We spent the next six months making preparations to form a Kingdom. I ramped up my efforts in recruiting Cultivators from Four Element Sect and the other Baronies on the island. Recruiting new people wasn’t as difficult as I thought it would be. Establishing a Clan was enticing for those people born on the island who had never had a chance. The Sect had its hand full trying to contain and destroy the Magma Krakens I had reported, so my actions went mostly unnoticed.

We did get a new influx of immigrants and people near Mount Kraken as they fled the territory in droves. Even after Four Element Sect had contained the Magma Kraken that lived there, people continued to leave. We could have placed the Kingdom stone and proclaimed our sovereignty earlier, but Clement thought it more advantageous to wait until the Sect had dealt with what was lurking under that mountain.

If I had claimed our independence beforehand, then I would have been responsible for rooting out and destroying the larger and more advanced Magma Krakens the Sect discovered. A task I was not well suited for since the creatures were born and lived in pools of magma and lava flow tubes.

It was a good thing I had decided to wait. Deep within one of the larger lava pools was a tier-five behemoth that required Four Element to mount a raid of Nascent Soul Realm and Nihility Realm to kill. Tier five was comparable to an Immortal Realm Cultivator, and there were very few of those willing to take the time to deal with a threat that seemed to be contained.

Clement might have been able to defend against the Leviathan, but his elemental affinities would have been of little help. I thought it was short-sighted of those Cultivators that were powerful enough to deal with the creature by themselves.

The Sect, with a pool of individuals and aligned affinities to draw upon, had only managed to defeat the creature after days of battle. It had become a test of stamina and determination, and it was only because the Sect began to rotate Cultivators in and out of a battle that they won in the end.

The Magma Kraken had been able to use the lava it was resting in to heal itself as it fought, to restore any wounds it was taken. It was only after a team of Earth affinity Cultivators diverted the lava pool and denied the Kraken access to that resource that the fight finally concluded.

The Sect’s gains from rooting out and destroying the infestation were impressive. A few natural treasures and those individuals that were aligned with fire or earth were able to watch and learn how the Magma Kraken had used lava to heal. For the lucky few, they gained enough enlightenment that they were able to create a new technique that would mimic what they had seen.

The most impressive natural treasure was a fire opal cluster. The gems were carefully excavated as the Cultivators responsible worked to keep them in the exact position they were in. The fire opals had formed a natural array, and the Sect planned on adding the benefits of that array to both the defenses of the Sect and the closed-door cultivation chambers.

“Are you ready?” Gwen asked.

Gwen had been with me since day one. My longest-serving adviser, and only now that she’d been given the Lodoicea laced food a Cultivator, even if her progress was limited to the Body Refinement Realm. That she would be present when I placed the capstone that would establish my Kingdom was fitting.

“I believe so,” I answered with some confidence but a little reluctance.

The author's content has been appropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

“Alpha and the applicants that might fit as a [Dao Companion] have gathered. We have restricted attendance as you requested. Only Clement, Siam, Zui, and I will witness what happens today.”

Technically that wasn’t true. Toi and Storm would serve as witnesses too. The astral and companion bonds between us were too enmeshed in each of our psyches to try to block access to our experiences.

I could have requested privacy, and they would have agreed. But what would be the point? The three of us would be a team, a collective of identities that had already coalesced into a synergistic whole.

Alpha had explained that for me to be elevated to the position of Voice with the rights of sovereignty that position allowed, I would need to join the Hindel gestalt. I had spoken with almost a hundred Hindel to try to find someone I felt might be compatible. Someone who had an elemental affinity that would buttress my own.

If the Hindel I formed a dual cultivation with would gain access to my ice and lightning affinity, I wanted something in exchange. Things might have been simpler if that had been my only criteria, but I had also been adamant that the person be female.

There would be no chance for a sexual relationship, but that didn’t mean we wouldn’t be spending time together. I wanted someone I could become friends with, and I felt it would be easier to adapt to each other’s idiosyncrasies if we shared the same gender.

Cien, the young Hindel woman I had finally settled on, had an affinity with life. She focused mostly on maintaining fisheries for her pod, but her talent was robust enough to serve as a healer in an emergency. Her [Dao of Growth] allowed her to cultivate crops and fish alike, making her affinities stand out from the choices I was given.

I hoped to gain enough insight from her cultivation to take better control and maintenance of the inner world I owned. It would also be profitable if I could create a technique that allowed me to experiment with and hybridize the coral and spiders we were farming.

I had to chuckle to myself when I considered what the results of today’s events would be. I had gone from a woman from a world where she had been abandoned and ignored by her children for the most part to a young Elf ostracized and vilified in Flowing Water Sect.

I had been alone and a loner in both lives. But that, as well as so many other things, changed over the past five years. The connections I had formed added up as each year passed, almost despite myself.

First, my bond with Storm.

Then my connection to the land.

The establishment of my Barony.

Next, my discovery and formation of a contract with Toi.

And today, I would see three new connections formed. I would be added as a Voice to the Hindel gestalt of minds. Form a [Dual Partnership] with Cien. And increase my ties to the land to encompass the entire island.

I would sever any tenuous connection between the Empire and me in the process, but that connection had barely existed for a while. Ever since the machinations of powerful people tried to deny the Hindel and me our due from the planar dimension we had discovered.

I hoped to remain on friendly terms with Four Element Sect. But I wasn’t sure how today’s action would play out with the Patriarch. I had decided not to give her or the Sect much warning ahead of time. It was only now that I was ready to place the Kingdom stone that Clement was sending a message informing the Sect, the Patriarch, and the Empire about what was happening today.

His had been the voice that delayed notifying anyone of what was about to happen. Mainly because we didn’t want to give any warning to the Empire. I knew the Patriarch would be honor bound to report my decision to form a new Kingdom, so there was no reason to test that honor by informing her either.

Even if today’s events didn’t threaten the strained relationship between the Sect and me, that might change in the years to come. I would restrict the areas I claimed from the land grants the Empire had settled on the Four Element Sect. The mountain and lake would remain within the Empire’s control. It was the only concession Clement argued for.

I would have to encourage new Sects and Clans to form in the days ahead. If my nation was going to be independent, I couldn’t rely on the monopoly the Four Element Sect enjoyed as the only Sect to offer membership.

For some, the ties that bound me might have seemed oppressive. But I considered the chains of duty, companionship, and partnership that enveloped me as chains of armor. Layers of protection and defense I would rely on as Fief Myche expanded.