Chapter 151 Year Of Progress

The journey to the Goldtooth City and overall back to the Demon Continent, from the cold and frozen north of the Human Continent, was without any major obstructions and problems. They were traversing through the frozen wastes of the Northern Area of the Human Continent when they were hit by a very strong snowstorm; they were forced to spend time at a small village where they took over one of the houses and waited until the snowstorm had abated.

Samiel and Dharzug encountered only a few bandit groups that had the unfortunate honor of meeting them as they were swiftly dealt with. Naturally, there was no way that the bandits would be able to threaten them because the largest band that attacked them was consisting of several hundreds of bandits, mainly from the deserters or criminals, but it was swiftly annihilated when Sameil summoned his Undead Army.

It was apparent that banditry was becoming more common in the Human Continent, as more and more people took the opportunity of the soldiers, guards or overall military forces of the Human Brotherhood and its vassals being indisposed to wreak havoc in this place. Not to mention there was a considerable presence of former soldiers of the Human Brotherhood that turned to banditry because they saw no reason to fight against the demon forces, as many took it as a lost fight before it even properly began.

During the journey to the demon-controlled territories, they even saw a few human villages that were being ransacked and pillaged by the brigadier groups, some of which were led even by Bronze-Tier human Professionals.

Samiel knew that these ones must have been deserters from the army of the Human Brotherhood, who escaped from the frontlines and were making use of it. He wasn't that surprised because if it was otherwise, and it were the demons who were on the losing end, they would be doing the same thing. Escaping from the battlefield as fast as they could be done because most of the demons didn't hold a strong sense of loyalty or commitment to anything aside from themselves.

It seemed that the rule of the Human Brotherhood over its own territory was getting weaker and weaker with each passing month of the war. Though that was understandable because the humans were putting some quite fierce resistance against the demon advances, but for that, they needed to mobilize the majority of their forces at their disposal.

Still, not of that was Samiel's problem, as he continued the journey back to the Goldtooth City together with Dharzug, as they soon enough, within two days, arrived at the demon-controlled territory in the Human Continent.

In the end, it was a very simple thing, as they returned to Goldtooth City, where they would spend next following year up there, even though nobody would realize that they would be spending so long time there before the time to go to battle once more as a team.

***

One Year Later, Goldtooth City, Demon Continent, 8th Floor of the Tower.

And indeed, time flew like a flowing river, and one year had passed since the moment when Samiel attacked the warehouse of the Avalon Kingdom in the northern mountains in the northern area of the Human Continent.

During the one year, many things have happened from which, the most significant and important one being the siege of the Central Area by the Golden-Horned Demon Tribe and their followers as it was ordered by the 5th Prince of the Golden-Horned Demon Tribe.

This alone showed the impatience and inexperience of the 5th Prince of the Golden-Horned Demon Tribe who recklessly attacked the most well-defended Area of the Human Brotherhood without any further preparations... it was foolish if someone was to be asked about it.

And then the miracle happened; nobody totally expected that, but the Human Brotherhood managed to "repel" the Golden-Horned Demon Tribe. Of course, they were absolutely exhausted and there were talks about the forces of the Human Brotherhood abandoning the Central Area they fought so hard to defend, but still.

Certainly, Samiel knew the reason why this happened because it was a combination of several at that. The first and most notable is the fact that of the powerful Tribe and Lineages, almost none of them supported the Golden-Horned Demon Tribe in their endeavor because most of them thought that it was a trap set up by the Avalon Kingdom to kill some of their younger generations.

Most of the demon army that followed the Golden-Horned Demon Tribe at this point was consisting of their vassals from the Lower Words or Middle Worlds, together with some weaker Demon Species that basically couldn't just say no to the hegemon like the Golden-Horned Demon Tribe; thus they were forced to participate. However, the most negative aspect of all this was the fact that the quality of the soldiers that were under the command of the Golden-Horned Demon Tribe right now was subpar, aside from some random demons from some major tribes and races that joined the army on their own.

Yet the 5th Prince of the Golden-Horned Demon Tribe ignored the advice and warnings as he took charge at the Central Area, where his invasion force was repelled and suffered heavy casualties. Of course, in the end, the Central Area was breached because the Gold-Tier Demons took the floor, but still, the causalities that the Demons suffered at that were tremendous.

