Missions blurred into one another. Hunts, escorts, and ambushes, until a full year slipped past without Sokram even noticing.

  His team's reputation spread like wildfire throughout the Northern Continent.

  In many operations, while Sokram led his team, bandits always tried their luck, always failed. They were either ambushed or spotted bandits or beasts threatening merchants’ lives or travelers’.

  Sokram and his team were always ready to intervene.

  Though their primary focus was on the compensation they would receive, they saved the day nonetheless.

  One year later, despite Fate’s warning, Sokram did not rush to deal with the necromancers. He wouldn’t lead his team toward an unknown danger.

  Instead, he continued to focus on his own plans.

  He knew it wouldn’t be too late to deal with the necromancers after his team graduated from their mandatory service and they were ready for the war.

  During this year, Sokram focused on guiding them into the path of power, even if he didn’t share Chaos Cultivation with all of them. Titan Force, Spirit Magic, and Vital Magic were enough.

  Even if he had a certain amount of control over the Ferals in his team, they weren’t his people, so it was better to hide certain trump cards.

  Not that he believed they could betray him, but he was certain his team members would assume roles of great importance in their clans and tribes. Greed and ambition can sometimes turn the hearts of those believed loyal into the worst betrayers.

  Still, his hard work paid off.

  His group evolved from a band of beginners into the most famous hunting team in the Hunter’s Hall.

  It wasn’t just his team's fame that increased exponentially.

  His own fame spread not only through Eversnow but across all of Norwinter.

  Wherever he went, children in the streets mimicked lightning strikes, shouting his name as if invoking a legend.

  Sokram’s title, the Dark Lightning Killer, spread so far and wide that the Primordial Infinium Records recognized it as a title at the Regional Level.

  Of course, his achievements didn’t stop there.

  He also mastered Draconian Arcane Alchemy to the point that, during one of their research sessions, Hannah, ready for an impromptu lesson, paused, realizing she was taking notes from her own former student.

  To say that her pride as a Master Arcana Alchemist and the pride she held for him as her student and grandson battled within her for the week to come would be an oversimplification.

  Sokram also improved many of his spells thanks to the Arch Mage’s Tower library, finally mastering Spacetime Magic, Geomancy, Magi-Tech, Technomancy, Conjuration, Invocation, Summoning, Array Inscription, Enchantment Inscription, Runic Inscription, Runic Languages, and many other subjects, thus starting to tread his path toward Biomancy.

  Sokram’s businesses also thrived even more.

  Figos’s butchery now had ten more stores in Eversnow and some units in the cities around.

  The South Gates Perch Landing Zone thrived even more after Oliver and Sokram raided many Flying Mystical Beasts' nests.

  The auctions of Ice Fenixes, Thunderbirds, Wind Eagles, and many others were still remembered in the cities as one of the most lucrative events in Eversnow's history so far.

  His family's stature and influence among the founding families were now second only to the City Lord’s family. And despite not wanting to officially assume the position, Brunhild, Margiory, and Hannah were now even seen as advisors.

  As for the others in his family, Miralyn and Hilda had decided to tie the knot, officializing their union in a small ceremony, in one of Margiory’s many secluded properties in Norwinter.

  The location was chosen in the hopes that Meriande would join them for the celebration. But with the Elder Council paying close attention to the Empress’s every movement, she failed to show up.

  Fate continued to fulfill her part of their deal; the war had yet to ignite.

  However, the death of King Afonso seemed to dampen the strong winds of war that had been blowing.

  Frostaxe and Whiteland maintained their armies on the border. Yet, they remained stationary and no longer dared any provocation toward Norwinter.

  But that was only on the surface, as they continued to invest in other means to weaken Norwinter cities near the border, and it wasn’t just the Necromancers, but many other underhanded methods.

  Sokram was no longer worried about his family's safety, as now his family alone could stand toe to toe with any of the countries and empires of the Northern Continent.

  Hilda, Moira, Brunhild, Margiory, Hannah, Leona, Sayuri, Lucille, Ayame, Alyssa, and even Madalyn all reached the Tier 10 Perfect Existence Level, but that was when they met their first hiccup.

