Promotion to Duke

Lei Mo's breakthrough caused a ceasefire in the direction of Brunst Fortress, and the Keaton Kingdom's army had to withdraw most of its forces to support other fronts.

The border between the two major alliances spans nearly ten thousand kilometers, so the ceasefire at Brunst did not have any major impact, but for the Keaton Kingdom, it was a massive windfall.

What is a Saint-level? It is the foundation of a kingdom. With a Saint-level present, no matter how tragic the fighting on the front lines becomes, it ultimately boils down to a dispute over territory and honor; unless one destroys the other's Saint-level, no one dares to wipe out another's kingdom.

Would a Saint-level dare to act recklessly? Of course not. When everyone's trump cards remain hidden, no one knows what kind of contingency plans the other side might have.

This is how things have been for thousands of years: fighting for territory and honor, then tempering the strong!

As for the common soldiers, they are merely consumables; in less than twenty years, a brand-new crop will emerge.

The Saint-level is different. What are a few hundred thousand casualties? If a kingdom could trade ten million soldiers for one Saint-level of their own, every kingdom would make that choice.

Reality is just that cruel and unfair; such is the law of the jungle.

While still at the front, Lei Mo received a personal decree from John Keaton, the sole Grand Commander of the Magic Beast Knights, written in a warm and amiable tone.

He invited Lei Mo to lead the Magic Beast Knights, along with the merit-reporting honor guard sent by Marshal Monba—yes, they were reporting Lei Mo's merits, attributing the "victory" of this campaign entirely to him.

Lei Mo had also been tipped off in advance: this entire operation was intended to facilitate his promotion to the nobility.

He was to be promoted directly to the top—a Duke—becoming the first Duke in the kingdom's history to not be of royal blood: the Duke of Franklin.

He would automatically become the founder of a ducal family, with his surname and given name combined.

Generally, the founders of a family are of low birth and lack a surname; this was the case for the Franklin that Lei Mo had manifested as.

It is the custom of the continent that the first-generation founder combines their name, and Franklin would serve as the family surname.

Lei Mo did not care much about this, knowing what his only true pursuit was!

However, being a Duke—the kind that doesn't die—was still quite satisfying.

On the way back to the Paton Royal Capital, he met the messenger sent by his steward, the young beauty Rachel Bella, and learned of the situation in the capital.

The King had already issued the royal decree for Lei Mo's promotion, and they were currently promoting Lei Mo's merits and martial prowess throughout the capital and surrounding major cities, even going so far as to use flying magic beasts.

This was already treatment beyond the standard protocol, but there was no helping it; after thousands of years, the Keaton Kingdom finally had its third Saint-level!

Although he was not a member of the royal family, Lei Mo had no family of his own, making him absolutely worth winning over.

The royal family wasn't stupid; Lei Mo would be a Duke wherever he went, so naturally, they gave him the best of everything, both in substance and appearance.

The scale of the promotion to Duke exceeded that of a new king's coronation, which was understandable; the founder of a ducal family inherently carried greater significance, especially an immortal Duke.

By the time countless generations of kings had passed away, he would still be the first-generation Duke, so the families in the capital gave him all the face they could.

They gave him whatever people or land he requested. In a river valley less than three hundred kilometers from the capital, where the water and grass were lush, suitable for both farming and grazing, with mountains and rivers, the area spanned over a hundred kilometers in both directions.

Using his fourth-grade math skills, Lei Mo estimated it to be over twenty thousand square kilometers, roughly the size of two prefecture-level cities in central-eastern China.

Originally, the land belonged to several different families, but upon hearing that the ancestor Tagore wanted to appoint Lei Mo as a Duke and needed to establish a ducal territory there, they all scrambled to offer up their respective portions of the valley.

The final result was that the valley and the surrounding mountains became Lei Mo's fief, far exceeding twenty thousand square kilometers.

As for how large it actually was? Lei Mo's math skills weren't up to the task of calculating it, but it was huge!

King Martin issued a royal decree to build a new city—Franklin City—to belong to the Franklin family forever!

Franklin City would be located in the center of the valley, backed by mountains and surrounded by rivers. After receiving the map, Lei Mo was overjoyed!

This is perfect; this is the foundation of a hegemon!

Unfortunately, he had transmigrated into the wrong world, so it was useless! Land in this world was not valuable; the strong were the foundation of everything.

The promotion to Duke was not as casual as the last time; a month of publicity was the bare minimum, even with the use of flying magic beasts.

Without such fanfare, it would not be enough to manifest the nobility and glory of a kingdom's Duke!

Lei Mo traveled along, the publicity being handled by Marshal Monba's merit-reporting team.

Monba Erich had ultimately been enslaved!

On a dark and windy night, he was lured by Lei Mo into the wilderness, where Franklin unleashed his innate divine ability.

Sure enough, the moment the innate divine ability was activated, the phantom of a pillar reaching the heavens appeared behind Franklin.

After being enslaved, Marshal Monba was filled with fanaticism and worship toward Lei Mo.

"The master's master is truly formidable to possess such means! Reaching the Saint-level at twenty—I, Monba Erich Keaton, truly have eyes as sharp as torches!"

Ignoring the internal monologue of Marshal Monba, Lei Mo found that the Marshal was very diligent regarding the Duke's promotion; he handled everything perfectly along the way without Lei Mo having to worry about a single thing.

Lei Mo finally didn't have to worry about Marshal Monba suddenly dropping dead!

Souls enslaved by Franklin would return to Franklin's Soul Space even after death!

The moment the enslavement was successful, Franklin automatically understood this ability.

There was only one small downside, which he only learned after enslaving Monba Erich: the innate divine ability of a Low-God could only enslave ten souls.

Any more souls would be directly detained into Franklin's Soul Space, which meant they would be dead.

Franklin could choose to detain a soul or enslave a soul, meaning his innate divine ability had two applications.

This was too overpowered, and it was estimated that when Franklin broke through to become a Mid-God or High-God, this limit would increase.

Three words to describe it—"simply absurd." How could there be such a broken innate divine ability? But Lei Mo loved it!

Could Franklin be considered a divine beast? Is he capable of reproduction?

However, it seems he really can reproduce; could those eight pillars be considered the products of asexual reproduction?

Can those eight pillars cultivate? Lei Mo was still pondering these random thoughts.

The capital was only a little over two thousand kilometers away, yet it took them more than half a month to travel the distance. Upon arriving at the capital, Lei Mo could finally appreciate its grandeur.

The city walls stood thirty meters high and were inscribed with magic arrays. Although the Keaton Kingdom was not famous for its mages, they still existed—though there were no Saint-level magi among them.

If they knew that Lei Mo was actually a Saint-level magus, heaven knows how excited the entire nobility of the Keaton Kingdom would be.

As for the common folk, they had no right to be excited; they were merely objects to be exploited, though they still possessed a sense of pride.

For instance, the flowers blooming all over the city right now were arranged by the kingdom.

However, the streets filled with young maidens and wives were clearly there of their own volition. Lei Mo was thrilled that he could attract so many young ladies.

Yes! Keep them all coming! What are the men even doing here? Lei Mo's inner thoughts were already running wild!