Crown's Domain!

The helicopter that took off from Bo City finally landed in the Magic City of Shanghai, where a private jet awaited Damon's arrival.

For a long time, Damon had thought about his future course of action—whether to study in Shanghai like the original plan or aim further for the Imperial University. But all of these questions came to an end when Damon wondered: why did he even want to enter a university?

For normal people, the university is the only way for a mage to learn about magic while not being tied to the major powers. It's a place to learn and advance with your elements while also gaining access to resources that ordinary people can't.

But what's the use of that for Damon? Damon already knows all the theoretical things. The only thing he may lack is practical knowledge and direct elemental applications, which can only be learned through practice or with the guidance of experienced mages.

Most students join universities and powers mainly for resources, but Damon, being rich—or should he say filthy rich—doesn't see any reason to attend university and fight with others for resources. He could just hire mages and teachers to homeschool him and learn more about the things he lacked.

This way, he could also have more time to practice and study at his own pace without being restricted by the schools.

Schools and universities are also something the associations and others use to keep track of students and their records, so why bother wasting his time on them?

With this in mind, Damon made his plans to stay out of university and use his resources to grow at his own pace.

The plane from Shanghai took off.

***

City of Regalith, Crown's Domain

Central Africa

"Welcome, Sir, it's our first time meeting in person."

As soon as Damon stepped out of his private plane, he was met with the sight of dozens of people in military uniforms and suits, lined up in military fashion at the plane's entrance, led by a tall, burly man with a dark skin tone and another man with blonde hair, wearing a black suit, standing nearby.

"David, Evan," Damon said as he stepped down from the platform, looking at the two individuals standing in front of him. He nodded as he took their names and examined them.

"It's really our first time seeing each other in person."

Damon shook hands with the two men as they led him to a luxurious black car with a crown logo at its front, before taking their seats with Damon.

Yes, Damon was now in Africa—the place where his base was located, the place where his soldiers were trained, and the place he now ruled.

Over the past years, a lot of changes had happened to the world with Damon's interference. First of all, his Crown Group had taken over the mining market, especially for elemental stones, all within the span of a few years, becoming a big name in the market.

The company now alone holds wealth comparable to the richest clans while constantly expanding its business into new domains.

Launching luxury and affordable car brands, electronics, and other products, Crown Group slowly entered various markets. In weaponry and other sectors, with new and better technologies created by the talents he gathered, the company's fame and value kept growing bigger and bigger.

The science and math in this world are considered a myth, as previously mentioned, but that's not entirely the case. Basic sciences are considered part of magic technology and treated more like common sense among members of this field, though not termed as a completely new branch. Medicine and surgery are practiced, as are other science-related fields, but all under the name of magic, using magical equipment, never trying to research and delve deeper into the topics. The knowledge here is at least a century or more behind that of Earth in these fields. {A/N: Now happy?}

The Crown Mercenary Group, under the command of David, also kept advancing, capturing the entire East of Central Africa, bordering Egypt and the Sahara to the north and extending to the southern countries. In the west, the coalition of the remaining forces had now formed to oppose the Crown's Domain—the name given to the growing territory.

After Crown Group took over the business world, people traced its location back to Africa, where the entire land was now considered a pot of gold, exemplified by the success of Crown Group.

Many clans, organizations, and even the Guild of Wicked, which hadn't taken much interest in these ungoverned lands, were now attracted, creating their own groups and alliances here to expand.

Normally, these groups could just order a bunch of super-tier mages to fight for these lands, but they couldn't. The lands here were ruled more by monsters than humans, with countless monarchs and emperors.

The land was nothing less than a curse for strong mages, who, upon approaching, would attract all kinds of ferocious monsters with strong territorial instincts. (Reference: Mui Clan's fire seed excavation arc.)

For these reasons, the strongest forces in these lands were the advanced mages. Over the years, Crown Group had taken over many regions ruled by previous lords, mercilessly destroying them or assimilating them into their ranks, seizing large tracts of land.

With Damon's methods and ambitions, the majority of the mines and resources Damon wanted were now in his pockets, with a strong army of mages and dozens of cities filled with militants and mines under his control.

What he may lack now are super-level mages and forbidden curse mages, but that's not a major issue since he could recruit them outside of the Crown's Domain and Central Africa.

Using Earth Cores—the priceless treasures that could raise a barrier and safeguard a region, cleansing it from monsters or consumed by super mages to break through to the forbidden mage rank—Damon had bound quite a number to his team to serve for a period of time.

Similarly, with super mages and the like, his military power was growing at an alarming rate. With the support of the Zu Clan, which had considerable political influence within the world of mages and the Holy City, along with business relationships with various forces, the Crown Group continued to expand.

The Crown's Domain became the name of the land under Damon's rule, with the City of Regalith as the name of the largest city and headquarters for Crown Group.

Looking out of the window, Damon saw the lush greenery surrounding the roads, large buildings under construction in the distance, and big industrial and mining parks visible on the horizon.