232 A Decision With Only One Option

"..I came here to conquer." Said Daniel as the lighting within the throne room started to dim visibly, swallowed by the dark essence which he was emanating, and only leaving his eyes to glow with a faint golden hue.

A massive pressure suddenly appeared over the king himself, which unable to bear it, fell back on his throne. His head was retracted so much in between his shoulders, that it appeared as if he had no neck to begin with. His clean scalp became as wrinkly as that of an old man, and his eyes struggled to keep open.

To him, it was extremely clear that there was no hope to even dream of one day reaching Daniel's level of power.

Just as he started to think that Daniel would kill him, he instead felt the pressure disappear, and the room clear from the dark essence that had invaded it, allowing the shining of the light spheres to enlighten the majestic throne room once again.

After cleaning the big drops of sweat that were dripping from his forehead and over his eyes with trembling hands, the king said "W-w-what do you m-mean.." It had been a very long time since the king had found himself in front of someone so much more powerful than he was.. A person that could kill him on a whim.

He had been a ninth rank cultivator for years, and even before then, he feared no one thanks to his role of prince, and the power of his father, and grandfather.

Now that he had reached the top of the power allowed in his planet, or to be more clear, the top of the power of which they possessed knowledge of.. meeting somebody that was significantly more powerful than him, was a shock that he was hardly capable of bearing.

"I mean that there is going to be a massive change in this world soon.. And that unless this planet unites into one, we'll end up being conquered by thousands of powerful companies which have no care about your people at all." Responded Daniel plainly.

The queen, whose bravery was caused by the fact that Daniel had spared her from his demonstration of power, said "What are you talking about? What change??"

In response, Daniel sighed softly, then said "Start with giving me a copy of your country's rules and laws.. And the most extensive and detailed map that you can provide."

-----

Similar scenes were playing out in dozens of the nearest kingdoms and empires.

No matter to which royal or imperial family the kingdom or empire belonged.. They would almost always try to defend their domain against the invading force, only to end up in a sorry state minutes later.

Only a few of the most cowardly rules had accepted the demands of Daniel's group without putting up a fight, while some others would attempt to throw the names of the emperors to which they were affiliated with, in hope that these names would save them from being annexed by this group of unknown powerful warriors.

The most successful ones amongst the members of Daniel's group, were the one that possessed the most direct characters. Jerigh and Der, which had a cultivation that could have easily allowed them to rule the world by themselves, in a matter of only two hours, had already invaded three countries each.

Der thanks to his military experience, and Jerigh, thanks to his sheer threatening presence.

They would remain just enough time for one of the masters of formation to create a teleporting platform near the capital's castle, and then, they would move on to the next kingdom or empire, while leaving someone behind to make sure that the laws would be changed according to the rule of Daniel's group.

An additional task which Daniel had left his group's members with, was to invite each king and emperor to his pocket dimension. There, he would explain to them the reason for these changes, what their place in the universe was, and what would soon happen to their planet.

The inhabitants of Daniel's pocket dimension, which for the majority were inhabitants of this planet too, were not let out. The reason for that was that he did not want them to go rampant and use their increased strength to conquer and kill as they pleased. Also, he did not want these people to mistakenly open a portal that would lead into a pocket dimension with a complete connection to the spiritual plain. If that were to happen, before Daniel was able to claim the planet for Iewah's faction, the person who had opened the portal would inadvertently claim the planet for the Spiritual Emperor instead.

That was the reason why he had been so adamant about this with his group members. They were told to kill any worshipper of death they found, try to kill as little as possible, and never open a portal to a pocket dimension with a full spiritual connection.

After a full week of hard work, the members of Daniel's group had managed to conquer a massive continent that comprised at least ten percent of the entire world's surface.

The area was so vast, that a few of the territories which belonged to two opposite sides were not fully aware of each other's existence.

Other than human kingdoms and empires, various high ranking beast domains were also annexed, as well as a few isolated tribes of elementals, and humanoid beings.

Daniel's plan was to educate the world about the vastity of space one continent at a time. Gathering the entire world to listen to a single and difficult speech was impossible. If there was something that he could count on, was that the powerful families and groups within the territories would not accept his rule that easily if they believed to have the power in the numbers. They would try all they could to revolt and maintain their independence.

If revolts took place on multiple continents at the same time, Daniel's group would not have enough people to control them all.. And therefore, the world would fall into chaos.

-----

Golden Karma company building. Auction house.

