Whistling winds swept past, carrying a hint of coolness.
Leilin rode his horse, gazing at the scenery on both sides. Vast stretches of farmland spread out in a continuous expanse, with clusters of farmers laboring upon them.
Along both sides of the road, purification towers could be seen everywhere.
These towers were specifically designed to eliminate the unintentional radiation pollution emitted by wizards, allowing ordinary people and wizards to coexist safely.
"My Lord Marquis! Your noble title recognition and domain certification have both been issued. From now on, your title will be recognized across the entire Central Continent! The plains east of the Heize Mountain Range are all within your domain, and all ordinary people living here will automatically become your subjects!"
A white-haired Second-rank Sorcerer spoke from the side.
"Bring me the map!" Leilin dismounted, and Gubler immediately produced a yellowed scroll of parchment and unrolled it.
With the map as reference, the contours of his domain became much clearer. Not only was it vast in area, encompassing several fertile plains, but it also included a coastline and several excellent ports.
A Marquis in the Central Continent naturally held far more prestige than one on the South Coast. The domain's extent could rival that of a large kingdom on the South Coast.
Of course, for Leilin, who had once ruled over the entire Dark Polar Domain and governed fifty million subjects, this was nothing particularly astonishing, not worth getting worked up over.
Beside him, Gubler and the white-haired sorcerer both wore expressions of envy.
The output from such an expansive domain, even when converted into wizard resources, would be a tremendous source of wealth for any ordinary Third-rank Sorcerer.
"Gubler! Go find some professional administrators and set up the governing structure here. Oh, and my noble crest—use the Arcane Sigil as the design!" Leilin issued his orders casually.
Gubler bowed respectfully, showing his understanding.
Seeing this, the white-haired old sorcerer glanced at Gubler, a flicker of envy in his eyes.
In his view, Leilin was a Komoin Giant Serpent sorcerer who had also taken Morningstar
Meanwhile, even after spending his entire life climbing the ranks under Robin, the old sorcerer had barely managed to enter the inner circle.
Comparing the two only deepened his envy and jealousy.
"Master, as a Marquis, you still need a castle to serve as the seat of your power!" Gubler reminded him at the right moment.
"Mm! Then purchase some slaves. Also, recruit some of my subjects using food and money as wages for the construction! Let's pick this spot here!" Leilin pointed casually at a location on the map.
It was a stretch of plains near the coastline, with the port just a short distance beyond.
"At once, gracious Master!" Gubler offered a word of praise.
In truth, once the Ouroboros Ring had granted this entire territory to Leilin, he held absolute authority over the life and death of every creature on this land. He was even permitted to establish armies and build kingdoms.
In the Central Continent, subjects were expected to respond unconditionally to their lord's summons every year, bringing their own provisions and performing labor services or handling wartime logistics.
The fact that Leilin was paying wages made him extraordinarily benevolent by comparison.
"We'll call the castle 'Black Fortress.' Go gather a group of scholars and craftsmen. Once the design plans are complete, bring them to me for review!"
Leilin paid little attention to such minor matters and delegated the authority entirely.
What he truly cared about was this: "Next to Black Fortress, I plan to construct a Wizard Tower!"
"A Wizard Tower!" The two men beside him immediately cried out in shock. That would mean an enormous expenditure of resources.
"Yes, and it must be built to the highest standards!" In Leilin's eyes, Black Fortress was merely a seat of mortal power. The Wizard Tower was his true future residence.
"Why not build it at headquarters? There you could receive resource support and benefit from joint defenses?" Gubler suggested.
"Out of the question!" Leilin shook his head firmly. While building at headquarters would provide some technical and resource support, the fact that a Wizard Tower's core would need to be integrated into the joint defense network was intolerable!
He had far too many secrets to expose to others.
Moreover, a Wizard Tower was a necessary prerequisite for conducting the Astral Gate experiments. For that reason, Leilin had made a firm resolution: he would build one independently on his own domain.
"In that case, the design plans and the expenses..." Gubler only needed to think about it for a moment before feeling dizzy at the prospect.
"I'll handle the design plans myself. As for the expenses, don't worry about them," Leilin said with a faint smile.
He had, after all, plundered an entire Dark Polar Domain. While that region was far less wealthy than the Central Continent, concentrating all of it on a single person was still an astonishing fortune.
He had even filled an entire spatial ring with Magic Stones alone, along with no small number of rare and precious resources—more than enough to fund a Wizard Tower built entirely to the highest standards.
How could an ordinary Wizard Tower possibly contain Leilin's ambitions?
