Year 3792, Day 93
I've finally killed the last rank 6 demon.
It took quite some time since I'm solo hunting.
Even though I'm very strong among intermediate existences, I can't face hundreds of enemies at once.
When it comes to rank 6 demons, facing three at the same time is my limit.
The main thing is that small groups of demons are rare.
Most of the time, they gather in large teams, making the hunt difficult.
Anyway, it's done now. I'm already on my way back, and once I exchange for the technique, maybe I can finally rise to the rank of a superior existence.
...
"Our race has been enslaved for nearly a thousand years, but we haven't been idle during this time," the eldest Donver said.
The great warrior Mink fell something bad and his face paled as he listened to the small man speak.
"The biggest flaw of the Minks is its arrogance and severe lack of judgment. They only see threats and potential based on combat ability. They let us build all their equipment and vehicles, including weapons of mass destruction and spaceships."
"At first, it was difficult to do anything since the Minks were originally very vigilant toward us, but over time, that vigilance completely disappeared. We took advantage of that to modify every processor, giving ourselves higher authority than any three-star marauder."
The three intermediate existences didn't fully understand all the technical details, but they grasped the bigger picture.
"So, how much control do you have over them?" Ilbert asked with a hint of impatience.
The Donver smiled, revealing his small, square white teeth.
"Stealing control of the machines would have been too noticeable and wasn't feasible," he said with a sigh. "Instead, each program has two high-priority command prompts: one to deactivate the device and one to trigger self-destruction if possible."
Another Donver, visibly younger and less injured, spoke up.
"Only non-technological equipment like guns, melee weapons, and some older generation devices won't be affected. But make no mistake, if we decide to act, their combat strength will drop by more than 60%, not to mention their weapons of mass destruction will become unusable, as well as all the base's defenses."
This time, the three leaders of Alandal smiled.
In truth, they didn't care much about reducing the enemy's combat capacity and were confident they could face them head-on at full strength.
"Are you sure you can deactivate all the bombs?" Sylvera asked.
He had witnessed the power of those bombs firsthand, and even they were threatened by them.
To his great relief, the Donver nodded.
"Absolutely sure, but we'll need access to the central computer." Seeing the confusion on the three leaders' faces, he continued. "It's the nerve center of the base's network and the only place from which everything can be controlled. Otherwise, we'd have to go to the individual units one by one, which would take much more time and greatly increase the risks."
Sylvera nodded and stepped closer to the man, who seemed to be the leader of the small group of Donvers.
"I see. But now I'd like to know why you're telling us this. It's obvious you've had this plan for a long time, so why include us in the equation?" he asked, leaning in and bringing his terrifying eyes to the same level as the small man, who felt a shiver run down his spine and his mind go blank for a moment.
However, Sylvera wasn't using his aura at all—it was just his natural presence.
The Donver quickly regained his composure and gave a sad smile.
"Even if we were to put our plan into action, what would we gain? We are physically weak, and aside from the initial panic and trapping them in this plane, the Minks could quickly massacre us even without equipment," he said, dejected.
"But here, things are different. First of all, long-distance communication is cut off, so even if the entire base were to disappear, no one would ever know, which means there would be no impact on our brothers outside this world."
"And most importantly, I saw the team that saved us. There are at least three different races here, and counting the lady in front of me, probably a fourth. So, I deduced that your society isn't racist and might welcome us after we carry out the plan."
Silence fell in the room as the three leaders looked at them in surprise.
At the same moment, the air behind them warped and a small spatial portal formed, from which a large naga emerged.
"The High Priest Nagaia / The High Priestess Vossenheim / The Guardian Luminara greets the Divine Envoy."
The three leaders of Alandal turned around and bowed to the incarnation of Liam, who looked at the four beings in front of him with a smirk.
The most surprised of all was undoubtedly the great warrior. Unlike the Donvers, he knew very well the level of these three individuals, and seeing them bow caused him a terrible mental shock.
On the other hand, the three Donvers stared at Liam in disbelief, still processing how he had arrived simply by tearing through space.
"Don't bother trying to understand how I got here; your technology is far too primitive to even approach the concept. Maybe in a few tens of thousands of years," Liam said, keeping a neutral expression.
But inside, he was nearly jubilant.
The Donvers were exactly the kind of race he desired—a race focused on technology.
Even better, he had noticed that one of them had magical potential. Although it was barely a mortal magical root, it was enough to show that the race had some potential.
He extended his hand to open another portal and, with a gesture, unchained the three Donvers.
"Follow me!"
Moments later, they had disappeared.
Sylvera shrugged and grabbed his spear, finally decapitating the last now-useless hostage.
...
More than two hours passed before the portal reopened and the four individuals stepped out.
The three commanders had long since left, as they were extremely busy after all.
