Starting With an SSS-Rank Goddess Summon!

The cold biting wind of the Umbral Basin whipped across the courtyard as Silas and Eluned walked back through the heavy Ironwood gates of the Blessed Land.

Inside the palisade walls, the Vanguard had executed his orders flawlessly.

The massive mangled corpses of over a hundred Tier 2 Spirit Beasts along with the colossal twenty-foot lower half of the Corrupted Ursine Overlord were laid out in neat, highly organized rows across the southern half of the stone tiles.

The sheer volume of resources was staggering and the amount of blood soaking into the ground was equally alarming.

”The perimeter is entirely secure, my Lord!” Brida called out, stepping away from the line of corpses.

Her Steel Aegis was strapped firmly to her back. ”The hauling is complete but the miasma is already growing thick. If we don’t process these beasts soon, the fumes will become toxic.”

”I am handling it right now...” Silas assured her with his blue eyes sweeping over the mountain of loot.

He walked directly into the center of the northern, empty half of his courtyard.

The stone tiles here were clean, unblemished by the battle and it was the perfect foundation for his infrastructure expansion.

Silas pulled up his internal interface with his eyes briefly glancing at the glowing golden numbers in the corner of his vision.

[Current Balance: 156 UP]

’One hundred and fifty-six,’ Silas thought as he saw it again. ’I have exactly enough to solve our logistics and our food supply in one sweeping motion but I can’t afford to make a single mistake. I need to squeeze every ounce of value out of these points.’

Putting those thoughts aside, Silas focused.

Hovering right in the center of his vision, a brilliant blue holographic projection materialized.

His Lord inventory had automatically synced with the Build Function, instantly reading the materials he had just acquired from the edge of the forest as a distinct resource tab appeared in the center of the projection.

[Ironwood: 300 / 300 Units]

Silas mentally partitioned exactly half of the refined timber for his first project.

He targeted a large open fifty-by-fifty foot square of stone tiles on the eastern edge of the courtyard and he focused his mind on the structure, and the interface provided a crisp updated description.

[Tier 1 Storage House]

[Description]: Contains 150 units of Ironwood... Sufficient to construct a Tier 1 Storage House. A basic wooden warehouse used to shelter raw materials and resources from the elements and does not prevent organic decay.

Silas didn’t hesitate for a fraction of a second.

’Construct...’ he commanded mentally.

Instantly, the resource tab shattered into a violent storm of pixelated light as a massive rushing wind billowed outward from the center of the courtyard, kicking up the dust and violently snapping the heavy cloaks of the Vanguard.

The holographic blue wireframe suddenly began to fill with physical matter.

Heavy blocks of perfectly refined Ironwood slammed down from the ether, stacking perfectly upon one another with deafening thuds.

Thick beams slotted into place, forming a massive interlocking wooden foundation.

The walls shot upward, and a heavy sloped timber roof slammed down from the sky to cap the structure perfectly.

The entire process took less than ten seconds.

A blinding flash of white light signaled the final culmination of the architecture, leaving a massive highly durable wooden warehouse sitting squarely on the stone tiles of the Blessed Land.

”Whoa!” Fenna gasped, shielding her eyes from the sudden flash of light.

Silas walked up to the heavy wooden double doors and tapped his palm against the rough bark.

[Storage House]

[Tier]: 1 Construct (Common)

[Durability]: 300 / 300

’It’s huge, but it’s fundamentally just a wooden box...’ Silas analyzed instantly. ’There is absolutely zero climate control. If we put the meat in there right now, it will just rot in the shade instead of the sun so the miasma would still build up inside until the building becomes a literal gas chamber.’

The reason he was so confident about being able to eat Monster meat was that meat in the Sovereign Realm unless they were really acidic and even then, A Lord could still eat it without dying.

It was time to force an evolution.

Silas focused his mind squarely on the glowing golden tab hovering directly above the structure’s durability readout.

[Would you like to upgrade Tier 1 Storage House to Tier 2 Frost-Sealed Vault?]

[Cost: 70 UP]

’Accept...’ Silas commanded without a second thought.

The courtyard was instantly plunged into a blinding radiance.

A towering pillar of incandescent golden light erupted directly from Silas’s palm, completely engulfing the massive wooden warehouse.

The sheer magical pressure of the Absolute Upgrade System descending upon the physical realm caused the air temperature in the courtyard to instantly plummet, sending a wave of biting freezing cold rushing outward.

