Starting With an SSS-Rank Goddess Summon!

Silas stood completely paralyzed, his brain flatlining as the Goddess of Thunder treated him like a golden retriever.

After delivering the final headpat, the anti-gravity mana completely dissipated.

Thor’s heavy arm dropped like a stone, smacking back down onto the velvet cushions as she rolled over, burying her face into the upholstery and resuming her deep rattling snores.

Silas stood in the dim light, staring at her naked back with his eye twitching slightly.

’I feel...’ Silas thought, an overwhelming mixture of terror and bewilderment washing over him. ’Like I have just been violated.’

Not wanting to risk another subconscious display of divine affection, Silas immediately broke into a brisk silent sprint.

He cleared the living room in seconds, rushing up the private spiraling wooden staircase before Thor felt the sudden sleepy urge to pat him some more.

Silas reached the highest floor of the Keep, pushing open the reinforced door to his private Office.

The room was quiet, completely insulated from the howling winter blizzard raging outside the thick glass windows.

”Haah...”

He walked across the room, letting out a long sigh of exhaustion as he collapsed into the high-backed leather chair behind his massive desk.

Resting perfectly in the center of the polished wood was a thick stack of logistical reports and a freshly updated bound ledger containing a comprehensive list of all the women currently residing in the territory.

”Right,” Silas muttered, rubbing his tired eyes. ”I have to sort them out into squads.”

Tomorrow was going to be an incredibly labor-intensive day.

They had to deploy back to the Umbral Basin to excavate the raw Mana Diamonds and harvest the ores.

He needed to perfectly balance the infantry for perimeter defense, the heavy lifters for extraction, and the elemental casters for utility.

Silas picked up a quill, scanning the long list of names.

’Haah...’ Silas thought, feeling the creeping ache of the day’s constant combat and plans settling into his bones. ’I’ll join the expedition personally, of course but I am adding Kadi to my direct oversight group.’

Kadi was his second secretary, a brilliant and incredibly reliable Earth mage.

If she was in his group, she could effortlessly manipulate the cavern terrain, meaning he wouldn’t have to lift a single finger or swing his sword.

He could just sit back on a conjured stone chair and supervise.

’I want to laze around a bit tomorrow,’ Silas justified to himself, quickly scribbling Kadi’s name next to his own on the deployment manifest. ’Is it a crime for a Lord to want his second secretary in his group so he can slack off? Absolutely not...’

With the deployment logistics temporarily sorted, Silas set the quill down.

He leaned back in his leather chair with a sudden spark of anticipation reigniting his focus.

It was time to claim his reward.

Silas focused his mind, channeling a brief pulse of mana to interface with the System.

A sleek glowing blue holographic window materialized instantly over his desk as he navigated to his inventory, bringing up the specific tab that held the Mystery Box he had earned from completing the Hidden Mission.

The digital icon of the box hovered in the air, pulsing with an alluring enigmatic golden glow.

’I’m not sure I’ve ever seen anything about a reward like this on the global Lord forums...’ Silas thought, his eyes narrowing as he analyzed the icon.

The forums were usually incredibly thorough about datamining System mechanics, but Hidden Missions were notoriously unpredictable.

Regardless of the lack of information, he would gladly take free resources.

Silas reached out, pressing his index finger directly against the glowing holographic box.

Chime!

The box flared with a brilliant golden light... Silas squinted, leaning forward in anticipation, waiting for the grand reveal of his cosmic loot.

But a second later, the golden glow sputtered, fizzled out entirely, and died down as the box simply sat there, completely unopened and unchanged.

Silas blinked. He pulled his hand back, staring at the screen in pure confusion.

’What just happened?’ Silas thought. He reached out and pressed the box again.

Chime!

It glowed, and then immediately died down the moment he lifted his finger.

Silas’s eye twitched.

’Do I need to... spam the pressing?’ he wondered, a deep sense of irritation bubbling in his chest. ’What the hell is this, some kind of cheap mobile kid’s game?’

Grumbling under his breath about the System’s terrible user interface design, Silas raised his hand and began rapidly tapping his finger against the holographic box.

Chime! Chime! Chime! Chime!

With every rapid tap, the golden glow grew brighter and more unstable.

The digital box began to violently tremble on the screen, the lid shaking as if barely containing the immense pressure inside.

Chime! KRA-CRACK!

Suddenly, the box burst wide open in a shower of brilliant digital confetti and swirling golden light.

The glowing particle effects cleared, revealing two sleek floating reward cards hovering in the center of the interface.

[Congratulations, You Have Received:]

[- 25 Troop Summoning Tickets]

[- Tier 1 Warehouse Blueprint]

Silas leaned forward, his blue eyes carefully reading over the glowing text.

’25 Troop Summoning Tickets?’ Silas thought, a genuine smile of satisfaction crossing his face.

That was an incredibly solid reward.

That would allow him to tap into the summoning portal and pull twenty-five brand new fully materialized girls directly into the territory.

He desperately needed more hands to manage the rapidly expanding infrastructure, especially with the new agricultural zones and the massive cavalry corps requiring constant maintenance.

He shifted his gaze to the second reward.

’A Tier 1 Warehouse Blueprint...’ Silas mused, tapping his chin.

He would have to check into the specific material requirements and dimensions of the blueprint later, but building a dedicated magically reinforced warehouse where raw materials, ores, and monster parts were kept organized wasn’t a bad outcome at all.

’We can’t keep putting all of the raw ore and monster carcasses that could be used for weapons directly into the forge,’ Silas rationalized. ’It’s cluttering Thora’s workspace and creating a massive fire hazard. A dedicated storage facility will streamline our entire industrial supply chain...’

