After the previous decision, Vicente would spend the next days as much time as possible with Annie, Nova, Layla and Lina. ",

None of them would accompany him on this new journey, as they were too weak to go with him, but they would also be crucial to protect Annie and her domains in this area in the far south of the continent.

Other than that, he would have little else to do, having already produced weapons, ammunition, and armor in large quantities in the last 18 months he had been in the area on Annie's behalf.

He had already upgraded the metal cities to the maximum level his powers allowed, making them even stronger and more resistant. Unless a superior 5th stage vampire attacked the cities, only 6th stage beings could overcome their defenses and reach the interior of these cities.

Knowing this characteristic of his cities, Vicente was confident he could leave his wives and daughter to continue his external plans.

The two weeks of Vicente's farewell would pass quickly, living with his four favorite girls in this world and dedicating himself 100% to them.

After the 14th night of his decision, it would be time for him to leave the safe territory of the community!

...

At dawn in Metal City, the day was as usual for areas where such cities existed, with overcast skies, large gray clouds with purple tones in the sky, and lightning appearing here and there.

Given the electromagnetic effects caused by the powers Vicente attributed to his cities, one would hardly see a clear, bluish sky in these areas.

But despite everything, it wasn't raining in the city, while most of the locals were slowly waking up to a new day.

Amid the day's activities, a group of 40 people stood at the western exit of the city, where a tall, strong, black-haired young man was finishing saying goodbye to his people.

Layla, Lina, and Nova did their best to hold back their tears, while little Annie couldn't do the same as she watched her father prepare to leave for the first time since she was born.

Vicente had made trips within the two provinces under his rule during the 1.5 years he had been with Annie. But these were trips he made back and forth on the same day. Now, however, he was leaving without a return date!

"Daddy..." Annie looked into Vicente's eyes as she pouted, her eyes red, tears dripping from both of them.

Vicente felt the pain of having to leave his family, but it was for Annie's own good. He smiled at her and said. "Don't worry, I'll be back before you know it. And I'll be much stronger. In that time, we'll finish the damn vampires, Annie." He kissed the girl on the forehead.

"You promise?"

"Hmm, I promise." He showed her his little finger before making the agreement official.

"Then I'll get ready to help you, Daddy."

He nodded at her before looking at his wives and sighing. "Don't take any unnecessary risks while I'm gone. Rory and the others will help you if necessary."

Rory, Casey, Eve and Benson nodded in agreement as they heard Vicente's comment, each of them with a solemn expression on their faces, serious about Vice's departure.

Vicente wasn't going straight north now. His plans were to travel through the south and then return to the central region of the continent. But since there wouldn't be much time left before the awakening of the first 5th stage vampire, there wouldn't be much room for him to return to the city before heading north in search of his fourth pentagram from the Throne of Darkness.

Since this was supposed to be a naturally formed pentagram, he had to get ahead of the game to find this essence!

"Go in peace on your journey, my friend. Let's do our best to make the most of the opportunities you've given us these past few months. Metal City will still be here when you return." Rory said, before hugging his old friend.

"Hmm, take good care of them and the territory. We can't accept losing this area, no matter what the cost." Vicente said as he looked at Rory.

Of those who had accompanied him on the hunt for pentagrams, Rory and Casey had already reached the 5th stage!

The two of them had even hunted their new green pentagrams, while Lina and Layla were close to advancing as well. Sarah was the only one who wasn't expected to advance anytime soon due to her inferior talent and older age compared to the others.

Onyx had become a Mid-level Paragon, as had Torne during the period of peace when Vicente had been at Annie's side. But even Bart, who had been left behind during the pentagram hunt and was now in the city to protect it, had strengthened to the 5th stage.

With the help of Vicente's technique of sacrificing creatures and temporarily enriching areas like a city, everyone in Metal City, Ironcrest, Millfall, Martell Village, and the other cities in the family's domain had become much stronger in those months.

Eve, herself, along with Nova, had reached the peak of the 4th stage, and Vicente expected them to advance to the 5th stage during his absence.

With that, he said goodbye to everyone before turning his attention to the west and setting off without looking back, heading straight for his destination with only Torne at his side.

'Where are we going now, master?' Torne asked in Vicente's mind.

'We're going west, the Tamor Dynasty. I'll use the road to build altars to the order in four states on the way there, and then help strengthen the dynasty's human resistance.

Considering the strength of that region, there should be more enemies there than around the Seidel Kingdom. After eliminating some of them and strengthening the cities in the area, I'll go in search of the vampire lairs in the southern region.

Time to go after them!'

Torne agreed with Vicente's plans, eager to see his master complete this part of his journey and finally head north.

'If we're lucky, you'll be able to get your fourth pentagram and advance to the high level before we have to deal with the 5th stage vampires. This will be crucial to our further plans, master.'