I Hate Systems

The Lan Clan was famous for its power, wielding authority that extended beyond the city it was based. And hailing from its main family line, being a Superior Invoker atop that for years at a stretch, Sturrala had obtained a lot of connections.

And among that, she nurtured a team specialised for the needs she desired, having already dispatched a team of experts in the fields of geography, climate, architecture, etc. to the archipelago.

Using their help, she had been accumulating information about the place. The reason she had decided upon this place was that despite its abundance of resources, no power dared to set foot there, for it always resulted in a loss-making venture, as evidenced by history.

Multiple Clans had tried to do so but failed miserably, unable to adapt to the harshness of the place. And unlike the plateau region where the life expectancy was in the late sixties, with it being the late fifties for the plains, it was a mere thirties in the archipelago.

And even Superior Invokers died in a matter of years living there. It was because their digestive system failed to sustain itself, unable to adapt to the microorganisms living in the waters there which worsened their health grandly.

It was a place far off from the reigning powers and was too hard to rule over. And hence, it formed the perfect target for her. Therefore, Sturrala began her preparations, personally adapting to the water of the region first, taking years to do so while feeding on a variety of medicines.

Her team of professionals had already created enough medicines to be rid of the multitude of diseases rampant in the place. Sturrala practically spent the entire fortune in her name, planning to head there with or without her family.

And when Duketace screwed up, she noticed that her children had ambitions of their own and hence decided to go on her own.

"How's the status of the patients?" Seated in a study, Sturrala stared at a doctor, asking in concern.

"The signs are positive, my Lady." The doctor said, "We've managed to treat the majority of the patients. At this rate, we'll clear out most of the diseases by the end of this year."

"Great job out there." Sturrala nodded, "Thank you for accompanying me to this place."

"Please, you needn't say it." The doctor bowed in response, "When I was falsely accused in my previous workplace and jailed, it was you who freed me. I'm a convict in their eyes, but here, people actually respect me for the work I do. So, I will continue to do my best for the people that believe in me."

As the doctor left, Sturrala stared at the book before her, taking in a deep breath before sighing. She stared at her hands, watching them tremble faintly. There was a rush in her, for being in power, her every word deciding the fate of everyone under her.

'This is what I was searching for all along.' She clenched her hand into a fist, 'There are around fifty thousand people scattered across the eighteen villages. As long as I play my cards right, their population would reach two hundred thousand within a century. That would mean I would have enough human resources as a large city under me.'

Of course, for a normal human or even an Invoker, living for so long would be impossible. But, Sturrala had the confidence in becoming an Ascender. It was especially since she had sneakily looked through the Lan Clan's forbidden records, coming across the means through which the Lan Clan Head had been changing bodies to live for many centuries now.

And, she planned to do the same, 'But first, I should give birth to compatible children.'

Kowla or Fenn wouldn't cut it for her, as the method indicated that only the bloodline she created after becoming an Ascender was compatible with the method that the Lan Clan Head used.

Once she became an Ascender, Sturrala planned to give birth to enough babies to create a sizeable Clan. The Eagle Invoker Crystals she brought would be sufficient until then.

That was why she only used the Inferior Eagle Invoker Crystals, saving up the rest for her children. Maybe the most talented among the villagers would be given a Common Eagle Invoker Crystal.

But all Superior Eagle Invoker Crystals would be meant for her children. She only had four of them at the moment and would have to create more in the future. Thankfully, she had the Eagle Invoker Crystal Scroll.

Boom!

Sturrala focused on her Dreamland, activating the Eagle Invoker Crystal Scroll as Mental Fragments flew out of her Dreamland and Invoked Spirit. And surprisingly, once they emerged, both her Dreamland and Invoked Spirit became stronger.

Using the Eagle Invoker Crystal Scroll, Sturrala was removing all the useless and inharmonious Mental Fragments, raising her foundation automatically. After all, a moment later, she deactivated the Scroll, watching the cluster of Mental Fragments simply collapse atop it.

She then picked them up one after another, placing them in the Dreamland. Instead of creating Eagle Invoker Crystals, Sturrala was using the Scroll to extract and refine her Dreamland, rapidly enacting a makeover, observing her strength grow at a rapid pace.

"Yep, it works…" She smiled, staring at the book before her. It was a record of techniques coined by the Lan Clan Head sixty years ago. He had managed to create another one recently and hence stored this outdated notebook in the Clan's library which couldn't be accessed.

Of course, as part of the Main Family, Sturrala had already bribed her way through and obtained her hands on it. And in the place of the original, she placed a fake that only looked like the original externally.

It was entirely blank on the inside. But as none were allowed to see it, no one would find out that it had been swapped out, especially since the Lan Clan Head already had a new book.

And it was through these records that Sturrala gained knowledge to do a variety of things, including using the Eagle Invoker Scroll to refine her Invoked Spirit and Dreamland to reach the Ascender Stage in the shortest time.

Using it was actually faster and had a better guarantee of making her reach the Ascender Stage as compared to using the Ascender Scroll, which was why she let Kowla take the Ascender Scroll with her.

After all, Kowla was a backup plan for her, if in case everything she did here failed.