Chapter 400 – Armed with Battle Intent

For the next few days, Lord Mu’s life remained uneventful.

The Town Hall began separating its functions from the City Lord’s Mansion. Isloria relocated the Town Hall’s offices to the Southern District and proposed establishing both an internal guard corps and an armed maid corps.

The former would be responsible for protecting the core areas of the territory.

After all, the territory’s core contained crucial facilities such as the Lord Altar, Secret Realm entrances and exits, and high-grade Miracle Buildings. These areas required tighter security to eliminate any potential vulnerabilities.

This was to prepare for possible future spies and assassins, ensuring the safety of the core regions.

The latter would be tasked with protecting the Lord’s daily life and security, specifically within the City Lord’s Mansion area.

“With the municipal departments moving out, the City Lord’s Mansion will be short-handed. Your daily life might become quite chaotic, Lord.”

Isloria teased the Lord about his lack of essential life skills.

Commonly known as: laziness.

But could a Lord’s affairs be called laziness? It was merely about focusing limited energy where it was most needed.

Besides…

The Witch herself wasn’t exactly skilled in domestic matters either—the entire Intermediate Mage Tower was in disarray.

Isloria had recruited and trained several apprentices, but they served as both her students and personal assistants.

So, Mu Yuan managed to bring Isloria’s capable assistant, ‘Moli’, over to the City Lord’s Mansion department.

He could finally live the life of a proper Lord.

Sort of.

The recent peace was only relative. After all, the Ten Directions Island Region was located deep in the Wilderness—it was impossible to expect the same tranquility as other territories.

Tianyuan City and the Wolfhead Mountain Fortress to the north frequently faced monster wave assaults.

Sometimes, these waves numbered in the tens of thousands.

This was because Tianyuan City covered a large area with a substantial population, making it exceptionally attractive in the eyes of monsters. Numerous monsters, driven by instinct, converged toward Tianyuan City, gathering others along the way and gradually forming massive waves.

The various mining outposts in the wild had smaller populations and didn’t attract waves numbering in the tens of thousands.

However,

they were more likely to be targeted by intelligent monsters.

“The Catfolk Mine was attacked by a group of Oakmen monsters this morning. According to reports from the command center, several elite Catfolk warriors were killed, and over twenty were injured.”

Moli stood nearby with her hands clasped in front of her, reporting meticulously.

She was practically an emotionless reporting machine.

Mu Yuan skimmed through the intelligence report.

Tianyuan City had stationed two elites—or rather, two undead—at the Catfolk Mine. One was the Undead Lord ‘Bone Sixty-Six’, who served as the public envoy, and the other was a Nether Ghost General, who resided within Bone Sixty-Six, remaining hidden in the shadows.

The information from the Catfolk Mine came from these two.

Otherwise, even if the Catfolk sent messages to Tianyuan City, the horses would still be galloping on the road at this moment.

But Tianyuan City possessed an instant communication network—the Mental Link.

However, elites like Bone Sixty-Six wouldn’t directly transmit messages to Mu Yuan. If that were the case, Lord Mu would spend his entire day receiving messages and accomplish nothing else.

Messages were typically relayed to the command center—the department responsible for communication, information aggregation, and relay.Then it was presented before Mu Yuan.

……

At this moment, in the Catfolk Tribe.

“Honorable envoy, as you can see, our Catfolk are clearly being targeted by the overlord. This might very well be the vanguard of Jackal Fang. We need reinforcements.”

Bone Sixty-Six remained expressionless.

As a skeleton, it naturally had no expression, and the thick black mask it wore prevented outsiders from seeing anything anyway.

In the eyes of the Catfolk, it was merely a human with a chilling aura, appearing unapproachable.

It seemed very difficult to communicate with.

The Catfolk Elder felt somewhat apprehensive as he approached, but he had to try nonetheless. What if they actually managed to secure reinforcements?

Playing the victim was, after all, their old trade.

Bone Sixty-Six looked down at the Catfolk before it, the soulfire in its eye sockets flickering.

What should it say at this moment?

It recalled, imitating its boss’s tone.

“It’s just a group of Oakwood people.”

“Guarding the mine is originally the responsibility of your Catfolk tribe. We will only intervene when Legendary Realm experts make a move. Do not disappoint the Lord.”

The Catfolk Elder left disgruntled.

……

Another mine.

Fire Lionfolk Mine No. 1.

The Tianyuan City representative stationed here was the Vampire Marquis Kibi.

Compared to Bone Sixty-Six, Kibi’s diplomatic skills were at least thirty streets ahead.

Within a few days, he had already become familiar with the Fire Lionfolk elites.

“You want to lease another mine? That’s no problem, leave it to me, Kibi.”

