Starting With an SSS-Rank Goddess Summon!

She turned back to Silas, gesturing with her hands.

”Not just a basic crop farm, but a wide, open-air botanical pavilion filled with ancient mana-blooms, glowing moonlight lilies, soft grass terraces, and stone fountains. A place where the girls can sit, meditate, recover their mana, and relax after heavy combat training. It acts as a natural spatial anchor that purifies the ambient atmosphere of the entire territory.”

Silas raised an eyebrow, genuinely intrigued by the concept.

An open-air garden pavilion that provided passive mana recovery and spatial purification for his troops sounded like an exceptional utility structure.

”An Open Sanctuary Garden...” Silas reflected out loud. ”Alright. I’ll search through the System blueprint database later tonight and see what botanical designs we can use.”

They already had the Verdant place but more places wouldn’t be so bad.

Eluned gave him a sweet, radiant smile, stepping up to kiss his chin.

”Thank you, my Lord.”

”Come on,” Silas said, taking her hand. ”Let’s go chop some trees.”

Leaving the Keep behind, Silas and Eluned walked side by side down the stone pathway, heading toward the eastern perimeter of the territory where the dense Ironwood forest bordered the inner valley.

The morning sun was warm, casting a golden glow over the lush landscape. As they walked, their fingers naturally intertwined... Silas’s broad calloused hand gripping Eluned’s soft, delicate fingers in a comfortable affectionate hold.

Walking hand-in-hand through his territory, Silas felt a rare sense of peace settle over his mind.

For a few brief minutes, he wasn’t worrying about Lord Sky’s mobile fortress, the World Council’s eyes, or the upcoming broadcast war.

He was just a man walking through a beautiful forest with the woman that was his wife.

’And her smell... it’s so calmi---’

Silas sighed shaking his head of such thoughts before he started ramming into her again out here.

They reached the tree line, stepping off the paved stone path and onto the soft damp moss of the forest floor.

Up ahead stood a colossal ancient Ironwood tree. Its trunk was as wide as a wagon, its bark dark and dense as solid iron stretching nearly eighty feet into the sky.

Eluned stopped beside the massive trunk, releasing Silas’s hand to gently place her palm against the rough bark.

A subtle pulse of green mana radiated from her skin, flowing into the tree’s internal vascular system.

”This is a remarkably healthy tree,” Eluned evaluated softly, her emerald eyes scanning the towering canopy. ”It has absorbed mineral nutrients from the soil, but notice how no fruits or flowers are growing from its branches.”

Silas looked up at the dense green leaves. ”So it’s a pure timber tree which is perfect for beams.”

While inspecting the surroundings, Eluned glanced over at an adjacent tree twenty yards away... a lush mana-apple tree heavy with ripe, glowing red apples.

With a subtle flick of her wrist, Eluned channeled a delicate strand of nature power into the soil.

SWISH!

A pair of thin green vines sprouted instantly from the grass beneath the apple tree! The vines coiled gracefully up the trunk, gently plucking three massive perfectly ripe mana-apples from the high branches, and carried them back across the air, floating them down right into Silas’s waiting hands!

Silas caught the glowing red apples, raising an eyebrow with a smirk.

”Snack time?”

”Always,” Eluned giggled softly.

Silas took a big, crunchy bite out of one of the apples. The crisp sweet juice exploded across his tongue, bursting with rich, refreshing mana that instantly restored his energy.

He chewed happily, looking over at the dozens of fruit-heavy trees scattered across the forest edge.

”Man...” Silas said with a sigh, taking another bite, ”...we really need to assign a dedicated harvesting squad of girls to pluck these apples every morning. Leaving high-grade mana-fruit sitting on branches to rot is a complete waste of territorial resources.”

Eluned nodded in complete agreement, taking a delicate bite of her own apple.

”I’ll have Gunnhild organize a daily harvesting rotation starting tomorrow. We can store the excess fruit in cold preservation vaults.”

Finishing her apple, Eluned turned her full attention back to the colossal Ironwood tree before them.

Her gentle expression instantly shifted into that of a supreme SSS-Rank Nature Goddess.

HUMMM!

An overwhelming suffocating aura of brilliant green divine mana erupted from Eluned’s body.

The grass beneath her boots began to bloom with tiny white flowers as ambient nature energy answered her call...

