Growing Pains 307 Book 2 Chapter 1 (Patreon)

Deciding to break away from the Empire and form my own kingdom wasn’t a simple matter. There had been months of meetings between me and my most trusted advisers. Meetings were so secret that I hadn’t even allowed Ja Fiat to attend, and she had become indispensable in the running of my office.

Combine that with finishing and opening the Clan, building a House within the area I had set aside for the Clan, and expediting experiments with Spirit contracts, expanding the pool of people that were gifted with the Lodoicea food, and I had barely enough time to cultivate each evening.

I had decided to take Alpha up on her offer. I would accept the role of Voice and secede from the Empire. I even agreed to select a compatible Hindel to begin dual cultivation. 

Clement had been tireless in his efforts to garner information during these months. A territory seceding from the Empire was a rare occurrence, but it had happened. Clement, along with Aki, the House, and Clan’s scribe, had managed to find historical records of those events.

The Empire had always accepted those decisions with equanimity. It was too large to worry about small sections breaking away. The only time they responded to these kinds of losses was when the seceding nation used their freedom to build up militarily and attack the Empire.

The Emperor was merciless in his reaction, destroying the military that attacked and any Cultivator above the Qi Gathering Realm. Those nations idiotic enough to attack the Empire found themselves subjugated and returned to the fold. Vassals-states that were governed by a member of the Emperor’s family.

Any Sect or Clan that had conspired and allied with these new nations to wage war on the Empire found themselves completely destroyed. All resources, cultivation tokens, and martial techniques were confiscated and gifted to whoever was installed to rule.

Three times a seceding nation had broken away, ignored by the Emperor and Empire, only to attack and find that the Emperor and Empire’s patience was not without limits. Those nations that followed had been more practiced and logical in their efforts. They had studied the history of those failed States and refused to repeat the mistakes those leaders had made.

Dredging up the information on the nations that had been successful gave us a blueprint of what worked and how to proceed. The hardest part would have been finding a Kingdom stone. Much like the territory stone I had been awarded when I’d claimed my title of Baroness, a Kingdom stone would resonate across the territory I was claiming.

It would alter the Qi that emanated across the Kingdom subtly, charging it and influencing it with my personal Qi. I would become more grounded, more in tune with the land I claimed. I would receive flashes of insights if incursions occurred and subconscious urges to act and protect the land I controlled.

Alpha had gifted me with the Kingdom stone I would need. Where and why the Hindel collected these stones made little sense. Their society didn’t require or use them. An Alpha and a Consort were all that was needed to establish a ruling pod. 

Alphas, by their very titles, were part of a council of equals. It had taken the Empire a long time to learn that lesson. To realize that one Alpha could not be played off against another. And that what one agreed to in the treaty, all would honor it.

In truth, if Delph Island wasn’t so isolated and bereft of known powerful Cultivators. If Clement hadn’t joined my House and been willing to stand as my Shield. I would have refused the Alpha’s offer.

As a Qi Gathering Cultivator, I simply wasn’t strong enough to protect and defend any claim I might make to rule a Kingdom. Clement wasn’t the only person I could rely on for protection if needed. As a Voice, I could call upon the Hindel for help. With their new ability to traverse the land at will, that help was not an insignificant thing. 

I did wonder if they would begin migrating to lakes and rivers that had no connection to the ocean. The entirety of the island had yet to be mapped, but I was sure there were lakes that could be offered as a testing ground. Places that the Hindel could settle as an experiment to see how sustainable it would be to live and survive in a more restrained environment.

Clement had talked me out of providing the Lodoicea-laced food to the population at large. A nation of Body Refinement Cultivators would change how the island advanced. The more powerful citizenry would be able to settle and control new areas, areas that had been too dangerous for non-cultivators to visit.

But that strength came with dangers. A population that was able to cultivate required more resources. Fights between people would result in greater damage to towns, structures, and bystanders. And if a town decided to revolt, armed with the might of a citizenry army of Cultivators, it would require a strength of will to ignore the number of deaths restoring order might require.

Delph Island was large, easily the size of Australia. But when compared to the Empire that had expanded to contain an area the size of every continent on Earth, that size was insignificant. The island couldn’t afford to allow territories to secede. Not if it was going to prosper.

Without the population numbers, Sects, Clans, and Houses the Empire had to rely on, I would need every able-bodied citizen, especially talented Cultivators, to make this work. Until we could build our own infrastructure of Sects and Clans to call on, I would need to nurture the resources the island offered.

And those resources included the Cultivators. More importantly, I would have to factor in Four Element Sect to any move I might make. The Sect would have to be recognized as an outpost of the Empire. The Hindel might be powerful enough to move against it, but that might be the only move I could make that would draw a response from the Empire.

The land under the lake the Sect controlled was too important to fall into the hands of another nation. And to be honest, the less I had to deal with Profound Immortal or Immortal Venerable Cultivators, the happier I would be.