Chapter 624: The Highland Kingdom

The celebrations in Beren City lasted for three days before ending. Seizing this momentum, Beren City announced a news that shook the continent. The first kingdom in the history of the Highlanders was established, officially named the Highland United Emirates, with Beren City as its capital. The first king was Beren’s chieftain, Arthur.

This news caused a tremendous stir across the continent, shocking various factions. Yet those most angered and uneasy were the tribal leaders in the northern Highlands. These still-independent tribes made up over a third of the Highlanders. Although they had heard of Arthur’s name and rumors, they were unwilling to give up their power and submit to someone else.

However, Arthur clearly didn’t care much about these tribes. With control over most of the Highland region, they already possessed sufficient strength and confidence. With the timing right, the establishment of the Highland Kingdom was inevitable. Even if those tribes united to resist, it could not change this outcome.

In history, the so-called Highland King was merely a nominal title; no kingdom was established at that time, and such a king didn’t even have his own tribe to rule. But after Arthur ascended the throne, he became the first true king of the Highlanders!

The Frozen Highlands were vast and sparsely populated. Often, a small tribe could occupy hundreds of square kilometers of territory—more than the size of a typical barony in the continental kingdoms. Some were eager for this land, but upon thinking of the barbaric yet fierce Highlanders and the harsh climate of the Frozen Highlands, most privileged nobles preferred to back down.

As for the powerful forces on the continent capable of conquering the Highlanders, though they coveted this resource-rich land, the easiest route into the Frozen Highlands was tightly controlled by Dalarn. Other forces could only obtain trade permits after passing Dalarn’s scrutiny and enter the Highlanders’ territory through trade.

Even those legendary and semi-divine warriors capable of crossing the snow-capped mountains dared not take action under the watchful eye of the true god Donald. Thus, the Highlanders were able to peacefully join the Thalassian Alliance without any disruptions.

On the day the Highland Kingdom was established, the powerful force of Dalarn took action. They dispatched hundreds of powerful mages to Beren City to carry out construction tasks.

Dozens of magical buildings and ice fortresses resembling war machines were constructed overnight outside the city of Belen, surrounding the capital of this plateau kingdom like stars surrounding the moon. This sight filled with fear those plateau tribes that had not pledged allegiance to Arthur.

The plateau people could be considered the most combat-effective race among all human branches—brave and resolute, daring to challenge any powerful entity. Yet mages remained legends to them, invincible forces. Unless necessary, they would never seek to oppose them.

What made these tribes hesitate further was that after the establishment of the plateau kingdom, Arthur, as its king, did not weaken the powers of the tribal chiefs. Instead, he adopted a system similar to feudalism among the continent’s nobles, with the strongest chief among all tribes being rightfully elected as the first king.

These conditions satisfied all tribes that pledged allegiance to Arthur. When the news reached the north, the leaders of the independent tribes also began to consider similar options.

With the incorporation of the plateau kingdom, the alliance centered around Celt grew significantly stronger. The united kingdom of Celt and Ciri now became the United Kingdom of Celt, Ciri, and the Plateau. Its territory covered one-tenth of the human lands on the two continents of the main world, surpassing even the once-largest kingdom, Gardrel. It was undoubtedly the most powerful force in human society at the time.

After the celebrations, Donald left Belen. He had completed the tasks he came here to do. Drawing on the experience of his own daughter Laila, before Arthur’s child was born, Donald transferred the soul consciousness of Sera, the Archmage Lord separated from the core of the Sky City, into her womb, thereby giving this great being a chance at rebirth.

Originally, after finding a new master in the Sky City, Sera’s consciousness would have dissipated. He was aware of this outcome but still unhesitatingly entrusted everything to his successor. Donald admired this spirit of dedication greatly!

Through a high-tier artifact, Donald preserved Sera’s consciousness intact and granted it soul power to compensate for its losses, thus allowing her to be reborn as a human once again.

Considering Sera’s once close relationship with the Highlanders, Donald chose the most suitable parents for her and sealed away memories from her past life. These seals would gradually unlock as Sera grew up, allowing her to slowly integrate the knowledge and memories from her previous life.

When Donald first saw the advantages of these Highlanders, he had some ideas in mind, and now, under his plans as a true god, those ideas have been successfully realized.

