The world was still buzzing with his name. Draven didn't even need to open the World Channel to know that — but he did anyway.
Chaos greeted him.
"Big Boss Dominion Breaker!""First human to take a Foreign Lord's territory? Insane.""I thought the Knight Lord would get it first.""Nah, my bet was the Dragon Lady.""Are you kidding? This guy traded four thousand units of monster meat for basic materials in his first week. You really thought he wasn't a monster himself?""Big boss? He's got big balls! BIG BALLS!"
Draven smirked at the flood of messages. Praise, envy, suspicion — all the same to him.
Far from the desert, on a plain cleaved by a jagged black mountain, a woman stood before rows of massive skeletal nests.
Suzanne Margaret. Lord Title: Dragon Lady. Once, she'd been a global icon back on Cerulean Planet — the face of The Epic Tales of the Dragon Lady. Now? She didn't just play the role. She lived it.
Her Epic-tier Lord Talent, Dragonblood Queen, allowed her to summon a wyvern from the nest behind her every three days — each beast born Green Bronze-tier, a living storm of claws and flame.
With their help, she had swept the surrounding lands clean. Monsters fell like wheat before a scythe, and even the few Foreign Lords she'd encountered could only glare from behind their novice protection barriers.
But today, her gaze was fixed on the World Channel.
Lord of the Dominion Breakers… How had he broken through a Foreign Lord's defenses? What was his gift? Summoning? Elves? Giants? Demons? Titans?
She immediately dismissed the idea of human soldiers. Too weak. Too slow. Even crossing the barrier should have been impossible.
Yet she couldn't guess the truth — that he'd used only human troops, and crushed a Lord in less than a day.
Her lips thinned. "I'll have my kill soon enough," she murmured. Ambition burned bright in her eyes. "The Overlord's throne isn't his alone to claim."
Elsewhere, in the heart of a dead city, the stench of rot hung heavy. The grave at its center stirred.
Zhang Han rose from the earth like a shadow given form. Lord Title: Undead Lord.
His Epic-tier gift, Undead Resurrection, cared little for rank or race — if it was dead, it could rise again to serve him. His mental strength was monstrous, ten times that of a normal necromancer.
At Black Iron Intermediate, he already commanded fifty lesser undead or ten of his own tier. And those numbers would only grow.
Reading the announcement, his grin stretched unnaturally wide.
"Dominion Breaker… grow stronger. Much stronger.""One day, my army will cover this land, and every Lord will fall beneath it."
Two emerald flames burned deep within his eye sockets. "When that day comes, you'll serve me too."
Draven knew none of this — and wouldn't have cared if he did. If anything, the thought of these 'talented' rivals only excited him.
Let's see if I can strip every last one of your Lord Talents.
The golden chest materialized before him, radiant and heavy with promise.
[Supreme Treasure Chest: A gift from the Supreme Will. Contains the treasure you desire most.]
He wanted to open it immediately. But surrounded by sand, corpses, and the lingering heat of battle, he chose patience.
"Take it back to my lodge," he ordered the sword-shield guards. They saluted. "Yes, my Lord."
Instead, he opened his Reputation Ranking.
A single name glowed at the top.
No. 1 — Lord of the Dominion Breakers — Reputation: 1No. 2 — None…No. 100 — None
The system explained: Reputation attracts loyalty. A rated Lord will gain the allegiance of a gifted soul tomorrow, and recruitment chances will always be higher.
Draven's eyes gleamed. "A free talent every time my name climbs? Good."
He pulled out Potts' shattered Territory Token.
[Territory Token — Black Iron Elementary. Authority of rulership. Used to level up your territory and for special functions.]
"Enough to upgrade the lodge," he muttered, tucking it away.
The rest of Potts' home held nothing worth taking. Outside, the Summoning Gate stood dark and lifeless — just another corpse of the city.
Without a Lord to power them, all structures here were just stone and wood.
"Not worth garrisoning," he muttered.
Bai Yi approached, leading a bound Caroran captive.
"My Lord, five of their kind are dead. One remains — this one."
Draven stepped close. The alien's eyes narrowed in fear. Black Iron Elementary, his instincts told him.
"Mental Perception."
The captive stiffened, mind stripped bare in an instant. Draven saw enough — the last survivor. No allies. No reason to keep it alive.
"Kill it."
"Yes, my Lord."
With that, the Dominion Breakers left Potts' corpse of a city behind, loot in hand.
Back at his lodge, Draven set the Supreme Treasure Chest before him.
His hand hovered over the lid.
"Let's see what you're hiding," he said — and opened it.