Anyway, this would be such a great and unexpected contribution to the sect. They would probably put his name in the history books of the sect just for this one mission.

With the help of the castle, Will of San would become great in no time. This castle must be a treasure belonging to some powerful ancient sect. If his guess was correct, Abdin was a traveler and didn't know anything about this kingdom. If he had known, he wouldn't have deliberately informed Will of San about the existence of the castle.

He could feel the presence of two people in the castle, but apart from them, there was no one. And both of them were in the ki condensation stage. There was a possibility that the rest of the party hid deep in the castle so he could not sense them, but no matter how many they were, there was no way they could stand against the might of an entire sect.

Abdin sighed. "Young man, you will give me a thousand men. Thirty percent of them must be in the foundation establishment stage. They will work for me for ten years. In return, I will allow you to use the spirit ki in my castle. Only you."

Tairen furrowed his eyebrows. He opened his mouth to speak but Abdin raised his hand. "Go and tell Muwadd about it. Make a decision fast. You have one week."

Tairen raised an eyebrow. He didn't like the way Abdin called his uncle's name. A man who was supposed to be a traveler knew the first name of his uncle and could even speak it without any fear. Who didn't know how fearsome his uncle was in this land?

***

Three weeks after these two events, people began to settle in the castle. Most were common people from the surrounding villages but if you looked carefully you would also see disciples from the neighboring Will of San.

Abdin was currently sitting at the gate and was assessing the newcomers one by one. "Will you work for me for ten years?"

The girl nodded with a pale face. She had already memorized what she was supposed to say several days ago but was still terrified that her application would be rejected.

After a few seconds, Abdin nodded and her body lightened up, signifying she had taken the oath.

Abdin put her name down in the book on the table and let her in.

[Invitation is successful. Congratulations, you have gained six months' worth of lifespan.]

The next person approached.

On that day, Abdin invited three hundred and forty people to the castle.

The events of the last few weeks had been nothing but instrumental toward the growth of the castle.

In the last week, Sulat and Renga had stepped into the foundation establishment realm after spending just two weeks in the castle. This made the two leaders go crazy instantly. They had reached the end of their lives already, so they knew the hardships experienced before climbing the ladder and entering the next cultivation stage. If breaking through the bottleneck was easy, the number of cultivators wouldn't have been too low.

At this point, both of them could write a letter to Biyakis and ask for a better position. Once they had been tested and the strength of their pol had been confirmed, a document would be sent to the emperor for final approval. Once approved, they would have more territory and the number of benefits they received from the capital every year would also increase.

Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

Abdin had given them a choice to leave or to stay. If they decided to stay, after ten years he would free them to go back to their towns and do whatever they wanted. But if they decided to leave, they wouldn't be welcomed again in the castle.

At least the two men didn't hesitate in making a decision. They immediately agreed to stay and asked Abdin for a favor. They wanted to bring the rest of their families to live in the castle.

Abdin agreed 'reluctantly', but on the condition that whoever would come must serve the castle for the next ten years.

Even though they weren't great cultivators, they knew that ten years wasn't much - how many years had they cultivated in just a couple of weeks? If they continued to use the spirit ki in the castle, then in a short period they would reach a level that they had never expected to reach in their lifetimes.

Later on, they came back and begged Abdin to allow them to bring their other relatives. First, it was their family, and now it was their relatives. It was Sulat who started it. Having seen that, Renga also followed suit.

Abdin knew that they wouldn't be satisfied with just that. Every few days, they would come back and ask for more. With the situation in the villages and towns around the castle, all the rich and powerful people caught wind of the paradise of the castle and came forward.

Abdin wasn't bothered. All this was part of his plan to mop up the people from the surrounding villages. The more people he invited the better.

"That will be enough." Abdin raised his hand to stop the next batch. His cultivation had risen back to 200 years. There were still 46 years before the castle expanded, but he had more things to prepare before that. So he would gather the people at the gate until everyone was present and then receive them.

"Commander."

"Commander."

People started calling his name. Word of the castle had spread in the two towns and three villages. Soon the news would reach Biyakis and other parts of the world. Trouble would soon come knocking. But Abdin couldn't think of all that now. His mind was on the first expansion and the hidden fleet of powerful cultivators. Once he dealt with that, he would turn to Biyakis. Following the events of the previous loops, Biyakis wouldn't make a move until then.

"Those that can wait are free to do so. I'll open the gates soon enough."

Once he said that he turned around and went into the castle. Renga and Sulat that were standing beside him followed behind. Renga turned around and closed the gates behind him with an apologetic smile to the begging crowd.

Things continued peacefully like that for a few days. If not because of the missing princess, Abdin would have been comfortable about his progress so far.

Throughout the restart, the castle hadn't seen Silver Mask. Abdin didn't confront Will of San and there was no sign of Juwaira and Laluri. Things had deviated greatly from the norm, he didn't know how much that would affect the subsequent events of the loop.

Of course, in the same way that the villagers were dying, the soldiers under Silver Mask were also dead. But the scent of the dead soldiers was no longer on Abdin, so Silver Mask had no reason to visit him. Hopefully, they didn't get to Juwaira.

Subsequently, their search might take them to the castle. So before that happened, he must find Juwaira. Unfortunately for him, he still didn't have any clue about how to find the princess.

He could track the black Ayrid in her, but she would have to be within a certain range for that to be possible. At this distance he could only vaguely feel the seed's heat radiation, indicating she was still alive. But that was it.

One thing that calmed him down was the failsafe hidden in the black Ayrid. Any attempt to tamper with it would automatically reset the loop. Since the loop was still going just fine, it went on to show that the princess wasn't in the worst situation.

With a deep sigh, he closed his eyes and fell into a deep meditation.

A few days later, Will of San sent one thousand disciples to the castle. When they arrived in front of the castle gate, there were so many people already waiting to enter the castle that there was no passage for them. The whole forest surrounding the castle was filled with immigrants.

Almost all the people from Nanila and Wuran had come to the castle. It was mostly because the castle was a thousand times closer to them than the capital and the latest news going around that the castle was out of the 'plague zone'.