Eluned raised both of her hands toward the sky with her emerald hair floating wildly in the air.

”Up,” Eluned commanded softly.

RUMBLE! RUMBLE! RUMBLE!

The entire forest floor violently shook as the colossal eighty-foot Ironwood tree... weighing tens of thousands of pounds began to lift straight out of the ground.

Its massive, iron-dense root network slid cleanly out of the soil as if pulled by an invisible giant hand.

As the tree floated gracefully twenty feet in the air, a soft shower of bright green leaves rained down through the canopy.

Eluned reached out her hand, catching three large, perfectly shaped leaves as they drifted down.

With a cute, playful flick of her fingers, she channeled a tiny thread of mana into the leaves, weaving them together into a charming, elegant little green leaf-hat, and placed it neatly atop her head.

She turned toward Silas, tilting her head with a beaming, adorable smile.

”How do I look?”

Silas sweatdropped hard, looking at the goddess wearing a leafy hat while holding a multi-ton tree suspended in mid-air.

”You look amazing, Elu,” Silas smirked, pointing toward the floating trunk. ”Now... how are we splitting this beast?”

Eluned’s smile turned confident. ”Tell me what dimensions you need, My Lord.”

”We need clean Ironwood support beams like the ones you did before,” Silas instructed clearly. ”Cut them into standard twelve-foot structural lengths. We need as many as this trunk can yield.”

”Consider it done,” Eluned declared.

FLASH!

Lines of razor-sharp concentrated green mana blades materialized around the floating tree.

With mathematical precision, the nature mana sliced through the iron-dense timber... stripping the outer bark, trimming the branches, and slicing the massive trunk into hundreds of pristine, squared Ironwood beams.

THUD! THUD! THUD!

Stack after stack of perfectly processed Ironwood beams rained down onto the grass, forming a massive, neatly organized timber pile that triggered Silas’s system inventory counter.

[RESOURCE HARVESTED: Ironwood Beams +800 Units]

Silas looked at the massive timber pile, a deep satisfied breath escaping his chest.

Watching Eluned effortlessly process an entire forest giant in seconds, Silas folded his arms, his blue eyes narrowing as his mind shifted toward the bigger picture.

’Eight hundred units from a single tree...’ Silas calculated internally. ’With two more trees, we’ll have more than enough timber to finish erecting all living quarters today.’

He looked out toward the northern horizon with his jaw setting into a firm unyielding line.

’Huu...’ Silas sighed silently in his thoughts. ’We really need to prepare properly for this war. Sky might act like a casual streamer, but anyone commanding a mobile fortress of that scale has hidden cards waiting to be played.’

Meanwhile... deep within the luxurious high-tech command suite of The Unmovable Wall...

The interior of Lord Sky’s private quarters was dimly lit, illuminated only by the soft, ambient blue luminescence of floating screens and server arrays.

Standing near the central holotable was Brenna... the master dwarven artificer and older sister of Thora.

Brenna was clad in her heavy leather work vest, holding a digital diagnostic scanner in her hand as she addressed the figure sitting in the shadow of the main leather lounge chair.

”The diagnostic scan on Lord Vespera’s equipment is complete,” Brenna reported, her voice quiet and serious. ”I cross-referenced the frequency logs recorded by your mask sensors during the stream.”

The figure in the chair didn’t speak, remaining perfectly still.

”Vespera’s ring...” Brenna revealed, pointing a finger at her scanner screen, ”...is a high-tier Disguise Artifact. It was forged using a dual-polarity disguise. To be precise... it was crafted by my Father back in the Underground Mountain Realm.”

Brenna looked up at the chair with her eyes glinting.

”It is the exact paired counterpart to the masculine disguise helmet you wear.”

Silence hung in the room for a long tense moment.

”Oh...?” a quiet voice echoed from the chair.

PFT-SHHH!

A soft pressurized release of blue spatial mana vented from the neck seam of the heavy full-face streaming helmet.

The figure raised two delicate slender hands, grabbing the sides of the heavy helmet, and smoothly lifted it off her head.

FLASH.

A subtle wave of blue light washed over her physical form.

The masculine broad-shouldered silhouette dissolved completely... revealing a stunning breathtaking young woman.

She possessed long, silky black hair that fell down her back smooth porcelain skin, and sharp, captivating dark eyes that radiated a mixture of intense intelligence and deep fatigue.