  Unexpectedly, Sokram made a mistake.

  Because of his last-minute alteration in the Cultivation Booster pill’s formula, which enhanced the speed many times over.

  It also created an unseen side effect: The pill lost its effect before its user could enter the level of Superior Existence.

  Since they could only use one pill per level of Existence, they all got stuck at Tier 10 Perfect Existence, only being able to surpass it through regular cultivation.

  Not that it was a reason to cry.

  Sokram still knew other pills that could help them.

  Yet, as a True Existence, anything he concocted wouldn’t be able to aid them.

  Hannah’s attempts to recreate his pills were all met with failure, no matter how she tried.

  The same happened with Kasine, who appeared in the city a few months after her departure, to nag at Sokram that the pills she was creating weren’t good enough for her and Kamus to use.

  Once she discovered that not even Hannah could, she understood that it wasn’t a matter of an error in the spell.

  It was just that they couldn’t use the concoction spell with the same mastery as Sokram.

  Sokram gave her a few more pill recipes he had created as an ‘apology’ as he explained to her what would happen once they tried to pass over the boundary toward the Superior Existence level.

  Kasine stared at him, eyes wide, disbelief twisting her lips into a half-laugh, “You're telling me I can reach the same level as the Great Elven Empress. And you’re saying that as if it’s something bad?”

  Sokram faced a similar reaction from Sahvus, Neloph, and Sienna.

  The City Lord Licarus and his wives, Liaranna, Lehnara, and Eliana, reacted similarly.

  He understood their meaning, but he also understood that they didn’t know the galaxy and the path of Evolution the same way he did.

  While the levels from Perfect Existence to Pre-Ascendant allowed someone to rule this small planet of theirs.

  It was something those born in the Ascendant and Transcendent Zones passed through in a blink, even before the age of twelve, so once they ascended, Sokram would have to prepare them for some very impactful culture shocks.

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  While his Elders reached the current apex level of this world, Astrid had stopped advancing at the Tier 1 Semi-Perfect level, only because she couldn’t be weaker than the teams she led.

  But if she could choose, she would do like Amber, Savannah, and Lucy.

  They had all reached Tier 1 Flawless Existence but decided to stay there to wait for Sokram, which he disapproved of, but couldn’t force them to advance.

  The hunting teams of the Dracnakrid family became one of the most respected forces in the cities around.

  Their leaders, Frinna and her three brothers, Thinor, Mujur, and Alinir, along with Stone, Rinan, and Vanda, all reached the Exalted level.

  And the rest were only elevated with defective pills to the Level of Tier 10 Flawless Existences.

  As for the Androny family guards, they became strong enough that no one would ever dare look down on their family, inside or outside of Norwinter.

  With most of them now being Chaos Energy Users, their forces were mostly comprised of Exalted Level warrior classes and magic classes.

  As for Sokram’s teammates, they also received defective pills that only pushed them to the peak of the Exalted Level.

  Except for Amira, now a Tier 1 Flawless Existence imitating Sokram’s girls. As she knew the existence of the real pills through Sahvus and Sienna.

  She continued trying to seduce Sokram, so she agreed to keep his secrets and wait until the team’s graduation to continue advancing in her cultivation.

  The flaw in the Cultivation Booster also caused many of the founding families’ leaders to see Sokram and the City Lord’s families, and those around them, make a jump from Tier 1 to Tier 10 in a short time.

  Sokram was forced to reveal the existence of the Cultivation Boosters to all of them.

  With Licarus and Sahvus’s blessing, he introduced the pills as an experimental product that, instead of Tier 10 Perfect Existence, could push them to Tier 10 Semi-Perfect Existence.

  Thus, increasing the number of powerhouses in Norwinter, but also ensuring his family and closest friends retained their superiority in strength.

  He felt tempted to give the real pill to Kanami and Lazar.

  But Hannah advised him against it. Despite the sincerity in their friendship, the information about the real pill could leak to the other founding families.

  The Secrecy Blood Contracts they and the other family heads signed did not forbid disclosing information among each other.

