Once the Blaze household and their armies ceased, Michael was the only Lord in the Sacred Desert. However, Michael had to do a few things before the Will acknowledged him as the Sacred Desert's ruler.

First, Michael killed all Awakened and combatants loyal to the Blaze household. He had to eliminate potential trouble and was unwilling to leave any opportunity to stab him in the back. However, he accepted the residents of the territories nonetheless. After the Blaze household ceased, most residents chose to go with the flow. They followed Michael, who offered food, water, and a roof over their heads. That, as a matter of fact, was more than the Blaze Lords had offered on some days.

The residents moved to Paradise Valley, where more city-states were established to keep the working force in and near Paradise Valley, where the most precious resources were located.

The Sacred Desert had many ore deposits and energy-dense places, but Paradise Valley and its surrounding area were the most valuable. It was only obvious, but the Energy Vein was the most valuable. Michael needed as many workers as possible to help excavate Energy Stones and various other metals from the Blazing Sand Mountain Range's underground. The Primal Phoenix watched the workers occasionally, but the Will had acknowledged Michael's Claim Note of Paradise Valley and the surroundings. Nyx, the Phoenix, never considered attacking Michael or his people.

After more city-states had been established in Paradise Valley, they were filled slowly but steadily. At the same time the city-states were completed, Michael observed the last steps of the second Pentagon Fort in the Untamed Junge. Meanwhile, a third - larger - Pentagon Fort, along hundreds of Advanced Ranches, Superior Farming Lands, and various other buildings required to feed his people in Paradise Valley and the Untamed Jungle, was already under construction. It was only a matter of weeks before it would be completed as well.

The Dragys might be frightening enemies if they decided to attack him and his people, but Michael was still unsure if they had been informed about his existence in the first place. As far as Michael knew, the Dragys continued expanding their territory to push deeper into the Untamed Jungle. They desired to reach the heart of the Untamed Jungle, which wasn't easy by any means. The Dragys encountered other Lords and engaged in a fierce battle, which transformed into a long-lasting war as the monsters of the Untamed Jungle joined.

Michael was sure the war between the Dragys and their foes would last a few years. That was reassuring and was also part of why he expanded his territories nonchalantly: He didn't have any major enemies to fight in his immediate surroundings.

The Blaze household had been defeated, leaving the Sacred Desert to him. Of course, some monsters tried to establish their territory in the Sacred Desert, but Michael's Awakened did an excellent job at keeping the borders to the Sacred Desert clean. The encounters with a handful of neighboring Lords, whose territories were established in the adjacent regions, were annoying, forcing Michael to show up. Still, most were reasonable once they realized that Michael and his people weren't as easy to deal with as other Lords.

The Blaze household had been defeated, leaving the Sacred Desert to him. Of course, some monsters tried to establish their territory in the Sacred Desert, but Michael's Awakened did an excellent job at keeping the borders to the Sacred Desert clean. The encounters with a handful of neighboring Lords, whose territories were established in the adjacent regions, were annoying, forcing Michael to show up. Still, most were reasonable once they realized that Michael and his people weren't as easy to deal with as other Lords.

Most Lords were willing to sign a treaty once Michael offered a few deals to them. To be precise, Michael researched information about the Lords' races and their needs before preparing whatever they needed the most to offer in exchange for other resources, which they had in abundance. From their point of view, Michael offered them such an advantageous trade because he wanted to establish a friendly relationship with them.

While that wasn't wrong, Michael had chosen particular items those races had in abundance items he or other races in his trading cycle needed. Michael didn't lose anything from bartering with the neighboring Lords. If anything, he gained tremendously.

The Lords didn't cross the borders to the Sacred Desert anymore, leaving Michael with more than enough space to expand.

He started establishing border settlements all across the Sacred Desert and created routes to connect the border settlements with small fortresses, which he established around the smaller settlements he planted all over the Sacred Desert region. Michael didn't know how many settlements they'd constructed at the end of the day. He allowed his architects and strategists to do as they pleased once they showed him a map of the Sacred Desert, with a blueprint of its defensive system layered on top of it. The map of the Sacred Desert looked like a cobweb at the end of the day. Each string was a street, a route connecting to the intersections, where the settlements had been constructed.

Feeding everyone in the Sacred Desert was a challenge, albeit slowly, especially once the settlements were filled. Fortunately, the Untamed Jungle provided enough provisions for a while. The Sacred Desert wasn't self-sufficient, but Michael didn't want to rely on the Untamed Jungle for all food. He made sure to pay enough attention to food production. It would take years before the Sacred Desert could feed itself, probably longer since its population was nowhere near its limit the capacity of most settlements hadn't even crossed the 50% mark yet but that was fine. Michael had the Untamed Jungle to support the Sacred Desert and vice versa.

The Sacred Desert produced most resources, whereas the Untamed Junge produced powerful warriors in its perfect environment, food, and more.

It took a while to acquire the resources and work power to spread out of Paradise Valley and establish dozens of settlements all over the Sacred Desert simultaneously, but that was how Michael became the sole ruler of the Sacred Desert Region. He acquired the Region Ruler achievement in the Achievement Shop and received a unique bonus, something he learned from one of the Blaze Patriarch's many Memory Orbs.

The bonus increased the comprehension rate of all Summons in the claimed region. It elevated the probability of summoning Summons of higher star ratings and increased the growth of the Summons and their Links of Loyalty. Therefore, Michael's Summons progressed faster, were more likely to find an attunement path and be promoted to the next star-rating, and their Link of Loyalty would produce more Soul Power.

That was great, especially with more than 60,000,000 Summons residing in the Sacred Desert.

Only two years passed in the Origin Expanse, but Michael managed to increase the population in the Sacred Desert by 20 times. The Untamed Jungle's population increased only to 8.5 million Summons. The difference was massive, but it made sense. Michael had claimed the Sacred Desert, leaving a massive chunk of land occupied by more than 100 Lords before, excluding Paradise Valley for one Lord and his subjects to toy with. But toying wasn't something Michael wasn't going for. On the contrary, Michael hasn't played around in the last two years. He focused on strengthening by investing most of his time and a massive haul of resources into growing stronger.

That was how, despite owning too many powerful Soultraits, Michael managed to reach the Mid-rank of Tier-4 a few days ago.

He was still far from advancing to Tier-5, but that didn't mean Michael was weaker than most Tier-5 powerhouses. If anything, the battle against the Blaze household pushed him closer to the combat prowess of a proper Tier-6 powerhouse. But was he truly this powerful? Maybe.