Of course, in the shadows, there was not only the hand of the Avalon Kingdom but also other Demon Tribes, especially the Star Demons and Moon Demons, who were lineages of the Vassago and Agares, because they were undermining the authority of the Golden-Horned Demon Tribe in the Demon Council.

Demons were not species that had any racial unity, they didn't have belonged to the same species as a whole, but they rather identified themselves based on the Bloodline they were born in their veins and on their common Primogenitors, who could be traced to the Transcendent Level Daemons. So, due to this distinction, there were countless strives between various species of the demonkins and wars among them that were collectively weakening them as a whole.

Samiel was pretty amused that even the ever-stupid demons were capable of scheming and plotting against each other and stabbing each other's backs. Really interesting; one might even mistake them for the Devilkin, who were as cunning as they were powerful. Though if he thought about it for longer, it wasn't something new because, depending on their Daemon Primogenitor, some of the demons were smarter than others and could use even their brain, contrary to many of the demons who only used their muscles.

But that was the nature of the game, where everyone was looking for their own gains and in truth, the Hall of Kadath was no different. It applied to everything and everyone; probably aside from 'Them', everyone was always scheming and plotting against each other.

For Samiel, though, the most notable thing was that he finally managed to get the IMC working because after they returned from the Human Continent, he talked with Dharzug and Yvriane and in the end, all three of them decided to wait and see how the situation would develop.

Because the Golden-Horned Demon Tribe led the mad offensive at the well-fortified position of the Humans, which were continuously strengthened by the Avalon Kingdom, and unfortunately, the Demon Tribes didn't allow anyone at the Peak of the Gold-Tier to participate, Limit Gold-Tiers with Mastery were also absolutely out of the question.

They would cause too much destruction because the might of Peak Gold-Tier Professional, not to mention the Limit Gold-Tier Professional, would cause extreme levels of destruction, considering that this was just one of the Lower Floors of the Tower. Usage of the Gold-Tier Professionals in the conflicts taking place in the Lower Floors of the Tower were strictly monitored by the Tower's System not to disrupt the ecosystem of the Tower and only on rare occasions were the Gold-Tier Professionals allowed to unleash their full power in the Lower Floors of the Tower.

Nobody wanted to participate in something which really much seemed like a suicide mission, so staying in Goldtooth City so far, would be for best. Of course, Dharzug went for a few missions that were assigned by the Star Demon Tribe or Moon Demon Tribe, who were focusing on the conquest of other areas of the Human Continent.

Samiel managed to convince some dwarves, including Brigric Goldengrog, whom he was acquainted with on the 3rd Floor of the Tower. The dwarves were a trustworthy bunch because once being acknowledged by a dwarf as a friend; then one could always depend on their help and trust them because the dwarves took their promises and honor very seriously.

The first business venture of the newly established and registered Inter-Cosmos Manufacturing Corporation was selling the weapons and military equipment that Samiel robbed from the Avalon Kingdom.

It took several months, but through some people in the Hall of Kadath, Master Dwarf Brigric Goldengroc managed to find a buyer in the form of some Empire in the Middle World named Norland. It was a powerful and old High World, and currently, it was only Middle World as it has been degraded with time and war took a heavy toll on the place.

Their buyer was the Sacred Alliance Empire was at war against some of their foes in an attempt to unify the world under their banner. The Emperor of the Sacred Alliance Empire was a very ambitious man who not only seemed to unify the entire world but also to repair the damages done to the world and elevate it to the Higher World once more.

The Norland was relatively without many connections to the rest of the Cosmos, being located on the outskirts of the known parts of the Cosmos, so there were not many merchants and people who would go and trade with them since the world was relatively isolated from the rest of the Cosmos.

In the end, Master Dwarf Brigric Goldengroc managed to strike a deal with the Sacred Alliance Emperor and sold them all of the military equipment from the IMC for an astounding 27 Billion Credits. That was 27 Million Silver-Tier Mana Crystals or 2,7 Million Gold-Tier Mana Crystals... in the end it was a tremendous amount of money.

Of course, almost half of the amount, namely 13,5 Billion would be reinvested in the growth of the IMC or used for any other purposes for the company so it could grow. Business like this was rare because he sold a tremendous amount of military equipment, magetech guns, artilleries and other things.

So, it would be most prudent not to use them for useless things but reinvest them among the things that would be needed to develop the IMC, so it could start continuously generating money because Samiel felt that he would need a lot of it, especially in the later stages.

