Star Iron, conquer the world from Omphalos

Since Aglaia did not want to start a conflict now, he was happy to see it. After all, the development of Shurima still needed time, and if they wanted to fight, they had to wait until the country was established.

"Master Ash." At this time, Julius came over with a bloody sword in hand. "Everything has been cleared out."

"Well, thank you for your hard work. Take Akhta with you and let's go back."

"Yes."

Julius dragged his heavy body towards Acta.

As they were about to leave, the priests of Salt hurried over, bowed to Ash and said, "Great Golden Descendant, we are willing to follow you and go to Tilkas with you!"

Ash paused and glanced, "Go to Tilkas? When did I ever agree to let you go to Tilkas?"

Priest Aix was stunned: "But Lord Julius said before..."

"You know it was before," Ash said calmly, "I heard you chose Ohma? In that case, then rely on your own strength and work hard to reach Ohma... Oh, and the black tide hasn't completely subsided yet, so remember to be careful on your way and don't die."

After saying this, Ash led Julius and the others out of the ruins.

...

Keep going!

Omphalos's Journey: Chapter 39 The Desert Emperor Plans His Empire

"Master Ash, the Salt tribe has over a hundred people...are you done with it?"

On the way back, Julius couldn't help but ask.

Xiadie also looked over. She knew that Ash wanted to build a city and establish Shurima, and now was a critical period to gather the population.

While a hundred or so people wasn't a large number, it wasn't a small number for Shurima, which had been starting from scratch. More importantly, this incident could send a message to the other tribes in the area surrounding Ohma—that Tilkas could become the new "holy city."

But rejecting Salt now would make Ash appear petty, and the other tribes would be more cautious in their choices. While going to Ohma wouldn't be easy, and even staying there wouldn't guarantee safety, they might be more willing to choose Ohma than risk being abandoned at any moment.

"Julius, are you being a jerk?" Ash curled his lips. "They've already chosen Ohma, and we're still trying to beg them to go?"

Julius said nothing, thinking that they were not begging, they just wanted to go.

"You don't really think those Salt people wanted to go to Tilkas, do you?" Ash scoffed. "They were simply forced to do so. With Bai'er gone, it would be difficult for them to reach Ohma on their own under the threat of Eternal Night and the Black Tide. So they had no choice but to go. Do you understand? As for why I refused, it's even simpler. Just remember one thing—not everyone deserves salvation."

"Not everyone deserves to be saved..." Julius murmured, thinking of Tesca and his group.

"The apocalyptic disaster will expose the uglier side of human nature. This is human nature, but we don't need to care about this. Only those who can remain true to themselves and stick to their bottom line in this environment can become the future people of Shurima."

"We are different from the Ohma. They are on the road to salvation, which is too tiring and too complicated. Our goal is simple: to bring stability to all those who will become Shurimans, to help them develop and grow stronger. One day, the glory of Shurima will cover all of Omphalos, and then there will naturally be no such thing as the end of the world."

Julius suddenly realized: "Master Ash is taking such a path to save the world. How great!"

"..."

Ash opened his mouth and said, "Forget it, you're right to think so."

"Bai'e has always been like this since I met him," Xiadie said suddenly. "Perhaps his flaw is like Kephar carrying the dawn on his back. He would rather sacrifice himself than save others."

Ash spread his hands: "I don't care whether he is good or bad. Everyone has their own things to do. As long as he doesn't get in my way, I don't bother to care what he wants to do. But on the other hand, if he becomes an enemy, I won't hold back either."

"I know..."

Xiadie looked at Yaxiu and couldn't help asking, "Are you really going to go to war with Ohma?"

"It depends on whether they get in my way or not."

"Ash, where do you want to go?"

Ash didn't speak. He raised his head and gazed at the starry sky shrouded in darkness. Under the perpetual night, the earth was filled with a sense of loneliness and desolation. The starry sky was beautiful, but there was an even greater world beyond the sky... The place he wanted to reach was naturally a place where the stars shone brightly.

...

"Sorry Aglaya, I failed again."

Yunshi Tiangong.

After using the power of the portal to return to Ohma, Bai'e immediately found Aglaya.

Looking at Bai'e's frustrated face, Aglaya shook her head slightly: "No, you didn't fail. Your operation was very successful this time."

Bai E looked puzzled.

He didn't save anyone.

No one from the Salt tribe was brought back either.

How can it be considered a success?

"Ash will not accept those Salt people." Aglaya said suddenly.

The three saints of Janusapolis, Tibao, Tian, and Tining, are of the same heart and origin. Aglaia has learned about Tibao's situation through others and understood the whole process of the conflict between Bai'e and Yashu.

