Is that a Wisp?

"This is just daylight robbery! You're basically looting us dry." The leading Zen Realm God bellowed.

"That's the condition." The Garg Realm God stated calmly. "In return, the Zen Realm would avoid a fate of being annexed."

"The situation is changing in the Greater Universe. The Mong Realm would make major moves after this. To keep up with it, the other strong realms would join hands to devour the weaker Realms," he continued. "So, your future is a series of invasions from all the major realms. Once the Mong Realm recovers, they might invade you once again, but with a stronger force this time."

The leading Zen Realm God imagined that future, seeing visions of constant wars, of his people dying nonstop, with their livelihood disrupted, unable to seek their immortal path. It was akin to hell. No, it was a living hell.

In contrast, the situation with the Garg Realm was better. Even though they would have to provide an exorbitant amount of resources, their lives would return to how it originally was. Sure, they'll be a tad poorer, but unlike the major realms, the Zen Realm wasn't even fully developed.

So, a loss of forty percent of their produced resources every year wouldn't even be noticed by anyone. After all, they were making use of less than ten percent of the Zen Realm's resources.

Any less developed realm without a Realm Spirit was pretty much the same.

With that in mind, the Garg Realm Champion took advantage of this fact. He provided them protection while extracting an exorbitant sum which, in truth, didn't make a difference whether it was there or not.

Sure, there would eventually come a time when this lack of accumulation would be felt by the people, but it would also mean that they had developed enough to consume sixty percent of the Zen Realm's resources.

That would be so long into the future that even the Garg Realm Champion didn't know if he would live that long.

For this entire time, the Garg Realm would obtain a steady sum of resources that would greatly benefit them.

This was his plan. Instead of invading the Zen Realm, he took advantage of it in the name of protection. They were weak anyway.

But if he tried to destroy them, the gains wouldn't amount to much. This had to be noted that it wasn't easy to swallow a realm.

Even the Mong Realm was taking great pains to devour a tenth of the Tilk Realm. It was also why the Kun Realm turned the rest of the Tilk Realm into the Kun Realm Cluster.

Honestly, with their accumulation, if they tried to annex the Tilk Realm, it would have taken them fifty thousand years just to swallow and digest a mere Satellite Realm, not to mention the Tilk Realm itself.

This was also why the Garg Realm Champion didn't bother annexing the Zen Realm. Even his Garg Realm couldn't afford to patiently wait and devour such a massive realm.

So instead, they would make up for it with resources. In the meantime, just to raise their foundation, he could invade other realms and steal some Satellite Realms.

Small, but they would gradually accumulate enough and raise the Garg Realm's foundation step by step. Everything was politics.

The Mong Realm had its way of doing things, and the Garg Realm had the same. Typically, the Garg Realm took advantage of its position as the second strongest force and being the sole one that openly confronted the Mong Realm.

That was how he made an image of himself being the shield that would protect them from invasions. In truth, he was scaring them using the Mong Realm's might but at the same time poking them with the fact that only the Garg Realm could protect them.

It was also why he invaded with his full force, displaying the suffocating power under his disposal. It both intimidated the Zen Realm Gods while also reassuring them through his suggestion.

As an old fox from the same generation as the God King, the Garg Realm Champion was well versed in taking advantage of everything in his favor. And as he had expected, he won the trade.

After great consideration, the Zen Realm Gods bowed before the Garg Realm Champion. "We only need peace."

"Rest assured." The Garg Realm Champion smiled, pointing at the portal he arrived from. "This would be open all the time. We'll collect the resources here. I'll also station twenty Gods as support. That should be more than enough to stall any army that might arrive long enough for us to reinforce your realm."

"We are grateful." The Zen Realm Gods gritted their teeth before accepting everything. Five of them flew away, preparing the resources that they needed to present first as a show of submission.

Upon seeing their actions, the Garg Realm Champion smiled. 'Success.'

'They'll be indignant the first few times. But upon seeing how their lives would return to the original, they would be glad to offer this protection fee after that. And if they ever dare think of rebelling, I can retract my army and pay the Dolk Realm to invade them a little,' he thought, grinning internally.

Of course, he had planned for all eventualities, smiling as the Zen Realm Gods began to bring in large bags full of storage rings full of resources.

"Unload it in this," the Garg Realm Champion said, snapping his finger as a couple of Gods brought out a massive Sub-Realm that was large enough to almost be addressed as a Satellite Realm. "Use this to transport the goods."

"Yes." The Zen Realm Gods nodded dispiritedly, seeing resources of their realm being sent away... by their own hands at that.

The Sub-Realm made multiple trips back and forth until all the resources were deposited in the Garg Realm. After that, the Garg Realm King stationed twenty Garg Realm Gods in the Zen Realm, one of which he trusted the highest, having strength equal to a Champion.

With him around, the Zen Realm would truly be safe. After all, his strength would be enough to solve any situation that might arise.

Smiling, the Garg Realm Champion returned to the Garg Realm with his army. 'Now, for an actual invasion.'

'There's still a lot to do to bridge the gap between us and the Mong Realm.'