The First Teleportation Array

All winter long, under Falan and Adrian's strict supervision, Hill could only spend a lonely season within his territory.

He had never looked forward to spring so much.

The only major event in Hill's territory was that the water and wood elements had both gathered into clans.

The elements, who had originally been weighing one another up, quickly chose clan chiefs for themselves. They felt rather wronged about it. After all, elements basically had no concept of time. If external pressure had not been so great, they would have given each other a long period to adjust, cultivated diligently, and eventually chosen the strongest elemental clan chief.

After all, powerful elemental spirits could exist for millions of years. Even elements whose core power was insufficient and who eventually weakened and vanished could survive for tens of thousands of years.

No matter how powerful Hill was, he could not outlive them. Once Hill died, if his successor failed to gain the elements' recognition, they would return to the Elemental World. An elemental's family was their lifelong support, and their clan chief was their eternal leader.

Hill paid no attention to their chattering. He was unhappy himself!

To him, this was not good news at all. The fire elements in the territory would disperse completely within a few days. The metal elements had also entirely moved near the mountain range.

Ordinary people simply could not live in such an extreme elemental environment. Hill helplessly gave up his last cook.

On the day he sent several people away to settle elsewhere, Hill stood in his study and gazed beyond the valley.

Liszt comforted him. "Don't worry, sir. Your puppets can already make several hundred dishes."

Hill silently thought, Have I been completely expelled from humanity?

The territory he had once dreamed of was Hogwarts.

Though it was a little silly, he truly loved that fairy tale. After coming to this world, he had a powerful mage grandfather and studied the most advanced alchemy in the world. He had plenty of confidence.

The future he had planned for himself was to build a Hogwarts castle, take in many young apprentices, and become the headmaster himself. He had even designed the town beside the castle.

Things never went as people wished. He had lived for over thirty years in his previous life. No matter how naive he had once been, changing his life plans while swallowing his grievances was perfectly normal. Hill did not think there was anything pitiful about himself.

If he could not build a school, then so be it. He did not have to fulfill every dream from his adolescent phase.

If the people around him could not stay, then he would send them away. Parting on good terms was only natural.

Even when William and the players appeared, Hill had been quite happy. After all, Count Perast had fallen from power because of them. Out of sight, out of mind. Nothing was better than seeing someone he disliked suffer misfortune.

Hill himself had also earned quite a bit of money from the players!

Hill comforted himself again and again, but after sending away the last human in his territory, he still felt wronged.

No matter how beautiful the scenery outside the window was, no matter how capable Liszt was, neither could comfort him. From now on, he would be the only person here.

Hill had never known he could be so sentimental. He had always thought that, having rolled around construction sites, he was a straightforward man.

But he simply could not control it. The desolation of being the sole person left beneath the vast sky rose from his heart as a sigh.

Hill silently told himself, "You're an emotionally sensitive Sorcerer. It's in your nature. As a Sorcerer, it's normal to occasionally set your nature free."

Hill sat on the bay window with his head against the glass, sinking into depression.

Liszt suddenly floated over and asked in a drifting tone, "Is sir lonely? Do you need to raise a den of bears?"

Hundreds of alpacas galloped through Hill's mind.

"Liszt, are you trying to die?"

"But my common sense tells me that you need the company of your own kind. You can't bear to hurt humans, but bears should be fine, right?" Liszt was utterly puzzled. "This environment is extremely suitable for earth-type bears. Perhaps an Earth Bear might even evolve?"

"Shut up, Liszt."

"Yes, sir."

Hill felt that he had better stay calm. He should neither get too happy nor indulge in sentimentality. In the past, being bitten by a dog had been mild enough; getting brutally struck by his own Tower Spirit was truly absurd.

Hill clutched his head and wailed. Was this what it meant to reap what one sowed? He had designed his Tower Spirit's knowledge and personality himself. Had he really missed his mother that much back then? That light, drifting tone that went straight for the sore spot, speaking the harshest words in the kindest voice... Oh, he truly did not want to remember.

It reminded him far too much of how his mother had treated her son, who had been single for decades.

Forget it. He should pull himself together and cultivate.

Spring, hurry up and come!

Spring thunder rumbled in the distance, and Hill's territory finally entered spring.

Nothing was as beautiful as spring—

The swaying grass sprang up tall, lovely, and lush;

Thrush eggs were like low little skies, and the thrush's song

Washed the ears through the echoing woods.

Listen to it sing—it felt like being struck by lightning;

The pear tree's flowers and leaves were smooth and crystalline,

Brushing against the drooping blue sky; that blue was so warm,

So splendid; even the lambs could not help but run and play.

Hill softly hummed the poem as he accompanied Alice, who had cultivated all winter and had only just managed to come out to welcome spring, on a walk through the valley.

