Chapter 169: Silver Moon Manor

“Demon lords are at least powerful beings above the gold rank, and those powerful abyssal lords who have unified an entire layer of the abyss are far stronger than their subordinate lords—almost all of them are at the semi-god level—and they can exert powers on par with true gods even in their own abyssal domains.”
“Even most of those smaller and medium-sized demon lords possess abilities in the realm of legends; they might even have ways to infiltrate the main material world. They are by no means opponents we can handle now. It seems imperative to restrict this abyssal passage in the main world. Otherwise, if that demon lord is willing to invest some power, it would be quite easy for him to expand this passage from the abyss!”
After saying this, Donald glanced at the eerie abyssal passage. Though he wanted to impose some seals and restrictions, he knew little about spatial rules and dared not act rashly, fearing it might lead to unsolvable consequences.
Mou Yi immediately teleported Uther back to their territory.
Upon returning to the lord’s mansion, Donald searched his library for information about the abyssal lord known as the Skull Shatterer but found nothing.
This wasn’t surprising to him, as the main world knew extremely little about the abyss. After all, the abyss was a chaotic place—there were hundreds of known abyssal layers, each with a powerful abyssal lord, and even more subordinate lords. Apart from what had been indirectly revealed by demon lords who had invaded the main world in history, people in the main world only knew legends about the abyss, many of which were unverified.
Seeing that he couldn’t solve this problem, Donald ordered that Master Messehl and three other silver mages be summoned.
The four silver mages, who had just returned from Giant Stone City, quickly arrived at the lord’s mansion. Seeing Donald’s serious expression, they immediately realized something serious must have happened.
“What happened?” Mage Chris asked first.
Donald said solemnly, “Teachers, everyone, I discovered an abyssal passage near our territory!”
“What! An abyssal passage?”
Seeing the mages’ shock, Donald nodded in confirmation.
Messehl asked gravely, “What’s the situation?”

“So far, there’s no danger. Only one Silver Demon and a hundred or so minor demons have left the passage; the rest have been eliminated. But I destroyed a altar built by a demon, and a faint projection of an Abyssal Lord named the Skull Shatterer appeared there. I’m not sure if this will cause big trouble!”
“The Skull Shatterer? I seem to have seen that name somewhere!”
After hearing this, Maelthor thought carefully before suddenly leaving the meeting room and going to his room behind the lord’s mansion. He returned shortly afterward, holding an ancient parchment book.
“This is a travelogue left by my teacher, documenting the experiences of a legendary archmage who infiltrated the Abyss. Since it’s not a crucial text, it wasn’t included in the heritage records. If you hadn’t brought it up today, I wouldn’t have remembered it!”
He flipped through a page and continued, “It mentions the Bone Wasteland plane on the ninth layer of the Abyss. The lord of this plane is the Bone Duke, the king of undead creatures. On the eighth layer, adjacent to the Bone Wasteland, there’s another demon lord named Ahaz, the king of force demons. He’s been at odds with the Bone Duke for a long time. His favorite pastime is crushing the skulls of undead creatures, which is why he’s called the Skull Shatterer!”
Hearing this, Donald asked anxiously, “Teacher, do you know how strong the Skull Shatterer is?”
Maelthor frowned and said, “The Bone Duke is one of the notable non-demon lord creatures in the Abyss. As an undead being, he’s said to have reached a semi-divine level. With the power of the Abyssal rules, his strength is comparable to that of a true god. If the Skull Shatterer can rival the Bone Duke, his strength must also be on that same level!”
“But don’t worry too much. Although the first thirty layers of the Abyss are relatively close to the main world, it’s not easy for these powerful Abyssal lords to enter the main world. Unless the will of the Abyss gives them strong support, even a semi-divine-level demon will be suppressed by the rules when they arrive in our main world, limiting them to only their legendary-level strength. If it’s a descended avatar or projection, the suppression will be even worse. So it’s not as terrifying as you think!”
“If we really can’t handle it, we can also report this to the royal family of Thelos. Then it won’t just be a problem for our family in Dalaran, but for the entire kingdom and even the Human Alliance!”
Heaved by his teacher’s words, Donald felt much more relieved.

“I think it’s better not to rush to inform the royal family for now. If we make good use of this abyssal passage, it can bring us huge profits. So I plan to first discuss with you teachers proper ways to seal it—only take action when it’s absolutely necessary!”
At this, Miesel smiled and said, “Then I’m relieved. The teleportation array diagram I obtained last time gave me a lot of insights, and I’ve also learned quite a bit about using spatial magic arrays. With Chris and the others’ help, we might not be able to open a dimensional passage, but we can definitely find a way to seal a small abyssal passage!”
Although Chris and the others were surprised by Donald’s boldness, they greatly appreciated his approach. Moreover, they needed large amounts of demon materials, so they were all very interested in this plan.
The reason Donald valued this small abyssal passage so much was that the two demon badges he seized from the sorcerer, though capable of blocking the abyssal will through the Book of Truth and allowing him to summon demons multiple times to kill them and obtain their soul power and materials, were only bronze-grade items of mediocre quality. They could be used only about a dozen times before becoming useless.
Thus, it was essential to find another source of soul power.
So far, he had accumulated over 20,000 units of soul power, and with the little demon cores he obtained earlier, the total was nearly 30,000. However, there were too many uses for soul power, and even by summoning heroic figures, he could only bring in five or six. As for the powerful units above level six, their increasing strength meant each required as much soul power as a heroic unit.
Currently, his territory had sufficient troops, and after some time of training, they had all reached the level of second-tier units or higher. Therefore, Donald didn’t plan to continue summoning second- and third-tier units from his list. Instead, he saved all the soul power for creating higher-tier subordinates. Although units above level four consumed less soul power than heroes, each still required over 1,000 units. Despite his seemingly large amount of soul power, he could only create a dozen or so level-four units.

