Without Keiren noticing, several hours had passed by in the outside world before he finally opened his eyes. He was still facing the sky, which was now filled with stars shining brightly in the firmament. Only when he tried to stand up did he notice a weight on his body. His hand went to touch the soft hair of his wife, making him aware that she must have fallen asleep on him, which also explained why nobody had moved him.
"Keiren." David addressed him, his tone serious. His best friend squatted down next to him and poked his cheek three times. "We've been waiting for hours for you to wake up, man! The next time you fall unconscious, I say we'll just bury you."
Kerum and Richard laughed at that comment, yet someone else didn't share their sense of humor. Suran appeared behind David, weapon held against his neck, and stated in an ice-cold voice: "Threaten His Majesty one more time, and you will be the one who will end up six feet under!"
"Suran, calm down! He didn't mean it literally, he was just jesting!" Keiren quickly explained it to the Knight Commander. Kerum's and Richard's laughter intensified at the completely pale look on David's face.
"I apologize, Your Majesty!" Suran bowed after she removed her blade. "I had no idea that he was your jester. Thank you for your enlightenment."
"His jester?" David uttered in disbelief, his face switching from white to red. It looked as if smoke could escape his ears any moment now. Richard and Kerum now choked on their laughter. Shyla too had been woken up from the commotion, yet to save her brother some face, she was doing her best to hold her laughter in.
Keiren stood up from the ground, pulling his wife up with him. Together, they stepped before their baffled friend. Ken placed his hands on David's shoulder and asked solemnly: "Say, you always wanted to be president, right?"
David subconsciously nodded, not sure where his friend was going with his line of questions.
"In that case, I hereby decree that you, David King, shall rule my Nameless Empire as its President!" Keiren announced. At this point even Shyla couldn't help but explode in laughter, joining Kerum and Richard who were already holding their stomachs.
# Treat carefully in the presence of the Divine, Host # The Human God System piled on.
"Why? Ken?" David was about to die from embarrassment. He still didn't understand how things kept backfiring at him. After all, it was Ken who had made them all worry, so why was he suddenly the butt of everyone's joke, rather than Ken… AGAIN?!
"Oh come on, David, it's just a little teasing. Everyone you see here is family. We might be away from Earth, but that doesn't mean we have to change things, right?" Shyla finally chimed in on her brother's behalf.
David let out a sigh and let go of his frustration: "... I guess, you're right. Phew, for a second I was worried that Ken had dumped a huge pile of work on me."
"Oh no, that part was serious, President King!" Ken smirked at his best friend, leaving him speechless. Looking at his sister for help, this time she just gave him a thumbs up. For a moment he was about to mouth off that with a 'family like this, he didn't need any enemies', but he was afraid that they would tease him more for it.
"Fine, but if I am to act as the President of your Nameless Empire, I won't do it for free." David tried to make the best out of this situation.
"No problem, whatever demands you might have, consider them all accepted. You're free to give yourself whatever salary you deem fitting. Also, if you share your Cultivation Technique with me, I can ask my System to teach it to my Summons, that way, you should benefit from it."
"Oh my God, I didn't even consider that!" David's mood turned on like a light switch. "But I can't share it with you. My System told me that it will only count if I am the one to teach it to my future subordinates."
"In that case, I will just summon them and leave the teaching to you!" Keiren shrugged.
'System, would you please give me some information about my current summoning limits."
# Of course Summoner.
Summon Servant (Peak Layer Mortal Stage). Current limit: 1 Servant per second.
Summon Soldier (low/mid/high). Current limit: (2,000 1st Layer - 300 9th Layer Mortal Stage)
Summon Officer (Peak Layer Mortal King Stage / Tier-G Talent). Current limit: 200 per day
Summon Knight (1st Layer Mortal Monarch Stage / Tier-G Talent) Current limit: 100 per day
Summon Elemental: Thunderfire, Fire, Lightning, Air (your cultivation / unlimited potential) Current limits: 1 per day.
