The sound of flapping wings was so loud that it reached the city a few dozen kilometers away. It was completely ridiculous. They came like crazy, and the attractive mana was passing through the crystals; As soon as they arrived, they were poisoned. Each batch lasted only a few minutes and died completely. The perimeter was cleared in a few hours and about a day later they had the first area with about 500 kilometers clear.
The rune scheme was designed by Felix and Kayden together. They relied on a negative signal for mana capable of confusing spiritual senses, but the main means of camouflaging such a large area was using rune repeaters. This was humanity’s greatest achievement when using runes.
They only needed to have a main chain and, using a few secondary runes, they were able to repeat the message several kilometers in length. The process took around 1 month to complete, even moving hundreds of kilometers per day. They needed to extend the runes at the same rate, and this took much more time than killing the moths.
Kayden stipulated a perimeter of around 5,000 kilometers. This would be enough for some third-realm beasts to occupy five different areas, making the ecosystem function normally. With the crystals free, Kayden had time to study them further.
The amount of mana each of them exuded could easily elevate someone to the second realm in a few years. Kayden banned anyone from taking to the skies. The runes would kill anyone who got too close. Those who worked on the runes had to sign contracts that prevented them from telling anything and from going near the runes.
In just a few days, the density of mana had already increased considerably, to the point that Felix had to make runes to prevent the density from getting too high in the city and killing newborns. Kayden took advantage of this additional mana to test his spells and base. He couldn’t find even a single mistake in her even after all these years, but that was something he kept trying.
Any mage in the fourth realm would be able to do what Kayden did and get out of this place easily, but the problem was that the amount of mana he exuded would attract moths from thousands of miles towards him quickly. Once the wizard fell into the abyss, he would automatically be killed by attrition.
You could probably still clean a few thousand kilometers of animals and, depending on your specialization, you could clean much more. That was the first impression Kayden had. But perhaps, if the wizard had specific spells, like a barrier that killed the moths instantly, he could survive for a long time and escape easily.
That thought made Kayden realize that the moths weren’t the only thing keeping information from coming out of the abyss. There was probably something down here capable of killing people in the transitional realm, without a doubt that was it. Kayden didn’t pay much attention to these thoughts, it was something that was far out of his reach.
Time flew by, and quickly it was ten years since Kayden had founded this city. Felix was currently at the fifth level of the third realm, and even though it was two levels apart, it was only one as he remained on the verge of advancing for decades.
Milena and Julian only went up one level each. Their advancement was not that great, as they did not have abundant techniques or resources like Felix. Kayden opened his entire private library to the beast, but for the two of them, he only gave the highest level techniques in the city.
In the future, if they ended up proving themselves worthy, Kayden would invest in them. With Felix’s advancement, Kayden got a good training partner. They were more or less on the same level now, but that was slowly changing as Kayden added dozens of concepts to his repertoire.
He was learning from strong to weak concepts, it didn’t matter, he just wanted a ridiculous amount to the point of complete saturation. Milena and Julian were still completely dominated in a one-on-one fight.
His children had reached the age of 9 and revealed a certain talent. Some were already at the eighth apprentice level. Those who received mana in their food developed first.
Some ended up dying over the years, but those who survived had a stronger, faster body and an easier time manipulating mana. Kayden had already gotten rid of 70% of all the useless weights, and the population would be low if it weren’t for the two waves of children that appeared in those ten years. At that time, there were around 450 children. It would be more if it weren’t for Kayden cutting out the useless ones.
He decided to wait another ten years for the next generation, as the first had to develop enough to take care of them. Most of the ancient people were in the second realm now and distributed among the various levels. Kayden thought that some of them would be able to advance to the third realm at the end of their lives, but they would be few, very few. These would be invited to become Kayden’s slaves.
The city has fully developed, with a sewage system and running water. Furthermore, the surrounding beasts also became stronger compared to before. Their advancement was even faster than that of humans. In just one year, the five areas were occupied by beasts from the third realm, and they also managed to reach the fourth.
The city has fully developed, with a sewage system and running water. Furthermore, the surrounding beasts also became stronger compared to before. Their advancement was even faster than that of humans. In just one year, the five areas were occupied by beasts from the third realm, and they also managed to reach the fourth. Kayden and Felix gave a small warning that certain areas were out of their jurisdiction, even though they were in their territory, and that humans should not be killed by them.
Vegetation also developed during this period, and treasures from the third began to appear. Kayden made sure to stop anyone from taking them early. The boy let everyone take the time they needed to blossom correctly. Furthermore, it offered protection for certain species of animals and plants to prevent the ecosystem from swallowing them, especially considering that there were no laws other than the law of the strongest.
Kayden decided to go into total seclusion for two years. He would only leave his training room at a time when the children were in the period capable of advancing to the mage level. He would focus completely on learning four strong concepts during this period. His rest would be set aside for a while. At that moment, 1% did not exist, either he learned or he did not learn.
Control of the city and all decisions remained in Milena’s hands. Kayden made a presentation to the population, elevating her to the level of demigod, and explained that she would have to remain in seclusion to heal. Felix was still the real controller of everything, but the cat was too lazy to deal with these situations. His preference was to rule from the shadows and use his time to invest in himself.
In the blink of an eye, Kayden emerged from his seclusion stronger than before. Four strong concepts were added to his repertoire, three of them about his path and one of them about the tree of concepts that Bolt had stipulated for him. Kayden has not forgotten his master’s technique; she would be a great asset in the future. But for every concept he learned, it became less important as Kayden began to feel the flow of mana at a ridiculously high level.
The slightest movement from a spell or mana manipulation could be felt by him. Kayden estimated that when he reached a surreally large number of concepts, he could even feel other people’s breath as mana.
"Hello future wizards, the lightning test will begin now. Those who present talent will be directly recruited by the different organizations in our city. I hope you all do your best," Kayden was floating in the air as he spoke to over 200 kids on the ground. There were several hundred people around who were there to witness the event. The organizations Kayden mentioned were the different ministries he built. In each, there were a few main members, with the majority being outsourced helpers.
Other than that, there was no other organization in the city. There were a few that civilians joined to exchange experiences and learn or found a clan, but even those weren’t noteworthy. They only had members and no real power.
The stands were arranged circularly. In the center, there was a small stage made of golden material that stood imposingly. The order of the children was left to their choice, and the first to go up was a red-haired man with black eyes. According to the data Kayden collected, he was the first to max out the apprentice level and one of the last to undergo awakening. This demonstrated that his experiments of mixing mana into his diet were productive.