That's why she later asked Tibao to take action and choose to bring Bai'e back directly.

"Why?" Bai'e frowned. "Tilkas needs to develop now. Didn't they come to this land specifically to recruit people?"

Aglaya turned his head and looked into the distance, his eyes distant and deep.

"Ash... that's just the way he is. He doesn't consider absolute interests, and he acts impulsively, even based on his own preferences. But he also has a 'bottom line' that others can't understand. He won't allow someone who betrayed him to stay with him again, so even for the sake of the others in Tilkas, he won't take in the Salt Tribe anymore."

From the moment Salt chose to betray, their fate was sealed.

Bai'e thought about it carefully and found that indeed, Ash seemed to be such a person.

"Then I will go and bring back the Salt Tribe now? If Ash abandons them, they may not be able to reach Ohma without the guards to lead them."

"No need." Aglaya shook her head. "If we take in Salt now, we'll undoubtedly be declaring war on Tilkas. We don't need to take the risk. By abandoning Salt, Ashe has also sent a message to the other tribes. Before making any choices, they will consider the fate of the Salt people."

Bai E was stunned: "So when you say that your goal has been achieved, that I am successful, is this what you mean?"

Aglaya did not deny it.

"Don't you like this? Bai'e, I know I didn't intend to tell you, but I hope you don't have to dwell on these things. The oracle is guiding us forward, and you still have more things to do."

Bai E remained silent.

"Aglaia, what about those people like Salt? Our mission to save the world is to save the people of Omphalos who are in trouble. I cannot agree with the idea of saving the majority at the expense of the minority in order to achieve our so-called 'goal'."

Aglaya wanted to say something, but Bai'e shook his head again: "Perhaps Ash is right. With my thoughts like this, there's no way I can save the world... I understand, Aglaya. Give me some time, I'll think it over carefully."

After saying that, Bai E turned and left.

Aglaya stared at his back, frowning slightly... Ash, it was Ash again. Since he appeared, all the established things have been deviated.

"Bai'e seems to be worried."

Tibao came over from the side.

"His character flaws are too obvious. If he can't change, he'll eventually be hurt again, trapped in a nightmare he can't escape." Aglaya said, "Perhaps this fight with Ash won't be a bad thing for him. If he can correct his flaws and gain power in the future, he'll be the one who truly saves Omphalos."

"This is the so-called savior... So what's Aya going to do next?"

"Next... it's time to speed up the plan. The rise of Tilkas is an opportunity, and the Senate won't sit idly by. I originally planned to use Xuanfeng City as an opportunity, but now it seems that this place is more suitable for action."

Aglaya looked down at Tibao and said, "Master, please go and guide Bai'e. I need some time to deal with the matters between me and the elders."

...

When they arrived at the territory of Ashtyrkas, the Trevi people had already settled down under the arrangement of Old Otto. He asked Old Otto to hold a farewell ceremony for Akta, and then asked Xiadie to help communicate with Akta's soul and say a final farewell to his relatives.

Death is sad, but Ash has no time to indulge in this feeling. He comes to the Trevi settlement and uses the yellow sand to build a home for them.

As buildings began to rise one after another, the people of Trevi were speechless with astonishment.

"Master Ash, thank you for your gift."

Chief Kasa expressed his gratitude to Ash.

In Omphalos, which is shrouded in eternal night, it is a luxury to live like a normal person. At least the Tilkas that Kasa sees in front of him is full of hope and peace.

After arranging the affairs of the Trevi people, Ash began to reinforce the outer walls of the entire territory. He also called on the people in the territory to build fortifications, using the future development of the Shurima royal city as a blueprint to build some major buildings first.

For example, the palace symbolizes royal power. Ash plans to renovate the ruins of Gioria and live there directly in the future to avoid wasting such a large area. After all, you can't just demolish the ruins in front of everyone, right?

City planning needs to be done very carefully. Once it is completed, it will not be easy to modify it. Fortunately, there are many talents in this area in the Xuanfeng Army. They drew on the structure of Xuanfeng City and designed a rough blueprint of the future Shurima Royal City for Ash.

After the construction blueprint was completed, the next step was to start large-scale construction... In fact, it was impossible to start large-scale construction at all. The population of the entire Tilkas territory did not exceed 3,000. If it was built according to the scale of the blueprint, it would take at least several years, so this matter could only be done by Ash himself.

"If the old Dragon King knew I was using his power for construction, I wonder if he would come through and beat me to death."

With this idea in mind, Ash spent nearly half a month before he could barely build the main structure on the blueprint.

The rest needs other people to slowly reinforce and refine it. The good news is that the house built with power is quite sturdy. The bad news is that the consumption is too great, so that Ash feels like he is spending every day in a state of replenishing magic and being drained.