Inside the golden pillar, the structure was being fundamentally rewritten by the cosmic laws.

The simple wooden walls darkened, becoming hyper-dense and thoroughly insulated.

The basic iron hinges melted and rapidly reformed into heavy dense mythril locking mechanisms capable of sealing an airtight vault.

When the light finally shattered like glass and faded into the ether, a completely new breathtakingly advanced facility rested in the courtyard.

It was a veritable fortress of preservation as deep, chilling blue mist actively rolled out from the bottom of the heavy reinforced steel doors.

Silas gripped the mythril handle and heaved the massive doors open.

’Damn... I really love upgrading stuff.’

The Vanguard gasped collectively.

The interior wasn’t just an empty, dark room anymore... The system had provided a full suite of Tier 2 utility.

The massive insulated walls were lined with intricate, glowing blue frost-runes keeping the ambient temperature at a perfect, meat-preserving deep freeze.

Down the center of the massive room sat pristine heavy steel butchery tables, large enchanted wooden bowls for blood-letting and racks of heavy, razor-sharp iron meat cleavers.

”By the gods...” Tamsin whispered with her professional eyes wide as she stepped past Silas into the freezing mist of the vault.

She ran a hand over the pristine steel of a butchery table. ”This is... this is perfect. It’s an absolute masterpiece. We can store the entire horde in here and the meat won’t decay for a long time.”

”Then let’s not waste any time,” Silas smiled, thoroughly satisfied with the investment. ”Tamsin, you are officially in charge of the harvest... Take whoever you need... Strip the bone plating, save the pelts, drain the corrosive blood into the enchanted bowls, and secure the meat.”

”With extreme pleasure, my Lord!” Tamsin saluted enthusiastically with a wicked grin spreading across her face.

She immediately turned to the Vanguard. ”Brida! Get the Shieldmaidens! Start hauling the wolves in here! Fenna, grab a cleaver! We have a mountain to carve!”

The Vanguard operated like a well-oiled machine.

Within seconds, the girls were dragging the massive corpses into the freezing mist of the vault with the heavy thwack of meat cleavers and the sound of peeling leather quickly filling the air.

Silas didn’t stop to rest.

He turned his attention back to the courtyard.

He walked to the final empty quadrant of the Blessed Land, placing himself a respectful distance away from both the Armored Barracks and the new Frost-Sealed Vault.

Silas pulled up the interface again with his inventory automatically syncing his remaining lumber.

[Ironwood: 150 / 150]

[Construct Blueprint: Tier 1 Garden House]

[Description]: Contains 150 units of Ironwood... Sufficient to construct a Tier 1 Garden House. A basic wooden enclosure with tilled earth that protects fragile crops from harsh wind and does not possess climate control.

Silas focused his intent.

’Construct.’

Once again, the resource tab shattered into pixelated light. The rushing wind kicked up, howling through the courtyard as the blue holographic wireframe anchored itself to the stone.

Heavy beams of perfectly refined Ironwood slammed down from the sky, interlocking with brutal efficiency.

Within ten seconds, a long, low-slung wooden enclosure with a slanted roof materialized.

Silas stepped up to the basic wooden structure and placed his hand against the door.

[Would you like to upgrade Tier 1 Garden House to Tier 2 Verdant Conservatory?]

[Cost: 76 UP]

Silas mentally verified his math one last time.

He had 86 UP remaining. This upgrade would cost 76, leaving him with exactly 10 UP—a razor-thin margin but an absolutely necessary expenditure.

’I’m glad these ones are cheap... Accept!’ Silas commanded.

The final surge of golden light erupted from his hands, violently restructuring the basic wood.

His internal interface chimed as his UP balance aggressively ticked down.

[Current Balance: 10 UP]

When the blinding light faded, the basic wooden shack was completely gone. In its place stood a breathtakingly beautiful, magically climate-controlled glass-and-wood conservatory.

The enchanted glass panels spanning the roof and walls hummed with a warm golden light, specifically designed by the System to trap and amplify the ambient mana of the Sovereign Realm.

’Amazing...’ Eluned thought from beside him.

Silas pushed the elegant heavy timber door open and stepped inside.

The air within the Conservatory was a stark contrast to the freezing, biting wind of the Umbral Basin.

It was incredibly warm and rich, smelling heavily of fresh rain and deeply fertile soil.

Long, perfectly pristine beds of black nutrient-dense earth stretched out before him, separated by neat stone walkways.