She was dressed in an oversized dark-grey Earth traveler’s hoodie and comfortable trousers, looking far more like a stressed brilliant young strategist than a boisterous streaming Lord.

This was Lord Sky’s true identity.

Sky let out a long, heavy sigh, running her manicured fingers through her messy black hair, letting the cool air hit her face.

’Fuck I shouldn’t have gotten drunk...’

The last time that happened, she accidentally spewed her identity and had to kill a man’s whole family for that reason. Never again...

”So...” Sky spoke wearily. ”...is Vespera actually a man or a woman beneath that disguise, Brenna?”

Brenna tapped her chin, analyzing the data on her pad.

”Given the strict rules of the Blessed Land which Vespera told us where no male combatants have ever been sighted... it is very possible that the person beneath that disguise is a woman too. She likely uses the single-armed male persona to hide her true capabilities and avoid unwanted political pressure from high-society noble families.”

Sky leaned back against her plush leather chair, a smirk touching her lips.

She remembered Vespera saying something similar during their negotiations earlier... about how navigating noble diplomacy was an utterly exhausting chore.

”It makes sense...” Sky murmured, staring at the ceiling. ”If she broadcasted her true identity to the World Council, vultures like Lohan Sterling and Etilga Bloom would be swarming her house day and night trying to force corporate contracts or betrothals on her. Using a mysterious disguise keeps everyone guessing.”

Sky reached into the pocket of her grey hoodie, pulling out a slim silver case and a sleek plasma lighter.

She popped open the case, pulled out a thin cigarette, and placed it between her lips.

CLICK! FWOOSH!

A tiny blue flame ignited the tip. Sky took a long, slow drag, letting the warm smoke fill her lungs, before exhaling a thin, drifting plume of grey smoke toward the ceiling lights.

”At this point...” Sky said softly, watching the smoke drift away, ”...we are not going to win against the Blessed Land in a standard head-on military engagement.”

Brenna blinked, surprised by her Lord’s blunt admission. ”My Lord?”

”Both of us have been keeping our true cards hidden,” Sky explained, tapping her cigarette over a crystal ash tray. ”Vespera brought along a high-tier Runic Arcanist today who anchored a rune into the dirt right under my nose without triggering my primary wards and when I sent my two stealth scouts to monitor her perimeter...”

Sky paused, her eyes narrowing in the dim light.

”...They were completely dark within the interview minutes. There was no distress signal and no emergency recall. Whoever Vespera has commanding her forward lines is a monster.”

Sky took another drag from her cigarette, her sharp black eyes locking onto Brenna with cold decision.

”Which means...” Sky commanded firmly, ”...it’s time to stop holding back. Go tell the forge team and the tactical vanguard to engage ’That’... once it’s time.”

Brenna’s jaw subtly dropped.

Her eyes widened in genuine shock.

”A-Are you sure, My Lord?!” Brenna asked with her voice trembling slightly. ”Deploying ’That’ will consume eighty percent of our mobile fortress’s core energy reserves! If the execution fails, our territory will be left completely vulnerable for weeks!”

Sky exhaled a slow stream of smoke, offering a smirk.

”I’m completely sure,” Sky stated firmly. ”All’s fair in love and war, Brenna. And this upcoming battle is going to be one of the biggest, most viral Lord War streams in human history! It wouldn’t make a damn bit of sense for The Unmovable Wall to go down easily without putting on the greatest show this realm has ever seen!”

Brenna stared at her Lord for a second, then snapped into a crisp military salute.

”Understood, My Lord!” Brenna declared. ”I will inform the team immediately!”

Brenna turned on her heel and ran out of the command suite, the heavy blast doors sliding shut behind her.

Left alone in the quiet, dimly lit room, Sky leaned her head back against the leather headrest, bringing the cigarette back to her lips.

She took another slow deep wisp of smoke, letting the calming chemical wash over her frayed nerves.

That was the sole reason she smoked... it was the only thing that helped calm her hyperactive over-analytical mind when the pressure of governing a territory got too intense.

She held the smoke in her chest for three seconds, then slowly let it out into the quiet room.

Sky stared into the dark, her eyes burning with fierce unshakeable determination as she whispered into the empty air.

”We of The Unmovable Wall will not lose...”

She clenched her free hand into a tight, white-knuckled fist.

”...We will... win.”