He also got a message of congratulation from his Master, Hall Master Menuhyutt Faulhaber, for carrying out this deal because the Hall of Kadath owned 20% of the IMC, meaning they got 2,7 Billion Credits from the part which was being paid out on hand immediately. At the same time, Samiel was left with the reaming 10,8 Billion Credits to his name.

This amount of money would be enough for him for a very long time, which would allow him to buy the magical knowledge, namely the Grimoires and Magic Tomes, as much as he wanted. Not to mention, with this, he could continue to indulge in a life of utmost luxury, and at the same time, he had that great feeling, as all of that came from his hard work.

He had already ordered one of the Bishops of the Hall of Kadath to depart to the Magisterium and negotiate with them the price of some Magical Books and pieces of knowledge that he needed. Of course, there was still an opinion of using the Contribution Points from the Hall of Kadath, but Samiel didn't really wish to do so, as he planned to use them to obtain some precious resources and things that he would be used during the creation of his Higher Undeads.

In the present day, Samiel was viewing his Record and observing the growth during this one year; he spent mostly training and perfecting his Masteries in various skills and, most importantly, his Magic. Unfortunately, the progress was slow, but there was still some, or maybe Samiel was just hasty and wanted to get something done as soon as possible.

[Name: Samiel Zentaur

Title: Blessed by Azathoth

Age: 28

Race: Old Deus - Eldritch Creature (80%) / Human (20%)

Class: Knight of Niflheim (34%), Grand Necromancer (22%)

Sub-Class: Apostle of Azathoth (Sealed)

Magician Level:

Basic (Void, Necromancy, Winter)

Intermediate (Void, Necromancy, Winter)

Mana Quality: Void, Ice, Frost, Outer Holiness

Records Points: 5,640

***

Tier: Bronze

Level: 37

***

Abilities:

Winter Ruler (36%) - Ultimate Ability

Soul Devour (39%) - Ultimate Ability

Architect (4%) - Transcendental Ability

***

Techniques:

Nuclear Void Mana Control Method (15%)

Star Mind Protection Technique (25%) - 3 Stars

***

Necrosis Magic:

Necromancy Arts (31%)

Void Magic (21%)

Winter Magic (16%)

***

Skills:

Undead Creation (46%)

Swordsmanship (14%)

Trident Mastery (14%)

Metamagic - Spell Fusion 3rd Level Spells (33%)

Metamagic - Spell Control (15%)

Metamagic - Spell Penetration (15%)

Metamagic - Empower Spell (10%)]

The progress in his Skills was steady; even his Trident Mastery reached 14% of Proficiency which was something very good because it was already a specialized Master-ranked Skill that Samiel developed and evolved from the Polearms Mastery.

Even with the Level 4 Transcendental Ability Architect, Samiel wasn't able to get the Proficiency higher for a very simple reason. While with Architect, he was able to memorize all stances and things like that instantly, learning any martial style with zero effort, but at the same time, he lacked the inner meaning.

Or better said, the intent and the profoundness in the moves. That was something that couldn't be obtained just by memorization of moves and learning styles of combat. Still, even so, Samiel had an easier time very much compared to other people as he was increasing his Proficiency in the Trident Mastery.

His Proficiency in his Magics increased steadily a bit, more than in the martial skills, showing that his talents indeed lay more in the Magic than in the Martial Arts and Weapon Masteries. Of course, currently, Samiel was Intermediate Magician in the Necromancy Arts, Void Magic and Winter Magic.

The one thing which started bothering Samiel to a certain degree was the fact that progress in the mastering of his Classes was still very slow, but in the end, there was nothing he could do about it, so he started praying for success and decided to ask his God for the advice. Mastering the Class was a very individual thing; no people would have the same experiences, so even his Master Menuhyutt Faulhaber was little help in this aspect, aside from the general guideline and some minor details.

Samiel stretched out his body as he closed the Record before he departed from the room in the inn as he went to find Yvraine. He contemplated about what to do next with his free time, as he decided that he would take her on some date or tour across the city.

Fortunately, Yvraine was also bored around this time of year, but at least it was clear that the situation in the frontlines was once again calming down so they could and have some fun. For Samiel, the missions through The Guild on the 8th Floor were mainly about relaxing and killing some humans, or something at least.