Units at the fourth and fifth levels both possess bronze-tier strength, but as his forces grow, he soon faces mostly powerful factions or opponents at silver level or above, making his bronze-tier subordinates insufficient. It would be better to use them to summon heroes instead, but unfortunately, each hero is unique—even the Book of Truth cannot replicate another identical hero, as this is restricted by laws rather than energy or soul power. Thus, with the same cost, only ordinary troops can be summoned, losing the heroes’ exceptional talents and growth potential.

Therefore, acquiring large amounts of soul power is currently the best way for him to strengthen his forces. After all, he isn’t alone—he also needs to consider Dalaran and his close companions, not to mention the even greater number of people required for a territory!

Hence, an abyssal passage that can continuously produce demon souls is extremely important to Donald. Unless absolutely necessary, he doesn’t want to give it up.

After discussing sealing the abyssal passage with his teachers for a while, Donald left the lord’s manor. He first went to the Adventurers’ Guild to inform Clinton and other regular officials about the presence of underground creatures in the Green Cloak Forest, then posted two well-rewarded scouting missions on the task board—one targeting black-scaled lizardmen and the other potential demons.

The abyssal passage discovered was very narrow. Without the help of demons on this side, demons on the other side couldn’t get through, unless using the power of a powerful demon lord. However, forcefully expanding a dimensional passage is extremely energy-consuming, and even a powerful abyssal lord wouldn’t do it multiple times in a short time. So, since that demon baron was nowhere to be seen, the other side of the passage was relatively safe. If anything changed there, the sentry talismans he left at the passage could detect it immediately.

As for the black-scaled lizardmen, although they were strong individually, their numbers were small, so there was no need for excessive worry. He decided to leave those matters to the adventurers to handle.

Only after completing these tasks did he go to inspect the construction progress in his territory.

While his teachers were still studying, Donald went alone to the shore of Moonlight Lake, boarded a transport ship, and headed toward the island in the lake.

Once the water level of Moonlight Lake reached its full capacity, Donald summoned five freight ships at the small dock where the goblin shipyard was located. Initially, they were meant to carry wood and stone materials for building estates on the island. These 50-foot-long freight ships were much larger than most inland vessels in this world, comparable to ordinary sea ships, and could be converted into small warships by adding cannons and catapults.

At present, only the depth of Moonlight Lake allowed such ships to navigate; the flow of the River of Everwinter was still too shallow, capable of holding only canoes and small boats. To enable freight transport and fishing like on the River of Clouds, further widening of the waterways would be necessary in the future.

In this era of underdeveloped technology, water transportation was undoubtedly much faster and more convenient than land transportation, allowing for significant economic growth. However, the conditions were not yet ripe, so they could only wait temporarily.

After nearly two months of construction, the estate on the island in the middle of Moonlight Lake was largely completed. From a distance, its pavilions and waterside structures appeared exquisitely arranged, with every flower and tree contributing to the scenic beauty, blending natural landscapes with architecture in a style reminiscent of classical gardens from Donald’s past life. This was a style never seen before in this world, even stunning the master architect who participated in its design and construction.

Since the estate’s overall color scheme was white, along with the white sandy beach surrounding it, it resembled a full moon when viewed from the lake shore. Thus, Donald named it Silver Moon Estate, which contrasted interestingly with the previous Dark Night Estate.

When Donald arrived on the island, he saw beneath the artificial rock formation he had designed, one tall figure in a cloak, accompanied by Kelsas, also dressed in a cloak and wearing a mask, directing workers to plant plants in the designated areas. Then, the cloaked figure emitted a green glow, instantly reviving the plants that had wilted due to transplantation, as if injected with energy.

Above the artificial rock formation, a spring flowed, forming a stream that circled one side of the estate. The water flowed gently, crystal clear, with smooth pebbles of various sizes along the bottom and banks, their vibrant colors creating a naturally harmonious and beautiful scene.

This rockery with a flowing stream is modeled after garden designs from past eras, representing the landscape culture in the eyes of the Chinese people. The rock used for the rockery is a single piece of stone transported from a town in Dongjun, hundreds of miles away. Although it was costly, the result was remarkable—much more natural than one built by piling up ordinary stones. The spring at the top of the rockery is designed based on the principle of a fountain, with water supplied through underground channels from Moonlight Lake.

However, Donald himself has no background in art design, so he could only provide a general idea; the actual design was carried out by the renowned architect hired for the project. Someone else was responsible for the subsequent arrangements.

Since the bare rockery didn’t look attractive, Donald also planned to plant some greenery at the foot of the bluestone mountain. Flowers, plants, and trees were needed throughout the estate, so he invited Elyia, an elder druid elf.

Druids are undoubtedly the best at planting flowers and plants, and elves are considered the race with the strongest artistic sensibility in the main world. Having them arrange the estate was, naturally, the most suitable choice.