All in all, the rewards had come at the perfect time, considering they were preparing to launch a massive full-scale mining operation into the Umbral Basin tomorrow morning.

The twenty-five new summons could be immediately put to work processing the incoming stone and diamonds.

Silas let out a heavy sigh, running both hands through his dark hair as the weight of his responsibilities pressed down on him.

’That’s just more work to do at the end of the day...’ Silas thought, looking at the stacks of paperwork on his desk.

Expanding the territory meant expanding the bureaucracy.

Managing the logistics, the housing, the food supplies, and the interpersonal dynamics of hundreds of people was a never-ending, exhausting grind.

But as he looked out the reinforced glass window, watching the swirling snow of the blizzard falling over the glowing, peaceful canopy of his Spirit Trees, a deep sense of pride anchored him.

Regardless of the exhaustion, he was completely ready for it.

That was exactly what it meant to be a Lord.

To carry the weight of the world, to build an unassailable sanctuary in the dark, and to protect the people who relied on him...

’Besides I love all of them, it’s the little I can do.’

RATTLE! RATTLE!

The quiet contemplative silence of the office was suddenly broken as the reinforced glass window on the far side of the room, completely battered by the freezing winds of the blizzard outside, suddenly began to tremble violently.

Before Silas could even reach for the hilt of his sword, the brass locking mechanism on the inside of the window frame clicked open with a sharp metallic clack, completely bypassed from the outside.

The window swung open inward as a howling freezing gust of snow and wind blasted into the warm office, scattering several loose logistical reports across the mahogany desk.

Silas didn’t flinch as he simply watched the windowsill.

Moving with the terrifying silence and frictionless grace of a phantom, a slender figure vaulted perfectly through the open window frame.

She executed a flawless mid-air acrobatic flip with her dark cloak snapping violently in the wind before she landed on the plush carpet without making a single sound.

Without missing a beat, the figure immediately spun around, pushing the heavy glass window shut and securing the brass lock, instantly cutting off the shrieking blizzard and plunging the office back into quiet warmth.

The intruder turned back around, her raven-black hair falling sharply around her beautiful face.

It was Vala.

The magic swordsman didn’t hesitate for a microsecond as she immediately dropped down onto one knee, bowing her head in perfect reverence, her dark eyes locked firmly onto the floorboards directly in front of his desk.

”I have arrived as requested, my Lord,” Vala murmured. ”Awaiting your command.”

Silas leaned back in his heavy leather chair, the exhaustion of the day completely melting away as he looked down at his fiercely loyal Hiden Blade.

A warm affectionate smile spread across his handsome face.

”Welcome, Vala.”

Silas leaned back in his high-backed leather chair, his piercing golden ringed blue eyes locked onto the slender, cloaked figure kneeling perfectly still on the plush mahogany carpet.

’She really has grown incredibly strong,’ Silas thought, his senses washing over Vala’s kneeling form.

He could feel the mana in the room reacting to her presence.

’I’m glad.’

Silas’s mind drifted back to the very first time they had met like this.

Just before the Lord War, back when he was utilizing the Upgrade System to elevate the base ranks of his summoned troops.

’If I remember correctly... She awakened a Magic Swordsman class.’

On the surface, it was a respected versatile combat role but Vala’s specific parameters were different.

’She has the potential to wield and seamlessly integrate up to ten distinct elemental affinities,’ Silas recalled with a smile of disbelief touching his lips.

That fact alone was a complete contradiction of conventional magical theory.

Mortal meridians were fragile... If a standard Awakened warrior attempted to circulate violently opposing elements like raw fire and ice through their body simultaneously, their mana channels would instantly detonate, cooking them alive from the inside out.

The only reason Silas could effortlessly wield multiple elements was because he possessed a Gold Core.

Vala on the other hand did not have a Gold Core.

She was a mortal woman yet, her spiritual architecture, her very genetic makeup, was a flawless conduit capable of cycling the elemental spectrum without tearing herself apart.

She was special...

’Naturally I wanted to make her S-Rank immediately... but thankfully I made a System Query first.’

He could upgrade her to S-Rank but after that, she could lose the opportunity to awaken her other elements... He didn’t want that for her which was why she was still a Magic Swordsman now.

’She’s very special...’

And that was exactly why he had pulled her from the standard vanguard formations.

It was why he had partnered her with Luna and Reina, sending her out into the freezing wastes to hunt monsters, partly because he was worried for Reina and more so for her to try as much as possible to awaken the rest.

It was why she was, and always would be, his Hidden Blade.

”You can raise your head, Vala,” Silas commanded softly, the deep tone of his voice breaking the quiet of the office.

Vala immediately complied.

She lifted her chin, her raven-black hair falling back to reveal her strikingly beautiful features.

Her dark eyes met his, burning with a fierce devotion that never failed to send a faint thrill down Silas’s spine.

”I have already asked Reina about the mission,” Silas continued, leaning forward and resting his elbows on the polished mahogany desk.

He interlaced his fingers, holding her gaze. ”I am fully aware that the mission was a flawless success but I am not asking her right now... I am asking you.”

Silas tilted his head slightly. ”How did it feel out there, Vala?”

Vala didn’t hesitate.

”The combat was seamless, my Lord,” she reported. ”My internal mana circulation is expanding rapidly. I am growing stronger with every monster I execute.”

She paused with an unshakeable determination hardening her dark eyes.

”I will master every element this world possesses,” Vala vowed, her tone dipping into a quiet intensity. ”And I will most certainly prove that you were right to choose me as your Hidden Blade.”