Carlam laid in a meditative state on the small bed in his cell. It was as close to sleep as was possible for him. Having taken on the position of the priest of Adras, and aone of the network positions as well, made his ability to be human impossibly difficult.

  He recieved much greater brainpower from his access to the system but a majority of that was dedicated to maintaining the connection to the central hub in the Targon Province, which was connected to the Capital city. An offshoot of an offshoot that was as far from the heartland and in a backwater that would have little hope to arise into prominence again.

  Allocating the extra mana that was processed by the temple and giving quests were also under his purview. There was always some room for discretion since strict rules could always be escaped in a manner that judgement with some oversight could not.

  Carlam stood and walked to the door. He had no real need for sleep but pretended when there was time. It was nice to pretend that he had needs.

  ---

  He stood on one foot balanced on the Silver Chain's barracks, peak of the roof as he watched the sun rise. By the time the regular troops started to wake up he was walking away from the building, trivially evading the guards.

  They almost exclusively used system perception boosters and as a critical agent of the system he was able to alter his form, or even make himself unpercievable to those who used systems.

  Complacent. Weak. Most people who attempted to use the system wanted free handouts and got the tiniest growths that happen often using the person's own mana. When a person'a mana is unused it gives an inefficient boost generally. Most people wouldn't notice the difference between 100% of their mana available giving a passive boost or 75% of mana applied specifically to strengthen a person's mana regeneration and physical strengthening.

  There's a little lost on magical defenses and physical muscle building but if they try to get free things it is on them that they pay some price for it.

  Most people try to better themselves anyhow. For the martial classes it is easy enough. You kill thing, you build muscle, you get levels. non-combat classes often have quest lines. Grow your skill, get recognized for your capabilities, it often requires some recognition from both the person themselves as well as others, and some of the local priest's processing to ensure there's no attempts to cheat the system. Even if the cheats number one in ten million. You must understand the system and anyone who understands it is already so deep that they cannot bear, or survive, the removal of the system.

  The mage classes are the worst. The ability to warp and use mana means that they can often tweak the system, sometimes unconsciously. A few light temporary curses are often enough to make sure they don't do it again, but they need much more oversight, taking more energy than the whole of the Silver Chain's martial division on it's own.

  Like that damned mage. He somehow hasn't died yet, even though after four days he should be in the middle of starving or dying of thirst, depending on how much effort the beetles are spending on preserving the life. Once they find out that he was lying about their goddess it should be very quick for them to deal with that mage themselves.

  But the big problem is what happens once the Silver Chain decides to properly end the beetles. The Chain was relying on him to boost their gains, and most of them knew about the bypasses that were used to make the mana distribution easier. He didn't want people whining about how they "weren't getting their share" but it was impossible to give everyone what they think they owed without having a population of others to draw from. One dedicated system leveller needed at least four people who would "do it later".

  Or he could do as he had been before, taking a little bit from the non-system users who were local. What difference does it make to them when they lose some potential. So long as they aren't mages they don't notice the difference. That also needs a population of people who won't leave or try to better themselves. If only Carlam could convince Adras to let him move to the new port city. It's less efficient to let the system spread to the plains on the other side of the mountains but it would be better for someone who spent millenia obeying him rather than an upstart who'se been at it for less than a decade. She readily gave up her name.

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  But that mage, that cheat, has a huge resevoir of mana. If he could manage to capture and restrain him he could boost dozens of soldiers to the range of heroes. Adras wanted to expand into the plains that's filled with the barbarians? He would make an army out of the Silver Chain, maybe he could have their leader replaced since he's some agent of the empire directly. A usurper to Adras' authority even if he allows them to continue existing and treading on his power. He would have to catch that mage, and maybe even turn him to his own purposes. A mana battery of that size might allow him to act beyond his place under Adras, or without sending the proper report that would inevitably follow a drain on that level.

  ---

  That Sabir had arrived and patiently was waiting for Carlam to awaken from his pondering.

  "So is that mage dead?" Sabir ignored the niceties that should preceed this business. It has been centuries since someone shared a good cup of tea and conversation.

  "Not yet, but he is much weaker. If you want to deal with those beetles now might be the only chance you have."

  "Why would that be? Don't they have their deity still protecting them?"

  "If they had the Aria in their midst then they would have attacked us relentlessly. I've battled with her and she is truly ruthless in her actions. She was willing to end all her priesthood to prevent me from getting to her sanctum under the city. I sealed it off and she is unable to remove the guard I set in place. She is slowly starving to death and this city will be better for it." Carlam leaned on the System stone that he was thinking beside. "The reason you want to deal with them now is that their reinforcements are about to arrive. There's two dozen soldiers and their families that will reinforce and start to expand. Once there's news of Tarnox being reclaimed by the Pitarav there will be thousands who want to rejoin."

  Sabir's face showed that he knew the inevitable result of that popularity. This was the pride of those beetles and the Empress of the south would be entirely willing to throw bodies against a border area whereas this was the offshoot of an offshoot of the Empire. A Cursed city outshown by the cursed metropolis that was made of Dragon's Rest. No reinforcements would be arriving unless the fickle 'king' Thadeus and his kingdom turned province decided to do so.

  He was both a paranoid and superstitious man so Thadeus would be unwilling to send his own men to their doom or give an opportunity for his rivals to get an edge on him. He probably bribed the Baron of Newport to stay out of the business of Tarnox. His lands were outside the old kingdom but blood took much longer to forget it's loyalty.

  "When should the reinforcements to the beetles arrive?"

  Carlam chuckled.

  "They were saved by a local mage I'll have to deal with. She was willing to stay out of politics for a while but they are having some trouble trusting her."

  "The arachne princess? I've been trying to get that golemancer on my side, but she ran away when I sent the business proposal."

  "Yes. She took her side with the beetles and they trust her, but the newcomers don't. They've stopped for a whole day after your people were dealt with. If we can deal with the beetles here they also have a high power alchemist with them. That should be a good enough prize for your silver chain." Carlam left to inside the temple, leaving Sabir to drool at the thought of the profits a high level alchemist could bring.

  If the silver chain had to deal with the beetles Carlam would try to get him to let most of them stay. He wouldn't be able to explain exactly why he wanted them to stay, his personal resevoir of mana under the temple was something even his god, Adras, could not know about.

  ---

  Sabir tapped his finger on the System Stone while he thought. The priest seemed unwilling to let the beetles properly return but he didn't want to give him an opportunity to switch against him. Adras and the Empire held nearly the same land with a few domains outside of the provinces and protectorates but as a proud imperial he couldn't let them expand beyond the need of the empire. It would be necessary to expand and take some of the land on the other side of the mountains. They were beyond the empire's law but the traders often went on the path to trade spices and other treasures north to the Empire. There were terrible marshlands and dragon lands that kept the traders from another route but if they took control of the plains they would be able to have great pastures that would feed the expansion of Tarnox into it's own protectorate. Baron Sabir sounded like a good title.

  He had the new crop of recruits arriving in the evening. They would be optimal to send against the beetles to soften them up for his loyal people to take minimal losses. He would need many loyal people to control the expansion of the empire. It turned out to be easier to make new provinces that were loyal to the crown as opposed to forcing loyalty where it wavered. He hoped to have his descendants blockade those vultures that surrounded the Capital and free the Empire from their weakness.

  There were some women in the most recent recruitment drive. They apparently were running out of people in Newport and would have to expand to the towns deeper in the territory that was under the control of the dead Dragon's Rest. It would take a bit more work to make them loyal imperial subjects but he would need people. If some of the women survived the beetles he might get some descendants sooner than planned. Bastard children of lower class women would be disposable unless they were excellent