233. Emperor of a Solitary Land

“Shit… this is a weird feeling,” Rakna muttered as he straightened himself within the cloud of soul power. “It’s different from my usual soul power expenditure. I feel like my body has become… too big for me to fit in. It’s peculiar…”

“That is an accurate way of putting it. Your soul has a core and the power it exudes forms the shape of it, one that matches your body from the day you were born. Burning soul power in order to use soul skills makes the shape shrink, thus the sensation,” Astraea explained good-naturedly.

“I see… a shame. I could have learned that and more on my own if I could have sustained Founding Intuition longer,” the therian remarked and turned to the angel. “Anyhow, we’ve been distracted enough. I summoned you for a reason, I don’t want to wait a day if your duration ends without my noticing. So, tell me, can you, let’s say, embellish this place a bit?”

Astraea smiled as she looked around at the barren cave. She nodded kindly, “It is achievable, Lord Monarch. Consider around 1000 Mana to do it. Do you have a preference on how it should be?”

“No, I’ll leave it to you,” Rakna said as he took out a frozen heart and broke it into pieces with one hand before swallowing them. He closed his eyes as he felt his mana return. “Do it.”

She nodded and released Natsu. She deployed her wings in full and floated upward; her abundant hair somehow circling her. She reached for one of the twelve hairpins tying it and set the further ends of her strands free. She caressed the ear of wheat accessory and veiled it in green energy.

“[Ilk of Death. Innocence of Rebirth. From These Ashes, Shall Life Bloom,]” she chanted, and with a smooth movement, she tossed the hairpin to the ground.

Rakna squinted and flashed to Natsu. He grabbed him and took off into the air with his wings deployed in full. As he became airborne, the ear of wheat touched the ground. But it didn’t stop and phased through the earth.

Astraea’s eyes glowed. “[Shara Accirvatam,]” her whisper echoed in the cave and a blinding flash of light overtook the brightness of the artificial sky. Immediately after, large roots erupted from where the ear of wheat had fallen and spread until the walls of the cavern.

At the very center, a large tree began to grow at an incredible rate. The trunk gradually expanded and the branches sprouted from the top. Countless white petal leaves grew on them and some of those were taken away by a rising breeze. 

The snowy leaves got scattered and drifted to the ground where they merged with the dirt. In the blink of an eye, massive patches of grass, accompanied by white and red flowers, began to emerge and spread. The walls of the cavern similarly grew roots and small fruit trees sprouted on them.

A small lake was created and moss began to climb the walls. Once everything got to a relative rest and the large tree in the center reached its full height of twenty meters, the last touches followed in the form of bushes and various trees, which included the likes of Sakura trees, Magnolia, Gingko, Willow, Oak and Birch, and other exotic plants…

Astraea’s eyes fluttered open as her spell ended and she landed in front of the white leaf tree with a sigh. Her bare feet touched the soft grass and she smiled, “I applied a simple spell that will follow the four seasons and offer a small ecosystem. I am sure you can see it from the wind. How do you like it?” She asked with a twinkle in her eye as she watched Rakna hover with four black and silver wings. ‘Two pairs… how far in the past is this, I wonder?’ She asked herself.

Meanwhile, Rakna was admiring her handiwork with an eyebrow raised in amazement. “Well, this is better than I expected,” he responded once he was back on the ground and his wings retracted inside his body with the faint noise of his nano-machines.

He glanced at the impromptu mausoleum he had made for the dark elves and saw that flowers had grown inside, several bouquets-worth on top of each grave. “Thank you for that,” he said with a grateful tone and the angel nodded sympathetically.

“But of course, it was mere decency,” she said. “Do you require further assistance?”

“Hm, not really. But you can stay around until your time is up if you want,” Rakna casually said as he evaluated the transformed area. If it wasn’t because he was the one who did it, he could have been fooled that he was outside.

“I’ll take you up on that offer then,” Astraea said and caught Natsu back into her ‘claws’, who was not expecting her to sneak up behind him.

