A few days passed quietly after the construction of the new district, though William himself hardly had the luxury of rest during that period.
Most of his time was occupied by his responsibilities as Supreme Commander. The rapid expansion of the Dawn Legion required a constant stream of decisions, and every day, new reports, proposals, and personnel evaluations arrived on his desk.
Recruitment efforts were proceeding smoothly, but building an army was not as simple as gathering people and handing them weapons.
The majority of the recruits lacked proper military training. Many came from humble backgrounds, possessed little combat experience, and had only recently begun adapting to their new lives. As a result, most of them were learning while actively performing their assigned duties side by side.
William was not entirely satisfied with this arrangement.
Although practical experience was valuable, he knew that proper instruction would greatly improve the quality of his forces.
Over the past few days, he had been considering possible solutions.
One option was to hire experienced instructors from outside organizations, but he quickly dismissed that idea. At least for now, he did not want to bring outsiders into positions that would give them influence over the military’s development.
Another possibility was to elevate one of his trusted subordinates into a training role. That option seemed much more appealing.
After all, inside the Domain of Infinity, he could just let one of them get proficient with the subject and experience using time dilation properly. If he selected a capable subordinate and allowed them to spend a week or two training inside the domain in military drills and combat techniques taught to soldiers, then he believed that they could truly become capable of training the forces of Eternal Sun for at least starters.
The more he thought about it, the more reasonable the idea appeared.
However, that was a matter for another day. Today, his attention was focused on something far more important.
Tomorrow would be the day of Seraphine’s awakening.
Orion had informed him today that her ancestral physique would finally awaken, and according to everything William had learned, the process was not going to be pleasant.
Ancestral awakenings were transformative experiences that fundamentally altered an individual’s body and bloodline, and so the individual was supposed to go through a lot of pain.
Because of that, William wanted to be present. He wanted to remain by her side during the awakening, regardless of how long the process took.
With that goal in mind, he prepared to travel to the Sylvaris Empire. William stepped out onto a balcony overlooking the city before activating the 2nd form of the void sovereignty spell called Blink.
The moment mana surged through his body, the surrounding space distorted, and he disappeared.
Blink was already one of the most extraordinary movement spells available to him. Normally, the distance he could travel depended on his mastery of the spell, the amount of mana he invested, and the spell’s mastery.
When he first acquired the spell, crossing a few miles had been impressive. Now, however, things were very different. He could theoretically travel infinite distances.
After obtaining infinite mana, the greatest limitation was no longer energy, and as such, he could just pour in more mana and, theoretically, almost teleport anywhere.
There were still limitations to it since infinite mana did not automatically guarantee that he would arrive at his intended destination.
Blink required a person to will where he wanted to appear in space. The clearer the destination in the caster’s mind, the more accurate the result.
Unfortunately, William had never visited the Elven Capital before.
He knew its approximate location and possessed maps detailing the western regions of Aris, but he had never actually seen the city.
As a result, his destination was little more than a vague concept in his mind.
Still, he decided to try.
He focused on the western direction and activated the spell to teleport straight in a line to the west.
Space twisted around him.
A moment later, he appeared inside a small village somewhere within Riverdale’s territory. William looked around at the confused villagers staring at him before silently disappearing again.
The second attempt was not much better. This time, he overshot his intended route entirely and found himself in a remote wilderness.
The third attempt brought even more complications. Having lost his spatial orientation during repeated jumps, he accidentally entered the massive fog barrier that surrounded the entire continent; he had somehow crossed the mortal boundary of Aris into the endless fog.
The strange phenomenon distorted his senses and forced him to spend several minutes correcting his course before he could leave.
Fortunately, after several more attempts, he finally succeeded. The scenery around him changed. Towering silver-white structures appeared in the distance.
Enormous trees stretched toward the heavens. The mana in the air felt noticeably richer and purer than what he was accustomed to.
William immediately knew that he had arrived within the territory of the Elven Empire.
"That was so annoying."
[Thank God you did not appear near a cemetery; people would have declared you a ghost.]
He rubbed his forehead before beginning to walk through the city. Although he had reached the capital, another problem quickly presented itself.
He had absolutely no idea where the Imperial Palace was. In hindsight, he probably should have gathered more information before attempting the journey.
As he walked through the streets, he searched for clues. From his knowledge of the novel and the information he had from his experience, he knew that the imperial palace was located somewhere near the World Tree.
That towering divine tree served as the center of the entire empire. Finding it was easy.
Thus, William simply headed toward the World Tree itself.
The closer he came, the larger the tree appeared. Even from a great distance, its size was difficult to comprehend.
Its branches spread across the sky like a second continent suspended above the world, while its trunk was so massive that entire districts could have been built around it.
Eventually, William reached a heavily guarded perimeter. Barricades blocked access to the inner region surrounding the tree.
Elite guards stood watch at every entrance with stern expressions, carefully observing everyone who approached.
From what William could gather, only high elves were permitted beyond this point. The distinction between normal elves and high elves was somewhat unusual.
Physically, there were not many obvious differences.
High elves were generally more attractive, possessed stronger auras, and belonged to prestigious bloodlines, but the true distinction lay within their ancestry.
Elves possessed an innate ability to recognize high elves.
Simply by looking at someone, they could often determine whether that person belonged to a noble high-elven lineage. William could easily imitate someone’s appearance through shapeshifting. However, mimicking the bloodline suppression and ancestral aura of a genuine high elf was a completely different matter.
He could probably purchase a high elf bloodline from the System Shop if he truly wanted to. The required bloodline was undoubtedly available somewhere.
However, William saw little point in wasting SP.
Seraphine’s awakening would soon grant him access to a far superior bloodline anyway through his 100x binder.
Purchasing an inferior one now would be unnecessary. As a result, he chose a simpler approach.
Activating Trickster’s Veil, he quietly concealed his presence and walked through the restricted area unnoticed.
He deliberately avoided flying. The guards themselves probably would not detect him, but the World Tree, however, was another matter entirely.
Unlike ordinary trees, this one was alive.