came, he would ask a favor and destroy these bastards. What were a few dozen years for people of their cultivation realm?
"This is tempting, but also crazy as hell. You're aware that doing this would ruin the planet you were born on, right? Not to mention, you would become public enemy #1, all the hidden experts lingering on it might come out and try to stop you." Galatris tried to persuade Defrem.
"As if my planet has much of a future with the demise of my Seedling in the first place. Besides, the Heaven Dao had rejected me all these years ago, so I care little about its future now. If only it would have let me ascend to become the God of Gergaron, I could have brought it to new heights. No, doing this will at least allow me to get some semblance of revenge for that wrongdoing, no matter how petty it might be." Defrem said, an evil and crazy smile was now covering his lips.
"Defrem, you're crazy… but I'm in. Keiren will need some loyal companions." Galatris capitulated, he was just too burned out today and needed some sleep. It had only been a few months since his last sleep. Normally, he only needed to sleep once a decade, but today proved just too much for him.
"Good, good. A round trip should only take me about two or three months. How far do you believe your Seedling will be able to progress by then?" Defrem asked curiously.
"Hard to say, middle or upper layers of the Mortal King Stage I'd assume. I don't want to exaggerate too much." Galatris estimated with hesitation.
"That would be a classification in the Universe Talent." Defrem let out a small whistle.
"Yes, I have high hopes for them." Galatris agreed, feeling a little better because his friend didn't dug deeper.
"...them? What do you mean 'them'?" Defrem asked, confused.
"Oh, that's right, I didn't get the chance to tell you yet, but I got the whole package: One Eternal Emperor Seedling, one Eternal Empress Seedling, as well as three of their friend with good potential to become Eternal Generals." Galatris bragged to Defrem.
"Y-you are kidding me, right? No way in hell can you have such rotten dogshit luck! If that*s true, then my Seedling was nothing but just a talented nobody that died an early death because he loved the wrong woman, like a gazillion others!" Defrem exclaimed.
"Don't complain as If I could change these facts" Galatris dodged.
"So, back to business. Are you with me?" Defrem asked, now determined to put everything he had on the line, this was just too good.
"Yes, if you think you have to do this, I will not stop you. However, if trouble comes knocking on my door, don't think I will protect you from those factions you might have offended. Let it be known, that this will be your idea, and that I'm not encouraging you to 'cut the peak' of your home planet." Galatris agreed without agreeing.
"Fine, fine, as long as you let me hide out the aftermath. See you in 2-3 months with some recruits." Defrem said and jumped on his feet, before Galatris could object, his spirit fueled by the thought of paying for revenge by handing one out.
"Take your time, it makes no sense for you to bring a bunch of Immortals. Limit it to the Mortal Realm. What we need is an army for him, not one for us." Galatris yelled after his friend. Of course, if Defrem got Keiren a few Immortals it wouldn't be harmful at all.
"I understand this point." Defrem humored Galatris.
—
While Galatris and Defrem were holding their discussion, Ken and his friends were joking around with each other in the hall. Unbeknownst to them, they had gained yet another strong backing. After an hour, they chose to separate and start cultivating for some time before going to sleep.
Ken woke up early, but before he could even start to cultivate his System interrupted him.
# Host, you have 10.000 SP in your account and logic recommends that you put them to good use. #
'SP? What are SP?'
# Summoning Points. You gain SP by summoning creatures or people. Yesterday you received 10,000 SP. You receive SP for every summon you call to your side. Stronger summons will grant you more SP than weak cannon fodder. #
'So the quality of the summon equals the quantity of gained SP? That is good to know, but what exactly can I do with that SP?'
# Host, it is recommended to regard it as a form of currency. SP are there for you to use in the System Shop to purchase more summons or upgrade the ones you already have to a higher grade. #
# Displaying general overview of the System Shop:
#1 low-Level packs of creatures 100 - 1,000,000 SP #
#2 mid-Level packs of creatures 1,000,000 - 1,000,000,000 SP #
#3 high-Level packs of creatures 1,000,000,000 - 1,000,000,000,000 SP #
#4 supreme-Level packs of creatures 1,000,000,000,000+ SP #
#5 Divine packs of creatures 100,000+ SSP #
'What are SSP?'
# Supreme Summoner Points are special rewards that you can only earn by completing Quests. #
'Argh, why does it feel that one question leads me to two-three new ones? Don't answer that, System! Just open the low-Level packs of creatures, limited to those I can actually afford.'
# Open shop low-Level packs of creatures with a cost of 10,000 SP and less. #
# Samurai Pack: Summons 100 Samurai Warriors (7th Layer Mortal Stage - 3rd Layer Mortal King Stage), average Talent, Note: Samurai are strong offensive Units with great agility. Price: 2,000 SP #
# Ninja Pack: Summons 100 Ninjas (7th Layer Mortal Stage - 3rd Layer Mortal King Stage), average Talent, Note: Ninjas are good spies and formidable assassins with great stealth. Price: 2,000 SP #
# Knight Pack: Summons 100 battle-hardened Knights (1st Layer Mortal King Stage), high Talent, Note: heavily armored cavalry, mounted on Spirit Beasts (Armored Dragon-Horse), High Humans, can lead individual combat squads of infantry or cavalry, proficient with the sword, lance, spear, bow, and the crossbow. Price 6,000 SP #
# Knight Commander: Summons 1 Knight Commander (4th Layer Mortal King Stage), supreme Talent, Note: heavily armored cavalry, mounted on high-Level Spirit Beast (Ancient Armored Dragon-Horse), Divine-Human, can take command of a squad of knights, proficient with the sword, lance, spear, bow, and the crossbow. Comprehended 1st level Sword Intent, 1st level Lance Intent, 1st level Spear Intent, 1st level Bow Intent, 1st level Crossbow Intent. Price: 2,000 SP #
The more Ken read, the more astonished he got.
# Emperor Mount Pack: Summons 2 Shadow Griffons (1st Layer Mortal King Stage), upgradable, one male and one female. Price 1,000 SP #
# Do you wish to see more, Host? I can sense hesitation from you. #
'Depends, how many more packs are there?'
# There is a total of 781 Packs that is affordable with 10,000 SP. On top of that, there are 2,368 Commander type summons and 541 Named type summons that are within your budget #
'I already saw a Commander type summon, but what are Named Summons?'
# Spartacus Card: Summons the Roman Gladiator Spartacus (Peak Stage Mortal King). Firmament Star Talent, Note: Fighting genius, good strategist, 9th level Sword Intent, 9th level Shield Intent, Divine Talent: Tyrannical Instructor (can even teach a dead farmer to become a competent soldier). Price 10,000 SP #
Ken blinked and blinked again.
'I'm not sure if I should consider him to be cheap or the packs that you have shown me to be completely expensive.'
# Both are correct, Host. He is one of the cheapest summons given that his Talent is above the Star-level, but I should inform you that there are better versions of him in the other packs. Named type summons can only be summoned once, thus you can't have two Spartacus. Naturally, the more you pay for him the more powerful he will be.#