Chapter 371: Ethan’s life as a Lord Ethan stood at the heart of a circular clearing. Jagged obsidian pillars surrounded him, rising from the cracked earth like the exposed ribs of some colossal corpse buried long ago. Before him sat his so called "Manor," a name the System applied with almost insulting generosity. In truth, it was a cramped, single room hut constructed from warped grey planks and stacked slabs of slate. Nearby rested a campfire pit, empty of wood, its stones cold and lifeless. He paid the structure no attention. His focus was fixed on the translucent interface hovering before his eyes. [Territory: Waste Land of Despair] [Level: 1 (Village)] [Lord: Ethan Hunt] [Population: 0/10] [Resources: Food (0), Wood (0), Stone (0), Iron (0)] [Condition: Desolate. High danger of monster intrusion. Survival probability: 0.01%] "Zero population," Ethan murmured, his voice was very calm. "Of course. Choosing the Forbidden Zone fringe means the System could not even find peasants willing to be dragged here." These subjects or people the system was showing were actually people Ethan created himself. This people were the natives of this world. At his level, creating a life was not a problem at all. His gaze sharpened slightly. "So the Fate algorithm labeled this a suicide spawn." The screen shifted as he summoned another panel. [Unique SSS-Rank Talent: The Source Architect] >Passive: All-Seeing Eye. View the hidden potential, durability, and evolutionary paths of any object or being. >Active: Origin Refinement. Spend ’Existence Points’ (EP) to upgrade the quality, rank, or nature of a target. Current EP: 100 (Starter Bonus) Ethan’s eyes drifted to the dilapidated hut. [Target: Basic Lord’s Manor (Level 1)] Hidden Attribute: Termite Infested. (Structural integrity will fail in 3 days). Hidden Attribute: Leaking Roof. (Morale decreases during rain). Evolution Path 1: Reinforced Stone Hut (Cost: 50 EP). Evolution Path 2: Sentinel’s Outpost (Cost: 500 EP - Locked). He did not spend the points. A lord without subjects was nothing more than a hermit. In Primordia, hermits were not survivors. They were meals. He needed labor. He needed watchers. He needed eyes that were not his own. Ethan walked toward the edge of his territory, where a faint blue line shimmered across the dust, marking the boundary of System authority. Beyond it lay Neutral Territory, a place where the Lord System no longer applied and only raw, merciless natural law ruled. Suddenly he saw some movement infront of him, which caught his attention. Roughly fifty yards away, a creature prowled through the dust, its head low as it tasted the air. It resembled a wolf at first glance, but its flesh was translucent, revealing veins that glowed like flowing mercury. Its forelegs bent with two extra joints, giving it an unsettling, spiderlike gait. [Entity: Void-Tainted Scavenger] [Rank: Common (Level 3)] [Status: Hungry. Has detected a ’Fragile Soul’ (You).] The beast lunged. Its body flickered as it moved, space itself stuttering around it due to the instability of the Forbidden Zone. To an ordinary human, it would have been nothing but a smear of motion, teeth and shadow closing in for the kill. Ethan did not flinch. He did not call upon power that could erase the world. He already sealed his supreme power till his comprehended the last percentage of his source of Existence. He remained within the limits of his mortal shell, but his mind moved with terrifying clarity. Geometry, vectors, force distribution. The creature’s trajectory unfolded in his perception like a solved equation. As the scavenger leapt, Ethan stepped exactly one inch to the left. The beast sailed past him, claws slicing through empty air where his throat had been a heartbeat earlier. Before it could recover, Ethan reached out and seized its tail. The motion was simple, almost casual. Yet it perfectly exploited the creature’s momentum. With a sharp twist and a violent pull, he redirected its mass and slammed it sideways into an obsidian pillar. CRACK. [You have slain a Level 3 Void-Tainted Scavenger!] [Gained 15 Experience Points.] [Gained 5 Existence Points.] "Existence Points from killing," he said quietly. He glanced at the corpse. [Target: Void-Tainted Scavenger (Corpse)] Evolution Path: Shadow-Stalker Guard (Cost: 20 EP). Hidden Attribute: Essence Fragment. (Can be extracted to summon a loyal soul). "Extract," Ethan commanded. The body dissolved into motes of grey light, spiraling inward until they condensed into a small marble sized sphere resting in his palm. He returned to the center of his camp and dropped it into the empty fire pit. "Refine. Loyal Subject." [Consuming 20 EP...] [Consuming Essence Fragment...] [Success! You have summoned your first