  Thus, Sokram showing favoritism would definitely create conflicts among all other families.

  A couple of months after Sokram revealed the existence of the Cultivation Booster, many of the founding families' leading members went through an exponential increase in strength.

  But that also revealed another issue Sokram would have to deal with: if no one could concoct pills at the same level of perfection as him, he would need to find a way to speed up production once commercialization started.

  Although he would sell only the less effective products, they still needed to meet his quality standards. This prompted him to research alternative means of increasing production.

  Thanks to his extensive reading throughout the underground levels of the Arch-Mage’s Tower, Neloph’s library, the books from the royal library, and the books every family head gifted him, he found his answer, which would be almost impossible for anyone but him: Mixing Magitech, Technomancy, and Geomancy in a single creation.

  More than mere Golems, he created autonomous synthetic humanoids, designed to mimic one of his spells.

  Sokram named them METRA Golems.

  With bone structure made of Mithdium (Mithril and Adamantium alloy), Runic Matrix that operated as the information processing unit, or their brain, energy cores formed with virgin soul-crystals, and monolithic moonstone bodies formed to resemble humanoid forms from the waist up, as instead of legs, Sokram gave them rotating orbs made of Dark Magi Glass for locomotion.

  Though it was only the first model, which Sokram named METRA-O, designed for simple operational tasks or repetitive spell usage, Sokram now had his own autonomous and semi-automatic production line.

  All he needed was to input the pill formula, and they could perfectly mimic the spell control that Sokram had recorded in their runic matrix.

  Since everything Sokram created using his Matter Manipulation Spell became mana-tainted, the speed of energy regeneration of these Golems allowed them to produce a thousand pills a day.

  Sokram also created some of these golems for menial house maintenance.

  Even with Margiory's servants having arrived from Frozen River, there weren’t enough for them not to get overwhelmed with their tasks.

  Even if the house was enchanted to auto-clean, it couldn’t auto-organize, do gardening, or do laundry.

  Not that it would be impossible, but Sokram failed to consider those aspects with his mind overburdened by the spell during construction.

  Now, the METRA-Os or Mets, as the girls began calling them, kept the house always organized without overwhelming the servants.

  All the Mets needed to work were simple commands, and they would mimic the behavior recorded perfectly.

  Or semi-perfectly, as they couldn’t think, and would often do unnecessary tasks that were either already done or weren’t needed.

  Still, Sokram planned to refine them further in time.

  However, the creation of the METRA-Os inspired Sokram to study Technomancy and Magitech with greater hunger.

  He knew he would need to improve his Mets a lot, so they could even be used as auxiliary forces in the war.

  On the Androny side, though, his family situation wasn’t just sunshine and rainbows.

  The Androny family members continued to stall their move to Eversnow, and Sokram’s warning about them possibly rebelling started to take root in Margiory’s heart.

  She couldn’t believe that they would even pass on the opportunity of learning Chaos Energy Cultivation out of spite and compromise their own Evolution.

  Thus, Margiory decided to pay them a surprise visit in Frozen River City.

  And Astrid, also bothered by it and missing their big brother Mikhail since it had been years since they last met, decided to accompany Margiory.

  Sokram approved of them doing so. He allowed them to teach the Andronys their Chaos Energy Cultivation Technique, even if they decided not to come back with them.

  But the Energy Gathering Runic Formations and the Cultivation Boosters were to be given to them only if they declared loyalty to Sokram as their future Patriarch.

  Their trip was short, and once they returned, the news wasn’t pleasant.

  Astrid was the most affected; Mikhail and Adulwulf treated her like a ghost, barely acknowledging her existence.

  During an argument, Mikhail went as far as calling Astrid a traitor to her own kind.

  Proving that Aaron’s words (From the Steelheart family) about them were right, they were truly purists.

  As for Adulwulf, he was smarter.

  He played the role of the good son only to the point he learned the cultivation technique and had Margiory’s help to convert his and his family cores.

  After ensuring he had nothing else to learn, he revealed his true colors.

