Second World

From the battles in the underworld and during the portal closing in Themonium, some of Jack's royal agents increased in level.

Jonathan increased to level 62. Lindsey was level 53. Amy and Howard were now level 50. The three rookies could be considered full-fledged soldiers now.

Arlcard, Therras, and Duke Alfredo didn't increase any level. They were unlike Jack, they didn't get the bonus exp points from other soldiers' kills.

Jack unsummoned his minions and came to where the light pillar used to be. The light was gone now. A large ball sat on the ground. When Jack reached for the ball, the rune diagram under it flared. Jack sensed the energy from the diagram checking him out. The energy was soon gone.

Jack picked up the ball without a problem.

*

Boundless Cache (Legendary Artifact)

Reduces the upkeep cost of the country's buildings and units by 20%.

Generates 100,000 gold coins, 20,000 mana, and 5 ruling points every week

Restriction: Only effective if owned by a country's ruler

*

After storing the artifact in his inventory, Jack thanked Diana, Severus, and all the soldiers and mages who had helped. He gave a short speech emphasizing how important the deed they had done today was. They had closed a potential disaster in their kingdom and everyone deserved rewards.

He took out 300 gold coins from his inventory and gave them to Diana and Severus, asking them to share the coins with the soldiers and mages. Since the monarch system couldn't let him give coins to the lower-level soldiers, he had to do this manually. The drawback was he had to use his private coins.

Severus was unwilling at first because he was a member of a different faction. Accepting coins from Jack was inappropriate. But after some persuasion, with Jack reminding Severus that Jack was also an Order of Magi member, Severus finally accepted.

Jack asked Severus if he was interested in joining the Themisphere kingdom faction since his task was over. Severus politely turned down the offer. He said that he wanted to focus on studying magic in the Order of Magi. He was not interested in power struggles in any form.

Jack left Diana to settle the remaining matters. He used the zone portal to teleport to Thereath.

The sun started to set when he came out of Thereath's portal. He visited Amy's bakery and restaurant first to pick up his profit, replenishing the coins he had used to award the soldiers and mages earlier.

He had a short chat with Ellie, Bill, and Samantha. Samantha again asked about Amy. Jack told her not to worry. He informed her of Amy's improvement. Jack could see the pride in Samantha's eyes. Jack felt the same too.

He returned to the palace afterward. Duke Alfredo had returned earlier when Jack unsummoned him. Jack asked him to bring Laurent to the throne room. Laurent had been staying at the palace. Robinson who came back with Laurent had joined the army as he promised Jack. He had been assigned under Armstrong. Armstrong was pleased for getting a new high-level combatant.

Jack saw Laurent, Alfredo, and Duchess Isabelle when he entered the throne room. John was unsurprisingly there as well. He was level 61.

"I thought you are going to stay at level 59 because of being too busy playing with this monarch system," Jack said and sat on the throne. The screens that were in front of John were automatically shifted to Jack's front. John rolled his eyes at Jack for this interruption.

"Remember to use the mass pay," John said to him.

"That's why I come back here," Jack said. "I got something else that you should see."

Jack took out the Boundless Cache. John sensed the item's unusual aura. After using his Inspect, he blurted, "Good lord! Where do you find this thing?"

"This is originally our country's national treasure. Rather than find, it's more appropriate to say I bring it home."

"It's great to finally see this national treasure returns to us," Isabelle said.

An interface appeared when Jack took out the artifact. The interface informed Jack that the first generated resources were ready for retrieval. A button for retrieval was there if Jack wished to do so.

Jack clicked the button and studied the Country Overview screen. The kingdom coffer had dropped to almost one and a half million gold coins since John continued to use the coins for constructing buildings around the country. The number on the screen increased by one hundred thousand after Jack click the Boundless Cache's retrieval button.

The kingdom mana also increased. Jack himself received 5 ruling powers. His ruling power was now at 90 points.

"The total coin expense and total mana expense have been reduced," John pointed at the numbers on the screen. "This meant our monthly income had increased by twenty percent."

"Good. This meant we can spend more on building our force," Jack remarked.

"I've assigned towns to focus on building structures that supported the economy. This is better rather than just focusing on military effort," John said.

"I trust your judgment. Do as you see fit," Jack said.

"As you should," John replied, which earned him Jack's annoyed glare.

"Go to the City Overview. There should be a new building that is previously unavailable," Peniel said.

"Wait, let me finish the mass pay command first," Jack said. He was already in the middle of the process. He chose the 300 gold coins option. 170,100 gold coins were transferred to the kingdom's officials, increasing their loyalty. Jack didn't forget to equip the title, Rightful Themisphere King, to boost loyalty increase.

If he wished to do this mass pay every week, the weekly coin income from the Boundless Cache wasn't enough to cover it. But he figured this was not something that continue forever. Once the officers' loyalties increased above 80 points, he supposed that should be safe enough. Currently, except for a few officials, most of the previous worst ones were nearing 70 loyalty points.

Peniel informed him that the higher one loyalty was, the fewer points they increased using the pay function. Nearing 90 points, the loyalty won't even increase anymore with the pay function. A personal approach was needed to further increase the officers' loyalty.

But she agreed that officers with 80 loyalty points were good enough already. They won't pointlessly die for Jack, but they would listen to most of Jack's commands and perform them earnestly.