Furthermore, a high-grade Wizard Tower could actually promote a wizard's own strength and progress, and was an essential environment for many experiments. For these reasons, many high-level wizards planned to build their own Wizard Towers.
But very few could match Leilin's ability—single-handedly financing the construction without finding it burdensome. Others typically needed centuries of accumulation to have even a hope of building one to ordinary specifications, let alone top-tier equipment. They could only dream of such things.
"For the preliminary preparations of building both the castle and the Wizard Tower, I'll need a large number of male slaves and stonemasons. Do you have any channels?" Leilin looked at the old sorcerer.
"Of course, my lord!" The old sorcerer bowed. "In fact, my master has several dedicated channels that provide half-orcs, gnomes, dwarves, and adult human slaves..."
"Good. Then I'll leave this side to you. I need at least ten thousand. Payment will be in Magic Stones!"
As soon as Leilin's words fell, the old sorcerer's eyes flashed with a hint of joy.
The Central Continent also used gold and silver as circulating currency, and Magic Stones were a much higher-tier currency with favorable exchange rates on the black market. By paying this way, there was bound to be a nice cut of profit for the intermediary.
Of course, such petty interests were long beneath Leilin's notice, and if they motivated the old sorcerer to work harder, he was happy to let it be.
--- Black Fortress Plains—whatever it had been called before, once Leilin made his decision, the name automatically changed to Black Fortress Plains, and it would become the power center of this emerging domain.
Row upon row of adult slaves hauled massive granite blocks under the overseers' lashes and clubs.
These stones had been quarried at a separate site, cut to uniform sizes, and then transported here to be assembled into the grand fortress.
Leilin's Black Fortress employed a dual-layer wall defense system. The outer wall was slightly lower than the inner wall, and both were lined with numerous arrow towers and guard posts.
Beyond the fortress walls, trenches would be dug to form a wide, imposing moat.
The entire main structure was to be built from granite bricks. At a later stage, wizards skilled in the application of earth-element energy particles would be brought in to reinforce the walls, sealing the gaps between stones to form one massive, unified structure. After that, renowned sculptors would be invited to add their craft.
Once fully completed, its splendor would rival that of any mortal king's castle.
To complete Black Fortress, vast numbers of slaves and conscripted subjects worked tirelessly day and night at the construction site.
For these workers, Leilin provided reasonably good meals—black bread and fish soup—which were luxuries for slaves and impoverished farmers. As a result, most of them worked diligently.
"Master, all ten thousand male slaves have arrived. Some are currently at the quarry, and the rest are all here!"
Gubler followed behind Leilin like a meticulous steward.
Because Leilin paid in Magic Stones, was clearly wealthy beyond measure, and didn't concern himself too much about where the slaves came from, he was the ideal customer for major slave traders. Combined with the old sorcerer's diligent efforts, ten thousand slaves were procured quickly.
This was no small number, and it gave Leilin a deeper understanding of the scope of Robin's influence.
"These slaves must be properly managed. We'll need to establish a hierarchy among them. Those who work hard and actively align themselves with us will be granted a small plot of land after the castle is completed, becoming my farmers or soldiers. As for those who slack off or resist—put them to work as slaves until they die, or simply kill them!"
Leilin spoke calmly. Having experienced so much, his management experience was extensive, and his words drew repeated nods of agreement from Gubler.
"Now, give me a progress report on the construction."
"Master, at the current pace, your castle should be completed by next spring. The total expenditure will be approximately one and a half million gold coins..."
Gubler merely needed to bow his head and think for a moment before producing figures that would be enough to make ordinary kings faint.
"Mm! That's acceptable."
These were minor matters, and Leilin merely acknowledged them before moving on. In truth, the construction of Black Fortress was the small part. What was truly staggering were the blueprints in his hand.
Gubler glanced nervously at the blueprints Leilin held.
These were the Wizard Tower structure designed by Leilin himself.
The entire Wizard Tower would be constructed from Manlan Metal, a type of durable wizard alloy. Underground, there would be three levels: a laboratory, a summoning and binding chamber, and at the very bottom, a massive Negative Energy reaction pool.
Above ground, the first level would be a reception hall, the second would contain the master's bedroom and library, the third would house the magical garden and ecological laboratory, the fourth would be the storage room, and the highest level would feature a Positive Energy reaction pool corresponding to the Negative Energy pool below.
Nearly all energy particles came in two opposing polarities—positive and negative. These energy pools were expensive energy-harvesting structures that encompassed the vast majority of energy particle types.