A system chime woke Ronan from his slumber. He had slept far more deeply than he'd been expecting to, but it had been a while since he'd been able to have a true rest. There was a message floating above his head.

After raising himself onto his elbow and rubbing the sleep from his eyes, Ronan yawned and leaned against the trunk of the pillar. A subtle warmth spread from the tree to him, a deeper connection than the one he'd felt when he first started claiming it.

You have successfully claimed [Sector 46592]'s Pillar!

For claiming your first pillar, your rank has been raised from [None] to [Knight]!

As a [Knight], you have the ability to manage the sector(s) under your control from the pillar, bringing benefits or claiming tax from those who live within its boundaries. You may also form a faction with yourself as the leader, synonymous with your sector.

Ronan was glad to see he'd slept through the entire wait. He was impatient. Learning that there were nobility ranks within the system was odd, but it made a certain amount of sense. He was now a knight.

He had already been a knight, back when he received his first uncommon class, but this wasn't the same, he supposed. He was now in control of the entire sector, a fact that had also been marked on his personal map.

The ability to create a faction was cool, but Ronan wondered if his would persist between iterations. Would he be forced to remake a faction every single time he died, came back to life, and then claimed the pillar?

If that was the case it would be a lot more hassle than it would be worth. However, he would test it this first time. There was every possibility that his heritage could pull another overpowered move on the system and give him an eternal faction, even at points in the timeline where he hadn't yet claimed the sector pillar.

However, it wasn't the first message that caught his interest. It was the second message. Once he'd read it, Ronan cursed, knowing his rest was about to come to a screeching halt.

Attention all challengers in [Sector 46592], the Sector Pillar has been claimed by [Ronan Steele]!

Until his claim is usurped, [Ronan Steele] is now the [Knight] in charge of [Sector 45692]!

Phase 2 of the integration will roll out on a regional basis once all pillars within a region have been claimed, use the remainder of your time to either defend your new [Knight] in his claim, becoming a member of his faction, or form your own and fight to stake your own claim!

Good luck, challengers!

"What the fuck is that bullshit, system!?" he exclaimed, smacking a fist into the dirt beside him.

He hadn't expected claiming the pillar to announce his accomplishment to the entire sector. That meant instead of relaxing until the next phase began, he would be forced to fight off every other person in the sector as they all attempted to steal the pillar from him.

He doubted there was anyone strong enough to kill him, but in large enough numbers, even low-leveled enemies could pose a threat. Not to mention there weren't just humans to contend with.

Down in the sewers he had heard from the camp members about the aliens who were living deeper down in the earth. Then there was Serenaeth 7, along with god knew what else.

On the plus side, this might give Ronan an opportunity to gain a lot of information about the other challengers in his sector. Instead of being forced to explore and discover things on his own, he would have everyone coming to him.

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In fact, he suspected he knew exactly who would be first in line to challenge his claim. Lord Rockmore.

The false lord had proclaimed himself some sort of ruler from the very beginning, so to have the system itself proclaim another man the actual leader of the sector rather than him would be a direct insult to his pride. Not that it really mattered.

Lord Rockmore wasn't a credible threat to Ronan anymore. In fact, putting the man down in front of all his cronies might give Ronan a chance to pull them all into his faction and see what benefits that gave.

Actually, before the first challengers arrive I should make the faction to see what new features it offers me, he thought to himself. There was every chance the benefits would be great.

While he'd panicked a little, he doubted there would be anyone actually arriving at the tower that soon. No one apart from him even knew that the tower was where the pillar was located. His potential challengers would need to find the pillar before they could fight him for it.

While he waited, Ronan continued to practice his sorcery. His mastery over mana bolts had continued to increase as he used them in combat. By now he felt that any further gains would be miniscule and not worth the effort of singularly focusing on them over other avenues of magic.

Instead he made his healing the main focus. While he didn't have the healer class at the moment, Ronan still had a few of his own healing spells to compare with, and he remembered the mana flows for most of them anyway. First up, he cut himself a few times with a conjured dagger and then tried to use suture wound without the aid of the skill.

As he had done the last time he tried this, his first few attempts ended in failure. Thankfully he hadn't cut too deeply into his skin and he wasn't at any risk of bleeding out or the like. That would have been a foolish mistake.

As he progressed, he saw minor successes. The spell didn't work as it normally did when cast through the skill, but the cuts were partially closed. In one instance, Ronan managed to seal a cut almost two-thirds of the way, failing only because a slight whorl in his mana caused the flow to break and disrupt the spell.

That was another issue that he didn't have to contend with when he used skills. With a skill, the mana was controlled and directed perfectly towards the outcome that was predetermined by the skill. With sorcery, however, Ronan had complete control over his mana the entire time.

It meant he had more freedom in creating and directing a spell, but it also meant that even the smallest of slip-ups lead to outcomes like this. Still, he was satisfied enough with how far he'd come. Being able to actually seal wounds was an invaluable tool to have at his disposal.

While he might not yet be able to heal himself on the fly, even the ability to stop bleeding and temporarily stave off the damage of a wound was worth its weight in gold. Bleeding damage could be a killer, as he well knew. Once he mastered suture wound, Ronan would be able to do it regardless of the skill's limitations.

He was about to begin another round of practice when he felt the building shudder. His first visitors had arrived.

Ronan prepared himself for people to charge in through the door, but he didn't expect what actually happened next. Another tremendous shudder ran through the building.

The entire floor swayed side to side, trembling as though it were caught in an earthquake. The pillar remained stable and unbothered, but much of the loose vegetation was thrown into chaos by the tremors.

Rushing to one of the floor-to-ceiling windows, Ronan looked out and down towards the street below. This high up it was impossible to make out what was going on at the ground level with any real clarity.

Thankfully he had a skill to overcome that obstacle. Activating eagle eye, he reached out a hand to steady himself as his vision suddenly zoomed in. When it reached its maximum magnification, he was able to see the likely cause of the tremors.

Around the base of the tower, a fire had flared to life, sending up billowing clouds of smoke. A large group of people were retreating from the flames, a few dead bodies buried under rubble left behind as they scrambled to save themselves.

Ronan was able to pick out a very recognisable figure from the masses. Lord Rockmore stood at the back of the group, pointing at the tower and yelling at his underlings. When a man he hadn't met before stepped out from the crowd and raised his hands in front of his chest, gathering mana between them, Ronan was granted a front row seat to what had actually caused the shockwaves.

After gathering the mana for around fifteen seconds, the man launched the swirling mass towards the tower. Similar to a mana bolt, but larger in size and more chaotic, the spell flew rather slowly through the air. When it struck the base of the tower, it burst into a kaleidoscope of vibrant colour.

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