Eternal Night: Building an Empire from Scratch

Edgar looked up at the sky as the murky grey-black fog slowly began fading away.

The Eternal Night was finally coming to an end, and the first traces of natural fog were beginning to appear beyond the distant horizon.

Edgar let out a deep sigh before stepping down from the top of the Fortress Wall.

The battlefield below was finally quiet.

Only the remains of the Nightmare horde were scattered across the ground, while soldiers and Soul Guardians moved through the area and dealt with the aftermath.

Several parts of the outer defenses had been damaged.

The newly constructed trench had collapsed in several places, parts of the wall were covered in cracks, and many of the traps had been destroyed during the battle.

Fortunately, nobody had died.

Edgar looked toward the Fortress and felt slightly relieved. ’We were lucky.’

If the little girl had continued the attack for another few hours, the result could have been completely different.

The creatures had been too numerous, and their ability to attack from underground had almost completely bypassed his defenses.

Edgar slowly clenched his fist. ’We need to become stronger.’

The appearance of the little girl had made him realize how large the difference between them could be.

She had controlled hundreds of Nightmares while sitting safely behind them, and she had understood his defenses after observing them only once.

If another creature like her appeared, Edgar didn’t know whether his current strength would be enough.

’I’ll have to make use of everything I’ve collected.’

He had gathered a considerable number of Nightmare Stones over the past few days.

Normally, he would have saved them for future upgrades, but the situation had changed.

Right now, strength was more important than saving resources.

Edgar began walking through the damaged settlement when he noticed a familiar figure standing near the Unbroken Fire.

Semele was calmly watching the pale flames as if the destruction around her had nothing to do with her.

Edgar approached her. "You still haven’t told me what you did last night."

Semele turned toward him with a gentle smile. "You already know."

Edgar frowned. "I don’t."

The mature woman simply shrugged. "You can guess."

Edgar stared at her for several seconds before letting out a tired sigh.

He had a feeling that Semele knew far more about what had happened than she was willing to say.

"Whatever you did, thank you."

Semele’s expression softened slightly. "You don’t have to thank me."

She glanced toward the Fortress. "You gave me a nice place to live, and I like you a lot as well."

Edgar nodded. "Still, you helped us."

Semele smiled but didn’t answer.

Edgar decided not to continue the conversation and walked away.

He had more important things to deal with.

---

Edgar eventually stopped in front of the Defence Tower of Souls.

The enormous structure remained almost completely unharmed despite the battle.

Its skeletal design towered above the surrounding buildings, while the giant skull at the top continued watching the settlement with empty eyes.

Edgar stared at it for a while before making a decision. "I need another one."

He opened the system interface and selected the option to construct another Defence Tower of Souls.

The system immediately accepted his command.

Several hundred Nightmare Stones disappeared from his storage.

A strange pale light appeared on the ground several metres away from the existing tower.

Stone and bone-like material slowly rose from the earth as the structure began forming.

The foundation appeared first, followed by the enormous pillars.

Within only a few minutes, another tower stood beside the first one.

It had the same enormous skeletal design, with a massive skull sitting at its peak.

Edgar nodded with satisfaction. "Two should be better than one."

He immediately turned toward several nearby Soul Guardians. "Bring me the dead giants."

The Guardians immediately moved toward the battlefield.

There were still many enormous Nightmare corpses scattered around the Fortress, and bringing them into the Fortress manually would take Andrew and the workers far too much time.

Edgar watched as the Soul Guardians began dragging the massive bodies toward the tower.

Some of the corpses were so large that several Guardians had to work together.

Eventually, the first enormous body was brought before Edgar.

He pointed toward the archway beneath the Tower of Souls. "Put it inside."

The Guardians followed his command.

The Nightmare’s massive corpse disappeared through the archway.

For several seconds, nothing happened as the skeletal tower began vibrating.

A strange force slowly spread from inside the structure as the corpse was broken down and refined.

Edgar quietly watched the process. ’This should give me another powerful Soul Guardian.’

