Michael retrieved the Lord Seal and glanced gently at it. He studied the small object briefly before channeling origin energy into it.

The bottom side of the metal stamp glowed dimly as it consumed Michael's energy. Faint threads of energy condensed around the War Rune Symbol. They expanded and tried moving to Michael's right hand.

Michael smiled faintly as he moved the Lord Seal to stamp his War Rune. The energy threads poured out of the Lord Seal and entered the War Rune. It entered the depth of Michael's War Rune and set up a connection with his War Rune. A strong pull attracted Michael's interest. He closed his eyes and entered his mindspace where the Soul Sphere and the Pillar of Light appeared before him.

The Soul Sphere levitated to Michael's side and made space for him to look properly at the Pillar of Light. A silverish-golden thread tried to pass by the Pillar of Light's barrier and enter it to get through the Essence of Michael's War Rune.

It didn't work well at first, but the silverish-golden thread penetrated the pillar's barrier, and a similar thread emerged on the other side. The second thread was much thicker and prominent. It was a thread of the Intermediate Summoning Gate's power, a fraction of Michael's Lord Power.

The Intermediate Summoning Gate's power sensed a familiar power and aided the Lord Seal's connecting thread to pass through the Pillar of Light's barrier. After that, the threads connected.

Since a Lord could only have one primary Summoning Gate, connecting the lower-ranked Summoning Gates to the primary Summoning Gate was necessary. This would put most pressure on the primary Summoning Gate, which was also the reason one couldn't connect Summoning Gates of the rank. If the primary summoning gate was linked to a Summoning Gate of the same rank, it would be damaged or shatter in the worst case.

The Lord Seal's thread attached to the Summoning Gate and Michael's Lord Powers. It was implanted deep into them and stimulated to grow roots inside Michael's Lord Power and the Intermediate Summoning Gate's links.

Michael gasped for air as a powerful tug pulled on his soul. The touch was eerily cold and spread through his entire being.

'So that is how it feels when Rogues and Adventurers retrieve their Lord Powers. Would they have issues with the Pillar of Light's barrier, or is that because I was already a Lord when I used the Lord Seal to create a second connection with another Summoning Gate? It would be quite cumbersome to get a second territory without the Intermediate Summoning Gate's power supporting the connecting link between the Gates.'

His eyes shot open, a grin plastering his face. He pulled closer to the intact but inactive Summoning Gate and bent to the ground. His hand grazed gently across the Summoning Gate's foundation. Michael lowered the Lord Seal and pressed it against a small indent in the foundation. The indent fit the Lord Seal perfectly. It pushed in smoothly as if it had been made for the Lord Seal to fit.

Michael smiled from one ear to the other as the other end of the Lord Seal's threads shot inside the intact Summoning Gate.

The Summoning Gate hummed quietly as the Lord Seal's threads spread through the Gate's foundation. They spread everywhere, attached to the Summoning Cores and the remaining parts of the Summoning Gate in no time.

Michael felt a faint connection building up with the intact Summoning Gate. It was still not active, but the remnants of energy within the Basic Summoning Gate were enough to establish a faint, almost inconspicuous connection.

The inconspicuous connection grew stronger as Lord Seal's power came into display. The golden metal stamp released waves of highly purified energy into the Summoning Gate. Every wave of energy leaving the Lord Seal inflicted a profound crack in the metal stamp. After the fifth burst of energy, the Lord Seal crumbled into countless pieces. It had been drained of the last bits of energy, fulfilling its purpose.

The bursts of energy were intense enough to establish a proper connection between Michael and the Basic Summoning Gate. The connecting link grew thicker by consuming the massive amounts of energy entering its foundation.

The changes in the Gate's foundation stimulated it to hum more. The humming of a Basic Summoning Gate was equivalent to a suctioning force to the surrounding origin energy. The humming drew the origin energy out of the surroundings and sucked it inside the Summoning Gate, where it was used to thicken the connecting link to Michael.

After that, more origin energy was required to activate the Summoning Gate properly. That was the most expensive step in the re-awakening of most Lord Power. The activation of the Summoning Gate.

A Lord Seal was already expensive. It was probably one of the most expensive items with only a single rank and one purpose. However, the Lord Seal was usually still cheaper than the fortune that had to be invested to activate an inactive Summoning Gate. Fortunately, the Summoning Gate chosen by Michael was perfectly intact. It didn't have a single flaw and looked like it had never been used. That would lower the energy required to activate the inactive Basic Summoning Gate.

But Michael didn't think it was going to be cheap. He retrieved a bunch of Superior Energy Stones and fed them to the Summoning Gate, which responded with a thunderous hum. Michael's smile widened as the Gate's metal frame began to shine brightly. Origin energy gathered in the metal frame, where it would be altered, compressed, and fused into its individual properties.

Droplets of energy oozed out of the Summoning Gate's metal frame, but they didn't trickle to the ground. Instead, they were drew to the center of the metal frame, where they congregated into the energy pool.

The number of energy droplets required to create the energy pool of the Summoning Gate was massive. Nonetheless, Michael had been certain that the purified energy of his Superior Energy Stones would be enough to complete the process rather quickly. Unfortunately, that was not the case. The Energy Stones crumbled faster than he could look, and the congregating of the energy pool ended suddenly.

Michael frowned deeply and procured more than a thousand Inferior Energy Stones. He fed them to the Summoning Gate, which buzzed to release the purified energy within the Inferior Energy Stones and suck them inside.

'That better be enough. I wasn't planning for such expenses!' Michael cursed quietly in his mind. He had more than enough Energy Stones in his War Rune storage, but they were his stockpile for the breakthrough to Tier-4. The ascension to a Higher Lifeform was far from cheap. No matter how Michael looked at it, he would have to store tremendous energy to break the barrier to ascend to a Higher Lifeform.

His Soul Sphere and Soultrait Symbols wouldn't lower the energy requirements to ascend to a Higher Lifeform. If anything, they increased his expenses tens of times.

He would have to spend more wealth on his ascension than dozens of Lords would have to spend on theirs combined.

Even though Michael complained about his expenses, he grinned brightly as the Summoning Gate sucked his Energy Stones dry.

Finally, the energy pool formed within the Summoning Gate.

Michael acquired his second territory!