Both Carlisle, the legendary Sword Saint of Dalaran, and King Durian XVI were very interested in these Highlanders, especially since they were highly talented warriors. Even untrained adult Highlanders had physical strength comparable to that of Silver-ranked warriors. In terms of raw strength, most Silver swordmasters might not even be able to match them.

Such untapped potential, like unprocessed gemstones, could become a massive source of combat power if given systematic training!

Thus, Donald had already planned to negotiate with Highland King Arthur to acquire a group of Highland warriors.

Fate is fair—these powerful Highlanders also had their flaws. Despite their strong physiques, few could master sword energy, leaving them stuck at Silver rank their entire lives. Only a few exceptions could eventually reach Gold rank and become leaders of their tribes.

This issue could also be resolved through external means, but the cost would be enormous for a kingdom. Since the Highlanders were already strong and Donald had no lack of power, he didn’t intend to interfere and instead let Carlisle and Durian carry out their plans.

After ensuring Sera’s reincarnated body was safely born, Donald felt relieved and returned to Dalaran.

By then, his research in the divine realm was nearly complete.

The power of the Doomsday Mantra was beyond the control of even powerful beings like Oscar, who were akin to higher gods, let alone lower gods like Donald.

After numerous experiments, Donald could only imitate the Immortal King’s method—memorizing just one Doomsday Mantra rune at a time within his soul, sealing it within his divine essence and releasing its power when needed.

Given the stringent conditions required to cast the Doomsday Mantra, its power was undeniable. Only the strength of higher gods or high-tier divine artifacts could withstand or counter it!

Considering the potential hidden dangers that might remain within the Book of Doom, created by Oscar, which recorded the spells of doom, Donald decided to re-record them. “Thanks to the higher deity skin obtained from Loki, we have no shortage of materials to carry the spells of doom.” Using the higher deity skin as paper, Donald redocumented the complete spells of doom and crafted a new Book of Doom. Due to the immense power of the spells of doom, Donald, with his power level equivalent to that of a mid-tier deity, could only record one rune at a time and needed a month to recover before attempting again. It took over a year to record all thirteen doom runes. “This new Book of Doom is only at the level of a mid-tier artifact, but its unleashed power is comparable to that of a high-tier artifact. Moreover, since it was created without the impurities present in the King of the Undead’s version, it won’t have any negative effects on the user caused by evil wills.” In fact, both the higher deity skin and the power of the spells of doom were sufficient to turn this artifact into a high-tier one. However, as its creator, Donald had not yet reached that power level, nor did he have enough mastery over the art of creation to reach the standards of a higher deity. Thus, the Book of Doom could only remain at the peak of a mid-tier artifact. With his own Book of Doom now in hand, the one created by Oscar lost its original purpose. Yet, this one-time-use artifact still possessed immense power, so Donald decided to use it as a last-resort trump card against enemies far stronger than himself. Donald’s avatar of divine punishment stepped forward and said with a smile, “I’m sure that if Oscar’s Book of Doom, containing all the spells of doom, were to explode, its power would be enough to destroy a mid-tier deity or a higher deity avatar without the protection of a high-tier artifact. Even a higher deity’s true form wouldn’t fare well under such an attack!” Because the power of the spells of doom was extremely unstable, there was a risk of an explosion during the creation process, so Donald couldn’t use time acceleration. As a result, it actually took over a year, in real time, to complete the Book of Doom. By then, the evolution of the Whip of Order had also ended, allowing Donald’s avatar of divine punishment, who had been focused on this task, to relax. “Not bad!” Donald’s true form expressed satisfaction after witnessing the upgraded Whip of Order.

The incarnation of divine retribution said smugly, “Of course. After integrating the Annihilation Crystal, the core of the Whip of Order has reached the peak of mid-tier divine artifacts, gaining strength comparable to higher-tier divine artifacts and overcoming its greatest flaw from its creation—its vulnerability. With the Book of Doom as well, even as a mid-tier god, I can fight!”
The emergence of two powerful divine artifacts that surpassed ordinary mid-tier ones gave Donald two more formidable weapons to use in addition to those two hidden higher-tier divine artifacts.
Especially the power of the Mantra of Doom—though purely offensive—was on par with the attacks of higher-tier divine artifacts and higher gods, allowing Donald to challenge opponents beyond his own rank and unleash power beyond that of a mid-tier god.