He had no idea exactly what would emerge from the bodies, but considering the size of the Nightmares, he expected something considerably stronger than the ordinary Guardians.

Once the process began, Edgar left the Guardians to continue feeding the corpses into the tower.

His attention shifted toward the Unbroken Fire.

---

Edgar walked toward the enormous flame and stopped several metres away.

The Unbroken Fire continued burning silently, its pale light spreading across the surrounding area.

He opened the system interface.

Three options immediately appeared before him.

---

⟨Unbroken Fire Upgrade⟩

Choose an Upgrade Path:

1. Expand the effective range of the Unbroken Fire to five hundred metres.

2. Enhance the poison so that it can affect high-level Nightmares.

3. Increase the temperature until the flames can melt high-level monsters trapped within them.

---

Edgar stared at the three options.

The first would be useful because the fire would cover a much larger area.

The second was also tempting, especially after seeing how many powerful Nightmares had appeared during the previous Eternal Night.

However, Edgar’s gaze eventually settled on the third option.

’If I can melt high-level monsters, it will be much harder for anything to break through this place.’

The Unbroken Fire already protected the central part of the Fortress.

Increasing its destructive power would make it far more dangerous to anything that managed to reach it.

Edgar reached toward the third option.

"Upgrade."

The system immediately responded.

The Unbroken Fire suddenly surged upward.

WHOOM!

Pale flames expanded across the Fortress as a powerful wave of heat swept through the surrounding area.

Edgar remained still as the fire continued spreading.

Its range increased until it covered nearly three hundred metres around its central point.

The temperature also continued rising.

The flames became brighter and more concentrated, no longer behaving like ordinary fire.

Edgar raised his hand.

At his will, the enormous amount of light surrounding the fire began gathering toward a single point.

The massive flames condensed until only a concentrated sphere of brilliant energy remained above his palm.

Edgar stared at it with interest. ’So I can control the light directly now.’

He moved his hand slightly as the sphere followed his movement.

A faint smile appeared on Edgar’s face.

"Not bad."

He released the energy and allowed it to return to the Unbroken Fire.

The flames immediately spread back across the area.

Edgar nodded before turning around.

His next destination was the Tower of Souls.

---

Edgar had barely taken a few steps when a deep vibration suddenly came from behind him.

BOOM!

He immediately turned around.

The newly constructed Tower of Souls had begun reacting.

A strange pale mist poured from the archway before several enormous pieces of flesh and bone were thrown onto the ground.

Edgar’s eyes widened as the pieces slowly began moving.

Bones connected to one another while thick muscles wrapped around the growing skeleton.

Large pieces of blackened flesh covered the body as the creature slowly rose from the ground.

The entire process took several minutes.

When it finally stopped, an enormous figure stood before the Fortress.

Edgar slowly raised his head.

The creature was twice as tall as the Fortress Wall.

Its enormous body was covered in thick black flesh, while several large bones protruded from its shoulders.

Its head was shaped like that of a monstrous beast, with two enormous horns curling backward from its skull.

A pair of crimson lights burned inside its eye sockets.

Edgar opened the system interface as a message appeared before him.

---

⟨New Soul Guardian Created⟩

Guardian Type: Nightmare Giant

Rank: Commander

Inherited Talent: Nightmare Devouring

Ability: Can consume the remnants of defeated Nightmares to increase physical strength.

---

Edgar stared at the message. ’Nightmare Devouring.’

His eyes moved toward the enormous Guardian.

This was different from the other Soul Guardians.

Instead of simply being a powerful fighter, it could become stronger by consuming Nightmare corpses.

Edgar smiled slightly. "You’re going to be useful."

The Nightmare Giant lowered its enormous head toward him.

Edgar could feel a strange connection forming through the Soul Network.

It recognized him as its master as Edgar looked toward the battlefield.

There were still countless Nightmare corpses scattered across the area.

"Start with those."

The giant immediately turned around.

Its enormous feet shook the ground as it walked toward the corpses.

Edgar watched it for a moment before turning toward the Fortress.

Edgar slowly looked toward his house.

’I need to talk to Hera.’

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