Prefectural City

Fyodor spoke of "never belittling a middle-aged man's poverty" because he had only advanced from a Rank 6 Warrior to a Rank 8 Warrior when he was over seventy.

A Rank 6 Warrior, barring accidents, could live to the limit of an ordinary human's lifespan—one hundred and twenty years.

A Rank 6 Warrior in his seventies could more or less be considered "elderly," but Fyodor refused to admit he was old. He believed one could only be called "elderly" after eighty. Besides, after advancing to Rank 8 Warrior, his lifespan had exceeded the limits of ordinary people, allowing him to live to three hundred.

At over two hundred and thirty years old, Fyodor had advanced to the Saint Domain. Thus, Fyodor felt that no matter what level he was at, he could be considered "middle-aged."

However, Fyodor probably could never have imagined that this "most profound memory" in his mind was nothing more than a fake forcibly planted into his soul by Locke.

At present, Locke's analysis of Fyodor's soul had entered a "bottleneck." No matter how many times he analyzed Fyodor's soul now, he could no longer make any new discoveries.

Locke had anticipated such a situation long ago.

Through Fyodor's soul, Locke's understanding of souls had also deepened.

After exhausting more than half of his Mental Strength, Locke withdrew from his state of fusion with the Law Profundities and instead restored his Mental Strength through meditation.

By the time Locke's Mental Strength had fully recovered, night had already fallen.

At this time, Locke would sink his consciousness into his soul space.

Then, based on the mysteries he had comprehended, he would set up defenses within his soul space.

As a transmigrator, Locke knew that his mind contained things that the beings of the Coiling Dragon Universe could neither understand nor accept.

Therefore, Locke placed the greatest importance on the safety of his own soul.

In the Coiling Dragon Universe, aside from those with profound attainments in the field of souls, most gods would not use their Soul Power to forge Soul Defense Divine Artifacts.

Even the Sovereigns, when forging Soul Defense Lord Artifacts, mostly relied on their powerful Willpower to grant those Lord Artifacts the ability to defend against Soul Attacks.

But Locke was different.

Ever since he had comprehended the Water Law Profundity of Mist Illusion and gained the ability to use Soul Power to launch Soul Attacks, Locke had never ceased his research into souls.

Whether during his ten years of secluded cultivation in Enbo Territory or his more than ten years of training in Pu'er Village, Locke's attainments in the soul had steadily improved.

And the existence of Fyodor, the Knight Commander of the Temple of Light, had allowed Locke's research into souls to reach a new level.

Previously, Locke's research into souls had mainly focused on "perception." The Heavenly Dance Treasure Wheel was the ultimate technique born from Locke's research into soul "perception."

Now, Locke had come into contact with soul "memories."

Through his research into the memories within souls, Locke had completely sealed away all memories of his previous life within his soul and added a lock over them.

If someone were to break through his soul's defenses and attempt to destroy that "lock," this portion of Locke's soul would immediately self-destruct, giving no one any chance to examine the memories of his soul.

In terms of soul defense, based on his understanding of the Mist Illusion Law Profundity, Locke used his Soul Power to arrange a ring of white mist around his soul.

Any Soul Attack seeking to strike his soul first had to break through this layer of Soul Power before it could harm his soul.

Of course, this thin mist of Soul Power was not something so simple.

The mist also contained Locke's own Soul Attack, the Heavenly Dance Treasure Wheel.

Any Soul Attack that entered the mist would have its perception stripped away by the Heavenly Dance Treasure Wheel, causing all Soul Attacks entering Locke's soul space to become like blind and deaf men, unable to lock onto Locke's soul.

Naturally, they could only exhaust their power and dissipate within this soul mist, unable to pose even the slightest threat to Locke.

Every day, Locke's schedule was packed full.

Yet Locke felt that his life was exceptionally fulfilling.

"Lord Locke!"

On this day, Locke had just finished his training when the voice of the head guard came from outside the tent.

"Battalion Commander Gask has arrived."

"Gask?"

Hearing this name, Locke froze for a moment.

Then, upon hearing the guard say "Battalion Commander," Locke immediately understood.

This Gask was one of the five Battalion Commanders of the Tsunami Legion.

Only then did Locke recall that he had already become the lord of this territory, Grand Duke Locke of the Frost Snow Empire.

Gask and the others had received his orders to build a Prefectural City capable of housing three million people.

Could they have already finished building the Prefectural City?

"Let him in."

"Yes, Lord Locke."

A few seconds later, a middle-aged man with a full beard entered Locke's tent.

"Greetings, Grand Duke."

"No need for formalities, Gask."

"Yes."

After straightening up, Gask said, "Grand Duke, in accordance with your wishes, we have completed construction of the Prefectural City. We are currently arranging for the people around the Prefectural City to move in and live there."

"At present, roughly four hundred thousand citizens have moved into the Prefectural City."

A Prefectural City capable of housing three million people had only four hundred thousand residents. For the city of a Grand Duke, it was indeed far too lacking.

However, Locke was not surprised by this.

After all, he had long since instructed Gask and the other four that the construction of the Prefectural City must not affect the lives of the people of Locke Territory.

"Very good."

"Since the Prefectural City has been completed, let's set off."

"Once we enter the Prefectural City, immediately gather all the soldiers of the Tsunami Legion and tell them that we will be holding a rewards ceremony in Locke City."

"Not bad."

Above Locke City, Locke and Fyodor stood in midair, looking down at the city that belonged to them.

Locke City was surrounded by walls over twenty meters high, with gates left only in the four cardinal directions.

The city lay against the mountains and beside the water. Its largest and most luxurious building was Locke's Lord's Manor.

Centered around the Lord's Manor, the city was divided into four districts. The closer the houses were to the manor, the finer their decorations.

At present, aside from the area around the Lord's Manor, where the crowds were relatively dense and the districts looked fairly prosperous, there were far fewer people living farther out. The houses there were no longer built from stone, bricks, and tiles, but were wooden huts or homes piled together from packed earth.