"Next, it's time to build up the military. Even though there won't be many people, there should still be a structure."

In a territory with less than 3,000 people, Ash calculated that the number of soldiers that could be mobilized was as high as 800. Most of them were contributed by Trevi and Carlos, who were the dragon and phoenix of Fulong. On the other hand, Tilkas and Xuanfeng were alone with only a few people.

Ash reorganized these 800 men into the Royal City Garrison and appointed Julius, Kasa, and others to new positions. He then created a priesthood specifically responsible for Shurima's sacrificial ceremonies and appointed Xiadie as the High Priestess of Shurima. Although the woman said she would return to Shurima in the future, Ash agreed to take the position for now and discuss future matters later.

The High Priest led Old Otto and the others in singing the praises of Shurima's glory to their people, urging them to follow the footsteps of the Golden Sun. It might sound a bit charlatan, but isn't that how things work in the Star-Iron World?

"Let me see, what else is missing?"

Ash stared at the nation-building plan in front of him and began to think.

There are so few things a person can take care of.

He needs to gather more people and more forces, then establish a kingdom and rebuild the glory of Shurima!

...

Bowl┬—┬ノ('-'ノ) knock knock knock!

I want a monthly ticket, pacing, crying, rolling.jpg

Omphalos's Journey: Chapter 40 The Emperor Still Plans His Empire

People, Ash looked left and right, all aspects of the arrangements can be slowly advanced, but the population is still far from enough.

A city with fewer than 3,000 people...? A kingdom? An empire?

If you tell others about it, they will laugh their heads off.

Although Ash doesn't mind being laughed at, the difference between a village and a city is too great. Just in terms of daily management, with so many positions appointed, there will be more managers than people to be managed in the future, which is not decent!

Moreover, as the population increased, daily necessities became a big problem. Tilkas was not rich to begin with, and the tribes recruited later could barely make ends meet. After migrating to Tilkas, they even lost their original jobs. They could only rely on hunting every day, and with some surplus food, they probably couldn't last long.

Don't let the day after the announcement of the founding of the country, negative news like how xx people died of famine in the Shurima "Empire" was reported. That would be more painful than putting the shit pot on Ash's head.

So the top priorities are people and food.

People not only need people to live in, but also talents, fighting talents, and management talents. Two familiar figures suddenly appeared in Ash's mind.

"What a shame! If I could summon the crocodile and the dog-head, then my Great Shurima would be invincible...Alas~ Dog-head, oh dog-head, my Grand Scholar."

With a small sigh in his heart, Ash took out some of the ore and asked the Trevi people to forge weapons and equipment, and asked Old Ultra and others to find a way to exchange the rest for food.

Weapons and equipment are necessary, but food is also extremely scarce. If we don't get some, there will be big problems.

Another issue is military expansion. While Ash can summon sand soldiers to fight, the city's daily maintenance also requires ordinary soldiers. Furthermore, as Shurima grows, he won't be expected to personally lead every battle. How could the Emperor lead sand soldiers on expeditions every day? People, reliable people, and an army are absolutely essential.

"Next, let's pull people in first."

Ash began to continue the work of increasing the population of Shurima.

However, as he expected, due to the Salt tribe incident, the smaller tribes in the Ohma region refused to negotiate with them. Furthermore, after learning of Tilkas's actions, Ohma also accelerated its actions. Ash heard that the Senate seemed to be promoting a "divine salvation" propaganda campaign, deploying a large number of Holy City Guards to various regions.

Because of this incident, Julius and others' contacts with other tribes were frequently blocked. Between Shurima and Ohma, almost no one hesitated and directly chose Ohma.

Ash didn't care about this situation.

A forced melon may quench your thirst, but it is not sweet. Shurima is just starting out, so it is better to have fewer people than too few. We cannot recruit nine out of ten people who are thugs or traitors.

Since these people are unwilling to come, he will not force them. Anyway, if a fight really breaks out in the future, he just needs them not to beg for mercy.

Moreover, Omphalos is so big, and not all people want to go to Ohma. Ash asked Julius to take people to a farther place and let Xiadie escort them to avoid encountering the black tide and losing their lives.

In the end, the Julius people didn't find him, and actually brought back a group of earth beasts.

As one of Gioria's creations, the Terramon has a gentle personality and its status in Ompharos is similar to that of the camel that Ash had known before: it is large in size, can carry a lot of things, and has sufficient endurance.

There are fifteen earth beasts in this group, forming a tribe. There are all sizes of them, and they look like a brachiosaurus.

"So, where did you find so many?"

Looking at these big guys, Ash cast a curious glance towards Julius.