  Though he was bound by a blood contract, one that ensured he could never teach or reveal the Chaos Energy Cultivation technique or Sokram’s being its creator to anyone, nothing bound him to the family anymore.

  The day he realized he had nothing else to gain, he left the family with the businesses he created and the wealth he amassed.

  Thus, he took more than twenty percent of the Androny family’s businesses, properties, clients, and wealth with him.

  Had Margiory not been a Perfect Existence by then, that would definitely have affected her health.

  Adulwulf went as far as to instigate some of the secondary families and personnel who hadn’t moved to Eversnow to follow him.

  And, except for a few loyal ones, most of them did.

  Having enough power, wealth, and personnel, Adulwulf founded his own family, naming it the Hominiborne family.

  He preached that they would uphold the ideals upon which the Androny family was founded.

  A pure-blooded family that would recover its family's primordial bloodline.

  Margiory was caught off guard by that betrayal, and Astrid couldn’t believe how right Sokram was.

  But more than the two of them, Klaus and Michael, had not been for Astrid stopping them, they would have entered a deadly fight against Adulwulf, Mikhail, and the rest of the traitors.

  Yet, as a Perfect Existence, Margiory also recovered fast from that betrayal.

  Even if hurt, she quickly moved from denial, anger, skipped bargaining, and depression, and reached acceptance in a few days.

  She truly mourned the son she lost.

  Now she could understand why Meriande was also known as the Void Empress.

  Processing emotions was a lot easier when you reached the level of a Perfect Existence.

  That’s when Margiory decided to show Adulwulf the error of his ways. She didn’t show everything, though.

  Still, she showed him her power to be the Level of a Tier 10 Exalted, as she didn’t know how far his betrayal went. If he had allied with the Steelhearts, or if he was merely betraying her.

  Adulwulf and the rest of her family were all still mostly between True and Reformed Existence levels.

  When Margiory showed them the power of a Tier 10 Exalted, they were afraid she was going to kill them.

  The commotion even drew some of the Exalted in the city, thinking the Androny family was under attack.

  Yet, they saw Lady Androny exhibiting the power of an Exalted and banishing her eldest son and the rest of the betrayers from her family.

  While floating over them in a display of power that only someone at the Exalted level and above could achieve, Margiory’s last words to Adulwulf made him realize he was hasty in his decision.

  “Do you truly think that I reached this level with the little that I gave you? You’re a bigger fool than I thought, Adulwulf. But it’s good that you and those snakes showed your true colors now, because the grandeur we will reach in the future, you are undeserving of.”

  With a flick of her wrist, she manipulated Force to bring Adulwulf up into the air with her.

  “From this day on, all of you are banished. Take every penny that is yours. It matters little.”

  Margiory then pointed at the son she had loved and doted on so fiercely, her heart shredding bloody tears as she finished, “It matters as little as you, worm.”

  Adulwulf truly believed he was going to die.

  He had no idea Margiory was hiding this level of strength.

  He realized that either his spies had been dealt with or they had changed sides, because as far as he had been informed, Margiory was still a Reformed Existence.

  But Margiory didn’t kill him. She gathered those who remained loyal, collected her belongings and treasures, and left for Eversnow.

  Only after the loyal part of the Androny family arrived in Eversnow did they realize that siding with Adulwulf, even before he revealed himself as a traitor, was a big mistake.

  They were quick to Oath their Loyalty to Sokram.

  Sokram, of course, could see through their greed and ambition, but didn’t mind.

  With time, he would have their true loyalty.

  What truly worried Sokram was Margiory’s state.

  Once she explained to him how fast she processed Adulwulf’s betrayal, he felt at ease, knowing she was truly fine.

  Not that it stopped him from spoiling her for a few days.

  With all that done, Sokram had also reached a crucial point in his plans.

  He finally had the foundation of the clan he would create by uniting his three families under one banner, sigil, and name: Draggonia.

  It was once the name of the great Draconic Empire of the North.

  He wanted to do that only after the war, because one of the two treasures he needed to achieve that was missing, and it was the same treasure he needed to reach Ascension.