CHAPTER 148: CHAPTER 148 - DARK KNIGHTS SUMMONING TECHNIQUE

Two days flew by in a blur.

Logan made sure everything ran smoothly. He had split the two billion between the regional managers, who then hired people to scout for the right locations to buy.

The other billion went to the small team handling supplier contracts and negotiations. This way, they could sustain the new locations properly.

’’Now it’s just waiting for the profits to come in...’’ Logan muttered, leaning back on his couch.

The Alvarez family’s reputation had hit rock bottom over the past two days. Logan had bought up a majority of their contracted suppliers and had earned billions in partnerships.

’Even customers started boycotting their products,’ he thought, shaking his head with a small smile.

He glanced at the current Mercer liquid funds and smiled slightly.

’Eight billion in clean profit from sales this month,’ he thought. ’Twenty-five billion in Church funding, of which we’ve spent twenty. Another three billion came back from the board member purge... minus two to settle things with Albert.’

That left the company with just over thirty-three billion in liquid funds.

’Plenty of money left to continue the war.’

He leaned back for a moment, letting the number settle in.

A year ago, he couldn’t even afford a good meal, and now he had enough to do whatever he wanted.

He glanced at the golden system interface floating beside him.

’It’s been a month or so since I’ve done a draw.’

Logan contemplated for a moment. Everything he needed money for had been settled; taking a little shouldn’t matter too much.

Without waiting another second, he pulled a billion from the account and put it inside his private account.

He shut his eyes for a second, taking a deep breath.

’It’s seriously been a while since I’ve done this.’

He didn’t even know what he needed at this point. All he really hoped for was some tech from the same civilization the space ring came from.

’That would be amazing,’ he thought, picturing some groundbreaking product he could sell for billions.

Without wasting another second, Logan called out to the system.

"System, redeem one billion USD."

[Redeeming one billion USD....]

Seconds ticked by as the same screen hovered in front of him.

The longer it took, the more anticipation he felt.

[Ding!]

[Congratulations! You have received the Dark Knights summoning technique.]

A thick black manual materialized on top of Logan’s hand with several intricate bone designs on the cover.

Logan narrowed his eyes, brushing his fingers over the bone patterns on the cover. Finally, they reached the metal clasp on the side of the manual.

’Dark Knights summoning technique...’

He found the name peculiar and interesting.

’To think I’d get a manual after spending one billion,’ he thought, pushing the metal clasp open. ’I hope it’s worth it.’

Logan flipped open the book, immediately stopping on the first page.

’’What is this?’’ he muttered.

The page showed a hooded figure surrounded by four very different creatures. Two looked like skeletons in heavy black armor, while the others resembled ghosts or spirits.

Staring at the ominous picture for a few more seconds, Logan decided to flip to the next page.

’Finally,’ he thought. ’An introduction.’

Logan began reading the lines written in dark black ink.

’’This technique dedicates itself to protecting its host.’’

’’It requires the host to carve an undead space inside its body, to allow four personalized undead creatures summoned through extraordinary means to rest.’’

’’The creatures serve as permanent protectors, nourished by the undead energy inside the host’s body.’’

Logan frowned.

’Carve a space inside my body...?’

He’d never heard of any technique with requirements like that.

’’Each summon is permanent. Once chosen, it cannot be undone, replaced, or destroyed by conventional means.’’

"Summoning materials may vary. Corpses, mana, spirit souls, coupled with a personal imprint from the host are all viable sources. The stronger the materials, the stronger the knight."

"Only one creature can be summoned at the Silver Core stage. Additional slots unlock at Gold, Platinum, and Diamond Core stages."

Logan’s eyes widened as it all clicked.

"No wonder it cost a billion. This thing’s insane."

From what he understood, he’d get four creatures that would grow with him and guard him for life.

’They’ll stick with me for life,’ he thought. ’But it seems like they require a lot of resources to create.’

He flipped the page and found a complex magic circle, along with dozens of instructions.

Logan let out a short breath and closed the book.

The creator of the technique had essentially taken an essential part of the summoning element and implanted it inside the undead element.

His mind flashed back to when he raised that Earthrock Crab during the siege.

’Allowing skeletons and corpses to fight for you is one of the most essential points to the undead element.’

He remembered how it took over ten seconds just to raise the crab.

’During that time, I was practically defenseless,’ he thought. ’But this technique... it completely solves that lack of protection.’

Logan sat in silence for a moment, digesting the information further and thinking about what to do now.

Finally, he stood up.

’’I’ll look deeper into this tomorrow,’’ he muttered.

His body felt heavy, not having had the time to properly rest even once since he had been inside the Willowshade dungeon.

Even now, he couldn’t shake the images from the news showing shattered families and the long list of tasks he still had to handle.

Logan glanced at the book one last time, his fingers brushing over the bone-etched cover.

"I’d rather stay here and study this all night," he muttered. "But the Imperial Church is sending a delegation in the morning."

He sighed.

The timing couldn’t have been worse.

Logan activated his space ring, storing the manual safely inside until he could further research it.

’The idea of having several bodyguards that grow alongside me sounds very enticing,’ he thought, smiling slightly. ’I’ll have to buy a ton of extremely high-quality resources to create them.’