Alice happily repeated each line after Hill. She had finally reached the same level as him.

It was easy for a Nature Spirit to improve herself, but unfortunately, she was a playful and lazy little cat.

Yet it was precisely because Alice was like this that she trusted humans so easily. Her friends had been living here for half a year, but they had only ever hidden behind trees and watched Hill.

Hill did not mind. As long as they had sworn a Nature Oath, that was enough.

He knew why these little animals were afraid of him. The livestock in his two farms were raised to provide meat. Every few days, puppets would go slaughter them.

Hill had no intention of giving up his love of eating meat.

He only required that if any livestock awakened magical power, they would be driven from the farms. He could not eat animals that had awakened intelligence.

So far, aside from one longhorn bull, only two pigs had awakened.

Hill only wanted to keep them out of sight. The bull was one thing, but those two pigs came near the Mage Tower to peek every so often. Sometimes, Hill truly wanted to throw them straight out of the territory.

"Hill, is the Archmage stage of a Sorcerer any different?" Alice suddenly asked.

"Nothing much changes. In a Sorcerer's first two stages, the number of awakened spells remains the same. Only their spell strength doubles."

"Do Sorcerers never chant spells? Sometimes I see you chanting."

"I was raised with a formal mage education, so I learned how to use certain spells. If I only used awakened spells, the outcome would be terrible, Alice."

"Fine, diligent Hill."

"Fine, lazy Alice. I need to go back."

"Goodbye. I'm going to see Merkel. I'm at the same level as him now."

"Goodbye. Be careful not to get beaten up."

Alice rolled her pretty eyes and scampered up a tree.

Hill returned to his study and waited for Falan to contact him.

Today was the Goddess of Agriculture's birthday, and celebrations would be held throughout Salar.

William was also going to announce his big news today.

When Falan appeared, he was practically frantic.

"The Space-Time Church has teleportation arrays! All of them!"

"Ah!"

"Citizens of Salar can use them by paying!" Falan tried hard to remain calm. "But they must at least be mage apprentices or knight attendants. Otherwise, their bodies will be injured by spatial turbulence."

"Since things have come to this, Grandfather, don't be anxious. After all, we had long guessed they would have some way to move quickly, hadn't we?"

"What do I have to be anxious about?" Falan's tone steadied. "The nobles are the ones who are going to go mad. William announced a nationwide census.

Didn't he say before that he would free all the slaves? There had been no follow-up, so everyone thought he had given up.

Who would have thought he was waiting for the teleportation arrays to open? The one million newly arrived Undead have been staying in cities for over a month now.

No one knows how much evidence William has gathered.

In any case, William believes that after all this time since he announced the liberation of slaves, Salar should be full of commoners now.

He requires all citizens over sixteen to register their household status and receive household registers. Children under sixteen must also be registered in their parents' registers.

The Space-Time Church allows all children under sixteen to study there, but they must be citizens of Salar.

In one month, William will send people to inspect the entire nation. Noble lords whose territories contain large numbers of commoners without household registration will be charged with treason."

Falan spoke without pause, sighing as he talked about how ruthless William's move was. "Half the people here vanished at once. They all went back to work like oxen and horses for William.

Now only those who truly want to build their own Mage Towers still live on my side. They were using this place as a stopover to rest anyway, so things have finally settled down again."

Hill asked, "What about Uncle Adrian?"

"He's organizing the commercial street. The Undead are probably coming."

Hill found it a little amusing. Falan was even more attentive toward the Undead than he was.

"Don't laugh there. For alchemists, the Attribute-less Crystals in the Undead's hands are truly useful, understand? You should make good use of them too!"

"I threw most of them into the elements' living areas. Since they've formed families, they need fixed places to gather."

"Then put more goods in the shops in the outer village too. They'll definitely go to your place as well."

"Alright, Grandfather."

Adrian's voice came through. "No need to wait. Someone has already arrived."

"The Undead? So fast?"

"That one called Jijiyaya is a Magus, after all, so he flies quickly. He brought a group of people. The moment they entered, they headed straight for the potion shop. They swept away all the high-level potions."

"Are they here to buy everything up?"

"He said there's another group of knights and swordsmen running behind them. They came first to buy medicine, send it back, and then return. He told me to restock quickly.

Jijiyaya stayed behind, though. He wants to systematically learn alchemy. I told Bourne to teach him everything from the beginning."

Falan made an immediate decision. "Alright, stop talking. I'm going to check the inventory and prepare to make more potions. Hill, make your preparations too."

"Alright, Grandfather. Goodbye, Uncle Adrian."

"Goodbye, little Hill. Work hard and make money!"

Hill sat upright and let out a heavy breath. The beta test was over. The official servers had opened.