Therefore, during this period, without the pressure from other monsters, Lulu tribes everywhere had been thriving like crazy.

North of the ice valley, there was just such a medium-sized Lulu tribe that had grown to several thousand in number.

During this time, they felt they'd been blessed by the dark mist. Their former biggest enemies had been wiped out by terrifying creatures, and countless corpses fell, becoming meals on their plates.

Suddenly, the Lulus chowing down on monster remains twitched their ears—they heard familiar hoofbeats.

They all raised their heads.

"Lulu!"

"Lulu!"

"..."

With reverent eyes, they threw themselves on the ground, bowing toward the six figures appearing in the distance.

Based on past experience, these 'smart' Lulus knew that as long as they kept their mouths shut, these powerful beings wouldn't attack them.

They came chasing corpses like vultures, and before the creature that slaughtered monsters left, the Lulus very obediently stayed completely still.

As for the Lulus who hadn't figured this out before, they'd long since fallen under those icy lances and been completely devoured by their buddies.

The six appearing figures were Carlos leading five Black Knights.

He looked down from above at the groveling Lulu monsters before him. They hung their ears low, not daring to meet his crimson gaze directly.

"Hmm?"

This was the deep submission posture of monster Lulus.

Strange, but no matter—it was just happening ahead of schedule.

Carlos waved his hand slightly, and the five Black Knights began herding the monster Lulus toward the ice valley castle.

The Lulus didn't have a clue what was happening. Then several black lights flashed, and over a dozen Lulu heads dropped onto the ice.

Instantly, the remaining Lulus, under the threat of death, understood what these terrifying creatures meant and desperately moved toward the gap the Black Knights had left.

Just like that, the Black Knights occasionally culled Lulus that fell behind or ran around wildly, gradually cranking up the Lulus' fear until they were herded to the ice valley castle.

The ice valley castle's gates were wide open. The Psionics saw the panicked monsters and looked over in confusion.

"Monsters are coming!"

"Let them come—don't you see Lord Red Spirit at the gate?"

"..."

The Psionics were chill as hell. They were certain that at least within their knowledge, there were almost no monsters in the first dark mist layer that could threaten a Controller.

"Huh? The monsters stopped?"

"Look, it's Young Master Carlos!"

"Look at that—all those big-headed monsters are kneeling. Are they scared shitless?"

"You've got to be kidding—dark mist monsters actually know fear?"

"..."

Carlos spurred his Phantom Dark Horse beneath him and appeared before the Psionics in a heartbeat. His powerful aura descended, and all the Psionics' gazes locked onto him.

"Use iron chains and rings to restrain all these monsters!

From now on, they'll be mine slaves!

I need you to act as overseers, leading these mine slaves to the open-pit mine to the east to gather tons of Ice Solid Stone!"

This statement contained quite a bit of information, leaving the Psionics' heads spinning...

So these monsters were captured on Young Master Carlos's orders.

But having monsters mine—would this actually work?

Every Psionic had plenty of experience dealing with monsters, having fought them for years.

They knew the dark mist monsters' true colors inside and out.

Simply put: bloodthirsty and batshit insane.

In the past, human leaders had also thought about taming monsters—using monsters to control monsters would be sweet—but no one had ever pulled it off.

Would Young Master Carlos's mine slave plan work now?

Regardless, this group of Psionics couldn't possibly raise objections.

Couldn't they see that even the noble and powerful Lord Red Spirit was standing there like a good soldier? What would this group of mid-tier Psionics dare to say?

"Yes!"

Carlos could see through the Psionics' confusion at a glance.

Dark mist monsters indeed weren't so easily tamed.

First, you had to choose monsters with low strength but high intelligence who understood fear—the Lulus were perfect.

Then you continuously stoked the fear in their hearts until fear became a prison, restraining their strong killing urges—that was step two.

The final step was to put monster collars on them.

In his previous life, players had developed monster collars to ensure alchemical factory safety and fully exploit the Lulu monsters' labor.

When a Lulu's inner killing urge broke through the fear prison, the monster collar would immediately extend spikes and pump out painful toxins, making the monster Lulu suffer like hell, thus reinforcing the fear prison.

If the painful toxins couldn't re-suppress the monster Lulus' killing urges, the monster collar would execute terminal measures—directly strangling their necks to prevent trouble.

"The monster collars can't be left to others—I must maintain total control."

If someone screwed up, that would be bad news.

"Once the Northern Wall is built, I should think of a way to reduce these Psionics' risk when killing monsters."

Based on dark mist space restrictions and the 'kill contribution distribution' mechanism, every Psionic who wanted to gain Spiritual Essence had to personally fight monsters.

However, there were ways to game the system—using the right terrain could massively improve killing efficiency and safety.

Carlos could even artificially create favorable terrain and drive appropriate numbers of monsters to let the Psionics grow safely and quickly.

"All that's for later. The most important thing is the Northern Wall. Once it's successfully built, relying on high walls will definitely make monster killing way safer and more efficient."

Carlos glanced at the Psionics working like good little soldiers and went straight into the lord's mansion. Though it was just a rough prototype, it was barely livable.

Here he would craft enough monster collars...

...

In the Dotruu Kingdom, the night before the championship battle of the martial tournament.

Dark clouds covered the sky. In a luxurious room, Prince Noo looked out the window, a trace of gloom flashing in his eyes.

After a long while, he said slowly:

"Lord Wahoden, I hope you'll fight with everything you've got in tomorrow's finals."

Behind the prince stood an elderly man carrying a greatsword. His arms exposed to the air were extremely muscular, his hair standing on end. His entire being was like a sharp longsword, incredibly keen.

He hesitated:

"Your Highness, might this be somewhat sketchy?"

The prince turned around, his cold face showing no expression.

"Don't tell me you're not confident."

The old man shook his head confidently:

"Your Highness, this old man has entered the Grand Swordmaster realm. A mere envoy could never be my match."

In the Material Realm, over tens of thousands of years, various transcendent systems had risen and fallen like tides. Who knew how many had survived to the present.

Forced by the harsh circumstances of dark mist invasion, the Psionic system, which could grow rapidly, quickly took the top spot.

Especially in the northern territories bordering the dark mist regions, fighting monsters on the front lines, almost everyone had taken the Psionic pathway.

In other, safer territories, there were quite a few remnants of old-school systems.