“Wha--! Wait!” The flaming canine couldn’t do anything as he was squished. He didn’t have enough physical strength to get out of her grip and something told him that he would regret it if he tried to use his flames or magic.

“{Quite the physique she has, now that I take a closer look,}” Fray commented as Rakna scried the area for a good building spot.

‘I hope you’re not talking about what I think you are,’ Rakna responded with a flat look.

“{Hey! I am not that kind of individual!}” The storyteller retorted, offended by the insinuation. “{I meant her physical abilities! They are high for a magic entity…}”

‘Hm, you’re right. My Appraisal returns an average of 70 across the board except for her intelligence. It’s marked as ‘???’. That’s a Goddess for you, I guess.’

“{Mhm… It does make me wonder who else you can call forth.}”

“That’s a question for another day,” Rakna said out loud and halted in a rather open spot, near the biggest willow tree that Astraea had conjured. “This place is good enough. But first, let’s use this before I forget,” he muttered and a sort of scroll appeared in his hand. The seal that held it together seemed to be made of literal gold.

Rakna casually tore it apart with a swipe of a claw, something that, funnily enough, made a hole in his gloves every time he did it. But they always mended themselves afterward. 

The scroll was unrolled like a spring and a golden light came out of it as it began to float in front of him. “Claim this cavern and everything around,” he voiced his order at the Item given to him by Eva and proceeded to sign it with his mana. Immediately after, the scroll disintegrated into motes of light and a system window replaced it.

❮ ◈ ❯

As a Legendary Emperor, your basic rights allow you to claim the equivalent of 25 square kilometers. There will also be an Array encompassing the entirety of the territory that will repel weaker hostile creatures and hide specific areas from intruders based on the owner’s wishes.

Congratulations, you have claimed a territory of your own! 

It will now be unaltered by the System Reset and non-hostile Wilden within its borders will fall under your control. As its Lord, you can decide to set up a settlement and expand your territory in scale with how many habitants you welcome.

---

Due to meeting several criteria, you have gained a new Title; Emperor of a Solitary Land!

---

Emperor of a Solitary Land

This is a title handed to a ruler of Imperial Merit when they come to possess land but are not inclined in building a community. 

They are commonly seen as the underdogs of nobility, some of them are infamous, some are feared, others are looked down upon. But most are aware; the ones that meet the criteria of such a designation are not to be trifled with.

Effects whilst inside the territory:

- 50% increase to both types of Regeneration.

- 50% increase to all Statistics.

- Subordinates and Allies receive a 25% increase to all Statistics.

- All stealth skills are nullified when it concerns the Lord.

Note: This Title can be evolved depending on how the holder decides to develop their territory.

❮ ◈ ❯

Eye of Symphony promptly calibrated Rakna’s body and mind to the buffs and both Astraea and Natsu felt their statistics go up; qualifying them as either ‘Allies’ or ‘Subordinates’.

“Hm, this is a nice bonus,” the therian commented.

“{By the way, may I ask why you decided to use your Claiming Right on this place, in the end?}”

“Well, at first, I was waiting for a place that might attract my attention further up the Plateaus, but then I remembered…” Rakna sighed as he glanced at the tombs inside his crystal structure. “Since Verias isn’t here anymore, nor are the Dark Elves, this place will be wiped out by the Reset. I was aware of that since the beginning, and that’s why I was okay with leaving the graves like this. But I had a change of mind. If I let these graves disappear… I might lose my chance.”

“{Lose your chance? Of what?}” Fray asked in confusion.

Rakna snorted. “Who knows…” He mumbled. “Anyway, I figured this was quite an original location for a house, so why not?” He shrugged and invoked The Trickster’s Sleeve. He inspected the plot of terrain he had chosen, and mused whilst shuffling the deck of cards. 

“Let’s see…” He whispered and drew the card at the top. “Seven. Interesting. It seems this type of card allows me to do things on a much larger scale than I expected,” he commented.

