The Golem Mage

[Lord Alec Gordons has entered the 2nd Level.]

The old man responsible for Alec’s transfer to the Wilderness Region couldn’t hide his surprise when he saw the notification, as he idle away just sitting on his throne.

And it didn’t take long for him to guess what must have happened, he then bursted out laughing as he remembered the recruiters who had been betting on which region’s new lord would be the first to reach the second level.

And here was Alec, quietly entering it first.

Still, he had to admit that Alec’s environment was far worse than that of the other Level 2 territories, so he forced himself to calm down a little for the time being.

_ _

At last, the whole town was enclosed by stone walls, leaving every single villager in utter shock, they had all assumed their new lord would soon put them to work building a rough wooden barricade to protect their small settlement.

Instead, their lord had simply used some mysterious power to make stone walls descend from the sky, and they couldn’t help but feel much safer now.

“Alec, I don’t know how you did this, but I believe the other seven lands not far from yours belong to you now as well, so don’t be stingy—help us build city walls too,” Arthur complained immediately, making Alec laugh, not that he minded Arthur’s nagging though.

He first created stone walls around each of the other seven lands surrounding his own. However, he wasn’t done yet, after making sure they were all protected from every angle, he began crafting long stretches of stone wall to connect the distances between them, so that all seven lands would be enclosed within one massive outer wall.

Though his own land still remained at the center of it all.

Since he already knew his territories might be targeted soon, he had no intention of leaving the lands under him unattended either; before long, all seven lands had been enclosed and protected by towering thirteen-foot stone walls.

Though the areas within the walls still didn’t look advanced, at least the citizens of every land under him could now live with some peace, knowing they were shielded from the outside world threat.

“You all need to return to your assigned lands and explain to the people that the stone falling from the sky was the power of the lords they now serve under.

“But that isn’t all, make sure you sit on your thrones and synchronize completely with your castles, as there’s something I want to do, and I’ll need all of you fully synchronized with your castles before I can carry it out.”

Alec said this as the members of his inner circle, along with Beatrice, began flying back to their respective castles.

“That smelly, wicked Alec. He told me he wouldn’t stress me at all, and it hasn’t even been a day yet, but he’s already doing the exact opposite of what he promised,” Beatrice muttered with a pout as she flew off.

Though she had spoken in a low voice while leaving, Alec had still heard her and laughed.

As he descended back to the ground, the inhabitants of his town began hailing him loudly. Yet Alec didn’t believe he had done much—he was only just getting started.

In fact, he believed that when he was truly done, they would be completely blown away.

He swiftly returned and sat on his throne, and the synchronization began the moment he did, the main reason he had done that was so his powers could assimilate with his land.

That way, whatever he bought for his portion of the territory would carry attributes that matched or complemented him.

As for asking his siblings to return to their own lesser throne rooms and assimilate with their castles, it was so that whatever he bought and placed within their territories would carry the same effect, everything there would align with and complement the master he had placed there as the ruler of that castle with a little of his power influencing it.

Though he might now be called a city lord, Alec still saw himself as nothing more than a town lord with seven villages gathered around him.

He believed that only by following the system’s plan and upgrading every village under his control would he truly be worthy of the title of city lord, and since the system had helped him create a shop to purchase whatever he needed, while also installing extra features into his City Heart after rearranging its programming, everything had become much easier for him.

It was as if every strategy and city-building game concept had been fused into one for him to build his small and growing settlement.

Almost like he was playing Clash of Clans and a city-building game at the same time, except this was real, and if he failed to protect his city properly, or if the enemy broke through, that would be the end for his people.

They would literally lose their lives, there were no second chances. That alone was one of the reasons he wasn’t too bothered by how many system points he had already spent.

Still, it was almost as if he was deliberately avoiding checking the exact amount, though one wall had cost only a hundred system points, the final cost had risen sharply because he hadn’t just built for one land, he had built for all seven under him too and then connected them together when he was done.

And while the cost might be manageable for now, Alec was certain that once he intended to upgrade the stone walls to the next level, the expense would only climb even higher, and then he would also have to plan not only for the seven surrounding towns, but also for the long stretches of wall linking them together.

He started to feel a headache that didn’t even exist, a kind of headache only his system could make him feel.

“Well... I might as well take a nap for now,” Alec muttered to himself as he stared at the screen showing only 2% in his synchronization progression, it’s still a long way from being finished.

However, at that exact moment, the cube floated toward him and said—

“Master, there are severely malicious energy waves gathering near the border of our sub territories assigned to your brother.”

“Hm. Can you show me the map?”

A holographic map appeared at once, displaying his lands and the surrounding territories. There, a series of red dots flashed from one side, indicating the malicious energies trying to breach the border, just as the cube had said.

“Hmmm... can I get visuals?” Alec asked.

“Unfortunately, no. Since they are not within the scope of our lands yet, they are beyond our range of spying on,” the cube replied.

“Okay then, Baby X, I’ll just go deal with them myself,” Alec said as he tried to stand, only to realize that he couldn’t move.

“I’m sorry to say this, my lord, but you won’t be able to, once the synchronization starts, you can only move after it ends,” the cube replied.

“That is an ass rule. Well then, can you at least tell me how strong they are?”

“Three Tier 7s and multiple Tier 6s behind them, the exact number should be around two hundred to three hundred. I cannot say for sure,” the cube answered.

“Well, that shouldn’t be a problem then,” Alec said before using his mental energy to send a message to his golems.

He told them he was looking for three lord-rank golems who would lead their forces to war under his banner.

At first, they were all willing to go out and slaughter the fools who had underestimated their king, but the moment they realized the real reason Alec wasn’t taking the front lines himself—because they all knew how battle-hungry he normally was—they immediately changed their tone.

Now all of them wanted to be the ones left behind so they could guard their master instead.

In the end, Alec had to make the hard choice and select the three lord-rank golems who would represent him, as they continued to give puppy eyes cause they wanted to stay instead. However all Alec could think of at the moment is, if Brandon was unable to move just like he was, then he would be doomed.

“Butcher, Oni, Hunter—you three are responsible for this. As for the rest of you, you will be responsible for my protection.”