Ethan’s eyes sparkled as he studied the palace of the fallen god-emperor on the system’s screen.

It was from the pre-ancient era—that is, the mythical era—which took place about three hundred thousand years ago.

An age not even known to human history, lost in time. The Age of the Gods.

Arwen had been born at the end of the Mythic Age, had witnessed the fall of the dragons, and had lived until the middle of the Ancestral Age, which had come to an end about one hundred thousand years ago, ushering in the Age of Chaos.

A great societal collapse marked the transition from the Mythic Age to the Ancestral Age, both economically and technologically. Of the few things that remained from that golden age, only a handful of artifacts endured—of which only two were known.

The Blade of the Sun God and the Staff of Eternal Rest, both kept under lock and key by the greatest powers of Estria.

From the Ancestral Era to the Age of Chaos, the technological collapse had been even worse, plunging an extremely advanced society straight into the Dark Ages.

This Age of Chaos lasted about one hundred thousand years, ending just under five hundred years ago, when the continent’s last large-scale war took place.

It was this war that led to the collapse of the Golden Rose Empire—heir to the Fallen Sun Empire—and to the formation of kingdoms such as the Kingdom of Burning Ice and the Kingdom of Solene.

For Ethan, who lived in the modern era—a time of rebuilding a world still recovering from ages of endless bloodshed—having access to items from the mythical and ancient era was simply marvelous.

Without giving it much more thought, he clicked to buy.

[A magical vein has been detected! Do you wish to connect your structure directly to it? You can construct a magical mine for ten thousand gold coins.]

[Special structures have been detected! Do you wish to connect them?]

[Warning! The God-Emperor severed the God of War’s right hand and eye with his divine sword, sparking a bloody feud between the two. After the God-Emperor’s death, the God of War descended upon Estria in person to destroy the God-Emperor’s palace in revenge.

With the construction of a new God-Emperor’s palace, hordes of green skins may form to attack Goldenveil.

The level of the generated hordes will be balanced based on Goldenveil’s current power.

Such hordes bring danger, but also great rewards.

A horde’s attack will be announced two months before it begins.]

Upon seeing that last notification, Ethan did indeed freeze for a moment, his fingers hovering over the confirmation button.

After calmly rereading everything, however, he simply smiled.

If they were just hordes of green skins, there wasn’t much to fear.

"Is there any chance the God of War might curse me or descend to destroy the palace once again?" Ethan asked the system, just to be sure.

[No. He is currently incapable of doing so.]

Ethan didn’t hesitate any longer, confirming everything before taking a step back.

Well, he actually had to take much more than a single step.

As always, the ground itself began to tremble slightly beneath his feet, expanding as the streets reorganized organically to accommodate the new, gigantic structure.

Even the Tree of Life found itself gently surrounded by gardens and carefully planned concrete paths, clearly designed with pedestrians in mind.

A small plaza took shape around it, lined with benches for resting in its shade and dotted with a few small lakes and fountains where birds could drink.

Beyond the tree, the construction continued to expand.

Vast walls encircled an area of three million square meters, occupying a massive portion of Goldenveil’s noble district.

The walls rose thirty meters high and four meters thick, white as freshly fallen snow. Fine threads ran across their surface like strokes of a golden brush, forming beautiful, unique patterns.

A fortress defended the main gates, sprawling over more than ten thousand square meters on its own and standing five stories tall. It could easily house hundreds of soldiers within, with room for a few thousand more along the walls.

The fortress had a classic medieval appearance, refined and elegant, blending seamlessly with the gates themselves.

Beyond them, a wide avenue of white marble stretched ahead, flanked by lampposts and lush gardens leading all the way to the main palace.

The palace itself stood in concrete and marble, every part of it meticulously refined, from the wide central gates to its main hall, large enough to accommodate five thousand people.

The structure rose gloriously across dozens of stories of varying sizes, reaching hundreds of meters into the sky.

The throne room, the palace’s centerpiece, towered above everything else.

Only a luxurious staircase granted access to it, beginning at the very end of the main avenue. Its more than a thousand steps climbed through the heart of the building, finally reaching a wide corridor that led to the chamber.

Although currently sealed off, its beauty still dazzled everyone who looked at it.

Even from the city’s third wall, one could see the throne room rising in all its glory, causing the entire population of Goldenveil to suddenly turn their gazes toward the noble district.

Their lord was creating something incredible once again.

Surrounding the palace—which had slowly molded itself to the gigantic mountain behind it and already housed most of the key facilities within—several other structures had sprung up.

Training arenas, blacksmith shops, food warehouses, guard posts, a riding arena and even a government palace that stood directly to the left of the central staircase.

It didn’t take long before the lush gardens of the luxurious palace were filled with new buildings.

Ethan simply watched it all, his eyes gleaming.

Honestly, his instant construction ability was way too OP.

Even though labor, concrete, and marble were cheap in this world compared to magic arrays—which truly cost a fortune and often accounted for 90–95% of a constructions’s price—one hundred and fifty thousand gold coins was still far too cheap for something of that size.

On top of that, the effects alone were absurd. Even though the magic array was fragmented, they were no less impressive than those of an SSS-rank item.