Liam didn't take it personally. After all, two of the three were his own saints, and even though Ilbert hadn't yet had the breakthrough to become a fanatic, his faith was much purer than most.
It was Liam's way of nurturing his followers.
He preferred to receive fewer faith points and see his people have a clear and structured organization rather than leaders who could spend days doing nothing but praying.
That would be stupid and useless, as it would inevitably create a fragile society that would collapse at the slightest setback.
So, he gently led his three new believers toward the headquarters.
On the way, the three Donvers couldn't help but excitedly discuss what they had just seen.
Whether it was Alandal's capital, Portalis, the floating islands, the main cities like White Lotus City, or even the incredible Sanctuary, everything seemed absolutely incredible to them and had broadened their view of the world.
And that's not to mention the existence of the strange god, Ahsoka Rivalek, the God of the Four Elements.
But the powers demonstrated by the envoy were far beyond their comprehension, so they had no real choice but to believe.
For his part, Liam was indifferent to their debates.
He was confident that, given enough time and persuasion, they would eventually convert.
After all, if even a Drake had ended up becoming his saint, there was no reason why a small and weak race like the Donvers would be able to resist.
He had also taken advantage of their brief stay in his divine realm to discreetly use his watch to evaluate them.
[Race: Donvers]
[Race Category: Dwarf Humanoid]
[Level: Low-Level Inferior Race*]
[Racial Talents: None]
[Physical Stats:
[Level 0: Constitution: 0.7 || Strength: 0.7 || Agility: 0.5 || Spirit: 1.3 || Life Expectancy: 70 years]
[Level 1: Constitution: 1.4 || Strength: 1.5 || Agility: 1.2 || Spirit: 3.4 || Life Expectancy: 100 years]
He quickly clicked on the asterisk.
[Race pitifully weak physically, but with a certain level of magical talent and good potential in technology]
There was no doubt about it—their raw stats were even worse than the Valyrs had been, and they were roughly equivalent to the Novarians, with just a higher likelihood of possessing magical talent but a very poor genetic potential.
Still, as long as he made a formal request to the Federation and paid a few hundred thousand points, the state would create a thousand high-quality meditation and breathing techniques perfectly suited to their race.
He was also very interested in the V compound.
If they could get their hands on it, all of Alandal could experience a substantial upgrade.
But that was for the future.
He headed to Sylvera's office and left after dropping them off.
...
Above Alandal, Liam's true body opened his eyes and quickly assessed the state of Alandal.
As much as he hated to admit it, Alandal had developed too quickly.
His world had already reached the upper limit of lower-level worlds with a radius of about a thousand kilometers, but it had been a long time since everyone felt cramped.
With the techniques he had provided, the Valyrs, Novarians, Nagas, and direct descendants of dragons already numbered around 250 intermediate existences.
If you counted the tamed beasts and those in the Sanctuary that clearly followed their orders, the number could rise to 300.
On the other hand, there were more than 100 "wild" spirit beasts, but they lived in seclusion deep within the forests or oceans.
There were far too many for a lower plane, and Alandal could no longer sustain their needs.
High-level resources were becoming scarce, and it was inevitable that conflicts would break out. Not to mention that any rank 4 could cross the entire plane in less than two hours, creating enormous battles for resources with disastrous consequences for the world.
Even though they tried to fight in the air or on the sea to limit the damage to the world, it wasn't a long-term solution.
He needed to start planning seriously, or his domain would soon head straight for self-destruction.
And the simplest solution was to have Alandal promoted to an intermediate plane.
Not only would its size grow significantly, but the laws would also strengthen, limiting the damage caused by battles.
In addition, breaking through to rank 5 would be a major obstacle for many intermediate existences, as they would be limited by their spiritual or magical roots, keeping the number of top-tier experts low in the short term.
But it wasn't that simple.
For a demi-plane to become a full plane, it needed to condense an origin stone and create its own will.
On this point, Liam had done his best, providing it with all the materials up to rank 6 that were, according to the Federation, ideal for his own divine domain.
But after that, Alandal needed to comprehend the fundamental rules of the universe: gravity, electromagnetism, strong force, and weak force.
He didn't need to have an incredible understanding—just condensing ten lower runes of each would be enough.
But Alandal was still far from the ten runes.
Its understanding barely allowed it to condense six or seven of each.
At the very least, it would need another hundred or two hundred years of the Void to reach that goal.
And that was only thanks to his solid foundation; otherwise, it would take tens of thousands of years.
Liam could only sigh and move on.
He took off and quickly headed toward the professors' shuttle.
What he needed now was to convince Mr. Idder to place all the Donvers they would find in a divine pearl.
Otherwise, even as a lower plane, it would take him two or three Earth months to assimilate that many people.