He spoke, then suddenly showed a troubled expression. “But Clan Chief, you know, the Featherfolk Kingdom has only leased two mines. It’s not impossible to lease the remaining mine to you, but doing so would make things very difficult for our Lord.”

The Fire Lion Clan Chief pondered, then showed an understanding expression.

It was just about paying some extra price—he understood, he understood.

……

At the same time,

Sophia sat upright inside the Dragon Mound Secret Realm, on the evolution ritual platform.

Her black dress spread out like an ink-black lotus splashed across the ground.

Suddenly,

The black lotus also dissipated, as if completely transforming into countless ink-colored droplets that splashed outward in all directions.

These were numerous Black Crows, scattering and flying away, then suddenly converging to form a mysterious and majestic black Nether Crow, its size having doubled.

The Nether Crow landed on a branch, then transformed back into Sophia’s figure.

Dozens of identical Sophias appeared around the Icy Purity lotus platform, with black lotuses blooming everywhere.

These were both her, and not her.

In the past, Sophia’s transformation into Black Crows was merely some misdirection and Illusion techniques. But now, her Nether Crow Bloodline seemed to have further sublimated, allowing her to freely switch between Black Crow and human forms.

「Nethercrow Avatar (Talent)」

「Description: A manifestation of the Nether God Crow Bloodline reaching a certain level of purity. Sophia can freely transform into a Nether Crow, and her consciousness can travel freely among Nether Crows in the nearby area. Sophia can also create Nether Crow attendants with considerable combat power.」

This talent further enhanced Sophia’s survival capabilities.

When combined with her Hero-exclusive weapon ‘Night’s Crown,’ her survival ability had reached Divine-Grade.

Not only that, the emergence of the Nethercrow Avatar talent meant that the Black Crows Sophia created were no longer just combat-inept entities with only stealth capabilities.

The Black Crows had risen up.

When combined with the Epic Skill ‘Storm of Crows,’ Sophia’s personal combat power could roughly rank within the top ten in Tianyuan Territory.

Another two days passed.Uta, who had been rotated back from duty, returned to Tianyuan City.

After sparring with several powerful individuals who remained in the city to adjust his condition to its peak, he entered the Evolution Grounds of the Dragon Mound Secret Realm.

Soon after, brilliant light shot into the sky, and the Domain Jammer hummed into operation.

Mu Yuan also heard a prompt in his ear.

「Prompt: Your troop ‘Uta’ has advanced to become an Epic Three-Star lifeform and has awakened the Epic Skill ‘War Intent Armament’.」

——

「War Intent Armament」

「Description: Materializes intangible battle intent into a special armament that covers the user’s body. The War Intent Armament can be used for both offense and defense. Its strength and coverage depend on the intensity of the user’s battle intent.」

This skill shared some similarities with Lu Liu’s ‘Will as Sword’, but it was more profound.

The gap between the upper and lower limits of the War Intent Armament was immense.

Will as Sword was an innate talent that significantly enhanced one’s willpower and the refinement of their will.

The War Intent Armament, however, did not.

Its existence did not influence the user’s battle intent; rather, it was heavily influenced by it.

Those with weak battle intent could not unleash much of this Epic Skill’s power.

“Moreover, this battle intent refers to the user’s ‘real-time battle intent’. Willpower is either strong or weak, but battle intent fluctuates significantly depending on the timing and environment.”

Mu Yuan loaded Uta’s template and attempted to use this skill.

When he borrowed Epic Skills, they usually came with a discount, only allowing him to exert 80%×80% of their effectiveness.

Still, he retained over 60% of the original capability, which was far from weak.

That should have been the case.

But the result…

After straining for a while, Lord Mu finally managed to condense half a set of thin black gauntlets over his fists using the War Intent Armament.

This was utterly pathetic.

Was the War Intent Armament this weak?

He switched to his lord’s perspective and looked at Uta inside the Dragon Mound Fertile Soil Realm, whose body was half-covered in dark armament.

Lord Mu fell silent.

The War Intent Armament wasn’t weak.

Nor was Mu Someone weak.

He had just woken up. Who could summon intense battle intent right after waking up? Who could maintain intense battle intent at all times?

Well, there actually was someone.

It seemed Uta could indeed do it.

This man, who loved combat immensely and constantly sought to spar with strong opponents, truly had his mind filled with battle intent.

Lord Mu couldn’t compare. After all, he was a lord and had many responsibilities to handle.

“What a pity, Uta still hasn’t managed to develop a Domain. He missed the opportunity during the evolution’s afterglow. In the future, advancing to the Legendary Realm might… take a considerably long time.”

Mu Yuan sighed.

He truly wished for Uta to advance to the Legendary Realm as soon as possible.

Uta’s displayed combat prowess was almost in a league of its own.

If everyone were at the Peak of the Fourth Order and engaged in a straightforward one-on-one duel, Mu Yuan believed Uta could even defeat Deadbone and Dolai.

