Titan King: Ascension of the Giant

After withdrawing his consciousness from the Survivor's Platform, Orion suddenly found a treasure chest in his hand.

It was a perk for joining the Champions Alliance, obtained through a random draw. This wasn't one of those survivor chests; it was made from precious real-world materials.

Orion opened it and saw a set of leather armor inside. The moment he reached out and touched the armor, it turned into a stream of water that flowed over him. As soon as the water made contact with his skin, it began merging into his body. Moments later, Orion felt a layer of extremely fine scales forming beneath his skin.

"Wow… they really went all out with this!"

"Is this the kind of benefit a demigod provides? This is absolutely mind-blowing!"

Running his hand over his skin, Orion carefully sensed the layer of leather armor hidden underneath.

Champions Alliance commander Thresh's gift was a suit of dragonscale leather armor—an armor of pure condensed dragon hide, concealed beneath the skin to boost defense.

Orion could sense a faint aura of draconic might radiating from it. The armor could stretch and contract, allowing it to shift size within certain limits.

Previously, when Lord Ariel was killed, Orion's Ghostbone Armor was completely destroyed by transcendent power. The arrival of this dragonscale leather armor made up for that equipment loss in a big way.

"The more you gain, the more you'll eventually have to pay back."

Orion wasn't being pessimistic—it was just that nothing in this world comes for free. Down the line, once he became stronger, the Champions Alliance would definitely need him to lend a hand. But knowing that, he still felt at ease accepting these gifts.

After thinking about the future for a while, Orion left the tent with his guards and headed for the Horde Hall.

Once he reached the inner keep's restricted zone, Orion fused two arrow towers and a tavern into the territory core.

"There are still four arrow towers left to set up around the outer city walls, which should be good enough for now!"

Thinking about the outer walls, Orion suddenly felt a bit curious. Leaving the Horde Hall with his guards, he walked toward the outer walls.

Construction of the outer walls was going smoothly, thanks to the efforts of the small spiders and the cannon fodder troops. Except for one section on the west side, the rest was already nearing completion.

"My lord, you're here!"

At that moment, Onyx was supervising work atop the wall. Spotting Orion, he walked over right away.

"Prophet, winter is almost upon us. Do you think we can get everything finished before the dark beast tides arrive?"

Sensing the chill gradually filling the air, Orion gazed at the towering forest in the distance, slightly lost in thought.

"If we stick to the schedule, we can definitely finish!" Onyx replied. "My lord, don't let that long stretch of unbuilt wall fool you—now that we have so many laborers, we can build pretty fast. Besides, our first phase of the outer walls is only 100 feet high, which doesn't take much effort."

Orion nodded as he regarded the 100-foot-high walls, ideas churning in his mind. In this world of countless races, to be honest, walls that height are just a bare-bones starting point.

From earlier discussions, Orion and his allies concluded that 100 feet is hardly a proper city wall at all; it's basically the first defensive trench for bloodline warriors against dark creatures. Surviving this year's dark beast tides will allow them to increase the wall's height next year to around 300 feet, at which point it could actually protect their people.

As they talked, Orion walked along the top of the wall, while Onyx walked below. The pair moved from one section to another, inspecting the newly completed area on the east side.

"My lord, this arrow tower was actually finished, but once I took over the job, I had the workers tear it down and start again," Onyx said, pointing to a knocked-over tower foundation not far away—clearly once an arrow tower. Now, only the base remained.

"Why tear it down?" Orion asked.

"After seeing those arrow towers at the Horde Hall, I realized that for special structures, it's best to use the highest-quality stone you can find," Onyx explained.

Orion nodded. Arrow towers are indeed special structures. Even though the tower would be strengthened when it gets imbued with that special energy, starting with top-notch materials would still increase its maximum durability. Once altered, the arrow tower has a miniaturized core inside that supports the entire structure. The tower's body is basically just protecting that core.

"You made the right move. I'm happy to have you overseeing things."

Onyx shook his head. Now that Orion was a Legendary-level powerhouse, the Blackstone City was gradually being reshaped by transcendent power—a blessing other regions could only dream of.

"My lord, you showed up here in the Black Forest and became the Horde's leader. That's all the honor we'll ever need!"

Orion smiled and said nothing, letting Onyx's compliment slide.

Standing on the wall, Orion looked out at the wind tousling his hair, the sunshine stretching his shadow on the ground. With that lengthening shadow came the steady passing of time.

In the blink of an eye, another month slipped by.

On this new day, the elders were buzzing with excitement—they'd just been notified that the council meeting would begin right before winter set in.

However, their excitement wasn't really about the meeting itself; the real buzz came from the fact that this council session would be held in the Horde Hall. Which meant the Horde Hall was officially in service.

Orion and Lilith had also moved into the inner keep there. Of course, Orion kept his old tent too—he hadn't taken it down just yet.

"Thundar, you got any more of those wolf pups?"

"Right, Elder of Combat, my youngling is just as talented. I can gather more dark source crystals for him this year, so he'll get stronger fast!"

"Thundar, I'd like to reserve one, too!"

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Hammerhoof, Dirtclaw, Slate, and Samson—four of the council elders—blocked Thundar right after he stepped into the outer fortress meeting hall, all wanting a wolf pup from him.

Once a certain elder had confirmed with Orion that the Horde was getting ready to train a batch of younglings, every wolf pup in Thundar's possession had been snatched up.

"I'm completely out. Not a single one left—y'all gotta wait for the next batch!" Thundar said with a wry smile.

The most precious resource of the cavalry regiment was indeed those pups. As it turned out, Thundar himself didn't even have enough for his own plans, because several senior elders had cornered him for a share.

After all, within the Stoneheart Horde, every elder has a Tribe, a Clan—a whole group counting on them. And in the past few years, with conditions improving, the various races had been having way more younglings than before.

There simply weren't enough wolf pups to go around, and the entire first batch had been pre-reserved by powerful connections well in advance.

As the slower elders also gathered around, hemming Thundar in on all sides, the meeting room suddenly became lively and loud.