The First Legendary Beast Master

Chapter 1972 Traditions and Alliances

”Thank you, Priestess. Are the new members with your Branch Leader right now?” Lord Almeixei asked carefully.

”Most of them. One of them had some duties to attend to as a Green Dragon, and she left early this morning with the Warehouse manager and our Forest Lord.”

Oak and Min had been taken back to the Tiny World by Skadi, so that the newly arrived green dragon could see the nature preserve that the Darklight Host called home, and so that the overworked Min could meet Skadi properly.

Not that she could have been forced to release the small girl with anything short of physical violence.

Skadi had quickly accepted that it was not her fate to walk anywhere today, but at least she was in human form, so being cuddled by the green dragons wasnʼt quite as annoying as it usually was.

The rest were all in the converted back room on the main floor, which had been expanded into a grand meeting hall with a half dozen private side rooms.

The original sitting room design no longer worked for them, so Karl had created a layered space with Rueʼs assistance, and made a new alternate space that could be entered from the same door as the usual sitting room.

If anyone came back in the future, they were going to be horribly confused about the buildingʼs layout.

”Welcome, Lord, Elders. Please take a seat, youʼre just in time for lunch.

Apparently itʼs a Darklight Host tradition to feed everyone who arrives for a meeting, as we do love to show off the talents of our cooks. So, donʼt be shy, there will be more food arriving every few minutes all day long to entertain our guests.

I know that having so many ranking Elders transfer in from off world caused a bit of a stir, but in a way thatʼs a good thing. It brought everyone together so that we werenʼt holding these meetings a few at a time for months or years.

Let me start with the standard forms for allies of the New Home.

Youʼll find that the deals are quite fair, and we will only be holding back on some of the more esoteric and dangerous items. After all, it would be chaos if we simply started to distribute Peerless Grade weapons from our Supreme Ranked members to everyone who could get a spot in the queue.”

That made the Lord laugh softly. Indeed, it would be chaos. The raw damage output would be so high that many of the Clans would take that weapon and immediately start trying to settle old scored with their rivals.

A weapon like that in the hands of even a mediocre Clan Leader would level a Clan Compound in a matter of minutes if their opponent was a Peak Immortal.

That was the reason that the Crafting Guilds were so rare on this continent, and all over this world.

They could make weapons that would change the entire balance of the conflicts, and when it came down to survival, if others couldnʼt possess them, they would destroy them. It had happened over and over, until there were simply none left, except a few recluses with limited skills and low production.

The Darklight Host was the oddity.

They showed up with a force that dared anyone to challenge them, and started to turn out huge numbers of weapons for the average Clan member, with a steady supply of gear for the Elders as well.

Then, they offered items that would tempt the Clan Leaders, but only after all the Clans had already been tempted by the items made for the regular members.

If anyone turned on them, not only did they have to defeat the Darklight Host, they would make an enemy of the regular members of every Clan and Sect on this side of the Continent. Forget alliances, their members wouldnʼt be safe anywhere.

Lord Almeixeiʼs mind calculated all the risk, benefits, and likely tactics that the Darklight Host was employing in the course of a half second, and his reply came smoothly.

”Thank you, Branch Leader, you have a lovely home here. Congratulations on your recent victories.”

Karl bowed slightly, ”Yes, it was quite generous of them to upgrade my Guild Tabard like that. But I am looking forward to happy days in the future, while the Guild establishes itself and our distribution routes.

Actually, if you have a moment, I would like to speak to you privately about that.

Your Almeixei Sect controls a large region of the peninsulaʼs markets, and we would like to have our merchants offer the Guildʼs wares in your territory.”

The two Elders looked impressed at the pure audacity of Karlʼs words.

His first thought was to work a deal to have his own Guildʼs people set up shops in all the Clan territories controlled by the Almeixei Sect? Even as a base negotiation position, that was incredibly audacious, and spoke of absolute confidence in the power of his Guild to protect their members in foreign lands.

Though, with what he saw around the Guildʼs territory, they might actually be able to do it.

If they could give out rescue tokens that called something like that Dark Elven Priestess, there was little doubt that the Darklight Hostʼs merchants would be able to protect themselves in the wilderness.

They could not encourage that.

”Sect Leader, if you would like to enjoy the hospitality of the Darklight Host, we can discuss the matter of the markets with the Branch Leader. It is our usual duty, after all,” one of the Elders suggested.

The Sect Leader got the feeling that he was being cut out, but the Elder had a point. That was his department, and there were a half dozen Darklight Host Supreme Ranked Elders here to speak to.

Perhaps he could learn why an Ascended Immortal who hadnʼt yet reached Peak Immortal was the Branch Leader, instead of passing the role to one of the Supremes.

That was valuable information for later, and might be related to the Guildʼs interplanetary structure.

If Karl was a young master from some Divine Branch, he should find out as soon as possible.