He possessed strength and speed far surpassing his peers.

He had an unreasonable level of explosive power.

But aside from his exceptional combat ability, Uta was lacking in every other aspect. His learning ability and comprehension were even worse than Dolai’s. No, saying that might be an insult to Dolai.

Dolai wasn’t stupid, just a bit clear and simple-minded.

As for Uta…

He really wasn’t good at learning, and all the moves he mastered were straightforward and brutal direct strikes.

Let it be.

Mu Yuan, the academic underachiever, couldn’t save him anymore.Uta remained his usual optimistic self, showing no signs of frustration over failing to comprehend the Domain. For him, setbacks were the norm.

After familiarizing himself with the War Intent Armament within the territory, he found no suitable sparring partners—Isloria refused to fight him, General Lu Liu was extremely busy, the Lord couldn’t be challenged, and the remaining Deadbone and Dolai were absent.

As for those below them, none could withstand even three punches from him.

So he accepted a mission and headed south.

…

A few hours later, at the southernmost tip of the Ten Directions Island Region, lay the endlessly stretching Land of Fury.

After several days of exploration and investigation, the scout team had identified over a dozen locations that might contain passages.

Of course, the likelihood was very low, and they needed to eliminate them one by one.

Rakshasa had already arrived here and was deep in thought.

After all, he was only at the Peak of Fourth Order. Evading the crashing energy waves with all his strength and charging forward was his limit.

Trying to recklessly charge through such an area? Even ordinary Legendary Realm experts probably couldn’t manage it.

“Let me give it a try.”

Uta spoke up, “I don’t understand detection, but these energy waves ahead are the obstacles, right?”

Rakshasa nodded, “That’s correct. Without the threat of the waves, we could quickly investigate the distant areas.”

“In that case…”

Uta took a deep breath.

Crack~ Crack~ Crack~

One by one, his Flesh Shackles shattered as he entered ‘Flesh Shackles · Open · First Stage’.

Simultaneously, his body became enveloped in War Intent Armament as dark as ink and hard as refined metal.

He strode into the energy tides.

The energy waves, fierce enough to carve ghastly wounds into Rakshasa’s Physical Body, crashed against the jet-black War Intent Armament, leaving only faint scratches.

Uta’s figure vanished within them.

Two seconds later.

“Boom—”

Like thunder from a clear sky, a deafening roar drowned out all other sounds of colliding energy tides.

Hundreds of meters high energy waves shattered and dispersed violently.

Rakshasa was stunned but quickly seized the opportunity to coordinate with Uta. Transforming into a wisp of smoke, he circled several kilometers—even over a dozen kilometers—ahead in the blink of an eye, returning to his original spot just before the energy waves closed in again.

The efficiency was far greater than his own investigations, though it was quite taxing on Uta.

Uta didn’t mind, raising a thumbs-up from afar.

They continued.

At the eastern end of the Ten Directions Island Region, two other scout teams were also conducting investigations.

In areas not yet covered by the scout teams, ocean currents surged, and seawater rose to form one violent and terrifying waterspout after another, engulfing the entire region.

Amid these raging waterspouts, a small, shuttle-shaped vessel wobbled as it flew out.

Inside the vessel, several explorers gazed at the gradually brightening sky, their faces filled with excitement and exhilaration.

“We succeeded! We’ve made it! We’ve crossed into a completely new realm.”

“We are the discoverers of this new realm!”

The shuttle-shaped vessel soared high, overlooking the magnificent mountains and rivers in the distance.

The explorers were now certain that this was a fertile—or at least far from barren—realm.

Moreover, there were no obvious signs of civilization here.

It was very likely an entirely unexplored, brand-new realm.

Inside the vessel, the explorers raised their glasses of champagne in celebration.

Suddenly,

Boom—

An energy beam shot up from the ground below.A surge of power from the Legendary Realm rose, as a Legendary Realm monster wielding a serpentine dagger fixed its vertical pupils tightly upon them, its eyes gleaming with the thrill of spotting prey.

Several hours later.

The exploration team from the Outer Realm, having shaken off the Legendary monsters that ambushed them, returned safely to their own Great Domain.

“Good news: we’ve discovered a realm with no traces of civilization.”

“Bad news: this realm has likely long been occupied by a Monster Overlord.”

A short while earlier.

“Screech~”

A pale cyan great bird soared across the sky, gazing into the distance at the unmistakable aura of the Legendary Realm rising into the air.

It merged with the wind, silently gliding forward.

With its sharp eyes, it captured the distant scene.

Vision Sharing, activate!

「Asun has transmitted new shared visuals. Accept?」

A scene unfolded before his eyes.

Mu Yuan could vaguely make out a wobbling airship and, outside it, two figures confronting and clashing with each other.

(End of Chapter)