“Be careful out there, leader. And whatever you do, don’t let them find out you’re a Lord,” Xiao Mu cautioned, a hint of worry in his voice.

Alex simply grinned and pulled out her badge, handing it to Xiao Mu.

The golden badge was heavy in his hand. Two stars adorned its front, while the back displayed a six-pointed star magic circle, a bolt of purple lightning striking through its center.

“Leader, this is… a mage association badge?” Xiao Mu carefully examined the badge, venturing a guess.

“Bingo. That’s my cover while I’m out and about,” Alex said with a smile.

Xiao Mu hadn’t expected Alex to get her hands on one of these. Having it would certainly make things easier.

“Don’t worry about Undead City, leader. I’ve got this,” Xiao Mu declared, assuring Alex with unwavering confidence.

“Good. And remember, you have the authority to utilize any resources you need. No need to run every little thing by me.” Alex granted him full authority.

“Yes, ma’am!” Xiao Mu responded without hesitation. With their business concluded, Alex turned her attention to the race’s Tears she had acquired over the past few days.

She had five in total. Three were obtained from the Savage Plains, while the remaining two were tributes from Drake.

These races, all Monarch races, lived in camps and hadn’t established kingdoms.

Alex absorbed them all. The reward notifications, tucked away in the system messages, had long been ignored. She wasn’t in the mood to sift through them now.

[Kingdom’s Tear Upgrade Progress: 81/100]

A wave of excitement washed over Alex as she saw the progress.

The Kingdom’s Tear upgrade was nearly complete!

She briefly pondered whether she should wait until after establishing her Empire before leaving, considering the progress was close to maxing out.

Ruby still had a few days left. She should have enough time.

Drake had already constructed two Auxiliary Barracks in his city. Alex decided to build the remaining three in Dragon City.

Five Auxiliary Barracks meant five new Monarch level troops every day. Even as cannon fodder, they would still provide Alex with some experience points.

“And done!”

Alex put away the Kingdom’s Tear and clapped her hands together. After a few more words with Xiao Mu, she returned to her bedroom.

…

[Blood Moon in the sky, darkness descends]

As evening descended, Alex, wrapped in a towel, made her way to the bath. She hadn’t had a chance to bathe with all the running around lately.

Xiao Mu was still out having dinner. As for Xiao Hui and Sophie, they hadn’t returned yet.

Without an undead fortress constructed there, traveling back and forth was inconvenient and time-consuming.

However, Xiao Mu had already informed them of Alex’s return, and an undead would soon deliver the fortress core to them.

Once the undead fortress was built, they could return to Undead City every day, eliminating the need to spend nights in the wilderness.

After her bath, Alex simply evaporated the water from her body with a flick of magic. Her figure vanished from the bath and reappeared in her bedroom.

Alex walked over to her closet and began searching for clothes worn by the native humans. She couldn’t very well stroll into a human city wearing her pleated skirt; it would be a dead giveaway.

While she couldn’t alter her face, she could at least blend in with her attire. Although the presence of Lords had diminished, it was better to be safe than sorry.

She couldn’t wear her black robes everywhere, after all. She also needed to find some clothes for Ruby. Her attire was too flashy, and she had to find a hat to conceal her ears.

Alex quickly located suitable clothes and stored them in her ring. With that taken care of, there wasn’t much else to prepare.

It was then that she remembered the bag of gold coins the mage from Hurricane City had given her. She retrieved it from her ring and weighed it in her hand before opening the bag and taking out a coin for closer inspection.

“This can’t be real gold, can it?”

Alex held the coin under the light, scrutinizing it. She paid little attention to the image on the coin, as she didn’t recognize the old man depicted on it.

However, as her gaze swept across the coin’s face, she froze.

“Why does this old geezer look familiar? I swear I’ve seen him somewhere!”

A strange feeling washed over Alex.

No matter how hard she racked her brain, she couldn’t recall where she might have seen the man before. With a shrug, Alex tossed the coin back into the bag and put it away.

She slipped under the covers. After all the hustle and bustle, she could finally get a good night’s sleep.

===

[Night retreats, dawn arrives.]

Time: 06:00 AM

Alex woke up promptly at six in the morning.

Dressed and ready for the day, she stepped outside, where a dark elf was already waiting for her.

“Master, breakfast today is sandwiches and vegetable salad.”

Alex nodded and made her way downstairs. Xiao Hui and Sophie still hadn’t returned, and only a few dark elves were downstairs preparing breakfast.

