Outside the Territory

Michael's sixth day as a Lord began early in the morning.

He picked up the Ordinary Summoning Scroll from today and the day before and listened to the daily report while extracting the monsters Tiara and the two Warriors hunted yesterday.

Two and a half hours later, Michael was finally done, and the dissected body parts were neatly stored in the warehouse.

'16 Scrolls…not bad,' He mumbled after merging the Summoning Scroll Fragments together. Michael broke the scrolls' seals and welcomed his new subjects.

Out of the 16 summons, fourteen were starless, and two were 1-Star Summons. Surprisingly, one of the 1-Star Summons was a Warrior, while the other was a Craftsman.

At last, his military force started to expand!

"Head to the southern wall of the protection barrier and assist the Battle Maid and Warriors," He ordered the Warrior, who saluted instinctively.

Michael had yet to realize that his presence and demeanor were changing slowly. He was getting more confident while his presence grew stronger and more charismatic. His command was also precise and decisive, which made it clear that Michael understood what had to be done.

This was more than enough to instill confidence in the Warrior. The Warrior departed after a second salute to heed the commands he had been given.

Meanwhile, Michael turned his attention to the other summons. He told the craftsman to join the other craftsman to create furniture, kitchenware, and other woodwork while telling the others to join the construction of more treehouse complexes.

After that, he retrieved the Boots of Taran and bound them to his War Rune. Last night Tiara had visited him to return the Boots of Taran. She was not sure what Michael planned to do, but she could tell that he wanted to do something dangerous.

Michael had been working on a plan all day, and he concluded that his window of opportunity wasn't that big anymore. Gogis might not be the smartest, but it didn't need much of a brain to figure out that Michael was at a horrifying disadvantage.

He was a new Lord, and only one of his subjects was Tier-1. That was already bad, but he had only four days left before the protection barrier would be lifted and the Gogi Lord could bulldoze his territory.

Michael had to act within those four days to change the fate of his territory.

Nonetheless, the Gogi Lord was highly likely to be waiting. Gogis may be a simple-minded race that had more muscles than brains, but they were also a social race that focused on camaraderie.

Michael witnessed firsthand that they would sacrifice their own lives in an attempt to protect their comrades.

That was why the Gogi Lord wouldn't attack Michael's territory if the protection barrier was still up. He had already burnt his fingers by attacking Michael's territory and was forced to retreat humiliatingly after his subjects had already been beaten senseless. The Gogi Lord ensured to keep his subjects unharmed instead of camping near the protection barrier, where they were certain to be hunted down mercilessly.

Michael didn't have to worry about finding someone camping outside the protection barrier, waiting to ambush him but he was vigilant when he decided to leave his territory. As a precautionary measure, he had a long talk with his injured Tracker before stepping out of his territory.

It was not the first time that he left the protection barrier, but he would always stick close to it and had yet to leave the proximity. That was what he had to do today to collect more information and see whether his plan was feasible.

'Calm down, you'll be fine,' Michael repeated the line like a mantra.

He left his territory and made his way to the lizard cave Blaire had mentioned earlier. Michael recalled some interesting facts about reptiles and amphibians, and he wanted to see if the same facts applied to reptilian monsters of the Origin Expanse.

On his way to the lizard cave, Michael encountered a few monsters. He avoided them by climbing the nearest trees or by hiding in the bushes.

Even if he was not the best at stealthily walking through the dense rainforest, Michael was good enough to avoid fighting Low Tier-1 Monsters head-on. One monster followed him when it picked up the scent, but it departed the moment Michael retrieved the Antler Bow and a few arrows from his War Rune.

That was the worst incident Michael faced on his way to the lizard cave.

'Is luck finally on my side?' He thought ironically as he found himself standing in front of the lizard cave's entrance. He hadn't been pulled into a life-and-death fight yet, but he had a bad feeling about the lizard cave. If it were possible to avoid entering the lizard cave until he got a little stronger, Michael would have done it.

Unfortunately, he didn't have that much time. The Gogis were already waiting for him, after all!

The entrance of the lizard cave looked like an arched Gate that had formed naturally over the course of time. It was seven meters high and of similar width.

Michael stepped through the entrance while ignoring the eerie feeling Blaire told him about. He scanned the entire cavern entrance with his Eagle Eyes unleashed and took in every detail he was able to make out.

'No monster? In that case…'

He bent down while golden streams conjured in his palms.

'Show me what you got, little lizard cave!'

Using Extraction in the cavern entrance allowed him to extract various minerals from the ground. However, Michael focused on the valuables and materials that could be useful against the Gogi Lord.

"Gloa Crystals…now it makes sense why the deeper parts of the lizard cave are so bright. There is also Zantine Ore? If the ore deposit is large, I've found a treasure…" Michael mumbled to himself as small purple shards and bits of a silverish-green ore manifested in the golden streams of his Soultrait.

Zantine Ore was considered the equal of iron ore in the Origin Expanse. It was a little bit more durable and flexible, but it was quite common in the Origin Expanse, so it was not exactly a jackpot. Fortunately, there was always a demand for Zantine Ore.

A white crystal manifested not long after. It was small and crumbled when Michael used some force to test its durability.

'Is that chalk? It could also be magnesite or something like that…well, whatever.'

Michael extracted a few more samples of everything to get it inspected by the Scholar once he returned. The Scholar should be able to tell him more about the materials of the Origin Expanse.

Other than Gloa Crystal, Zantine Ore, and the fragile, white crystals, Michael was able to extract three different types of ores. Their quantity was much smaller compared to the others, but that made sense if one could find their deposits deeper underground. Michael was monitoring the consumption of his Soultrait and using it judiciously.

Once he collected enough samples, Michael went deeper inside the lizard cave, using the only tunnel connected to the cavern entrance.

The eeriness of the lizard cave caused goosebumps to spread across his tensed body. However, he continued to walk deeper into the cave until he found a small tunnel on his left.

Michael stopped to look, and his expression lit up.

'Eggs! Six of them at that!' He exclaimed seeing the oval-shaped eggs. Immediately, he scanned the tunnel but there was no mature lizard.

"Where is your mom, my little eggs?"

It was at that moment, a low growl echoed through the cavern tunnel.

Michael flinched and slowly turned to his right, careful not to make any sudden movements.

And a moment later, he found the lizard mother…or would it be better to say that the mother found him?