“What kind of Item is that?” Astraea asked as she floated behind his back and peeked over his head with Natsu in her arms. “It looks quite special.”

Rakna looked up at her face and deadpanned, “What? Can’t you fish that info from Egregore? Isn’t there supposed to be everything in there?”

The angel blinked and chuckled. She stopped hovering above him and spun around in the air. She lowered herself to his right but continued to float, “That’s not exactly how it works. Egregore is a collection of thoughts, yes, but even if everyone is connected to it, it doesn’t mean that you can get anything and everything from it.” 

“To be as clear as possible, imagine that Egregore is a library. And as an example, let’s take fighting techniques. As you may predict, many people across universes have those kinds of skills. And for each of them, a book appears on the shelves. From there on, do you understand if I tell you that finding a book on ‘fighting techniques’ is far easier than trying to find a book specifically with the information of the item you’re holding right now?”

Rakna raised an eyebrow. “I see. So, basically, there needs to be duplicates for something to stand out in Egregore. On the other hand, the rarer and more insignificant matters are nearly impossible to get access to if you’re not one with the realm itself. Or perhaps it is truly unfeasible to even get a glimpse of them, regardless of circumstances because it is drowned by the rest.”

Astraea smiled brightly and nodded. “Correct. I say; it doesn’t make much difference whether you are using Founding Intuition or not,” she praised.

“Hm… I suppose that means you don’t have a deep connection to that realm?”

“More or less. I was born from it, in a sense, so I do have some amount of familiarity with how you extract information from Egregore. I’m essentially proficient in all areas of expertise, but not to a very high degree.”

“Then I guess you don’t have the answer if I asked you about a few specifics concerning my race or my magic for example.”

The angel giggled. “Indeed, you don’t get much more unique than that. Trying to find information on those in Egregore would normally be a nightmare.”

Rakna squinted. “Normally? What do you mean by that?”

Astraea’s smile widened. “They belong to you, after all, Lord Monarch.”

“…?”

“It’s effortless to find them in Egregore… because it is effortless to find you in it.”

The therian froze. ‘It’s easy to find me?’ He reiterated internally. Considering the impish smile on the goddess’ face, it seemed that she didn’t just say that because he was a Firmament Monarch. 

“How can I be prominent inside Egregore? I don’t believe there are nearly enough people that have me in their thoughts for my profile to stand out. There aren’t enough duplicates, per se, as you just explained.”

“My, my, but you forget something, Lord Monarch,” Astraea said teasingly.

Rakna scowled. “And that is?”

“What if the person I am referring to is not the current you… but your future self?”

His eyes widened at the revelation. “Are you saying… that Egregore records the future as well?”

“Obviously. It is a timeless realm.”

“Then… are you telling me that you know of my future?”

“To some extent, yes. You are quite famous if I must say so,” she admitted.

“…”

“And before you ask, let me tell you that I cannot divulge anything about the future.”

“…I wasn’t planning to,” Rakna retorted non-committedly.

“Oh? You’re not even a bit curious about it?”

The therian clicked his tongue. “Woman, do you have fun taunting me with an unreachable bait?”

Astraea laughed. “Haha, I’m sorry. I was just a bit surprised. You don’t even seem a bit concerned about the fact that I possibly hold information about your future successes… or losses. Most people tend to feel restless when close to such an opportunity.”

“I don’t mind,” he replied with a sigh. “I’m fine with knowing that Egregore has apparently deemed me worthy of a reputation. At least, that means my life won’t end up meaningless. I guess that’s as good a prophecy as I’ll get. So, you have my thanks.”

The goddess blinked in surprise and fell silent for a short moment. “I see… you are welcome,” she said in a soft tone and he faintly smiled.

‘…where did I go wrong?’ Meanwhile, Natsu was still stuck in an existential crisis. It didn’t help that the two other people in his vicinity were having some sort of deep dialogue while he was being held like a plushie by one of them. ‘…really, where?’

AhraManyu

Indeed, where?