It was the perfect environment to grow anything but as Silas looked at the perfectly tilled empty dirt as the massive adrenaline high of building the territory suddenly crashed into a suffocating wall of realization.

Silas stopped walking, his shoulders slumping slightly.

’I’m an idiot,’ Silas thought, mentally kicking himself as he stared at the barren soil. ’I am a colossal idiot.’

He had a Tier 2 magical greenhouse. The soil was so rich it practically hummed with potential but he had absolutely nothing to plant in it.

Silas had forgotten to buy seeds!

’Without seeds, this Conservatory is just a highly expensive glowing empty room...’ Silas lamented, running a hand through his dark hair. ’The girls can’t eat dirt, no matter how magically rich it is... They need actual nutrition to maintain their combat efficiency and high-tier crops sell for a fortune on the market.’

”Do not worry, my Lord...” a soft melodic voice whispered right beside his ear.

Silas turned his head, slightly startled.

Eluned had followed him silently inside. The Goddess of the World Tree stepped delicately past him, walking out into the center of the massive, empty dirt beds.

She looked back at him as her emerald eyes glowed with a comforting warmth.

”You forget who I am,” Eluned smiled gently.

She didn’t wait for his response.

The Goddess knelt gracefully onto the black earth, completely unconcerned about the damp soil staining the hem of her flawless silver-green dress.

She pressed her delicate, pale hands completely flat against the empty, seedless dirt and she closed her eyes and let out a deep, slow breath.

Silas watched as her divine SSS-Rank aura flared to life.

It wasn’t the violent hyper-pressurized wind magic that she had used to obliterate the Ironwood trees.

This was completely different...

[Aura of Genesis: Spontaneous Cultivation]

It was an undisputed miracle.

From the completely barren dirt beneath her hands, tiny sparks of glowing emerald light began to aggressively bubble to the surface.

Within a fraction of a second, vibrant glowing green shoots violently erupted from the soil.

The SSS-Rank divine magic completely bypassed the biological necessity of seeds.

Eluned didn’t just manipulate nature... she was nature and she was actively commanding the ambient mana trapped within the Conservatory to take physical organic form.

Before Silas’s very eyes, the entire length of the eighty-foot Conservatory exploded into life.

The growth was exponential and instantaneous.

Massive, glowing red fruits the size of melons rapidly expanded and hung heavily from thick sturdy vines that climbed the enchanted glass walls.

Dense, highly nutritious leafy greens sprouted in perfectly organized rows along the soil beds and shimmering golden wheat that radiated pure mana shot up to waist height in a matter of seconds, fully maturing instantly.

The scent of blooming flowers, sweet fruit, and fresh rain completely filled the enclosure.

The empty room had been transformed into a breathtaking literal Garden of Eden overflowing with high-tier magical crops.

Eluned stood up, wiping a speck of rich black dirt from her knee. She looked proudly at the massive harvest with her chest heaving slightly from the exertion, before turning back to her Lord.

”The Blessed Land will never go hungry...” Eluned stated softly with a deeply satisfied smile gracing her lips. ”These are Spirit-Fruits and Ether-Wheat. They will restore stamina, enhance mana recovery, and nourish the Vanguard far better than salted meat.”

Silas stared at the glowing fruits and then his chest swelled with an overwhelming sense of victory that completely dwarfed his earlier realization of the Leaderboard ranking.

The territory was completely secure.

The Vanguard was heavily armed with Steel and magical bows... They had a mountain of Tier 2 monster meat and bone plating safely preserved in a freezing vault and now, they had a literal paradise of magical crops growing indefinitely within their walls.

They were fully, entirely self-sustaining in the middle of a literal death zone.

Silas stepped forward, crossing the stone walkway, and wrapped his arms firmly around Eluned, pulling her into a tight warm embrace.

He rested his chin gently on the top of her silver-green head.

”Thank you Eluned,” Silas whispered into the quiet glowing greenhouse. ”Truly.”

Eluned gasped softly, her breath hitching in her throat.

Her arms quickly wrapped tightly around his waist as she buried her furiously blushing face deep into his chest.

She could hear his heart beating steadily against her ear.

Surrounded by the miraculous life she had just created, the SSS-Rank Goddess completely surrendered to the overwhelming protectiveness and genuine gratitude radiating from her Lord.

She held him tightly, absolutely certain that the Blessed Land was exactly where she belonged.