Chapter 554 - A Queen's Domain

Instructing Nan Tian to collect the artefacts with Yin for now, Shiro started to search the web for any hints that may point her in the direction of the Ice Queen. However, from what she could tell, there were none.

Massaging her eyes, she wondered what the difference between an anchor point and a domain was. After all, when she arrived at the Ice Queen's anchor point, she didn't get a notification like she did after Thiria made this place her domain.

{Perhaps Anchor points are very important so it wouldn't be good if their location was revealed instantly while domains are like their place of influence? Like countries. You may cross the border and understand that this is for example, the kingdom of spirits. However, you wouldn't know where their most valued position is.} Nimue suggested as Shiro nodded her head.

"That makes sense. I suppose Anchors are what binds the Queen to this world while the domain is where they cultivate their strength. I'm just making a hypothesis but do you think they can only have a certain number of Domains in relation to their anchors?" Shiro muttered while glancing out at the black sky and furrowed her brows.

So far, the Queen hadn't done anything so she could assume that she didn't have any plans to kill her just yet.

Thinking of this point, Shiro then turned her attention to the Black Monarchy.

After Thiria made this place her domain, she could pick up on multiple suspicious figures entering the city through her drones. Assuming them to be the members of the Black Monarchy, Shiro tried to see where they were going but gave up when Thiria appeared.

Right now, she is in another Queen's domain and pissing her off isn't the smartest choice. Plus, there were too many unknown variables that could be in place right now so fighting would be highly advised against.

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Spending a day in the city, Yin managed to collect the other two parts of the artefact and they were preparing to leave. She had already told Lucius about the dangers but he was already preparing to leave. After all, everyone saw what happened when she descended onto this city. Thousands were slaughtered in an instant and he didn't want to play around with his life.

Naturally, recordings of this event were spread to the net and the government were notified. However, they didn't want to fight her just yet since they didn't know the extent of her power and sending more people in without knowing anything was just a waste of manpower.

During the day that she had spent here, Shiro managed to collect some information in regards to what happens when a Queen secures a domain. Those that are rather average will be granted an option by the system called Civilian. They would receive Thiria's protection but in return, a small portion of their power would be given to her.

The second option belonged to those that are more powerful than the average adventurer. They would get the option of Domain Guard. With this, they will get special privileges and are bound to the Queen.

According to a few people, the privileges and penalties they received were of the following.

Privileges:

+10% to All Stats

Enhanced Dark Element Magic

+20% to All Stats if you are within the Queen's Domain

Two high level skills in relation to your class

A certain amount of protection against Demons, Monsters, Celestials, Gods and Gods Chosen

There were more but it varied from person to person. These were just the common rewards.

As for the penalties there were quite a few but these were the most important ones.

They could not go under the rule of another Queen unless the current Queen is killed or a higher ranked Queen offers them a place in their domain.

They have to protect a Domain that they are assigned to. Should they fail this task, the Queen is able to punish them as she sees fit. 

Should they betray the Queen, they will suffer a permanent 25% decrease to their stats and receive the special debuff known as Traitor. This causes the Queens to look at them with contempt and would hinder any future attempts to enter another Queen's rule.

Thankfully for those that didn't want anything to do with the Queen, they were under a protection period of sorts that didn't allow the Queen to raise her hand against them for three days. However, that did not mean the members of the Black Monarchy couldn't so the weak adventurers quickly left the city while they could.

For those that were caught, they were killed immediately.

Within a single day, a new kind of market was born. Escort hire. You would hire a powerful adventurer to escort you out of this city since the Black Monarchy were guarding the teleport shrine along with the borders. The government wanted to send a few people but the Queen's offer only extended to those that were in the domain at the time of its formation. Meaning, the agents that the government sent were rendered to food for Thiria's beasts.

Even a level 400 was dealt with easily which caused Thiria to be marked as extremely dangerous on the government's list of dangerous individuals.

"Are you ready to leave?" Nan Tian asked since Shiro had stayed behind to gather some information.

"Mn. I've gathered as much information as I could. Any more would be dangerous since we don't know the limits of Thiria's power. She might not be attacking me because I made things easier for her and she looks down on me but at the same time, that could just be a bluff and the system was preventing her. Regardless, I'm not keen on finding out. It's annoying but fighting her on her turf is a no go and we'll need to run for now. At least till I can understand more about a Queen's privilege because we'll be able to figure out a way to kill her then." Shiro nodded her head.

"How should we leave? Through the teleport shrine or the gates?" Nan tian asked with a smile.

"Teleport Gate. We're going to teleport to the closest city that has another piece of the artefact." Shiro replied while standing up.

"Mum." Yin called out.

"Mn? What is it?"

"I think I figured out what the artefact is." Yin said with a serious expression.

"Oh? You have?" Shiro raised her eyebrow in surprise.

"Yeah. I think it's a class-up object. After getting just three pieces, I feel my strength increasing even though I'm still level 158. I think it might be a situation similar to Lisa. Remember how she gained a level boost after becoming the Light Goddess's Incarnation for a short while?" Yin asked as Shiro nodded.

When Lisandra became the Light Goddess' Incarnation, her level was increased to 75 in an instant but the power she demonstrated was much higher than what a level 75 could output. Considering the background of this artefact being something that Fei Ling had left behind so that Yin could evolve and help their world, Shiro wouldn't be surprised if the artefact contained portions of Fei Ling's power.

"That's good then. With how things are developing, we need all the power we can get. After we get the rest of the pieces, we'll do a few raids with the party in order to get their levels up to par. During that, I can use the breaks in between to look for more clues on the Ice Queen so that I can get some answers from her." Shiro smiled.

"Are you sure she'll even answer your questions?" Nan Tian asked as he wasn't too joyful about Shiro meeting another Queen. From what he knows, all the Queen's are competitors and the Ice Queen was no exception. Who knows if she'll kill Shiro to get rid of a rival before the race even starts.

"Probably not. However, it's a risk I need to take in order to actually know what's happening. If I can't use my privileges as a Queen, then the coming age is going to be much harder. Plus, I need to win so that our world is safe." Shiro shook her head.

*Sigh…

"Figures. Seems like I'm not gonna get a chance to level up anytime soon since I can't leave you alone. The moment I take my eyes off you, you're going to jump head on into danger." Nan Tian shook his head with a tired smile.

"Well… Maybe it's the other way around. Danger likes jumping onto me." Shiro chuckled.

"True. I swear, you must be cursed or something. Danger seems to be lurking around every corner with you around." Nan Tian laughed as they started to make their way to the Teleport Shrine.