Attention: has to be summoned as 'single summon'. #
Keiren swallowed as he saw those numbers. 'Are you serious, System?'
# Yes. #
'No wonder there is a qualification assessment…'
Preparing himself mentally, he got ready to summon manually for the first time in his life. Keiren closed his eyes and the information from his Cultivation Technique flooded his mind. He began to speak slowly, while picking up his pace after the third word:
"Ich beschwöre dich, Soldat, der du bist ungebunden in dieser Welt. Dienen sollst du mir. Gehorchen sollst du und ausführen deine Befehle. Somit ich kann erfüllen die Ziele die MIR wichtig sind. Schreite vor und ergreife die Chance die sich dir bietet." Keiren inhaled deeply. His voice was a snudge deeper than before.
"Ungeliebt? Verstoßen? Verbannt? Unbekannt! Unerkannt! Unverbannt!"
(I summon you, soldier, you who are unbound in this world. You shall serve me. You shall obey and carry out your commands. So I can fulfill the goals important to ME. Go ahead and seize the opportunity that presents itself to you.)
(Unloved? Outcasted? Banished? Unknown! Unrecognized! Unbanished!)
Ken's aura pulsated with every word he spoke. Symbols began to gather around him to form a summoning circle. It shone with brilliance under his feet. After the summoning circle was completed, Keiren's aura spiked and he activated his Battle Spirit, making the summoning circle ignite into purple Thunderfire.
Keiren's Battle Spirit roared and his orange Emperor Spirit manifested above the summoning circle. It looked like the burning circle was fueling his Emperor Spirit.
Why was he using an external Summoning circle instead of his Emperor Spirit directly?
Keiren felt enlightened and channeled the energy directly into his Emperor Spirit instead of the external one. His orange summoning circle transformed into an orange portal and a company marched out of it.
Spearheading the group were 100 fully armored Knights mounted on warhorses and armed to the teeth. Besides a massive shield, there were two swords, a spear, a lance, a bow and a small crossbow in reach for direct usage. Every Knight was geared, fresh and ready for the battle of their lifetime.
Behind them was a row of 200 lightly armored cavalry. Their armor was light and durable. But clearly an officer's Uniform. The officers were armed with swords, bows and spears. Behind them was a row of 300 similar clad light cavalry as well as 900 infantrymen with bows, spears and swords. Their uniforms were a bit more plain, but their quality didn't diminish.
The next group was a 2,000 men strong phalanx consisting of infantry spearmen with large shields, followed by 4,000 riflemen. The latter were a shocker to everyone since no one expected there to be guns in this world. It was also a new field of experience for Suran and Yang Yin.
Thus, an army of 7,500 Cultivators appeared in the courtyard.
A wave of exhaustion drowned Keiren and he nearly lost his footing.
'Damn it, this world really tries to force me to my knees time and time again.'
# Congratulations, you've earned 1,045,000 SP #
Keiren nearly choked on his own tongue and collapsed coughing on the ground.
"Are you OK, Ken?" David asked. Serious concern was written all over his face.
"Don't worry about me, I just need to catch my breath. Congratulations on your very first set of subordinates. Have fun teaching them your Cultivation Technique." Keiren said as he gasped for air. He felt uncomfortable in his own skin right now. It was as if someone had placed a giant boulder on his back, and he had been forced to hold it there for days without rest.
The ground was so hard and unforgiving that it seemed a good place to sleep for now. Keiren shook his head to get rid of these distracting thoughts. He pulled himself up from the ground and turned to his just summoned army.
"Henceforth you shall be 'The First Brigade of the Nameless Empire'." Keiren began his speech and pointed at David. "He is the President of my Nameless Empire. It is your duty to help him in any way you can. He will rule in my name at the very best of his abilities. My first order is to guarantee that there will be no foreseeable trouble. Teach it. If it acts up, Crush it."
"SIR! YES! SIR!" The army responded in trained unison.