King's Rule: Creating the Strongest Kingdom With My Broken Talent-Chapter 51: Broadcasting To Other Kingdoms, Plan A & B

The miniature sun bloomed.

It wasn’t a gentle warmth that crept over the skin. The moment Yeolodan released the orb, a wall of heat slammed into the 18,490 participants like a physical object.

Gasps rang out across the first battleground.

Then, almost simultaneously, the sound of thousands of people activating skin-tight barriers filled the air like a chorus of crackling static. Vesh leaned back into his throne, resting his chin on his knuckles.

The heat doubled.

Then tripled.

At random intervals.

The first screams weren’t from pain. They were from panic. A young woman near the eastern edge of the battleground watched her flickering barrier shatter like glass, and she stumbled backward with wide, horrified eyes before the referee barrier caught her and guided her gently out of the arena.

The Executive Agents had the job of protecting the participants from mishaps. They were not judges, but the guards of the participants.

People began dropping fast as Yeolodan increased the heat.

After ten minutes, around five thousand participants remained, and these ones had found their footing.

They were managing their output, conserving, and enduring. Some had even closed their eyes and entered a meditative state, feeding their skin-tight barriers with slow, deliberate streams of mana rather than panicked bursts.

The goal was to keep the skin-tight barrier intact in the face of increasing heat and become the last one thousand to stand on this battleground.

In the next five minutes, people once again began dropping as Yeolodan increased the heat three times. The last two increases had only twenty-six seconds between them.

Many people couldn’t hold on when the change in heat happened so soon.

Only 1,749 participants remained.

All the remaining participants were more determined than ever.

They had reached this far. They wanted to win.

At the twenty-minute mark, Yeolodan let the sun breathe out a wave of heat in strange wave formations according to Vesh’s instructions.

This round mainly tested one’s control, patience, and endurance when it came to using mana, and these were also the most important aspects when it came to alchemy.

In the end, people dropped one by one until only a thousand remained, officially ending the first round.

"We will take a ten-minute break! Get drinks and food from the counters at the edges!"

Vinz looked at Vesh from his position and relayed his voice.

[Vinz: Director, are those people watching this?]

Vesh’s eyes glinted as he checked the signal status of some hologram towers very far away.

[Vesh: All of them are active, but whether they are watching or not, I don’t know.]

[Vinz: Heh, they’d be watching without blinking.]

...

Asterisk Dynasty.

The territory of the Asterisk Dynasty stood in stark contrast to the rapidly evolving Ananta Kingdom. It was ancient, structured, and steeped in tradition, yet not lacking in power.

The dynasty ruled over a vast, star-patterned territory where cities were arranged in geometric harmony, as if drawn by a celestial hand. At the center of it all lay the capital, Astraea Prime, a city built in layered symmetry.

Massive walls of white-gold alloy surrounded the capital, etched with star-shaped runic arrays that pulsed day and night faintly. These arrays did not merely defend the city. They regulated climate, amplified energy flow, and maintained order within the territory.

The streets of Astraea Prime were impossibly wide, paved with polished stone that reflected the sky like a mirror. Towering spires rose in concentric rings, each layer denoting status.

The outer ring housed merchants, artisans, and lower officials.

The middle ring was reserved for nobles, military elites, and scholars.

The inner ring, closest to the palace, was restricted to the ruling bloodline and their most trusted forces.

There, in the center, stood the Asterisk Palace where the ruling bloodline lived.

A strange, small tower had dropped into their garden an hour ago, showing live snippets of Rising Light City of Ananta Kingdom.

And now, the family was watching the tournament.

Naturally, they were not interested in the tournament, but in the Ananta Kingdom.

"This technology... I have seen it on the mainland. How did the Ananta Kingdom acquire this?" Asterisk Lord Nufora narrowed his eyes while caressing his grey beard.

"The more I see and hear about this kingdom, the more I feel that they have a connection to the mainland like us," Asterisk Lady Oliphia frowned.

"We only have a connection in name, not in substance, mother."

"That’s right."

"But can’t we use it now? It’s been a century. Your great-grandfather didn’t do anything, and it’s the same with our current generation. Now another warfare event is upon us."

Asterisk Lady Oliphia snorted and continued, "Are we going to use our treasures and arsenal this time or continue to save them? Because I fear this Ananta Kingdom might be stronger than others in the past who had conquered this sideland before."

Many others nodded.

"Lord Uncle, Aunt Oliphia is right. I’ve also been investigating, but now we can see live how advanced and powerful this kingdom appears."

...

Where the skies howled like living beasts and storms never truly rested lay the Howling Star Kingdom.

The land itself was harsh. Endless tundras stretched across the horizon, broken only by jagged mountain ranges, thick forests, and deep canyons where wind roared endlessly.

And yet, within this merciless environment, the largest populated kingdom of this sideland thrived.

At the heart of this frozen dominion stood Skarhowl Citadel, a capital city carved into a mountain and sprawling across winter-filled forest.

Massive blackstone walls, reinforced with layers of enchanted ice, formed an irregular but immensely durable perimeter. Instead of elegant symmetry, the city grew like a predator’s den, expanding wherever it was most defensible.

Towering spires resembled fangs rather than architecture.

Blue flames burned across watchtowers, not for warmth, but as signals and wards against unseen threats in the blizzard.

The streets were narrow and sloped, designed to break enemy formations. Snow was never cleared completely, but rather cleaned and refined. The people here were used to it, but the invaders would struggle with every step.

The Howling Star Kingdom did not believe in comfort.

Strength was law.

Children were trained early. Weakness was not pitied. It was corrected or erased.

Every citizen, from farmer to warrior, possessed combat capability. Even their craftsmen could fight.

Aside from the usual power system, a new policy was established by the queen.

Each person in this kingdom must tame a C-rank or higher beast and care for it as if it were family.

This was to increase the overall power of the kingdom.

By now, 99% of people, both humans and beastfolk, had strong pets that were part of their families.

Deep within Skarhowl Citadel, at its highest and most dangerous peak, stood the Frostfang Throne Hall.

The hall was open on one side, facing the raging storm beyond, as if the kingdom itself refused to hide from the world.

Cold wind constantly swept through the chamber.

And yet, no one shivered.

At the center sat the ruler:

Queen Lyra.

She was a human, married to the wolf beastfolk king.

The two princes and one princess had furry blue ears resembling their father’s, and black eyes like their mother’s. Their skin was white with rosy undertones.

All three of them were in their twenties.

Aside from them, the elder council and the military leaders were also present in the hall.

All of them were watching one hologram that floated at the edge of the palace for everyone to see.

The spy that Vesh had spared was also there, and he had already relayed Vesh’s message to the Queen yesterday.

"Give me the latest report on this Ananta Kingdom," Queen Lyra spoke up.

"According to our investigation, it’s impossible to infiltrate any city belonging to the Ananta Kingdom without something called an Ananta ID that is on everyone’s wrists."

"Yesterday, they conquered six kingdoms. Some agreed willingly, some were forced. The trick they used was creating a new kingdom, then supplying it with military power so that it could dominate another kingdom. This way, the Ananta Kingdom could remain in the event."

Many murmured as they heard that.

"That’s such bullshit," the eldest son muttered with irritation. "It should be considered cheating. Can’t whoever handles these events see that?"

"There’s no cheating. It’s the art of using the limitations of the rules to expand new possibilities," Queen Lyra said. "We still have some days ahead of us. If Ananta Kingdom is truly that overwhelming, I will not sacrifice our people pointlessly."

...

"Scarlet, you handle the second round." Vesh looked at Scarlet. "Use your Venomous Green Flame and poison everyone’s internals."

The participants were dumbfounded.

"Milord...?" Scarlet blinked.

"You have to adjust your dose such that they don’t die. At most, if they can’t endure, they’ll faint."

Vesh smiled at the participants and added, "And don’t worry, I am watching. Nobody can die here under my watch."

Scarlet chuckled. "Well, it’ll be painful, so make sure you turn down the volume on the holograms."

She flew up as her visual appeared in all holograms. A crimson-frock combat suit with neon emerald patterns, holding an umbrella-like staff, though its main form was a flexible rope.

A faint green spark flickered at the tip of Scarlet’s staff.

It was small, harmless-looking, almost beautiful.

Then it multiplied. 𝒻𝘳𝘦𝘦𝘸ℯ𝒷𝘯𝘰𝑣ℯ𝑙.𝘤𝑜𝘮

Threads of emerald flame unraveled into the air like living vines, spreading across the entire battleground in a thin, invisible layer.

At first, nothing happened.

Participants looked around, confused. Some even relaxed slightly, thinking this round might be easier.

That illusion lasted exactly three seconds.

A man near the center suddenly dropped to his knees.

His body trembled violently.

"Ghh—!"

Veins bulged across his neck as a sickly green hue spread beneath his skin.

Then another collapsed, trying to endure and resist.

But the pain was increasing.

Many collapsed.

Many forced themselves not to collapse.

The poison had entered every single one of the thousand participants.

"Maintain your barriers," Vesh’s voice echoed calmly. "This round tests internal control, so circulate your mana. Your job is to suppress, isolate, and expel it. If you can’t expel, then suppress it and remain conscious for as long as you can. This round will end when 100 of you fail. The remaining 900 will move to the next round."

Vesh’s eyes glinted.

’Now I have to decide whether I should go with plan A at the end of the tournament or plan B.’

The tournament proceeded smoothly as winning participants moved up the battleground, while Vesh wondered what kind of domination he should achieve in this sideland, tied to the Plan A and Plan B he had made.

Plan A was about showing off these S-rank Units from Ananta War March Factory at the end of this tournament.

Declaring that he had the strongest army, and there was no chance for anyone to win.

This would either result in complete domination or a few strong kingdoms finding a way out of the odds against thousands of Bloom-rank units, which Vesh highly doubted.

Plan B was simply hiding his main force until the start of the Warfare Event, and marching it in all directions, as no one would be prepared for thousands of Bloom-rank equivalent troops marching towards their territories.