The Lan Clan was famous for its power, wielding authority that extended the city it was based on. And hailing from its main family line, being a Superior Invoker atop that for years at a stretch, Sturrala had obtained a lot of connections.

And among that, she nurtured a team specialised for the needs she desired, having already dispatched a team of experts in the fields of geography, climate, architecture, etc. to the archipelago.

Using their help, she had been accumulating information of the place. The reason she had decided upon this place was that despite its abundance of resources, no power dared to set foot there, for it always resulted in a loss-making venture, as evidenced by history.

Multiple Clans had tried to do so but failed miserably, unable to adapt to the harshness of the place. and unlike the plateau region where the life expectancy was in the late sixties, with it being the late fifties for the plains, it was a mere thirties in the archipelago.



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And even Superior Invokers died in a matter of years living there. It was because their digestive system failed to sustain itself, unable to adapt to the microorganisms living in the waters there which worsened their health grandly.

It was a place far off from the reigning powers and was too hard to rule over. And hence, it formed the perfect target for her. Therefore, Sturrala began her preparations, personally adapting to the water of the region first, taking years to do so while feeding on a variety of medicines.

Her team of professionals had already created enough medicines to be rid of the multitude of diseases rampant in the place. Sturrala practically spent the entire fortune in her name, planning to head there with or without her family.

And when Duketace screwed up, she noticed that her children had ambitions of their own and hence decided to go on her own.

"How\'s the status of the patients?" Seated in a study, Sturrala stared at a doctor, asking in concern.

"The signs are positive, my Lady." The doctor said, "We\'ve managed to treat the majority of the patients. At this rate, we\'ll clear out most of the diseases by the end of this year."

"Great job out there." Sturrala nodded, "Thank you for accompanying me to this place."

"Please, you needn\'t say it." The doctor bowed in response, "When I was falsely accused in my previous workplace, and jailed, it was you who freed me. I\'m a convict in their eyes, but here, people actually respect me for the work I do. So, I will continue to do my best for the people that believe in me."

As the doctor left, Sturrala stared at the book before her, taking in a deep breath before sighing. She stared at her hands, watching them tremble faintly. There was a rush in her, for being in power, her ever word deciding the authority of everyone under her.



\'This is what I was searching for all along.\' She clenched her hand into a fist, \'There\'s around fifty thousand people scattered across the eighteen villages. As long as I play my cards right, their population would reach two hundred thousand within a century. That would mean I would have enough human resource as a large city under me.\'

Of course, for a normal human or even an Invoker, living for so long would be impossible. But, Sturrala had the confidence in becoming an Ascender. It was especially since she had sneakily looked through the Lan Clan\'s forbidden records, coming across the means through which the Lan Clan Head had been changing bodies to live for many centuries now.

And, she planned to do the same, \'But first, I should give birth to compatible children.\'

Kowla or Fenn wouldn\'t cut it for her, as the method indicated that only the bloodline she created after becoming an Ascender were compatible with the method that the Lan Clan Head used.

Once she became an Ascender, Sturrala planned to give birth to enough babies to create a sizeable Clan. The Eagle Invoker Crystals she brought would be sufficient until then.

That was why she only used the Inferior Eagle Invoker Crystals, saving up the rest for her children. Maybe the most talented among the villagers would be given a Common Eagle Invoker Crystal.

But all Superior Eagle Invoker Crystals would be meant for her children. She only had four of them at the moment and would have to create more in the future. Thankfully, she had the Eagle Invoker Crystal Scroll.

Boom!

Sturrala focused on her Dreamland, activating the Eagle Invoker Crystal Scroll as Mental Fragments flew out of her Dreamland and Invoker Spirit. And surprisingly, once they emerged, both her Dreamland and Invoked Spirit became stronger.

Using the Eagle Invoker Crystal Scroll, Sturrala was removing all the useless and inharmonious Mental Fragments, raising her foundation automatically. After all, a moment later, she deactivated the Scroll, watching the cluster of Mental Fragments simply collapse atop it.

She then picked them up one after another, placing them in the Dreamland. Instead of creating Eagle Invoker Crystals, Sturrala was using the Scroll to extract and refine her Dreamland, rapidly enacting a makeover, observing her strength grow at a rapid pace.

"Yep, it works…" She smiled, staring at the book before her. It was a record of techniques coined by the Lan Clan Head sixty years ago. He had managed to create another one recently and hence stored this outdated notebook in the Clan\'s library which couldn\'t be accessed.

Of course, as part of the Main Family, Sturrala had already bribed her way through and obtained her hands on it. And in the place of the original, she placed a fake that only looked like the original externally.

It was entirely blank on the inside. But as none were allowed to see it, no one would find out that it had been swapped out, especially since the Lan Clan Head already had a new book.

And it was through these records that Sturrala gained knowledge to do a variety of things, including using the Eagle Invoker Scroll to refine her Invoked Spirit and Dreamland to reach the Ascender Stage in the shortest time.

Using it was actually faster and had a better guarantee of making her reach the Ascender Stage as compared to using the Ascender Scroll, which was why she let Kowla take the Ascender Scroll with her.

After all, Kowla was a backup plan of her, if in the case everything she did here failed.

"Please…spare us! If it\'s money you want, I can give you more." A middle-aged man begged desperately when a packet was slammed into his face, knocking him unconscious.

"Take him captive," Fenn\'s cold voice resounded as the group of men behind him took action, binding up the middle-aged man and the rest of his unconscious comrades.

They were part of a caravan that was passing through this forest region when they were jumped by a group of natives, caught into a series of traps that rendered them exhausted.

It made the job for the natives easier who managed to capture them all without suffering a single wound. And the one that lead them was Fenn, one who became a Superior Invoker now.

The over forty people among the caravan was captured and taken to their village, same for all the goods too.

The village Fenn had decided to turn into his base was one located deep in the mountains, a semi-tribal populace that had minimal contact with the people of the outside.

There were around ten thousand of them in total, self-sufficient as they lived on forest produce and grazed animals. The people there had minimal contact with Invokers. Only a few among them had even seen an Invoker, much less know about them beyond that.

So, it made it easier for Fenn to come here and take charge of the place. And for any resistance the natives offered, he culled them up through sheer power. His eagle had grown mighty by now, able to casually shrug off their arrows, forcing them to submit to his rule.

Following that, he trained them for the past month before which he led them on hunts, capturing merchant caravans and travellers that moved either close or through the forest region. Today\'s hunt was their fourth success in the past week alone.

The group brought in their haul, returning to their village as Fenn observed the expression of fear in the eyes of most. They were even terrified of him, shying away upon making eye contact with him.

In response to this, all Fenn did was smile subtle before his eyes shot to the mountain beside, staring at its peak, \'That\'s how I\'ll live my life out.\'

Even though the people here were too conservative in nature as compared to what he was used to in Wakttark City, they were also easy to manipulate, which worked the best for him. After all, he wished to make a Clan of his own here.

"Welcome back, Lord!" A group of women announced aloud at his arrival, standing at the entrance to the biggest house in the village. This house was made from the highest-grade wood sourced from the forest, ornate with a variety of animal fur that turned it into a luxurious dwelling.

There were eight women in total, subservient in their addressal as they awaited for his return.

\'This is indeed fun.\' Fenn smiled as he accompanied them into the house. He had taken them all as his wives and already tamed them in the course of the past month. They were the most loyal to him in the village.