"It's difficult," César murmured as he wiped the sweat from his forehead.
His breathing was steady, but his muscles ached in a way that training alone could not erase.
Despite all his effort, he had only managed to cultivate a small amount of aura—far from what was needed to open the Aura Veins, and infinitely far from forming an Aura Core.
'So this is the price,' he thought.
No wonder that, even in the future—when the method to cultivate Ether became known—only a handful were willing to walk this path. Aura did not bend to shortcuts. It demanded time, resources, pain, and a level of determination most beings simply did not possess.
Mana could be borrowed from the world.
Aura had to be carved from oneself.
César let out a slow breath and shook his head, pushing those thoughts aside. Dwelling on limitations would change nothing.
His eyes moved across the exhausted group of goblins sprawled across the training ground—some sitting, some lying flat on the earth, others leaning against unfinished wooden beams. Their bodies trembled with fatigue, yet none had abandoned the session.
Not far away stood his brother.
Goby's shoulders were slumped, his hands trembling slightly, but his eyes were sharp—burning with a stubborn, unyielding determination.
César nodded in quiet approval.
'Good. He won't break.'
His gaze shifted toward the constructions rising around them, and something warm stirred in his chest.
Joy.
Even with the knowledge he carried from his past life, it still wasn't enough. He was no architect, no master builder. What he could offer was fragmented—ideas, principles, warnings learned through failure rather than mastery.
And the goblins struggled.
They misaligned beams. Dug trenches too shallow. Measured by instinct instead of precision.
But they learned.
Slowly.
Stubbornly.
And they had already come far.
César clenched his fist.
He was determined.
He would build a civilization.
An empire.
On this continent—before the humans ever arrived.
Not a scattered tribe.
Not a temporary refuge.
But something rooted so deeply into the land that removing it would require blood and fire.
He tore his gaze away from the constructions and began to organize his thoughts.
For now, survival was stable.
🪵 Housing — wooden homes built directly over the mana vein
🔮 Initial mana cultivation — veins opening steadily
🍖 Basic food supply — hunting, larvae, limited livestock
The foundation existed.
So what was missing?
Water.
Rainwater and small streams had been enough when they were few—when they hid in caves and moved like shadows.
But not anymore.
Not for growth.
Not for permanence.
Fortunately, not far from their settlement lay exactly what they needed.
A river.
Wide.
Constant.
Alive.
César's eyes narrowed slightly.
'Too perfect.'
How could a place so vital remain unclaimed?
And there lay the problem.
The river already had owners.
The Murlocs.
Driving them away was not an option.
For them, the river was not merely a resource.
It was ancestry.
Identity.
Faith.
To abandon it would be to abandon themselves.
There was no negotiation that would end peacefully.
Conflict was inevitable.
But César saw further.
Killing them all would be a waste.
A tragic one.
Normally, subjugating a race like the Murlocs was impossible. Every story, every record from his past life made that clear. They were violent, territorial, and utterly unwilling to kneel. In most cases, extermination was the only outcome.
Yet César remembered something.
His power of mental control.
The Murlocs were not disorganized beasts.
They were hierarchical.
Fanatically loyal to their leader.
Their will flowed downward—absolute, unquestioned.
If he dominated the leader…
He would dominate the entire river.
To subjugate one—
to gain an entire army.
Warriors perfectly adapted to water, currents, ambushes.
A force no land-bound tribe could easily counter.
César's lips curved upward.
Not wide.
Not openly.
Just enough.
'The river won't be conquered,' he thought calmly.
'It will be inherited.'
And for the first time since his rebirth, César did not think like a survivor.
He thought like a ruler choosing his first conquest.