The auction house within Daniel's company building was packed with people. They filled the grandstands completely, and with a large excess of people, which had no choice but to listen while standing.

All of these people were either kings of independent kingdoms, emperors, and powerful heads of the most renown groups and families. The reason why they were required to participate in this event, was so that they could listen to a speech conducted by a representative of Daniel's group.

The unlucky person selected to do this job, was of course, Ligart.

He was the one that had spent the most time in contact with the different powers of Mira, and therefore, he was the one which knew the most about how a planetary government under Iewah's rule worked. Also, he was the only one which was arguably comfortable with speaking in front of such a massive crowd of people.

Of course, his experience alone would not guarantee that the speech would go well..

All of the people united in front and around him were cultivators which possessed a power close to his. They were experienced rulers and leaders, and could smell the smallest hint of nervousness in each breath that Ligart took.

What was preventing them to put Ligart on the spot, was the single figure of Jerigh, which stood at the bottom of the stage like a silent guardian.

Just like these rules were able to see Ligart's political inexperience, they were able to feel how dangerous Jerigh was. Just by standing there with a single sword which hanged from his waist, people felt as if the edge of his blade was placed right at their neck. It was already a miracle that they were able to focus on what Ligart was saying, instead of shrieking in fear in their seats.

".. And this is what is going to happen. Do you have any questions?" Asked Ligart after taking a deep breath. He had just finished his explanation, and he believed that the hardest part was over.. But then, he saw the hundreds of arms being raised in unison.

"Oh.. I hate you Dan.." he muttered with resignation, before taking another deep breath, and pointing at a distinct old woman in the middle of the crowd.

"Are you the representatives of this.. Universal government?" Asked the old woman with clear doubt.

After this woman asked the question, many lowered their hands, showing how popular this question was amongst the various rulers.

"No. We are a company formed by natives of this planet, which were sent out of this planet due to an unfortunate accident." Responded Ligart plainly. He was expecting such a question.

"If you are just a company, why are you trying to conquer us?" Added an old man that was sitting right next to the previous old woman. He was her husband, and the two were the current emperor and empress of their empire.

Ligart shook his head in disappointment. He had tried to make this clear when he made the explanation, but apparently, what these people cared for the most was to save their hegemony over their own patch of dirt and grass.

"Once the planet will be opened to interplanetary travel, many foreign groups will try to do the same we are doing. The only difference will be that they have no attachment to this planet, and they simply want to use it in any way that will allow them to gain from it. Even if we don't unite our world, Iewah's faction will instate a government. So, the world as you know it will end either way." Responded Ligart with as much persuasion as he could. He wanted the idea of them being able to save their own plate of food, to die in their heads.

Someone could have thought that this move was unfair from Daniel, but the things that Ligart was saying were not lies. Any sort of power that existed aside from the government of mira itself, were either companies, mercenary groups, families, or sects.

The idea of monarchy had already been eradicated from the minds of the trillions of inhabitants of the planets within Iewah's domain. That was how Iewah's domain worked, and there was nothing they could do about it.

There was also a third option to all of this, and that was for Daniel to never open his planet of origin to interplanetary travel, and therefore, let them live in their own bubble where they had control..

Just from looking at the faces of the people present, Ligart could see that each of them had thought about that possibility at least once.. And yet, no one had ever even thought about actually asking about it.. And the reason why was as clear as the question itself.. Power.

What these rulers wanted even more than ruling their own territories, was to be able to grow in power.. And if they were willing to risk everything in war just to know the secrets of Daniel's double path cultivation, then, they would throw everything away for the smallest chance of being able to pursue a deeper path of cultivation.

After thirty minutes spent answering the questions of these people, Ligart was finally able to go back to the castle, and rest.

What was asked of the rulers, was to simply keep enforcing the changes in regulation which he had made.

The next day, hundreds of messengers used the teleporting platforms installed by Daniel's groups, and with them, they carried the response which came from their rulers to this whole situation.

Amongst these hundreds of messengers, none had been sent with a negative response.

-----

Within a large cave in the Nestreia continent.

An old man was sitting in a stone room. His legs were folded, and his eyes closed. He was spending his time thinking about his favourite matter.. the magnificence of the flow of time.

He was distracting himself from thinking about a few matters that had brought him to live in this cave, as well as from the loud noises that came from outside the cave he was resting in.. some of which being the cries of newborn babies, kids playing around, and the buzzing noise of conversation.

In front of this old man, was a small golden cauldron.