Xiao Mu arrived shortly after, and the two of them sat down at the dining table to eat.

“Hey, did you ask Lilith to bring over some cat-eared maids?” Alex suddenly thought of this and joked with him.

“Huh???” Xiao Mu looked confused.

“Leader, I heard that those cat-eared maids were all taken by that Lord…” Xiao Mu didn’t finish his sentence, but his odd expression gave away a hint.

Alex felt nauseous, thankful that there was no milk in this morning’s breakfast.

“Can’t we just summon new ones every day?”

“Leader, if I may speak frankly, I believe a normal male would never pass up these newly summoned cat-eared maids, especially since they are all virgins.” Xiao Mu explained earnestly.

“Let’s just send a few to Satan. I’m sure he’d be delighted,” Alex said, finding the idea rather amusing.

“Leader, Lilith and Satan’s levels are even lower than mine now. They’re no longer useful as allies,” Xiao Mu said, steering the conversation in a different direction.

“I know, I know. But forcing their submission wouldn’t be of much help either. No Lord can keep up with me anymore.” Alex spread her hands. She had nothing to hide from Xiao Mu.

“Besides, whether it’s submission or alliance, if I continue to grow stronger and widen the gap between us, the end result will be the same.”

“I see,” Xiao Mu said.

After breakfast, Alex sat idly in a chair, suddenly remembering that she hadn’t checked the World Chat in ages. It was the perfect way to kill some time this early in the morning and see what the other Lords were up to.

Before opening the World Chat, however, Alex glanced at the leaderboard. She noticed some changes in the rankings.

Drake had climbed to second place, surpassing Lilith. Sophie remained firmly in fourth, with the Xiao siblings trailing closely behind. Poor Satan was still stuck in seventh place.

Opening the World Chat, Alex noticed that the once-frantic scrolling had slowed considerably. A significant number of Lords had perished during this time.

Most of the names in the chat were white, indicating Freelancers. Green names, representing Lords, were few and far between.

It seemed the Lords had settled into their roles and were no longer engaging in idle chatter. Only the Freelancers currently residing in human cities were busy boasting about their lives.

[Amethyst]: “Looking to join a thriving community? Come pledge your allegiance to me! We have everything you could ever desire!”

[GlitchWizard]: “Whoa, a top ten big shot! Joining them means we can rule the world! Guys, I’m in. See ya!”

[SnackAttacker]: “??? Are you nuts? What if it’s a trap? How did you even survive this long with that pea-sized brain of yours?”

[MemeMaestro]: “Don’t listen to those clueless Freelancers. We, the Lords, need to unite and rise together. Aligning ourselves with the top players is the only logical path.”

[Blue Giant]: “I’m also recruiting. Come join our ranks, and let’s build a powerful alliance. We don’t need the system’s Alliance mechanism; we can create our own. Only by standing together can we survive in this world!”

Alex stared at the World Chat in astonishment. What in the world was going on? Raphaela’s lackeys were still relentlessly spamming the chat, trying to recruit Lords. There were even some unfamiliar names among them.

She quickly opened the leaderboard to investigate. To her surprise, they were all Lords ranked in the top twenty.

There were even some obvious “shills” urging others to join them. They were pulling out all the stops to attract new recruits.

Most of the active Lords in the chat were indeed Raphaela’s subordinates. Only the Freelancers were genuinely criticizing them.

What had happened to the World Chat?

Alex observed for a while longer, realizing that these individuals were simply finding creative ways to spam and entice other Lords into joining their ranks.

She briefly considered intervening but decided against it.

While Alex’s influence could easily disrupt Raphaela’s plans, it wasn’t worth the effort.

They posed no threat to her at the moment. Even if she managed to recruit dozens or even hundreds of Lords, most of them were only at the Commanding level, weaker than even one of Alex’s skeletons.

Although she didn’t fully understand how faith power was calculated, Alex was certain it couldn’t compare to the exponential growth of Death Spirit’s power through absorbing death energy. Otherwise, Raphaela would have already become unstoppable.

“How boring.”

Alex closed the World Chat. Apart from those who had submitted to Raphaela, most of the active participants were Freelancers.

The Lords were eerily silent. She had a feeling that more of them would transition into Freelancers and integrate into human society in the coming days.

If a significant portion of Lords chose this path, wouldn’t that ultimately strengthen the human race?

Alex rose from her chair and headed towards the main fortress. It was time to visit Ruby in the far north.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep