Conquest of the Dragon Sovereign

Feicui Long entered the city through the same gate he had left and returned without a single scratch, with a juicy gain. One could say he was quite pleased with it, but in reality, he was frustrated. He knew how easily people would trample on him, take advantage of him, or try to intimidate him if he had nothing to back him up. But he never expected something to happen so quickly that would make him feel defenseless. It had only been about three months since he regained his memories, and it all felt too fast.

This realization made him decide to join the Alchemists, Refiners-Blacksmiths, and Inscription Masters Union, along with the Summoners, Tamers, Necromancers, and Golem & Puppet Creators Union. That way, he would have enough backing to prevent many from bothering him. But that would be for tomorrow, today he was exhausted and just wanted to return to his cozy "home."

Before that, he stopped by Hilda's place and entered her bar and restaurant. This time, her daughter was asleep. It seemed to have been a busy day, as many people had been worried after seeing the monster horde through the image-transmitting artifact of the union.

Thanks to that, Hilda herself was tending to the last customers in the establishment. Today, she looked incredibly beautiful. Her red hair burned like the hottest flame in the world, her blood-red lips overflowed with passion, and her well-defined figure, with beautiful curves and prominent peaks in front of her, was complemented by skin as white as the purest snow. Combined with her mature charm and accommodating yet humble personality, she couldn't hide, no matter how much she tried, the other side of herself. A fervent, loyal, affectionate nature with an unbreakable will that would push her to rise no matter what. At first, he hadn't understood how someone like her could defeat a leader-type beast of Lord rank, but with a will seemingly forged from a planet's very core, it was almost impossible for her to lose.

Before he knew it, he was lost in the desire to have her by his side, to make her his woman. But when Hilda arrived at his table with his order to-go, he had to suppress the emotions of this life's self. He knew he couldn't let them shake him, it wasn't a good thing. So, he took his order, paid Hilda for the meal, left a tip, and thanked her for everything before heading home.

…

When he finally arrived at what he could call home, his tent surrounded by a formation, he was finally able to relax, eat in peace, and enter his tent. He intended to read a few books, especially to learn more about the state of this world, the world of his younger brother, the God of Beasts, and the changes that had occurred in it. Because, even if it didn't seem like it, the time between his death and his reincarnation into his seventh life had already spanned several million years.

In the past three months, he had resumed his hobby of researching things that could be useful in the future or simply interested him. He had developed this hobby during his second life, and for some reason, all his subsequent lives had inherited it to varying degrees, with this life being the least affected before recovering his memories. That was why he didn't fully know the rules of the Triple Union. Yet, this habit still existed, the best example being the books on plants, maps, and journals he had created himself.

When he reviewed the journals of his past self before regaining his memories, he was surprised by how detailed and overflowing with information they were. He had gathered intelligence from adventurers, mercenaries, hunters, and the unions themselves, developing entire plans and identifying potential locations, all in an attempt to "cure" himself. There was even one journal where he had calculated the probable location of a treasure solely based on rumors, sightings of phenomena associated with the treasure, and previous appearances of similar treasures. Using only that, he had established the coordinates and the most likely place where it was hidden.

Unfortunately, a curse, especially a curse from the Superior God of Curses, was not something that could be dispelled so easily. Not to mention, he didn't even have the power to venture that deep into those lands.

Regardless, Feicui Long began devouring his dinner while reading one of the books. The one he was reading at that moment was titled "History of the Founding of the Mortal Races Union, Chapter 2: The Birth of the Guilds Unions" by Friedrich Jacob.

The book began by discussing how the union had finally been established, only to immediately face a new threat that nearly led to its destruction shortly after its creation, a union that had formed to protect itself against the superior races. Then, it continued onto the part that interested Feicui Long the most.

According to the book, one would have to go back several millennia, approximately 28,000 years, to understand why the Mortal Races Union was in danger. Of the ten Supreme-rank forces that had joined together to form the union, several used their power and influence to allow their guilds to abuse lower-ranked forces. This occurred during a time when the union was not yet powerful and had not yet reached the Absolute-rank, the highest rank according to the force classification established in the First Absolute Treaty.

At that time, the union depended heavily on the ten forces, which made it difficult to protect weaker powers. While the union did not prohibit war or conquest between forces, certain rules had to be followed. More importantly, anything that could weaken the strength of the mortal races and hinder their growth in power was strictly forbidden.

Many of these power abuses directly harmed the development of mortal strength. For example, it was common for the guilds of inscription masters, alchemists, and refiners, blacksmiths linked to royal families, governments, or any other ruling body of the ten forces, to enter the territories of weaker forces and seize their rarest treasures. These weaker forces were powerless to resist, fearing retaliation. Moreover, these guilds would harvest herbs and resources without paying, without permission, and even had the audacity to establish branches in these territories without paying taxes. They competed against the local guilds, crushing them and taking over resource zones such as farmlands and mines.

This obviously caused significant damage to the development of these forces. While the union would not have objected if they were vassals of the ten forces, these specific forces were not vassals, they had joined the union with the hope of being protected. As a result, they filed complaints with the union, but due to its lack of power, nothing could be done. This situation deterred other forces, particularly several at the Superpower-rank, just below Supreme-rank, from joining, ultimately putting the union at risk of collapsing before it could accomplish its purpose.

As he finished reading this part, Feicui Long took a sip of his drink, a fine wine he had obtained from Hilda. It was quite decent, but also quite expensive, which is why he had only bought it today as a small luxury. After drinking it, Feicui Long said, "Uff, the grapes from the capital, Madrid, are definitely the best in this country." Then, after a moment, he continued reading.

To prevent this situation, the great founder of the union, the force that led its formation and leader of the Neutral Path faction to which the founder belonged, gathered her faction and proposed a single unified guild from within the union. However, as expected, they met resistance. The vote of the original council at that time, which was called the Council of Ten in that moment, was 6 to 4. The four votes in favor came from the union's leading force and the other three members of the Neutral Path faction, losing by two votes. However, this was not a definitive loss, because one force from the Demonic Path faction and another from the Righteous Path faction were undecided.

Although these two forces were just as strong as the other members of their factions, apart from their faction leaders who were slightly stronger, they shared a particular problem. Their guilds and advancements in inscription mastery, alchemy, and refinement were significantly behind and underdeveloped compared to their peers. The idea of having a guild for all, where advancements and production capacity would be equal for everyone, sounded very appealing to them.

That was why the founder's exceptional mind saw a course of action that could exploit this weakness. She spent months crafting a detailed plan, known only to her most loyal subordinates. The plan was based on the very creation of the union, if they could not integrate everything into one, they could at least grant certain "liberties." Instead of a single guild for all, it would be a union that allowed other guilds to join as members, exchanging knowledge and trading resources either as intermediaries or through direct sales by the union itself. This way, the union guaranteed the independence of the main guilds of each of the forces that composed it while allowing them to reap the benefits.

But there was a catch. While independence and a certain degree of freedom were guaranteed, in practice, the guilds had no choice but to join. To work as an alchemist, refiner-smith, or inscription master, one absolutely needed a membership card from the aforementioned union. This was especially necessary to run a formal alchemist shop or establish one's own guild. Without the card, one could only practice within the country where they held a national card issued by that country, which was managed by the Mortal Races Union but distributed by each nation. There was also a card issued by the union itself, but it was not mandatory and did not grant the right to practice. In any case, without passing the union's tests for inscription masters, alchemy, and refining-smithing, one was only allowed to practice at a very modest level. This system also forced compliance with the rules of the new union and everything related to it, with that, it was enough for her to gain the support of the indecisive forces in the new vote.

Feicui Long frowned and said, "But if only six out of the ten forces approved it, how did they manage to force the other four without splitting the union? I have to keep reading, this historian really knows how to keep people hooked." He grabbed the book again and continued reading.

Even so, deceiving the remaining forces was not so simple. Of the four that remained, only the faction leaders firmly stood by their decision to refuse entry, while the other members became indecisive. Their hesitation stemmed from the fact that their only advantage over the other regular members of their factions was that the latter were behind in this field. If they caught up, they would likely become the weakest members.

But nothing could be that easy. While these forces maintained strict control over their territories and fully dominated their own guilds, it was impossible to say that these guilds had no influence over their decisions. When the guilds of these four forces learned of the approval, they did everything in their power to pressure their lords into stopping the implementation of the newly created first guilds union.

Unfortunately for them, their leaders knew it was impossible to stop it. After all, while the faction leaders were slightly stronger than their faction members, the difference was not significant. Moreover, the power gap between these forces and the members of the Neutral faction was even smaller, with the faction leaders being only very, very slightly stronger. And if one added the fact that the Neutral faction leader was somewhat stronger than them, the result was that they could not act recklessly or attempt to use force. At the same time, they were not so willing to give up on the union either.

So the solution was simple, they requested to be excluded from the new union along with all its consequences. This would allow them to maintain their position in the Union of Mortal Races and would satisfy their guilds, who would celebrate it as a victory without realizing the mistake they had made. And that mistake was that, by accepting the consequences, they would have to completely hand over the branches and territories of crops, mines, and other resources belonging to their guilds of inscription masters, alchemists, and refiners - blacksmiths that were located outside their force's territory or the territory of their force's vassals. They were given two options, take their members and some belongings or sell the branch to the new union. This was because they wouldn't even have the cards necessary to operate. Additionally, besides the previous restriction, they would not be able to negotiate with other guilds, obtain knowledge from them, or collect treasures outside the aforementioned territories. It was a heavy price, and it hurt them greatly, but they still celebrated without knowing the true consequences.

Meanwhile, for the other forces that accepted, they were only allowed to keep a fixed amount of branches, harvesting zones, and mines, from which they had to give a portion to the force they were in. This amount was relatively small, and the rest had to either be absorbed by their headquarters within their own territory or that of their vassals, or sold to the union. Still, it was a fairly good deal, particularly for the two forces that changed their minds. The primary reason they had fallen behind in this area was that, although their territories were rich in advanced resources, they were very poor in more basic resources. While this might seem like an advantage, it was actually terrible for training novices and learning, as it was almost like skipping the first steps, such as smelting copper, and jumping straight into working with steel. It was an enormous leap in every way. Not to mention the fact that, although they were basic, many resources were still used in numerous advanced recipes and methods. Not every medicine, artifact, or formation would always use only the highest-grade ingredients.

This situation practically forced these two forces to take this path. That was why, during the planning phase, the founder of the union investigated them thoroughly to determine the best way to convince them. This was the ideal method because, in addition, those who joined would receive a discount on the purchase of these resources from the newly founded union for a few hundred years as a form of compensation. Furthermore, as founding members, they would receive a temporary 10% discount.

This did not only apply to these two forces, of course, but also to those of the neutral faction and to all forces in general, regardless of their rank. In any case, with this, the union solved the problem, as now the other forces could no longer be abused or intimidated by stronger ones. If, for example, they wanted to expand their main guilds or acquire harvesting zones or mines, they would have to negotiate directly with the union. If the weaker force refused, there was nothing the stronger one could do, and no one would even consider bypassing the newly founded union. Although the union's punitive troops did not yet exist, it was backed by the army of these six Superior forces.

Furthermore, these weaker forces benefited greatly, as the zones that were not sold to the union returned to their hands. Those that remained under the branches of a guild belonging to another force had to pay them taxes and part of the resources. Even the union itself would pay them 50% of the resources obtained from the territories bought from these guilds, as well as taxes. Of course, if the union cleared a new zone on its own and bought it from the force that owned that territory, it would be exempt from taxes and resource contributions. Even so, it was already a significant gain. Additionally, they also received a discount, which even applied to resources from zones cleared by the union, making it a win-win situation for all parties.

Feicui Long had already finished eating, but it seemed the story was not over. He said, "Damn, I thought the story would be shorter, but oh well, I guess I'll keep reading."

But no one expected the changes this would bring to the union's growth. Several forces that had refused to join quickly did so, although many still did not. For them, other unions would be created, which would be discussed later in the book. However, aside from this obvious expansion, no one anticipated that this alone would cause such a significant overall increase in strength, especially among the four Superior forces that had opposed its creation. The members of the two opposing factions began to surpass their former peers, who had once been their equals, within just a few centuries. They were now approaching the level of their respective faction leaders.

In addition, with the union gaining new members, more resources and wealth were added, allowing various smaller forces to rise and new guilds to be founded independently from the main guilds of each force. This was made possible thanks to the new union, which allowed them to be established without requiring the backing of a specific force or owning any territory.

This would eventually cause the weaker new members of the two factions to accept the union of the guilds of inscription masters, alchemists, and refiners – blacksmiths, while the desperate faction leaders could only reluctantly accept this outcome. But what was even more humiliating was that, in the end, the union became a sort of guild that unified all its members. The union, with the branches it had absorbed from the Supreme Forces and other ranks, distributed them to dilute the power and influence of these within their respective branches, thus obtaining its own members and allowing others to join as individual members without needing a normal guild. But not only that, the union became stronger and stronger until it became the second most powerful union today, only surpassed by the Union of Auxiliaries, also called the Vanguard of the Union. It is also the one that advances the fastest in progress and has the greatest source of knowledge on its respective subjects, while the main guilds have significantly weakened and can no longer prevent the formation of competing guilds.

Feicui Long was quite surprised. He had read that the founder of the union was an unprecedented genius, but he never thought it was to this extent. It almost seemed as if she had predicted the behavior of each force and each variable in advance. He himself had the ability to observe all possible futures, pasts, and even variations of the present, all places in space, areas, and even dimensions and planes, as well as sources of power and strength and the paths of the dragon when he was in his first life, because his eyes were special. He had also met those who could predict the future due to their great knowledge and mastery of destiny and reincarnation techniques. In fact, he himself knew some of these techniques, as he was the one who raised and taught all the Superior Gods, including the Supreme Goddess of Reincarnation and Destiny, from whom he learned the technique that allowed him to reincarnate multiple times while retaining some things with him.

Even so, seeing someone without any of these abilities being able to calculate and completely predict the steps of others was incredible, even for a genius, because we are talking about things that did not happen in short periods like those of mortals, one or two years, or even ten, but rather things that took place over centuries. This confirmed what other books he had read said about the founder, even in the first chapter of this book, emphasizing her genius. But he had always thought it was the usual glorification of the founder for being the first. However, it seemed he was mistaken. Although having her on his side was currently a good thing, it made him somewhat uneasy to have such a genius without being able to guarantee she wouldn't turn against him. Well, when the time came to meet her, it would be as Absolute Heaven willed, Feicui Long thought, already unable to bear his exhaustion.