Subordinate.] The smoke did not form a human. Instead, it hardened into a tall, gaunt figure wrapped in tattered bandages and fragments of rusted iron plate. A chipped spear rested in its grip. Where its face should have been, only two pinpricks of cold blue flame burned. [Unit: Revenant Militia (Unique Variant)] [Rank: Iron (Level 1)] [Loyalty: 100 (Soul-Bound)] [Note: Because you harvested a void creature, your subject carries the ’Phasing’ trait.] "My Lord," the creature rasped as it dropped to one knee, the sound like dry leaves scraping across stone. "Go," Ethan ordered, pointing toward the obsidian crags. "Bring back wood. If nothing grows, then bring me the bones of the giants that died here. We need fuel." The Revenant blurred and vanished, its form phasing cleanly through solid rock. Far away, in the far more forgiving Beginner’s Valley, another lord’s fate unfolded along a gentler path. "Alright, everyone, listen up!" Leo shouted, standing atop a tree stump. Three peasants stood before him, two men and a woman dressed in burlap tunics, their eyes wide with hope. "The System says we’re in danger. We need a wall. Peter, gather wood. Sarah, look for food. Hans, you’re with me. We’re making spears." Because of Leo’s S-Rank Talent, Aura of the Brave, his peasants did not tremble in fear. A faint glow surrounded them as they moved with a twenty percent strength boost, swinging stone axes with surprising enthusiasm. "Lord Leo!" Sarah called out, pointing toward a bush heavy with bright red berries. "These look delicious!" Leo stepped closer as his interface flashed. [Identify: Blood-Drop Berries. Edible. Provides a small stamina boost.] "Gather all of them!" Leo said, his chest tightening with excitement. This felt like the strategy games he played back on home,except now the stakes were real. The air smelled of pine and fresh soil. For the first time in his life, he felt important. A ruler. A king in the making. As the sun dipped toward the horizon, a low, guttural howl echoed from the forest surrounding the valley. The Beginner tag did not mean safe. It only meant possible. Back at the wasteland of despair, night did not fall. It smothered. The temperature plunged by forty degrees in minutes. Ethan sat beside the campfire, now burning with a strange pale blue flame. The Revenant returned carrying not wood, but thick white bones shot through with crystalline veins. [Resources Gathered: 40 Units of Ancient Bone (Fuel/Material)] The fire roared to life, it was warm. [Level Up! Lord Ethan is now Level 2.] Ethan examined a rusted iron ring he had found half buried near his hut. [Target: Rusted Iron Ring] [Hidden Attribute: Seal of the Fallen House.] [Hidden Attribute: Conductivity for Mana (Low).] [Evolution Path: Ring of the Sovereign’s Command (Cost: 80 EP).] "Refine." The EP vanished. Rust inverted into polished black gold. A tiny crimson gem ignited at its center. [Item Created: Ring of the Sovereign’s Command (Silver Grade)] [Effect: Increases Max Population cap by 5. Increases loyalty gain speed by 25%.] The ring slid onto his finger. The overwhelming data flow of his SSS talent stabilized slightly. "Ragnarok," Ethan said. A shadow peeled itself from the pillar. The ancient butler appeared, bowing deeply. "My Lord. You have chosen the most difficult path. The Ancient Demons are less than ten miles away. Their scouts will find this place by tomorrow." "I know," Ethan replied. "They will see prey and that is what I want." "Shall I intervene?" "No." Ethan smiled. "The System is built on Existence. The closer you come to extinction, the more you claim. I want the meaning of life, I want the source of existence." He rose. "The Caretaker is watching?" "He is terrified that the Demon King nearby may kill you." "Tell him not to interfere. If any Admin touches my land, I will turn him into a footstool." Ragnarok vanished. [Warning: A ’Scout Party’ of the Ancient Demon Race has detected your campfire.] [Estimated Arrival: 4 Hours.] Ethan left the safety of the blue line. The night howled. Ethan’s target was to kill monsters and gain exp points as well as existence points. This existence points were something special for his talent. Slash. Kill. Slash. [Level Up! Lord Ethan is now Level 5.] [Total EP: 240.] Four hours already passed. The demons finally arrived. "Kill them," Ethan said calmly. He had gained another slave from this hunting session. It was a bronze ranked calamity knight. This ranks meant the potential of something. A level 10 broze ranked being would be stronger than a level 10 iron ranked being. Soon the knight began slaughtering the demons. The demons which would be killed in this world level would gain a lot of cultivation resources and reappear in their own world as their rewards.