The Verdant Nexus shimmered into view as the System’s Event ended, depositing Selene back onto the throne of her domain.

  The first thing she saw was the System Notification.

  ---

  《System Alert: The Boon and Bane of the Hundred Lords Has Been Decided》

  《Boon: The Army of Progress》

  Troops gain a permanent increase in growth and experience gain. However, conscription policies are required, limiting freedom of recruitment and restricting complete control over summoned troops.

  《Bane: The Ties That Bind》

  Loyalty among followers is naturally reduced over time unless the lord personally enforces their authority.

  《These changes are now permanent. The world adjusts.》

  ---

  Selene exhaled slowly, deliberately.

  All over the Boundless Continent, lords would be panicking.

  They would be rushing to reinforce their control over their forces, realizing too late that their soldiers’ loyalty was beginning to slip.

  Fear.

  It would spread like wildfire.

  Lords who thought they were untouchable would suddenly find themselves questioning their power.

  And yet, in the Verdant Nexus, nothing had changed.

  Selene had lost nothing.

  Her Fae Lords would never betray her.

  They couldn’t.

  She had maneuvered herself into a position of absolute advantage.

  And now, she would continue her ascent.

  ---

  Selene strode toward the Fae Circle, its ancient glyphs shifting beneath her feet. The energy radiating from the summoning circle was stronger now.

  Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

  Her power had grown.

  And it was time to test its limits.

  《System Alert: Fae Circle Upgraded!》

  《Summoning Potential Enhanced: Tier 3–4 Fae Lords Now More Common.》

  《System Alert: Day 12》

  《Court of the Fae Lords is alive with mystical energy!》

  《Do you wish to summon two Fae Lords?》

  《Yes》《No》

  She activated the summoning.

  ---

  The circle pulsed, twisting the air.

  The first to emerge was a slender figure wreathed in molten gold, their form shifting like liquid fire.

  Their presence radiated command, but not through force.

  Through precision.

  Through calculation.

  Their voice was measured, cold, yet endlessly patient.

  “I am the Fae Lord of Strategy.”

  A Tier 2 Fae Lord.

  “I command the Tactician’s Wraiths, the Battlefield Seers, and the Chessmen of War.”

  “My domain is foresight, tactics, and the mastery of battle through intelligence rather than brute force.”

  Selene’s eyes narrowed slightly.

  A tactician.

  Not a commander, not a general—but something more dangerous.

  Someone who could see the game before it was played.

  Useful.

  She nodded. “You serve in my court.”

  The Fae Lord of Strategy bowed.

  “As it is spoken, so it shall be.”

  ---

  Then the circle pulsed again.

  But this time, the summoning was different.

  The air tightened.

  The runic glyphs beneath Selene’s feet cracked.

  And the figure that emerged was unlike any she had summoned before.

  No retainers.

  No summoned forces.

  Only a single presence.

  One that radiated sheer, undeniable power.

  His form was solid yet ethereal, clad in armor that pulsed with a strange, shifting energy. His eyes were endless voids, filled with something beyond time and space.

  When he spoke, his voice was not just heard—it was felt.

  “I am the Fae Lord of Dominion.”

  A Unique Tier 4 Fae Lord.

  “I have no subordinates. No lesser creatures to command.”

  “My power is my own.”

  “My strength belongs only to me.”

  He stepped forward.

  And the air bent around him.

  Selene felt it.

  The sheer density of his presence.

  This was no summoner.

  This was a force of nature.

  A being who did not rule through armies—

  But through his own existence.

  ---

  The other Fae Lords stirred.

  For the first time, even Sovereignty took notice.

  Selene let the silence stretch.

  Then, slowly, she spoke.

  “You do not command others.”

  The Fae Lord of Dominion nodded once.

  “No.”

  Selene’s lips curved slightly.

  “You only command yourself.”

  A pause.

  Then the Fae Lord of Dominion did something none of her other summoned Fae Lords had done.

  He knelt.

  Not in submission.

  Not in fealty.

  But in recognition.

  “To command oneself absolutely,” he said, “one must first acknowledge the one who stands above them.”

  “I am power.”

  “But you are greater.”

  And for the first time in her life, Selene felt the weight of something new.

  Not loyalty.

  Not strategy.

  Not rule.

  But pure, unshakable devotion.

  The strongest fae followed the stronger.

  And Selene was stronger than him.

  She turned to the gathered court.

  “The world has changed,” she said.

  “The Lords beyond this place will falter.”

  “They will fear what they cannot hold onto.”

  She looked at Dominion.

  She looked at Strategy.

  And she smiled.

  “But we do not fear.”

  “We do not falter.”

  She turned back toward her throne.

  “The Boundless Continent has made its move.”

  She sat.

  “Now, we make ours.”